First Evidence of SET-Like Behavior of 3-D NAND Flash Cells in the Deep-Cryogenic Regime

In this article, we report the first experimental investigation of the behavior of the 3-D NAND Flash memory technology in the deep-cryogenic regime (temperature T<50 K). Clear evidence is provided to demonstrate that, in that T regime, the reduction of the Read bitline voltage gives rise to a paradigm shift in the current–voltage characteristics of the memory cells, consisting of the appearance of single-electron transistor (SET)-like conduction schemes. The phenomenon is traced back to nonuniformities in the electrostatic inversion of cell channel, producing, at that deep-cryogenic T , a landscape of conductive quantum dots separated by energy barriers where electron transport is affected by Coulomb blockade. The results represent a first step toward innovative applications of 3-D NAND Flash memories.