Advanced Micro Devices Corporation

Spansion Llc.

Jeff P Erhardt

Minh Van Ngo

Mark T Ramsbey

Hiroyuki Kinoshita

Cyrus E Tabery

Ning Cheng

Tazrien Kamal

Jaeyong Park

Jeffrey Allan Shields

Eric N Paton

Jean Yee-Mei Yang

Tyagamohan Gottipati

Clarence B Ferguson

Angela Tai Hui

Khoi A Phan

Arvind Halliyal

Robert A Huertas

Emmanuil Lingunis

Weidong Qian

Bin Yu

Bhanwar Singh

Ramkumar Subramanian

Paul Raymond Besser

Michael K Templeton

Mark W Randolph

Dawn M Hopper

Jean Y Yang

Shankar Sinha

Inkuk Kang

Connie Pin-Chin Wang

Cinti Xiaohua Chen

Jinsong Yin

Robert J Chiu

Amy C Tu

Austin Frenkel

John Caffall

G Jonathan Kluth

Russell Rosaire Austin Callahan

Jeremy Chi-Hung Chou

A method of forming a contact through a material includes forming a via through a dielectric material and cleaning the via using a dilute hydrofluoric (DHF) acid solution. The method further includes depositing a barrier layer within the via and depositing metal adjacent the barrier layer.

Aggressive cleaning process for semiconductor device contact formation

A method of protecting a charge trapping dielectric flash memory cell from UV-induced charging, including fabricating a charge trapping dielectric flash memory cell including a charge trapping dielectric charge storage layer in a semiconductor device; and during processing steps subsequent to formation of the charge trapping dielectric charge storage layer, protecting the charge trapping dielectric flash memory cell from exposure to a level of UV radiation sufficient to deposit a non-erasable charge in the charge trapping dielectric flash memory cell. In one embodiment, the step of protecting is carried out by selecting processes in BEOL fabrication which do not include use, generation or exposure of the semiconductor device to a level of UV radiation sufficient to deposit the non-erasable charge.

Protection of charge trapping dielectric flash memory devices from UV-induced charging in BEOL processing

The invention is a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes buried bitlines in a semiconductor substrate. Additionally, doped regions are formed adjacent the buried bitlines. The doped regions adjacent the buried bitlines inhibit a leakage current between the buried bitlines.

Disposable hard mask for memory bitline scaling

A method of protecting a SONOS flash memory cell from UV-induced charging, including fabricating a SONOS flash memory cell in a semiconductor device; and depositing over the SONOS flash memory cell at least one UV-protective layer, the UV-protective layer including a substantially UV-opaque material. In one embodiment, the device includes a substantially UV-opaque sub-layer of a contact cap layer or a substantially UV-opaque contact cap layer.

UV-blocking layer for reducing UV-induced charging of SONOS dual-bit flash memory devices in BEOL processing

A memory device and a method of fabrication are provided. The memory device includes a semiconductor substrate, a bottom dielectric, a charge storing layer, and a top dielectric in a stacked gate configuration. Silicided buried bitlines, which function as a source and a drain, are formed within the substrate. The silicided bitlines have a reduced resistance, which greatly reduces the number of bitline contacts necessary in an array of memory devices.

Memory device having silicided bitlines and method of forming the same

A memory cell with reduced short channel effects is described. A trench region is formed in a semiconductor substrate. A source region and a drain region are formed on opposing sides of the trench region, wherein a bottom of the source region and a bottom of the drain region are above a floor of the trench region. A gate dielectric layer is formed in the trench region of the semiconductor substrate between the source region and the drain region. A recessed channel region is formed below the trench region, the source region and the drain region. A control gate is formed on the semiconductor substrate above the recessed channel region, wherein the control gate is separated from the recessed channel region by the gate dielectric layer.

Recessed channel

A method of fabricating a planar architecture charge trapping dielectric memory cell array with rectangular gates comprises fabricating a multi-layer charge trapping dielectric on the surface of a substrate. The layer adjacent to the substrate may be an oxide. A polysilicon layer is deposited over the charge trapping dielectric. A word line mask is applied over the polysilicon layer to mask linear word lines in a first direction and to expose trench regions there between and the trenches are etched to expose the charge trapping dielectric in the trench regions. A bit line mask is applied over the polysilicon layer to mask gates in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and to expose bit line regions there between and the bit lines are etched to expose the oxide in the bit line regions. The bit lines are implanted and insulating spacers are fabricated on exposed sidewalls. The oxide is removed to expose the substrate between insulating spacers in the bit line regions and a conductor is fabricated thereon to enhance conductivity of each bit line.

Method of fabricating a planar structure charge trapping memory cell array with rectangular gates and reduced bit line resistance

The invention is an apparatus and a method of manufacturing a structure. The method includes the step of patterning a layer to include a line and space pattern. A space of the line and space pattern in a first region includes a first critical dimension less than achievable at a resolution limit of lithography. A line of the line and space pattern in a second region includes a second critical dimension achievable at a resolution limit of lithography. A sidewall spacer is formed on a line from a masking layer used in the formation of the structure. The method uses one critical masking step and two non-critical masking steps.

Partially de-coupled core and periphery gate module process

A method of protecting a SONOS flash memory cell from UV-induced charging, including fabricating a SONOS flash memory cell in a semiconductor device; and depositing over the SONOS flash memory cell at least one UV-protective layer, the UV-protective layer including a substantially UV-opaque material. A SONOS flash memory device, including a SONOS flash memory cell; and at least one UV-protective layer, in which the UV-protective layer comprises a substantially UV-opaque material, is provided. In one embodiment, the device includes a substantially UV-opaque contact cap layer.

UV-blocking layer for reducing UV-induced charging of SONOS dual-bit flash memory devices in BEOL

A core memory array having a plurality of charge trapping dielectric memory devices. The core memory array can include a substrate having a first semiconductor bit line and a second semiconductor bit line formed therein and a body region interposed between the first and the second bit lines. Over the body region can be formed a first dielectric layer disposed, a dielectric charge trapping layer and a second dielectric layer. At least one word line can be disposed over the second dielectric layer, which defines a channel within the body region. Each bit line can include a bit line contact assembly having a locally metalized portion of the bit line and a conductive via traversing a dielectric region.

Memory array having shallow bit line with silicide contact portion and method of formation

One aspect of the present invention relates to a method for reducing resist residue defects on a wafer structure. The method involves providing a semiconductor structure having a photoresist, the photoresist comprising open areas and circuit areas thereon; irradiating the open areas and circuit areas through a first photomask with a first energy dose to effect an image-wise pattern in the photoresist; irradiating the open areas of the photoresist through a second photomask with a second energy dose; and developing the photoresist.

Reducing resist residue defects in open area on patterned wafer using trim mask

Reliable contacts/vias are formed by sputter etching to flare exposed edges of an opening formed in a dielectric layer, depositing a composite barrier layer and then filling the opening with tungsten at a low deposition rate. The resulting contact/via exhibits significantly reduced porosity and contact resistance. Embodiments include sputter etching to incline the edges of an opening formed in an oxide dielectric layer, e.g., a silicon oxide derived from TEOS or BPSG, at an angle of about 83&deg; to about 86&deg;, depositing a thin layer of Ti, e.g., at a thickness of about 250 &angst; to about 350 &angst;, depositing at least one layer of titanium nitride, e.g., three layers of titanium nitride, at a total thickness of about 130 &angst; to about 170 &angst;, and then depositing tungsten at a deposition rate of about 1,900 to about 2,300 &angst;/min to fill the opening.

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device with reliable contacts/vias

A method of forming a CMOS structure, the method including the acts of: forming a gate structure over a substrate layer; forming a silicide layer over the substrate layer; forming shallow source/drain areas in the substrate layer; forming an oxide diffusion barrier layer over the structure; forming a metal absorption layer over the oxide diffusion barrier layer; and melting portions of the substrate layer directly overlying the shallow source/drain areas, thereby transforming the shallow source/drain areas into shallow source/drain regions. The act of melting includes the act of exposing the metal absorption layer to pulsed laser beams.

Method of forming a CMOS transistor having ultra shallow source and drain regions

A method of forming a self-aligned silicide (salicide) with a double gate silicide. The method improves transistor speed by lowering the leakage current in the source and drain areas and lowering the polysilicon sheet resistance of the gate. As a result of one embodiment of the present method, a silicide is formed over the gate area which is advantageously thicker than silicide formations over the source and drain areas.

Method of salicide formation with a double gate silicide

A method for new product mask evaluation is provided. Focus exposure matrices are printed at one or more layers (e.g., active gate) on full flow production wafers. The focus exposure matrices are then analyzed to produce data that facilitates detecting printed defects. The full flow production wafers are also subjected to end of line electrical testing to determine bit level errors. Print defects can be correlated with bit level errors to increase confidence in detected defects. The method includes a hierarchy of testing layers, each of which produce data that can be employed in detecting defects in a reticle and/or producing a yield analysis. The method involves scanning a reticle upon which the new product mask is etched and performing a printability simulation to determine what affect, if any, detected reticle defects will have on printing defects on a wafer. After the reticle is scanned, full flow production wafers printed from the pattern on the reticle can be scanned for defects, as can resist-on-silicon flat test wafers, where a higher signal to noise ratio facilitates detecting defects that may otherwise not be detected. The reticle scanning can include critical dimension measuring by scanning electron microscopy means and/or scatterometry means.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Jeff P Erhardt