The Advanced CMOS Essentials (ACE) deliverable for NAND flash chips comprises a concise analyst’s summary document highlighting observed critical dimensions and salient features supported by the following image folders:

• Downstream product teardown
• Package X-rays, top metal and poly die photographs, non-invasive optical photos of die features
• SEM bevel through the logic region and NAND flash
• SEM cross section of the general device structure, BEOL (metals, dielectrics) and FEOL structures
• One (or two) TEM cross sections, orthogonal to the word and/or bit lines, showing the NAND flash array cells, lower metals and dielectrics, transistor gates, isolation, and other FEOL features
• TEM bevel through the NAND flash

The results of TEM-EDS analyses are included in the ACE summary document. The ACE deliverable provides timely competitive benchmarking information and enables cost-effective tracking of technical innovation across a breadth of competitors.