Patents Examined by Shaka White
  • Patent number: 9012286
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are various methods of forming FinFET semiconductor devices so as to tune the threshold voltage of such devices. In one example, the method includes forming a plurality of spaced-apart trenches in a semiconducting substrate to define at least one fin (or fins) for the device, prior to forming a gate structure above the fin (or fins), performing a first epitaxial growth process to grow a first semiconductor material on exposed portions of the fin (or fins) and forming the gate structure above the first semiconductor material on the fin (or fins).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc.
    Inventor: Min-Hwa Chi
  • Patent number: 9012963
    Abstract: The present application discloses a semiconductor device comprising a source region and a drain region in an ultra-thin semiconductor layer; a channel region between the source region and the drain region in the ultra-thin semiconductor layer; a front gate stack above the channel region, the front gate comprising a front gate and a front gate dielectric between the front gate and the channel region; and a back gate stack below the channel region, the back gate stack comprising a back gate and a back gate dielectric between the back gate and the channel region, wherein the front gate is made of a high-Vt material, and the back gate is made of a low-Vt material. According to another embodiment, the front gate and the back gate are made of the same material, and the back gate is applied with a forward bias voltage during operation. The semiconductor device alleviates threshold voltage fluctuation due to varied thickness of the channel region by means of the back gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    Inventors: Qingqing Liang, Miao Xu, Huilong Zhu, Huicai Zhong
  • Patent number: 9006006
    Abstract: A light-emitting device production method includes a positioning step of positioning, in a light-emitting element, a sealing member at least containing a silicone resin semi-cured at a room temperature (T0) by primary cross-linking and a fluorescent material, the silicone resin decreasing in viscosity reversibly in a temperature region between the room temperature (T0) and a temperature lower than a secondary cross-linking temperature (T1), and being totally cured non-reversibly in a temperature region equal to or higher than the secondary cross-linking temperature (T1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masahiro Konishi
  • Patent number: 9006904
    Abstract: An electronic package includes a substrate wafer with an interconnect network. A first chip is fixed to a front of the substrate, connected to the interconnect network and encapsulated by a body. A second chip is placed on a back side of the substrate wafer and connected to the interconnect network by back-side connection elements interposed between the back side of the substrate and a front side of the second chip. Front-side connection elements are placed on the front side of the substrate and connected to the interconnect network. The connection elements extend beyond the frontal face of the body. The package may be mounted on a board with an interposed thermally conductive material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS
    Inventors: Dominique Marais, Jacques Chavade, RĂ©mi Brechignac, Eric Saugier, Romain Coffy, Luc Petit
  • Patent number: 9000569
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure includes a carrier, a first protective layer, a second protective layer, and a third protective layer. A first surface of the first protective layer comprises a first anti-stress zone. A first extension line from a first bottom edge intersects with a second extension line from a second bottom edge to form a first base point. A first projection line is formed on the first surface, an extension line of the first projection line intersects with the second bottom edge to form a first intersection point, a second projection line is formed on the first surface, and an extension line of the second projection line intersects with the first bottom edge to form a second intersection point. A zone by connecting the first base point, the first intersection point and the second intersection point is the first anti-stress zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Chipbond Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Chin-Tang Hsieh, You-Ming Hsu, Ming-Sheng Liu, Chih-Ping Wang
  • Patent number: 8994195
    Abstract: A microelectronic assembly can include a microelectronic device having device contacts exposed at a surface thereof and an interconnection element having element contacts and having a face adjacent to the microelectronic device. Conductive elements, e.g., wirebonds connect the device contacts with the element contacts and have portions extending in runs above the surface of the microelectronic device. A conductive layer has a conductive surface disposed at at least a substantially uniform distance above or below the plurality of the runs of the conductive elements. In some cases, the conductive material can have first and second dimensions in first and second horizontal directions which are smaller than first and second corresponding dimensions of the microelectronic device. The conductive material is connectable to a source of reference potential so as to achieve a desired impedance for the conductive elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Tessera, Inc.
    Inventors: Belgacem Haba, Brian Marcucci
  • Patent number: 8969200
    Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for integrating TSVs into devices prior to device contacts processing. The apparatus includes a semiconducting layer; one or more CMOS devices mounted on a top surface of the semiconducting layer; one or more TSVs integrated into the semiconducting layer of the device wafer; at least one metal layer applied over the TSVs; and one or more bond pads mounted onto a top layer of the at least one metal layer, wherein the at least one metal layer is arranged to enable placement of the one or more bond pads at a specified location for bonding to a second device wafer. The method includes obtaining a wafer of semiconducting material, performing front end of line processing on the wafer; providing one or more TSVs in the wafer; performing middle of line processing on the wafer; and performing back end of line processing on the wafer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: The Research Foundation of State University of New York
    Inventors: Jeremiah Hebding, Megha Rao, Colin McDonough, Matthew Smalley, Douglas Duane Coolbaugh, Joseph Piccirillo, Jr., Stephen G. Bennett, Michael Liehr, Daniel Pascual
  • Patent number: 8969918
    Abstract: An enhancement mode GaN transistor having a gate pGaN structure having a thickness which avoids dielectric failure. In one embodiment, this thickness is in the range of 400 ? to 900 ?. In a preferred embodiment, the thickness is 600 ?.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Efficient Power Conversion Corporation
    Inventors: Alexander Lidow, Robert Beach, Alana Nakata, Jianjun Cao, Guang Yuan Zhao
  • Patent number: 8969198
    Abstract: A perforating ohmic contact to a semiconductor layer in a semiconductor structure is provided. The perforating ohmic contact can include a set of perforating elements, which can include a set of metal protrusions laterally penetrating the semiconductor layer(s). The perforating elements can be separated from one another by a characteristic length scale selected based on a sheet resistance of the semiconductor layer and a contact resistance per unit length of a metal of the perforating ohmic contact contacting the semiconductor layer. The structure can be annealed using a set of conditions configured to ensure formation of the set of metal protrusions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Mikhail Gaevski, Grigory Simin, Maxim S Shatalov, Alexander Dobrinsky, Michael Shur, Remigijus Gaska
  • Patent number: 8962377
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a pixelated imager includes providing a substrate with bottom contact layer and sensing element blanket layers on the contact layer. The blanket layers are separated into an array of sensing elements by trenches isolating adjacent sensing elements. A sensing element electrode is formed adjacent each sensing element overlying a trench and defining a TFT. A layer of metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) material is formed on a dielectric layer overlying the electrodes and on an exposed upper surface of the blanket layers defining the sensing element adjacent each TFT. A layer of metal is deposited on each TFT and separated into source/drain electrodes on opposite sides of the sensing element electrode. The metal forming one of the S/D electrodes contacts the MOS material overlying the exposed surface of the semiconductor layer, whereby each sensing element in the array is electrically connected to the adjacent TFT by the MOS material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Cbrite Inc.
    Inventors: Chan-Long Shieh, Gang Yu
  • Patent number: 8962408
    Abstract: A self-aligned carbon nanostructure transistor is formed by a method that includes providing a material stack including a gate dielectric material having a dielectric constant of greater than silicon oxide and a sacrificial gate material. Next, a carbon nanostructure is formed on an exposed surface of the gate dielectric material. After forming the carbon nanostructure, metal semiconductor alloy portions are formed self-aligned to the material stack. The sacrificial gate material is then replaced with a conductive metal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Qing Cao, Zhengwen Li, Fei Liu, Zhen Zhang
  • Patent number: 8962407
    Abstract: A method for enabling fabrication of RMG devices having a low gate height variation and a substantially planar topography and resulting device are disclosed. Embodiments include: providing on a substrate two dummy gate electrodes, each between a pair of spacers; providing a source/drain region between the two dummy gate electrodes; and forming a first nitride layer over the two dummy gate electrodes and the source/drain region, wherein the first nitride layer comprises a first portion over the dummy gate electrodes and a second portion over the source/drain region, and the second portion has an upper surface substantially coplanar with an upper surface of the dummy gate electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc.
    Inventors: Hong Yu, Wang Haiting, Yongsik Moon, James Lee, Huang Liu
  • Patent number: 8956973
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method of plating a TSV hole in a substrate is provided. The TSV hole may include an open end terminating at a conductive pad, a stack of wiring levels, and a plurality of chip interconnects. The method of plating a TSV may include attaching a handler to the plurality of chip interconnects, the handler having a conductive layer in electrical contact with the plurality of chip interconnects; exposing a closed end of the TSV hole, including the conductive pad, to an electrolyte solution; and applying an electrical potential along an electrical path from the conductive layer to the conductive pad causing conductive material from the electrolyte solution to deposit on the conductive pad and within the TSV hole, the electrical path including the conductive layer, the plurality of chip interconnects, the stack of wiring levels and the conductive pad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Mukta G. Farooq, John A. Fitzsimmons, Troy L. Graves-Abe
  • Patent number: 8946668
    Abstract: Disclosed is a semiconductor device including a resistive change element between a first wiring and a second wiring, which are arranged in a vertical direction so as to be adjacent to each other, with an interlayer insulation film being interposed on a semiconductor substrate. The resistive change element includes a lower electrode, a resistive change element film made of a metal oxide and an upper electrode. Since the upper electrode on the resistive change element film is formed as part of a plug for the second wiring, a structure in which a side surface of the upper electrode is not in direct contact with the side surface of the metal oxide or the lower electrode is provided so that it is possible to realize excellent device characteristics, even when a byproduct is adhered to the side wall of the metal oxide or the lower electrode in the etching thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2015
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Yukishige Saito, Kimihiko Ito, Hiromitsu Hada
  • Patent number: 8932887
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing an LED (light emitting diode) with transparent ceramic is provided, which includes: adding quantitative fluorescent powder into transparent ceramic powder, wherein the doped ratio of the fluorescent powder is 0.01-100 wt %; preparing the fluorescent transparent ceramic using ceramic apparatus and process, after fully mixing the raw material; assembling the prepared fluorescent transparent ceramic and a semiconductor chip to form the LED device. The method assembles the fluorescent transparent ceramic and a semiconductor chip to form the LED device by replacing the fluorescent powder layer and the epoxy resin package casting of the traditional LED with fluorescent transparent ceramic. The fluorescent transparent ceramic is used as the package cast and fluorescent material, and the LED device manufactured through the method has more excellent performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Bright Crystals Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Muyun Lei, Zhen Li, Zailiang Lou, Yanmin Zhao, Qinghai Song, Yongliang Yang
  • Patent number: 8933507
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a power MOSFET device having a relatively low resistance hybrid gate electrode that enables good switching performance. In some embodiments, the power MOSFET device has a semiconductor body. An epitaxial layer is disposed on the semiconductor body. A hybrid gate electrode, which controls the flow of electrons between a source electrode and a drain electrode, is located within a trench extending into the epitaxial layer. The hybrid gate electrode has an inner region having a low resistance metal, an outer region having a polysilicon material, and a barrier region disposed between the inner region and the outer region. The low resistance of the inner region provides for a low resistance to the hybrid gate electrode that enables good switching performance for the power MOSFET device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Chun-Wai Ng, Hsueh-Liang Chou, Po-Chih Su, Ruey-Hsin Liu
  • Patent number: 8932913
    Abstract: To provide a semiconductor device which prevents defects and achieves miniaturization. A projecting portion or a trench (a groove portion) is formed in an insulating layer and a channel formation region of a semiconductor layer is provided in contact with the projecting portion or the trench, so that the channel formation region is extended in a direction perpendicular to a substrate. Thus, miniaturization of the transistor can be achieved and an effective channel length can be extended. In addition, before formation of the semiconductor layer, an upper-end corner portion of the projecting portion or the trench with which the semiconductor layer is in contact is subjected to round chamfering, so that a thin semiconductor layer can be formed with good coverage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinya Sasagawa, Akihiro Ishizuka
  • Patent number: 8928141
    Abstract: A first substrate provided with a receiving area made from a first metallic material is supplied. A second substrate provided with an insertion area comprising a base surface and at least two bumps made from a second metallic material is arranged facing the first substrate. The bumps are salient from the base surface. A pressure is applied between the first substrate and the second substrate so as to make the bumps penetrate into the receiving area. The first metallic material reacts with the second metallic material so as to form a continuous layer of an intermetallic compound having a base formed by the first and second metallic materials along the interface between the bumps and the receiving area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et Aux Energies Alternatives
    Inventor: Jean-Charles Souriau
  • Patent number: 8916441
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a novel method and structure for forming finFET structures that comprise standard cells. An H-shaped cut mask is used to reduce the number of fins that need to be removed, hence increasing the fin efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc.
    Inventors: Mahbub Rashed, Juhan Kim, Yunfei Deng, Jongwook Kye, Suresh Venkatesan
  • Patent number: 8912635
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing an electronic device is provided. The method comprises providing a carrier sheet, etching the lead frame material sheet to form a recess on a first surface of the lead frame material sheet, placing an electronic chip into the recess of the carrier sheet, and thereafter, selectively etching a second surface of the lead frame material sheet, the second surface being opposite to the first surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Chip King Tan, Boon Huan Gooi