Patents Examined by Michael S. Lebentritt
  • Patent number: 8008164
    Abstract: A wafer bonding method includes providing a primary wafer and a plurality of secondary wafers, wherein the primary wafer is larger than the secondary wafers. An intermediate material layer is formed on at least one of a bonding surface of the primary wafer and bonding surfaces of the secondary wafers. The intermediate material layer has a thermal expansion coefficient greater than the thermal expansion coefficient of the primary wafer and the thermal expansion coefficient of the secondary wafers. The secondary wafers are bonded onto the primary wafer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Sang-Joon Park
  • Patent number: 8008186
    Abstract: A semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a semiconductor substrate; a wiring formed in predetermined pattern above the semiconductor substrate, a first insulating film lying right under the wiring, and a second insulating film lying in a peripheral portion other than a portion right under the wiring, in which a surface layer of the first insulating film lying in a boundary surface between the first insulating film and the second insulating film is chemically modified to reinforce the surface layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kazumichi Tsumura, Masaki Yamada
  • Patent number: 8003522
    Abstract: A method for forming a semiconductor structure includes the following steps. A hard mask layer is formed over a semiconductor region. The hard mask layer has inner portions that are thinner than its outer portions, and the inner portions define an exposed surface area of the semiconductor region. A portion of the semiconductor region is removed through the exposed surface area of the semiconductor region. The thinner portions of the hard mask layer are removed to expose surface areas of the semiconductor region underlying the thinner portions. An additional portion of the semiconductor region is removed through all exposed surface areas of the semiconductor region thereby forming a trench having an upper portion that is wider than its lower portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Hui Chen, Ihsiu Ho, Stacy W. Hall, Briant Harward, Hossein Paravi
  • Patent number: 8004031
    Abstract: Method and device embodiments are described for fabricating MOSFET transistors in a semiconductor also containing non-volatile floating gate transistors. MOSFET transistor gate dielectric smiling, or bird's beaks, are adjustable by re-oxidation processing. An additional re-oxidation process is performed by opening a poly-silicon layer prior to forming an inter-poly oxide dielectric provided for the floating gate transistors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Seiichi Aritome
  • Patent number: 8004082
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a technology for forming an ULSI fine copper wiring by a simpler method. An electronic component in which a thin alloy film of tungsten and a noble metal used as a barrier-seed layer for an ULSI fine copper wiring is formed on a base material, wherein the thin alloy film has a composition comprising tungsten at a ratio equal to or greater than 60 at. % and the noble metal at a ratio of equal to or greater than 5 at. % and equal to or less than 40 at. %. The noble metal is preferably one or more kinds of metals selected from the group consisting of platinum, gold, silver and palladium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: Nippon Mining & Metals Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Junnosuke Sekiguchi, Toru Imori
  • Patent number: 8004035
    Abstract: A dual stress liner manufacturing method and device is described. Overlapping stress liner layers of opposite effect (e.g., tensile versus compression) may be deposited over portions of the device, and the uppermost overlapping layer may be polished down in a process that uses the bottom overlapping layer as a stopper. An insulating film may be deposited on the stress liner layers before the polishing, and another insulating film may be deposited above the first insulating film after the polishing. Contacts may be formed such that the contacts need only penetrate one stress liner layer to reach a transistor well or gate structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Gaku Sudo
  • Patent number: 8003971
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a damascene structured memory element coupled to the first electrode and the second electrode. The memory element has a height and a width. The height is greater than or equal to the width. The memory element includes resistance changing material doped with dielectric material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: Qimonda AG
    Inventors: Thomas Happ, Jan Boris Philipp
  • Patent number: 7998815
    Abstract: Shallow trench isolation methods are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, a method includes implanting oxygen under a bottom surface of a narrow trench of a silicon substrate and performing a high-temperature anneal of the silicon substrate to form a buried oxide layer. The method also includes performing an etch to deepen the narrow trench to reach the buried oxide layer. The method further includes depositing a filling material to form a top filling layer in the narrow trench.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Xia Li, Ming-Chu King
  • Patent number: 7999262
    Abstract: A thin film transistor includes a gate electrode, a gate insulation layer on the gate electrode, source and drain electrodes formed on the gate insulation layer, a polysilicon channel layer overlapping the ohmic contact layers and on the gate insulation layer between the source and drain electrodes, ohmic contact regions over the source and drain electrodes for contacting the polysilicon channel to the source and drain electrodes, and doping layers over the source and drain electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Gee Sung Chae, Seung Hwan Cha
  • Patent number: 7994541
    Abstract: Embodiments relate to a method for forming a wiring in a semiconductor device, that may include laminating a conductive layer for wiring formation on a semiconductor substrate, forming a photoresist layer pattern on the conductive layer, performing primary dry etching for the conductive layer after employing the photoresist layer pattern as a mask, thereby forming a wiring pattern, partially removing the photoresist layer pattern through secondary dry etching, thereby forming a passivation layer on a surface of the wiring pattern, performing tertiary dry etching for the wiring pattern and a diffusion barrier after employing the photoresist layer pattern as a mask, thereby forming a metal wiring, and removing the photoresist layer pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: Dongbu HiTek Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jong Soon Lee
  • Patent number: 7994011
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a nonvolatile memory device having a three-dimensional memory device includes alternately stacking a plurality of first and second material layers having a different etching selectivity on a semiconductor substrate; forming an opening penetrating the plurality of first and second material layers; removing the first material layers exposed by the opening to form extended portions extending in a direction perpendicular to the semiconductor substrate from the opening; conformally forming a charge storage layer along a surface of the opening and the extended portions; and removing the charge storage layer formed on sidewalls of the second material layers to locally form the charge storage layer patterns in the extended portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Imsoo Park, Young-Hoo Kim, Changki Hong, Jaedong Lee, Daehong Eom, Sung-Jun Kim
  • Patent number: 7994003
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a nonvolatile memory device includes forming a tunnel insulating layer on a semiconductor substrate, forming a charge storage layer on the tunnel insulating layer, forming a dielectric layer on the charge storage layer, the dielectric layer including a first aluminum oxide layer, a silicon oxide layer, and a second aluminum oxide layer sequentially stacked on the charge storage layer, and forming a gate electrode on the dielectric layer, the gate electrode directly contacting the second aluminum oxide layer of the dielectric layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Byong-Ju Kim, Sun-Jung Kim, Zong-Liang Huo, Jun-Kyu Yang, Seon-Ho Jo, Han-Mei Choi, Young-Sun Kim
  • Patent number: 7994554
    Abstract: Disclosed are a CMOS image sensor and a manufacturing method thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: Dongbu Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Chang Hun Han
  • Patent number: 7994513
    Abstract: A silicon carbide semiconductor device includes a substrate, a drift layer located on a first surface of the substrate, a base region located on the drift layer, a source region located on the base region, a trench sandwiched by each of the base region to the drift layer, a channel layer located in the trench, a gate insulating layer located on the channel layer, a gate electrode located on the gate insulating layer, a source electrode electrically coupled with the source region and the base region, a drain electrode located on a second surface of the substrate, and a deep layer located under the base region and extending to a depth deeper than the trench. The deep layer is formed into a lattice pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kensaku Yamamoto, Eiichi Okuno
  • Patent number: 7989252
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for fabricating a pixel cell of CMOS image sensor, comprising: preparing a semiconductor substrate divided into region I and region II; forming an insulation layer on the surface of the semiconductor substrate in the region I and a gate dielectric layer on the surface of the semiconductor substrate in the region II; forming a poly-silicon gate on the surface of the semiconductor substrate in the region II; forming a deep doped well in the region I through an ion implantation with high energy; performing an ion implantation with low energy in the region I and an ion implantation for lightly doped source/drain in the region II simultaneously; and forming source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate in the region II.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Shanghai) Corporation
    Inventors: Jianping Yang, Jieguang Huo
  • Patent number: 7989899
    Abstract: A transistor, an inverter including the transistor, and methods of manufacturing the inverter and the transistor. A gate insulating layer of the transistor has a charge trap region. A threshold voltage may be moved in a positive (+) direction by trapping charges in the charge trap region. The transistor may be an enhancement mode oxide thin-film transistor (TFT) and may be used as an element of the inverter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Huaxiang Yin, Ihun Song, Sunil Kim, Youngsoo Park
  • Patent number: 7985682
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming a first film on a processed film, patterning the first film into a pattern with smaller width and a space with larger width, forming a second film along upper and side surfaces of first film and an upper surface of second film, etching the second film thereby to expose upper surfaces of first film and processed film while part of second film remains along the side surface of first film, etching the first film under the condition that the first film has higher etch selectivity than the second film, etching an upper part of second film under the condition that the second film has a higher etch selectivity than the processed film, after the first film has been etched, and etching the processed film with the second film serving as mask after the upper part of second film has been etched.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2011
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Kenji Matsuzaki
  • Patent number: 7985970
    Abstract: A monolithic LED chip is disclosed comprising a plurality of junctions or sub-LEDs (“sub-LEDs”) mounted on a submount. The sub-LEDs are serially interconnected such that the voltage necessary to drive the sub-LEDs is dependent on the number of serially interconnected sub-LEDs and the junction voltage of the sub-LEDs. Methods for fabricating a monolithic LED chip are also disclosed with one method comprising providing a single junction LED on a submount and separating the single junction LED into a plurality of sub-LEDs. The sub-LEDs are then serially interconnected such that the voltage necessary to drive the sub-LEDs is dependent on the number of the serially interconnected sub-LEDs and the junction voltage of the sub-LEDs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2011
    Assignee: Cree, Inc.
    Inventors: James Ibbetson, Sten Heikman
  • Patent number: 7981698
    Abstract: Packaging is substantially entirely removed from an integrated circuit die. The method allows the batch processing of several integrated circuit dies, such that packaging is removed from each die approximately simultaneously.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2011
    Assignee: The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.
    Inventors: Dariusz R. Pryputniewicz, Thomas F. Marinis, Gary B. Tepolt
  • Patent number: 7982214
    Abstract: A voltage-operated layered arrangement comprising a substrate (1), a layered structure (2, 3, 4, 5) that is applied to the substrate and that comprises at least one electrically conductive functional layer (3) arranged between a first electrode (2) and a second electrode (4), and a field-degrading layer (5) that is less electrically conductive than the functional layer (3) and that is applied to the second electrode (4) arranged on the side of the layered structure remote from the substrate in such a way that it covers the second electrode (4) at least in the region of an edge (4a) and connects the second electrode (4) to the first electrode (2) electrically.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2011
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
    Inventors: Hans-Peter Loebl, Herbert Friedrich Boerner