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:
Jun. 04, 2002
Filed:
Nov. 24, 1998
Tammy Zheng, San Jose, CA (US);
Subhas Bothra, San Jose, CA (US);
Philips Semiconductors Inc., Tarrytown, NY (US);
Abstract
For use with sub-micron CMOS technologies, a gate etch process improves control of the etch profile. Gate stacks utilize N-type or P-type doped amorphous or poly silicon to enhance device performance. However, the different etching characteristics of the N-type versus the P-type amorphous or poly silicon material can result in a localized breakthrough of the underlying thin gate oxide adjacent to the edge of the gate stack, especially in the N doped active regions. According to one example embodiment, this localized breakthrough (“microtrenching”) is avoided by building the gate stacks with undoped amorphous or poly silicon to the desired configuration, masking the gate stacks with a dielectric layer, planarizing the dielectric layer and then implanting the N-type or P-type species into the selected gate stack.