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. 08, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 14, 1998
Fu-Cheng Wang, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A trenched-isolated semiconductor structure is created by a process that entails forming a patterned trench ( ) along an upper surface of a semiconductor body ( ). A dielectric layer ( ) is provided over the upper semiconductor surface. The dielectric layer is covered with a smoothening layer ( ) whose upper surface is smoother than the upper surface of the dielectric layer. The smoothening layer is removed starting from its upper surface. During the removal of the smoothening layer, upward-protruding material of the dielectric layer progressively becomes exposed and is also removed. As a result, the remainder of dielectric layer has a smoother upper surface than the initial upper surface of the dielectric layer.