Imec

Interuniversitair Micorelektronica Centrum (imec, Vzw)

Geert Van Den Bosch

Matty Caymax

Roger Loo

Pieter Blomme

Philippe Roussel

Robin Degraeve

Disclosed are methods for manufacturing floating gate memory devices and the floating gate memory devices thus manufactured. In one embodiment, the method comprises providing a monocrystalline semiconductor substrate, forming a tunnel oxide layer on the substrate, and depositing a protective layer on the tunnel oxide layer to form a stack of the tunnel oxide layer and the protective layer. The method further includes forming at least one opening in the stack, thereby exposing at least one portion of the substrate, and cleaning the at least one exposed portion with a cleaning liquid. The method still further includes loading the substrate comprising the stack into a reactor and, thereafter, performing an in-situ etch to remove the protective layer, using the at least one exposed portion as a source to epitaxially grow a layer comprising the monocrystalline semiconductor material, and forming the layer into at least one columnar floating gate structure.

Method for producing a floating gate memory structure

A method for detecting breakdown in a dielectric layer. The method includes applying a signal to the dielectric layer, measuring a plurality of sets of readings having values, which are in relation to the signal, searching and identifying outlier readings in each of the sets, the outlier readings being defined by the fact that they have values which are significantly higher or lower than the majority of the values of the set, selecting from each of the sets, one reading which is not one of the outlier readings, and comparing the value of the one selected reading to a reference value, so that the exceeding of the value leads to the conclusion that a predefined probability is present for having a breakdown state in the layer.

Method and apparatus for detecting breakdown in ultra thin dielectric layers

Growing community of inventors

Leuven, Belgium

Geert Van Den Bosch