International Business Machines Corporation

John M Papalia

John C Collins

Devendra K Sadana

Robert L Bruce

Mahadevaiyer Krishnan

Adele L Pacquette

Stephen W Bedell

Teodor Krassimirov Todorov

David Lee Rath

Matthew Joseph BrightSky

Sebastian Ulrich Engelmann

HsinYu Tsai

Ali Afzali-Ardakani

Hiroyuki Miyazoe

Deborah A Neumayer

Nathan P Marchack

Mahmoud M Khojasteh

Vivekananda P Adiga

Hsinyu Tsai

Hongwen Yan

Jyotica V Patel

A semiconductor device structure and method for forming the same is disclosed. The structure incudes a silicon substrate having at least one trench disposed therein. An electrical and ionic insulating layer is disposed over at least a top surface of the substrate. A plurality of energy storage device layers is formed within the one trench. The plurality of layers includes at least a cathode-based active electrode having a thickness of, for example, at least 100 nm and an internal resistance of, for example, less than 50 Ohms/cm. The method includes forming at least one trench in a silicon substrate. An electrical and ionic insulating layer(s) is formed and disposed over at least a top surface of the silicon substrate. A plurality of energy storage device layers is formed within the trench. Each layer of the plurality of energy storage device layers is independently processed and integrated into the trench.

Fabrication of all-solid-state energy storage devices

A method for fabricating a bridge structure in a quantum mechanical device includes providing a substructure including a substrate having deposited thereon a layer of a first superconducting material divided into a first portion, a second portion and a third portion that are electrically insulated from each other; depositing a sacrificial layer on the substructure; electrically connecting the first portion and the second portion with a strip of a second superconducting material, the second superconducting material being different from the first superconducting material; and removing a portion of the sacrificial layer so as to form a bridge structure over the third portion between the first portion and the second portion, the bridge structure electrically connecting the first portion to the second portion while not electrically connecting the third portion to the first portion and not electrically connecting the third portion to the second portion.

Microfabricated air bridges for quantum circuits

An energy storage device has all components, e.g. anode, electrolyte, and cathode contained and sealed with a trench in a substrate. Various methods and structures are disclosed for sealing the components. In some embodiments, a sealer or sealing layer seals the components. One embodiment uses a tension clamp to contain the components with additional pressure. Another embodiment uses a cathode structure cup which is held in place in the substrate via sidewall trench features. Different external connections to the device are disclosed. The invention enables full three-dimensional components to be created and contained entirely within the substrate during assembly, curing, galvanic cycling and other manufacturing processes and provides improved sealing of the components during device operation.

Encapsulating in-situ energy storage device with cathode contact

A three dimensional (3D) In-Silicon energy storage device is provided by a method that includes forming a thick dielectric material layer on a surface of a silicon based substrate. A 3D trench is then formed into the dielectric material layer and the silicon based substrate, and thereafter a dielectric material spacer is formed, in addition to the dielectric remaining on the field of the substrate, as well as along a sidewall of the 3D trench, and on a first portion of a sub-surface of the silicon based substrate that is present at a bottom of the 3D trench. A second portion of the sub-surface of the silicon based substrate that is present in the 3D trench remains physically exposed. Active energy storage device materials can then be formed laterally adjacent to the dielectric material spacer that is within the 3D trench and on the dielectric material layer.

High throughput insulation of 3D in-silicon high volumetric energy and power dense energy storage devices

A method for etching a poly-granular metal-based film includes providing a flow of a background gas in a plasma etching chamber containing a semiconductor structure including the poly-granular metal-based film formed over a substrate with a mask patterned over the poly-granular metal-based film. The method also includes applying a source power to generate a background plasma from the background gas, and providing a flow of a modifying gas while maintaining the flow of the background gas to generate a modifying plasma that produces a surface modification region with a substantially uniform depth in the top surface of the poly-granular metal-based film exposed by the mask. The method further includes stopping the flow of the modifying gas while maintaining the flow of the background gas, and applying a biasing power to the substrate to remove the surface modification region.

Layer-by-layer etching of poly-granular metal-based materials for semiconductor structures

A Lithium energy storage device comprising a cathode, electrolyte, anode, and substrate. The materials contained in the anode and electrolyte region are electrochemically altered during initial formation and exposed to current cycles to create a lower impedance composite anode. The resulting composite anode bottom is a bi-layer comprising: i. a lithium metal layer and ii. a silicon-based interphase layer. The bi-layer acts as a barrier to inhibit Lithium ions from entering or leaving a Lithium saturated substrate, once the interphase surface is formed and the substrate is saturated with Lithium ions. This prevents cell failure from large volume changes/stresses during charge/discharge cycles and enables a significant decrease in cell impedance to enable better rechargeable cell performance.

Lithium energy storage device with composite anode

A method for forming a semiconductor includes forming at least one trench in a silicon substrate. The at least one trench provides an energy storage device containment feature. An electrical and ionic insulating layer(s) is formed on a top surface of the substrate and sidewalls of the trench. A plurality of vias is formed through a base of the trench. The plurality of vias is filled with a metal material. A trench base current collector at the base of the trench and backside current collector at the backside of the substrate are formed from the metal material. These current collectors enable electric and thermal conductive planarization and device isolation through the substrate. A plurality of energy storage device layers is formed over the trench base current collector, and a topside current collector is formed over the plurality of energy storage device layers. A protective encapsulation layer may then be formed.

Through silicon via energy storage devices

Embodiments of the invention are directed to methods and resulting structures for forming a storage element using phase change memory (PCM). In a non-limiting embodiment of the invention, a PCM layer is formed over a surface of a bottom electrode. A top electrode is formed over the PCM layer using a tone inversion process that includes a sacrificial layer. A PCM pillar is then formed by patterning the PCM layer to expose a surface of the bottom electrode. The tone inversion process enables a sub-50 nm PCM pillar diameter.

Tone inversion integration for phase change memory

A material stack is formed on the surface of a semiconductor substrate. The top layer of the material stack comprises at least an organic planarization layer. A neutral hard mask layer is formed on the top of the organic planarization layer. The neutral hard mask layer is neutral to the block copolymers used for direct self-assembly. A plurality of template etch stacks are then formed on top of the neutral hard mask layer. After formation of the template etch stacks, neutrality recovery is performed on the neutral hard mask layer and the top portions of the template etch stacks, the vertical sidewalls of the template etch stacks being substantially unaffected by the neutrality recovery. A template for DSA is thus obtained.

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New York, NY, United States of America

John M Papalia