Patents Examined by Aaron Dehne
  • Patent number: 7799652
    Abstract: There is disclosed a method for producing an epitaxial wafer with a buried diffusion layer comprising: implanting an impurity into a silicon single crystal wafer; subsequently diffusing the impurity in the wafer to form a diffusion layer; at least removing an oxide film on the diffusion layer; and thereafter forming a silicon epitaxial layer over the wafer to produce a silicon epitaxial wafer with a buried diffusion layer; wherein at least the oxide film on the diffusion layer is removed by etching with hydrofluoric acid to which a surfactant is added, and then the silicon epitaxial layer is formed. There can be provided a method for producing an epitaxial wafer with a buried diffusion layer in which generation of crystal defects in a silicon epitaxial layer is reduced effectively and an epitaxial wafer with a buried diffusion layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Shin-Etsu Handotai Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Norimichi Tanaka, Takashi Itami, Hiroyuki Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 7785987
    Abstract: An apparatus has two slabs of substrate material joined to each other, the two slabs including a pair of contacts joined to each other having a shape separating a first area from a second area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2010
    Inventor: John Trezza
  • Patent number: 7785918
    Abstract: An image device which includes reflowed color filters. Reflowed color filters may be formed by heat treating preliminary color filters. When preliminary color filters are reflowed, color filters of different colors may be formed continuous with each other. Contiguous color filters in an image device may reduce manufacturing costs, maximize optical efficiency, minimize noise, and/or minimize crosstalk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2010
    Assignee: Dongbu HiTek Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Young-Je Yun
  • Patent number: 7781270
    Abstract: Electronic devices integrated on a single substrate and a method for fabricating the same are provided. The method includes providing a substrate, and forming at least two electronic devices on the substrate, wherein the at least two electronic devices are selected from a thin film transistor, a memory, a diode, a capacitor, a resistor and an inductor. The at least two electronic devices are formed from a plurality of film layers, each film layer is formed over the substrate at the same time, and at least one layer of the film layers is formed by printing process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2010
    Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
    Inventor: Zing-Way Pei
  • Patent number: 7776622
    Abstract: A semiconductor device fabrication method that improves the efficiency of semiconductor device production. A plurality of wafer substrates are set and a process for fabricating semiconductor devices each having a ferroelectric capacitor is begun. After ferroelectric layers are formed over the plurality of wafer substrates, the ferroelectric layers formed are damaged. The plurality of wafer substrates are then rearranged and treatment is performed. In each step in which the ferroelectric layers formed may be damaged, the plurality of wafer substrates are rearranged and treatment is performed. As a result, retention characteristic variations among wafer substrates in the same lot are reduced and the productivity of semiconductor devices is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2010
    Assignee: Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited
    Inventor: Kouichi Nagai
  • Patent number: 7772104
    Abstract: A semiconductor device is provided which comprises a substrate (501) having a plurality of bond pads (503) disposed thereon. Each bond pad has a major axis and a minor axis in a direction parallel to the substrate, and the ratio of the major axis to the minor axis increases with the distance of a bond pad from the center of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2010
    Assignee: Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventors: Tim V. Pham, Trent S. Uehling
  • Patent number: 7772074
    Abstract: Processes for non-selectively forming one or more conformal silicon-containing epitaxial layers on recess corners are disclosed. Specific embodiments pertain to the formation and treatment of epitaxial layers in semiconductor devices, for example, Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) devices. In specific embodiments, the formation of a non-selective epitaxial layer involves exposing a substrate in a process chamber to deposition gases including a silicon source such as silane and a higher order silane, followed by heating the substrate to promote solid phase epitaxial growth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Zhiyuan Ye, Andrew Lam, Saurabh Chopra, Yihwan Kim
  • Patent number: 7754563
    Abstract: Nanolaminate-structure SrO/TiO films are formed on a lower electrode of a capacitor by molecular layer deposition kept in a rate-determined state by a surface reaction. The nanolaminate-structure SrO/TiO films are formed by alternately laminating one or more and 20 or less SrO molecular layers and one or more and 20 or less TiO molecular layers at 150° C. or more and 400° C. or less and at 10 Torr or more and the atmospheric pressure or less. This makes it possible to obtain the nanolaminate-structure SrO/TiO films with a high permittivity and a high coverage and with no occurrence of crystalline foreign substance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignee: Elpida Memory, Inc.
    Inventor: Naruhiko Nakanishi
  • Patent number: 7749841
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes the steps of: (a) forming a layered dielectric film on the semiconductor substrate; (b) forming a first conductive film on the layered dielectric film; (c) forming a first dielectric film on the first conductive film; (d) patterning the first dielectric film and the first conductive film to form a layered pattern composed of first dielectric films and first conductive films; and (e) implanting a first impurity along a direction having an inclination angle to a normal direction to a principal plane of the semiconductor substrate by using the layered pattern as a mask to form a first impurity diffusion layer being the same in conductivity type as the semiconductor substrate, wherein, step (d) includes patterning the first dielectric film to form the first dielectric films having a shape with a width narrower in an upper surface than in a lower surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventor: Masatoshi Arai
  • Patent number: 7745345
    Abstract: A manufacture method for a ZnO based semiconductor device includes the steps of: (a) preparing a ZnO based semiconductor wafer including a ZnO based semiconductor substrate having a wurzeit structure with a +C plane on one surface and a ?C plane on an opposite surface, a first ZnO based semiconductor layer having a first conductivity type epitaxially grown above the +C plane of the ZnO based semiconductor substrate, and a second ZnO based semiconductor layer having a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type epitaxially grown above the first semiconductor layer; and (b) wet-etching the ZnO based semiconductor wafer with acid etching liquid to etch the ?C plane of the ZnO based semiconductor substrate
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2010
    Assignee: Stanley Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Naochika Horio, Kazufumi Tanaka
  • Patent number: 7732264
    Abstract: Methods for manufacturing thin film transistor arrays utilizing three steps of lithography and one step of laser ablation while the lithography procedure is used four to five times in conventional processes are disclosed. The use of the disclosed methods assists in improving throughput and saving of manufacturing cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2010
    Assignee: AU Optronics Corp.
    Inventor: Chih-Hung Shih
  • Patent number: 7704788
    Abstract: Methods of forming integrated circuit devices include forming at least one non-volatile memory cell on a substrate. The memory cell includes a plurality of phase-changeable material regions therein that are electrically coupled in series. This plurality of phase-changeable material regions are collectively configured to support at least 2-bits of data when serially programmed using at least four serial program currents. Each of the plurality of phase-changeable material regions has different electrical resistance characteristics when programmed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2010
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sun-Pil Youn, Jin-Tae Kang, Young-Jae Joo, Hyeong-Jun Kim, Jae-Min Shin
  • Patent number: 7704854
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method includes etching at least one shallow trench in at least an SIO layer; forming a dielectric liner at an interface of the SIO layer and the SIO layer; forming a metal or metal alloy layer in the shallow trench on the dielectric liner; and filling the shallow trench with oxide material over the metal or metal alloy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Robert H. Dennard, Mark C. Hakey, David V. Horak, Sanjay Mehta
  • Patent number: 7700416
    Abstract: The process uses a sacrificial stressor layer to provide tensile strained surface regions for bulk silicon or silicon on insulator (SOI) substrates. The process deposits a sacrificial layer of silicon germanium on the surface of the substrate and then patterns the workpiece to form trenches extending through the silicon germanium stressor layer into the semiconductor substrate. The process fills the trenches with insulating materials and then removes the silicon germanium stressor layer, for example using wet etching, leaving a strained silicon or SOI substrate with a pattern of shallow trench isolation structures. The trench fill material is selected to stress the regions of silicon between the trenches to provide a tensile strained surface region to the semiconductor substrate. Such a strained semiconductor surface region can have improved mobility properties and so is advantageous for forming devices such as MOSFETs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2010
    Assignee: Acorn Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Paul A. Clifton, Daniel J. Connelly, R. Stockton Gaines
  • Patent number: 7696008
    Abstract: A wafer-level chip packaging process includes the following steps. First, a wafer having a plurality of chip units, an active surface, and a corresponding back surface is provided. Each chip unit has a plurality of pads on the active surface. Next, a plurality of through holes is formed under the pads. The through holes are filled with a conductive material such that the conductive material within each through hole is electrically connected to corresponding one of the pads and a portion of the conductive material is exposed and protrudes from the back surface of the wafer. Thereafter, a transparent adhesive layer is formed on the active surface. Next, a transparent cover panel is disposed on the transparent adhesive layer such that the transparent cover panel is connected to the wafer through the transparent adhesive layer. Afterwards, a singulation step is performed to form a plurality of independent chip package structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2010
    Assignee: Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.
    Inventor: Chien-Yu Chen
  • Patent number: 7687355
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a fin transistor includes forming a trench by etching a semiconductor substrate. A flowable insulation layer is filled in the trench to form a field insulation layer defining an active region. The portion of the flowable insulation layer coming into contact with a gate forming region is etched so as to protrude the gate forming region in the active region. A protective layer over the semiconductor substrate is formed to fill the portion of the etched flowable insulation layer. The portion of the protective layer formed over the active region is removed to expose the active region of the semiconductor substrate. The exposed active region of the semiconductor substrate is cleaned. The protective layer remaining on the portion of the etched flowable insulation layer is removed. Gates are formed over the protruded gate forming regions in the active region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2010
    Assignee: Hynix Semiconductor Inc.
    Inventors: Dong Sun Sheen, Seok Pyo Song, Young Ho Lee
  • Patent number: 7682958
    Abstract: A method for producing an integrated circuit including a fuse element, a fuse-memory element or a resistor element is disclosed. In one embodiment, at least one metallization layer is applied onto a substrate. A hard mask is applied onto the at least one metallization layer. The at least one metallization layer is wet chemically etched by using the hard mask and the fuse element. The fuse-memory element or the resistor element is formed in a region in which the at least one metallization layer has been etched.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2010
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Georg Seidemann, Reinhard Goellner
  • Patent number: 7625788
    Abstract: A display element and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The method comprises the following steps: forming a first patterned conducting layer with a gate on a substrate and a dielectric layer thereon; forming a patterned semiconductor layer on the dielectric layer, wherein the patterned semiconductor layer has a channel region, a source and a drain, and wherein the source and the drain lie on the opposite sides of the channel region; selectively depositing a barrier layer, which only wraps the patterned semiconductor layer; forming a second patterned conducting layer on the barrier layer and above the source and the drain. In the display element manufactured by the method, the barrier layer only wraps the patterned semiconductor layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2009
    Assignee: Au Optronics Corp.
    Inventors: Po-Lin Chen, Wen-Ching Tsai, Chun-Nan Lin, Kuo-Yuan Tu
  • Patent number: 7625811
    Abstract: A method according to the invention enables first and second active zones to be produced on a front face of a support, which said zones are respectively formed by first and second monocrystalline semi-conducting materials that are distinct from one another and preferably have identical crystalline structures. The front faces of the first and second active zones also present the advantage of being in the same plane. Such a method consists in particular in producing the second active zones by a crystallization step of the second semi-conducting material in monocrystalline form, from patterns made of second semi-conducting material in polycrystalline and/or amorphous form and from interface regions between said patterns and preselected first active zones. Moreover, the support is formed by stacking of a substrate and of an electrically insulating thin layer, the front face of the electrically insulating thin layer forming the front face of the support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2009
    Assignees: Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, STMicroelectronics SA
    Inventors: Jean-Charles Barbe, Laurent Clavelier, Benoit Vianay, Yves Morand
  • Patent number: 7598143
    Abstract: A method for producing an integrated circuit including a semiconductor and in one embodiment a trench transistor structure, is disclosed. A first diffusion method is carried out. A second diffusion method is carried out, by which dopant atoms of a second conduction type are introduced via a first side into a mesa region and into a component region, which form a source zone in the mesa region, the diffusion methods being coordinated with one another in such a way that the dopant atoms of a second conduction type indiffuse further than the dopant atoms of a first conduction type from the first diffusion method, in the vertical direction in the component region and indiffuse not as far as the dopant atoms of the first conduction type in the vertical direction in the mesa region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2009
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventors: Markus Zundel, Joachim Krumrey