A novel EEPROM cell for smart card application
In this article, a new EEPROM cell suitable for smart card application is described. The cell has self-aligned select gate on both side walls of floating gate and this enables to give very small cell size. The cell size is 1.84 ?m2 with 0.25 ?m logic process. The cells are programmed and erased by FowlerNordheim (FN) tunneling. It appears that programming requires 1 ms at 16 V, while erasing requires 2 ms at 14 V. It shows excellent retention and endurance characteristic. Especially, the cell is stable after million cycles of endurance testing, and thus is suitable for smart card application.
eeprom smart card retention endurance fowlernordheim tunneling