Patents Examined by Chuong Anh Luu
  • Patent number: 7250651
    Abstract: Transistor bodies of semiconductor material located at a main surface of a semiconductor substrate between shallow trench isolations are provided with a rounded or curved upper surface. A floating gate electrode is arranged above said upper surface and electrically insulated from the semiconductor material by a tunnel dielectric having essentially the same tiny thickness throughout a primary tunnel area encompassing the area of curvature. The floating gate electrode may bridge the transistor body and is covered with a coupling dielectric provided for a control gate electrode, which forms part of a wordline.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2007
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Karl-Heinz Küsters, Josef Willer, Corvin Liaw
  • Patent number: 7247878
    Abstract: A dual panel-type active matrix organic electroluminescent device includes a gate line disposed along a first direction on a first substrate, a data line disposed along a second direction on the first substrate, a power line disposed along the second direction on the first substrate and spaced apart from the data line to define a pixel region with the gate and data lines, the power line and the gate line both formed of a same material during a same process, a switching thin film transistor disposed on the first substrate near a crossing of the gate and data lines, a driving thin film transistor disposed on the first substrate near a crossing of the gate and power lines, a connecting pattern within the pixel region on the first substrate formed of an insulating material, and a connecting electrode disposed within the pixel region on the first substrate to cover the connecting pattern and electrically interconnecting the driving thin film transistor to an organic electroluminescent diode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: LG.Philips LCD Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jae-Yong Park, So-Haeong Cho
  • Patent number: 7241676
    Abstract: After formation of a contact pattern on a semiconductor substrate, a first wiring pattern composed of a first barrier metal film and a first conductor pattern is formed on the contact pattern. A moisture-proof ring is formed which has such a structure that an outer peripheral portion, covering a sidewall face on the outer peripheral side of the first conductor pattern, of the first barrier metal film, is in contact at the upper end portion with a barrier metal bottom face portion, covering the bottom face of a via contact portion, of a second barrier metal film. This results in formation of a barrier metal film such as Ta, TiN, or the like, with no discontinuation, in the whole region from the semiconductor substrate to an silicon oxide film being the uppermost layer, thereby improving adhesiveness for prevention of cracks and entry of moisture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2007
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Kenichi Watanabe, Michiari Kawano
  • Patent number: 7242098
    Abstract: A method for treating a dielectric material using hydrocarbon plasma is described, which allows for thinner films of barrier material to be used to form a robust barrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2007
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Thomas Joseph Abell
  • Patent number: 7235476
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, including the steps of: forming on a second insulating film a first resist pattern having a first window; employing the first resist pattern as an etching mask to form first openings exposed from contact regions CR; forming, on a second conductive film, a second resist pattern having first resist portions; employing the second resist pattern as an etching mask to form first and second conductors, a floating gate and a control gate; forming a third resist pattern in regions I, II and III; and employing the third resist pattern as an etching mask to remove the portions of the second conductors under second windows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2007
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Shinichi Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 7229932
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a mask for integrated circuit devices. The method includes providing a quartz substrate having a surface and forming a MoSi film overlying the surface of the quartz substrate. The method also includes patterning the MoSi film overlying the quartz substrate to form a mask pattern. A step of forming an opaque edge structure comprising a carbon bearing material on a portion of the surface around a peripheral region of the mask pattern is also included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2007
    Assignee: Semiconductor Manufacturing International d (Shanghai) Corporation
    Inventor: Cong Lu
  • Patent number: 7229904
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method for forming landing plug contacts in a semiconductor device. The method includes the steps of: forming a plurality of gate structures on a substrate, each gate structure including a gate hard mask; forming an inter-layer insulation layer on the gate structures; planarizing the inter-layer insulation layer through a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process until the gate hard mask is exposed; forming a hard mask material on the planarized inter-layer insulation layer; patterning the hard mask material, thereby forming a hard mask; forming a plurality of contact holes exposing the substrate disposed between the gate structures by etching the planarized inter-layer insulation layer with use of the hard mask as an etch mask; forming a polysilicon layer on the contact holes; and forming the landing plug contacts buried into the contact holes through a planarization process performed to the polysilicon layer until the gate hard mask is exposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2007
    Assignee: Hynix Semiconductor Inc.
    Inventor: Hyung-Hwan Kim
  • Patent number: 7228508
    Abstract: A fail-safe thermal sensor is implemented in an integrated circuit such as a microprocessor. The fail-safe thermal sensor monitors the temperature of the integrated circuit and halt logic halts operation of the integrated circuit in response to the fail-safe thermal sensor indicating that a threshold temperature has been exceeded. The threshold temperature may be a predetermined fixed critical temperature. The halt logic may inhibit operation of the integrated circuit by stopping a clock for the integrated circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2007
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Jack D. Pippin
  • Patent number: 7226825
    Abstract: A method of fabricating micro-chips, including: (a) providing a substrate; (b) forming a first single-crystal layer on a top surface of the substrate; (c) forming a second single-crystal layer on a top surface of the first single-crystal layer; (d) forming integrated circuits in the second single-crystal layer; (e) forming a set of intersecting trenches in the second-single crystal layer to form single-crystal islands, each single-crystal island containing one or more of the integrated circuits, the first single-crystal layer exposed in a bottom of the trench; and (f) removing the first single-crystal layer in order to separate the single-crystal islands from the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Brent A. Anderson, Edward J. Nowak
  • Patent number: 7223690
    Abstract: A substrate processing method comprising steps for forming a copper film on a surface of a substrate. These steps includes the step of filling a first metal in the trenches so as to form a plated film of the first metal on an entire surface of the substrate by electroplating, wherein the electromagnetic field is adjusted by the virtual anode so that differences of thickness of the plated film between the central portion and the peripheral portion of the substrate being minimized, and polishing and removing the plated film by pressing the substrate to the polishing surface, wherein the pressures pressing the substrate to the polishing surface at a central portion and a peripheral portion are adjusted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2007
    Assignee: Ebara Corporation
    Inventors: Fumio Kondo, Koji Mishima, Akira Tanaka, Yoko Suzuki, Tetsuji Togawa, Hiroaki Inoue
  • Patent number: 7217601
    Abstract: In accordance with the invention, an electrically conducting charge transfer channel is formed in a semiconductor substrate and an electrically insulating layer is formed on a surface of the substrate; a layer of gate electrode material is formed on the insulating layer. On the gate material layer is formed a first patterned masking layer having apertures that expose regions of the underlying gate material layer that are to form gate electrodes, and the first-pattern-exposed regions of the gate material layer are electrically doped. In addition, on the gate material layer is formed a second patterned masking layer having apertures that expose regions of the underlying gate material layer that are to form gaps between gate electrodes, and the second-pattern-exposed regions of the gate material layer are etched.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2007
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Barry E. Burke, Vyshnavi Suntharalingam
  • Patent number: 7214566
    Abstract: A method of making semiconductor device packages includes the steps of attaching a wafer to a dielectric layer, testing semiconductor devices in the wafer, and then dicing the layered assembly. The dielectric layer may be, for example, a flexible tape. The semiconductor devices may be chips containing integrated circuits or memory devices. The dicing operation may be performed by a circular saw or by another suitable apparatus. The chips may be connected to input/output devices, such as ball grid arrays, on the dielectric layer, before the testing and dicing steps. Full wafer testing may be-conducted through the ball grid arrays. A relatively stiff metal sheet may be included in the layered assembly before the testing and dicing steps. The metal material may be used as heat spreaders and/or as electrical ground planes. The chips may be connected to the ball grid arrays by wire bonds or flip chip bumps and vias through the dielectric layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2007
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Alan G. Wood, Larry D. Kinsman
  • Patent number: 7214596
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing insulating structures in a semiconductor substrate includes forming a first insulating layer on the semiconductor substrate, forming a stop layer on the first insulating layer, and forming a barrier layer on the stop layer. The barrier layer is selective with respect to the stop layer. A screen layer is formed on the barrier layer. A portion of the screen layer is selectively removed for forming an opening therethrough for exposing a portion of the barrier layer. The exposed barrier layer is removed for exposing a portion of the stop layer. The exposed stop layer is removed for exposing a portion of the semiconductor substrate. The method further includes removing the remaining barrier layer, and removing a portion of the exposed semiconductor substrate for forming a trench therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2007
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Francesco Ciovacco, Roberto Colombo
  • Patent number: 7208416
    Abstract: The invention provides a simple method of treating a structured surface comprising a higher surface in a first region and a lower surface in the second region. A plurality of layers is deposited on said surface wherein a lower layer exhibits a higher polishing rate than an upper layer and wherein the thickness of the plurality of layers exceeds the step height. Afterwards the plurality of layers is chemically mechanically polished such that the lower layer is at least partly removed in the first region. By this method achieves a better planarization. Additionally, smaller top contact openings after a wet clean step are achievable and a deformation of contact openings due to annealing steps is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2007
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Matthias Kroenke, Thomas Dittkrist, Werner Graf
  • Patent number: 7205238
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a CMR layer in a CMOS device using CMP to pattern the CMR layer includes preparing a silicon substrate, including fabrication of a bottom electrode in the silicon substrate; depositing a layer of SiNx on the substrate; patterning and etching the SiNx layer to form a damascene trench over the bottom electrode; depositing a layer CMR material over the SiNx and in the damascene trench; removing the CMR material overlying the SiNx layer by CMP, leaving the CMR material in the damascene trench; and completing the CMOS structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2007
    Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Pan, David R. Evans, Allen Burmaster
  • Patent number: 7205670
    Abstract: A semiconductor device is disclosed which comprises a plurality of semiconductor chips having a plurality of terminals, two chip mounting bases on each of which at least one of the semiconductor chips is mounted and a plurality of chip interconnections electrically connected to the terminals of the mounted semiconductor chip are formed into substantially the same pattern and which are stacked in two layers, one interconnection base which is interposed between the two chip mounting bases and on which a plurality of intermediate interconnections electrically connected to the chip interconnections are formed into a pattern different from the pattern of the chip interconnections, and a plurality of interlevel interconnections which are formed in a plurality of through holes extending through the chip mounting bases and the interconnection base at once along a stacking direction and electrically connect the chip interconnections and the intermediate interconnections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2007
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Katsuhiko Oyama
  • Patent number: 7202096
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a control TFT structure (i.e. a driving TFT) for reducing leakage in an OLED display. A semiconductor layer, such as a polysilicon layer, is deposited on a transparent substrate as a channel region. A lightly doped region and a drain region are disposed on one side of the polysilicon layer and a source region is disposed on the opposite side of the polysilicon layer. An insulating layer is deposited covering the surface of the polysilicon layer, the lightly doped region, and the source/drain regions. Source and drain electrodes are disposed in the insulating layer, electrically connecting the source and drain region respectively. A gate metal layer is disposed on the insulating layer, at approximately the top right portion of the polysilicon layer to form a transistor structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2007
    Assignee: AU Optronics Corp.
    Inventor: Kun-Hong Chen
  • Patent number: 7199046
    Abstract: An interconnect structure in back end of line (BEOL) applications comprising a tunable etch resistant anti-reflective (TERA) coating is described. The TERA coating can, for example, be incorporated within a single damascene structure, or a dual damascene structure. The TERA coating can serve as part of a lithographic mask for forming the interconnect structure, or it may serve as a hard mask, a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) stop layer, or a sacrificial layer during CMP.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2007
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Ltd.
    Inventors: Jeffrey T. Wetzel, David C. Wang, Eric M. Lee, Dorel Ioan Toma
  • Patent number: 7199406
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a transistor includes forming a semiconductor layer on a substrate, a first insulation film on the semiconductor layer, and a gate electrode on the first insulation film. The method also includes forming a source region, a channel region, and a drain region in the semiconductor layer and forming a second insulation film on the gate electrode. A source electrode and a drain electrode are formed on the second insulation film and are coupled to the source region and the drain region, respectively. The method further includes coupling the drain electrode to the gate electrode through a contact hole that is vertically above the channel region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2007
    Assignee: Samsung SDI Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Keum-Nam Kim, Ui-Ho Lee
  • Patent number: 7199058
    Abstract: Precision in an etching process is to be improved. A detecting unit 404 detects a variation of plasma emission intensity at a plurality of wavelengths (an emission band having an intensity peak in the proximity of 358 nm and an emission band having an intensity peak in the proximity of 387 nm) during a dry etching process being performed on either of a nitrogen-containing film formed on a semiconductor substrate or a non-nitrogen film provided in direct contact with the nitrogen-containing film in an etching apparatus 402. An arithmetic processing unit 406 performs calculation based on detected variation. A control unit 410 determines an endpoint of the dry etching process in consideration of the calculation result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2007
    Assignee: NEC Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Takuya Maruyama, Nobuaki Hamanaka