Patents Assigned to X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries, AG
  • Patent number: 8546207
    Abstract: The invention describes a method for fabricating silicon semiconductor wafers with the layer structures from III-V semiconductor layers for the integration of HEMTs based on semiconductor III-V layers with silicon components. SOI silicon semiconductor wafers are used, the active semiconductor layer of which has the III-V semiconductor layers (24) of the HEMT design (2) placed on it stretching over two mutually insulated regions (24a, 24b) of the active silicon layer. An appropriate layer arrangement is likewise disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Gabriel Kittler, Ralf Lerner
  • Patent number: 8546268
    Abstract: STI divot formation is minimized and STI field height mismatch between different regions is eliminated. A nitride cover layer (150) having a thickness less than 150 then a oxide cover layer (160) having a thickness less than 150 is deposited acting as implant buffer after pad oxide removal following the STI CMP process. This nitride or oxide stack is selectively removed by masking prior to gate oxidation of each LV (low voltage) region (GX1), MV (intermediate voltage) region (GX3) and HV (high voltage) region (GX5) respectively followed by a gate poly deposition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Wilson Entalai, Jerry Liew
  • Patent number: 8530999
    Abstract: A semiconductor component with straight insulation trenches formed in a semiconductor material providing semiconductor areas laterally insulated from each other. Each insulation trench has a uniform width along its longitudinal direction represented by a central line. The semiconductor component has an intersecting area into which at least three of the straight insulation trenches lead. A center of the intersecting area is defined as a point of intersection of the continuations of the center lines. A central semiconductor area disposed in the intersecting area is connected with one of the semiconductor areas and contains the center of the intersecting area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Ralf Lerner, Uwe Eckoldt
  • Publication number: 20130228868
    Abstract: A semiconductor device for electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection including a source, a gate, a drain having a drain diffusion, and a diffusion region extending from, or located under, the drain diffusion. The source, the gate, the drain and the diffusion region are located in or on a substrate. The diffusion region is laterally spaced from at least one of the gate or the outer edge of the drain diffusion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2012
    Publication date: September 5, 2013
    Applicant: X-FAB SEMICONDUCTOR FOUNDRIES AG
    Inventor: Paul Ronald Stribley
  • Patent number: 8513764
    Abstract: A Schottky diode including a semiconductor region, a first terminal comprising a metal or a metal silicide or being metallic, and a second terminal comprising at least a portion of the semiconductor region. The diode further includes an at least partly conductive material or a material capable of holding a charge in close proximity to, or in contact with, or surrounding one of the first and second terminals, a field insulator located at least partly in the semiconductor region, a dielectric region located over the semiconductor region between the field insulator and the one of the first and second terminals for isolating the conductive or charge-holding material from the semiconductor region, and wherein the dielectric region comprises insulating regions of different thicknesses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2013
    Assignee: X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Paul R. Stribley, Suba Chithambaram Subramaniam
  • Publication number: 20130175615
    Abstract: In a semiconductor component or device, a lateral power effect transistor is produced as an LDMOS transistor in such a way that, in combination with a trench isolation region (12) and the heavily doped feed guiding region (28, 28A), an improved potential profile is achieved in the drain drift region (8) of the transistor. For this purpose, in advantageous embodiments, it is possible to use standard implantation processes of CMOS technology, without additional method steps being required.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2011
    Publication date: July 11, 2013
    Applicant: X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Thomas Uhlig, Lutz Steinbeck
  • Publication number: 20130140677
    Abstract: A semiconductor device comprising a semiconductor substrate and a composite capacitor structure on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the composite capacitor structure comprises a capacitor stack comprising a lower and an upper capacitor, respectively comprising first and second dielectric materials, wherein the first and second dielectric materials are different materials and/or have different thicknesses from each other. This can minimize the voltage dependence of the capacitance of the composite capacitor structure. It is also possible to provide a composite capacitor structure on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the composite capacitor structure comprises at least a first and a second capacitor stack, each comprising a lower and an upper capacitor. The capacitors can be MIM capacitors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 16, 2010
    Publication date: June 6, 2013
    Applicant: X-FAB SEMICONDUCTOR FOUNDRIES AG
    Inventors: Tsui Ping Chu, Peng Yang, Evie Siaw Hei Kho, Yong Kheng Ang, Swee Hua Tia
  • Patent number: 8455955
    Abstract: An array of transistors arranged next to each other on a semiconductor material forming a substrate, the substrate comprising p-well or n-well diffusions forming a body, which diffusions are used as the body regions of the transistors, each transistor comprising a source, a drain and a gate, wherein the array of transistors further comprises at least one electrical connection to the body, wherein said electrical connection is shared by at least two transistors of said array. Also disclosed is a semiconductor device comprising at least one source, at least one drain, at least one gate between the at least one source and the at least one drain, and at least one structure of the same material as the at least one gate which does not have a connection means for electrical connection to the at least one gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Paul Ronald Stribley, John Nigel Ellis
  • Patent number: 8448101
    Abstract: The invention relates to a simulation and/or layout process for vertical power transistors as DMOS or IGBT with variable channel width and variable gate drain capacity which can be drawn and/or designed by the designer with the respectively desired parameters of channel width and gate drain capacity and the parameters of volume resistance and circuit speed, which are correlated therewith, and whose electrical parameters can be described as a function of the geometrical gate electrode design. Here, both discrete and integrated vertical transistors may be concerned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2013
    Assignee: X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Ralf Lerner, Wolfgang Miesch
  • Publication number: 20130093015
    Abstract: A high voltage metal oxide semiconductor (HVMOS) transistor (1) comprises a drift region (8) comprising a material having a mobility which is higher than a mobility of Si. There is also provided a method of manufacturing said transistor, the method comprising forming a drift region comprising a material having a mobility which is higher than a mobility of Silicon. The material can be a Si—Ge strained material. The on- resistance is reduced compared to a transistor with a drift region made of Si, so that the trade-off between breakdown voltage and on-resistance is improved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2010
    Publication date: April 18, 2013
    Applicant: X-FAB SEMICONDUCTOR FOUNDRIES AG
    Inventors: Deb Kumar Pal, Elizabeth Ching Tee Kho, Alexander Dietrich Hölke
  • Patent number: 8405157
    Abstract: The invention relates to a BiMOS semiconductor component having a semiconductor substrate wherein, in a first active region, a depletion-type MOS transistor is formed comprising additional source and drain doping regions of the first conductivity type extending in the downward direction past the depletion region into the body doping region while, in a second active region, (101), a bipolar transistor (100) is formed, the base of which comprises a body doping region (112) and the collector of which comprises a deep pan (110), wherein an emitter doping region (114) of the first conductivity type and a base connection doping region (118) of the second conductivity type are formed in the body doping region. The semiconductor element can be produced with a particularly low process expenditure because it uses the same basic structure for the doping regions in the bipolar transistor as are used in the MOS transistor of the same semiconductor component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignee: X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Thomas Uhlig, Felix Fuernhammer, Christoph Ellmers
  • Patent number: 8378451
    Abstract: A device comprises a substrate (22); a first MiM capacitor (10,20,11) disposed over the substrate; and a second MiM capacitor (10?,20?,11) disposed over the first MiM capacitor. The first MiM capacitor and the second MiM capacitor are electrically connected in parallel. The two MiM capacitors are vertically stacked one above the other. Each MiM capacitor comprises an interconnection layer (10,10?) of the CMOS process as one plate and a thinner conductive layer (11,11?) as the second plate, with an insulating layer (20,20?) disposed therebetween. This allows each MiM capacitor to be formed between two CMOS process interconnection layers. The second plate of the second MiM capacitor is substantially co-extensive with the second plate of the first MiM capacitor, and is disposed substantially directly over the second plate of the first MiM capacitor. The same mask may be used to pattern the second plate of the second MiM capacitor and the second plate of the first MiM capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Paul Ronald Stribley, Mark Parsons, Graham Chapman
  • Patent number: 8350209
    Abstract: The invention relates to methods and devices comprising a nanostructure (2;4,4a) for improving the optical behavior of components and apparatuses and/or improving the behavior of sensors by increasing the active surface area. The nanostructure (2) is produced by means of a special RIE etching process, can be modified regarding the composition of the materials thereof, and can be provided with adequate coatings. The amount of material used for the base layer (3) can be reduced by supplying a buffer layer (406). Many applications are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Daniel Gaebler, Konrad Bach
  • Patent number: 8278183
    Abstract: A description is given of a method for producing isolation trenches (32, 34) with different sidewall dopings on a silicon-based substrate wafer for use in the trench-isolated smart power technology. In this case, a first trench (32) having a first width and a second trench (34) having a second width which is greater than the first width are formed using a hard mask (30). The sidewalls of the first and second trenches are doped in accordance with a first doping type in order to produce sidewalls having a first doping. A material layer (50, 51, 60, 61) is deposited with a thickness determined so as to fill the first trench (32) completely up to and beyond the hard mask and to maintain the gap (34a) in the second trench (34). By means of isotropic etching the material layer is removed from the second trench, but residual material of the material layer is maintained in the first trench.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventor: Ralf Lerner
  • Publication number: 20120241914
    Abstract: A method of reducing contamination of contact pads in a metallization system of a semiconductor device. Fluorine contamination of contact pads in a semiconductor device can be reduced by appropriately covering the sidewall portions of a metallization system in the scribe lane in order to significantly reduce or suppress the out diffusion of fluorine species, which may react with the exposed surface areas of the contact pads. The quality of the bond contacts is enhanced, possibly without requiring any modifications in terms of design rules and electrical specifications.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2009
    Publication date: September 27, 2012
    Applicant: X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Hyung Sun Yook, Tsui Ping Chu, Poh Ching Sim
  • Publication number: 20120241887
    Abstract: The invention relates to a vertical Hall sensor integrated in a semiconductor chip and a method for the production thereof. The vertical Hall sensor has an electrically conductive well of a first conductivity type, which is embedded in an electrically conductive region of a second conductivity type. The electrical contacts are arranged along a straight line on a planar surface of the electrically conductive well. The electrically conductive well is generated by means of high-energy ion implantation and subsequent heating, so that it has a doping profile which either has a maximum which is located at a depth T1 from the planar surface of the electrically conductive well, or is essentially constant up to a depth T2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2012
    Publication date: September 27, 2012
    Applicants: X-FAB SEMICONDUCTOR FOUNDRIES AG, MELEXIS TECHNOLOGIES NV
    Inventors: Christian Schott, Peter Hofmann
  • Patent number: 8268688
    Abstract: A method for producing VDMOS transistors in which a specific layer arrangement and a specific method sequence allow setting up an improved gate contact when simultaneously producing source and gate contacts using a single contact hole mask (photo mask).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Jochen Doehnel, Siegfried Hering
  • Publication number: 20120232855
    Abstract: A method for designing a first vertical MOS power transistor having a specified design power level. The method comprises the steps of composing a layout of the vertical MOS power transistor as a combination of at least partly differing layout part pieces, each of the part pieces having known design data, the part pieces including at least one first layout part piece comprising a given number of single transistor cells, and adjusting the specified design power level of the first vertical MOS power transistor by using the known design data of the part pieces and based on the layout combination of the part pieces.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2012
    Publication date: September 13, 2012
    Applicants: ALPHA MICROELCTRONICS GMBH, X-FAB SEMICONDUCTOR FOUNDRIES AG
    Inventors: Ralf Lerner, Wolfgang Miesch
  • Publication number: 20120223367
    Abstract: The invention describes a method for fabricating silicon semiconductor waferswith the layer structures from III-V semiconductor layers for the integration of HEMTs based on semiconductor III-V layers with silicon components. SOI silicon semiconductor wafersare used, the active semiconductor layer of which has the III-V semiconductor layers (24) of the HEMT design (2) placed on it stretching over two mutually insulated regions (24a, 24b) of the active silicon layer. An appropriate layer arrangement is likewise disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2010
    Publication date: September 6, 2012
    Applicant: X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Gabriel Kittler, Ralf Lerner
  • Patent number: 8258557
    Abstract: The invention relates to processes for the production and elements (components) with a nanostructure (2; 4, 4a) for improving the optical behavior of components and devices and/or for improving the behavior of sensors by enlarging the active surface area. The nanostructure (2) is produced in a self-masking fashion by means of RIE etching and its material composition can be modified and it can be provided with suitable cover layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2012
    Assignee: X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries AG
    Inventors: Daniel Gaebler, Konrad Bach