Other

Advanced Micro Devices Corporation

Spansion Llc.

Fasl LLC

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation

Jusuke Ogura

Angela Tai Hui

Minh Van Ngo

Mark T Ramsbey

Arvind Halliyal

Zoran Krivokapic

Jeffrey Allan Shields

Matthew S Buynoski

Tuan Duc Pham

Nicholas H Tripsas

Emmanuil Lingunis

Masaru Yano

Hideki Komori

Bharath Rangarajan

Scott Allan Bell

Kazuhiro Kurihara

Mark S Chang

Jean Y Yang

Yider Wu

Tazrien Kamal

Kouros Ghandehari

Simon Siu-Sing Chan

Jeffery A Shields

Nicholas H Tripisas

Kiyoshi Izumi

A buried local interconnect and method of forming the same counterdopes a region of a doped substrate to form a counterdoped isolation region. A hardmask is formed and patterned on the doped substrate, with a recess being etched through the patterned hardmask into the counterdoped region. Dielectric spacers are formed on the sidewalls of the recess, with a portion of the bottom of the recess being exposed. A metal is then deposited in the recess and reacted to form silicide at the bottom of the recess. The recess is filled with fill material, which is polished. The hardmask is then removed to form a silicide buried local interconnect.

Buried silicide local interconnect with sidewall spacers and method for making the same

A method and device for avoiding oxide gouging in shallow trench isolation (STI) regions of a semiconductor device. A trench may be etched in an STI region and filled with insulating material. An anti-reflective coating (ARC) layer may be deposited over the STI region and extend beyond the boundaries of the STI region. A portion of the ARC layer may be etched leaving a remaining portion of the ARC layer over the STI region and extending beyond the boundaries of the STI region. A protective cap may be deposited to cover the remaining portion of the ARC layer as well as the insulating material. The protective cap may be etched back to expose the ARC layer. However, the protective cap still covers and protects the insulating material. By providing a protective cap that covers the insulating material, gouging of the insulating material in STI regions may be avoided.

Avoiding field oxide gouging in shallow trench isolation (STI) regions

A MONOS device and method for making the device has a charge trapping dielectric layer, such as an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) layer, formed on a substrate. A recess is created through the ONO layer and in the substrate. A metal silicide bit line is formed in the recess and bit line oxide is formed on top of the metal silicide. A word line is formed over the ONO layer and the bit line oxide, and a low resistance silicide is provided on top of the word line. The silicide is formed by laser thermal annealing, for example.

Monos device having buried metal silicide bit line

One aspect of the invention relates to a method of removing a hard mask from a surface, especially a silicon surface. The hard mask is removed by first applying a sacrificial coating and then plasma etching. The sacrificial material fills pattern gaps formed using the hard mask and protects insulators, such as oxides, within those pattern gaps. The sacrificial material is removed together with the hard mask by the plasma etching. The invention provides a process for removing hard masks from silicon layers without significantly damaging either the silicon layer or any exposed oxides and can be applied in a variety of integrated circuit device manufacturing processes, such as patterning the floating gate layer of a flash memory device.

Innovative method of hard mask removal

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor memory devices and more particularly to multi-bit flash electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) devices that employ charge trapping within a floating gate to indicate a 0 or 1 bit state. A memory device is provided, according to an aspect of the invention, comprising a floating gate transistor having dual polysilicon floating gates with an isolation opening between floating gates.

Dual bit memory device with isolated polysilicon floating gates

The present invention generally relates to a method of forming a graded junction within a semiconductor substrate. A first masking pattern having a first opening characterized by a first lateral dimension is formed over the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate is doped with a first dopant, using the first masking pattern as a doping mask, thereby forming a first dopant region in the semiconductor substrate underlying the first opening. The first masking pattern is swelled to decrease the first lateral dimension of the first opening to a second lateral dimension. The semiconductor substrate is then doped with a second dopant, using the swelled first masking pattern as a doping mask, thereby forming a second dopant region in the semiconductor substrate, and furthermore defining a graded junction within the semiconductor substrate.

RELACS shrink method applied for single print resist mask for LDD or buried bitline implants using chemically amplified DUV type photoresist

A manufacturing method for a MirrorBit&reg; Flash memory includes providing a semiconductor substrate and depositing a charge-trapping dielectric material. First and second bitlines are implanted and a wordline material is deposited. A hard mask material is deposited over the wordline material. The hard mask material is of a material having the characteristic of being deposited rather than grown. A photoresist material is deposited over the wordline material and is patterned to form a patterned hard mask. The patterned photoresist material is removed. The wordline material is processed using the patterned hard mask to form a wordline. The patterned hard mask material is removed.

Memory wordline hard mask

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor memory devices and more particularly to multi-bit flash electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) devices that employ charge trapping within a floating gate to indicate a 0 or 1 bit state. A memory device is provided, according to an aspect of the invention, comprising a floating gate transistor having dual polysilicon floating gates with an isolation opening between floating gates. Processes for making the memory device according to the invention are also disclosed.

Process for making a dual bit memory device with isolated polysilicon floating gates

A method for forming insulating spacers for separating conducting layers in semiconductor wafer fabrication. The spacers are formed by removing portions of a protective photoresist layer through photolithography, and then through etching of exposed portions of the insulating layer. The spacers allow for fabrication of components that are smaller in size than are obtainable through conventional photolithography methods.

Method of forming narrow insulating spacers for use in reducing minimum component size

A method for forming high quality multiple thickness oxide layers having different thicknesses by eliminating descum induced defects. The method includes forming an oxide layer, masking the oxide layer with a photoresist layer, and developing the photoresist layer to expose at least one region of the oxide layer. The substrate is then heated and descummed to remove any residue resulting from developing the photoresist. Alternatively, the photoresist layer may be cured prior to heating and descumming the substrate. The oxide layer is then etched, and the remaining photoresist is stripped before another layer of oxide is grown on the substrate.

Method for forming high quality multiple thickness oxide using high temperature descum

A method for forming high quality oxide layers having different thicknesses by eliminating descum induced defects is disclosed. A semiconductor substrate is subjected to reactive ion etching. The semiconductor substrate includes a wafer, an oxide layer on the wafer, a developed photoresist mask on the oxide layer. The oxide layer is then etched, and the remaining photoresist is stripped before another layer of oxide is grown on the substrate.

Method for forming high quality multiple thickness oxide layers by reducing descum induced defects

A method for forming high quality oxide layers having different thicknesses by eliminating descum induced defects. The method includes forming an oxide layer, masking the oxide layer with a photoresist layer, developing the photoresist layer to expose a region of the oxide layer. The substrate is then descummed to remove any residue resulting from the development of the photoresist. Following the descum process, the substrate is rinsed in water. The oxide layer is then etched, and the remaining photoresist is stripped before another layer of oxide is grown on the substrate.

Growing community of inventors

Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Jusuke Ogura