LAUSR

Various hybrid tunnel oxides in both MANOS structure and SONOS structure were examined. Among them, SiO₂/ZrO₂ hybrid tunnel oxide in charge trap flash memory provides promising programming characteristics compared to those of SiO₂ tunnel oxide. However, the relatively higher Fowler–Nordheim tunneling barriers for the hole result in insufficient erasing characteristics. In contrast, Si_2–XON_X/ZrO₂ hybrid tunnel oxide could be erased to negative ${V}_{\textsf {th}}$ . In addition, the retention behaviors of the hybrid tunnel oxides based on an high temperature storage (HTS) test were superior compared to that of SiO₂ tunnel oxide. The cycle characteristics in endurance and HTS of Si_2–XON_X/ZrO₂ hybrid tunnel oxide were confirmed to be better than those of Si_2–XON_X tunnel oxide, which implies that they satisfy real operational conditions. Thus, Si_2–XON_X/ZrO₂ hybrid tunnel oxide can be a promising candidate for a next-generation tunnel oxide.