Three-dimensional memory device having l-shaped word lines and a support structure and methods of making the same

Abstract

A three-dimensional memory device includes a first alternating stack of first insulating layers and first electrically conductive layers located over a top surface of a substrate, such that each of the first insulating layers and the first electrically conductive layers includes a respective horizontally-extending portion and a respective non-horizontally-extending portion, memory stack structures extending through a memory array region of the first alternating stack that includes the horizontally-extending portions of the first electrically conductive layers, such that each of the memory stack structures comprises a memory film and a vertical semiconductor channel, a mesa structure located over the substrate, such that each respective non-horizontally-extending portion of the first insulating layers and the first electrically conductive layers is located over a sidewall of the mesa structure, and contact structures that contact a respective one of the non-horizontally-extending portions of the first electrically conductive layers.