US Patent 7361567 Non-volatile nanocrystal memory and method therefor

Patent 7361567 was granted and assigned to Freescale Semiconductor on April, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

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Is a

Patent

Patent attributes

Current Assignee

Freescale Semiconductor

Patent Jurisdiction

United States Patent and Trademark Office

Patent Number

73615670

Date of Patent

April 22, 2008

Patent Application Number

110438260

Date Filed

January 26, 2005

Patent Primary Examiner

‌

Chuong A Luu

Patent abstract

A nanocrystal non-volatile memory (NVM) has a dielectric between the control gate and the nanocrystals that has a nitrogen content sufficient to reduce the locations in the dielectric where electrons can be trapped. This is achieved by grading the nitrogen concentration. The concentration of nitrogen is highest near the nanocrystals where the concentration of electron/hole traps tend to be the highest and is reduced toward the control gate where the concentration of electron/hole traps is lower. This has been found to have the beneficial effect of reducing the number of locations where charge can be trapped.