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. 18, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 19, 1996
Applicant:
Inventors:
Assignee:
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L / ; H01L / ; H01L / ; H01L / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
257410 ; 257 67 ; 257336 ; 257344 ; 257408 ; 257410 ; 257411 ; 257412 ; 257413 ; 257640 ; 257649 ;
Abstract
In an integrated circuit, gate electrode stack of which is subjected to self-alignment processes, the sheet resistance is lowered by including a tungsten layer 15. The tungsten layer 14 is protected by a sidewall material 21 of SiN.sub.x or SiO.sub.2 after an etching step which did not extend to the substrate 11. During a subsequent etching step in which the stack extends to the substrate 11, the sidewall material 31 acts as a hard mask protecting the upper portion of the stack. After the lower portion of the stack is protected by a re-oxidation layer 41, the entire stack can be processed further without deterioration of the sheet resistance of the tungsten layer 15.