Abstract: A memory cell comprises a first feature and a second feature. The second feature comprises a dielectric material and defines an opening at least partially overlying the first feature. A third feature is formed on the first feature and partially fills the opening in the second feature. What is more, a phase change material at least fills a volume between the second feature and the third feature. At least a portion of the phase change material is operative to switch between lower and higher electrical resistance states in response to an application of a switching signal to the memory cell.

Abstract: A thin film transistor array panel including a substrate; a display area signal line; a display area thin film transistor; a peripheral area signal line; a black matrix disposed on the display area signal line, the display area thin film transistor, and the peripheral area signal line, the black matrix including a first and a second contact holes exposing the peripheral area signal line; a protrusion member disposed on the peripheral area signal line, the protrusion member overlapping the peripheral area signal line; a transparent connector disposed on the black matrix and within the peripheral area, wherein the transparent connector contacts the peripheral area signal line through at least one of the first and the second contact holes and includes a protrusion within at least one of the first and the second contact holes which corresponds to the protrusion member; and a pixel electrode.

Abstract: The present invention provides a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device including memory cells capable of electrically writing information, and each of the memory cells includes a first insulating film formed on the channel provided between source/drain diffusion layers, an electric charge accumulation layer formed on the first insulating film and is made of nitride or oxynitride containing at least one selected from Si, Ge, Ga, and Al, a donor layer containing n-type dopant impurity formed on the electric charge accumulation layer and is made of nitride or oxynitride containing at least one selected from among Si, Ge, Ga, and Al, a second insulating film formed on the donor layer, and a control gate electrode formed on the second insulating film.

Abstract: The use of atomic layer deposition (ALD) to form a zirconium substituted layer of barium titanium oxide (BaTiO3), produces a reliable ferroelectric structure for use in a variety of electronic devices such as a dielectric in nonvolatile random access memories (NVRAM), tunable dielectrics for multi layer ceramic capacitors (MLCC), infrared sensors and electro-optic modulators. The structure is formed by depositing alternating layers of barium titanate and barium zirconate by ALD on a substrate surface using precursor chemicals, and repeating to form a sequentially deposited interleaved structure of desired thickness and composition. Such a layer may be used as the gate insulator of a MOSFET, or as a capacitor dielectric. The properties of the dielectric may be tuned by adjusting the percentage of zirconium to titanium to optimize properties such as a dielectric constant, Curie point, film polarization, ferroelectric property and a desired relaxor response.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a semiconductor module, includes the steps of preparing a board; mounting a semiconductor device on the second metal foil; placing a resin case onto the board for surrounding a first metal foil, an insulating sheet, the second metal foil, and the semiconductor device; pouring a resin in a paste form into the case to fill a space relative to the first metal foil, insulating sheet, the second metal foil and the semiconductor device; and heat-curing the resin. A bottom end of a peripheral wall of the case is located above a bottom surface of the first metal. The bottom surface of the first metal foil and the resin form a flat bottom surface to contact an external mounting member.

Abstract: A nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes first and second memory cells having a floating gate and a control gate. The floating gate of the first and second memory cells is comprised a first part, and a second part arranged on the first part, and a width of the second part in an extending direction of the control gate is narrower than that of the first part. A first space between the first parts of the first and second memory cells is filled with one kind of an insulator. The control gate is arranged at a second space between the second parts of the first and second memory cells.

Abstract: A semiconductor structure, such as a CMOS semiconductor structure, includes a field effect device that includes a plurality of source and drain regions that are asymmetric. Such a source region and drain region asymmetry is induced by fabricating the semiconductor structure using a semiconductor substrate that includes a horizontal plateau region contiguous with and adjoining a sloped incline region. Within the context of a CMOS semiconductor structure, such a semiconductor substrate allows for fabrication of a pFET and an nFET upon different crystallographic orientation semiconductor regions, while one of the pFET and the nFET (i.e., typically the pFET) has asymmetric source and drain regions.

Abstract: An interconnect structure with improved reliability is provided. The interconnect structure includes a semiconductor substrate; a dielectric layer over the semiconductor substrate; a metallic wiring in the dielectric layer; a pre-layer over the metallic wiring, wherein the pre-layer contains boron; and a metal cap over the pre-layer, wherein the metal cap contains tungsten, and wherein the pre-layer and the metal cap are formed of different materials.

Abstract: A semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention has: a semiconductor substrate; an interlayer insulating film formed above the semiconductor substrate; a protective film formed on the interlayer insulating film, the protective film having a higher density than that of the interlayer insulating film; at least one of a wiring and a dummy wiring formed in the interlayer insulating film and the protective film; and a separation wall formed within the interlayer insulating film so as to surround a low density region to separate the low density region from other regions, a sum of covering densities of the wiring and the dummy wiring being lower than a predetermined prescribed value in the low density region.

Abstract: A method for forming a semiconductor layer having a fine shape is provided. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device with few variations is provided. In addition, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device with a high yield is provided where the cost can be reduced with few materials. According to the invention, a semiconductor film is partially irradiated with a laser beam to form an insulating layer, and the semiconductor film is etched using the insulating film as a mask so as to form a semiconductor layer having a desired shape. Then, the semiconductor layer is used to manufacture a semiconductor device. According to the invention, a semiconductor layer having a fine shape can be formed in a predetermined position without using a known photolithography step using a resist.

Abstract: There is provided a hetero junction field effect transistor including: a first layer of a nitride based, group III-V compound semiconductor; a second layer of a nitride based, group III-V compound semiconductor containing a rare earth element, overlying the first layer; a pair of third layers of a nitride based, group III-V compound semiconductor, overlying the second layer, the third layers being spaced from each other; a gate electrode disposed between the third layers at least a region of the second layer; and a source electrode overlying one of the third layers and a drain electrode overlying an other of the third layers. A method of fabricating the hetero junction field effect transistor is also provided.

Abstract: A memory device includes a number of memory cells and a number of bit lines. Each of the bit lines includes a first region having a first width and a first depth and a second region having a second width and a second depth, where the first width is less than the second width. The first region may include an n-type impurity and the second region may include a p-type impurity.

Abstract: A manufacture method for zinc oxide (ZnO) based semiconductor crystal includes providing a substrate having a Zn polarity plane; and reacting at least zinc (Zn) and oxygen (O) on the Zn polarity plane of said substrate to grow ZnO based semiconductor crystal on the Zn polarity plane of said substrate in a Zn rich condition. (a) An n-type ZnO buffer layer is formed on a Zn polarity plane of a substrate. (b) An n-type ZnO layer is formed on the surface of the n-type ZnO buffer layer. (c) An n-type ZnMgO layer is formed on the surface of the n-type ZnO layer. (d) A ZnO/ZnMgO quantum well layer is formed on the surface of the n-type ZnMgO layer, by alternately laminating a ZnO layer and a ZnMgO layer. @(e) A p-type ZnMgO layer is formed on the surface of the ZnO/ZnMgO quantum well layer. (f) A p-type ZnO layer is formed on the surface of the p-type ZnMgO layer. @(g) An electrode is formed on the n-type ZnO layer and p-type ZnO layer. The n-type ZnO layer is formed under a Zn rich condition at the step (b).

Abstract: A method for forming a slot contact structure for transistor performance enhancement. A contact opening is formed to expose a contact region, and a slot contact is disposed within the contact opening in order to induce a stress on an adjacent channel region. In an embodiment, a stress inducing barrier plug is disposed within a portion of the contact opening and the remainder of the contact opening is filled with a lower resistivity contact metal. By selecting the proper materials and deposition parameters, the slot contact can be tuned to induce a tensile or compressive stress on the adjacent channel region, thus being applicable for both p-type and n-type devices.

Abstract: Electrical components for microelectronic devices and methods for forming electrical components. One particular embodiment of such a method comprises depositing an underlying layer onto a workpiece, and forming a conductive layer on the underlying layer. The method can continue by disposing a dielectric layer on the conductive layer. The underlying layer is a material that causes the dielectric layer to have a higher dielectric constant than without the underlying layer being present under the conductive layer. For example, the underlying layer can impart a structure or another property to the film stack that causes an otherwise amorphous dielectric layer to crystallize without having to undergo a separate high temperature annealing process after disposing the dielectric layer onto the conductive layer. Several examples of this method are expected to be very useful for forming dielectric layers with high dielectric constants because they avoid using a separate high temperature annealing process.

Abstract: An array of through substrate vias (TSVs) is formed through a semiconductor substrate and a contact-via-level dielectric layer thereupon. A metal-wire-level dielectric layer and a line-level metal wiring structure embedded therein are formed directly on the contact-via-level dielectric layer. The line-level metal wiring structure includes cheesing holes that are filled with isolated portions of the metal-wire-level dielectric layer. In one embodiment, the entirety of the cheesing holes is located outside the area of the array of the TSVs to maximize the contact area between the TSVs and the line-level metal wiring structure. In another embodiment, a set of cheesing holes overlying an entirety of seams in the array of TSVs is formed to prevent trapping of any plating solution in the seams of the TSVs during plating to prevent corrosion of the TSVs at the seams.

Abstract: A photodiode array with reduced optical crosstalk and an image pickup device using it are provided. The photodiode array 10 according to the present invention has an anti-crosstalk portion B dividing each adjacent pair of photodiodes S, the anti-crosstalk portion B and the photodiodes S individually have a p-type area 16 extending inward from the surface side of a semiconductor laminate, and the inner end of the p-type area of the anti-crosstalk portion, namely the front, is closer to the back surface of the semiconductor laminate than the front of the p-type area of each of the photodiodes.

Abstract: A connection arrangement having an outer conductive structure arranged at least partly or completely in a cutout of an electrical insulation layer is provided. An inner conductive structure is arranged at the bottom of the cutout on one side of the insulation layer. The inner conductive structure adjoins the outer conductive structure in a contact zone. A contact area is arranged at the outer conductive structure on the other side of the cutout. The contact zone and the contact area do not overlap. The bottom of the cutout is arranged to overlaps at least half of the contact area, to provide a step in the insulation layer at the edge of the cutout outside a main current path between the contact area and the inner conductive structure.

Abstract: A light emitting device includes a transparent substrate having first and second surfaces, a semiconductor layer provided on the first surface, a first light emission layer provided on the semiconductor layer and emitting first ultraviolet light including a wavelength corresponding to an energy larger than a forbidden bandwidth of a semiconductor of the semiconductor layer, a second light emission layer provided between the first light emission layer and the semiconductor layer, absorbing the first ultraviolet light emitted from the first light emission layer, and emitting second ultraviolet light including a wavelength corresponding to an energy smaller than the forbidden bandwidth of the semiconductor of the semiconductor layer, and first and second electrodes provided to apply electric power to the first light emission layer.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a structure of electrical interconnections for an integrated circuit having levels of interconnections, the method having steps of depositing a layer of sacrificial material on the substrate, etching the layer of sacrificial material with a pattern corresponding to electrical conductors, depositing, on the etched layer of the layer of sacrificial material, a layer of permeable membrane allowing an attack agent to break down the sacrificial material, breaking down the sacrificial material by using the attack agent to form air gaps to replace the broken down sacrificial material, forming electrical conductors in the etched track so as to obtain electrical interconnections separated by air gaps, and depositing a layer of insulating material to cover the electrical interconnections.