Patents by Inventor Albert Chu

Albert Chu has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 12575399
    Abstract: Interconnect structures including signal lines, power lines and ground lines are configured for improvements in routing and scaling. Vertical stacking of the relatively wide power and ground lines allows for additional signal tracks in the same footprint of a standard cell or other electronic device. Alternatively, vertical stacking of the signal lines allows an increased number of signal tracks. Such interconnect structures are formed during back-end-of-line processing using subtractive or damascene interconnect integration techniques.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2026
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher J. Penny, Nicholas Anthony Lanzillo, Albert Chu, Ruilong Xie, Lawrence A. Clevenger, Daniel James Dechene, Eric Miller, Prasad Bhosale
  • Patent number: 12349458
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure including a first logic cell having a first plurality of nanosheet devices along an axis and a second logic cell having a second plurality of nanosheet devices along the axis. Nanosheets of the second plurality of nanosheet devices are wider than nanosheets of the first plurality of nanosheet devices. The first logic cell is a same type as the second logic cell. The first and second logic cells can include inverter circuits or NAND circuits or NOR circuits. When the first logic cell has a height X, a width Y, and an effective width (Weff) Z, then the second logic cell has a height 2X, a width Y, and Weff>2.5 Z.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2025
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Brent A Anderson, Junli Wang, Albert Chu
  • Patent number: 12268031
    Abstract: A device comprises a first interconnect structure, a second interconnect structure, a first cell comprising a first transistor, a second cell comprising a second transistor, a first contact connecting a source/drain element of the first transistor to the first interconnect structure, and second contact connecting a source/drain element of the second transistor to the second interconnect structure. The first cell is disposed adjacent to the second cell with the first transistor disposed adjacent to the second transistor. The first and second cells are disposed between the first and second interconnect structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2025
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ruilong Xie, Kisik Choi, Somnath Ghosh, Sagarika Mukesh, Albert Chu, Albert M. Young, Balasubramanian S. Pranatharthiharan, Huiming Bu, Kai Zhao, John Christopher Arnold, Brent A. Anderson, Dechao Guo
  • Patent number: 12142656
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure includes a first transistor device comprising a plurality of channel regions. The semiconductor structure further includes a second transistor device comprising a plurality of channel regions. The first transistor device and the second transistor device are disposed in a stacked configuration. The plurality of channel regions of the first transistor device are disposed in a staggered configuration relative to the plurality of channel regions of the second transistor device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2024
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Albert Chu, Junli Wang, Albert M. Young, Vidhi Zalani, Dechao Guo
  • Patent number: 12001772
    Abstract: Semiconductor integrated circuit devices are provided which have standard cells with ultra-short standard cell heights. For example, a device comprises an integrated circuit comprising a standard cell which comprises a first cell boundary and a second cell boundary. The standard cell comprises an n-track cell height defined by a distance between the first cell boundary and the second cell boundary, wherein n is four or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Albert Chu, Junli Wang, Brent Anderson
  • Publication number: 20230307453
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure including a first logic cell having a first plurality of nanosheet devices along an axis and a second logic cell having a second plurality of nanosheet devices along the axis. Nanosheets of the second plurality of nanosheet devices are wider than nanosheets of the first plurality of nanosheet devices. The first logic cell is a same type as the second logic cell. The first and second logic cells can include inverter circuits or NAND circuits or NOR circuits. When the first logic cell has a height X, a width Y, and an effective width (Weff) Z, then the second logic cell has a height 2X, a width Y, and Weff>2.5 Z.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2022
    Publication date: September 28, 2023
    Inventors: Brent A Anderson, Junli Wang, Albert Chu
  • Publication number: 20230238323
    Abstract: Interconnect structures including signal lines, power lines and ground lines are configured for improvements in routing and scaling. Vertical stacking of the relatively wide power and ground lines allows for additional signal tracks in the same footprint of a standard cell or other electronic device. Alternatively, vertical stacking of the signal lines allows an increased number of signal tracks. Such interconnect structures are formed during back-end-of-line processing using subtractive or damascene interconnect integration techniques.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 26, 2022
    Publication date: July 27, 2023
    Inventors: Christopher J. Penny, Nicholas Anthony Lanzillo, Albert Chu, Ruilong Xie, Lawrence A. Clevenger, DANIEL JAMES DECHENE, Eric Miller, PRASAD BHOSALE
  • Publication number: 20230207553
    Abstract: A device comprises a first interconnect structure, a second interconnect structure, a first cell comprising a first transistor, a second cell comprising a second transistor, a first contact connecting a source/drain element of the first transistor to the first interconnect structure, and second contact connecting a source/drain element of the second transistor to the second interconnect structure. The first cell is disposed adjacent to the second cell with the first transistor disposed adjacent to the second transistor. The first and second cells are disposed between the first and second interconnect structures.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2021
    Publication date: June 29, 2023
    Inventors: Ruilong Xie, Kisik Choi, Somnath Ghosh, Sagarika Mukesh, Albert Chu, Albert M. Young, Balasubramanian S. Pranatharthiharan, Huiming Bu, Kai Zhao, John Christopher Arnold, Brent A. Anderson, Dechao Guo
  • Publication number: 20230178619
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure includes a first transistor device comprising a plurality of channel regions. The semiconductor structure further includes a second transistor device comprising a plurality of channel regions. The first transistor device and the second transistor device are disposed in a stacked configuration. The plurality of channel regions of the first transistor device are disposed in a staggered configuration relative to the plurality of channel regions of the second transistor device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2021
    Publication date: June 8, 2023
    Inventors: Albert Chu, Junli Wang, Albert M. Young, Vidhi Zalani, Dechao Guo
  • Patent number: 11658116
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure comprises a front-end-of-line region comprising two or more devices, a first back-end-of-line region on a first side of the front-end-of-line region, the first back-end-of-line region comprising a first set of interconnects for at least a first subset of the two or more devices in the front-end-of-line region, and a second back-end-of-line region on a second side of the front-end-of-line region opposite the first side of the front-end-of-line region, the second back-end-of-line region comprising a second set of interconnects for at least a second subset of the two or more devices in the front-end-of-line region. The semiconductor structure also comprises one or more passthrough vias disposed in the front-end-of-line region, each of the one or more passthrough vias connecting at least one of the first set of interconnects of the first back-end-of-line region to at least one of the second set of interconnects of the second back-end-of-line region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Junli Wang, Albert Chu, Dechao Guo, Brent Anderson
  • Publication number: 20230101678
    Abstract: Semiconductor integrated circuit devices are provided which have standard cells with ultra-short standard cell heights. For example, a device comprises an integrated circuit comprising a standard cell which comprises a first cell boundary and a second cell boundary. The standard cell comprises an n-track cell height defined by a distance between the first cell boundary and the second cell boundary, wherein n is four or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2021
    Publication date: March 30, 2023
    Inventors: Albert Chu, Junli Wang, Brent Anderson
  • Publication number: 20220285259
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure comprises a front-end-of-line region comprising two or more devices, a first back-end-of-line region on a first side of the front-end-of-line region, the first back-end-of-line region comprising a first set of interconnects for at least a first subset of the two or more devices in the front-end-of-line region, and a second back-end-of-line region on a second side of the front-end-of-line region opposite the first side of the front-end-of-line region, the second back-end-of-line region comprising a second set of interconnects for at least a second subset of the two or more devices in the front-end-of-line region. The semiconductor structure also comprises one or more passthrough vias disposed in the front-end-of-line region, each of the one or more passthrough vias connecting at least one of the first set of interconnects of the first back-end-of-line region to at least one of the second set of interconnects of the second back-end-of-line region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2021
    Publication date: September 8, 2022
    Inventors: Junli Wang, Albert Chu, Dechao Guo, Brent Anderson
  • Patent number: 11355401
    Abstract: A method of forming a field effect transistor (FET) includes providing a substrate; forming an nFET source/drain region on the substrate; forming a pFET source/drain region on the substrate and adjacent to the nFET region, the nFET source/drain region directly contacting the pFET source/drain region; forming a first insulator layer on the nFET source/drain region and the pFET source/drain region; etching away a portion of the first insulator layer between the nFET source/drain region and the pFET source/drain region down to a level of the substrate, thereby breaking the contact between the nFET source/drain region and the pFET source/drain region; and forming a second insulator layer between the nFET source/drain region and the pFET source/drain region in a space formed by the etching, the second insulator layer extending from the substrate to a top of the first insulator layer. The second insulator layer is harder than the first insulator layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Effendi Leobandung, Veeraraghavan S. Basker, Junli Wang, Albert Chu
  • Patent number: 10832971
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure and a method for fabricating the same. The semiconductor structure includes a gate cut mask having one cut window exposing one or more portions of multiple sacrificial gate structures of the at least one plurality of sacrificial gate structures. The multiple sacrificial gate structures having been formed over portions of in structures. The method comprises forming a gate cut mask a plurality of semiconductor fins and a plurality of sacrificial gate structures. The gate cut mask being formed with one cut window exposing one or more portions of multiple sacrificial gate structures of the plurality of sacrificial gate structures. At least the portion of multiple sacrificial gate structures and one or more portions of each semiconductor fin of the plurality of semiconductor fins underlying the one or more portions of one of the multiple sacrificial gate structures are removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Rajasekhar Venigalla, Ravikumar Ramachandran, Albert Chu, Alan Thomas, Kafai Lai
  • Patent number: 10755969
    Abstract: Multi-patterning methods are provided for use in fabricating an array of metal lines comprising metal lines with different widths. For example, patterning methods implement spacer-is-dielectric (SID)-based self-aligned double patterning (SADP) methods for fabricating an array of metal lines comprising elongated metal lines with different widths, wherein an “unblock” mask is utilized as part of the process flow to overlap mandrel assigned and non-mandrel assigned features in a given SADP pattern to define regions to unblock a metal fill (remove dielectric material between wires) in a dielectric layer between defined metal lines of an a SADP pattern thus enabling the formation of wide metal lines within any region of a pattern of elongated metal lines formed with a minimum feature width.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Albert Chu, Kafai Lai, Lawrence A. Clevenger
  • Patent number: 10742218
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure includes a vertical transport logic circuit cell. The vertical transport logic cell includes a first logic gate and at least a second logic gate. The first logic gate includes at least one input terminal and at least one output terminal. The second logic gate includes at least one input terminal and at least one output terminal. One of the input terminal and the output terminal of the first logic gate shares a pitch of the vertical transport logic circuit cell with one of the input terminal and the output terminal of the second logic gate. The first and second logic gates can include the same type or different types of logic functions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corpoartion
    Inventors: Brent A. Anderson, Albert Chu
  • Patent number: 10614877
    Abstract: A technique relates to a circuit. At least one 4 transistor (4T) static random access memory (SRAM) bitcell is included. Each of the 4T SRAM bitcells includes a first PFET, a first NFET, a second PFET, and a second NFET, the first PFET and the first NFET being coupled to form a first output node, and the second PFET and the second NFET being coupled to form a second output node. A pulldown circuit is coupled to the first NFET, the pulldown circuit operable to pull down a voltage at the first output node. A feedback circuit is operable to monitor the first output node, the feedback circuit operable to control the pulldown circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Albert Chu, Myung-Hee Na, Robert Wong, Sean Burns, Jens Haetty
  • Publication number: 20200075428
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure and a method for fabricating the same. The semiconductor structure includes a gate cut mask having one cut window exposing one or more portions of multiple sacrificial gate structures of the at least one plurality of sacrificial gate structures. The multiple sacrificial gate structures having been formed over portions of in structures. The method comprises forming a gate cut mask a plurality of semiconductor fins and a plurality of sacrificial gate structures. The gate cut mask being formed with one cut window exposing one or more portions of multiple sacrificial gate structures of the plurality of sacrificial gate structures. At least the portion of multiple sacrificial gate structures and one or more portions of each semiconductor fin of the plurality of semiconductor fins underlying the one or more portions of one of the multiple sacrificial gate structures are removed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2018
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Inventors: Rajasekhar VENIGALLA, Ravikumar RAMACHANDRAN, Albert CHU, Alan THOMAS, Kafai LAI
  • Publication number: 20200028513
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure includes a vertical transport logic circuit cell. The vertical transport logic cell includes a first logic gate and at least a second logic gate. The first logic gate includes at least one input terminal and at least one output terminal. The second logic gate includes at least one input terminal and at least one output terminal. One of the input terminal and the output terminal of the first logic gate shares a pitch of the vertical transport logic circuit cell with one of the input terminal and the output terminal of the second logic gate. The first and second logic gates can include the same type or different types of logic functions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2018
    Publication date: January 23, 2020
    Inventors: Brent A. Anderson, Albert Chu
  • Publication number: 20190206725
    Abstract: Multi-patterning methods are provided for use in fabricating an array of metal lines comprising metal lines with different widths. For example, patterning methods implement spacer-is-dielectric (SID)-based self-aligned double patterning (SADP) methods for fabricating an array of metal lines comprising elongated metal lines with different widths, wherein an “unblock” mask is utilized as part of the process flow to overlap mandrel assigned and non-mandrel assigned features in a given SADP pattern to define regions to unblock a metal fill (remove dielectric material between wires) in a dielectric layer between defined metal lines of an a SADP pattern thus enabling the formation of wide metal lines within any region of a pattern of elongated metal lines formed with a minimum feature width.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 1, 2018
    Publication date: July 4, 2019
    Inventors: Albert Chu, Kafai Lai, Lawrence A. Clevenger