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:
Aug. 12, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 23, 2002
Wen-Kuei Hsieh, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Winbond Electronics Corporation, Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
A method for forming a smooth floating gate structure for a flash memory is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps. A substrate is firstly provided, and a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer are sequentially formed on the substrate. A first dielectric layer is then formed on the second conductive layer. A first hard mask layer and a second hard mask layer are formed sequentially on the first dielectric layer. A floating gate pattern is then transferred into the second hard mask layer to expose the first hard mask layer. The first hard mask layer is then etched to form a pattern and expose the first dielectric layer. A second dielectric layer is conformally formed over the second hard mask layer and the pattern; The second dielectric layer is etched back to form a spacer and expose the first dielectric layer. The first dielectric layer is then etched to expose the second conductive layer and the spacer, the second hard mask layer, the first hard mask layer and the first dielectric layer are finally removed.