Advanced Micro Devices Corporation

Spansion Llc.

Cerium Laboratories, LLC

Tim Z Hossain

Don A Tiffin

John K Lowell

Amiya R Ghatak-Roy

Franklin D Crawford, Jr

Donald A Tiffin

Minh Van Ngo

Charles E May

William S Brennan

Joffre F Bernard

Clive Martin Jones

Roy Mark Miller

Daniel E Posey

Bernd Maile

Jerzy Gazda

Thomas E Spikes, Jr

Craig William Christian

Allen White

Allen Lewis Evans

Clayton Fullwood

Bruce L Pickelsimer

Christopher L Wooten

Joel R Stanford

Patrick L Smith

David Soza

Cornelia A Weiss

Berta Valdez

Renee S Prusik

Alan Campion

Brooke M Noack

Mark Clopton

A method of forming a radiation detector includes forming a stack including a plurality of arrays of radiation detection devices. Forming an array of the plurality of arrays includes forming a polysilicon layer over an interlayer dielectric layer of another array of the plurality of arrays; forming charge storage layers over the polysilicon layer; forming a second polysilicon layer over the charge storage layers; etching the second polysilicon layer to form gate stacks; and depositing an interlayer dielectric disposed on at least three sides of the gate stacks, the interlayer dielectric including a radiation reactive material.

Radiation detection systems and methods

Systems that facilitate operating proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells are provided. The systems employ a fuel supply component that supplies fuel to the proton exchange membrane fuel cell; and a regeneration component that provides a reducing agent comprising a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen, or a reducing plasma to a cathode catalyst of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell to reduce the cathode catalyst.

Fuel cell catalyst regeneration

Systems and methods that facilitate operating proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells are provided. The methods can involve contacting a reducing agent comprising a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen, or a reducing plasma with a cathode catalyst of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell to reduce the cathode catalyst. The systems employ a fuel supply component that supplies fuel to the proton exchange membrane fuel cell; and a regeneration component that provides a reducing agent comprising a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen, or a reducing plasma to a cathode catalyst of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell to reduce the cathode catalyst.

Neutron detectors including one or more gamma shields over memory dies and methods of making the neutron detectors are provided. The neutron detectors can contain two or more memory dies, neutron-reactant layers over the two or more memory dies, and one or more gamma shields over at least a portion of or an entire of the two or more memory dies. By containing the gamma shield over the at least a portion of or an entire of the two or more memory dies, the neutron detector can detect and discriminate neutrons in the presence of gamma rays.

Arrayed neutron detector with multi shielding allowing for discrimination between radiation types

A method of forming conductive interconnections is disclosed herein. In one illustrative embodiment, the method comprises forming an opening in a layer of insulation material, forming a first plurality of silicon seed atoms in the opening, and performing a first tungsten growing process to form tungsten material in the opening. The method further comprises forming a second plurality of silicon seed atoms in the opening above at least a portion of the tungsten material formed during the first tungsten growing process, and performing at least one additional tungsten growing process after forming the second plurality of silicon seed atoms to further form tungsten material in the opening.

Method of forming conductive interconnections on an integrated circuit device

An integrated circuit and manufacturing method therefor is provided having a semiconductor substrate with a semiconductor device. A device dielectric layer is formed on the semiconductor substrate, and a channel dielectric layer formed on the device dielectric layer has an opening formed therein. A barrier layer lines the channel opening, and a conductor core fills the opening over the barrier layer. Self-aligned sub-caps of silicide and/or oxides are formed over the conductor core and then capped by a capping layer which covers the sub-caps and the channel dielectric layer.

Sub-cap and method of manufacture therefor in integrated circuit capping layers

A system and method are presented for determining the thickness and elemental composition of a layer within a measurement sample in an easy and inexpensive manner. An embodiment of the method includes impinging an incident x-ray beam into an exposed surface of a measurement sample containing one or more layers. The incident x-ray beam passes through the sample and may refract depending on the composition of the layers to produce a transmitted x-ray beam. The intensity and the angle of refraction of the transmitted x-ray beam may then be measured. These measurements may be compared to the results of a calibration sample that has been prepared with a known thickness and composition relative to the layer characteristics of the sample. The intensity of the transmitted x-ray beam is a function of the thickness of the layer; while the angle of refraction is a function of the elemental composition of the layer. An embodiment of the system includes an x-ray source to produce an incident x-ray beam and a detector to collect a transmitted x-ray beam. The detector is preferably positioned on the side opposite of the exposed surface of the sample on which the incident x-ray beam is impinged. In an alternative embodiment, the system may include a stage on which to place the measurement sample. The process described herein may be used for semiconductor wafers on which a thin film has been applied. The system may be suitable for use in a semiconductor fabrication environment, allowing increased production efficiency and improved process control. Furthermore, thin films of various compositions and thicknesses may be measured, including those of low and high atomic numbers.

System and method for analyzing layers using x-ray transmission

A method is presented which uses glancing-angle X-ray fluorescence techniques to determine the roughness of a target surface. A primary X-ray beam is incident upon the target surface at an angle of incidence of less than about 0.2 degrees. Intensities of the elastically scattered primary radiation peak and at least one emitted secondary radiation peak are recorded. The experimental conditions are varied, preferably by changing the angle of incidence of the primary beam slightly, to generate a set of scattered primary and emitted secondary peak intensities. The secondary peak intensity may then be plotted against the scattered primary peak intensity. The plotted points form a line, and the slope of the line is determined. This slope depends on the roughness of the sample surface. The exact roughness may be obtained by comparing the slope to calibration data obtained using direct roughness measurements by a technique such as atomic force microscopy.

Scattered incident X-ray photons for measuring surface roughness of a semiconductor topography

A method for reducing die loss in a semiconductor fabrication process which employs titanium nitride and HDP oxide is provided. In the fabrication of multilevel interconnect structures, there is a propensity for defect formation in a process in which titanium nitride and HDP oxide layers are in contact along the edge of a semiconductor substrate. A dielectric interlayer is provided which improves the interfacial properties between titanium nitride and HDP oxide and thereby reduces defects caused by delamination at the titanium nitride/HDP oxide interface.

Interlayer between titanium nitride and high density plasma oxide

A transistor and a method for making a transistor are described. A silicon gate conductor is patterned over a gate dielectric upon a silicon substrate. Dopant impurity distributions self-aligned to the gate conductor may be introduced. Silicon nitride (&ldquo;nitride&rdquo;) spacers are formed adjacent to opposed sidewall surfaces of the gate conductor. Oxide caps are formed covering exposed outer surfaces of the nitride spacers. The oxide caps prevent dissociation of the nitride spacers during a subsequent pre-amorphization implant. A preclean is subsequently used to remove oxides from the surfaces of the gate conductor and semiconductor substrate. The preclean may also remove the oxide caps, but does not attack the nitride spacers. A salicide process is used to form low-resistance gate, source, and drain silicides. The presence of nitrogen in the nitride spacers is believed to help prevent dopant outdiffusion from adjacent silicon, prevent silicide bridging across spacers, and increase resistance of the spacers to oxide etchants.

Nitride based sidewall spaces for submicron MOSFETs

It has been observed that Si introduced into an Al metal line of an Al, Ti, and Si-containing layer stack of an integrated circuit, at concentrations uniformly less than the solid solubility of Si in Al, results in a reduction in Al metal line voiding. Such voiding is a stress induced phenomenon and the introduction of Si appears to reduce stresses in the Al metal lines. By controlling Ti deposition conditions to achieve desired thickness and grain-size characteristics of the Ti underlayer, a self-regulating filter for introduction of Si into the Al metal layer is provided. Si is introduced into the Al metal layer by migration through a suitably deposited Ti layer, rather than during Al layer deposition. In this way Si is introduced into the Al and Al metal line voiding is reduced, while avoiding excess concentration of Si which can result in formation of Si precipitates in the Al metal lines, thereby avoiding related reductions metal line cross-sections and reducing electromigration-induced open circuit failures.

Thin titanium film as self-regulating filter for silicon migration into aluminum metal lines

For small angles that are near critical angle, a primary incident X-ray beam has excellent depth resolution. A series of X-ray fluorescence measurements are performed at varying small angles and analyzed for depth profiling of elements within a substrate. One highly useful application of the X-ray fluorescence measurements is depth profiling of a dopant used in semiconductor manufacturing such as arsenic, phosphorus, and boron. In one example, angles are be varied from 0.01&deg; to 0.20&deg; and measurements made to profile arsenic distribution within a semiconductor wafer. In one embodiment, measurements are acquired using a total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) type system for both known and unknown profile distribution samples. The fluorescence measurements are denominated in counts/second terms and formed as ratios comparing the known and unknown sample results. The count ratios are compared to ratios of known to unknown samples that are acquired using a control analytical measurement technique. In one example the control technique is secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) so that the count ratios from the TXRF-type measurements are compared to ratios of integrals of SIMS profiles. In another example, the TXRF-type measurement ratios are compared to simulation profiles of known samples. Integrals of the SIMS profile that vary as a function of depth into the substrate correspond to the grazing incidence angles of the TXRF-like measurement and respective count rates.

Depth profile metrology using grazing incidence X-ray fluorescence

A method of making a semiconductor device to reduce or prevent defects caused by the ejection of deposited material. The method includes a first layer of material deposited over a substrate in the presence of a gaseous ambient. A portion of the gaseous ambient is trapped by the first layer. This entrapped portion could cause defects during subsequent elevated temperature processing as the gas attempts to escape from the first layer. To prevent or reduce this problem, after depositing the first layer and before depositing a second layer over the first layer, the first layer is heated to remove at least a portion of the gaseous ambient trapped in the layer. For best results, the first layer is heated to a temperature at least as high as the highest temperature of later processing steps and at a pressure of no more than 1 torr. This method is particularly useful for layers formed by physical vapor deposition.

Method of releasing gas trapped during deposition

An apparatus and method for the determination of a depth profile and/or one or more depth profile characteristics of a dopant material in a semiconductor device includes a light source which can illuminate the device at two or more illumination wavelengths, a detector that receives scattered light from the semiconductor device and determines an intensity characteristic for one or more Raman spectral lines attributable to the presence of the dopant material in the semiconductor device. The intensity characteristics of the Raman spectral lines can then be used to determine the depth profile or depth profile characteristics using profile constants measured from known samples at each of the illumination wavelengths. This apparatus and method can be used in-line because it is noninvasive, relatively quick, and nondestructive.

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Tim Z Hossain