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. 29, 2006
Filed:
Jun. 16, 2004
Emmanuil H. Lingunis, San Jose, CA (US);
Jean Yee-mei Yang, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Hidehiko Shiraiwa, San Jose, CA (US);
Emmanuil H. Lingunis, San Jose, CA (US);
Jean Yee-Mei Yang, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Hidehiko Shiraiwa, San Jose, CA (US);
Fasl LLC, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention pertains to utilizing a salicide in establishing alignment marks in semiconductor fabrication. A metal layer is formed over exposed portions of a silicon substrate as well as oxide areas formed over bitlines buried within the substrate. The metal layer is treated to react with the exposed portions of the silicon substrate to form salicided areas. The metal layer does not, however, react with the oxide areas. As such, salicided areas are formed adjacent to the oxide areas to provide an enhanced optical contrast when light is shined there-upon. In this manner, the alignment marks can be more readily 'seen'. The enhanced optical contrast thus allows the marks to continue to be seen as scaling occurs.