Sandisk Technologies Inc.

Sandisk Technology LLC

Kazutaka Yoshizawa

Hiroyuki Ogawa

Yasuyuki Aoki

Dai Iwata

Hiroshi Nakatsuji

Akira Inoue

Kiyokazu Shishido

Yusuke Yoshida

Shigeki Shimomura

Yasuaki Yonemochi

Hiroyuki Kinoshita

Toru Miwa

Akio Nishida

Murshed Chowdhury

Yuki Mizutani

Jin Liu

Takuya Ariki

Hiroaki Iuchi

Tadashi Nakamura

Sayako Nagamine

Mitsuhiro Togo

Akira Nakada

Matthias Baenninger

Tomoyuki Obu

Marika Gunji-Yoneoka

Kazuya Tokunaga

Takahito Fujita

Jiyin Xu

Xiaolong Hu

Eisuke Takii

Yu Ueda

Eiichi Fujikura

Hokuto Kodate

Masashi Ishida

Makoto Yoshida

Takashi Kashimura

Kouta Onogi

A semiconductor structure includes a first field effect transistor including a first gate spacer having first laterally-straight bottom edges that coincide with top edges of first laterally-straight sidewalls of the first gate dielectric. The semiconductor structure further includes a second field effect transistor including a second gate dielectric that includes at least one discrete gate-dielectric opening that overlies a respective second active region, and a second gate spacer including a contoured portion that overlies and laterally surrounds a second gate electrode, and at least one horizontally-extending portion that overlies the second active region and including at least one discrete gate-spacer openings. The second field effect transistor may have a symmetric or non-symmetric configuration.

High voltage field effect transistors with different sidewall spacer configurations and method of making the same

A transistor includes a first active region and a second active region separated by a semiconductor channel, a gate stack structure including a gate dielectric and a gate electrode overlying the semiconductor channel, a gate contact via structure overlying and electrically connected to the gate electrode and having a top surface located in a first horizontal plane, a first active-region contact via structure overlying and electrically connected to the first active region, and having a top surface located within a second horizontal plane that underlies the first horizontal plane, a first connection line structure contacting a top surface of the first active-region contact via structure, and a first connection via structure contacting a top surface of the first connection line structure and having a top surface within the first horizontal plane.

Field effect transistor with contact via structures that are laterally spaced by a sub-lithographic distance and method of making the same

A three dimensional non-volatile memory structure includes word lines connected to non-volatile memory cells arranged in blocks. A plurality of word line switches are connected to the word lines and one or more sources of voltage. The word line switches are arranged in groups of X word line switches such that each group of X word line switches is positioned in a line under Y blocks of non-volatile memory cells and has a length that is equal to the width of the Y blocks of non-volatile memory cells. To allow closer placement of word line switches that supply different blocks and support the possible large voltage differences between their transistors, word line switches supplying different blocks are formed over a single active region and separated by an intermediate control gate set to be off.

Non-volatile memory with reduced word line switch area

Field effect transistors for an SRAM cell can be formed employing n-doped gate electrode portions for p-type pull-up transistors. The SRAM cell includes a first series connection of a first p-type pull-up transistor and a first n-type pull-down transistor located between a power supply source and electrical ground, and a second series connection of a second p-type pull-up transistor and a second n-type pull-down transistor located between the power supply source and the electrical ground. Each gate electrode of the SRAM cell can include a respective n-doped gate electrode portion.

Static random access memory cell employing n-doped PFET gate electrodes and methods of manufacturing the same

An annular dielectric spacer can be formed at a level of a joint-level dielectric material layer between vertically neighboring pairs of alternating stacks of insulating layers and spacer material layers. After formation of a memory opening through multiple alternating stacks and formation of a memory film therein, an anisotropic etch can be performed to remove a horizontal bottom portion of the memory film. The annular dielectric spacer can protect underlying portions of the memory film during the anisotropic etch. In addition, a silicon nitride barrier may be employed to suppress hydrogen diffusion at an edge region of peripheral devices.

Multi-tier three-dimensional memory devices containing annular dielectric spacers within memory openings and methods of making the same

A first field effect transistor and a second field effect transistor are formed on a substrate. A silicon nitride liner is formed over the first field effect transistor and the second field effect transistor. An upper portion of the silicon nitride liner is converted into a thermal silicon oxide liner. A lower portion of the silicon nitride liner remains as a silicon nitride material portion. A first portion of the thermal silicon oxide liner is removed from above the second field effect transistor, and a second portion of the thermal silicon oxide liner remains above the first field effect transistor. Selective presence of the silicon oxide liner provides differential stress within the channels of the first and second field effect transistors, which can be employed to optimize performance of different types of field effect transistors.

Field effect transistors having different stress control liners and method of making the same

A semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor device, a hydrogen diffusion barrier layer, a lower metal line structure located below the hydrogen diffusion barrier layer, an alternating stack of insulating layers and electrically conductive layers, memory stack structures vertically extending through the alternating stack in a memory array region, a through-stack contact via structure extending through the alternating stack and through the hydrogen diffusion barrier layer in the memory array region and contacting the lower metal line structure, and a through-stack insulating spacer laterally surrounding the through-stack contact via structure and extending through the alternating stack but not extending through the hydrogen diffusion barrier layer.

Three-dimensional memory device containing hydrogen diffusion barrier layer for CMOS under array architecture and method of making thereof

Word line switches in a word line decoder circuitry for a three-dimensional memory device can be formed as vertical field effect transistors overlying contact via structures to the electrically conductive layers for word lines. Via cavities in a dielectric material portion overlying stepped surfaces of the electrically conductive layers can be filled with a conductive material and recessed to form contact via structures. After forming lower active regions in the recesses, gate electrodes can be formed and patterned to form openings in areas overlying the contact via structures. Gate dielectrics can be formed on the sidewalls of the openings, and transistor channels can be formed inside the openings of the gate electrodes. Upper active regions can be formed over the transistor channels.

Integration of word line switches with word line contact via structures

A NAND flash memory includes a select transistor having a first region formed of a stack of layers on the substrate surface, and a second region that includes an opening through an interpoly dielectric layer, floating gate layer, and tunnel dielectric layer, the opening separated from the substrate surface by a select gate dielectric on the substrate surface, the opening filled by a control gate layer.

Select gates with select gate dielectric first

Non-volatile storage devices and methods for fabricating non-volatile storage device are described. Sidewalls of the memory cells and their associated word line may be covered with silicon oxide. Silicon nitride covers the silicon oxide adjacent to the word lines, which may provide protection for the word lines during fabrication. However, silicon nitride can trap charges, which can degrade operation if the trapped charges are near a charge trapping region of a memory cell. Thus, the silicon nitride does not cover the silicon oxide adjacent to charge storage regions of the memory cells, which can improve device operation. For example, memory cell current may be increased. Techniques for forming such a device are also disclosed. One aspect includes a method that uses a sacrificial material to control formation of a silicon nitride layer when forming a memory device.

Non-volatile storage having oxide/nitride sidewall

Growing community of inventors

Yokkaichi, Japan

Kazutaka Yoshizawa