| Patent application number | Description | Published |
| 20080212375 | METHOD OF PROGRAMMING AND ERASING A P-CHANNEL BE-SONOS NAND FLASH MEMORY - A programming method for a p-channel memory cell, the memory cell includes a source, a drain and a gate. The gate is applies with a first voltage, which results in Fowler-Nordheim (−FN) hole injection, thereby causing the memory cell to be in a programmed state. | 09-04-2008 |
| 20080290391 | MEMORY CELL AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME - The invention provides a memory cell. The memory cell is disposed on a substrate and comprises a plurality of isolation structures defining at least a fin structure in the substrate. Further, the surface of the fin structure is higher than the surface of the isolation structure. The memory cell comprises a doped region, a gate, a charge trapping structure and a source/drain region. The doped region is located in a top of the fin structure and near a surface of the top of the fin structure and the doped region has a first conductive type. The gate is disposed on the substrate and straddled the fin structure. The charge trapping structure is disposed between the gate and the fin structure. The source/drain region with a second conductive type is disposed in the fin structures exposed by the gate and the first conductive type is different from the second conductive type. | 11-27-2008 |
| 20080291726 | BANDGAP ENGINEERED SPLIT GATE MEMORY - Memory cells comprising: a semiconductor substrate having a source region and a drain region disposed below a surface of the substrate and separated by a channel region; a tunnel dielectric structure disposed above the channel region, the tunnel dielectric structure comprising at least one layer having a hole-tunneling barrier height; a charge storage layer disposed above the tunnel dielectric structure; an insulating layer disposed above the charge storage layer; and a gate electrode disposed above the insulating layer are described along with arrays and methods of operation. | 11-27-2008 |
| 20090039414 | CHARGE TRAPPING MEMORY CELL WITH HIGH SPEED ERASE - A band gap engineered, charge trapping memory cell includes a charge trapping element that is separated from a metal or metal compound gate, such as a platinum gate, by a blocking layer of material having a high dielectric constant, such as aluminum oxide, and separated from the semiconductor body including the channel by an engineered tunneling dielectric. Fast program and erase speeds with memory window as great as 7 V are achieved. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090039416 | BLOCKING DIELECTRIC ENGINEERED CHARGE TRAPPING MEMORY CELL WITH HIGH SPEED ERASE - A band gap engineered, charge trapping memory cell includes a charge trapping element that is separated from a gate by a blocking layer of metal doped silicon oxide material having a medium dielectric constant, such as aluminum doped silicon oxide, and separated from the semiconductor body including the channel by an engineered tunneling dielectric. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090040829 | LATERAL POCKET IMPLANT CHARGE TRAPPING DEVICES - A charge trapping memory cell is described, having pocket implants along the sides of the channel and having the same conductivity type as the channel, and which implants have a concentration of dopants higher than in the central region of the channel. This effectively disables the channel in the region of non-uniform charge trapping caused by a bird's beak or other anomaly in the charge trapping structure on the side of the channel. The pocket implant can be formed using a process compatible with standard shallow trench isolation processes. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090045452 | Structure and Method of Sub-Gate NAND Memory with Bandgap Engineered SONOS Devices - A bandgap engineered SONOS device structure for design with various AND architectures. The BE-SONOS device structure comprises a spacer oxide disposed between a control gate overlaying an oxide-nitride-oxide-nitride-oxide stack and a sub-gate overlaying a gate oxide. In one example, a BE-SONOS sub-gate-AND array architecture has multiple strings of SONONOS devices with sub-gate lines and diffusion bit lines. In another example, a BE-SONOS sub-gate-AND architecture has multiple strings of SONONOS devices with sub-gate lines, relying on the sub-gate lines that create inversions to substitute for the diffusion bit lines. | 02-19-2009 |
| 20090046506 | Method and Apparatus for Programming Nonvolatile Memory - A nonvolatile memory has logic which performs a programming operation, that controls a series of programming bias arrangements to program at least a selected memory cell of the memory array with data. The series of programming bias arrangements include multiple sets of changing gate voltage values to the memory cells. | 02-19-2009 |
| 20090050953 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME - A non-volatile memory device including a substrate, an insulating layer, a charge storage layer, a multi-layer tunneling dielectric structure and a gate is provided. The substrate has a channel region. The insulating layer is disposed on the channel region. The charge storage layer is disposed on the insulating layer. The multi-layer tunneling dielectric structure is disposed on the charge storage layer. The gate is disposed on the multi-layer tunneling dielectric structure and the charge carriers are injected from the gate. | 02-26-2009 |
| 20090057748 | Memory and manufacturing method thereof - A memory and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. The memory includes a dielectric layer, a polysilicon layer, a first buried diffusion, a second buried diffusion, a charge storage structure and a gate. The polysilicon layer is disposed on the dielectric layer and electrically connected to at least a voltage. The first buried diffusion and the second buried diffusion are separately disposed in the surface of the polysilicon layer. The charge storage structure is disposed on the polysilicon layer and positioned between the first buried diffusion and the second buried diffusion. The gate is disposed on the charge storage structure. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20090057752 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME - A non-volatile memory located on a substrate is provided. The non-volatile memory includes a tunnel layer, a charge trapping composite layer, a gate and a source/drain region. The tunnel layer is located on the substrate, the charge trapping composite layer is located on the tunnel layer and the gate is located over the charge trapping composite layer. The source/drain region is located in the substrate on both sides of the tunnel layer. With the charge trapping composite layer, the non-volatile memory has relatively better programming and erasing performance and higher data retention ability. Furthermore, since there is no need to perform a thermal process in the formation of the charge trapping composite layer, thermal budget of the manufacturing process is low. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20090059676 | HIGH-k CAPPED BLOCKING DIELECTRIC BANDGAP ENGINEERED SONOS AND MONOS - A blocking dielectric engineered, charge trapping memory cell includes a charge trapping element that is separated from a gate by a blocking dielectric comprising a buffer layer in contact with the charge trapping element, such as silicon dioxide which can be made with high-quality, and a second capping layer in contact with said one of the gate and the channel. The capping layer has a dielectric constant that is higher than that of the first layer, and preferably comprises a high-κ material. The second layer also has a conduction band offset that is relatively high. A bandgap engineered tunneling layer between the channel and the charge trapping element is provided which, in combination with the multilayer blocking dielectric described herein, provides for high-speed erase operations by hole tunneling. In an alternative, a single layer tunneling layer is used. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20090065851 | OPERATING METHOD OF NON-VOLATILE MEMORY DEVICE - A non-volatile memory device includes memory cells having a semiconductor substrate, a stack layer, and source and drain regions disposed below a surface of the substrate and separated by a channel region. The stack layer includes an insulating layer disposed on the channel region, a charge storage layer disposed on the insulating layer, a multi-layer tunneling dielectric structure on the charge storage layer, and a gate disposed on the multi-layer tunneling dielectric structure. A negative bias is supplied to the gate to inject electrons into the charge storage layer through the multi-layer tunneling dielectric structure by −FN to tunneling so that the threshold voltage of the device is increased. A positive bias is supplied to the gate to inject holes into the charge storage layer through the multi-layer tunneling dielectric structure by +FN tunneling so that the threshold voltage of the device is decreased. | 03-12-2009 |
| 20090075466 | Method of manufacturing a non-volatile memory device - A method of manufacturing a non-volatile semiconductor memory device includes forming a sub-gate without an additional mask. A low word-line resistance is formed by a metal silicide layer on a main gate of the memory device. In operation, application of a voltage to the sub-gate forms a transient state inversion layer that serves as a bit-line, so that no implantation is required to form the bit-line. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20090096017 | STACKED THIN FILM TRANSISTOR, NON-VOLATILE MEMORY DEVICES AND METHODS FOR FABRICATING THE SAME - A manufacturing method for stacked, non-volatile memory devices provides a plurality of bitline layers and wordline layers with charge trapping structures. The bitline layers have a plurality of bitlines formed on an insulating layer, such as silicon on insulator technologies. The wordline layers are patterned with respective pluralities of wordlines and charge trapping structures orthogonal to the bitlines. | 04-16-2009 |
| 20090101967 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME - A semiconductor device includes an insulating layer, a channel structure, an insulating structure and a gate. The channel structure includes a channel bridge for connecting two platforms. The bottom of the channel bridge is separated from the insulating layer by a distance, and the channel bridge has a plurality of separated doping regions. The insulating structure wraps around the channel bridge, and the gate wraps around the insulating structure. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090103367 | ONE-TRANSISTOR CELL SEMICONDUCTOR ON INSULATOR RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY - Silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon SONOS-type devices (or BE-SONOS) fabricated in Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology for nonvolatile implementations. An ultra-thin tunnel oxide can be implemented providing for very fast program/erase operations, supported by refresh operations as used in classical DRAM technology. The memory arrays are arranged in divided bit line architectures. A gate injection, DRAM cell is described with no tunnel oxide. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090103370 | EFFICIENT ERASE ALGORITHM FOR SONOS-TYPE NAND FLASH - A method for operating a dielectric charge trapping memory cell as described herein includes applying an initial voltage from the gate to the substrate of the memory cell for a predetermined period of time to reduce the threshold voltage of the memory cell. The method includes applying a sequence of voltages from the gate to the substrate of the memory cell to further reduce the threshold voltage of the memory cell, wherein a subsequent voltage in the sequence of voltages has a lower magnitude from the gate to the substrate than that of a preceding voltage in the sequence of voltages. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090114976 | Programming and Erasing Method for Charge-Trapping Memory Devices - A method for programming and erasing charge-trapping memory device is provided. The method includes applying a first negative voltage to a gate causing a dynamic balance state (RESET\ERASE state). Next, a positive voltage is applied to the gate to program the device. Then, a second negative voltage is applied to the gate to restore the device to the RESET\ERASE state. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090141555 | METHOD OF PROGRAMMING AND ERASING A P-CHANNEL BE-SONOS NAND FLASH MEMORY - A programming method for a p-channel memory cell, the memory cell includes a source, a drain and a gate. The gate is applies with a first voltage, which results in Fowler-Nordheim (−FN) hole injection, thereby causing the memory cell to be in a programmed state. | 06-04-2009 |
| 20090262583 | FLOATING GATE MEMORY DEVICE WITH INTERPOLY CHARGE TRAPPING STRUCTURE - A charge trapping floating gate is described with asymmetric tunneling barriers. The memory cell includes a source region and a drain region separated by a channel region. A first tunneling barrier structure is disposed above the channel region. A floating gate is disposed above the first tunneling barrier structure covering the channel region. A second tunneling barrier is disposed above the floating gate. A dielectric charge trapping structure disposed above the second tunneling barrier and a blocking dielectric structure is disposed above the charge trapping structure. A top conductive layer disposed above the top dielectric structure acts as a gate. The second tunneling barrier is a more efficient conductor of tunneling current, under bias conditions applied for programming and erasing the memory cell, than the first tunneling barrier structure. | 10-22-2009 |
| 20090280611 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE HAVING AN OXIDE-NITRIDE-OXIDE (ONO) TOP DIELECTRIC LAYER - A non-volatile memory (NVM) cell includes a silicon substrate having a main surface, a source region in a portion of the silicon substrate, a drain region in a portion of the silicon substrate, and a well region disposed in a portion of the silicon substrate between the source and drain regions. The cell includes a bottom oxide layer formed on the main surface of the substrate. The bottom oxide layer is disposed on a portion of the main surface proximate the well region. The cell includes a charge storage layer disposed above the bottom oxide layer, a dielectric tunneling layer disposed above the charge storage layer and a control gate formed above the dielectric tunneling layer. The dielectric tunneling layer includes a first oxide layer, a nitride layer and a second oxide layer. Erasing the NVM cell includes applying a positive gate voltage to inject holes from the gate. | 11-12-2009 |
| 20100067309 | EFFICIENT ERASE ALGORITHM FOR SONOS-TYPE NAND FLASH - A method for operating a dielectric charge trapping memory cell as described herein includes applying an initial voltage from the gate to the substrate of the memory cell for a predetermined period of time to reduce the threshold voltage of the memory cell. The method includes applying a sequence of voltages from the gate to the substrate of the memory cell to further reduce the threshold voltage of the memory cell, wherein a subsequent voltage in the sequence of voltages has a lower magnitude from the gate to the substrate than that of a preceding voltage in the sequence of voltages. | 03-18-2010 |
| 20100148239 | GATE STRUCTURE OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHODS OF FORMING WORD LINE STRUCTURE AND MEMORY - A gate structure for a semiconductor device is provided. The gate structure includes a conductive structure. The conductive structure insulatively disposed over a substrate includes a middle portion and two spacer portions. The middle portion has a first surface and two second surfaces. The first surface is between the two second surfaces. The two spacer portions are respectively connected to the two second surfaces of the middle portion. A width of each of the two spacer portions gradually increases from top to bottom. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100155821 | STACKED NON-VOLATILE MEMORY DEVICE AND METHODS FOR FABRICATING THE SAME - A stacked non-volatile memory device comprises a plurality of bit line and word line layers stacked on top of each other. The bit line layers comprise a plurality of bit lines that can be formed using advanced processing techniques making fabrication of the device efficient and cost effective. The device can be configured for NAND operation. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100155823 | DEPLETION MODE BANDGAP ENGINEERED MEMORY - Memory cells comprising: a semiconductor substrate having a source region and a drain region disposed below a surface of the substrate and separated by a channel region; a tunnel dielectric structure disposed above the channel region, the tunnel dielectric structure comprising at least one layer having a hole-tunneling barrier height; a charge storage layer disposed above the tunnel dielectric structure; an insulating layer disposed above the charge storage layer; and a gate electrode disposed above the insulating layer are described along with arrays and methods of operation. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100157686 | Method and Apparatus for Programming Nonvolatile Memory - A nonvolatile memory has logic which performs a programming operation, that controls a series of programming bias arrangements to program at least a selected memory cell of the memory array with data. The series of programming bias arrangements include multiple sets of changing gate voltage values to the memory cells. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100172183 | Method and Apparatus to Suppress Fringing Field Interference of Charge Trapping NAND Memory - With advanced lithographic nodes featuring a half-pitch of 30 nm or less, charge trapping NAND memory has neighboring cells sufficiently close together that fringing fields from a neighboring pass gate interferes with the threshold voltage. The interference results from fringing fields that occupy the gaps that separate the neighboring charge storage structures. The fringing electric fields are suppressed, by the insulating structures having a relative dielectric constant with respect to vacuum that is less than a relative dielectric constant of silicon oxide, from entering the neighboring charge storage structures. In some embodiments, the insulating structures suppress the fringing electric fields from entering a channel region. This suppresses the short channel effects despite the small dimensions of the devices. | 07-08-2010 |
| 20100176438 | DEPLETION-MODE CHARGE-TRAPPING FLASH DEVICE - A memory device includes a plurality of semiconductor lines, such as body-tied fins, on a substrate. The lines including buried-channel regions doped for depletion mode operation. A storage structure lies on the plurality of lines, including tunnel insulating layer on the channel regions of the fins, a charge storage layer on the tunnel insulating layer, and a blocking insulating layer on the charge storage layer. A plurality of word lines overlie the storage structure and cross over the channel regions of the semiconductor lines, whereby memory cells lie at cross-points of the word lines and the semiconductor lines. | 07-15-2010 |
| 20100193859 | BLOCKING DIELECTRIC ENGINEERED CHARGE TRAPPING MEMORY CELL WITH HIGH SPEED ERASE - A band gap engineered, charge trapping memory cell includes a charge trapping element that is separated from a gate by a blocking layer of metal doped silicon oxide material having a medium dielectric constant, such as aluminum doped silicon oxide, and separated from the semiconductor body including the channel by an engineered tunneling dielectric. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100258913 | PATTERNING METHOD AND INTEGRATED CIRCUIT STRUCTURE - A patterning method is provided. First, a mask layer and a plurality of first transfer patterns are sequentially formed on a target layer. Thereafter, a plurality of second patterns is formed in the gaps between the first transfer patterns. Afterwards, a plurality of third transfer patterns is formed, wherein each of the third transfer patterns is in a gap between a first transfer pattern and a second transfer pattern adjacent to the first transfer pattern. A portion of the mask layer is then removed, using the first transfer patterns, the second transfer patterns and third transfer patterns as a mask, so as to form a patterned mask layer. Further, a portion of the target layer is removed using the patterned mask layer as a mask. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100265766 | BANDGAP ENGINEERED CHARGE TRAPPING MEMORY IN TWO-TRANSISTOR NOR ARCHITECTURE - A 2T cell NOR architecture based on the use of BE-SONOS for embedded memory includes memory cells having respective access transistors having access gates and memory transistors having memory gates arranged in series between the corresponding bit lines and one of the plural reference lines. A memory transistor in a memory cell comprises a semiconductor body including a channel having a channel surface and a charge storing dielectric stack between the memory gate and the channel surface. The dielectric stack comprises a bandgap engineered, tunneling dielectric layer contacting one of the gate (for gate injection tunneling) and the channel surface (for channel injection tunneling). The dielectric stack of the memory cell also includes a charge trapping dielectric layer on the tunneling dielectric layer and a blocking dielectric layer. | 10-21-2010 |
| 20100265773 | 3D MEMORY ARRAY ARRANGED FOR FN TUNNELING PROGRAM AND ERASE - A 3D memory device includes an array of semiconductor body pillars and bit line pillars, dielectric charge trapping structures, and a plurality of levels of word line structures arranged orthogonally to the array of semiconductor body pillars and bit line pillars. The semiconductor body pillars have corresponding bit line pillars on opposing first and second sides, providing source and drain terminals. The semiconductor body pillars have first and second channel surfaces on opposing third and fourth sides. Dielectric charge trapping structures overlie the first and second channel surfaces, providing data storage sites on two sides of each semiconductor body pillar in each level of the 3D array. The device can be operated as a 3D AND-decoded flash memory. | 10-21-2010 |
| 20100270593 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT 3D MEMORY ARRAY AND MANUFACTURING METHOD - A 3D memory device is based on an array of electrode pillars and a plurality of electrode planes that intersect the electrode pillars at interface regions that include memory elements that comprise a programmable element and a rectifier. The electrode pillars can be selected using two-dimensional decoding, and the plurality of electrode planes can be selected using decoding on a third dimension. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100271878 | INJECTION METHOD WITH SCHOTTKY SOURCE/DRAIN - An injection method for non-volatile memory cells with a Schottky source and drain is described. Carrier injection efficiency is controlled by an interface characteristic of silicide and silicon. A Schottky barrier is modified by controlling an overlap of a gate and a source/drain and by controlling implantation, activation and/or gate processes. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100311217 | Non-Volatile Memory Device Having A Nitride-Oxide Dielectric Layer - A non-volatile memory cell may include a semiconductor substrate; a source region in a portion of the substrate; a drain region within a portion of the substrate; a well region within a portion of the substrate. The memory cell may further include a first carrier tunneling layer over the substrate; a charge storage layer over the first carrier tunneling layer; a second carrier tunneling layer over the charge storage layer; and a conductive control gate over the second carrier tunneling layer. Specifically, the drain region is spaced apart from the source region, and the well region may surround at least a portion of the source and drain regions. In one example, the second carrier tunneling layer provides hole tunneling during an erasing operation and may include at least one dielectric layer. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20110003446 | Semiconductor Device and Method for Manufacturing the Same - A semiconductor device includes an insulating layer, a channel structure, an insulating structure and a gate. The channel structure includes a channel bridge for connecting two platforms. The bottom of the channel bridge is separated from the insulating layer by a distance, and the channel bridge has a plurality of separated doping regions. The insulating structure wraps around the channel bridge, and the gate wraps around the insulating structure. | 01-06-2011 |
| 20110003452 | HIGH-k CAPPED BLOCKING DIELECTRIC BANDGAP ENGINEERED SONOS AND MONOS - A blocking dielectric engineered, charge trapping memory cell includes a charge trapping element that is separated from a gate by a blocking dielectric including a buffer layer in contact with the charge trapping element, such as silicon dioxide which can be made with high-quality, and a second capping layer in contact with said one of the gate and the channel. The capping layer has a dielectric constant that is higher than that of the first layer, and preferably includes a high-κ material. The second layer also has a conduction band offset that is relatively high. A bandgap engineered tunneling layer between the channel and the charge trapping element is provided which, in combination with the multilayer blocking dielectric described herein, provides for high-speed erase operations by hole tunneling. In an alternative, a single layer tunneling layer is used. | 01-06-2011 |
| 20110039386 | LATERAL POCKET IMPLANT CHARGE TRAPPING DEVICES - A charge trapping memory cell is described, having pocket implants along the sides of the channel and having the same conductivity type as the channel, and which implants have a concentration of dopants higher than in the central region of the channel. This effectively disables the channel in the region of non-uniform charge trapping caused by a bird's beak or other anomaly in the charge trapping structure on the side of the channel. The pocket implant can be formed using a process compatible with standard shallow trench isolation processes. | 02-17-2011 |
| 20110053328 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MEMORY CELL - In a method for manufacturing a memory cell, a substrate is provided. A doped region with a first conductive type is formed in the substrate near a surface of the substrate. A portion of the substrate is removed to define a plurality of fin structures in the substrate. A plurality of isolation structures is formed among the fin structures. A surface of the isolation structures is lower than a surface of the fin structures. A gate structure is formed over the substrate and straddles the fin structure. The gate structure includes a gate straddling the fin structure and a charge storage structure located between the fin structure and the gate. A source/drain region is formed with a second conductive type in the fin structure exposed by the gate structure, and the first conductive type is different from the second conductive type. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110080766 | Resistive Memory Device and Manufacturing Method Thereof and Operating Method Thereof - A method of manufacturing resistive memory includes the steps: forming a first implanted stacked structure having a first impurity diffusion layer, a second impurity diffusion layer, and a third impurity diffusion layer in a substrate; etching at least the first implanted stacked structure to form a plurality of second implanted stacked structures, wherein the first impurity diffusion layers are first signal lines; forming a plurality of first insulating layers between the second implanted stacked structures; etching the second implanted stacked structures to form a plurality of third implanted stacked structures, wherein the first signal lines are not etched; forming a plurality of second insulating layers between the third implanted stacked structures; forming a plurality of memory material layers electrically coupled to the third impurity diffusion layers; and forming a plurality of second signal lines perpendicular to the first signal lines and electrically coupled to the memory material layers. | 04-07-2011 |
| 20110095353 | ONE-TRANSISTOR CELL SEMICONDUCTOR ON INSULATOR RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY - Silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon SONOS-type devices (or BE-SONOS) fabricated in Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology for nonvolatile implementations. An ultra-thin tunnel oxide can be implemented providing for very fast program/erase operations, supported by refresh operations as used in classical DRAM technology. The memory arrays are arranged in divided bit line architectures. A gate injection, DRAM cell is described with no tunnel oxide. | 04-28-2011 |