Semiconductor device and a integrated circuit card

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a plurality of non-volatile memory cells arranged in rows and columns, each of which includes source and drain regions formed over a semiconductor substrate, a holding layer formed between said source and drain regions via a gate insulator, and a control gate electrode formed over said holding layer via an insulator, each of said plurality of non-volatile memory cells enabling data to be written therein electrically with electrons injected in its holding layer;
• a word line connected to said control gate electrodes of a plurality of memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same row;
• a data line connected to said drain regions of a plurality of memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same column;
• and
• a source line connected to said source regions of a plurality of memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same column;
• wherein said device employs:
• a writing method for writing data in a memory cell selected from said plurality of memory cells with electrons injected in its holding layer with a high write voltage applied to a selected word line connected to said selected memory cell;
• a write disabling method for disabling writing of data in a non-selected memory cell in which no data is to be written and having a control gate electrode connected electrically to said selected word line with a writing disable voltage applied to a data line connected to said drain region of said non-selected memory cell before application of said high write voltage to said selected word line;
• and
• wherein said device is structured so as to generate a punch-Through phenomenon between said source and drain regions of said non-selected memory cell when said writing disable voltage is applied to said drain region of said non-selected memory cell.

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a plurality of non-volatile memory cells, each including a holding layer, in each of which data can be written electrically with electrons injected in its holding layer:
• wherein said device employs:
• a write disabling method for disabling writing of data in a non-selected memory cell in which no data is to be written by suppressing injection of electrons in its holding layer with a writing disable voltage applied to the drain thereof before a write voltage is applied to the control gate electrode of a selected memory cell in which data is to be written, said non-selected memory cell being included among said plurality of memory cells;
• and
• wherein the relationship among said writing disable voltage Vwd, a read voltage yr applied to said drain of a memory cell from which said data is to be read, and a punch-through withstand voltage BVds between the source and drain of each of said plurality of memory cells is set so as to satisfy Vr<BVds<Vwd.

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a plurality of non-volat)le memory cells arranged in rows and columns, each of which includes source and drain regions formed over a semiconductor substrate, a holding layer formed between said source and drain regions via a gate insulator, and a control gate electrode formed over said holding layer via an insulator, each of said plurality of memory cells enabling data to be written therein electrically with electrons injected in its holding layer;
• a word tine connected to said control gate electrodes of a plurality of memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same row;
• a data line connected to said drain regions of a plurality of memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same column;
• and
• a source line connected to said source regions of a plurality of memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same column;
• wherein said device employs:
• a writing method for writing data ri a memory cell selected from said plurality of memory cells with electrons injected in its holding layer with a high write voltage applied to a selected word line connected to said selected memory cell;
• a write disabling method for disabling writing of data in a non-selected memory cell in which no data is to be written and having a control gate electrode connected electrically to said selected word line with a writing disable voltage applied to a data line connected to said drain region of said non-selected memory cell before application of said high write voltage to said selected word line:
• and
• wherein the relationship among said writing disable voltage Vwd, a read voltage yr applied to said drain region of a memory cell from which said data is to be read, and a punch-through withstand voltage BVds between said source and drain regions of each of said plurality of memory cells is set so as to satisfy Vr<BVds<Vwd.

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a plurality of non-volatile memory cells, each of which includes second conductivity type source and drain regions formed in a first conductivity type semiconductor region so as to oppose each other at a fixed interval therebetween, a holding layer and a gate electrode stacked in said first conductivity type semiconductor region between said source and drain regions, the non-volatile memory being capable of rewriting;
• a memory array comprised of a plurality of memory cells arrayed in rows and columns so that the gate electrodes of a plurality of memory cells disposed in the same row are connected to a word line and said drain region of a plurality of memory cells disposed in the same column are connected to a data line via a first selected transistor. and said source region of a plurality of memory cells disposed in the same column are connected to a common source line via a second selected transistor;
• wherein said device employs:
• an operating method for writing data in a memory cell selected from among said plurality of memory cells with electrons injected in its holding layer with a high write voltage applied to a selected word line connected to said selected memory cell when in a process of writing data;
• and disabling writing of data in a non-selected memory cell in which no data is to be written and being disposed in the same row as that of said selected memory cell by suppressing injection of electrons in its accumulation layer with a writing disable voltage applied to a data line connected to said non-selected memory cell before application of a high write voltage to said selected word line;
• and
• wherein the relationship among said writing disable voltage Vwd, a read voltage Yr applied to said data line from which said data is to be read, and a punch- through withstand voltage BVds between said source and drain regions of each of said plurality of memory cells is set so as to satisfy Vr<BVds<Vwd.

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a plurality of non-volatile memory cells arranged in rows and columns each of which includes source and drain regions formed on a semiconductor substrate, a holding layer formed between said source and drain regions via a gate insulator, and a control gate electrode formed on said holding layer via an insulator, said memory cell enabling data to be written/erased therein/therefrom electrically with electrons injected/ejected in/from said holding layer;
• a word line connected to said control gates of a plurality of non-volatile memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same row;
• a data line connected to said drain regions of a plurality of memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same column;
• and
• a source line connected to said source regions of a plurality of memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same column
• wherein said device employs:
• a first erasing method for erasing data from all said memory cells connected to a selected word line by ejecting electrons from their accumulation layers with a high erase voltage applied to said selected word line until the threshold voltages in all of said memory cells go down to the first voltage or lower when erasing data;
• a second erasing method for writing back data in a memory cell whose threshold voltage is the second voltage or lower with electrons injected in its holding layer with a write-back voltage applied to a word line connected to said memory cell until said threshold voltage goes up to said second voltage or higher;
• then disabling writing-back of data in a memory cell disposed in the same row as that of said memory cell in which data is written back and having a threshold voltage of said second voltage or higher by suppressing injection of electrons in its holding layer with a write-back disable voltage applied to said drain region of said disabled memory cell before application of said write-back voltage;
• and wherein said device is structured so as to generate a punch-through phenomenon between said source and drain regions of said memory cell in which no data is written back upon application of a write-back disable voltage to said drain region of said memory cell in which data is erased and no data is to be written back when in a process of said writing-back of data.

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a plurality of non-volatile memory cells, each including a holding layer, in/from each of which data can be written/erased electrically with electrons injected/ejected in/from its holding layer;
• wherein said device employs:
• a first erasing method for erasing data from all the memory cells connected to a selected word line by ejecting electrons from their holding layers with a high erase voltage applied to said word line until the threshold voltages in all of said memory cells go down to the first voltage or lower when erasing data;
• a second erasing method for writing back data in a memory cell whose threshold voltage is the second voltage or lower with electrons injected in its holding layer with a write-back voltage applied to a word line connected to said memory cell until said threshold voltage goes up to said second voltage or higher;
• then disabling writing-back of data in a memory cell disposed in the same row as that of said memory cell in which data is to be written back and having a threshold voltage of said second voltage or higher by suppressing injection of electrons in its holding layer with a write- back voltage applied to said drain region of said disabled memory cell before application of said write-back voltage;
• and
• wherein the relationship among said write-back disable voltage Vwd, a read voltage yr applied to the drain of a memory cell from which said data is to be read, and a punch-through withstand voltage BVds between the source and the drain of each of said plurality of memory cells is set to satisfy Vr<BVds<Vwd.

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a plurality of non-volatile memory cells, each of which includes second conductivity type source and drain regions formed in a first conductivity type semiconductor region so as to oppose each other at a fixed interval therebetween, a holding layer and a gate electrode laminated in said first conductivity type semiconductor region between said first conductivity type source and drain regions, the non-volatile memory cell being capable of rewriting:
• a memory array comprised of a plurality of memory cells arrayed in rows and columns so that the gate electrodes of a plurality of memory cells disposed in the same row are connected to a word line and said drain regions of a plurality of memory cells disposed in the same column are connected to a data line via a first selection transistor and said source regions of a plurality of memory cells disposed in the same column are connected to a common source line via a second selection transistor;
• wherein said device employs:
• a first erasing method for erasing data from all the memory cells connected to a selected word line by ejecting electrons from their accumulation layers with a high erase voltage applied to said selected word line until the threshold voltages in all said memory cells go down to the first voltage or lower;
• a second erasing method for writing back data in a memory cell whose threshold voltage is the second voltage or lower with electrons injected in its holding layer with a write-back voltage applied to a word line connected to said memory cell until said threshold voltage goes up to said second voltage or higher;
• then disabling writing-back of data in a memory cell disposed in the same row as that of said memory cell in which data is to be written back and having a threshold voltage of said second voltage or higher by suppressing injection of electrons in its accumulation layer with a write-back disable voltage applied to the drain forming semiconductor region of said memory cell before application of said write-back voltage;
• and
• wherein the relationship among said write-back disable voltage Vwd, a read voltage Yr applied to said data line from which said data is to be read;
• and a punch-through withstand voltage BVds between said source and drain regions of said memory cell is set to satisfy Vr<BVds<Vwd.

An integrated circuit card provided with a plurality of semiconductor chips used to form a memory circuit block whose capacity satisfies a predetermined requirement as a whole;

• wherein each of said plurality of semiconductor chips includes:
• a plurality of non-volatile memory cells arranged in rows and columns, each of which includes source and drain regions formed on a semiconductor substrate of said semiconductor chip, a holding layer formed between said source and drain regions via a gate insulator, and a control gate electrode formed on said holding layer via an insulator, each of said memory cells enabling data to be written therein electrically with electrons injected in its holding layer;
• a word line connected to the control gate electrodes of a plurality of memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same row;
• a data line connected to said drain regions of a plurality of memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same column;
• and
• a source line connected to said source regions of a plurality of memory cells included among said plurality of memory cells and disposed in the same column;
• wherein said card employs:
• a writing method for writing data in a memory cell selected from said plurality of memory cells with electrons injected in its holding layer with a write voltage applied to a selected word line connected to said selected memory cell;
• and
• a write disabling method for disabling writing of data in a non-selected memory in which no data is to be written and having a control gate electrode connected electrically to said selected word like by suppressing injection of electrons in its holding layer with a writing disable voltage applied to a data line connected to said drain region of said non-selected memory cell before application of said high write voltage to said selected word line;
• and wherein the relationship among said writing disable voltage Vwd, a read voltage Vr applied to said drain region of said memory cell from which said data is to be read, and a punch-through withstand voltage BVds between said source and drain regions of each of said plurality of memory cells is set to satisfy Vr<BVds<Vwd.

An integrated circuit card provided with a plurality of semiconductor chips for forming a memory card block having a predetermined capacity as a whole;

• wherein each of said plurality of semiconductor chips includes:
• a plurality of non-volatile memory cells, each including a holding layer, in/from each of which data can be written/erased electrically with electrons injected/ejected in/from its holding layer;
• wherein said card employs:
• a first erasing method for erasing data from all the memory cells connected to a selected word line by ejecting electrons from their holding layers with a high erase voltage applied to said selected word line until the threshold voltages in all of memory cells go down to the first voltage or lower when erasing data;
• and
• a second erasing method for writing back data in a memory cell whose threshold voltage is the second voltage or lower with electrons injected in its holding layer with a write-back voltage applied to a word line connected to said memory cell until said threshold voltage goes up to said second voltage or higher;
• then disabling writing-back of data in a memory cell disposed in the same row as that of said memory cell in which data is to be written back and having a threshold voltage of the second voltage or higher by suppressing injection of electrons in its accumulation layer with a write-back voltage applied to said drain region of said disabled memory cell before application of said write-back voltage;
• and
• wherein the relationship among said write-back disable voltage Vwd, a read voltage Yr applied to said drain region of a memory cell from which said data is to be read, and a punch-through withstand voltage BVds between said source and drain regions of each of said plurality of memory cells is set to satisfy Vr<BVds<Vwd.

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a plurality of non-volatile memory cells including a source region, a drain region, a control gate and a holding layer in each of which data can be written electrically;
• wherein, at a timing of data writing for said a plurality of non-volatile memory cells with electrons injected in said holding layers, writing non-selected memory cells of said a plurality of non-volatile memory cells are applied with voltages in steps of:
• (a) a writing disable voltage applied to a data line connected to a drain region of said writing non-selected memory cells, which said writing disable voltage is lamer than a punch-through withstand voltage between a source and drain regions of each of said plurality of non-volatile memory cells,
• (b) after the step (a), a first high write voltage applied to a selected word line connected to a control gate of said writing non-selected memory cells, which said first high write voltage is larger than said writing disable voltage, and
• (c) after the step (b), a second high write voltage applied to a selected word line connected to a control gate of said writing non-selected memory cells, which said second high write voltage is larger than said first high write voltage.