Intel Corporation

Daniel R Lamborn

Oleg Golonzka

Christopher J Wiegand

Chuan Sun

Qi Zhou

M D Tofizur Rahman

Philip E Heil

Rebecca J Castellano

Tarun Bansal

Etch stops are disclosed for integrated circuit applications that have a set contacts of varying height, wherein there is a large height differential between the shortest and tallest contacts. In one example, an etch stop is provisioned over a 3D NAND memory staircase structure. The structure is then planarized with an insulator material that can be selectively etched with respect to the etch stop. Contact holes that land on corresponding wordlines of the staircase are etched. Due to the nature of the staircase, the holes vary in depth depending on which step of the staircase they land. The etch stop under the shallowest hole remains intact while the deepest hole is etched to completion. Once all holes have landed on the etch stop, a further etch selective to the insulator material is carried out to punch through the etch stop and expose underlying wordlines. Contacts are deposited into the holes.

Non-conductive etch stop structures for memory applications with large contact height differential

An embodiment includes an apparatus comprising: a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), between first and second electrodes, comprising a dielectric layer between fixed and free layers; a dielectric film directly contacting sidewalls of the first electrode; and a metallic layer coupled to the sidewalls via the dielectric film; wherein (a) a vertical axis intersects the first and second electrodes and the MTJ but not the metallic layer, (b) a first horizontal axis intersects the metallic layer, the dielectric film, and the first electrode; and (c) a second horizontal axis, between the first horizontal axis and the MTJ, intersects the dielectric film and the first electrode but not the capping layer. Other embodiments are described herein.

Capped magnetic memory

Methods of forming a memory device structure are described. Those methods may include forming a non-conductive spacer material on a top electrode of a magnetic tunnel junction structure, and then forming a highly selective material on the non-conductive spacer material of the magnetic tunnel junction prior to etching a bottom electrode of the magnetic tunnel junction.

Methods of forming a magnetic random access memory etch spacer and structures formed thereby

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Hillsboro, OR, United States of America

Daniel R Lamborn