A new model developed by NIST researchers challenges the long-held industry view of how electrons are captured and released in tiny electronic devices, particularly in flash memory cells. The traditional model, which treats trapped electrons as a uniform 2D sheet of charge, doesn’t account for the strong local interactions between captured electrons and their surroundings. The new model, based on quantum mechanics, suggests that capture and emission processes are decoupled, with electrons entering and exiting through different mechanisms.
This paradigm shift could lead to better understanding of device degradation and help engineers design more reliable, smaller devices. The researchers found that the interaction energy of captured electrons is much stronger than previously believed, which explains random telegraph noise (RTN) in advanced devices with feature sizes below 10 nanometers. The new model could revolutionize flash memory design and enable further miniaturization while maintaining performance and reliability.
Keywords: Field, Interaction, Energy, Electron, Charge
