Fabricating Memory Devices with Optimized Gate Oxide Thickness

A method comprising:

• exposing respective gate areas of programmable memory devices and processor core devices of an integrated-circuit (IC) die and occluding gate areas of input/output (I/O) devices of the IC die;
• etching, from the exposed respective gate areas of the programmable memory devices and the processor core devices, a first layer of oxide material;
• forming a second layer of oxide material on the IC die, the second layer of oxide material coating the respective gate areas of the programmable memory devices, the processor core devices, and the I/O devices;
• exposing the gate areas of the processor core devices and occluding the respective gate areas of the programmable memory devices and the I/O devices;
• etching, from the exposed gate areas of the processor core devices, the second layer of oxide material;
• and
• forming a third layer of oxide material on the IC die, the third layer of oxide material coating the respective gate areas of the programmable memory devices, the processor core devices, and the I/O devices of the IC die.

An integrated-circuit (IC) die comprising:

• input/output (I/O) devices having oxide gates of a first thickness;
• core processor devices having oxide gates of a second thickness, the second thickness of the oxide gates of the core processor devices being different from the first thickness of the oxide gates of the I/O devices;
• non-volatile programmable memory devices having oxide gates of a third thickness, the third thickness of the oxide gates of the non-volatile programmable memory devices being different from:
• (i) the second thickness of oxide gates of the core processor devices;
• and
• (ii) the first thickness of oxide gates of the I/O devices;
• and
• a memory device programming circuit configured to program the non-volatile memory devices by altering respective oxide gates of the non-volatile memory devices using a programming voltage that is approximately twice a voltage at which the processor core devices operate.