A new structure to monitor electrical transients during programming of EEPROM memory cells

摘要

In this paper, we present an original test structure, representative of a FLOTOX (FLOating gate Thin OXide) EEPROM technology, that allows to monitor both the programming current (by direct measurement) and the floating gate potential (indirectly by the so-called "floating gate technique") during write and erase operations. Experimental electrical transients are compared to simulations based on a simplified electrical model. It is then shown that these procedures can be powerfully applied to the study of endurance of EEPROM devices and of the evolution of their programming window with operating temperature.