An analysis of extinction methodologies for the coupling ratios in non-vola
tile memories using numerical simulation is presented. The floating gate vo
ltage of a non-volatile memory (NVM) cell cannot be accessed directly from
measurements but can he derived using numerical simulation techniques. In t
his paper, various coupling ratio methodologies from literature are investi
gated using numerical simulation techniques and guidelines on improving the
application of those methods to NVM cells are outlined. Measurements are p
erformed which validate the increased accuracy of the methods and some of t
he improved methodologies are recommended for coupling ratio extraction in
the Fowler Nordheim regime. This work demonstrates the role of numerical si
mulation in supplementing the electrical characterisation of NVM cells. (C)
2001 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.