Patents Examined by Matthew Reames
  • Patent number: 9831322
    Abstract: A Fin-FET fabrication approach and structure are provided using channel epitaxial regrowth flow (CRF). The method includes forming a Fin-FET structure including a Si line on a substrate, shallow trench isolation (STI) oxide on both sides of the Si line on the substrate, and a poly wall on top of and across the STI oxide and the Si line, wherein the Si line is higher than the STI oxide from the substrate. The method further includes thinning the STI oxide and the Si line while maintaining about the same height ratio of the Si line and the STI oxide, and forming a spacer wall adjacent to both sides of the poly wall and further adjacent to Si and STI oxide side walls under the poly wall uncovered due thinning the STI oxide and the Si line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ching-Feng Fu, Shih-Ting Hung, Hsin-Chih Chen, Chih-Hsin Ko, Clement Hsingjen Wann
  • Patent number: 9825166
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a technique for realizing a high-performance and high-reliability silicon carbide semiconductor device. A trenched MISFET with a trench formed into the drift through a p-type body layer 105 includes an n-type resistance relaxation layer 109 covering the bottom portion of the trench, and a p-type field relaxation layer 108. The p-type field relaxation layer 108 is separated from the trench bottom portion via the resistance relaxation layer 109, and is wider than the resistance relaxation layer 109. This achieves a low ON resistance, high reliability, and high voltage resistance at the same time. By forming the field relaxation layer beneath the trench, feedback capacitance can be controlled to achieve a high switching rate and high reliability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Naoki Tega, Digh Hisamoto, Satoru Akiyama, Takashi Takahama, Tadao Morimoto, Ryuta Tsuchiya
  • Patent number: 9818860
    Abstract: An SiC semiconductor device has a p type region including a low concentration region and a high concentration region filled in a trench formed in a cell region. A p type column is provided by the low concentration region, and a p+ type deep layer is provided by the high concentration region. Thus, since a SJ structure can be made by the p type column and the n type column provided by the n type drift layer, an on-state resistance can be reduced. As a drain potential can be blocked by the p+ type deep layer, at turnoff, an electric field applied to the gate insulation film can be alleviated and thus breakage of the gate insulation film can be restricted. Therefore, the SiC semiconductor device can realize the reduction of the on-state resistance and the restriction of breakage of the gate insulation film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignees: DENSO CORPORATION, TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuichi Takeuchi, Naohiro Suzuki, Masahiro Sugimoto, Hidefumi Takaya, Akitaka Soeno, Jun Morimoto, Narumasa Soejima, Yukihiko Watanabe
  • Patent number: 9818792
    Abstract: An infrared sensor device includes a semiconductor substrate, at least one sensor element that is micromechanically formed in the semiconductor substrate, and at least one calibration element, which is micromechanically formed in the semiconductor substrate, for the sensor element. An absorber material is arranged on the semiconductor substrate in the area of the sensor element and the calibration element. One cavern each is formed in the semiconductor substrate substantially below the sensor element and substantially below the calibration element. The sensor element and the calibration element are thermally and electrically isolated from the rest of the semiconductor substrate by the caverns. The infrared sensor device has high sensitivity, calibration functionality for the sensor element, and a high signal-to-noise ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Ingo Herrmann, Edda Sommer, Christoph Schelling, Christian Rettig, Mirko Hattass
  • Patent number: 9818819
    Abstract: Lattice-mismatched epitaxial films formed proximate non-crystalline sidewalls. Embodiments of the invention include formation of facets that direct dislocations in the films to the sidewalls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Jie Bai, Anthony J. Lochtefeld, Ji-Soo Park
  • Patent number: 9812490
    Abstract: A semiconductor device, which is configured as a backside illuminated solid-state imaging device, includes a stacked semiconductor chip which is formed by bonding two or more semiconductor chip units to each other and in which, at least, a pixel array and a multi-layer wiring layer are formed in a first semiconductor chip unit and a logic circuit and a multi-layer wiring layer are formed in a second semiconductor chip unit; a semiconductor-removed region in which a semiconductor section of a part of the first semiconductor chip unit is completely removed; and a plurality of connection wirings which is formed in the semiconductor-removed region and connects the first and second semiconductor chip units to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuichiroh Itonaga, Machiko Horiike
  • Patent number: 9812568
    Abstract: A Schottky barrier device is provided herein that includes a TMD layer on a substrate, a graphene layer on the TMD layer, an electrolyte layer on the TMD layer, and a source gate contact on the electrolyte layer. A drain contact can be provided on the TMD layer and a source contact can be provided on the graphene layer. As ionic gating from the source gate contact and electrolyte layer is used to adjust the Schottky barrier height this Schottky barrier device can be referred to as an ionic control barrier transistor or “ionic barristor”.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
    Inventors: Kyeongjae Cho, Yifan Nie, Suklyun Hong, Robert M. Wallace
  • Patent number: 9812606
    Abstract: Semiconductor device assemblies having solid-state transducer (SST) devices and associated semiconductor devices, systems, and are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method of forming a semiconductor device assembly includes forming a support substrate, a transfer structure, and a plurality semiconductor structures between the support substrate and the transfer structure. The method further includes removing the support substrate to expose an active surface of the individual semiconductor structures and a trench between the individual semiconductor structures. The semiconductor structures can be attached to a carrier substrate that is optically transmissive such that the active surface can emit and/or receive the light through the carrier substrate. The individual semiconductor structures can then be processed on the carrier substrate with the support substrate removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Martin F. Schubert, Vladimir Odnoblyudov, Scott D. Schellhammer
  • Patent number: 9806076
    Abstract: A semiconductor device and method for fabricating a semiconductor device is disclosed. An exemplary semiconductor device includes a substrate including a fin structure disposed over the substrate. The fin structure includes one or more fins. The semiconductor device further includes an insulation material disposed on the substrate. The semiconductor device further includes a gate structure disposed on a portion of the fin structure and on a portion of the insulation material. The gate structure traverses each fin of the fin structure. The semiconductor device further includes a source and drain feature formed from a material having a continuous and uninterrupted surface area. The source and drain feature includes a surface in a plane that is in direct contact with a surface in a parallel plane of the insulation material, each of the one or more fins of the fin structure, and the gate structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Chi-Wen Liu, Chao-Hsiung Wang
  • Patent number: 9806089
    Abstract: Metal floating gate electrodes can be formed for a three-dimensional memory device by forming a memory opening having lateral recesses at levels of spacer material layers between insulating layers, depositing a continuous metal layer, and inducing diffusion and agglomeration of the metal into the lateral recesses to form discrete metal portions employing an anneal process. The metallic material can migrate and form the discrete metal portions due to surface tension, which operates to minimize the surface area of the metallic material. Optionally, two or more continuous metal layers can be employed to form discrete metal portions including at least two metals. Optionally, a selective metal deposition process can be performed to deposit additional metal portions including a different metallic material on the discrete metal portions. The metal floating gate electrodes can be formed without employing an etch process. A tunneling dielectric layer and a semiconductor channel can be subsequently formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES LLC
    Inventors: Rahul Sharangpani, Somesh Peri, Raghuveer S. Makala, Yanli Zhang
  • Patent number: 9799707
    Abstract: Some embodiments include memory structures having a diode over a memory cell. The memory cell can include programmable material between a pair of electrodes, with the programmable material containing a multivalent metal oxide directly against a high-k dielectric. The diode can include a first diode electrode directly over one of the memory cell electrodes and electrically coupled with the memory cell electrode, and can include a second diode electrode laterally outward of the first diode electrode and not directly over the memory cell. Some embodiments include memory arrays comprising the memory structures, and some embodiments include methods of making the memory structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Durai Vishak Nirmal Ramaswamy, Mark S. Korber
  • Patent number: 9799759
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for forming a non-planar germanium quantum well structure. In particular, the quantum well structure can be implemented with group IV or III-V semiconductor materials and includes a germanium fin structure. In one example case, a non-planar quantum well device is provided, which includes a quantum well structure having a substrate (e.g. SiGe or GaAs buffer on silicon), a IV or III-V material barrier layer (e.g., SiGe or GaAs or AlGaAs), a doping layer (e.g., delta/modulation doped), and an undoped germanium quantum well layer. An undoped germanium fin structure is formed in the quantum well structure, and a top barrier layer deposited over the fin structure. A gate metal can be deposited across the fin structure. Drain/source regions can be formed at respective ends of the fin structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: INTEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ravi Pillarisetty, Jack T. Kavalieros, Willy Rachmady, Uday Shah, Benjamin Chu-Kung, Marko Radosavljevic, Niloy Mukherjee, Gilbert Dewey, Been Y. Jin, Robert S. Chau
  • Patent number: 9799726
    Abstract: A HEMT device comprising a M-plane III-Nitride material substrate, a p-doped epitaxial layer of III-Nitride material grown on said substrate; a recess etched in said p-doped epitaxial layer, the recess having a plane wall parallel to a polar plane of the III-Nitride material; a carrier carrying layer formed on said plane wall of the recess; a carrier supply layer formed on said at least one carrier carrying layer, such that a 2DEG region is formed in the carrier carrying layer at the interface with the carrier supply layer along said plane wall of the recess; a doped source region formed at the surface of said p-doped epitaxial layer such that the doped source region is separated from said 2DEG region by a channel region; a gate insulating layer formed on the channel region; and a gate contact layer formed on the gate insulating layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: HRL Laboratories, LLC
    Inventor: Sameh G. Khalil
  • Patent number: 9793425
    Abstract: In one aspect, the present invention provides a silicon photodetector having a surface layer that is doped with sulfur inclusions with an average concentration in a range of about 0.5 atom percent to about 1.5 atom percent. The surface layer forms a diode junction with an underlying portion of the substrate. A plurality of electrical contacts allow application of a reverse bias voltage to the junction in order to facilitate generation of an electrical signal, e.g., a photocurrent, in response to irradiation of the surface layer. The photodetector exhibits a responsivity greater than about 1 A/W for incident wavelengths in a range of about 250 nm to about 1050 nm, and a responsivity greater than about 0.1 A/W for longer wavelengths, e.g., up to about 3.5 microns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: President And Fellows Of Harvard College
    Inventors: Eric Mazur, James Edward Carey
  • Patent number: 9786817
    Abstract: A semiconductor light emitting device includes a semiconductor stack including a first conductive semiconductor layer including a first surface, a second conductive semiconductor layer including a second surface opposite to the first surface, an active layer disposed between the first conductive semiconductor layer and the second conductive semiconductor layer, and a through hole disposed through the semiconductor stack. The semiconductor light emitting device further includes a contact layer connected to the first conductive semiconductor layer, disposed in the through hole, and disposed through the semiconductor stack, a first electrode layer connected to the contact layer, and a second electrode layer disposed on the second surface, and including a pad forming portion on which the semiconductor stack is not disposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Sung Joon Kim, Young Ho Ryu, Min Wook Choi
  • Patent number: 9779935
    Abstract: A crystalline base substrate including a first semiconductor material and having a main surface is provided. The base substrate is processed so as to damage a lattice structure of the base substrate in a first region that extends to the main surface without damaging a lattice structure of the base substrate in second regions that are adjacent to the first region. A first semiconductor layer of a second semiconductor material is formed on a portion of the main surface that includes the first and second regions. A third region of the first semiconductor layer covers the first region of the base substrate, and a fourth region of the first semiconductor layer covers the second region of the base substrate. The third region has a crystalline structure that is disorganized relative to a crystalline structure of the fourth region. The first and second semiconductor materials have different coefficients of thermal expansion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventors: Simone Lavanga, Uttiya Chowdhury
  • Patent number: 9780001
    Abstract: A method of fabricating Schottky barrier contacts for an integrated circuit (IC). A substrate including a silicon including surface is provided. A plurality of transistors are formed on the silicon including surface in at least one PMOS region and at least one NMOS region, where the plurality of transistors include at least one exposed p-type surface region and at least one exposed n-type surface region. Pre-silicide cleaning removes oxide from the exposed p-type surface regions and exposed n-type surface regions. A plurality of metals are deposited including Yb and Pt to form at least one metal layer on the substrate. The metal layer is heated to induce formation of an inhomogeneous silicide layer including both Ptsilicide and Ybsilicide on the exposed p-type and exposed n-type surface regions. Unreacted metal of the metal layer is stripped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Deborah Jean Riley, Judy Browder Shaw, Christopher L. Hinkle, Creighton T. Buie
  • Patent number: 9773924
    Abstract: A semiconductor device according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity type and having a principal surface and a back surface, a silicon carbide semiconductor layer having the first conductivity type and disposed on the principal surface, barrier regions having a second conductivity type and disposed within the silicon carbide semiconductor layer, an edge termination region having the second conductivity type and disposed within the silicon carbide semiconductor layer, the edge termination region enclosing the barrier regions, a first electrode disposed on the silicon carbide semiconductor layer, and a second electrode disposed on the back surface, wherein each of the barrier regions has a polygonal boundary with the silicon carbide semiconductor layer, and each of sides of the polygonal boundary has an angle of 0° to 5° inclusive relative to <11-20> direction of crystal orientations of the semiconductor substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masao Uchida, Kouichi Saitou, Takayuki Wakayama
  • Patent number: 9773776
    Abstract: A lighting module for emitting mixed light comprises at least one first semiconductor element which emits unconverted red light, at least one second semiconductor element which emits converted greenish white light having a first conversion percentage, at least one third semiconductor element which emits greenish white light having a second conversion percentage that is smaller than the first conversion percentage, and at least one resistor element having a temperature-dependent electric resistance, the second semiconductor element being connected in parallel to the third semiconductor element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: OSRAM OPTO SEMICONDUCTORS GMBH
    Inventors: Christian Gärtner, Ales Markytan, Jan Marfeld
  • Patent number: 9773948
    Abstract: Embodiments provide a light emitting device including a substrate, a light emitting structure including a first conductivity-type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conductivity-type semiconductor layer, disposed on the substrate, a first electrode disposed on the first conductivity-type semiconductor layer, and a second electrode disposed on the second conductivity-type semiconductor layer. The first electrode includes an ohmic contact layer disposed on the first conductivity-type semiconductor layer and formed of a transparent conductive oxide and a reflective layer disposed on the ohmic contact layer, and the thickness of the ohmic contact layer is 1 nm or more and less than 60 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: LG INNOTEK CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Se Yeon Jung, Yong Gyeong Lee