Design and characterization of MIS devices

Doctoral thesis, 1976

This work is a part of the research performed at the Research Laboratory of Electronics (Elektronfysik III), concerning [metal-insulator-semiconductor] MIS field-effect devices. It deals with the properties of different memory devices, such as the [metal-nitride-oxide-semiconductor] MNOS and the [floating-gate avalanche-injection metal-oxide-semiconductor] FAMOS memory transistors, where the [metal insulator semiconductor] MIS structure is utilized for information storage. Paper A describes a new associative memory cell in which MNOS transistors are used as storage elements. Paper B describes the Negative Bias Stress of MOS devices at high electric fields with respect to the degradation observed in MNOS memory devices repeatedly operated at high write/erase gate voltages. Paper C deals with the FAMOS memory device and how the information may be unintentionally changed after a large number of read cycles. Paper D is concerned with some critical problems during fabrication of low threshold voltage CMOS circuits for digital watch applications. Paper E shows the influence of a narrow channel width on the threshold voltage in MOS transistors when modulated by the substrate-source voltage.