Patents by Inventor Andrea Ravaglia

Andrea Ravaglia 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: 6104058
    Abstract: A method for improving the intermediate dielectric profile, particularly for non-volatile memories constituted by a plurality of cells, including the following steps: forming field oxide regions and drain active area regions on a substrate; forming word lines on the field oxide regions; depositing oxide to form oxide wings that are adjacent to the word lines; opening, by masking, source regions and the drain active area regions, keeping the field oxide regions that separate one memory cell from the other, inside the memory, covered with resist; and removing field oxide in the source regions and removing oxide wings from both sides of the word lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: SGS-Thomson Microelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Claudio Brambilla, Giancarlo Ginami, Stefano Daffra, Andrea Ravaglia, Manlio Sergio Cereda
  • Patent number: 5894065
    Abstract: A method for improving the intermediate dielectric profile, particularly for non-volatile memories constituted by a plurality of cells, including the following steps: forming field oxide regions and drain active area regions on a substrate; forming word lines on the field oxide regions; depositing oxide to form oxide wings that are adjacent to the word lines; opening, by masking, source regions and the drain active area regions, keeping the field oxide regions that separate one memory cell from the other, inside the memory, covered with resist; and removing field oxide in the source regions and removing oxide wings from both sides of the word lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 13, 1999
    Assignee: SGS-Thomson Microelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Claudio Brambilla, Giancarlo Ginami, Stefano Daffra, Andrea Ravaglia, Manlio Sergio Cereda
  • Patent number: 5663080
    Abstract: A process for producing integrated circuits including the steps of: selectively growing field insulating regions of insulating material extending partly inside a substrate having a given type of conductivity; depositing a polycrystalline silicon layer on the substrate; shaping the polycrystalline silicon layer through a mask; and selectively implanting ions of the same conductivity type as the substrate, using the shaping mask, through the field insulating regions. The implanted ions penetrate the substrate and form channel stopper regions beneath the field insulating regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 2, 1997
    Assignee: SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, S.r.L.
    Inventors: Manlio Sergio Cereda, Giancarlo Ginami, Enrico Laurin, Andrea Ravaglia
  • Patent number: 4868136
    Abstract: Two thin wedges of oxide extending along and from the boundaries of the field oxide layer without solution of continuity inside the substrate for a depth such as to separate dielectrically the region of silicon, present underneath the field oxide layer, having a doping level higher than the doping level of the bulk of the substrate and the regions of oppositely doped silicon in a MOS device allow obtaining simultaneously a high threshold voltage of the parasitic transistor, a high junction breakdown voltage and an excellent immunity to "Reach-through" between the depletion regions of uncorrelated junctions together with a reduced capacitance of the junctions and an improved geometry. Such wedges of oxide are obtained by means of deep anisotropic etch of silicon through a suitably exposed area, for example by means of an overetch of the nitride used for growing the thick oxide layer according to the known technique and by the subsequent filling of the deep etch with thermally grown silicon oxide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1988
    Date of Patent: September 19, 1989
    Assignee: SGS-Thomson Microelectronics s.r.l.
    Inventor: Andrea Ravaglia
  • Patent number: 4792925
    Abstract: The invention provides an EPROM memory matrix and a method of writing to an EPROM memory matrix. Two pluralities of parallel source lines alternate with parallel drain lines while floating gate areas span the source and drain lines and parallel control gate lines are arranged perpendicularly to the source and drain lines and superimposed on and self-aligned with the floating gate areas. During the writing operation, the gate and drain lines corresponding to a selected cell are connected to a positive voltage source and the source line corresponding to the selected cell is connected to earth together with all the other source lines of the same plurality while all the source lines of the other plurality are left at a potential intermediate between said positive voltage and earth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 1985
    Date of Patent: December 20, 1988
    Assignee: SGS Microelettronica S.p.A.
    Inventors: Giuseppe Corda, Andrea Ravaglia
  • Patent number: 4622737
    Abstract: On the doped area of a monocrystalline silicon substrate is grown a thick oxide layer a side portion of which is subjected to etching and underetching within a predetermined area until it uncovers an edge of silicon on which is then grown thin oxide; polycrystalline silicon layers separated by an oxide layer are then deposited to produce a nonvolatile memory cell in which the floating gate consisting of one of said polycrystalline silicon layers is separated from the underlying doped area of the substrate, which constitutes the drain, by a very small thin oxide area which adjoins an extended area of thick oxide. The electrical capacitance between the floating gate and the drain is thus reduced with resulting smaller dimensions of the cell for given performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 1985
    Date of Patent: November 18, 1986
    Assignee: SGS-ATES Componeti Electtronici S.p.A.
    Inventor: Andrea Ravaglia
  • Patent number: 4315239
    Abstract: Filiform elements of predetermined resistivity, e.g. selectively destructible leads of an electrically programmable read-only memory, are formed on a semiconductor substrate such as a silicon body by first depositing thereon a layer of dielectric material such as SiO.sub.2 and topping that layer with a conductive or nonconductive coating which is resistant to a chemical such as hydrofluoric acid capable of attacking the dielectric layer. Next, the top coating is partly destroyed by photolithographic treatment to leave at least one substantially rectangular patch. Thereafter, the dielectric layer is isotropically attacked by the aforementioned chemical with resulting reduction to about half its original thickness and concurrent lateral erosion of a patch-supporting pedestal of that layer whereby channels of generally semicylindrical concavity are formed around the periphery of this pedestal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 1980
    Date of Patent: February 9, 1982
    Assignee: SGS Ates, Componenti Elettronici S.P.A.
    Inventors: Vincenzo Daniele, Giuseppe Corda, Andrea Ravaglia, Giuseppe Ferla
  • Patent number: 4310571
    Abstract: Filiform elements of predetermined resistivity, e.g. selectively destructible leads of an electrically programmable read-only memory, are formed on a semiconductor substrate such as a silicon body by first depositing thereon a layer of dielectric material such as SiO.sub.2 and topping that layer with a conductive or nonconductive coating which is resistant to a chemical such as hydrofluoric acid capable of attacking the dielectric layer. Next, the top coating is partly destroyed by photolithographic treatment to leave at least one substantially rectangular patch. Thereafter, the dielectric layer is isotropically attacked by the aforementioned chemical with resulting reduction to about half its original thickness and concurrent lateral erosion of a patch-supporting pedestal of that layer whereby channels of generally semicylindrical concavity are formed around the periphery of this pedestal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 1979
    Date of Patent: January 12, 1982
    Assignee: SGS ATES, Componenti Elettronici S.p.A.
    Inventors: Vincenzo Daniele, Giuseppe Corda, Andrea Ravaglia, Giuseppe Ferla