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:
Oct. 13, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 09, 1996
Chaochieh Tsai, Taichung, TW;
Chin-Hsiung Ho, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd., Hsin-Chu, TW;
Abstract
The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a high nitrogen (N) content oxynitride layer 34A 34B over field oxide regions. The oxynitride layer 34A 34B prevents subsequent etches from forming recesses in the field oxide regions 30 and planarizes the surface. The method begins by forming a field oxide region 30 an isolation area in the substrate 22. A high N content oxynitride protection layer 34A 34B (an etch barrier) is then formed surrounding (over and under) the field oxide layer 30. The high N content oxynitride protection layer 34A 34B is formed by heating (e.g., annealing) the substrate in a gas environment comprising ammonia. The high N content oxynitride layer is preferably formed by rapidly thermally annealing the substrate at temperature between about 825.degree. and 875 .degree. C. in an ammonia containing environment with a partial pressure of between about 0.5 and 1.2 kg/cm.sup.2 . The top high N content oxynitride layer 34A over the central area of the field is preferably removed while the top and bottom high content oxynitride layers 34A 34B remain at the periphery of the field oxide.