Patents Examined by Jesse Fenty
  • Patent number: 6856003
    Abstract: A microelectronic 3-dimensional solenoid of substantially circular or oval cross-section and a method for fabricating the solenoid. The solenoid is provided including a pre-processed semiconductor substrate, two supports upstanding from and spaced-apart on a top surface of the substrate, each support has a bottom end attached to the substrate. An inductor coil which has two spaced-apart ends each attached to one of two top ends of the two supports. The inductor coil is formed of a bi-layer metal laminate that has an inner metal layer and an outer metal layer. The outer metal layer is formed of a first metal that has a coefficient of thermal expansion larger than a coefficient of thermal expansion of a second metal that forms the inner metal layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2005
    Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
    Inventors: Hsin-Li Lee, Cheng-Hong Lee, Yi-Shiau Chen
  • Patent number: 6853049
    Abstract: An antifuse contains a first silicide layer, a grown silicon oxide antifuse layer on a first surface of the first silicide layer, and a first semiconductor layer having a first surface in contact with the antifuse layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2005
    Assignee: Matrix Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventor: S. Brad Herner
  • Patent number: 6847087
    Abstract: A low-voltage nonvolatile memory array includes a cell well of a first conductivity type formed in a substrate; columns of buried bit lines of a second conductivity type formed within the cell well, wherein columns of the buried bit lines are isolated from each other and each is further divided into of sub-bit line segments with deeply doped source wells of the first conductivity type connected to the cell well; a plurality of memory cell blocks serially arranged over one of the columns of buried bit lines, wherein a memory cell block corresponds to a sub-bit line segment, and each memory cell block includes at least one memory transistor having a stacked gate, source, and drain; and a local bit line overlying the memory cell blocks and electrically connected to the drain of the memory transistor via a contact plug short-circuiting the drain and the subjacent buried bit line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2005
    Assignee: eMemory Technology Inc.
    Inventors: Ching-Sung Yang, Shih-Jye Shen, Ching-Hsiang Hsu
  • Patent number: 6844600
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods forming electrostatic discharge and electrical overstress protection devices for integrated circuits wherein such devices include shared electrical contact between source regions and between drain regions for more efficient dissipation of an electrostatic discharge. The devices further include contact plugs and contact lands which render the fabrication of the devices less sensitive to alignment constraint in the formation of contacts for the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2005
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark McQueen
  • Patent number: 6844583
    Abstract: A ferroelectric memory device includes a microelectronic substrate and a plurality of ferroelectric capacitors on the substrate, arranged as a plurality of rows and columns in respective row and column directions. A plurality of parallel plate lines overlie the ferroelectric capacitors and extend along the row direction, wherein a plate line contacts ferroelectric capacitors in at least two adjacent rows. The plurality of plate lines may include a plurality of local plate lines, and the ferroelectric memory device may further include an insulating layer disposed on the local plate lines and a plurality of main plate lines disposed on the insulating layer and contacting the local plate lines through openings in the insulating layer. In some embodiments, ferroelectric capacitors in adjacent rows share a common upper electrode, and respective ones of the local plate lines are disposed on respective ones of the common upper electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2005
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hyun-Ho Kim, Dong-Jin Jung, Ki-Nam Kim, Sang-Don Nam, Kyu-Mann Lee
  • Patent number: 6841814
    Abstract: Disclosed is a photodiode having a p-type electrode of a mushroom shape. The p-type electrode is formed in a mushroom shape, so that the contact area faced by the spreading region of a dopant for the photodiode and the electrode can be minimized and the capacitance of the photodiode can be reduced. Further, the p-type electrode is configured to have a broader width in its upper end, thus allowing the wire bonding to be performed easily.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2005
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Seung-Kee Yang
  • Patent number: 6841867
    Abstract: A composition including an amount of at least one vinyl terminated polymer; an amount of at least one cross-linker comprising a terminal Si—H unit; an amount of at least one thermally conductive first filler, and at least one thermally conductive second filler, wherein a melting point of the first filler is greater than the melting point of the second filler. An apparatus including a package configured to mate with a printed circuit board; a semiconductor device coupled to the package; a thermal element; and a curable thermal material disposed between the thermal element and the semiconductor device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2005
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: James C. Matayabas, Jr., Paul A. Koning, Ashay A. Dani, Christopher L. Rumer
  • Patent number: 6835983
    Abstract: The present invention provides SOI material which includes a top Si-containing layer which has regions of different thickness as well as a method of fabricating such SOI material. The inventive method includes a step of thinning predetermined regions of the top Si-containing layer by masked oxidation of silicon. SOI IC chips including the inventive SOI material having different types of CMOS devices build thereon as also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2004
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Tak H. Ning, Devendra K. Sadana
  • Patent number: 6833594
    Abstract: A submicron CMOS transistor is mounted on the same substrate together with an analog CMOS transistor, a high voltage-resistance MOS transistor, a bipolar transistor, a diode, or a diffusion resistor, without degrading the characteristics of these components. When a punch-through stopper area is formed on a main surface side of a semiconductor substrate, an area in which an analog CMOS transistor, a high voltage-resistance MOS transistor, a bipolar transistor, a diode, or a diffusion resistor is formed is masked, and for example, an ion injection is then carried out. Thus, a punch-through stopper area is formed in the area in which a submicron CMOS transistor is formed, while preventing the formation of a punch-through stopper area in the area in which an analog CMOS transistor, a high voltage-resistance MOS transistor, a bipolar transistor, a diode, or a diffusion resistor is formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2004
    Assignee: Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Akio Kitamura
  • Patent number: 6828652
    Abstract: A fuse structure (30) formed in a semiconductor device is provided. The fuse structure (30) includes a layer of fuse material (32), a first contact (40), and a second contact (42). The first contact (40) has a first edge (54). At least a portion of the first edge (54) abuts the fuse material layer (32). The second contact (42) has a second edge (55). At least a portion of the second edge (55) abuts the fuse material layer (32). The first edge (54) faces the second edge (55). The first edge (54) is separated from the second edge (55) by a spaced distance (58). A conductive portion of the fuse material layer (32) electrically connects between the first edge (54) and the second edge (55) within the spaced distance (58). The abutting portion of the first edge (54) has a first length. The abutting portion of the second edge (55) has a second length. The first length is greater than the second length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2004
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventor: Chandrasekharan Kothandaraman
  • Patent number: 6825529
    Abstract: A substrate under tension and/or compression improves performance of devices fabricated therein. Tension and/or compression can be imposed on a substrate through selection of appropriate gate sidewall spacer material disposed above a device channel region wherein the spacers are formed adjacent both the gate and the substrate and impose forces on adjacent substrate areas. Another embodiment comprises compressive stresses imposed in the plane of the channel using SOI sidewall spacers made of polysilicon that is expanded by oxidation. The substrate areas under compression or tension exhibit charge mobility characteristics different from those of a non-stressed substrate. By controllably varying these stresses within NFET and PFET devices formed on a substrate, improvements in IC performance have been demonstrated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2004
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Dureseti Chidambarrao, Omer H. Dokumaci, Bruce B. Doris, Jack A. Mandelman, Xavier Baie
  • Patent number: 6815771
    Abstract: A silicon on insulator (SOI) semiconductor device includes a wire connected to doped regions formed in an active layer of a SOI substrate. A ratio of the area of the wire to the doped region or a ratio of the area of contact holes formed on the wire to the doped region is limited to a predetermined value. When the ratio exceeds the predetermined value, a dummy doped region is added to prevent the device from being damaged during a plasma process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2004
    Assignee: Kawasaki Microelectronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Yoshitaka Kimura
  • Patent number: 6809334
    Abstract: The invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit and a method of manufacturing the same, and particularly, to prevention of a drop in the performance and reliability of a semiconductor integrated circuit device, which would otherwise be induced by degassing arising in a TEOS/CVD silicon oxide film provided on a back surface of a semiconductor substrate. There are proposed a semiconductor substrate in which a TEOS/CVD silicon oxide film provided on a back surface of the semiconductor substrate is coated with another dielectric film; a semiconductor substrate not having a TEOS/CVD silicon oxide film on a back surface thereof; a semiconductor substrate in which a TEOS/CVD silicon oxide film is removed from a back surface of the substrate; and a semiconductor substrate in which a thin TEOS/CVD silicon oxide film—which involves degassing falling within a tolerance is provided on a back surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2004
    Assignee: Renesas Technology Corp.
    Inventor: Keiichi Yamada
  • Patent number: 6798028
    Abstract: A transistor formed on a substrate comprises a gate electrode having a lateral extension at the foot of the gate electrode that is less than the average lateral extension of the gate electrode. The increased cross-section of the gate electrode compared to the rectangular cross-sectional shape of a prior art device provides for a significantly reduced gate resistance while the effective gate length, i.e., the lateral extension of the gate electrode at its foot, may be scaled down to a size of 100 nm and beyond. Moreover, a method for forming the field effect transistor described above is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2004
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Manfred Horstmann, Rolf Stephan, Karsten Wieczorek, Stephan Kruegel
  • Patent number: 6794730
    Abstract: A pnp bipolar junction transistor is formed with improved emitter efficiency by reducing the depth of the p well implant to increase carrier concentration in the emitter and making the emitter junction deeper to increase minority lifetime in the emitter. The high gain BJT is formed without added mask steps to the process flow. A blanket high energy boron implant is used to suppress the isolation leakage in SRAM in the preferred embodiment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2004
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Youngmin Kim, Shaoping Tang, Seetharaman Sridhar, Amitava Chatterjee
  • Patent number: 6784473
    Abstract: To provide a semiconductor nonvolatile storage device capable of applying distributed voltage efficiently to a ferroelectric capacitor in a semiconductor nonvolatile storage device having an MFMIS structure without enlarging a memory cell area and a method of fabricating the same, a ferroelectric nonvolatile storage element is constructed by a structure successively laminated with a first insulator layer (3), a first conductor layer (4), a ferroelectric layer (5) and a second conductor layer (6) on a channel region and is constructed by a structure having a third conductor (9) and a fourth conductor (10) respectively laminated on a source region and a drain region, in which the third conductor (9) and the fourth conductor (10) are opposed to each other via the first conductor layer (4) and a second insulator thin film (11).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2004
    Assignees: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Nippon Precision Circuits Inc.
    Inventors: Shigeki Sakai, Kazuo Sakamaki
  • Patent number: 6781196
    Abstract: A trench DMOS transistor cell is provided that includes a substrate of a first conductivity type and a body region located on the substrate, which has a second conductivity type. At least one trench extends through the body region and the substrate. An insulating layer lines the trench and a conductive electrode is placed in the trench overlying the insulating layer. A source region of the first conductivity type is located in the body region adjacent to the trench. The trench has sidewalls that define a polygon in the plane of the substrate so that adjacent sidewalls contact one another at an angle greater than 90 degrees.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2004
    Assignee: General Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventors: Koon Chong So, Fwu-Iuan Hshieh, Yan Man Tsui
  • Patent number: 6780750
    Abstract: Disclosed is a photodiode having a p-type electrode of a mushroom shape. The p-type electrode is formed in a mushroom shape, so that the contact area faced by the spreading region of a dopant for the photodiode and the electrode can be minimized and the capacitance of the photodiode can be reduced. Further, the p-type electrode is configured to have a broader width in its upper end, thus allowing the wire bonding to be performed easily.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2004
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
    Inventor: Seung-Kee Yang
  • Patent number: 6774462
    Abstract: Disclosed is a semiconductor device comprising a semiconductor substrate, a gate electrode, a first insulating film formed between the semiconductor substrate and the gate electrode, and a second insulating film formed along a top surface or a side surface of the gate electrode and including a lower silicon nitride film containing nitrogen, silicon and hydrogen and an upper silicon nitride film formed on the lower silicon nitride film and containing nitrogen, silicon and hydrogen, and wherein a composition ratio N/Si of nitrogen (N) to silicon (Si) in the lower silicon nitride film is higher than that in the upper silicon nitride film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2004
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Masayuki Tanaka, Yoshio Ozawa, Shigehiko Saida, Akira Goda, Mitsuhiro Noguchi, Yuichiro Mitani, Yoshitaka Tsunashima
  • Patent number: 6774390
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes an insulating layer, a semiconductor board formed on a selected portion of the insulating layer, a semiconductor layer formed on at least one of the major side surfaces of the semiconductor board, which is different from the semiconductor board in lattice constant, and having source and drain regions and a channel region therebetween, the area of the channel region being larger than that of the bottom surface of the semiconductor board, which contacts the insulating layer, and a gate electrode formed on the channel region via a gate insulating layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2004
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Naoharu Sugiyama, Tsutomu Tezuka, Tomohisa Mizuno, Shinichi Takagi