HIMOS - A HIGH EFFICENCY FLASH E(2)PROM CELL FOR EMBEDDED MEMORY APPLICATIONS

This paper describes a novel Flash E(2)PROM device, which is programmed with a highly efficient hot-electron injection mechanism. The High Injection MOS (HIMOS) device combines a very high programming speed at 5-V-only operation with a low development entry cost, which renders it a highly attractive concept for embedded memory applications. The HIMOS concept exhibits complete soft-write immunity and the possibility of overerasure without causing any problem in a memory architecture. Furthermore, it is shown that this device can also operate with a 3.3-V voltage supply, which is of a major importance for the nest generations of submicron Flash E(2)PROM technologies.