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:
Mar. 21, 2017
Filed:
Jan. 23, 2015
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd., Hsinchu, TW;
Sey-Ping Sun, Hsinchu, TW;
Tsung-Lin Lee, Hsinchu, TW;
Chin-Hsiang Lin, Hsinchu, TW;
Chih-Hao Chang, Chu-Bei, TW;
Chen-Nan Yeh, Sinfong Township, TW;
Chao-An Jong, Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
A semiconductor device includes a gate stack overlying a substrate. The semiconductor device further includes a spacer on sidewalls of the gate stack, where a top surface of the spacer is above a top surface of the gate stack. Additionally, the semiconductor device includes a protection layer overlying the gate stack and filling at least a portion of a space surrounded by the spacer above the top surface of the gate stack. Furthermore, the semiconductor device includes a contact hole over the spacer, where the contact hole extends over the gate stack, and where a sidewall of the contact hole has a step-wise shape.