Method of simultaneous formation of bitline isolation and periphery oxide

Abstract

One aspect of the present invention relates to a method of forming a non-volatile semiconductor memory device, involving the sequential or non-sequential steps of forming a charge trapping dielectric over a substrate, the substrate having a core region and a periphery region; removing at least a portion of the charge trapping dielectric in the periphery region; forming a gate dielectric in the periphery region; forming buried bitlines in the core region; removing at least a portion of the charge trapping dielectric positioned over the buried bitlines in the core region; forming a bitline isolation over the buried bitlines in the core region; and forming gates in the core region and the periphery region. Another aspect of the present invention relates to increasing the thickness of the gate dielectric in at least a portion of the periphery region simultaneously while forming the bitline isolation.