Patents Examined by Howard Weiss
  • Patent number: 8790945
    Abstract: A nitride semiconductor device includes a silicon substrate, a nitride semiconductor layer formed on the silicon substrate, and metal electrodes formed in contact with the silicon substrate. The metal electrodes has first metal layers which are formed in a shape of discrete islands and in contact with the silicon substrate, and second metal layers which are in contact with the silicon substrate exposed among the islands of the first metal layers and are formed to cover the first metal layers. Further, the second metal layers are made of a metal capable of forming ohmic contact with silicon, and the first metal layers are made of an alloy containing a metal and silicon, in which the metal is different than that in the second metal layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Nichia Corporation
    Inventors: Kentaro Watanabe, Shunsuke Minato, Giichi Marutsuki
  • Patent number: 8786101
    Abstract: Annular, linear, and point contact structures are described which exhibit a greatly reduced susceptibility to process deviations caused by lithographic and deposition variations than does a conventional circular contact plug. In one embodiment, a standard conductive material such as carbon or titanium nitride is used to form the contact. In an alternative embodiment, a memory material itself is used to form the contact. These contact structures may be made by various processes, including chemical mechanical planarization and facet etching.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Round Rock Research, LLC
    Inventor: Steven T. Harshfield
  • Patent number: 8779559
    Abstract: A semiconductor die including strain relief for through substrate vias (TSVs). The semiconductor die includes a semiconductor substrate having an active face. The semiconductor substrate includes conductive layers connected to the active face. The semiconductor die also includes a through substrate via extending only through the substrate. The through substrate via may include a substantially constant diameter through a length of the through substrate via. The through substrate via may be filled with a conductive filler material. The semiconductor die also includes an isolation layer surrounding the through substrate via. The isolation layer may include two portions: a recessed portion near the active face of the substrate capable of relieving stress from the conductive filler material, and a dielectric portion. A composition of the recessed portion may differ from the dielectric portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Vidhya Ramachandran, Shiqun Gu
  • Patent number: 8772749
    Abstract: In a first aspect, a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) stack is provided that includes (1) a first conductive layer comprising a silicon-germanium (SiGe) alloy; (2) a resistivity-switching layer comprising a metal oxide layer formed above the first conductive layer; and (3) a second conductive layer formed above the resistivity-switching layer. A memory cell may be formed from the MIM stack. Numerous other aspects are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: SanDisk 3D LLC
    Inventors: Deepak Chandra Sekar, Franz Kreupl, Raghuveer S. Makala
  • Patent number: 8759895
    Abstract: Methods of forming multi-tiered semiconductor devices are described, along with apparatus and systems that include them. In one such method, an opening is formed in a tier of semiconductor material and a tier of dielectric. A portion of the tier of semiconductor material exposed by the opening is processed so that the portion is doped differently than the remaining semiconductor material in the tier. At least substantially all of the remaining semiconductor material of the tier is removed, leaving the differently doped portion of the tier of semiconductor material as a charge storage structure. A tunneling dielectric is formed on a first surface of the charge storage structure and an intergate dielectric is formed on a second surface of the charge storage structure. Additional embodiments are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Sanh D. Tang, John K. Zahurak
  • Patent number: 8759901
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device including a semiconductor layer with a main surface, a first insulating layer formed on the main surface of the semiconductor layer, a charge storage layer formed on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer formed on the charge storage layer, and a control gate electrode formed on the second insulating layer. At least one inelastic scattering film that reduces energy of electrons by scattering is contained in at least one of the charge storage layer and second insulating layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Masaaki Higuchi, Yoshio Ozawa, Katsuyuki Sekine, Ryota Fujitsuka
  • Patent number: 8754507
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for forming a three-dimensional wafer stack having a single metallized stack via with a variable cross-sectional shape. The method uses at least first and silicon wafers. Each wafer has one or more integrated circuits formed thereon. One or more through-vias are formed in each silicon wafer followed by oxide formation on at least an upper and lower surface of the silicon wafer. The wafers are aligned such that each wafer through via is aligned with a corresponding through via in adjacent stacked wafers. Wafers are bonded to form a three-dimensional wafer stack having one or more stack vias formed from the alignment of individual wafer vias. Via metallization is performed by depositing a seed layer in each of the stack vias followed by copper electroplating to form a continuous and homogeneous metallization path through the three-dimensional wafer stack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited
    Inventors: Bin Xie, Pui Chung Simon Law, Yat Kit Tsui
  • Patent number: 8754472
    Abstract: A transistor and a method of fabricating a transistor, including a metal oxide deposited on an epitaxial layer, a photo resist deposited and patterned over the metal oxide and the metal oxide and epitaxial layer are etched to form at least one circular trench, wherein the trench surfaces are defined by the epitaxial layer. An oxide layer is grown on the trench surfaces of each trench, and a gate conductor is formed within the at least one trench.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: O2Micro, Inc.
    Inventors: Hamilton Lu, Laszlo Lipcsei
  • Patent number: 8749011
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a die arrangement is disclosed in which a wire-bond pad may be operatively coupled to a power supply via a wire bond. A first pad may be operatively coupled to the wire-bond pad. A second pad may be operatively coupled to the first pad via a redistribution layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew Kaufmann, Morteza Cyrus Afghahi
  • Patent number: 8741757
    Abstract: Gate electrodes having different work functions can be provided by providing conductive metallic nitride layers having different thicknesses in a replacement gate scheme. Upon removal of disposable gate structures and formation of a gate dielectric layer, at least one incremental thickness conductive metallic nitride layer is added within some gate cavities, while not being added in some other gate cavities. A minimum thickness conductive metallic nitride layer is subsequently added as a contiguous layer. Conductive metallic nitride layers thus formed have different thicknesses across different gate cavities. A gate fill conductive material layer is deposited, and planarization is performed to provide multiple gate electrode having different conductive metallic nitride layer thicknesses. The different thicknesses of the conductive metallic nitride layers can provide different work functions having a range of about 400 mV.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Hemanth Jagannathan, Vamsi K. Paruchuri
  • Patent number: 8741725
    Abstract: A structure, a FET, a method of making the structure and of making the FET. The structure including: a silicon layer on a buried oxide (BOX) layer of a silicon-on-insulator substrate; a trench in the silicon layer extending from a top surface of the silicon layer into the silicon layer, the trench not extending to the BOX layer, a doped region in the silicon layer between and abutting the BOX layer and a bottom of the trench, the first doped region doped to a first dopant concentration; a first epitaxial layer, doped to a second dopant concentration, in a bottom of the trench; a second epitaxial layer, doped to a third dopant concentration, on the first epitaxial layer in the trench; and wherein the third dopant concentration is greater than the first and second dopant concentrations and the first dopant concentration is greater than the second dopant concentration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey B. Johnson, Shreesh Narasimha, Hasan M. Nayfeh, Viorel Ontalus, Robert R. Robison
  • Patent number: 8741738
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to integrated circuit fabrication, and more particularly to a semiconductor apparatus with a metallic alloy. An exemplary structure for an apparatus comprises a first silicon substrate; a second silicon substrate; and a contact connecting each of the first and second substrates, wherein the contact comprises a Ge layer adjacent to the first silicon substrate, a Cu layer adjacent to the second silicon substrate, and a metallic alloy between the Ge layer and Cu layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yi Hsun Chiu, Ting-Ying Chien, Ching-Hou Su, Chyi-Tsong Ni
  • Patent number: 8736041
    Abstract: A power converter includes a plurality of semiconductor modules that have main body sections, each of the main body sections has a semiconductor element therein, and power terminals projected from the main body sections, and a plurality of bus bars that connect the power terminals of the semiconductor modules. At least one of the plurality of the bus bars are connecting bus bars which have a plurality of terminal connecting sections that connect the power terminals of the plurality of different semiconductor modules, and connecting sections that connect the terminal connecting sections. The entirety of each of the connecting bus bars is formed integrally. The terminal connecting sections and the connecting section of every connecting bus bar are provided alternately in the connecting bus bar, and disposed in substantially the same position in a projecting direction of the power terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Makoto Okamura
  • Patent number: 8731252
    Abstract: A storage unit stores data of a first image associated with a contrast-enhanced cardiac region. A specification unit specifies a specific region included in the cardiac region on the basis of a distribution of pixel values of the data of the first image. A setting unit contracts the specified specific region, and set an ROI to the contracted specific region. A calculation unit calculates an index concerning the set ROI. The index is associated with a function of the specific region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Kazumasa Arakita, Naoko Toyoshima, Yasuko Fujisawa
  • Patent number: 8728852
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device which includes a pixel section, a peripheral circuit section, a first isolation region formed with a STI structure on a semiconductor substrate in the peripheral circuit section, and a second isolation region formed with the STI structure on the semiconductor substrate in the pixel section. The portion of the second isolation region buried into the semiconductor substrate is shallower than the portion buried into the semiconductor substrate of the first isolation region, and the height of the upper face of the second isolation region is equal to that of the first isolation region. A method of producing the solid-state imaging device and an electronic device provided with the solid-state imaging devices are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Keiji Tatani, Takuji Matsumoto, Yasushi Tateshita, Fumihiko Koga, Takashi Nagano, Takahiro Toyoshima, Tetsuji Yamaguchi, Keiichi Nakazawa, Naoyuki Miyashita, Yoshihiko Nagahama
  • Patent number: 8723261
    Abstract: A recessed gate transistor with cylindrical fins is disclosed. The recessed gate transistor is disposed in an active region of a semiconductor substrate. Two isolation regions disposed in the semiconductor substrate to define an active region therebetween. The recessed gate transistor includes a gate structure, a source doping region and a drain doping region. The gate structure has at least three fins forms a concave and convex bottom of the gate structure. The front fin is disposed in one of the two isolation regions, the middle fin is disposed in the active region and a last fin disposed in the other one of the two isolation regions. The front fin and the last fin are both cylindrical. A lower part of the gate structure is M-shaped when view from the source doping region to the drain doping region direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Nanya Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Tieh-Chiang Wu, Yi-Nan Chen, Hsien-Wen Liu
  • Patent number: 8716698
    Abstract: An organic electroluminescent device comprising at least an anode electrode, a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a light emitting layer, an electron transport layer and a cathode electrode in this order, wherein the hole injection layer comprises an arylamine compound having at least three triphenylamine structures in the molecule, the hole transport layer comprises an arylamine compound having two triphenylamine structures in the molecule, and the electron transport layer comprises a substituted bipyridyl compound represented by the following general formula (1):
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2014
    Assignee: Hodogaya Chemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Norimasa Yokoyama, Shigeru Kusano, Shuichi Hayashi
  • Patent number: 8704268
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a semiconductor light emitting device includes an n-type semiconductor layer, a p-type semiconductor layer and a light emitting layer. The emitting layer is provided between the n-type layer and the p-type layer, and includes a plurality of barrier layers and a plurality of well layers, being alternately stacked. The p-side barrier layer being closest to the p-type layer among the plurality of barrier layer includes a first layer and a second layer, containing group III elements. An In composition ratio in the group III elements of the second layer is higher than an In composition ratio in the group III elements of the first layer. An average In composition ratio of the p-side layer is higher than an average In composition ratio of an n-side barrier layer that is closest to the n-type layer among the plurality of barrier layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Shigeya Kimura, Koichi Tachibana, Shinya Nunoue
  • Patent number: 8704227
    Abstract: The present invention discloses an LED and its fabrication method. The LED comprises: a sapphire substrate; an epitaxial layer, an active layer and a capping layer arranged on the sapphire substrate in sequence; wherein a plurality of cone-shaped structures are formed on the surface of the sapphire substrate close to the epitaxial layer. The cone-shaped structures can increase the light reflected by the sapphire substrate, raising the external quantum efficiency of the LED, thus increasing the light utilization rate of the LED. Furthermore, the formation of a plurality of cone-shaped structures can improve the lattice matching between the sapphire substrate and other films, reducing the crystal defects in the film formed on the sapphire substrate, increasing the internal quantum efficiency of the LED.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Enraytek Optoelectronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Deyuan Xiao, Richard Rugin Chang, Mengjan Cherng, Chijen Hsu
  • Patent number: 8703571
    Abstract: A method of forming a semiconductor device is provided. The method includes forming a first fin above a substrate, forming a first emitter region in a first portion of the first fin, forming a first collector region in a second portion of the first fin, and forming a first base region in a third portion of the first fin. The third portion of the first fin is disposed underneath a first gate electrode. The method further includes forming a second fin adjacent to the first fin and above the substrate. The second fin is composed of a semiconductor material. The method also includes forming a first base contact over the second fin. The first base contact is coupled to the first base region through the second fin, the substrate, and the first fin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Po-Yao Ke, Tao-Wen Chung, Shine Chung, Fu-Lung Hsueh