The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 09, 1994
Filed:
Apr. 13, 1993
Joel Hartmann, Claix, FR;
Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, Paris, FR;
Abstract
An improved integrated circuit and fabrication method for forming the improved integrated circuit is described. The method includes an anisotropic etching, without the use of either masks or photolithography, which removes insulating material from contact openings, but keeps insulating material on the sides of conductive layers, preventing inadvertent short circuits from the contact openings to the conductive layers. The maskless etching method makes it possible to avoid mask-wafer alignment errors and therefore frees designers to perfectly center contact openings within insulative regions without taking into account the surface area tolerances required under prior art fabrication methods. This freedom allows designers to design more highly integrated devices. The particular embodiments of the semiconductor integrated circuit may include floating gates (47) and control gates (52) covered with an upper oxide layer (53) on which electrical connection lines (11) have been installed.