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:
Dec. 29, 1998
Filed:
Oct. 09, 1997
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A shallow trench isolation structure and a method for forming the same for use with non-volatile memory devices is provided so as to maintain sufficient data retention thereof. An epitaxial layer is formed on a top surface of a semiconductor substrate. A barrier oxide layer is formed on a top surface of the epitaxial layer. A nitride layer is deposited on a top surface of the barrier oxide layer. Trenches are formed through the epitaxial layer and the barrier oxide layer to a depth greater than 4000 .ANG. below the surface of the epitaxial layer so as to create isolation regions in order to electrically isolate active regions in the epitaxial layer. A liner oxide is formed on sidewalls and bottom of the trenches to a thickness between 750 .ANG. to 1500 .ANG.. As a result, leakage current in the sidewalls are prevented due to less thinning of the liner oxide layer by subsequent fabrication process steps.