Pitch fragmentation induced odd/even effects in a 36 nm floating gate NAND technology

Floating gate NAND flash memory arrays with 64 cells per string and high-k inter poly dielectric have been fabricated on a 36 nm ground rule using sub-lithographic patterning techniques (pitch fragmentation). The influence of pitch fragmentation inherent critical dimension variations on the electrical parameters of the memory cells such as string saturation current, initial threshold voltage, and program/erase performance has been investigated in detail.