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. 17, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 19, 2003
Peter Rabkin, Cupertino, CA (US);
Hsingya Arthur Wang, San Jose, CA (US);
Kai-Cheng Chou, San Jose, CA (US);
Hynix Semiconductor America, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
Non-volatile memory transistors are provided that include a floating gate formed from first and second layers of material such as polysilicon. The second floating gate layer is selectively grown or deposited on top of the first gate layer, eliminating the need to mask for positioning of the second floating gate layer. The memory transistors are separated by isolation regions. The second floating gate layer overlaps portions of the isolation regions to provide a high control gate-to-floating gate coupling ratio. The process enables smaller memory transistors. Floating gate to isolation overlap, and therefore floating gate to floating gate spacing, is controlled by selective deposition or selective epitaxial growth of the second polysilicon layer.