Patent ID: 8390056

Claim:
A non-volatile memory string comprising: a substrate of a first conductivity type comprising an active region; a select gate formed fully on the active region; a first diffusion region of a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type formed on the surface of the active region on a first side of the select gate; and at least one memory unit formed on a second side of the select gate opposite the first side, each memory unit comprising: a first gate formed partially on the active region on the second side of the select gate; a second gate formed partially on the active region on the second side of the select gate; a charge storage layer formed on a surface of the active region filled between the first gate and the second gate; a second diffusion region of the second conductivity type formed on the surface of the active region on the first side of the charge storage layer; and a third diffusion region of the second conductivity type formed on the surface of the active region on the second side of the charge storage layer; wherein a first gate and a second gate of a first memory unit of the at least one memory unit are separated from the select gate by a first distance, and are separated from each other by a second distance in a direction perpendicular to the first distance; wherein a first gate and a second gate of each successive memory unit of the at least one memory unit after the first memory unit are separated from a first gate and a second gate of a previous memory unit by the first distance, and the first gate and the second gate of each successive memory unit are separated from each other by a second distance in the direction perpendicular to the first distance; wherein a second diffusion region of each successive memory unit of the at least one memory unit is a third diffusion region of the previous memory unit.