Patents Examined by Fetsum Abraham
  • Patent number: 6727552
    Abstract: According to a semiconductor device of the present invention, a field oxide film is formed so as to cover the main surface of an SOI layer and to reach the main surface of a buried oxide film. As a result, a pMOS active region of the SOI and an nMOS active region of the SOI can be electrically isolated completely. Therefore, latchup can be prevented completely. As a result, it is possible to provide a semiconductor device using an SOI substrate which can implement high integration by eliminating reduction of the breakdown voltage between source and drain, which was a problem of a conventional SOI field effect transistor, as well as by efficiently disposing a body contact region, which hampers high integration, and a method of manufacturing the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2004
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasuo Inoue, Tadashi Nishimura, Yasuo Yamaguchi, Toshiaki Iwamatsu
  • Patent number: 6724012
    Abstract: A semiconductor device in which a reduction in size and thinness are realized is provided. The semiconductor device of the present invention can realize a reduction in size by forming light emitting elements as a light source, and photodiodes as photoelectric conversion elements on the same substrate. Further, it becomes possible to control two signal lines by using one driver circuit with using an output switching circuit. As a result, it becomes possible to reduce the area occupied by the driver circuits of the semiconductor device, and the semiconductor device can be made smaller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2004
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hajime Kimura
  • Patent number: 6720575
    Abstract: An insulating film 103 for making an under insulating layer 104 is formed on a quartz or semiconductor substrate 100. Recesses 105a to 105d corresponding to recesses 101a to 101d of the substrate 100 are formed on the surface of the insulating film 103. The surface of this insulating film 103 is flattened to form the under insulating layer 104. By this flattening process, the distance L1, L2, . . . , Ln between the recesses 106a, 106b, 106d of the under insulating layer 104 is made 0.3 &mgr;m or more, and the depth of the respective recesses is made 10 nm or less. The root-mean-square surface roughness of the surface of the under insulating film 104 is made 0.3 nm or less. By this, in the recesses 106a, 106b, 106d, it can be avoided to block crystal growth of the semiconductor thin film, and crystal grain boundaries can be substantially disappeared.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2004
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Akiharu Miyanaga, Toru Mitsuki, Hisashi Ohtani
  • Patent number: 6720607
    Abstract: A method for ion implantation of high dielectric constant materials with dopants to reduce film leakage and improve resistance degradation is disclosed. Particularly, the invention relates to ion implantation of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 (BST) with donor dopants to reduce film leakage and improve resistance degradation of the BST film. The invention also relates to varying the ion implantation angle of the dopant to uniformly dope the high dielectric constant materials when they have been fabricated over a stepped structure. The invention also relates to integrated circuits having a doped thin film high dielectric material used as an insulating layer in a capacitor structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2004
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Cem Basceri, Husam N. Al-Shareef
  • Patent number: 6717216
    Abstract: Field effect transistor with increased charge carrier mobility due to stress in the current channel 22. The stress is in the direction of current flow (longitudinal). In PFET devices, the stress is compressive; in NFET devices, the stress is tensile. The stress is created by a compressive film 34 in an area 32 under the channel. The compressive film pushes up on the channel 22, causing it to bend. In PFET devices, the compressive film is disposed under ends 31 of the channel (e.g. under the source and drain), thereby causing compression in an upper portion 22A of the channel. In NFET devices, the compressive film is disposed under a middle portion 40 of the channel (e.g. under the gate), thereby causing tension in the, upper portion of the channel. Therefore, both NFET and PFET devices can be enhanced. A method for making the devices is included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Bruce B. Doris, Dureseti Chidambarrao, Xavier Baie, Jack A. Mandelman, Devendra K. Sadana, Dominic J. Schepis
  • Patent number: 6713804
    Abstract: A voltage applying section (32) is connected to a silicon substrate (1). Emission of radiation to a semiconductor device causes a large number of holes to accumulate within a BOX layer (2) in the vicinity of the interface with respect to a silicon layer (3). The amount of accumulation of holes increases with a lapse of time. A voltage applying section (32) applies a negative voltage which decreases with the lapse of time to the silicon substrate (1) in order to cancel out a positive electric field resulting from the accumulated holes. The voltage applying section (32) includes a time counter (30) for detecting the lapse of time and a voltage generating section (31) connected to the silicon substrate (1) for generating a negative voltage (V1) which decreases in proportion to the lapse of time based on the result of detection (time T) carried out by the time counter (30). Consequently, a semiconductor device capable of suppressing occurrence of total dose effects is obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2004
    Assignee: Renesas Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Yuuichi Hirano, Takuji Matsumoto, Yasuo Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 6707093
    Abstract: A touch-sensitive semiconductor chip having a physical interface to the environment, where the surface of the physical interface is coated with a fluorocarbon polymer. The polymer is highly scratch resistant and has a characteristic low dielectric constant for providing a low attenuation to electric fields. The polymer can be used instead of conventional passivation layers, thereby allowing a thin, low dielectric constant layer between the object touching the physical interface, and the capacitive sensing circuits underlying the polymer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2004
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Harry M. Siegel, Fred P. Lane, Richard P. Evans
  • Patent number: 6703646
    Abstract: A thyristor-based semiconductor device exhibits a relatively increased base-emitter capacitance. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, a base region and an adjacent emitter region of a thyristor are doped such that the emitter region has a lightly-doped portion having a light dopant concentration, relative to the base region. In one embodiment, the thyristor is implemented in a memory circuit, wherein the emitter region is coupled to a reference voltage line and a control port is arranged for capacitively coupling to the thyristor for controlling current flow therein. In another implementation, the thyristor is formed on a buried insulator layer of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structure. With these approaches, current flow in the thyristor, e.g., for data storage therein, can be tightly controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2004
    Assignee: T-Ram, Inc.
    Inventors: Farid Nemati, Scott Robins, Andrew Horch
  • Patent number: 6703660
    Abstract: The present invention concerns an electrical junction between one transistor and at least one voltage sensitive cell such as a neuron. The invention further concerns transistors to be used in said junction and methods for their preparation. By another aspect the invention concerns “an artificial chemical synapse” i.e. a junction between a cell, which secretes an agent, and a transistor bearing receptors for the agent, wherein binding of the agent to the receptor changes an electrical property off the transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2004
    Assignee: Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
    Inventors: Shlomo Yitzchaik, Joseph Shappir, Micha Spira
  • Patent number: 6696714
    Abstract: A multichip semiconductor device with an improved yield and a reduced inspection cost is provided in which a fuse is provided on a first semiconductor chip while a fuse is not provided on a second semiconductor chip as a rewritable memory, and these chips are connected inside a package. The second semiconductor chip includes redundancy cells to be replaced for defective bits. To produce a post-redundancy-restoration state in which the defective bits are replaced with the redundancy cells before the second semiconductor chip is connected with the first semiconductor chip, the second semiconductor chip includes a restoration state determining circuit and a command decode circuit. The restoration state determining circuit is for storing a redundancy restoration solution for restoring defective bits supplied via a first external input pad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2004
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kohtaro Hayashi, Masanori Shirahama
  • Patent number: 6693299
    Abstract: In a semiconductor device using a crystalline semiconductor film on a substrate 106 having an insulating surface, impurities are locally implanted into an active region 102 to form a pinning region 104. The pinning region 104 suppresses the spread of a depletion layer from the drain side to effectively prevent the short-channel effect. Also, since a channel forming region 105 is intrinsic or substantially intrinsic, a high mobility is realized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2004
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Hisashi Ohtani, Akiharu Miyanaga, Toru Mitsuki, Takeshi Fukunaga
  • Patent number: 6693334
    Abstract: A shield portion 5 has such a multi-layer wiring construction comprised of three wiring layers as to correspond to a macro cell and also via contacts formed with a predetermined spacing therebetween and is supplied with a predetermined potential (for example, a ground potential) but not connected to a power wiring or a ground wiring in the macro cell. This configuration makes it possible to hold the wiring layers of the shield portion at roughly the same potential. Accordingly, noise originated from the wiring layer as a signal line is blocked in propagation by the shield portion and so does not affect a signal flowing through a wiring layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2004
    Assignee: NEC Electronics Corporation
    Inventor: Hirofumi Sasaki
  • Patent number: 6682963
    Abstract: A method of realizing an active matrix display device having flexibility is provided. Further, a method for reducing parasitic capacitance between wirings formed on different layers is provided. After fixing a second substrate to a thin film device formed on a first substrate by bonding, the first substrate is removed, and wirings and the like are formed in the thin film device. The second substrate is removed next, and an active matrix display device having flexibility is formed. Further, parasitic capacitance can be reduced by forming wirings, after removing the first substrate, on the side in which a gate electrode over an active layer is not formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2004
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Akira Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 6683376
    Abstract: A groove having a V-shaped section is provided on a bonding surface of an IC chip being as a first small part, while an elongate projection having a V-shaped section to engage with the groove of the first IC chip is provided on a corresponding portion of a bonding surface of an IC chip being as a second small part. Then, the IC chips are bonded together by the action of a holding force resulting from fitting the elongate protection of the second IC chip to the groove of the first IC chip, together with a bonding force produced between the bonding surfaces by interatomic force and metallic bond.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2004
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd.
    Inventors: Kiyoshi Sawada, Tomohiko Kawai
  • Patent number: 6677617
    Abstract: This invention provides a light-emitting diode which is capable of extracting white light, manufactured readily and highly reliable. The light-emitting diode is fabricated by laminating a buffer layer 2, an Si (silicon)-doped GaN fluorescent layer 3, an n-GaN layer 4, an MQW emission layer 5 and a p-GaN layer 6 on a sapphire substrate 1 in this order. The Si-doped GaN fluorescent layer 3 is doped higher concentration of Si (silicon) than a conventional Si-doped GaN layer with sufficient good crystallinity. Such a Si-doped GaN fluorescent layer is excited by blue light generated in the MQW emission layer and emits yellow light. The yellow light is the complement for the blue light generated in the MQW emission layer. White light can be obtained by blending and extracting both of blue light and yellow light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2004
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kouji Tominaga
  • Patent number: 6673200
    Abstract: Optical emission spectra from a test wafer during a plasma process are measured using a spectrometer. The plasma charging voltage retained by (detected by) the test wafer is measured after the process step is completed. The emission spectra are correlated with the plasma charging voltage to identify the species contributing to the plasma charging voltage. The optical emission spectra are monitored in real time to optimize the plasma process to prevent plasma charging damage. The optical emission spectra are also monitored to control the plasma process drift.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2004
    Assignee: LSI Logic Corporation
    Inventors: Shiqun Gu, Peter Gerard McGrath, Ryan Tadashi Fujimoto
  • Patent number: 6670650
    Abstract: A high-speed, soft-recovery semiconductor device that reduces leakage current by increasing the Schottky ratio of Schottky contacts to pn junctions. In one embodiment of the present invention, an n− drift layer is formed on an n+ cathode layer 1 by epitaxial growth, and ring-shaped ring trenches having a prescribed width are formed in the n− drift layer. Oxide films are formed on the side walls of each ring trench. The ring trenches are arranged such that the centers of the rings of the ring trenches adjacent to one another form a triangular lattice unit. A p− anode layer is formed at the bottom of each ring trench. Schottky contacts are formed at the interface between an anode electrode and the surface of the n− drift layer. Ohmic contact is established between the surfaces of polysilicon portions and the anode electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2003
    Assignee: Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Michio Nemoto, Tatsuya Naito, Masahito Otsuki, Mitsuaki Kirisawa
  • Patent number: 6661088
    Abstract: A semiconductor integrated circuit device has a semiconductor chip, interposer, and substrate. The semiconductor chip has a plurality of first pads arranged at first pitches on a surface. The interposer has a first surface and a second surface. On the first surface, a plurality of second pads are arranged at the first pitches. On said second surface, a plurality of third pads arranged at second pitches which are larger than the first pitches. The second pads and the first pads are connected to each other by joining the first surface of the interposer to the surface of the semiconductor chip so as to face each other. The substrate has a plurality of fourth pads arranged at the second pitches on a surface. The fourth pads and the third pads are connected to each other by joining the surface of the substrate to the second surface of the interposer so as to face each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2003
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Takashi Yoda, Hirokazu Ezawa
  • Patent number: 6657227
    Abstract: An amorphous silicon film is laser irradiated a plural number of times to make the film composed of a plurality of crystal grains while suppressing the formation of protrusions at the boundaries of the adjoining grains to realize a polycrystalline silicon thin film transistor having at least partly therein the clusters of grains, or the aggregates of at least two crystal grains, with preferred orientation in the plane (111), and having high electron mobility of 200 cm2/Vs or above.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2003
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuo Tamura, Kiyoshi Ogata, Yoichi Takahara, Kazuhiko Horikoshi, Hironaru Yamaguchi, Makoto Ohkura, Hironobu Abe, Masakazu Saitou, Yoshinobu Kimura, Toshihiko Itoga
  • Patent number: 6657226
    Abstract: A high-quality thin-film transistor array. The gate insulating film below the pixel electrode is etched off in its entirely or along a slit extending along a drain bus line in order to simultaneously remove the residual a-Si produced due to defective patterning. The insulating film is interposed between a drain bus line and a pixel electrode to form a boundary separating layer therebetween. The reject ratio is suppressed by reducing the occurrence of point defects of semi-bright spots, ascribable to capacitative coupling to the pixel electrodes as a result of interconnection of the residual a-Si produced by defective patterning to the drain bus line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2003
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoyuki Taguchi, Susumu Ohi