Patents Examined by Swapneel Chhaya
  • Patent number: 7566941
    Abstract: A magnetoresistive memory cell includes a tunnel barrier region between first and second electrode devices. The first electrode device includes a natural antiferromagnet region. A diffusion barrier region is formed in the first electrode device and serves as a chemical and/or physical transformation region of a surface region or interface region between the tunnel barrier region and the natural antiferromagnet region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2009
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventor: Manfred Ruehrig
  • Patent number: 7557444
    Abstract: A via structure is disclosed for use in a multi-layered semiconductor device, for forming electrical contacts between prescribed layers of the vertically aligned structures. The via structures include a plurality of adjacent frame shaped hole structures which extend between the prescribed layers of the device, and which are filled with metal to form frame shaped vias. The width of each of the sides of the frame is chosen to be equal to an integer multiple of half of the minimum pitch of the semiconductor processing, with the distance between adjacent frame shaped via structures being approximately equal to an integer multiple of half of the minimum pitch of the semiconductor processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2009
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Achim Gratz, Jakob Kriz, Woong-Jae Chung
  • Patent number: 7557434
    Abstract: A power electronic package includes: first and second high thermal conductivity insulating non-planar substrates; and a plurality of electronic components mounted on each of the substrates. The substrates are coupled each other at a plurality of bonding regions so that mechanical separation between the substrates is controlled by the number of the bonding regions, an arrangement of the bonding regions, a shape of each bonding region, and a material of the bonding regions. The mechanical separation provides a net axially-directed compressive force in the electronic components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2009
    Assignees: DENSO CORPORATION, University of Cambridge, The University of Sheffield
    Inventors: Rajesh Kumar Malhan, C. Mark Johnson, Jeremy Rashid
  • Patent number: 7538374
    Abstract: A CMOS image sensor and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed, in which the fabrication costs are reduced by reducing the number of photolithographic processes and yield is improved by obviating an alignment problem between color filter layers and microlenses. In one embodiment, the CMOS image sensor includes a sub layer provided with a unit pixel (e.g., a photodiode and various transistors), a planarization layer on the sub layer, and microlens-color filter structures formed on the planarization layer at constant intervals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2009
    Assignee: Dongbu Electronics Co., Inc.
    Inventor: Yeon Sil Kim
  • Patent number: 7538404
    Abstract: An optical semiconductor device includes a first light receiving region and a second light receiving region provided on a substrate and the first and second light receiving regions include light receiving elements, respectively. A first anti-reflection film is formed in the first light receiving region of the substrate and a second anti-reflection film is formed in the second light receiving region of the substrate. The reflectance of the first anti-reflection film for a first wavelength range of light is lower than the reflectance of the second anti-reflection film for the first wavelength range of light and the reflectance of the second anti-reflection film for a second wavelength range of light which is different from the first wavelength range of light is lower than the reflectance of the first anti-reflection film for the second wavelength range of light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2009
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tsutomu Miyajima, Takaki Iwai, Hisatada Yasukawa
  • Patent number: 7525170
    Abstract: An arrangement of pillar shaped p-i-n diodes having a high aspect ration are formed on a semiconductor substrate. Each device is formed by an intrinsic or lightly doped region (i-region) positioned between a P+ region and an N+ region at each end of the pillar. The arrangement of pillar p-i-n diodes is embedded in an optical transparent medium. For a given surface area, more light energy is absorbed by the pillar arrangement of p-i-n diodes than by conventional planar p-i-n diodes. The pillar p-i-n diodes are preferably configured in an array formation to enable photons reflected from one pillar p-i-n diode to be captured and absorbed by another p-i-n diode adjacent to the first one, thereby optimizing the efficiency of energy conversion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Louis Lu-Chen Hsu, Jack A. Mandelman, Kangguo Cheng
  • Patent number: 7521740
    Abstract: A semiconductor device comprises a gate electrode (1) and a gate insulating layer (2) both surrounded by a spacer (3) and produced on a surface (S) of a substrate (100) of a first semiconductor material. The device also comprises a source region (4) and a drain region (5) both situated below the surface of the substrate, respectively on two opposite sides of the gate electrode (1). The source region and the drain region each comprise a portion of a second semiconductor material (6, 7) disposed on the substrate (100) and extending between the substrate (100) and the spacer (3). The second material has a melting point lower than the melting point of the first material. The portions of second material (6, 7) constitute extensions of the source (4) and drain (5) regions. The semiconductor device can be an MOS transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2009
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventor: Rebha El-Fahrane
  • Patent number: 7501347
    Abstract: In a semiconductor device, capacitance between copper interconnections is decreased and the insulation breakdown is improved simultaneously, and a countermeasure is taken for misalignment via by a manufacturing method including the steps of forming an interconnection containing copper as a main ingredient in an insulative film above a substrate, forming insulative films and a barrier insulative film for a reservoir pattern, forming an insulative film capable of suppressing or preventing copper from diffusing on the upper surface and on the lateral surface of the interconnection and above the insulative film and the insulative film, forming insulative films of low dielectric constant, in which the insulative film is formed such that the deposition rate above the opposing lateral surfaces of the interconnections is larger than the deposition rate therebelow to form an air gap between the adjacent interconnections and, finally, planarizing the insulative film by interlayer CMP.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2009
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Junji Noguchi, Takashi Matsumoto, Takayuki Oshima, Toshihiko Onozuka
  • Patent number: 7495293
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a silicon region including Si, and a silicide film provided on the silicon region, the silicide film comprising a compound of Si with Ni, Co, Pd, or Pt and including Er.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2009
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Toshihiko Iinuma, Haruko Akutsu, Kyoichi Suguro
  • Patent number: 7495285
    Abstract: A FinFET includes a fin that is on a substrate and extends away from the substrate. A device isolation layer is disposed on the substrate on both sides of the fin. An insulating layer is between the fin and the substrate. The insulating layer is directly connected to the device isolation layer and has a different thickness than the device isolation layer. A gate electrode crosses over the fin. A gate insulating layer is between the gate electrode and the fin. Source and drain regions are on the fins and on opposite sides of the gate electrode. Related nonvolatile memory devices that include FinFETs and methods of making FinFETs and nonvolatile memory devices are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2009
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Chang-Hyun Lee
  • Patent number: 7488664
    Abstract: A capacitor structure for a semiconductor assembly and a method for forming same are described. The capacitor structure comprises a pair of electrically separated capacitor electrodes and a capacitor electrode being common to only the pair of electrically separated capacitor electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2009
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Keith Cook, Ceredig Roberts
  • Patent number: 7473954
    Abstract: A semiconductor device with a bitline structure has a stud type capping layer. A method of fabricating the same achieves sufficient process margins and reduces parasitic capacitance. The device may include an insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate and having a bitline contact and a groove-shaped bitline pattern, a bitline formed on the bitline contact and on a portion of the bitline pattern and that is surrounded by the insulating film, and a bitline capping layer formed on the bitline within the bitline pattern and the insulating film that protrudes from the insulating film. A protruded portion of the bitline capping layer is wider than a width of the bitline.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2009
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mun-Mo Jeong, Chang-Huhn Lee, Makoto Yoshida
  • Patent number: 7465973
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a plurality of repeatable circuit cells connectable to one or more conductors providing at least electrical connection to the circuit cells and/or electrical connection between one or more circuit elements in the cells. Each of the circuit cells are configured having gates and active regions forming a grating, wherein, for a given active layer in the device, a width of each active region is substantially the same relative to one another, a spacing between any two adjacent active regions is substantially the same, a width of each gate is substantially the same relative to one another, and a spacing between any two adjacent gates is substantially the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Leland Chang, Hon-Sum Philip Wong
  • Patent number: 7459740
    Abstract: An integrated DRAM-NVRAM, multi-level memory cell is comprised of a vertical DRAM device with a shared vertical gate floating plate device. The floating plate device provides enhanced charge storage for the DRAM part of the cell through the shared floating body in a pillar between the two functions. The memory cell is formed in a substrate with trenches that form pillars. A vertical wordline/gate on one side of a pillar is used to control the DRAM part of the cell. A vertical trapping layer on the other side of the pillar stores one or more charges as part of the floating plate device and to enhance the DRAM function through the floating body between the DRAM and floating plate device. A vertical NVRAM wordline/control gate is formed alongside the trapping layer and is shared with an adjacent floating plate device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2008
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Arup Bhattacharyya, Leonard Forbes
  • Patent number: 7449398
    Abstract: In a method for forming silicon nano-crystals using plasma ion implantation and a semiconductor memory device using the same, silicon nano-crystals may be formed using plasma ion implantation. An insulating layer may be formed on a substrate, and ions may be implanted into the insulating layer using hydrogen and a gas including silicon. Silicon nano-crystals may be formed using a heat treatment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2008
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hyunsang Hwang
  • Patent number: 7435637
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of forming a quantum wire gate device. The method includes patterning a first oxide upon a substrate. Preferably the first oxide pattern is precisely and uniformly spaced to maximize quantum wire numbers per unit area. The method continues by forming a first nitride spacer mask upon the first oxide and by forming a first oxide spacer mask upon the first nitride spacer mask. Thereafter, the method continues by forming a second nitride spacer mask upon the first oxide spacer mask and by forming a plurality of channels in the substrate that are aligned to the second nitride spacer mask. A dielectric is formed upon the channel length and the method continues by forming a gate layer over the plurality of channels. Because of the inventive method and the starting scale, each of the plurality of channels is narrower than the mean free path of semiconductive electron flow therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2008
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Brian Doyle
  • Patent number: 7425459
    Abstract: A light emitting device and display apparatus using a plurality of light emitting devices can drastically reduce contrast loss due to light from an external source. The light emitting device has a light emitting chip(s) and a first layer covering the light emitting chip(s). A second layer including a light scattering material is provided at least over the first layer, and the surface of the second layer has a plurality of protrusions which follow the topology of the light scattering material. The display apparatus is formed by disposing these light emitting devices in an array on a substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2008
    Assignee: Nichia Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshifumi Nagai, Yuichi Fujiwara, Kunihiro Izuno
  • Patent number: 7419901
    Abstract: In order to improve the reliability of a semiconductor device having a fuse formed by a Damascene technique, a barrier insulating film and an inter-layer insulating film are deposited over a fourth-layer wiring and a fuse. The barrier insulating film is an insulating film for preventing the diffusion of Cu and composed of a SiCN film deposited by plasma CVD like the underlying barrier insulating film. The thickness of the barrier insulating film covering the fuse is larger than the thickness of the underlying barrier insulating film so as to improve the moisture resistance of the fuse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Renesas Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Hotta, Kyoko Sasahara, Taichi Hayamizu, Yuichi Kawano
  • Patent number: 7417307
    Abstract: A method of forming a MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System), includes forming an ambient port through a MEMS cap which defines a cavity containing a plurality of MEMS actuators therein; and bonding a lid arrangement to the MEMS cap to hermetically seal the ambient port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2008
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Charles C Haluzak, Arthur Piehl, Chien-Hua Chen, Jennifer Shih
  • Patent number: 7413930
    Abstract: A plurality of inner leads, a plurality of outer leads formed in one with each of the inner lead, a bar lead of the square ring shape arranged inside a plurality of inner leads, a corner part lead which has been arranged between the inner leads of the end portion of the inner lead groups which adjoin among four inner lead groups corresponding to each side of the bar lead, and was connected with the bar lead, and a tape member joined to the tip part of each inner lead, a bar lead, and a corner part lead are included. Since the corner part lead is formed as an object for reinforcement of a frame body between adjoining inner lead groups, the rigidity of the lead frame can be increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2008
    Assignee: Renesas Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Fujio Ito, Hiromichi Suzuki, Toshio Sasaki