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:
Dec. 10, 2013
Filed:
Dec. 30, 2009
Applicants:
John H. Zhang, Fishkill, NY (US);
Paul Ferreira, Barraux, FR;
Inventors:
John H. Zhang, Fishkill, NY (US);
Paul Ferreira, Barraux, FR;
Assignee:
STMicroelectronics, Inc., Coppell, TX (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/302 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
Chemical-Mechanical Polishing can be used to planarize a semiconductor wafer having a patterned overlapping layer. Isotropic etching can remove a portion of the patterned overlapping layer to produce tapered sidewalls of reduced height. A portion of the overlapping layer can be removed using CMP. The overlapping layer can have a higher polishing rate than the underlying layer so that the underlying layer remains substantially intact after removing the overlying layer.