Novel bi-directional tunneling program/erase NOR (BiNOR)-type flash EEPROM

This paper presents a novel flash memory cell, BiNOR, suitable for high-speed, low-power, and high-performance application. The proposed BiNOR structure allows random access, channel Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling program/erase in a NOR-type array (previously, channel FN tunneling program/erase could only be implemented in a NAND array). Using the designated localized P-well structure, BiNOR realizes the hot hole free, low-power bi-directional channel FN tunneling program and erase, and alleviates the oxide instability induced during source erase in the NOR-type flash memory.