Apparatus and method for inhibiting excess leakage current in unselected nonvolatile memory cells in an array

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/132,628, filed on Jun. 20, 2008, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/387,771, filed on May 7, 2009 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/455,337, filed on Jun. 1, 2009 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/455,936, filed on Jun. 9, 2009 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/4563,54, filed on Jun. 16, 2009 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to nonvolatile memory array structure and operation. More particularly, this invention relates to a NOR flash charge retaining nonvolatile memory device structures, peripheral circuits for NOR flash charge retaining nonvolatile memory devices and methods for operation of NOR nonvolatile memory devices. Even more particularly, this invention relates to peripheral circuits NOR nonvolatile memory devices and methods for operation of NOR nonvolatile memory devices that inhibit excess leakage currents during programming and erasing the NOR nonvolatile memory devices.

2. Description of Related Art

Nonvolatile memory is well known in the art. The different types of charge retaining nonvolatile memory include Read-Only-Memory (ROM), Electrically Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), NOR Flash Memory, and NAND Flash Memory. In current applications such as personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, notebook and laptop computers, voice recorders, global positioning systems, etc., the Flash Memory has become one of the more popular types of Nonvolatile Memory. Flash Memory has the combined advantages of the high density, small silicon area, low cost and can be repeatedly programmed and erased with a single low-voltage power supply voltage source.

The Flash Memory structures known in the art employ a charge retaining mechanism such as a charge storage phenomena and a charge trapping phenomena. In a charge storage mechanism, as with a floating gate nonvolatile memory, the charge representing digital data is stored on a floating gate of the device. The stored charge modifies the threshold voltage of the floating gate memory cell, which in turn determines or corresponds to the digital data stored. In a charge trapping mechanism, as in a Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon (SONOS) or Metal-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon (MONOS) type cell, the charge is trapped in a charge trapping layer between two insulating layers. The charge trapping layer in the SONOS/MONOS devices is a material with a relatively high dielectric constant (k) such as Silicon Nitride (SiN x ).

A present day flash nonvolatile memory is divided into two major product categories such as the fast random-access asynchronous NOR flash nonvolatile memory and the slower serial-access synchronous NAND flash nonvolatile memory. NOR flash charge retaining nonvolatile memory devices as presently designed is the high pin-count memory with multiple external address and data pins along with appropriate control signal pins. One disadvantage of NOR flash nonvolatile memory is as the cell capacity doubled, the required external pin count increases by one because one more external address pin is added. In contrast, NAND flash nonvolatile memory has an advantage of having a smaller pin-count than NOR with no address input pins. As the memory cell capacity increases, the NAND flash nonvolatile memory pin count remains constant. Both NAND and NOR flash nonvolatile memory cell structures in production today commonly use a one charge retaining (charge storage or charge trapping) transistor memory cell to store one bit of data as charge or as it commonly referred to as a single-level cell program cell (SLC). They are respectively referred as one-bit/one transistor NAND cell or NOR cell, storing a single-level cell programmed data in the cell.

The NAND and NOR flash nonvolatile memory provides the advantage of in-system program and erase capabilities and have a specification for providing at least 100K endurance cycles. In addition, both single-chip NAND and NOR flash nonvolatile memory product can provide giga-byte density because their highly-scalable cell sizes. For instance, presently a one-bit/one transistor NAND cell size is kept at −4λ 2 (A being a minimum feature size in a semiconductor process), while NOR cell size is −10λ 2 . Furthermore, in addition to storing data as a single-level cell program cell having two voltage thresholds (Vt 0 and Vt 1 ), both one transistor NAND and NOR flash nonvolatile memory cells are able to store data as a multi-level program cell, wherein the cells store at least two bits per cell or two bits/one transistor with four multi-level threshold voltages (Vt 0 , Vt 1 , Vt 2 and Vt 03 ) in one physical cell.

NOR flash memories cells are arranged in an array, of rows and columns in a NOR-like structure. All the NOR Flash cells on each row share the same word line. The drain electrodes that are common to two cells on each column are commonly connected to the bit line (BL) associated with each column. Sources of each of the NOR flash cells of each of the rows of the array are commonly connected to the source lines that are often connected together to the ground reference voltage source.

Currently, the memory cell capacity of a single-chip double polycrystalline silicon gate NAND flash nonvolatile memory chip is 64 Gb. In contrast, a double polycrystalline silicon gate NOR flash nonvolatile memory chip has a memory cell capacity of 2 Gb for a chip of equivalent dimensions. The big gap between NAND and NOR flash nonvolatile memory cell capacity is a result of the superior scalability of NAND flash nonvolatile memory cell over a NOR flash nonvolatile memory. A NOR flash nonvolatile memory cell requires 5.0V drain-to-source (Vds) to maintain a high-current Channel-Hot-Electron (CHE) programming process. Alternately, a NAND flash nonvolatile memory cell requires 0.0V between the drain to source for a low-current Fowler-Nordheim channel tunneling program process. The above results in the one-bit/one transistor NAND flash nonvolatile memory cell size being only one half that of a one-bit/one transistor NOR flash nonvolatile memory cell. This permits a NAND flash nonvolatile memory device to be used in applications that require huge data storage. A NOR flash charge retaining nonvolatile memory device is extensively used as a program-code storage memory which requires less data storage and requires fast and asynchronous random access.

A NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cell requires application of a 5.0V drain-to-source voltage (Vds) program voltage to all the nonvolatile memory cells connected to the selected and unselected bit lines of the selected sub-array or sector of NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory array. In a typical high-capacity NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory array design, the NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory array is divided into a multiple sub-arrays or sectors. Each sector for instance may include a sub-array of 1M Bytes (8 Mb) of NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cells. Each sector may be further divided into blocks wherein each block has a capacity of 128 KB (1 Mb). A 1 Mb block comprises of 1024 word lines and 1024 bit lines. In other words, each common bit line will be connected with 1024 cells in parallel within the same P-type well TPW that is in the same N-type well.

A common concern for the NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory array designs of the prior art is a bit line leakage current that occurs for a read operation and for a program operation using either the channel-hot-electron or Fowler-Nordheim edge program operations. The bit line leakage current creates more of a problem in program operations than read operations, because the program operation of the NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cells requires a +5.0V bit line voltage to create a drain-to-source voltage (Vds) of 5.0V. Alternately, the read operation has a drain-to-source voltage (Vds) of approximately +1.0V. The larger bit line voltage (+5.0V) is coupled to floating-gate of the NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cell. This induces a positive voltage at the floating gate which causes conduction of a sub-threshold leakage current if the NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cells erased threshold voltage Vt 0 is less than +1.0V.

In the read operation, if each of the NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cells has a low threshold voltage Vt 0 , each cell will conduct more than 10 nA leakage with bit lines set to a read bias voltage level of approximately +1.0V and the source lines set to a voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V). Each bit line will conduct a leakage current of about 10 μA if all 1024 cells connected to the bit line have a low threshold voltage Vt 0 . The total leakage current for the total NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory array is approximately 10 mA bit line leakage induced to all of is the 1024 bit lines. In a normal read operation, each selected NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cell would conduct approximately 20-40 μA to the bit line to the connected sense amplifier when reading a selected NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cell. The remaining 1023 of (N−1) unselected NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cells would have leakage of 10 μA creating the possibility of a read error or false read. In the worst-case, if each NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cell conducts more than 10 μA, then the read operation will fail.

In the program operation, if each of the NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cells has a low threshold voltage level VT 0 , each of the NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cells will conduct approximately 1 μA leakage current when the bit line has approximately +5.0V applied to it and the source line has a voltage level that is approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V). Each bit line with a total of 1024 NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cells could possibly conduct a leakage current of approximately 10 mA. If the total NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory array had NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cells with the low threshold voltage level Vt 0 , then the total leakage current would 10 A. In normal program operation, each selected NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cell on the selected bit line would only conduct approximately 100 μA per cell. As a result, the 1023 unselected NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cell leakage of 10 mA and the program operation would fail, regardless of whether the program operation is a Channel-Hot-Electron program operation or a Fowler-Nordheim edge program operation.

An object of this invention is to provide an apparatus and method for reducing the sub-threshold total leakage current from all the unselected NOR-type flash nonvolatile memory cells connected to a bit line to a sub-threshold leakage current less than 1 μA.

Another object of this invention is to provide a row decoder circuit for selecting nonvolatile memory cells of an array of NOR connected nonvolatile memory cells for providing biasing conditions to word lines of the array of NOR connected nonvolatile memory cells for reading and programming the selected NOR connected nonvolatile memory cells while inhibiting bit line sub-threshold leakage current within the array.

Further, another object of this invention is to provide a source line decoder circuit for selecting and providing biasing conditions to source lines connected to the selected nonvolatile memory cells of an array of NOR connected nonvolatile memory cells for reading and programming the selected NOR connected nonvolatile memory cells while inhibiting source line sub-threshold leakage current within the array.

Still further, another object of this invention is to provide a column address decoder for selecting nonvolatile memory cells of an array of NOR connected nonvolatile memory cells and providing biasing conditions to bit lines of the array of NOR connected nonvolatile memory cells for reading and programming the selected NOR connected nonvolatile memory cells while inhibiting sub-threshold leakage current within the array.

To accomplish at least one of these objects, a nonvolatile memory device includes an array of nonvolatile memory cells arranged in rows and columns. The nonvolatile memory cells are connected into a NOR configuration where the nonvolatile memory cells located on each column are connected such that the drains of each of the nonvolatile memory cells are commonly connected to a local bit line associated with each column. The nonvolatile memory cells on each row have their gates commonly connected to a word line. The nonvolatile memory cells on two adjacent rows have their sources commonly connected to a source line. The array of nonvolatile memory cells is partitioned into sectors, where each sector is placed in an isolation well of a first impurity type. Each sector of the array of the nonvolatile memory cells is divided into blocks and each block is divided into pages. Each page includes one row of the nonvolatile memory cells connected to a word line.

The nonvolatile memory device has a row decoder that has a first block selector that activates when a block address indicates that a block is selected. The row decoder further includes a word line selector circuit, which based on a row address provides the word lines with word line operational voltages necessary for biasing the control gates of the nonvolatile memory cells for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing. The row decoder has a voltage level shifter for shifting a voltage level of a block select signal to activate pass gates to transfer the operational voltages to the word lines of the selected block for biasing the control gates of the nonvolatile memory cells of the block for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing the selected nonvolatile memory cells. The row decoder inhibits bit line and source line leakage current within the array by applying a word line read inhibit voltage and a word line program inhibit voltage to unselected word lines of the array.

The nonvolatile memory device has a source line decoder circuit that is connected to each source line within each block to transfer necessary source biasing voltages for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing selected nonvolatile memory cells to selected source lines. The source line decoder circuit has a second block selector circuit that when activated selects the block being addressed. The block selector circuit is connected to a source voltage level shifter that shifts the voltage level of the block selector signals for activating pass transistors to transfer the source line operational voltages to the source lines connected to the sources of the nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing the selected nonvolatile memory cells. The source line decoder inhibits bit line and source line leakage currents within the array by applying a source line read inhibit voltage and a source line program inhibit voltage to unselected source lines of the array.

The nonvolatile memory device has a column decoder in communication with each local bit line for providing biasing voltages for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing selected nonvolatile memory cells while inhibiting bit line and source line leakage currents within the array. The row decoder, source line decoder, and column decoder provide inhibit biasing voltages to all the non-selected nonvolatile memory cells to minimize disturbances resulting from the reading, programming, verifying, and erasing selected nonvolatile memory cells.

For a slow read operation of a selected page of the array of nonvolatile memory cells, the row decoder transfers a single level cell program word line read biasing voltage to the word line of the selected nonvolatile memory cells for a single level cell program. The row decoder transfers a multiple level cell program read biasing voltage to the word line of the selected nonvolatile memory cells for a multiple level cell program. The row decoder further transfers the word line read inhibit voltage to the word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells. The word read inhibit voltage has a magnitude that is sufficiently large to minimize sub-threshold leakage current from passing through unselected nonvolatile memory cells. The column decoder transfers a first bit line read biasing voltage to the drains of the selected nonvolatile memory cells. The column decoder provides a bit line read inhibit voltage to the unselected bit line and thus to the drains of unselected nonvolatile memory cells. The source line decoder transfers a source line biasing voltage to the source lines of the selected nonvolatile memory cells and transfers a source line read inhibit voltage to the source lines of unselected the nonvolatile memory cells. The source line read inhibit voltage is approximately equal to the bit line read biasing voltage to shift the programmed and erased threshold voltage of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells to minimize sub-threshold leakage current flowing in the unselected nonvolatile memory cells.

The single level cell program word line read voltage is the voltage level of the power supply voltage source (VDD) where the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The multiple level cell program word line read biasing voltage level is approximately +5.0V. The first bit line read biasing voltage level is approximately +1.0V and the source line biasing voltage level is approximately the ground reference voltage level. The word line read inhibit voltage level is approximately −2.0V. The bit line read inhibit voltage level is approximately the ground reference voltage level. The source line read inhibit voltage level is approximately +1.0V

For a fast read operation of a selected page of the array of nonvolatile memory cells, the row decoder transfers a word line read biasing voltage to the word line of the selected nonvolatile memory cells for a single level cell program and multiple level cell program. The row decoder further transfers the word line read inhibit voltage to the word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells. The word line read inhibit voltage has a magnitude that is sufficiently large to minimize sub-threshold leakage current from passing through unselected nonvolatile memory cells. The column decoder transfers the first bit line read biasing voltage to the bit lines and thus to the drains of the selected nonvolatile memory cells. The column decoder, further, provides a bit line read inhibit voltage to the unselected bit lines and thus to the drains of unselected nonvolatile memory cells. The source line decoder transfers a source line read biasing voltage to the source lines and thus to the sources of the selected nonvolatile memory cells. The source line decoder also transfers a source line read inhibit voltage to the source lines and thus to the sources of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells. The source line read inhibit voltage is approximately equal to the bit line read biasing voltage to shift the programmed and erased threshold voltage of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells to minimize sub-threshold leakage current flowing in the unselected nonvolatile memory cells.

The single level cell program word line read voltage level is the voltage level of the power supply voltage source (VDD) where the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The multiple level cell program word line read biasing voltage level is approximately +5.0V. The first bit line read biasing voltage level is approximately +1.0V and the source line biasing voltage level is approximately the ground reference voltage level. The word line read inhibit voltage level and the bit line read inhibit voltage level are approximately the ground reference voltage level. The source line read inhibit voltage level is approximately +1.0V

For erasing a selected page, a selected block or a selected sector of the array of nonvolatile memory cells, the row decoder transfers a very high positive erase voltage to the word line of the selected nonvolatile memory cells and transfers a word line erase inhibit voltage to the word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block(s) to prevent disturbance of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block(s). The row decoders of the unselected blocks of nonvolatile memory cells disconnect the word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the unselected blocks so that the very high negative erase voltage is coupled from the isolation well of the first impurity type of the unselected block to the word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells in unselected blocks to prevent disturbance of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the unselected block. The source line decoder transfers the very high negative erase voltage to the selected and unselected source lines. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to the isolation well of the first impurity type of the unselected blocks and the ground reference voltage level is transferred to the isolation well of the first impurity type of the selected blocks.

The magnitude of the voltage levels of the very high positive erase voltage and the very high negative erase voltage is approximately the breakdown voltage level of transistors forming the row decoder, column decoder, and the source line decoder. The voltage level of the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −10.0V to approximately −8.0V. The voltage level of the word line erase inhibit voltage is approximately the ground reference voltage level for the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block(s) that is coupled from the isolation well by the row decoder disconnecting the unselected word lines such that they can float and allow the coupling of the ground reference voltage level for unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block(s). With regards to the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the unselected blocks, voltage level of the word line erase inhibit voltage is approximately the very high negative erase voltage that is coupled from the isolation well by the row decoder disconnecting the unselected word lines of the unselected blocks such that they can float and allow the coupling of the very high negative erase voltage to the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the unselected blocks.

For verifying an erase of a selected page, selected blocks or selected sectors of the array of nonvolatile memory cells, the row decoder transfers a voltage level of a lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level to the word line or word lines of the selected nonvolatile memory cells. The row decoder further transfers a word line verify inhibit voltage to the word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells. The column decoder transfers a second bit line read biasing voltage to the bit lines and thus to the drains of the selected nonvolatile memory cells. The source line decoder transfers the source line read biasing voltage to the source lines and thus to the sources of the selected nonvolatile memory cells and transfers a source line read inhibit voltage to the source lines and thus to the sources of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells to minimize sub-threshold leakage current.

The lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level is approximately +5.0V for the single level cell program and the multiple level cell programming. The voltage level of the second bit line read biasing voltage is approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source less a threshold voltage of an NMOS transistor where the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The bit line is pre-charged to the voltage level of the second bit line read biasing voltage. The pre-charged level of the second bit line read biasing voltage level is discharged to approximately 0.0V if the memory cell has not been successfully erased to the erased threshold voltage level and remains to be lower than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. If the nonvolatile memory cells have been successfully erased, the pre-charged level of the second bit line read biasing voltage level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the successfully erased nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. The source line read biasing voltage level is approximately the ground reference voltage level. The voltage level of the source line read inhibit voltage is approximately +1.0V.

In other embodiments, a method for operating an array includes steps for providing the operating conditions for slow reading, fast reading, page erasing, block erasing, sector erasing, page erase verifying, block erase verifying, sector erase verifying, page programming, and page program verifying of selected nonvolatile memory cells of the array of nonvolatile memory cells.

For the step of slow reading a selected page of the array of nonvolatile memory cells, a single level cell program word line read biasing voltage level is applied to the word line of the selected nonvolatile memory cells for a single level cell program. A multiple level cell program read biasing voltage is applied to the word line of the selected nonvolatile memory cells for a multiple level cell program. A word line read inhibit voltage is applied to the word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells. The word line read inhibit voltage has a magnitude that is sufficiently large to minimize sub-threshold leakage current from passing through unselected nonvolatile memory cells. A first bit line read biasing voltage is applied to the drains of the selected nonvolatile memory cells. A bit line read inhibit voltage is applied to the unselected bit line and thus to the drains of unselected nonvolatile memory cells. A source line biasing voltage is applied to the source lines of the selected nonvolatile memory cells and a source line read inhibit voltage is applied to the source lines of unselected the nonvolatile memory cells. The source line read inhibit voltage is approximately equal to the first bit line read biasing voltage to shift the programmed and erased threshold voltage level of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells to minimize sub-threshold leakage current flowing in the unselected nonvolatile memory cells.

The single level cell program word line read voltage level is the voltage level of the power supply voltage source (VDD) where the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The multiple level cell program word line read biasing voltage level is approximately +5.0V. The first bit line read biasing voltage level is approximately +1.0V and the source line biasing voltage level is approximately the ground reference voltage level. The word line read inhibit voltage level is approximately −2.0V. The bit line read inhibit voltage level is approximately the ground reference voltage level. The source line read inhibit voltage level is approximately +1.0V

For a the step of fast read operation of a selected page of the array of nonvolatile memory cells, a word line read biasing voltage level is applied to the word line of the selected nonvolatile memory cells for a single level cell program and multiple level cell program. A word line read inhibit voltage is applied to the word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells that has a magnitude that is sufficiently large to minimize sub-threshold leakage current from passing through unselected nonvolatile memory cells. A first bit line read biasing voltage is applied to the drains of the selected nonvolatile memory cells. A bit line read inhibit voltage is applied to the unselected bit line and thus to the drains of unselected nonvolatile memory cells. A source line read biasing voltage is applied to the source lines of the selected nonvolatile memory cells and a source line read inhibit voltage is applied to the source lines of unselected the nonvolatile memory cells. The source line read inhibit voltage is approximately equal to the first bit line read biasing voltage to shift the programmed and erased threshold voltage level of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells to minimize sub-threshold leakage current flowing in the unselected nonvolatile memory cells.

The single level cell program word line read voltage has an amplitude that is the voltage level of the power supply voltage source (VDD) where the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The multiple level cell program word line read biasing voltage level is approximately +5.0V. The first bit line read biasing voltage level is approximately +1.0V and the source line read biasing voltage level is approximately the ground reference voltage level. The word line read inhibit voltage level and the bit line read inhibit voltage level are approximately the ground reference voltage level. The source line read inhibit voltage level is approximately +1.0V

For the step of erasing a selected page, a selected block or a selected sector of the array of nonvolatile memory cells, a very high positive erase voltage is applied to the word line of the selected nonvolatile memory cells and transfers a word line erase inhibit voltage to the word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells in the selected block to prevent disturbance of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells. The word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the unselected block are disconnected so that the very high negative erase voltage is coupled from the isolation well of the first impurity type to the word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells in unselected blocks to prevent disturbance of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the unselected block. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to the selected and unselected source lines. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to the isolation well of the first impurity type for sectors containing selected nonvolatile memory cells.

The magnitude of the voltage levels of the very high positive erase voltage and the very high negative erase voltage is approximately the breakdown voltage level of transistors forming the row decoder, column decoder, and the source line decoder. The voltage level of the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V. The voltage level of the word line erase inhibit voltage is approximately the ground reference voltage level for the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block(s) that is coupled from the isolation well by disconnecting the unselected word lines such that they can float and allow the coupling of the ground reference voltage level to unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block(s) to prevent disturbance of the unselected memory cells of the selected block(s). With regards to the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the unselected blocks, voltage level of the word line erase inhibit voltage is approximately the very high negative erase voltage that is coupled from the isolation well by the row decoder disconnecting the unselected word lines of the unselected blocks such that they can float and allow the coupling of the very high negative erase voltage to the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the unselected blocks to prevent disturbance of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the unselected blocks.

For verifying an erase of a selected page, a selected block or a selected sector of the array of nonvolatile memory cells, a voltage level of a lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level is applied to the word line or word lines of the selected nonvolatile memory cells. A word line verify inhibit voltage is applied to the word lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells in the selected and unselected blocks. A second bit line read biasing voltage is applied to the drains of the selected nonvolatile memory cells. The source line read biasing voltage is applied to the source lines of the selected nonvolatile memory cells and a source line read inhibit voltage is applied to the source lines of the unselected nonvolatile memory cells to minimize sub-threshold leakage current.

The lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level is approximately +5.0V for the single level cell program and the multiple level cell programming. The voltage level of the second bit line read biasing voltage is approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source less a threshold voltage of an NMOS transistor where the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The bit line is pre-charged to the voltage level of the second bit line read biasing voltage. The pre-charged level of the second bit line read biasing voltage is discharged to approximately 0.0V if the memory cell has not been successfully erased to the erased threshold voltage level and remains to be lower than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. If the nonvolatile memory cells have been successfully erased, the pre-charged level of the second bit line read biasing voltage will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the successfully erased nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. The source line read biasing voltage level is approximately the ground reference voltage level. The voltage level of the source line read inhibit voltage is approximately +1.0V.

FIG. 1 a is a top plan layout view of a single transistor floating-gate NMOS NOR flash cell of the prior art.

FIG. 1 b is a cross sectional view of a single transistor floating-gate NMOS NOR flash cell of the prior art.

FIG. 1 c is a schematic diagram of a single transistor floating-gate NMOS NOR flash cell of the prior art.

FIG. 1 d is a graph of two threshold voltage distributions of a single transistor floating-gate NMOS NOR flash cell having a positive erase level and a single positive program level of the prior art.

FIG. 1 e is a graph of four threshold voltage distributions of a single transistor floating-gate NMOS NOR flash cell having a positive erase level and three positive program levels of the prior art.

FIG. 2 a is a schematic diagram of a two one-transistor floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cells.

FIG. 2 b is a top plan layout view of a two one-transistor of floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cells.

FIG. 2 c is a cross sectional view of a two one-transistor floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cells.

FIG. 2 d - 1 is a plot of two threshold voltage distributions of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a positive program level and a single positive erase level of a single level cell program of a first implementation embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 d - 2 is a plot of two threshold voltage distributions of the floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a positive program level and a single positive erase level of a second implementation embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 e 1 is a plot of four threshold voltage distributions of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a positive erase level and three positive program levels of a multiple level cell program of the implementation embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 e - 2 is a plot of four threshold voltage distributions of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a positive erase level and three positive program levels of the multiple level cell program of the second implementation embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 f - 1 is a plot of two threshold voltage distributions of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a positive program level and a single positive erase level shifted while biasing the source line to a voltage level of approximately +1.0V of the single level cell program of the first implementation.

FIG. 2 f - 2 is a plot of two threshold voltage distributions of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a positive program level and a single positive erase level shifted while biasing the source line to a voltage level of approximately +1.0V of the single level cell program of the second implementation.

FIG. 2 g - 1 is a plot of four threshold voltage distributions of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a positive erase level and three positive program levels shifted while biasing the source line to a voltage level of approximately +1.0V of the multiple level cell program of the first implementation.

FIG. 2 g - 2 is a plot of four threshold voltage distributions of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a positive erase level and three positive program levels shifted while biasing the source line to a voltage level of approximately +1.0V of the multiple level cell program of the second implementation.

FIGS. 3 a - 3 d are schematic diagrams of floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cells illustrating the bias conditions for slow reading, fast reading, programming, and page erasing of floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cells embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a NOR flash nonvolatile memory device embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an array of floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cells of FIG. 4 embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a block row decoder of the NOR flash nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a level shifter circuit of the block row decoders of FIG. 6 embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of source line decoder of the NOR flash nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a source line selector/conditioner of the source line decoder of FIG. 8 embodying the principles of this invention.

FIG. 10 is flow chart for the method for operating the NOR flash nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 .

FIG. 11 is flow chart for the method for erasing and erase verifying a page, block, or sector of the NOR flash nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 .

FIG. 12 is flow chart for the method for programming and program verifying a page of the NOR flash nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 .

FIG. 13 a is a table illustrating the voltage conditions applied to an array of a NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistor cells having single level cell programmed cells (SLC) embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 13 b is a table illustrating the voltage conditions applied to an array of a NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistor cells having multiple-level cell programmed cells (MLC) embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 14 a is a table illustrating the voltage conditions applied to row decoder of FIG. 6 for the NOR flash nonvolatile memory device having single level cell programmed cells (SLC) embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 14 b is a table illustrating the voltage conditions applied the to row decoder of FIG. 6 for the NOR flash nonvolatile memory device for NOR flash nonvolatile memory device having multiple-level cell programmed cells (MLC) embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a table illustrating the voltage conditions applied to the source line decoder of FIG. 8 for the NOR flash nonvolatile memory device embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 1 a is a top plan view of a NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistor 110 . FIG. 1 b is a cross sectional view NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 FIG. 1 c is the schematic symbol NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 . The floating-gate type NMOS NOR flash cell 110 is formed in the top surface of a P-type substrate 140 . An N-type material is diffused into the surface of the P-type substrate 140 to form a deep N-well 135 . A P-type material is then diffused into the surface of the deep N-well 135 to form a P-well 130 (commonly referred to as a triple P-well). The N-type material is then diffused into the surface of a P-type well 130 to form the drain (D) 115 and the self-aligned source (S) 120 . A first polycrystalline silicon layer is formed above the bulk region of the P-type well 130 between the drain region 115 and the source region 120 to form the floating gate 145 . A second polycrystalline silicon layer is formed over the floating gate 145 to create a control gate (G) 125 of the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 . The self-aligned source 120 is formed self-aligned between two adjacent second polycrystalline silicon layers of two control gates 125 of a pair of NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 . The self-aligned source 120 is commonly used in NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 to reduce the source line pitch.

The gate length of the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 is the channel region 132 in the bulk region of P-type well 130 between drain region 115 and the source region 120 . The NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistor's 110 channel width is determined by the width of the N-diffusion of the drain 115 and the source 120 . The typical unit size of the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 is about 10λ 2 to 12λ 2 .

The floating-gate layer 145 stores electron charges to modify the threshold voltage of the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 . In all operations, the P-type substrate 140 is connected to a ground reference voltage source (GND). The deep N-well 135 is connected to the power supply voltage source (VDD) in read and program operations but around +10.0V in the Fowler-Nordheim channel erase operation. In present designs of NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 , the power supply voltage source is either 1.8V or 3.0V. The triple P-type well 130 is connected to the ground reference voltage in normal read and program operation but to the +10.0V during erase operation. In other words, during the Fowler-Nordheim channel erase operation, both the deep N-well 135 and the triple P-well 130 are biased with the same voltage of approximately +10.0V to avoid forward leakage current through the P/N junction through the deep N-well 135 and the triple P- 130 .

In an array of NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 , the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 are arranged in rows and columns. The second polycrystalline silicon layer 125 that is the control gate of the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 is extended to form a word-line that connects to each of the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 on a row of the array.

A tunnel oxide 150 is formed on top of the channel region 132 between the drain region 115 and the source region 120 and the floating-gate 145 . The thickness of the tunnel oxide 150 typically 100 A. The tunnel oxide 150 is the layer through which the electron charges pass during the high current channel-hot-electron programming and low current Fowler-Nordheim channel erasing. In a traditional NOR operation, Fowler-Nordheim channel erasing expels stored electrons from the floating-gate 145 through the tunnel oxide 150 to cell's channel region 132 into the triple P-type well 130 .

After an erase operation, fewer electron charges are stored in the floating-gate 145 that results in a decrease in the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistor's 110 first threshold voltage level (Vt 0 ) to less than approximately 2.5V. In contrast, in a channel-hot-electron program operation, electrons are attracted into floating-gate 145 so that the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistor's 110 second threshold voltage level (Vt 1 ) is set to the voltage greater than approximately 4.0V. The distributions of the first threshold voltage level (Vt 0 ) for an erased state with a wide distribution and the second threshold voltage level (Vt 1 ) for a programmed state with a narrow distribution are set to be positive to avoid any false reading induced by the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 having a negative threshold voltage level.

FIG. 1 d is a graph of two threshold voltage distributions of a single transistor floating-gate NMOS NOR flash cell having a single level cell program. After an erase operation, there are fewer electron charges in the floating-gate 145 that result in lowering the threshold voltage of the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 . Normally, the erased NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 has a maximum value of its threshold voltage set to approximately +2.5V. In contrast, in channel-hot-electron-programming, electrons are attracted to the floating-gate 145 so that threshold voltage of the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 is increased to a minimum value voltage level of approximately +4.0V. By convention, the erased voltage threshold (Vt 0 ) value of approximately +2.5V is designated as a logical data value of “1” and the programmed voltage threshold (Vt 1 ) of +4.0V is designated as a logical data value of “0”. The NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 store a single bit of data is referred to as a single-bit-one-transistor NMOS NOR flash floating-gate cell (1b1T).

FIG. 1 e is a graph of four threshold voltage distributions of a single transistor floating-gate NMOS NOR flash cell having one erase level and three program levels. It is known in the art that by varying the program conditions more than two threshold voltage levels can be created based on the quantity of charge placed on the floating-gate 145 of the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 . This is commonly referred to multiple level cell programming of a NMOS NOR flash floating-gate cell. In this example, there are four threshold voltage levels that can be programmed to the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 . The least positive wide-distribution threshold voltage level Vt 0 is the erased voltage level with a maximum value of +2.5V for storing a logical data value of “11”. The three positive narrow-distribution programmed voltage threshold voltage levels are set to be sufficiently spaced apart to allow accurate detection. In the present example, the first of the three positive voltage threshold levels Vt 1 has a nominal value of approximately +3.25V for storing a logical data value “10”. The second of the three voltage positive threshold levels Vt 2 has a nominal value of approximately +4.25V for storing a logical data value “01”. The third of the three positive voltage threshold level Vt 3 has a nominal value of approximately +5.25V for storing a logical data value “00”. Since each NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistor 110 stores four distinctive positive threshold voltage states, each NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistor 110 stores two bits binary data and is referred to as a two-bit-one-transistor NMOS NOR flash cell (2b/1T).

The nominal values of threshold voltages Vt 1 and Vt 2 of the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 may vary by more than 1.0V among different designs. The nominal values of threshold voltages Vt 0 and Vt 3 can have a wider threshold voltage distribution. For example, the threshold voltage Vt 0 is may vary from approximately 1.0V to approximately 2.5V. The threshold voltage Vt 3 can have much wider distribution. It must have a voltage greater than approximately 4.5V to ensure that the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 110 is in a non-conduction state. The assigned designations of 2-bit data states for four threshold voltage states may also vary between NMOS NOR flash floating-gate cell designs as described above in the NMOS NAND flash floating-gate cell.

FIG. 2 a is a schematic diagram of two one-transistor floating-gate NMOS NOR flash cells. FIG. 2 b is a top plan layout view of two one-transistor floating-gate NMOS NOR flash cells. FIG. 2 c is a cross sectional view of a two one-transistor floating-gate NMOS NOR flash cell. The two one-transistor floating-gate NMOS NOR flash cell 210 is formed in a P-type well TPW 244 within a deep N-well DNW 242 that are formed in the top surface of a P-type substrate 240 . An N-type material is then diffused into the surface of the P-type well TPW 240 to form the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b of the two NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b and the self-aligned source (S) 220 . The self-aligned source (S) 220 is shared by the two NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b . A first polycrystalline silicon layer is formed over the bulk regions 230 a and 230 b between the drain regions 215 a and 215 b and the self-aligned source region 220 to form the floating gates 245 a and 245 b . A second polycrystalline silicon layer is formed over the floating gates 245 a and 245 b to create the control gates (G) 225 a and 225 b of the floating-gate transistors 205 a and 205 b . The self-aligned source 220 is formed self-aligned between two adjacent second polycrystalline silicon layers of two control gates 225 a and 225 b of a pair of NMOS NOR two floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b . The self-align source 220 is commonly used in NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 210 to reduce the source line pitch. The drain regions 215 a and 215 b each have a metal contact 250 a and 250 b.

Each of the control gates control gates 225 a and 225 b are connected to word lines 270 a and 270 b . The word lines 270 a and 270 b connecting each of the control gates 225 a and 225 b of the floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b located on a row of an array of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b . The two metal contacts 250 a and 250 b are connected to and shorted by a common metal bit line 255 . The self-aligned source (S) 220 is connected to source line 260 . Having the sources 220 and drains 215 a and 215 b of each pair of the NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors 210 connected together places the devices essentially in parallel.

FIG. 2 d - 1 is a plot of two threshold voltage distributions of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a first implementation of a positive program level and a single positive erase level of a single level cell program. In the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b of FIG. 2 a , either the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b or source line 260 is connected to a voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V) and the P-type well TPW 244 is also biased voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V). The programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is the programmed state for a datum of a logical “0” and the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 is the erased state for a datum of a logical “1”. The programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is accomplished employing a Fowler-Nordheim edge tunneling programming operation and the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 is accomplished employing a Fowler-Nordheim channel tunneling erase operation. The low and narrow programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is the result of a bit-by-bit and iterative program operation such that programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 can be easily be controlled. The low and narrow programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 distribution achieves a fast, low-voltage VDD read operation without a boosted word line voltage. The high positive erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 has a wide threshold voltage distribution with a lower boundary Vt 1 L that is larger than approximately +5.0V. The low positive narrow programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 has a distribution ranging from a lower boundary Vt 0 L of approximately 0.0V to an upper boundary Vt 0 H of approximately +0.5V and nominal value of the programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is approximately +0.25V. Each of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b that have two threshold voltage levels are each referred to as being a single level cell program cell (SLC). The read voltage level, VR is used to distinguish between the programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 that stores the logical “0” and the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 that stores the logical “1” is set to approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD to accomplish a read with out having a boosted read voltage level.

FIGS. 2 f - 1 illustrates a the first threshold voltage distribution of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b of FIG. 2 d - 1 when both the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b and the source line 260 are connected to approximately the read biasing voltage of approximately +1.0V and the P-type well TPW 244 is biased at the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V). Because the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b and sources 220 of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are biased at approximately the read bias voltage level of approximately 1.0V, the threshold voltage levels of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are shifted in positive direction of approximately 1.0V. The nominal value of the programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 of approximately +0.25V shifts to a new nominal value of approximately +1.25V plus with a threshold voltage variation generated from body effect. The lower boundary Vt 1 L of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 that is larger than approximately +5.0V shifts to a threshold voltage level of approximately +6.0V. The programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 shift of +1.0V is occurs in the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b that are connected the selected bit lines in the read operation.

FIG. 2 d - 2 is a plot of two threshold voltage distributions of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a second implementation of a positive program level and a single positive erase level of a single level cell program. In the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b of FIG. 2 a , either the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b or source line 260 is connected to a voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V) and the P-type well TPW 244 is also biased voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V). The programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is the programmed state for a datum of a logical “0” and the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 is the erased state for a datum of a logical “1”. The programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is accomplished employing a Fowler-Nordheim edge tunneling programming operation and the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 is accomplished employing a Fowler-Nordheim channel tunneling erase operation. The low and narrow programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is the result of a bit-by-bit and iterative program operation such that programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 can be easily be controlled. The low and narrow programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 distribution achieves a fast, low-voltage VDD read operation without a boosted word line voltage. The high positive erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 has a wide threshold voltage distribution with a lower boundary Vt 1 L that is larger than approximately +6.0V. The low positive narrow programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 has a distribution ranging from a lower boundary Vt 0 L of approximately +1.0V to an upper boundary Vt 0 H of approximately +1.5V and nominal value of the programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is approximately +1.25V. Each of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b that have two threshold voltage levels are referred to as being a single level cell program (SLC). The read voltage level, VR is used to distinguish between the programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 that stores the logical “0” and the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 that stores the logical “1” is set to approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD to accomplish a read without having a boosted read voltage level.

FIGS. 2 f - 2 illustrates a the first threshold voltage distribution of each of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b of FIG. 2 d - 2 when both the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b and the source line 260 are connected to the read biasing voltage of approximately +1.0V and the P-type well TPW 244 is biased at the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V). Because the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b and sources 220 of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are biased at the read bias voltage level of approximately 1.0V, the threshold voltage level of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are shifted in positive direction of approximately 1.0V. The nominal value of the programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 of approximately +1.25V shifts to a new nominal value of approximately +2.25V plus with a threshold voltage variation generated from body effect. The lower boundary Vt 1 L of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 shifts from the threshold voltage level of approximately +7.0V to a threshold voltage level of approximately +6.0V. The programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 shift of +1.0V occurs in the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b that are connected the selected bit lines in the read operation.

If the threshold voltage level of the unselected NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b in the selected word line 225 a or 225 b are lower than the read biasing voltage level VR, then the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b of the unselected NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b in the unselected bit lines 255 would be discharged to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V). Therefore the unselected NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b connected to the unselected bit lines 255 would not be shifted the same voltage as the source bias voltage (approximately +1.0V) because all NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b and sources 220 of the unselected NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b in the unselected bit lines 255 are biased to a voltage level of approximately +1.0V. The drains (D) 215 a and 215 b of the unselected NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are connected to voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V) with sources 220 are connected to the source line source inhibit biasing voltage of approximately +1.0V. Since one of drains (D) 215 a and 215 b and sources 220 is connected to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V), therefore the threshold voltage of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b is not shifted up by source inhibit biasing voltage of approximately +1.0V.

FIG. 2 e - 1 is a plot of four threshold voltage distributions of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a first implementation of a positive erase level and three positive program levels of a multiple level with the sources 220 or drains (D) 215 a and 215 b and “P-type well TPW 244 biased to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V). It should be noted that when the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are connected to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V), the threshold voltage levels are the same as when the sources 220 are connected to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V) because NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b have symmetrical characteristics. As long as one of drains (D) 215 a and 215 b or sources 220 of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are connected to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V), then the threshold voltage levels of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are as shown in FIG. 2 e - 1 .

The multiple level cell program of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b includes a high, wide, positive erased threshold voltage level Vt 3 that stores a datum representing a digital “11”. The lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 3 is approximately +5.0V. The narrow third programmed threshold voltage level Vt 2 stores a datum representing a logical “01”. The third narrow programmed threshold voltage level Vt 2 has a distribution that varies by approximately 0.5V with a nominal value of +3.25V such that the lower boundary Vt 2 L of the third programmed threshold voltage level Vt 2 is approximately +3.0V and the upper boundary Vt 2 H of the third programmed threshold voltage level Vt 2 is approximately +3.5V. The second narrow programmed threshold voltage level Vt 1 stores a datum representing a logical “10”. The second narrow programmed threshold voltage level Vt 1 has a distribution that varies by approximately 0.5V with a nominal value of +1.75V such that the lower boundary Vt 1 L of the second programmed threshold voltage level Vt 1 is approximately +1.5V and the upper boundary Vt 1 H of the second programmed threshold voltage level Vt 1 is approximately +2.0V. The narrow third programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 stores a datum representing a logical “00”. The third narrow programmed state Vt 0 has a distribution that varies by approximately 0.5V with a nominal value of +0.25V such that the lower boundary Vt 0 L of the third programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is approximately +0.0V and the upper boundary Vt 0 H of the third programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is approximately +0.5V.

FIGS. 2 g - 1 illustrates the first threshold voltage distribution of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b of FIG. 2 e - 1 when both the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b and the source line 260 are connected to approximately the read biasing voltage of approximately +1.0V and the P-type well TPW 244 is biased at the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V). Because the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b and sources 220 of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are biased at approximately the read bias voltage level of approximately 1.0V, the threshold voltage level of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are shifted in positive direction of approximately 1.0V. The lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 3 is shifted from the nominal magnitude of approximately +5.0V to a magnitude of approximately +6.0V. The third programmed state Vt 2 is shifted from the nominal magnitude of approximately +3.25V to a magnitude of approximately +4.25V. The second programmed state Vt 1 is shifted from a nominal magnitude of approximately +1.75V to a magnitude of approximately +2.75V. The third programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is shifted from a nominal magnitude of approximately +0.25V to a magnitude of approximately +1.25V. The shift of +1.0V for the three programmed threshold voltage levels Vt 0 , Vt 1 , and Vt 2 occurs in the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b that are connected the selected bit lines in the read operation.

FIG. 2 e - 2 is a plot of four threshold voltage distributions of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cell having a second implementation of a positive erase level and three positive program levels of a multiple level with the sources 220 or drains (D) 215 a and 215 b and “P-type well TPW 244 biased to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V). It should be noted that when the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are connected to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V), the threshold voltage levels are the same as when the sources 220 are connected to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V) because NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b have symmetrical characteristics. As long as one of drains (D) 215 a and 215 b or sources 220 of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are connected to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V), then the threshold voltage levels of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are as shown in FIG. 2 e - 2 .

The multiple level cell program of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b includes a high, wide, positive erased threshold voltage level Vt 3 that stores a datum representing a digital “11”. The lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 3 is approximately +6.0V. The narrow third programmed threshold voltage level Vt 2 stores a datum representing a logical “01”. The third narrow programmed state Vt 2 has a distribution that varies by approximately 0.5V with a nominal value of +4.25V such that the lower boundary Vt 2 L of third programmed threshold voltage level Vt 2 is approximately +4.0V and the upper boundary Vt 2 H of third programmed threshold voltage level Vt 2 is approximately +4.5V. The narrow second programmed threshold voltage level Vt 1 stores a datum representing a logical “10”. The second narrow programmed state Vt 1 has a distribution that varies by approximately 0.5V with a nominal value of +2.75V such that the lower boundary Vt 1 L of second programmed threshold voltage level Vt 1 is approximately +2.5V and the upper boundary Vt 1 H of second programmed threshold voltage level Vt 1 is approximately +3.0V. The narrow first programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 stores a datum representing a logical “00”. The first narrow programmed state Vt 0 has a distribution that varies by approximately 0.5V with a nominal value of +1.25V such that the lower boundary Vt 0 L of first programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is approximately +1.0V and the upper boundary Vt 0 H of first programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is approximately +1.5V.

FIGS. 2 g - 2 illustrates the second threshold voltage distribution of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b of FIG. 2 e - 2 when both the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b and the source line 260 are connected to approximately the read biasing voltage of approximately +1.0V and the P-type well TPW 244 is biased at the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage level (0.0V). Because the drains (D) 215 a and 215 b and sources 220 of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are biased at approximately the read bias voltage level of approximately 1.0V, the threshold voltage level of the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b are shifted in positive direction of approximately 1.0V. The lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 3 L is shifted from a magnitude approximately +6.0V to a magnitude of approximately +7.0V. The third programmed state Vt 2 is shifted from a magnitude of approximately +4.25V to a magnitude of approximately +5.25V. The second programmed state Vt 1 is shifted from a magnitude of +2.75V to a magnitude of approximately +3.75V. The first programmed threshold voltage level Vt 0 is shifted from a magnitude of +1.25V to a magnitude of approximately +2.25V. The shift of +1.0V in the three programmed threshold voltage levels Vt 0 Vt 1 , and Vt 2 occurs in the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b that are connected the selected bit lines in the read operation.

The voltage thresholds as shown in FIGS. 2 f - 1 , 2 f - 2 , 2 g - 1 , and 2 g - 2 are shifted such that the NMOS NOR floating gate transistors 205 a and 205 b will not have sub-threshold bit line leakage current. To further decrease the leakage currents, the unselected word line 225 a or 225 b are biased to a word line inhibit biasing voltage of from approximately −2.0V to 0.0V. The lower voltage level of the word line inhibit biasing voltage is employed in the slow read operation to further decrease the leakage current. While the upper voltage (0.0V) is employed for the fast read operation to meet the present data access time requirements of 100 ns for a 1 GB capacity nonvolatile memory device. The slow read operation is commonly used in serial-type NOR flash charge retaining nonvolatile memory devices that do not need fast random access read. Therefore, the unselected word line read biasing voltages can be easily coupled to −2V to meet the slow read access time requirements of approximately 500 nS. For a fast read in a parallel NOR flash charge retaining nonvolatile memory device to meet 100 nS, the preferred read biasing voltage for the unselected word lines of the present invention is 0V without a need to connect to a read biasing voltage of approximately −2.0V. The negative read biasing voltage requires a on-chip negative charge pump circuit as in the slow serial-type NOR flash.

FIGS. 3 a - 3 d are schematic diagrams of floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cells illustrating the bias conditions reading, programming and page erasing of a floating-gate transistor NMOS NOR flash cells embodying the principles of the present invention. The schematic diagrams of FIGS. 3 a - 3 c represents a sector 300 of an array of NOR flash cells 310 a , . . . , 310 n that include the NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , M 1 and M 2 , and M 3 . The NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistors M 0 , M 1 , M 2 , and M 3 are arranged in rows and columns. The drains of the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistors M 0 and M 1 are commonly connected to the local bit line LBL 320 . The sources of the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistors M 0 and M 1 are commonly connected to the source line SL0 315 a . Similarly the drains of the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistors M 2 , and M 3 are commonly connected to the local bit line LBL 320 . The sources of the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistors M 2 and M 3 are commonly connected to the source line SLn 315 n.

The control gate of the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 of the block 325 a is connected to the word line WL0 320 a and the control gate of the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 1 of the block 325 a is connected to the word line WL1 320 b . Similarly, the control gate of the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 of the block 325 n is connected to the word line WL0 321 a and the control gate of the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 1 of the block 325 n is connected to the word line WL1 321 b.

The illustrated sector 300 of the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistors M 0 , M 1 , M 2 , and M 3 are formed in a common P-type well 305 . The word lines 320 a , and 320 b , and 321 a , and 321 b are connected to a row decoder that decodes a block and row address and applies the appropriate voltages to the word lines 320 a , and 320 b , and 321 a , and 321 b for reading, programming, and erasing the block 325 a , . . . , 325 n . The source lines 315 a , . . . , 315 n are connected to a source line decoder that decodes a block and row address and applies the appropriate voltage levels to the source lines 315 a , . . . , 315 n for reading, programming, and erasing the block. The bit line 320 is a column decoder that decodes a column address and applies the appropriate biasing for reading, programming, and erasing a block.

FIG. 3 a illustrates the biasing voltages for selecting the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 of the block 325 a for slow reading. The word line 320 a connected to the selected page of the block 325 a and containing the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 is set to the voltage level of the read voltage threshold VR or approximately the level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The unselected word line 320 b of the selected block 325 a and the word lines 321 a and 321 b of the unselected block 325 a are set to a word line read inhibit voltage VRI 1 that is approximately −2.0V to sufficiently turn off the unselected floating gate transistors M 1 of the selected block 325 a and M 0 and M 1 of the unselected block 325 n . The bit line LBL 320 is set to the bit line read biasing voltage of approximately +1.0V. The source line 315 a connected to the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 is set to a source line read biasing voltage that is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage. The source line 315 n that is connected to the unselected block 325 n is set to a first source line inhibit biasing voltage VS 1 that is equal to the voltage level of the bit line read biasing voltage or of approximately +1.0V. Having the voltage level of the source line 315 n of the unselected block 325 n equal to the voltage level of the bit line read biasing voltage causes the threshold voltages to shift by the magnitude of the source line and bit line read biasing voltages to further inhibit the sub-threshold leakage currents in the M 0 and M 1 of the unselected block 325 n . The P-type well TPW 305 is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). If the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 of the block 325 a is erased as a logical “1”, the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 will not turn on and a sense amplifier will detect the programmed level of the logical “1”. Alternatively, if the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 of the block 325 a is programmed with a logical “0”, the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 will turn on and a sense amplifier will detect the programmed level of the logical “0”.

FIG. 3 b illustrates the biasing voltages for selecting the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 of the block 325 a for fast reading. The word line 320 a connected to the selected page of the block 325 a and containing the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 is set to the voltage level of the read voltage threshold VR or approximately the level of an intermediate high read inhibit voltage level HV** of approximately +5.0V. The unselected word line 320 b of the selected block 325 a and the word lines 321 a and 321 b of the unselected block 325 n are set to a word line read inhibit voltage VRI 2 that is approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The voltage level of the word line read inhibit voltage is to sufficient turn off the unselected floating gate transistors M 1 of the selected block 325 a and M 0 and M 1 of the unselected block 325 n to minimize sub-threshold leakage. The bit line LBL 320 is set to the bit line read biasing voltage of approximately +1.0V. The source line 315 a connected to the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 is set to a source line read biasing voltage that is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage. The source line 315 n that is connected to the unselected block 325 n is set to a first source line inhibit biasing voltage VS 1 that is equal to the voltage level of the bit line read biasing voltage or of approximately +1.0V. Having the voltage level of the source line 315 n of the unselected block 325 n equal to the voltage level of the bit line read biasing voltage causes the threshold voltages to shift by the magnitude of the source line and bit line read biasing voltages to further inhibit the sub-threshold leakage currents in the M 0 and M 1 of the unselected block 325 n . The P-type well TPW 305 is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). If the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 of the block 325 a is erased as a logical “1”, the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 will not turn on and a sense amplifier will detect the programmed level of the logical “1”. Alternatively, if the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 of the block 325 a is programmed with a logical “0”, the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 will turn on and a sense amplifier will detect the programmed level of the logical “0”.

FIG. 3 c illustrates the biasing voltages for selecting the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 of the block 325 a for programming. The word line 320 a is connected to the selected page of the block 325 a and containing the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 is set to the voltage level of the very high negative program voltage level of from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V. The P-type well TPW 305 is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The unselected word line 320 b of the selected block 325 a and the word lines 321 a and 321 b of the unselected block 325 a are set to program inhibit VPI voltage of approximately −2.0V to more completely turn off the unselected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 1 of the selected block 325 a and the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 and M 1 of the unselected block 325 n to minimized sub-threshold leakage current. The source line 315 a that is connected to the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage. The source line 315 n that is connected to the unselected block 325 n is set to a second source line inhibit biasing voltage VS 2 that has a voltage level of from approximately +1.5V to approximately 1.8V. The bit line LBL 320 is set to the high program select voltage of approximately +5.0V. If the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 is not to be programmed (i.e. remain erased), the bit line LBL 320 is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage to inhibit the programming of the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistors that are to remain erased.

FIG. 3 d illustrates the biasing voltages for selecting the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 of the block 325 a for page erasing. The word line 320 a connected to the selected page to be erased of the block 325 a and containing the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 is set to the voltage level of the very high positive program voltage level VERS+ that is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V. The P-type well TPW 305 is set to the voltage level of the very large negative erase voltage VERS− that is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V. The unselected word line 320 b of the selected block 325 a is set to the ground reference voltage level to inhibit the unselected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 1 of the block 325 a from erasure. The word lines 321 a and 321 b of the unselected block 325 n are coupled to the very large negative erase voltage VERS− through the P-type well TPW. The source line 315 a that is connected to the selected NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 and the source line 315 n that is connected to the unselected block 325 n is set to the very large negative erase voltage VERS−. The bit line LBL 320 is set to the very large negative erase voltage VERS−. In this example only the page containing the NMOS NOR flash floating gate transistor M 0 is erased and the unselected page of the selected block 325 a and the unselected block 325 n are inhibited from erasing.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a nonvolatile memory device 400 embodying the principles of the present invention incorporating the various embodiments of NOR flash floating-gate transistors. The NOR flash charge retaining nonvolatile memory device 400 includes an array 405 of NMOS flash floating-gate transistors arranged in a matrix of rows and columns. The array 405 is partitioned into a uniform number of sectors 410 a , . . . , 410 m and each sector is divided into a uniform number of blocks 412 a , 412 b , . . . , 412 n , and 414 a , 414 b , . . . , 414 n . For instance, a 1 Gb memory array device may be divided into 1024 sectors. Each sector then becomes 128 KB and may be divided into a number blocks such as 8 blocks of 16 KB each. Further, the block is divided into pages. In this example, the page may have a size of 4 Kb such that one page is equivalent to one word line or row of the block or sub-array 412 a , 412 b , 412 n , and 414 a , 414 b , . . . , 414 n . Thus, each block 412 a , 412 b , . . . , 412 n , and 414 a , 414 b , . . . , 414 n has 32 pages or word lines.

The column address decoder 445 receives a column address 440 , decodes the column address 440 , and from the decoded column address 440 selects which one of the data registers and sense amplifiers 435 are being accessed. The column address decoder 445 activates the appropriate global bit lines 447 a , . . . , 447 n for operating a selected sector 410 a , . . . , 410 m . The appropriate global bit lines 447 a , . . . , 447 n are further connected to the data register and sense amplifier 435 . The data register and sense amplifier 435 receives the data signals through the global bit lines 447 a , . . . , 447 n from the selected sector 410 a , . . . , 410 m and senses and holds the data from the data signal for a read operation. In a program operation, the data is transferred from the data register and sense amplifier 435 through the global bit lines 447 a , . . . , 447 n to the selected sector 410 a , . . . , 410 m . The data being read from or written (program and erase) to the array 405 of NOR NMOS flash floating-gate transistors is transferred to and from the data register and sense amplifier 435 through the column address decoder 445 from and to the data input/output bus 480 .

Each block 412 a , 412 b , . . . , 412 n , and 414 a , 414 b , . . . , 414 n of the array 405 of NOR NMOS flash floating-gate transistors is connected to a row decoder 420 through the word lines 432 a , 432 b , 432 n , 434 a , 434 b , 434 n . Each sector 410 a , . . . , 410 m is connected to a sector row decoder 425 a , . . . , 425 m within the row decoder 420 . Each sector 410 a , . . . , 410 m is connected to one of the sector row decoder 425 a , . . . , 425 m . The sector row decoders 425 a , . . . , 425 m further incorporate block row decoders 422 a , 422 b , . . . , 422 n , and 424 a , 424 b , 424 n such that each block 412 a , 412 b , . . . , 412 n , and 414 a , 414 b , . . . , 414 n is connected with its own block row decoder 422 a , 422 b , 422 n , and 424 a , 424 b , 424 n for providing the appropriate voltage levels to a selected page or word line for reading, programming, and erasing selected NMOS flash floating-gate transistors. The row address 490 are transferred to each of the row decoders 422 a , 422 b , 422 n , and 424 a , 424 b , 424 n select the page or word line and to provide the appropriate voltage levels for reading and programming the selected NMOS flash floating gate transistors. The row decoder 420 further provides the necessary word line read inhibit voltages and word line program inhibit voltages for minimizing the sub-threshold leakage currents from the unselected NOR NMOS flash floating-gate transistors of the array 405 during the read and program operation. The row decoder further disconnects the unselected word lines to couple the very large negative erase voltage (−10.0V) to the word lines of the unselected blocks 412 a , 412 b , . . . , 412 n , and 414 a , 414 b , . . . , 414 n within the selected sector 410 a , . . . , 410 m of the array 405 and to couple the ground reference voltage level to word lines of the selected blocks 412 a , 412 b , . . . , 412 n , and 414 a , 414 b , . . . , 414 n within the selected sector 410 a , . . . , 410 m of the array 405 to inhibit disturbances in unselected nonvolatile memory cells of the array 405 .

Each block 412 a , 412 b , . . . , 412 n , and 414 a , 414 b , . . . , 414 n of the array 405 of NMOS NOR flash floating-gate transistors is connected to a source line decoder 415 through the source lines 426 a , 426 b , 426 n , 427 a , 427 b , 427 n . The source line decoder 420 is formed of multiple sector source line decoders 416 a , . . . , 416 m . Each sector source line decoder 416 a , . . . , 416 m has multiple block source line decoders 417 a , 417 b , . . . , 417 n , and 419 a , 419 b , . . . , 419 n such that each block 412 a , 412 b , . . . , 412 n , and 414 a , 414 b , . . . , 414 n is connected with its own source line decoder 417 a , 417 b , . . . , 417 n , and 419 a , 419 b , . . . , 419 n for providing the appropriate voltage levels to a selected page or word line for reading and programming selected NMOS flash floating-gate transistors. The row address 490 is transferred to each of the source line decoders 417 a , 417 b , . . . , 417 n , and 419 a , 419 b , . . . , 419 n to select the source line 426 a , 426 b , 426 n , 427 a , 427 b , 427 n of the selected page to provide the appropriate voltage levels for reading, programming, and erasing the selected NMOS flash floating gate transistors. The source line decoders 417 a , 417 b , . . . , 417 n , and 419 a , 419 b , . . . , 419 n connected to the unselected blocks 412 a , 412 b , . . . , 412 n , and 414 a , 414 b , . . . , 414 n within the selected sector 410 a , . . . , 410 m of the array 405 transfer a source line inhibit biasing voltage to the unselected source lines 426 a , 426 b , . . . , 426 n , 427 a , 427 b , 427 n to minimize sub-threshold leakage current in the unselected NOR NMOS flash floating-gate transistors in the array 405 .

Refer now to FIG. 5 for a discussion of the structure of a sector 410 a of the array 405 of FIG. 4 . The sector 410 a is exemplary of the all the sectors 410 a , . . . , 410 m of array 405 : The sector 410 a is placed in a common P-type well (TPW 2 ) and contains all the NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn of the sector 410 a . The NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn are arranged in rows and columns to form the sub-array of the sector 410 a . The NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn are formed pair-wise to create a NOR flash nonvolatile memory cell 411 . The two NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 and M 1 of the NOR flash nonvolatile memory cell 411 have their drains commonly connected to a local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k . The local bit lines 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k are connected through the selected select floating gate transistor MB0 460 a , . . . , 460 k and global bit line gating transistors MS) 465 a , 465 n or MS1 466 a , 466 n to the data register and sense amplifier 435 and the column address decoder 445 of FIG. 4 . The column address decoder 445 of FIG. 4 provides the bit line read bias voltage, the bit line erase bias voltage, the bit line program bias voltage, the bit line read bias voltage, and the bit line read inhibit bias voltage to the local bit lines 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k for reading, programming, erasing, and verifying the selected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn.

The sources of the two NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 and M 1 are connected to one source line 426 a , . . . , 426 k and 427 a , . . . , 427 k . The source lines 426 a , . . . , 426 m and 427 a , . . . , 427 m of each block 412 a , . . . , 412 n are connected to the source line decoder 415 of FIG. 4 . The source line decoder 415 of FIG. 4 provides the source line read bias voltage, the source line erase bias voltage, the source line program bias voltage, the source line read inhibit bias voltage, and the source line program inhibit bias voltage to the source lines 426 a , . . . , 426 m and 427 a , . . . , 427 m of each block 412 a , . . . , 412 n for reading, programming, erasing, and verifying the selected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn.

The control gates of the two NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 and M 1 are connected to the word lines 432 a , . . . , 432 n . The word lines 432 a , . . . , 432 n are connected to the row decoder 420 of FIG. 4 . The row decoder 420 of FIG. 4 provides the first and second word line read bias voltages, the word line erase bias voltage, the word line program bias voltage, the first and second word line read inhibit bias voltages, and the word line program inhibit bias voltage to the 432 a , . . . , 432 n for reading, programming, erasing, and verifying the selected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn. The first and second word line read inhibit bias voltages, and the word line program inhibit bias voltage provide the necessary voltages for minimizing the sub-threshold leakage currents through the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn.

The sector 410 a is divided into multiple blocks 412 a , . . . , 412 n and each block 412 a , . . . , 412 n is further divided into pages 413 . The page 413 being a grouping of the NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn having their control gates connected commonly to a word line (WL0, . . . , WLN) of the word lines 432 a , . . . , 432 n . Each local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k is connected to the source of a block select floating gate transistor MB0 460 a , . . . , 460 k . The drains of the block select floating gate transistors MB0 460 a , . . . , 460 k are connected to the associated sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k . The gate of each of the select floating gate transistor MB0 460 a , . . . , 460 k is connected to one of the block gate select lines 433 a , 433 n that provides the activation voltage to connect the NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn to its associated sector bit line 455 a , 455 b , 455 k.

Each of the sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k is connected to one of the sources of the global bit line gating transistors 465 a , 465 n and 466 a , 466 n and each of the drains of the global bit line gating transistors 465 a , 465 n and 466 a , . . . , 466 n is connected to one of the global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n . The gates of each of the global bit line gating transistors 465 a , 465 n and 466 a , 466 n are connected to their associated global bit line select lines SLG[0] 467 a and SLG[1] 467 b . The global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n are connected to the column address decoder 445 and the data register and sense amplifier 435 .

When one row of the block select floating gate transistors MB0 460 a , . . . , 460 k is activated one of the blocks 412 a , . . . , 412 n is selected to be connected to the sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , . . . , 455 k . One of a pair of columns of the selected block 412 a , . . . , 412 n is connected to the global bit lines when one grouping of the global bit line select lines SLG[0] 467 a or SLG[1] 467 b are activated to selectively turn on the global bit line gating transistors 465 a , . . . , 465 n and 466 a , . . . , 466 n . In a read and a program operation, one of the global bit line gating transistors 465 a , . . . , 465 n and 466 a , . . . , 466 n is activated at a time to read the one column of the NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn following deactivating the first of the global bit line gating transistors 465 a , . . . , 465 n and 466 a , . . . , 466 n and activating the second of the global bit line gating transistors 465 a , . . . , 465 n and 466 a , . . . , 466 n to read or program the second column of the NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a representative sector decoder 425 of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 . Each sector decoder 425 is partitioned into block row decoders 422 a , 422 b , . . . , 422 n (Note that in FIG. 4 , the row decoders are designated ( 422 a , 422 b , . . . , 422 n , and 424 a , 424 b , . . . , 424 n ). The number of block row decoders 422 a , 422 b , . . . , 422 n in each sector decoder 425 is equal to the number of rows of NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn in each sector 410 a , . . . , 410 m of FIG. 4 . the logic gate 510 a , . . . , 510 n (a AND gate in this embodiment) receives the block address 520 of the row address 490 of FIG. 4 , decodes the block address 520 to select which of the block row decoders 422 a , . . . , 422 n are to be activated for reading, programming, erasing, or verifying. The output of the logic gate 510 a , . . . , 510 n is the block select signal RXD [0] 512 a , . . . , RXD [n] 512 n that is the input to a level shift circuit 515 a , . . . , 515 n . The level shift circuit 515 a , . . . , 515 n receives the power supply voltage levels 525 that are used to shift the lower voltage logic level of the block select signal RXD [0] 512 a , . . . , RXD [n] 512 n to the levels required for reading, programming, and erasing. The outputs of the level shift circuit 515 a , . . . , 515 n are the high voltage block select signals XD 430 a , . . . , 430 n and XDB 532 a , . . . , 532 n that are applied to the row decode circuit 540 a , . . . , 540 n.

The row decode circuit 540 a , . . . , 540 n provides the appropriate voltage levels for transfer to the rows of the word lines 432 a , . . . , 432 n of the selected block 412 a , . . . , 412 n of FIG. 4 . The voltage levels applied to row decode circuit 540 a , . . . , 540 n are provided by the high voltage power supply voltage lines XT[0:7] 535 . Each high voltage power supply voltage line XT[0:7] 535 is associated with one of the word lines 432 a , . . . , 432 n and is set according to the operation (read, program, erase, or verify) to be executed and are discussed hereinafter. The row decode circuit 540 a , . . . , 540 n has the row pass devices formed of the high voltage PMOS transistors 541 a , . . . , 541 n and the high voltage NMOS transistors 542 a , . . . , 542 n connected pair-wise in parallel. The gates of the PMOS transistors 541 a , . . . , 541 n are each connected to one of the high voltage out of phase block select signals XDB 532 a , . . . , 532 n . and the gates of the NMOS transistors 542 a , . . . , 542 n are each connected to one of the in-phase block select signals XD 530 a , . . . , 530 n . The sources of the PMOS transistors 541 a , . . . , 541 n and the drains of the high voltage NMOS transistors 542 a , . . . , 542 n are connected to the high voltage power supply voltage lines XT[0:7] 535 associated with one of the word lines 432 a , . . . , 432 n . The drains of the PMOS transistors 541 a , . . . , 541 n and the sources of the high voltage NMOS transistors 542 a , . . . , 542 n are connected to the drain high voltage pass transistors 551 a , . . . , 551 n associated with one of the word lines 432 a , . . . , 432 n . The drains of the PMOS transistors 541 a , . . . , 541 n and the sources of the high voltage NMOS transistors 542 a , . . . , 542 n are further connected to the drain of the NMOS transistors 543 a , . . . , 543 n . The gate of the NMOS transistors 543 a , . . . , 543 n is connected to the out of phase block select signals XDB 532 a , . . . , 532 n and the sources of the NMOS transistors 543 a , . . . , 543 n are connected to negative inhibit voltage line VN2 568 . For the row decoders 422 a , . . . , 422 n of the unselected block 412 a , . . . , 412 n , the level shift circuits 515 a , . . . , 515 n are deactivated and the out of phase block select signals XDB 532 a , . . . , 532 n are set to turn on the NMOS transistors 543 a , . . . , 543 n to set the drains of the NMOS transistors 543 a , . . . , 543 n to the voltage level of the negative inhibit voltage line VN2 568 that are passed to the unselected word lines for minimizing the sub-threshold leakage current in the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn of the array 405 .

The high voltage pass transistors 551 a , . . . , 551 n form the PMOS high voltage isolators 550 a , . . . , 550 n . The gates of the high voltage pass transistors 551 a , . . . , 551 n are connected together by the isolation signal ISOB 566 . When activated, the high voltage pass transistors 551 a , . . . , 551 n connect the word lines 432 a , . . . , 432 n to the row decode circuits 540 a , . . . , 540 n . When deactivated, the high voltage pass transistors 551 a , . . . , 551 n isolate the word lines 432 a , . . . , 432 n from the row decode circuits 540 a , . . . , 540 n . It should be noted that maintaining the drain to source voltages of the high voltage pass transistors 551 a , . . . , 551 n less than the +/−10V eliminates the need for special high voltage devices with larger dimensions.

The PMOS high voltage isolators 550 a , . . . , 550 n are each formed in an independent N-type well independently controlled by the control lines 552 a , . . . , 552 n . The N-type well for each of the N-type well is connected through the control lines 552 a , . . . , 552 n to a corresponding N-type well switch 555 a , . . . , 555 n to individually charge or discharge the N-type wells. The N-type well switch 555 a , . . . , 555 n includes the PMOS transistors 556 a , . . . , 556 n and 557 a , . . . , 557 n and the NMOS transistors 558 a , . . . , 558 n . The gates of the PMOS transistors 556 a , . . . , 556 n and the NMOS transistors 558 a , . . . , 558 n are connected to the out of phase block select signals XDB 532 a , . . . , 532 n . The gates of the PMOS transistors 557 a , . . . , 557 n are connected to the out of is phase read signal RDB 564 . The drains the PMOS transistors 556 a , . . . , 556 n and 557 a , . . . , 557 n and drains the NMOS transistors 558 a , . . . , 558 n are connected via the control lines 552 a , . . . , 552 n to the N-type wells 552 a , . . . , 552 n . The sources of the PMOS transistors 556 a , . . . , 556 n and 557 a , . . . , 557 n are connected to the positive N-well biasing voltage source VP1 562 and the sources of the NMOS transistors 558 a , . . . , 558 n are connected to the negative N-well biasing voltage source VN1 560 .

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a level shifter circuit of the row decoder of FIG. 6 . Referring now to FIG. 7 , the level shifter circuit 515 includes three sub-level-shifter circuits 570 , 580 , and 590 to translate the low voltage level of the block select signal RXD 512 to a voltage level of a first positive high voltage power source VPX1 527 a . The voltage translation maintains the drain to source breakdown voltage of the peripheral circuitry of the nonvolatile memory device 400 of FIG. 4 to be less than or equal to the drain to source breakdown voltage BVDSS that is approximately +/−10V. Maintaining the drain to source voltages of the sector decoder 425 of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 less than the +/−10V eliminates the need for special high voltage devices with larger dimensions. The first level shift circuit 570 has pair of cross connected PMOS transistors 571 and 572 that have their sources connected to a second positive high voltage power source VPX0 527 b . The bulk regions of the PMOS transistors 571 and 572 are connected to the second positive high voltage power source VPX0 527 b . The drain of the PMOS transistor 571 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistors 572 and the drain of the PMOS transistor 572 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor 571 . The drain of the PMOS transistor 571 is connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor 575 and the drain of the PMOS transistor 572 is connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor 577 . The gate of the NMOS transistor 575 is connected to receive the block select signal RXD 512 . The block select signal RXD 512 is connected to the input of the inverter 576 . The output of the inverter 576 is connected to the gate of the NMOS transistor 577 . The sources of the NMOS transistors 575 and 577 are connected to the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).

The output nodes 573 and 574 of the first level shift circuit 570 are the input nodes of the second level shift circuit 580 . The second level shift circuit 580 has pair of PMOS transistors 581 and 582 that have their sources connected to a second high voltage power supply VPX0 527 b . The bulk regions of the PMOS transistors 581 and 582 are connected to the second high voltage power supply VPX0 527 b . The drain of the PMOS transistor 581 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor 582 and the drain of the PMOS transistors 582 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistors 581 . The drain of the PMOS transistor 581 is connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor 585 and the drain of the PMOS transistor 582 is connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor 586 . The output node 573 of the first level shift circuit 570 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor 581 and the output node 574 of the first level shift circuit 570 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor 582 . The sources of the NMOS transistors 585 and 586 are connected to the first negative high voltage source VNX0 526 a . The output node 583 is at the junction of the connection of the drains of the PMOS transistor 582 and the NMOS transistor 586 . The output node 584 is at the junction of the connection of the drains of the PMOS transistor 581 and the NMOS transistor 585 .

The output nodes 583 and 584 of the second level shift circuit 580 are the input nodes of the third level shift circuit 590 . The third level shift circuit 590 has pair of PMOS transistors 591 and 592 that have their sources connected to a second positive high voltage power supply VPX1 527 a . The drain of the PMOS transistors 591 is connected to the source of the PMOS transistor 593 . The drain of the PMOS transistors 592 is connected to the source of the PMOS transistor 594 . The output node 583 of the second level shift circuit 580 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor 591 and the output node 584 of the second level shift circuit 580 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor 592 . The gates of the PMOS transistors 593 and 594 are connected to the isolation signal ISOP 528 . The isolation signal ISOP 528 is used to isolate the drain of PMOS transistors 591 and 592 from the in-phase high voltage block select signal XD 530 and the inverse high voltage block select signal XDB 532 at the program mode. If the PMOS transistors 593 and 594 were to be eliminated or removed, the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD would be applied to the output node 583 or the output node 584 during a program operation. This would cause a voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD plus the very high positive erase voltage to be applied from the gate to the drain of the PMOS transistors 591 or 592 . With the PMOS transistors 591 or 592 having a drain to source breakdown voltage BVDSS of less than −10V, the PMOS transistors 591 or 592 breakdown thus causing a malfunction of the circuit. The drain of the PMOS transistor 593 is connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor 595 and the gate of the NMOS transistor 596 . The drain of the PMOS transistor 594 is connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor 596 and the gate of the NMOS transistor 595 . The bulk regions of the PMOS transistors 591 , 592 , 593 , and 595 are connected to the second high voltage power supply VPX1 527 a . The sources of the NMOS transistors are connected to the second negative high voltage source VNX1 526 b . The high voltage block select signal XD 530 is present at the junction of the connection of the drains of the PMOS transistor 594 and the NMOS transistor 596 . The inverse high voltage block select signal XDB 532 is present at the junction of the connection of the drains of the PMOS transistor 593 and the NMOS transistor 595 .

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of sector source line decoder of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 . The sector source line decoder 416 a is divided into multiple block source line decoders 417 a , . . . , 417 n . Each of the block source line decoders 417 a , . . . , 417 n has a logic gate 600 a , . . . , 600 n (a AND gate in this embodiment) that receives and decodes the block address 520 of the row address 490 of FIG. 4 . The output of the block source line decoders 417 a , . . . , 417 n is the block source line selection signal 610 a , . . . , 610 n that is the input to the source line selector/conditioner 605 a , . . . , 605 n . The source line selector/conditioner 605 a , . . . , 605 n is connected to the source lines 426 a , . . . , 426 n to apply the correct voltage levels to the source lines 426 a , . . . , 426 n for reading, programming, and erasing the selected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn. The source line selector/conditioner 605 a , . . . , 605 n is connected to the block gate select lines 433 a , 433 n to provide the activation signal for activating the block select floating gate transistor MB0 460 a , . . . , 460 n of FIG. 5 to connect the selected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn to the associated sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k . The out-of-phase erase signal ERSB 615 , positive high voltage source VP2 616 , the in-phase program signal PG 618 , and the out-of-phase program signal PGB 619 provide the activation signals for setting the appropriate voltage levels to the source lines 426 a , . . . , 426 n and the block gate select lines 433 a , 433 n from the source line address lines ST[0] 620 a , ST[1] 620 b , and ST[3] 620 c and the source line select line SLS 632 . The source line address lines ST[0] 620 a , ST[1] 620 b , and ST[3] 620 c are connected to the drains of the NMOS transistors 625 a , 625 b , and 625 c . The sources of the NMOS transistors 625 a , 625 b , and 625 c are connected to the source line selector/conditioner 605 a , . . . , 605 n . The gates of the NMOS transistors 625 a , 625 b , and 625 c are connected to the source line isolation signal DISE 630 to isolate the source line address lines ST[0] 620 a , ST[1] 620 b , and ST[3] 620 c from the source line selector/conditioner 605 a , . . . , 605 n during an erase operation.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a source line selector/conditioner 605 a , . . . , 605 n of the sector source line decoder 416 a of FIG. 8 . The source line selector/conditioner 605 has a voltage level shifter 640 that receives the block selection signal 610 and translates the voltage level of the block selection signal 610 to those required by the source lines 426 and the block gate select signal BLG[0] 433 . The voltage level shifter 640 has a logic gate 641 (a NAND circuit in this embodiment) that receives the block selection signal 610 and the out of phase of the erase command signal 615 . The output of the logic gate 641 is an input to a logic gate 642 (a NAND circuit in this embodiment). The second input of the logic gate 642 is the erase command signal ERSB 615 . The output of the logic gate 641 is connected to the input of the NMOS transistor 644 . The output of the logic gate 642 is the input of the NMOS transistor 643 . The sources of the NMOS transistors 643 and 644 are connected to the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The drain of the NMOS transistor 643 is connected to the drain of the PMOS transistor 646 and the gate of the PMOS transistor 645 . The drain of the NMOS transistor 644 is connected to the drain of the PMOS transistor 645 and the gate of the PMOS transistor 646 . The sources of the PMOS transistors 645 and 646 are connected to the positive high voltage source VP2 616 . The in-phase output SD 650 of the voltage level shifter 640 is generated at the junction of the connection of the drains of the NMOS transistor 644 and the PMOS transistor 645 . The out-of-phase output SDB 652 of the voltage level shifter 640 is generated at the junction of the connection of the drains of the NMOS transistor 643 and the PMOS transistor 646 .

The in-phase output SD 650 and out-of-phase output SDB 652 of the voltage level shifter 640 are connected to the inputs of the source line decoder 635 . The source line decoder 635 is formed of pairs of NMOS transistors 655 a , . . . , 655 n and 657 a , . . . , 657 n . The gates of the NMOS transistors 655 a , . . . , 655 n are connected to the in-phase output SD 650 of the voltage level shifter 640 and the gates of the NMOS transistors 657 a , . . . , 657 n are connected to the out-of-phase output SDB 652 in-phase output SD 650 . The sources of the NMOS transistors 655 a , . . . , 655 n and the drains of the NMOS transistors 657 a , . . . , 657 n are connected to the source lines 426 a . The drains of the NMOS transistors 655 a , . . . , 655 n are connected to the source line address lines ST[0] 620 a , ST[1] 620 b , and ST[3] 620 c . The sources of the NMOS transistors 657 a , . . . , 657 n are connected to the source line select line SLS 632 .

The in-phase program command signal PG 618 and the out-of-phase program command signal PGB 619 are connected to the pass gate circuits 660 and 665 . The NMOS transistor 661 and the PMOS transistor 662 are placed in parallel to form the pass gate circuit 660 and the PMOS transistor 666 and the NMOS transistor 667 are placed in parallel to form the pass gate circuit 665 . The out-of-phase program command signal PGB 619 is connected to the gates of the NMOS transistor 661 and the PMOS transistor 666 and the in-phase program command signal PG 618 is connected to the PMOS transistors 662 and 667 . The sources of the NMOS transistor 661 and the PMOS transistor 662 are connected to the positive high voltage source VP2 616 . The drains of the NMOS transistor 661 and the PMOS transistor 662 are connected to the sources of the PMOS transistor 666 and the NMOS transistor 667 and to the block gate select line 433 of each block to selectively activate the block select floating gate transistors MB0 460 a , . . . , 460 n of FIG. 5 . The sources of the PMOS transistor 666 and the NMOS transistor 667 are connected to the gates of the NMOS transistors 655 a , . . . , 655 n to transfer the decoded in-phase output SD 650 to activate one of the NMOS transistors 655 a , . . . , 655 n when the of the voltage level shifter 640 is active during a program operation.

FIG. 10 is flow chart for the method for operating the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 . FIG. 11 is flow chart of the method for erasing and erase verifying a page, block, or sector of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 . FIG. 12 is flow chart of the method for programming and program verifying a page of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 . Refer now to FIGS. 4-12 , 13 a, 13 b , 14 a , 14 b , and 15 for a discussion of the operating voltage levels required for the reading, programming, erasing, and verification of the nonvolatile memory device. The method begins by determining (Box 700 ) if the operation is an erase. If the operation is an erase operation, the erase is determined (Box 705 ) to be a page, block, or sector erase. If the operation is to be a page erase, the page to be erased is selected (Box 710 ) and the page is erased (Box 725 ). The voltage levels for the array 405 of the NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn are shown in FIG. 13 a for a single level cell program and FIG. 13 b for a multiple level cell program. For the page erase the voltage levels are the same for the single level cell program and the multiple level cell program. The word lines 432 U of the selected blocks of the selected sectors are coupled to the very high negative erase voltage. The very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V as coupled from the P-type well TPW 244 S of the selected sector. The P-type well TPW 244 S of the selected sector set to the very high negative erase voltage. In the unselected sectors 410 a , . . . , 410 m of the array 405 , the P-type well TPW 244 U is set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The word lines of the unselected sectors 410 U are disconnected and allow to float such that the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) is coupled to the word lines of the unselected sectors (0.0V). The selected word line 432 S of the selected block is set to a very high positive erase voltage. The very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V. The unselected word lines 432 SU in the selected block 412 S are coupled to the approximately the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage. The selected local bit line 450 S is set to the very high negative erase voltage. The block gate select lines 433 S are set to the high erase select voltage of approximately +5.0V to couple the local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k to the associated sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k . The selected source line 426 S are set to the very high negative erase voltage. The selected global bit line select lines 467 S are set to the very high negative erase voltage to connect the sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k to the global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n.

To establish the page erase values as just described the row decoders 422 a , 422 b , 422 n , and 424 a , 424 b , 424 n of the selected sector have voltage levels described in FIGS. 14 a and 14 b . The single level cell program signal of FIG. 14 a and the multiple level cell program signals of FIG. 14 b are identical for a page erase operation The selected word line 432 S must be set to the very high positive erase voltage and the unselected word lines 432 SU of the selected block are set to the approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The unselected word lines 432 U of the unselected blocks are coupled to the very high negative erase voltage. The very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V from the P-type well TPW 244 S. To accomplish these levels, the row decoders 422 a , 422 b , 422 n of the selected blocks 412 S have their selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 S associated with the selected word line 432 S set to the very high positive erase voltage. The very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V to be fed through the row decode circuit 540 a , . . . , 540 n and the PMOS high voltage isolators 550 a , . . . , 550 n to the selected word line 432 . The unselected high voltage power supply voltage line 535 U associated with the selected word line 432 SU set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage level to be fed through the row decode circuit 540 a , . . . , 540 n and the PMOS high voltage isolators 550 a , . . . , 550 n to the unselected word line 432 SU. The voltage level of the selected in-phase block select signals XD 530 S, indicating that a block 412 S is selected, is set to the very high positive erase voltage and the voltage level of the out-of-phase block select signals XD 530 U, indicating that a block 412 U is unselected, is set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to be coupled from the row decode circuit 540 a , . . . , 540 n through the PMOS high voltage isolators 550 a , . . . , 550 n such that the unselected word lines 432 U are coupled to the very high negative erase voltage from the P-type well TPW 244 S. The N-type wells 552 S of the selected block 412 S is connected to the very high positive erase voltage to avoid voltage breakdown in the PMOS high voltage isolators 550 a , . . . , 550 n and the N-type well switch 555 a , . . . , 555 n . The N-type wells 552 U of the selected block 412 U is connected to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).

To transfer the very high positive erase voltage present on the selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 S to the selected word line 432 S, the PMOS high voltage isolators 550 a , . . . , 550 n are activated with the isolation signal ISOB 566 is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The out of phase read signal RDB 564 , first positive high voltage power source VPX1 527 a , the second high voltage power source VPX0 527 b , and the positive N-well biasing voltage source VP1 562 are set to the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V to set the selected word line 432 S to the voltage level of the very high positive erase. The first high negative voltage source VNX0 526 a , the second negative high voltage source VNX1 526 b , the negative N-well biasing voltage source VN1 560 and isolation signal ISOP 528 are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to set the unselected word lines 432 SU of the selected block 412 S to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).

FIG. 15 is a table illustrating the voltage levels applied to the source line decoder of FIG. 8 for generating the biasing voltages for the source lines of both the single level cell program and the multiple level cell program memory cells of the NOR flash nonvolatile memory device for the page, block, or sector erase. In the erase operation for the page, block, sector all the source lines 426 S, 426 SU, and 426 U are selected and set to the very high negative erase voltage level. The very high negative erase voltage level of from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V, because the very high negative erase voltage applied to the P-type well TPW 244 S is transferred from source line select line SLS 632 . All the source line address lines ST 620 S and 620 U are selected and set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). All the block source line selection signals 610 S and 610 U are selected and set to the voltage level of the power=supply voltage source VDD. All the block gate select lines BLG 433 S and 433 U are selected and set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The out of phase erase command signal 615 , the positive high voltage source VP2 616 , and the in-phase program command signal PG 618 are set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The source line select line SLS 632 and the source line erase isolation signal DISE 630 are set to the very high negative erase voltage level. The out-of-phase program command signal PGB 619 is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source. The very high negative erase voltage level as applied to the source line select line SLS 632 is fed to the selected source lines 426 S, but to prevent the very high negative erase voltage level of from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V from passing to all the source lines 426 U, 426 SU, and 426 U in a selected sector the source line address lines ST 620 S, the NMOS transistors 625 a , 625 b , and 625 c must be turned off. The source line erase isolation signal DISE 630 is set to the very high negative erase voltage level to turn off the NMOS transistors 625 a , 625 b , and 625 c.

Returning now to FIG. 11 , after the completion of the erase operation (Box 725 ), the page erase verify operation is executed (Box 730 ) to determine if the erase has been successfully accomplished. If the erase is not successful, a loop counter is tested (Box 735 ) to assess that the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded. If the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded, the loop counter is incremented (Box 740 ) and the page erase operation is executed repetitively until the maximum number of erasure trials is exceeded and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having failed (Box 745 ) or the erasure is a success and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having successfully been erased (Box 750 ).

The voltage levels for the page erase verification for the array 405 of the NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn are shown in FIG. 13 a for a single level cell program and FIG. 13 b for a multiple level cell program. Referring to FIGS. 13 a and 13 b , the unselected word lines 432 U of the unselected blocks 412 U and the unselected word lines 432 SU of the selected blocks 412 S are set to the word line read inhibit voltage that is approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The word line read inhibit voltage level is set to turn off the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn to prevent sub-threshold leakage currents. The selected word line 432 S is set to a voltage level of the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage Vt 1 L or approximately +5.0V for the single level cell program as shown in FIG. 13 a . The selected word line 432 S is set to a voltage level of the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage Vt 3 L or approximately +5.0V for the multiple level cell program as shown in FIG. 13 b.

Referring to FIGS. 14 a and 14 b , the selected word line 432 S is set to the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage Vt 1 L by setting selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 S to the voltage level of the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage level (Vt 1 L for single level program cell and VT 3 L for multi-level program cell). The voltage level of the selected in-phase block select signals XD 530 S, the first positive high voltage power source VPX1 527 a , the second high voltage power source VPX0 527 b , negative N-well biasing voltage source VN1 560 , and the positive N-well biasing voltage source VP1 562 are set to lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage (Vt 1 L for single level program cell and VT 3 L for multi-level program cell). to pass the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage (Vt 1 L for single level program cell and VT 3 L for multi-level program cell) to the selected word line 432 S. The out of phase read signal RDB 564 , the first high negative voltage source VNX0 526 a , the second negative high voltage source VNX1 526 b , and the isolation signal ISOP 528 are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). These voltage levels, as described, pass the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage (Vt 1 L for single level program cell and VT 3 L for multi-level program cell) from the selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 S to the selected word line 432 S. Further, The voltage levels, as described, pass the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) from the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 U to the unselected word line 432 U.

The bit lines local bit lines 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k as shown in FIG. 5 are selectively connected to the associated sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k . Two of the sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k are selectively connected to one of the global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n . The local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k of one column is read or verified followed by reading or verifying the second local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k of the adjacent associated column. To accomplish this, the selected bit lines LBL 450 S for the column being read is pre-charged to the pre-charge voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD less the threshold voltage Vt (VDD−Vt) for sensing the status of the selected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn on the activated column. The pre-charge voltage level (VDD−Vt) will be discharged to 0V when the NMOS floating gate transistor M 0 , . . . , Mn has not been successfully erased to the erased threshold voltage level is lower than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level (Vt 1 L for single level program cell and VT 3 L for multi-level program cell). If the NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn are erased, the pre-charged level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the erased NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn is greater than the erased threshold voltage level (Vt 1 L for single level program cell and VT 3 L for multi-level program cell). Since, all the local bit lines 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k are tested during the erase verify operation, there are no unselected local bit lines 450 U. The selected block gate select line 433 S for all the blocks of the selected sector are set to the voltage level of the high read select voltage HV″ of approximately +5.0V to fully couple the local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k to the associated sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k.

The selected source line 426 S in the selected sector 412 S are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The unselected source lines 426 U are set to the source line read inhibit voltage is approximately +1.0V. The source line read inhibit voltage is approximately equal to the bit line read biasing voltage to shift the threshold voltages of the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn such that the sub-threshold leakage current is minimized. The selected global bit line select line 467 S of the selected sector 410 S are set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD to connect a first set of sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , . . . , 455 k to the associated global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n . The unselected global bit line select lines 467 U of the selected sector 410 S are set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD to disconnect a second set of sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , . . . , 455 k from the associated global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n . The P-type well TPW 244 S selected sector 410 S and the P-type well TPW 244 U unselected sectors 410 U are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).

To establish the voltage levels as described for the erase verification in FIGS. 13 a and 13 b , the source line decoder 415 has the voltage levels shown in FIG. 15 . Referring to FIG. 15 , the selected source line 426 S is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) and the unselected source lines 426 SU and 426 U are set to the first read inhibit voltage VS 1 * that is approximately +1.0V. Further, the selected block gate select line 433 S and the unselected block gate select lines 433 U are to be set to the voltage level of the high source line select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V. To accomplish these voltage levels, the selected source line address line ST 620 S for the selected source line 426 S is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) and the unselected source line address line ST 620 U is set to the first read inhibit voltage VS 1 *. The selected block source line selection signal SXD 610 S is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD and the unselected block source line selection signal SXD 610 U is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The out of phase erase command signal ERSB 615 is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The positive high voltage source VP2 616 and the out-of-phase program command signal PGB 619 are set to voltage level of the high source line select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V. The source line select line SLS 632 is set to the voltage level of the first read inhibit voltage VS 1 *. The source line erase isolation signal DISE 630 is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The in-phase program command signal PG 618 is set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).

Return now to FIG. 11 . If the operation is to be a block erase, the block to be erased is selected (Box 715 ) and the block is erased (Box 725 ). Referring now to FIGS. 14 a and 14 b , the voltage levels for the block erase are identical to that of the page erase described above except that there are no unselected word lines 432 SU in the selected block 412 S. All the word lines 432 S within the selected block 412 S are now selected for erasure and placed at the very high positive erase voltage level that has a magnitude of from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V to accomplish the block erase. In the unselected sectors 410 a , . . . , 410 m of the array 405 , the P-type well TPW 244 U is set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The word lines of the unselected sectors 410 U are disconnected and allow to float such that the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) is coupled to the word lines of the unselected sectors (0.0V).

Returning now to FIG. 11 , after the completion of the erase operation (Box 725 ), the block erase verify operation is executed (Box 730 ) to determine if the erase has been successfully accomplished. The block erase verify is identical to the page erase verify, except, again, there are no unselected word lines 432 U. The selected word lines 432 S are set to a voltage level of the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage Vt 1 L or approximately +5.0V for the single level cell program as shown in FIG. 13 a . The selected word lines 432 S are set to a voltage level of the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage Vt 3 L or approximately +5.0V for the multiple level cell program as shown in FIG. 13 b.

Returning to FIG. 11 , if the block erase is not successful, a loop counter is tested (Box 735 ) to assess that the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded. If the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded, the loop counter is incremented (Box 740 ) and the page erase operation is executed repetitively until the maximum number of erasure trials is exceeded and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having failed (Box 745 ) or the erasure is a success and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having successfully been erased (Box 750 ).

Return now to FIG. 11 . If the operation is to be a sector erase, the sector to be erased is selected (Box 715 ) and the sector is erased (Box 725 ). Referring now to FIGS. 14 a and 14 b , the voltage levels for the sector erase are identical to that of the page erase and block erase described above except that there are no unselected word lines 432 SU or 432 U. All the word lines 432 S are now selected for erasure and placed at the very high positive erase voltage level that has a magnitude of from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V to accomplish the sector erase. In the unselected sectors 410 a , . . . , 410 m of the array 405 , the P-type well TPW 244 U is set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The word lines of the unselected sectors 410 U are disconnected and allow to float such that the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) is coupled to the word lines of the unselected sectors (0.0V).

Returning now to FIG. 11 , after the completion of the erase operation (Box 725 ), the sector erase verify operation is executed (Box 730 ) to determine if the erase has been successfully accomplished. The sector erase verify is identical to the page erase verify, except, again, there are no unselected word lines 432 SU or 432 U. All the selected word lines 432 S are set to a voltage level of the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage Vt 1 L or approximately +5.0V for the single level cell program as shown in FIG. 13 a . The selected word lines 432 S are set to a voltage level of the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage Vt 3 L or approximately +6.0V for the multiple level cell program as shown in FIG. 13 b . Returning to FIG. 11 , if the sector erase is not successful, a loop counter is tested (Box 735 ) to assess that the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded. If the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded, the loop counter is incremented (Box 740 ) and the page erase operation is executed repetitively until the maximum number of erasure trials is exceeded and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having failed (Box 745 ) or the erasure is a success and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having successfully been erased (Box 750 ).

Returning now to FIG. 10 , if the operation is determined (Box 700 ) not to be an erase operation, the operation is determine (Box 755 ) if it is a program operation. If the operation is determined (Box 755 ) to be a program operation (referring to FIG. 12 ), data is loaded (Box 756 ) to the data register and sense amplifier 435 and the page to be programmed is selected (Box 758 ). The selected page is then programmed with the voltage levels applied as shown in FIGS. 13 a , 13 b , 14 a , 14 b , and 15 . Referring to FIGS. 13 a and 13 b , the unselected word lines 432 U of the unselected blocks 412 U and the unselected word lines 432 SU of the selected block 412 S are set to the negative word line program inhibit voltage that is approximately −2.0V. The negative word line program inhibit voltage biases the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn of the array to be turned off to minimized the sub-threshold leakage current during programming. The selected word line 432 S is set to the high negative program voltage level. The high negative program voltage level is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10, which is somewhat less than the breakdown voltage BVDSS of the transistors of the row decoder 420 of FIG. 4 . The selected local bit lines LBL 450 S for the columns that are to be programmed are set to the high program voltage that is approximately +5.0V for the single level cell program cell ( FIG. 13 a ). The selected local bit lines LBL 450 S for the columns that are to be programmed are set to one of the program voltages that establish the desired threshold voltage representing the data to be programmed. The program voltages, as shown in FIG. 13 b , are approximately +4.0V for the first level cell programmed threshold voltage Vt 2 , approximately +5.0V for the first level cell programmed threshold voltage Vt 1 , and approximately +6.0V for the first level cell programmed threshold voltage Vt 0 . The unselected local bit lines LBL 450 U and the program inhibit of the selected local bit lines LBL 450 S for the columns that are to remain erased are set to a voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) or alternately disconnected and allowed to float. To insure that the program voltages are passed from the column address decoder 445 to the global bit lines 447 a , . . . , 447 n to the sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k to the local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k , the selected block gate select line 433 S for the selected block 412 S and the sector gate select line 467 S for the selected sector 410 S is set to the high program select voltage that is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V. The unselected block select gate lines 433 U for the unselected blocks 412 U and the unselected sector gate select lines 467 U for the unselected sectors 410 U are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The selected source line 426 S connected to the selected page of the selected block 412 S is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The unselected source lines 426 U of the selected sector 410 S are set to the source line program inhibit voltage that is from approximately +1.5V to approximately 1.8V. The selected P-type well TPW 244 S in which the selected sector 410 S is formed and the unselected P-type wells TPW 244 U in which the unselected sectors 410 U are formed are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.

To establish the voltage levels as described for the programming in FIGS. 13 a and 13 b , the row decoder 420 has the voltage levels shown in FIGS. 14 a and 14 b . To have the selected word line 432 S set to the high negative program voltage. The high negative program voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V, the selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 S associated with the selected word line 432 S set to the very high negative program voltage. To have the unselected word lines 432 SU and 432 U set to the negative program inhibit voltage that is approximately −2.0V, the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 U associated with the unselected word lines 432 U set to the negative program inhibit voltage that is approximately −2.0V. The voltage level of the selected in-phase block select signals XD 530 S, indicating that a block 412 S is selected is set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) such that the very high negative program voltage that is coupled from the row decode circuit 540 a , . . . , 540 n through the PMOS high voltage isolators 550 a , . . . , 550 n to the selected word line 432 S. The voltage level of the out-of-phase block select signals XD 530 U, indicating that a block 412 U is unselected, is set to the very high negative program voltage to couple the negative program inhibit voltage that is approximately −2.0V to the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 U to the unselected word line 432 SU and 432 U. The N-type wells 552 S of the selected block 412 S and the N-type wells 552 U of the unselected blocks 412 U is connected to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).

To establish the voltage levels as described for the programming in FIGS. 13 a and 13 b , the source line decoder 415 has the voltage levels shown in FIG. 15 . Referring to FIG. 15 , the selected source line 426 S is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) or disconnected and allowed to float. The unselected source lines 426 SU and 426 U are set to the second read inhibit voltage VS 2 ** that is from approximately +1.5V to approximately 1.8V. Further, the selected block gate select lines 433 S is to be set to the voltage level of very high program voltage. The very high program voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the unselected block gate select lines 433 U is to be set to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). To accomplish these voltage levels, the selected source line address line ST 620 S for the selected source line 426 S is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) or disconnected and allowed to float. The unselected source line address line ST 620 U is set to the first read inhibit voltage VS 2 **. The magnitude of the first read inhibit voltage VS 2 ** is from approximately +1.5V to approximately +1.8V. The selected block source line selection signal SXD 610 S is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD and the unselected block source line selection signal SXD 610 U is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The out of phase erase command signal ERSB 615 is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The positive high voltage source VP2 616 and the in-phase program command signal PG 618 are set to very high program voltage that is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V. The source line select line SLS 632 is set to the voltage level of the first read inhibit voltage VS 2 **. The source line erase isolation signal DISE 630 is set to the voltage level of the high program select voltage is approximately +5.0V. The out-of-phase program command signal PGB 619 is set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).

Returning now to FIG. 11 , after the completion of the program operation (Box 760 ), the page program verify operation is executed (Box 765 ) to determine if the program has been successfully accomplished. If the program is not successful, a loop counter is tested (Box 770 ) to assess that the maximum number of program trials is not exceeded. If the maximum number of program trials is not exceeded, the loop counter is incremented (Box 775 ) and the page program operation is executed repetitively until the maximum number of program trials is exceeded and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having failed (Box 780 ) or the programming is a success and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having successfully been programmed (Box 785 ).

The program verify (Box 765 ) is essentially the same as the erase verify (Box 730 ) of FIG. 11 except the selected word line 432 S of the single level cell program cell of FIG. 13 a is set to the upper boundary of the threshold voltage Vt 0 H to evaluate the programmed threshold voltage of the selected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn. In the case of the multiple level cell program cell of FIG. 13 b , selected word line 432 S is iteratively set to the upper boundary of the first threshold voltage Vt 0 H, second threshold voltage Vt 1 H, and the third threshold voltage Vt 2 H to evaluate the programmed threshold voltage of the selected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn.

Returning now to FIG. 10 , if the operation is determined (Box 755 ) not to be a program operation, the operation is a read operation and the read operation is evaluated to determine (Box 790 ) if the read is a slow read or a fast read. If the read is a slow read, the selected page is then read with the voltage levels applied as shown in FIGS. 13 a , 13 b , 14 a , 14 b , and 15 . Referring to FIGS. 13 a and 13 b , the unselected word lines 432 U of the unselected blocks 412 U and the unselected word lines 432 SU of the selected block 432 S are voltage level of world line read inhibit voltage level of approximately −2.0V. The word line read inhibit voltage turns off the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn such that the sub-threshold leakage current is minimized. The selected word line 412 S is set to word line read biasing voltage that is the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD for the single level cell program or to the high read select voltage HV″ of approximately +5.0V for the multiple level cell program. The selected local bit lines LBL 450 S for the columns that are to be read are set to the first read biasing voltage of approximately +1.0V for the single level cell program cell ( FIG. 13 a ) and the multiple level cell program cell ( FIG. 13 b ). The unselected local bit lines LBL 450 U for the columns that are set to a voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). To insure that the voltages are passed from the column address decoder 445 to the global bit lines 447 a , . . . , 447 n to the sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k to the local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k , the selected block gate select line 433 S for the selected block 412 S is set to the high read select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V to fully couple the local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k to the associated sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k . The sector gate select line 467 S for the selected sector 410 S is set to voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The unselected sector gate select lines 467 U for the unselected sectors 410 U are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The selected source line 426 S connected to the selected page of the selected block 412 S is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The unselected source lines 426 U of the selected block 412 S is set to the source line read inhibit voltage that is approximately +1.0V to shift the threshold voltage levels of the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn to further minimize the sub-threshold leakage current. The selected P-type well TPW 244 S in which the selected sector is formed and the unselected P-type wells TPW 244 U in which the unselected sectors are formed are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.

To establish the read voltages of FIGS. 13 a and 13 b (referring to FIGS. 14 a and 14 b ), the selected word line 432 S is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD by setting selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 S to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The voltage level of the selected in-phase block select signals XD 530 S, the first positive high voltage power source VPX1 527 a , the second high voltage power source VPX0 527 b , negative N-well biasing voltage source VN1 560 , and the positive N-well biasing voltage source VP1 562 are set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD to pass the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD to the selected word line 432 S. The out of phase read signal RDB 564 , the first high negative voltage source VNX0 526 a , the second negative high voltage source VNX1 526 b , and the isolation signal ISOP 528 are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). These voltage levels, as described, pass the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD from the selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 S to the selected word line 432 S. Further, The voltage levels, as described, pass the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) from the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 U to the unselected word line 432 U.

The local bit lines 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k as shown in FIG. 5 are selectively connected to the associated sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , . . . , 455 k . Two of the sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , . . . , 455 k are selectively connected to one of the global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n . The local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k of one column is read or verified followed by reading the second local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k of the adjacent associated column. To accomplish this, the selected bit lines LBL 450 S for the column being read is set to the voltage level of the bit line biasing voltage that is approximately +1.0V for sensing the status of the selected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn on the activated column. The unselected bit lines LBL 450 U for the column not being read is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to disable the column not being read. The selected block gate select line 433 S and the unselected block gate select line 433 U for the selected sector is set to the voltage level of the high read select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V to fully couple the local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k to the associated sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , . . . , 455 k.

The selected source line 426 S in the selected sector 412 S are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The unselected source lines 426 U is first read inhibit voltage is approximately +1.0V to shift the threshold voltage levels of the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn to further minimize the sub-threshold leakage current. The selected global bit line select line 467 S of the selected sector 410 S are set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD to connect a first set of sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k to the associated global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n . The unselected global bit line select lines 467 U of the selected sector 410 S are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to disconnect a second set of sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k from the associated global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n . For the read and program verify operations, the enabled global bit line select lines SLG[0] 467 a and SLG[1] 467 b will determine the sequence (order) of the reading or verifying of the adjacent columns of the NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn. The split program and program verify operations are done according to the order of activation of the associated global bit line select lines SLG[0] 467 a and SLG[1] 467 b . The P-type well TPW 244 S selected sector 410 S and the P-type well TPW 244 U unselected sectors 410 U are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).

To establish the voltage levels as described for the read operation in FIGS. 13 a and 13 b , the source line decoder 415 has the voltage levels shown in FIG. 15 . Referring to FIG. 15 , the selected source line 426 S is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) and the unselected source lines 426 SU and 426 U are set to the first read inhibit voltage VS 1 * that is approximately +1.0V to shift the threshold voltage levels of the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn to further minimize the sub-threshold leakage current. Further, the selected block gate select line 433 S and unselected block gate select lines 433 U are to be set to the voltage level of the high source line select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V. To accomplish these voltage levels, the selected source line address line ST 620 S for the selected source line 426 S is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) and the unselected source line address line ST 620 U is set to the first read inhibit voltage VS 1 *. The selected block source line selection signal SXD 610 S is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD and the unselected block source line selection signal SXD 610 U is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The out of phase erase command signal ERSB 615 is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The positive high voltage source VP2 616 and the out-of-phase program command signal PGB 619 are set to voltage level of the high source line select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V. The source line select line SLS 632 is set to the voltage level of the first read inhibit voltage VS 1 *. The source line erase isolation signal DISE 630 is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The in-phase program command signal PG 618 is set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).

Returning now to FIG. 10 , if the read is a fast read, the selected page is then read with the voltage levels applied as shown in FIGS. 13 a , 13 b , 14 a , 14 b , and 15 . Referring to FIGS. 13 a and 13 b , the unselected word lines 432 U of the unselected blocks 412 U and the unselected word lines 432 SU of the selected block 432 S are voltage level of world line read inhibit voltage level of approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The word line read inhibit voltage turns off the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn such that the sub-threshold leakage current is minimized. The selected word line 412 S is set to the word line read biasing voltage level that is voltage level of the high read select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V for both the single level cell program and the multiple level cell program. The selected local bit lines LBL 450 S for the columns that are to be read are set to the first read biasing voltage that is approximately +1.0V for the single level cell program cell ( FIG. 13 a ) and the multiple level cell program cell ( FIG. 13 b ). The unselected local bit lines LBL 450 U for the columns that are set to a voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). To insure that the voltages are passed from the column address decoder 445 to the global bit lines 447 a , . . . , 447 n to the sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k to the local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k , the selected block gate select line 433 S for the selected block 412 S is set to the high read select voltage HV″ of approximately +5.0V to fully couple the local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k to the associated sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k . The sector gate select line 467 S for the selected sector 410 S is set to voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The unselected sector gate select lines 467 U for the unselected sectors 410 U are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The selected source line 426 S connected to the selected page of the selected block 412 S is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The unselected source lines 426 U of the selected block 412 S is set to the source line read inhibit voltage that is approximately +1.0V to shift the threshold voltage levels of the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn to further minimize the sub-threshold leakage current. The selected P-type well TPW 244 S in which the selected sector is formed and the unselected P-type wells TPW 244 U in which the unselected sectors are formed are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.

To establish the read voltages of FIGS. 13 a and 13 b (referring to FIGS. 14 a and 14 b ), the selected word line 432 S is set to the voltage level word line read biasing voltage that is high read select voltage HV″ by setting selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 S to the voltage level of the voltage level of the high read select voltage HV″. The voltage level of the selected in-phase block select signals XD 530 S, the first positive high voltage power source VPX1 527 a , the second high voltage power source VPX0 527 b , negative N-well biasing voltage source VN1 560 , and the positive N-well biasing voltage source VP1 562 are set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD to pass the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD to the selected word line 432 S. The out of phase read signal RDB 564 , the first high negative voltage source VNX0 526 a , the second negative high voltage source VNX1 526 b , and the isolation signal ISOP 528 are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). These voltage levels, as described, pass the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD from the selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 S to the selected word line 432 S. Further, The voltage levels, as described, pass the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) from the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 535 U to the unselected word line 432 U.

The local bit lines 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k as shown in FIG. 5 are selectively connected to the associated sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , . . . , 455 k . Two of the sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k are selectively connected to one of the global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n . The local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k of one column is read or verified followed by reading or verifying the second local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k of the adjacent associated column. To accomplish this, the selected bit lines LBL 450 S for the column being read is set to the voltage level of the bit line biasing voltage that is approximately +1.0V for sensing the status of the selected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn on the activated column. The unselected bit lines LBL 450 U for the column not being read is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to disable the column not being read. The selected block gate select line 433 S and the unselected block gate select line 433 U for the selected sector is set to the voltage level of the high read select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V to fully couple the local bit line 450 a , . . . , 450 k and 451 a , . . . , 451 k to the associated sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k.

The selected source line 426 S in the selected sector 412 S are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The unselected source lines 426 U are set to a first read inhibit voltage is approximately +1.0V to shift the threshold voltage levels of the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn to further minimize the sub-threshold leakage current. The selected global bit line select line 467 S of the selected sector 410 S are set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD to connect a first set of sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k to the associated global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n . The unselected global bit line select lines 467 U of the selected sector 410 S are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to disconnect a second set of sector bit lines 455 a , 455 b , 455 k from the associated global bit lines 470 a , . . . , 470 n . For the read and program verify operations, the enabled global bit line select lines SLG[0] 467 a and SLG[1] 467 b will determine the sequence (order) of the reading or verifying of the adjacent columns of the NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn. The split program and program verify operations are done according to the order of activation of the associated global bit line select lines SLG[0] 467 a and SLG[1] 467 b . The P-type well TPW 244 S selected sector 410 S and the P-type well TPW 244 U unselected sectors 410 U are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).

To establish the voltage levels as described for the read operation in FIGS. 13 a and 13 b , the source line decoder 415 has the voltage levels shown in FIG. 15 . Referring to FIG. 15 , the selected source line 426 S is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) and the unselected source lines 426 SU and 426 U are set to the first read inhibit voltage VS 1 * that is approximately +1.0V to shift the threshold voltage levels of the unselected NMOS floating gate transistors M 0 , . . . , Mn to further minimize the sub-threshold leakage current. Further, the selected block gate select line 433 S and unselected block gate select lines 433 U are to be set to the voltage level of the high source line select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V. To accomplish these voltage levels, the selected source line address line ST 620 S for the selected source line 426 S is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) and the unselected source line address line ST 620 U is set to the first read inhibit voltage VS 1 * that is approximately +1.0V. The selected block source line selection signal SXD 610 S is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD and the unselected block source line selection signal SXD 610 U is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The out of phase erase command signal ERSB 615 is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The positive high voltage source VP2 616 and the out-of-phase program command signal PGB 619 are set to voltage level of the high source line select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V. The source line select line SLS 632 is set to the voltage level of the first read inhibit voltage VS 1 *. The source line erase isolation signal DISE 630 is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The in-phase program command signal PG 618 is set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).

In other embodiments of this invention, nonvolatile memory device 400 incorporating NOR flash floating-gate transistors may have NAND strings of flash floating gate transistor cells and be in keeping with the intent of this invention. Further, the description of the nonvolatile memory device 400 incorporating NOR flash floating-gate transistors may also be NOR or NAND flash charge trapping transistors formed with a first layer of silicon dioxide, a layer of silicon nitride, a second layer of silicon oxide and a layer of polycrystalline silicon commonly referred to as a SONOS charge trapping transistor.

While this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.