Patents Examined by Scott R. Wilson
  • Patent number: 8508008
    Abstract: In a semiconductor device, optical signal transfer capabilities are implemented on the basis of silicon-based monolithic opto-electronic components in combination with an appropriate waveguide. Thus, in complex circuitries, such as microprocessors and the like, superior performance may be obtained in terms of signal propagation delay, while at the same time thermal requirements may be less critical.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc.
    Inventors: Uwe Griebenow, Sven Beyer, Thilo Sheiper, Jan Hoentschel
  • Patent number: 8501572
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a bipolar junction transistor (BJT) device and methods for manufacturing the BJT device. In an embodiment, the BJT device includes: a semiconductor substrate having a collector region, and a material layer disposed over the semiconductor layer. The material layer has a trench therein that exposes a portion of the collector region. A base structure, spacers, and emitter structure are disposed within the trench of the material layer. Each spacer has a top width and a bottom width, the top width being substantially equal to the bottom width.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Chun-Tsung Kuo, Shih-Chang Liu, Chia-Shiung Tsai
  • Patent number: 8502268
    Abstract: A LDMOS structure includes a gate, a source, a drain and a bulk. The gate includes a polycrystalline silicon layer, the source includes a P-implanted layer, the drain includes the P-implanted layer, a P-well layer, and a deep P-well layer. A bulk terminal is connected through the P-implanted layer, the P-well layer, the deep P-well layer, and a P-type buried layer to the bulk. The LDMOS structure is able to be produced without any extra masking step, and it has compact structure, low on-resistance, and is able to withstand high current and high voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: IPGoal Microelectronics (SiChuan) Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Rongwei Yu
  • Patent number: 8487397
    Abstract: An integrated circuit with a self-aligned contact includes a substrate with a transistor formed thereover, a dielectric spacer, a protection barrier, and a conductive layer. The transistor includes a mask layer and a pair of insulating spacers formed on opposite sides of the mask layer. The dielectric spacer partially covers at least one of the insulating spacers of the transistor. The protection barrier is formed over the dielectric spacer. The conductive layer is formed over the mask layer, the protection barrier, the dielectric spacer, the insulating spacer and the dielectric spacer as a self-aligned contact for contacting a source/drain region of the transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: Nanya Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Jar-Ming Ho, Yi-Nan Chen, Hsien-Wen Liu
  • Patent number: 8476637
    Abstract: Nanostructure array optoelectronic devices are disclosed. The optoelectronic device may have a top electrical contact that is physically and electrically connected to sidewalls of the array of nanostructures (e.g., nanocolumns). The top electrical contact may be located such that light can enter or leave the nanostructures without passing through the top electrical contact. Therefore, the top electrical contact can be opaque to light having wavelengths that are absorbed or generated by active regions in the nanostructures. The top electrical contact can be made from a material that is highly conductive, as no tradeoff needs to be made between optical transparency and electrical conductivity. The device could be a solar cell, LED, photo-detector, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: Sundiode Inc.
    Inventors: James C. Kim, Sungsoo Yi, Danny E. Mars
  • Patent number: 8471353
    Abstract: A mesa photodiode which includes a mesa, the side wall of the mesa (a light-receiving region mesa) and at least a shoulder portion of the mesa in an upper face of the mesa are continuously covered with a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type, a second conductivity type, a semi-insulating type, or an undoped type (an undoped InP layer, for example) that is grown on the side wall and the upper face of the mesa. In the semiconductor layer, a layer thickness D1 of a portion covering the side wall of the mesa is equal to or greater than 850 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: Renesas Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoaki Koi, Isao Watanabe, Takashi Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 8461630
    Abstract: A conductive film to be a gate electrode, a first insulating film to be a gate insulating film, a semiconductor film in which a channel region is formed, and a second insulating film to be a channel protective film are successively formed. With the use of a resist mask formed by performing light exposure with the use of a photomask which is a multi-tone mask and development, i) in a region without the resist mask, the second insulating film, the semiconductor film, the first insulating film, and the conductive film are successively etched, ii) the resist mask is made to recede by ashing or the like and only the region of the resist mask with small thickness is removed, so that part of the second insulating film is exposed, and iii) the exposed part of the second insulating film is etched, so that a pair of opening portions is formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuta Endo, Kosei Noda
  • Patent number: 8455913
    Abstract: LED epitaxial layers (n-type, p-type, and active layers) are grown on a substrate. For each die, the n and p layers are electrically bonded to a package substrate that extends beyond the boundaries of the LED die such that the LED layers are between the package substrate and the growth substrate. The package substrate provides electrical contacts and conductors leading to solderable package connections. The growth substrate is then removed. Because the delicate LED layers were bonded to the package substrate while attached to the growth substrate, no intermediate support substrate for the LED layers is needed. The relatively thick LED epitaxial layer that was adjacent the removed growth substrate is then thinned and its top surface processed to incorporate light extraction features.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Phiips Lumileds Lighting Company LLC
    Inventors: John Epler, Paul S. Martin, Michael R. Krames
  • Patent number: 8431933
    Abstract: A memory layout structure is disclosed, in which, a lengthwise direction of each active area and each row of active areas form an included angle not equal to zero and not equal to 90 degrees, bit lines and word lines cross over each other above the active areas, the bit lines are each disposed above a row of active areas, bit line contact plugs or node contact plugs may be each disposed entirely on an source/drain region, or partially on the source/drain region and partially extend downward along a sidewall (edge wall) of the substrate of the active area to carry out a sidewall contact. Self-aligned node contact plugs are each disposed between two adjacent bit lines and between two adjacent word lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Inotera Memories, Inc.
    Inventors: Tzung-Han Lee, Chung-Lin Huang, Hsien-Wen Liu
  • Patent number: 8421144
    Abstract: An electrically erasable programmable read-only memory includes a first polysilicon layer, a second polysilicon layer and a third polysilicon layer, the first polysilicon layer and the third polysilicon layer forming a control gate and the second polysilicon layer forming a floating gate. The first polysilicon layer is horizontally disposed in series with the second polysilicon layer and is connected to the third polysilicon layer, so that the control gate encloses all of the floating gate except for a tunnel surface of the floating gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
    Inventor: Jin-Yeong Kang
  • Patent number: 8421077
    Abstract: A replacement gate field effect transistor includes at least one self-aligned contact that overlies a portion of a dielectric gate cap. A replacement gate stack is formed in a cavity formed by removal of a disposable gate stack. The replacement gate stack is subsequently recessed, and a dielectric gate cap having sidewalls that are vertically coincident with outer sidewalls of the gate spacer is formed by filling the recess over the replacement gate stack. An anisotropic etch removes the dielectric material of the planarization layer selective to the material of the dielectric gate cap, thereby forming at least one via cavity having sidewalls that coincide with a portion of the sidewalls of the gate spacer. A portion of each diffusion contact formed by filling the at least one via cavity overlies a portion of the gate spacer and protrudes into the dielectric gate cap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Sameer H. Jain, Carl J. Radens, Shahab Siddiqui, Jay W. Strane
  • Patent number: 8410473
    Abstract: A light emitting device includes: a first layer made of a semiconductor of a first conductivity type; a second layer made of a semiconductor of a second conductivity type; an active layer including a multiple quantum well provided between the first layer and the second layer, impurity concentration of the first conductivity type in each barrier layer of the multiple quantum well having a generally flat distribution or increasing toward the second layer, average of the impurity concentration in the barrier layer on the second layer side as viewed from each well layer of the multiple quantum well being equal to or greater than average of the impurity concentration in the barrier layer on the first layer side, and average of the impurity concentration in the barrier layer nearest to the second layer being higher than average of the impurity concentration in the barrier layer nearest to the first layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Akira Tanaka
  • Patent number: 8405192
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a dielectric material including a low dielectric constant material and an additive. The additive includes a compound having a Si—X—Si bridge, where X is a number of carbon atoms between 1 and 8. The additive may include terminal Si—CH3 groups. The dielectric material including the additive may be used as an inter-layer dielectric (ILD) layer of a semiconductor device. The dielectric material including the additive may be formed using a CVD or sol-gel process. One example of the additive is bis(triethoxysilyl)ethene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hsin-Yen Huang, Ching-Yu Lo, Hai-Ching Chen, Tien-I Bao
  • Patent number: 8399804
    Abstract: A laser welding device for manufacturing a prismatic battery 10 of the invention has a pair of jigs 12A, 12B for securing a prismatic battery outer can B1, a gas supply section for supplying inert gas to welding points of a sealing cover B2 fitted to the prismatic battery outer can B1, and a laser unit 11 for irradiating laser beam. Each of the jigs 12A, 12B is provided with a slit-shaped blower outlet and the blower outlet is positioned below the welding points. The inert gas is supplied to the blower outlet from the gas supply section and is blown from the blower outlet to the welding points from below. The laser welding device for manufacturing a prismatic battery 10 can obtain a laser welding device that welds the sealing cover B2 fitted to the prismatic battery outer can B1 fast, preventing weld droops and allowing uniform welding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2013
    Assignee: SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Hosokawa, Haruhiko Yamamoto, Masato Nishikawa, Takahiro Nakamura, Hitoshi Kihara
  • Patent number: 8390007
    Abstract: A semiconductor light emitting device has a light emitting element, and first and second electrodes. The light emitting element has a nitride-based III-V compound semiconductor on a substrate. The first and second electrodes are disposed on both sides of the light emitting element, respectively. The light emitting element has a light emitting layer, a first conductive type semiconductor layer, and a second conductive type semiconductor layer. The first conductive type semiconductor layer is disposed between the light emitting layer and the first electrode. The second conductive type semiconductor layer is disposed between the light emitting layer and the second electrode. One surface of the first conductive type semiconductor layer contacts the first electrode and is a light extraction surface which is roughly processed so as to have two or more kinds of oblique angles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Toru Gotoda, Takahiro Sato, Toshiyuki Oka, Shinya Nunoue, Kotaro Zaima
  • Patent number: 8390063
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device comprises a high-k gate dielectric overlying a well region having a first conductivity type formed in a semiconductor body, and a semiconductor gate formed on the high-k gate dielectric. The semiconductor gate is lightly doped so as to have a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type. The disclosed semiconductor device, which may be an NMOS or PMOS device, can further comprise an isolation region formed in the semiconductor body between the semiconductor gate and a drain of the second conductivity type, and a drain extension well of the second conductivity type surrounding the isolation region in the semiconductor body. In one embodiment, the disclosed semiconductor device is fabricated as part of an integrated circuit including one or more CMOS logic devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Akira Ito, Xiangdong Chen
  • Patent number: 8378428
    Abstract: The applications discloses a semiconductor device comprising a substrate having a first active region, a second active region, and an isolation region having a first width interposed between the first and second active regions; a P-metal gate electrode over the first active region and extending over at least ? of the first width of the isolation region; and an N-metal gate electrode over the second active region and extending over no more than ? of the first width. The N-metal gate electrode is electrically connected to the P-metal gate electrode over the isolation region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Han-Guan Chew, Lee-Wee Teo, Ming Zhu, Bao-Ru Young, Harry-Hak-Lay Chuang
  • Patent number: 8373239
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a method for forming a semiconductor device that includes forming a replacement gate structure overlying a channel region of a substrate. A mandrel dielectric layer is formed overlying source and drain regions of the substrate. The replacement gate structure is removed to provide an opening exposing the channel region of the substrate. A functional gate structure is formed over the channel region including a work function metal layer. A protective cap structure is formed over the functional gate structure. At least one via is etched through the mandrel dielectric layer selective to the protective cap structure to expose a portion of at least one of the source region and the drain region. A conductive fill is then formed in the vias to provide a contact to the at least one of the source region and the drain region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Shahab Siddiqui, Michael P. Chudzik, Carl J. Radens
  • Patent number: 8373089
    Abstract: A process for modifying or repairing a metallic component, such as a combustion cap effusion plate for a gas turbine, is disclosed. The method includes generating a notch or groove in the metallic component and depositing a filler material in the notch or groove. A pulsed laser is applied to the filler material. The pulsed laser has a power, frequency, and pulse width sufficient to apply heat to the metallic component and to the filler material to make at least a portion of the metallic component and the filler material melt in order to weld the filler material to the metallic component and repair or modify the metallic component. Various operating parameters of the pulsed laser can be configured to reduce undesirable heating affects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Jere A. Johnson, Srikanth Chandrudu Kottilingam, Gene Arthur Murphy, Jr., Liangde Xie
  • Patent number: 8362385
    Abstract: Method in which a continuous butt-sealed rim of a collar defined by corresponding concentric ends, without undulations, of a first wall, radially innermost, and a second wall, radially outermost, of a double-wall bellows is obtained as a continuous butt-weld bead on the corresponding rims, arranged radially adjacent to each other, of the ends of the first and second walls, which have been prepared such that, before welding, they are radially spaced apart from each other by not more than 0.3 mm and with the rim of the second wall that projects in an axial direction with respect to that of the first wall for a length of 0.2-0.4 mm; butt welding is performed with a laser beam directed parallel to an axis of symmetry of the collar, making the latter rotate around the axis to progressively expose the entire perimeter of the rims of the ends of the first and second walls, simultaneously pressing the rims against each other with a force between 1 and 3 kg via spring clamping rollers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: Flexider S.R.L.
    Inventor: Salvatore Gammino