Improvement of the tunnel oxide quality by a low thermal budget dual oxidation for flash memories

The high-quality ultrathin tunnel oxide using a low thermal budget dual oxidation has been developed. Due mainly to the reduction of imperfect chemical bonds and interface roughness, the tunnel and gate oxide quality in the fabrication of flash memory such as stress-induced leakage current (SILC), effective electron mobility, and cycling endurance characteristics, were improved compared to the pure dry oxides.