FLASH: NOR Reliability

Reliability constraints are one of the main concerns limiting Flash memory scaling. This tutorial discusses some of the main phenomena limiting the reliability of standard NOR Flash memories, trying to emphasize how a physical look at the problems can allow to gain useful insight into the damage generation mechanisms. Endurance, retention and disturbs are addressed, together with their dependence on operating conditions. Some recently-developed characterization techniques are also proposed, which can permit to identify the main responsible for damage generation under real conditions

Alessandro S. Spinelli

Alessandro S. Spinelli was born in Bergamo (Italy). He received the Laurea (cum laude) and the Ph.D. in Electronics Engineering from the Politecnico of Milano, Milano, Italy. In 1995 he was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Tennessee Space Institute, Tullahoma, TN, where he worked on single molecule detection in solution and in 1996 he worked as a consultant for STMicroelectronics, Central R&D Department, Agrate Brianza, Italy. In 1997 he became Assistant Professor at the Politecnico di Milano, joining the Universita degli Studi dell'Insubria, Como, Italy as Associate Professor of Electronics in 1998. Since 2004 he is Associate Professor of Electronic at Politecnico di Milano. In 2001 he has been visiting professor at the INPG, Grenoble, France. His current research interests include experimental characterization and modeling of non-volatile memory cells reliability, development of innovative non-volatile memories and modeling and simulation of advanced MOS devices.