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:
May. 11, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 14, 2000
Matthew Purdy, Austin, TX (US);
Scott G. Bushman, Austin, TX (US);
James H. Hussey, Jr., Austin, TX (US);
Douglas J. Bonser, Austin, TX (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a method of controlling an etching process used to form a gate electrode on a semiconductor device. In one embodiment, the method comprises forming a layer of silicon dioxide above a semiconducting substrate, and forming a layer of polysilicon above the layer of silicon dioxide. The method further comprises sensing a thickness of the layer of polysilicon and adjusting, based upon the sensed thickness of said layer of polysilicon, at least one parameter of an etching process to be performed on said layer of polysilicon to define a gate electrode of a transistor, said etching process comprised of at least a timed etch process and an endpoint etch process.