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. 12, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 23, 1999
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Suwon, KR;
Abstract
A trench isolation method is provided that prevents the formation of a dent between a trench isolation region and an active region and prevents the generation of water spots during a cleaning process. In the trench isolation method, an undercut is formed in a stress-relief oxide pad pattern formed below a nitride layer pattern that defines an active region as a mask pattern. A nitride liner, which is a stress-buffer layer, is then formed around the undercut such that is conforms to the shape of the undercut. Thus, even though the stress-buffer layer is partially etched during the removal of the nitride the hard mask pattern, the stress-buffer layer is not etched to a position below the upper surface of the substrate. Also, an anti-reflection layer, which is the main source of water spots, is simultaneously removed in the formation of the undercut.