Methods are disclosed for erasing a flash memory cell including: (a) a semiconductor substrate, (b) a gate, (c) a source, (d) a drain, (e) a well, the gate including: (1) a tunnel oxide film, (2) a floating gate, (3) a dielectric film and (4) a control gate stacked on the semiconductor substrate. In one of the disclosed methods, a positive bias voltage is applied to the control gate, the source and drain are floated, a negative bias voltage is applied to the well, a ground voltage is then applied to the well while maintaining the positive bias voltage at the control gate, and subsequently a ground voltage is applied to the control gate.