Reliability issues and modeling of Flash and post-Flash memory (Invited Paper)

Flash memory, in particular NAND, has been an enabling technology for portable applications for the last two decades. The strength of Flash is its excellent scaling capability, allowing an ever increasing density at a decreasing cost and maintained reliability. However, the geometrical scaling of the cell exacerbates charge loss and fluctuation effects. On the other hand, new post-Flash memory technologies are being proposed, with different storage concepts and reliability physics. This review discusses the major reliability issues for Flash, with emphasis on the physical mechanisms and modeling. The reliability of charge trap and resistive memories, such as phase change and resistive switching memories, is addressed.