Patents Examined by John Niebling
  • Patent number: 5824595
    Abstract: A method for separating elements associated within a body includes creating a separation region within the body, between the elements, leaving a region of the body which is to be thinned. The method then requires depositing a delay layer on the body, with an opening around the separation region. The delay layer has a predetermined removal rate relative to the removal rate of the body. Lastly, the method requires removing a predetermined amount of the delay layer, the separation region, and the region of the body to be thinned. Preferably, the removing is accomplished by etching, such as plasma etching, and the etch rate of the delay layer is lower than the etch rate for the separation region. In a preferred method, the predetermined removal rate and the positions of the openings in the delay layer are selected so that upon after etching, the elements remaining have a predetermined locus dependent thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1998
    Assignee: Deutsche ITT Industries GmbH
    Inventors: Gunter Igel, Martin Mall
  • Patent number: 5824597
    Abstract: An improved contact hole plug and method are disclosed, the plug connecting a first conductive layer to a second conductive layer which is insulated from the first conductive layer. The contact hole plug may be formed using the steps of: (1) forming a first conductive layer consisting of a multi-layer metal (2) forming an inter-layer insulating film, and a contact hole therein; and (3) carrying out a rapid heat treatment which causes an alloy reaction in the multi-layer metal, and the resulting alloy expands to form a plug in the contact hole. The rapid heat treatment may be accomplished with a heat treatment furnace or a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process at a temperature of 300.degree.-600.degree. C. for about 30 seconds (RTA) or 30 minutes (heating furnace).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1998
    Assignee: LG Semicon Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jeonge Hong
  • Patent number: 5824589
    Abstract: A bipolar transistor has a performance and high reliability, which are by enhancing a withstand voltage between an emitter and a base. The bipolar transistor includes a first impurity diffusion layer in a semiconducting substrate, a first conductive film connected to the first diffusion layer, and an opening disposed in the first conductive film. A second impurity diffusion layer is formed in a portion, exposed from the opening portion, of the semiconducting substrate and is connected to the first impurity diffusion layer. A third impurity diffusion layer is formed so as to contain the second diffusion layer and side walls are formed on the side walls of the opening. A fourth impurity diffusion layer is formed in the third impurity diffusion layer in the opening surrounded by the side walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1998
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Miwa
  • Patent number: 5824596
    Abstract: In a method of introducing phosphorous from phosphorous oxychloride (POCl.sub.3) into an undoped gate polysilicon region formed as part of an integrated circuit structure, an initial MOS structure is developed utilizing conventional techniques through the formation of a layer of undoped polysilicon over thin gate oxide. A POCl.sub.3 layer is then formed over the undoped polysilicon and thermally annealed to drive phosphorous into the gate polysilicon to achieve a desired conductivity level. The phosphorous-rich organic layer is then cleaned from the surface of the POCl.sub.3 using sulfuric peroxide and the POCl.sub.3 layer is removed using a DI:HF solution to expose the surface of the doped polysilicon. After formation of a photoresist gate mask, arsenic, or another heavy ion species, is implanted into the exposed polysilicon to amorphized the exposed poly, thereby eliminating the polysilicon grain boundaries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1998
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventor: Abdalla A. Naem
  • Patent number: 5824434
    Abstract: A secondary battery exhibiting a long cycle life and comprising a negative pole activating material made of lithium or zinc is provided, the battery at least having a negative pole made of lithium or zinc serving as the negative pole activating material, an electrolyte (electrolytic solution), a separator, a positive pole made of a positive pole activating material, a collecting electrode and a battery case, wherein at least the surface of the negative pole is covered with a film having a structure which allows ions relating to the battery reactions to pass through. Since growth of dendrite of lithium or zinc at the time of the charge can be prevented, short circuit between the negative pole and the positive pole can be prevented. Therefore, the charge/discharge cycle life can significantly be lengthened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 1993
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1998
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Soichiro Kawakami, Shinya Mishina, Naoya Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 5824574
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a semiconductor includes the steps of: forming a first semiconductor film on a substrate having an insulating surface; applying an energy to the first semiconductor film to crystallize the first semiconductor film; patterning the first semiconductor film to form a region that forms a seed crystal; etching the seed crystal to selectively leave a predetermined crystal face in the seed crystal; covering the seed crystal to form a second semiconductor film; and applying an energy to the second semiconductor film to conduct a crystal growth from the seed crystal in the second semiconductor film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1998
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Akiharu Miyanaga, Satoshi Teramoto
  • Patent number: 5824568
    Abstract: A composite containing an integrated circuit chip having conductive site thereon and electrically conductive leads that are interconnected to the conductive site by electrically conductive wire; wherein the wire is coated with a dielectric material. Also, a method for fabricating the composite is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1998
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: John Harold Zechman
  • Patent number: 5821161
    Abstract: The present invention relates generally to a new scheme of providing a seal for semi-conductor substrates and chip carriers. More particularly, the invention encompasses a structure and a method that uses a multi-layer metallic seal to provide protection to chips on a chip carrier. This multi-layer metal seal provides both enhanced hermeticity lifetime and environmental protection. For the preferred embodiment the multi-layer metallic seal is a two layer, solder structure which is used to create a low cost, high reliability, hermetic seal for the module. This solder structure has a thick high melting point temperature region that is attached to a cap, and a thin interconnecting region of lower melting point temperature region for sealing the substrate to the cap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: James H. Covell, II, Lannie R. Bolde, David L. Edwards, Lewis S. Goldmann, Peter A. Gruber, Hilton T. Toy
  • Patent number: 5821136
    Abstract: A CMOS device architecture which includes substrate-gated inverted PMOS transistors, as well as bulk NMOS. The inverted-PMOS channels are formed in a different layer from the NMOS gates, and these layers may even have different compositions. Moreover, the NMOS and inverted-PMOS devices have different gate oxide layers, so the thicknesses can be independently optimized. The drain underlap of the inverted device is defined by a patterning step, so it can be increased for high-voltage operation if desired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Tsiu Chiu Chan, Yu-Pin Han, Elmer H. Guritz, Richard A. Blanchard
  • Patent number: 5821166
    Abstract: method of manufacturing semiconductor wafers, which can prevent the pendent surface phenomenon during the mirror polishing of the wafers and can enhance the flatness of the mirror polished surfaces. The method of manufacturing semiconductor wafers according to this invention includes slicing ingots into wafers, chamfering the peripheral edge portions of the wafers, lapping the sliced surfaces of the wafers, grinding the lapped surfaces of the wafers to form a gradual concave shape, mirror polishing the ground surfaces of the wafers, and finally cleaning the mirror polished wafers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Komatsu Electronic Metals Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hirofumi Hajime, Toshiharu Yubitani
  • Patent number: 5821144
    Abstract: An IGFET device (lateral DMOS transistor) with reduced cell dimensions which is especially suitable for RF and microwave applications, includes a semiconductor substrate having an epitaxial layer with a device formed in a surface of the epitaxial layer. A sinker contact is provided from the surface to the epitaxial layer to the substrate for use in grounding the source region to the grounded substrate. The sinker contact is aligned with the source region and spaced from the width of the channel region whereby lateral diffusion in forming the sinker contact does not adversely affect the pitch of the cell structure. The reduced pitch increases output power and reduces parasitic capacitance whereby the device is well-suited for low side switches and as an RF/microwave power transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Spectrian, Inc.
    Inventors: Pablo E. D'Anna, Francois Hebert
  • Patent number: 5821147
    Abstract: Indium is employed as the shallow portion of a lightly doped drain transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Isik C. Kizilyalli
  • Patent number: 5821148
    Abstract: The present invention implements a novel emitter scheme that maximizes the emitter perimeter to emitter area ratio of an integrated circuit transistor, thereby achieving improved low noise characteristics over the prior art. Emitter regions are disposed in the transistor in discrete "dotted " segments. The dotted emitter segments may be realized by etching into emitter regions defined by an appropriately formed photoresistive overlay, which can be modified without fabrication process changes. The effect is to reduce the total emitter area by half, while maintaining the total emitter perimeter unchanged. As a result, the noise-capacitance product of the transistor is reduced, improving the overall performance of the transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: VTC Inc.
    Inventors: John Leighton, John Shier
  • Patent number: 5821158
    Abstract: On treating a substrate surface of a single crystal silicon substrate, Ge ions are preliminarily implanted into the substrate surface to be formed as a Ge-implanted silicon film on the single crystal silicon substrate. A film surface of Ge-implanted silicon film is treated by oxidizing the film surface to form a spontaneous oxide film. Subsequently, the spontaneous oxide film is subjected to a heat treatment in a reduced-pressure atmosphere to remove the spontaneous oxide film. Alternatively, the spontaneous oxide film is subjected to a heat treatment with a reducing gas of, for example, a hydrogen gas, a silane-based gas, or a GeH.sub.4 gas supplied onto the spontaneous oxide film to remove the spontaneous oxide film. Preferably, the Ge ions are preliminarily implanted into the substrate surface to be formed as Ge-implanted silicon film which consists, in atomic percent, essentially of at least 1% Ge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Seiichi Shishiguchi
  • Patent number: 5821159
    Abstract: A first method of forming a thin film transistor substrate having at least an electrode interconnection, wherein a first low resistive metal layer is formed, which extends on the top surface of the substrate by sputtering method. A second low resistive metal layer is formed, which is highly resistant to chemicals and extends on the top of the first low resistive metal layer by sputtering method. A photo-resist film is applied on the second low resistive metal layer for exposure and development thereof to form a photo-resist etching mask. The first and second low resistive metal layers are subjected to an isotropic etching by use of the photo-resist etching mask. A third low resistive metal layer which is highly resistant to chemicals are formed over an entire region of the substrate by sputtering method. The third low resistive metal layer is subjected to a reactive ion etching to leave the third low resistive metal layer on the opposite sides of the first low resistive metal layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Tooru Ukita
  • Patent number: 5821140
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory device includes, a) a semiconductor substrate; b) a field effect transistor gate positioned outwardly of the semiconductor substrate; c) opposing active areas formed within the semiconductor substrate on opposing sides of the gate; d) a capacitor electrically connected with one of the active areas; e) a bit line; f) a dielectric insulating layer positioned intermediate the bit line and the active areas; g) a bit line plug extending through the insulating layer and electrically interconnecting the bit line with the other active area, the bit line plug comprising an electrically conductive annular ring. Integrated circuitry, beyond memory devices, utilizing an annular interconnection ring are also disclosed. Such constructions having additional radially inward insulating annular rings and conductive rings are also disclosed. A method of forming a bit line over capacitor array of memory cells having such rings is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Jost, Charles H. Dennison, Kunal Parekh
  • Patent number: 5821167
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing semiconductor mirror wafers includes a double side primary mirror polishing step, a back side low brightness polishing step and a front side final mirror polishing step, wherein a silica containing polishing agent is used together with a polyolefin type fine particle material for the back side low brightness polishing. The method is capable of low brightness polishing of the back side, sensor detection of the front and back sides, suppression of generation of fine dust or particles from back side, thereby to increase the yield of semiconductor devices, manufacturing mirror wafers with higher flatness level, and higher productivity due to simplification of processes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Shin-Etsu Handotai Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Teruaki Fukami, Hisashi Masumura, Kiyoshi Suzuki, Hideo Kudo
  • Patent number: 5821134
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method of producing an electron-absorption modulator having a reverse mesa structure. In the electron-absorption modulator, a first clad of a first conductivity type, an active layer of the first conductivity type, a second clad layer of a second conductivity type and an ohmic contact layer of the second conductivity type are formed on a semiconductor substrate of the first conductivity type. Then, a predetermined mask pattern is formed on the ohmic contact layer. Afterwards, the ohmic contact layer is etched by using the mask pattern. Then, the second clad layer and the active layer below the ohmic contact layer are etched in the form of the reverse mesa structure to expose the first clad layer. Then, the first clad layer is etched at a predetermined depth in the form of a mesa structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Byung-Kwon Kang, Jung-Koo Kang, You-Ri Jo, Jong-Deog Kim, Seung-Jo Jeong, Young-kun Sin
  • Patent number: 5817540
    Abstract: A semiconductor die assembly and methods of forming same comprising a lead frame having a plurality of lead fingers and a semiconductor die having a plurality of electric contact points on an active surface of said semiconductor die. The electric contact points are located or rerouted on the semiconductor die active surface so as to maximize the size and spacing of electric contact points relative to the lead fingers, which may be custom-configured to match the "open" array of contact points and widened to enhance surface area for connection thereto. This arrangement results in large and robust flip-chip type interconnections between the electric contact points and the lead frame, eliminating the need for wirebonding and for adhesive connections of the lead frame to the die active surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 6, 1998
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: James M. Wark
  • Patent number: 5817549
    Abstract: A TFT having a crystalline semiconductor layer and a gate insulating film of silicon oxide is manufactured. The gate insulating film is formed by vapor phase deposition such as sputtering or CVD and the deposited silicon oxide is thermally annealed in a reactive nitrogen atmosphere. The silicon oxide film, especially, the boundary portion of the silicon oxide film close the active region is nitrided. Thus, dangling bonds included in the silicon oxide film can be neutralized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 6, 1998
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Yasuhiko Takemura