R&D: Enabling 3D NAND Trench Cells for Scaled Flash Memories

2023 IEEE International Memory Workshop (IMW) has published an article written by S. Rachidi, S. Ramesh, L. Breuil, Z. Tao, D. Verreck, G. L. Donadio, A. Arreghini, G. Van Den Bosch, and M. Rosmeulen, Imec, Kapeldreef 75, Leuven, Belgium.

Abstract: “3D Trench cells with a vertical flat channel have been proposed to increase the cell density over 3D NAND gate-all-around (GAA). In this work, we investigate the device characteristics of Trench cells. In absence of curvature, Trench cells exhibit inferior program and erase in comparison to a GAA reference. However, the memory window of Trench cells is significantly improved with channel width scaling, gate stack engineering and metal gate integration. This study also provides a basis for design and fabrication of future ultradense 3D NAND memories based on the Trench architecture.“