Abstract: A MOSFET having a new source/drain (S!D) structure is particularly adapted to smaller feature sizes of modern CMOS technology. The S/D conductors are located on the shallow trench isolation (STI) to achieve low junction leakage and low junction capacitance. The S/D junction depth is defined by an STI etch step (according to a first method of making the MOSFET) or a silicon etch step (according to a second method of making the MOSFET). By controlling the etch depth, a very shallow junction depth is achieved. There is a low variation of gate length, since the gate area is defined by etching crystal silicon, not by etching polycrystalline silicon. There is a low aspect ratio between the gate and the S/D, since the gate conductor and the source and drain conductors are aligned on same level. A suicide technique is applied to the source and drain for low parasitic resistance; however, this will not result in severe S/D junction leakage, since the source and drain conductors sit on the STI.

Abstract: A dual work function semiconductor structure with borderless contact and method of fabricating the same are presented. The structure may include a field effect transistor (FET) having a substantially cap-free gate and a conductive contact to a diffusion adjacent to the cap-free gate, wherein the conductive contact is borderless to the gate. Because the structure is a dual work function structure, the conductive contact is allowed to extend over the cap-free gate without being electrically connected thereto.

Abstract: The present invention comprises an electrically operated, directly overwritable, multibit, single-cell memory element. The memory element includes a volume of memory material which defines the single cell memory element. The memory material is characterized by: (1) a large dynamic range of electrical resistance values; and (2) the ability to be set at one of a plurality of resistance values within said dynamic range in response to selected electrical input signals so as to provide said single cell with multibit storage capabilities. The memory element also includes a pair of spacedly disposed contacts for supplying the electrical input signal to set the memory material to a selected resistance value within the dynamic range. At least a filamentary portion of the single cell memory element being setable, by the selected electrical signal to any resistance value in said dynamic range, regardless of the previous resistance value of said material.

Abstract: A unique class of microcrystalline semiconductor materials which can be modulated, within a crystalline phase, to assume any one of a large dynamic range of different Fermi level positions while maintaining a substantially constant band gap over the entire range, even after a modulating field has been removed. A solid state, directly overwritable, electronic and optical, non-volatile, high density, low cost, low energy, high speed, readily manufacturable, multibit single cell memory based upon the novel switching characteristics provided by said unique class of semiconductor materials, which memory exhibits orders of magnitude higher switching speeds at remarkably reduced energy levels. The novel memory of the instant invention is in turn characterized, inter alia, by numerous stable and non-volatile detectable configurations of local atomic order, which configurations can be selectively and repeatably accessed by input signals of varying levels.