Simulation Acceleration of Bit Error Rate Prediction and Yield Optimization of 3D V-NAND Flash Memory

When designing 3D V-NAND technologies with a gate induced drain leakage (GIDL) assisted erase scheme, many experiments must be conducted to determine the optimal GIDL design targets to achieve fast erase performance and secure yield characteristics. However, only a limited amount of data can be used...

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Main Authors: Yohan Kim, Soyoung Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2023-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10233846/
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author Yohan Kim
Soyoung Kim
author_facet Yohan Kim
Soyoung Kim
author_sort Yohan Kim
collection DOAJ
description When designing 3D V-NAND technologies with a gate induced drain leakage (GIDL) assisted erase scheme, many experiments must be conducted to determine the optimal GIDL design targets to achieve fast erase performance and secure yield characteristics. However, only a limited amount of data can be used since V-NAND processes are time-consuming and expensive in the early stage of development. TCAD and numerical methods also require a considerable amount of time and effort to calculate bit error rate (BER), and it is impossible to explore the entire design spaces in time. In this paper, we propose a novel simulation acceleration technique for bit error rate prediction and yield optimization in 3D V-NAND technology. This acceleration framework includes a machine learning (ML)-based compact model for the lognormal variability of GIDL currents and a physics-inspired slow cell model for the read margin reduction. Using a combination of these models with efficient Monte Carlo (MC) circuit simulations, we can accurately estimate threshold voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{th}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) distributions to explore the entire design spaces using a limited amount of data. Based on the proposed technique, the predictive model achieves high accuracy in the current 176-layer V-NAND technology, and it also provides high scalability with respect to GIDL transistor geometries, temperatures, supply voltages, variabilities, and the number of stacking layers. Moreover, a contour map of bit error rate is newly introduced for the efficient design space exploration and read margin prediction. Therefore, the results indicate that the proposed framework can be further extended to large-scale experimental data and new architectures to accelerate the yield optimization in next-generation 3D V-NAND flash memory development.
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spelling doaj.art-6d31c5defa1a478f9eb3f571b51de5582023-09-11T23:02:03ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362023-01-0111939569396710.1109/ACCESS.2023.330964910233846Simulation Acceleration of Bit Error Rate Prediction and Yield Optimization of 3D V-NAND Flash MemoryYohan Kim0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2699-2496Soyoung Kim1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8901-3649Department of Semiconductor and Display Engineering, College of Information and Communication Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South KoreaCollege of Information and Communication Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South KoreaWhen designing 3D V-NAND technologies with a gate induced drain leakage (GIDL) assisted erase scheme, many experiments must be conducted to determine the optimal GIDL design targets to achieve fast erase performance and secure yield characteristics. However, only a limited amount of data can be used since V-NAND processes are time-consuming and expensive in the early stage of development. TCAD and numerical methods also require a considerable amount of time and effort to calculate bit error rate (BER), and it is impossible to explore the entire design spaces in time. In this paper, we propose a novel simulation acceleration technique for bit error rate prediction and yield optimization in 3D V-NAND technology. This acceleration framework includes a machine learning (ML)-based compact model for the lognormal variability of GIDL currents and a physics-inspired slow cell model for the read margin reduction. Using a combination of these models with efficient Monte Carlo (MC) circuit simulations, we can accurately estimate threshold voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{th}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) distributions to explore the entire design spaces using a limited amount of data. Based on the proposed technique, the predictive model achieves high accuracy in the current 176-layer V-NAND technology, and it also provides high scalability with respect to GIDL transistor geometries, temperatures, supply voltages, variabilities, and the number of stacking layers. Moreover, a contour map of bit error rate is newly introduced for the efficient design space exploration and read margin prediction. Therefore, the results indicate that the proposed framework can be further extended to large-scale experimental data and new architectures to accelerate the yield optimization in next-generation 3D V-NAND flash memory development.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10233846/Accelerationartificial neural networkbit error ratecircuit simulationcompact modelGIDL-assisted erase
spellingShingle Yohan Kim
Soyoung Kim
Simulation Acceleration of Bit Error Rate Prediction and Yield Optimization of 3D V-NAND Flash Memory
IEEE Access
Acceleration
artificial neural network
bit error rate
circuit simulation
compact model
GIDL-assisted erase
title Simulation Acceleration of Bit Error Rate Prediction and Yield Optimization of 3D V-NAND Flash Memory
title_full Simulation Acceleration of Bit Error Rate Prediction and Yield Optimization of 3D V-NAND Flash Memory
title_fullStr Simulation Acceleration of Bit Error Rate Prediction and Yield Optimization of 3D V-NAND Flash Memory
title_full_unstemmed Simulation Acceleration of Bit Error Rate Prediction and Yield Optimization of 3D V-NAND Flash Memory
title_short Simulation Acceleration of Bit Error Rate Prediction and Yield Optimization of 3D V-NAND Flash Memory
title_sort simulation acceleration of bit error rate prediction and yield optimization of 3d v nand flash memory
topic Acceleration
artificial neural network
bit error rate
circuit simulation
compact model
GIDL-assisted erase
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10233846/
work_keys_str_mv AT yohankim simulationaccelerationofbiterrorratepredictionandyieldoptimizationof3dvnandflashmemory
AT soyoungkim simulationaccelerationofbiterrorratepredictionandyieldoptimizationof3dvnandflashmemory