Patents by Inventor Atsuhiro Sato

Atsuhiro Sato 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: 7012295
    Abstract: The memory cell transistor has a first cell site gate insulator, a first lower conductive layer on the first cell site gate insulator, a first inter-electrode dielectric on the first lower conductive layer, and a first upper conductive layer on the first inter-electrode dielectric. A select transistor has a second cell site gate insulator having a same thickness as the first cell site gate insulator, a second lower conductive layer on the second cell site gate insulator, a second inter-electrode dielectric on the second lower conductive layer, and a second upper conductive layer on the second inter-electrode dielectric. The peripheral transistor has a first peripheral site gate insulator having a thickness thinner than the first cell site gate insulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2006
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Atsuhiro Sato, Makoto Sakuma, Fumitaka Arai
  • Publication number: 20060033151
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory device includes a semiconductor substrate, an element isolation region formed in the semiconductor substrate and including a thick element isolating insulation film, for isolating an element region, a first gate electrode provided on the element region in the semiconductor substrate in self-alignment with the element isolation region, a second gate electrode provided on the first gate electrode with an insulation film interposed therebetween, and a resistance element formed on the element isolation region, the resistance element and the second gate electrode being formed of the same conductive film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 27, 2005
    Publication date: February 16, 2006
    Inventors: Riichiro Shirota, Kikuko Sugimae, Masayuki Ichige, Atsuhiro Sato, Hiroaki Hazama
  • Patent number: 6977409
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory device includes a semiconductor substrate, an element isolation region formed in the semiconductor substrate and including a thick element isolating insulation film, for isolating an element region, a first gate electrode provided on the element region in the semiconductor substrate in self-alignment with the element isolation region, a second gate electrode provided on the first gate electrode with an insulation film interposed therebetween, and a resistance element formed on the element isolation region, the resistance element and the second gate electrode being formed of the same conductive film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2005
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Riichiro Shirota, Kikuko Sugimae, Masayuki Ichige, Atsuhiro Sato, Hiroaki Hazama
  • Publication number: 20050199938
    Abstract: A nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes a plurality of memory cell transistors configured with a first floating gate, a first control gate, and a first inter-gate insulating film each arranged between the first floating gate and the first control gate, respectively, and which are aligned along a bit line direction; device isolating regions disposed at a constant pitch along a word line direction making a striped pattern along the bit line direction; and select gate transistors disposed at each end of the alignment of the memory cell transistors, each configured with a second floating gate, a second control gate, a second inter-gate insulator film disposed between the second floating gate and the second control gate, and a sidewall gate electrically connected to the second floating gate and the second control gate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2004
    Publication date: September 15, 2005
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Makoto Sakuma, Atsuhiro Sato
  • Patent number: 6927139
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory encompasses a memory cell matrix, which embraces device isolation films running along the column-direction, arranged alternatively between the cell columns; first conductive layers having top surfaces lower than the device isolation films; inter-electrode dielectrics arranged on the corresponding first conductive layers, the inter-electrode dielectric has a dielectric constant larger than that of silicon oxide; and second conductive layers running along the row-direction, each of the second conductive layers arranged on the inter-electrode dielectric and the device isolation films so that the second conductive layer can be shared by the memory cell transistors arranged along the row-direction belonging to different cell columns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2005
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Masayuki Tanaka, Atsuhiro Sato, Hiroki Yamashita, Ichiro Mizushima, Yoshio Ozawa
  • Patent number: 6921960
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a structure in which a first electrode layer, an inter-electrode insulating film and a second electrode layer are laminated in a main circuit in this order, and includes a capacitor element having a lower electrode formed of the same layer as the first electrode layer, a charge storage layer formed of the same layer as the inter-electrode insulating film, and an upper electrode formed of the second electrode layer. The semiconductor device further includes an opening portion formed in the charge storage layer, the opening portion having a bottom to which the lower electrode is exposed, and a first region electrically connected to the lower electrode via the opening portion and electrically isolated from the upper electrode, the first region being formed of the same layer as the second electrode layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2005
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Masayuki Ichige, Riichiro Shirota, Kikuko Sugimae, Atsuhiro Sato, Yuji Takeuchi
  • Publication number: 20050104120
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, source and drain regions, a channel region, a gate insulating film, a charge storage layer, and a control gate electrode. The source and drain regions include first impurities of a first conductivity type. The channel region includes second impurities of a second conductivity type. The gate insulating film includes the second impurities in a region thereof located immediately above at least a portion of the channel region. The charge storage layer is formed on the gate insulating film. The control gate electrode is provided on the charge storage layer. The control gate electrode is formed on the charge storage layer and is electrically connected to the charge storage layer by a connection portion provided on a part of the charge storage layer, which is located immediately above at least a part of the region of the gate insulating film including the second impurities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2004
    Publication date: May 19, 2005
    Inventors: Masayuki Ichige, Yuji Takeuchi, Michiharu Matsui, Atsuhiro Sato, Kikuko Sugimae, Riichiro Shirota
  • Publication number: 20050105336
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory includes a memory cell array having a memory cell units, configured from memory cell transistors connected in a column, which have a first and a second control gate disposed on both sides of a floating gate horizontally arranged with a first end connected to a bit line via a first select-gate transistor, and a second end connected to a source line via a second select-gate transistor. The first and the second control gate of memory cell transistors arranged in the same row are connected in common to a first and a second control gate line in a row, respectively. It also includes a boosting circuit, which generates a write-in voltage, multilevel intermediate voltages, and a bit line voltage from a power source, and a row decoder supplied with the write-in voltage and the multilevel intermediate voltages to select the first and the second control gate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2004
    Publication date: May 19, 2005
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Atsuhiro Sato, Yasuhiko Matsunaga, Fumitaka Arai
  • Publication number: 20050094431
    Abstract: A nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes: a memory sub array including a memory cell unit configured with a memory cell transistor and a select transistor connected in series; a control gate line driver including a control gate line driver transistor connected to a control gate line of the memory cell transistor; and a select transistor gate line driver including a select gate line driver transistor connected to a select gate line of the select transistor. A thickness of a gate insulator of the control gate line driver transistor is thicker than that of the select gate line driver transistor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2004
    Publication date: May 5, 2005
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Atsuhiro Sato, Riichiro Shirota, Kikuko Sugimae, Koji Sakui
  • Publication number: 20050067652
    Abstract: A nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes a plurality of memory cell transistors, having floating gates, control gates, and inter-gate insulating films each arranged between corresponding floating gate and corresponding control gate, respectively, and deployed along a column direction; and device isolation regions deployed at a constant pitch along a row direction making a striped pattern along the column direction. The control gates are continuously deployed along the row direction, and the inter-gate insulating films are in series along the column direction and separated from each other at a constant pitch along the row direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2004
    Publication date: March 31, 2005
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Makoto Sakuma, Atsuhiro Sato
  • Publication number: 20050045966
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory has a memory cell matrix encompassing (a) device isolation films running along the column-direction, arranged alternately between the memory cell transistors aligned along the row-direction, (b) first conductive layers arranged along the row and column-directions, top surfaces of the first conductive layers lie at a lower level than top surfaces of the device isolation films, (c) an inter-electrode dielectric arranged both on the device isolation films and the first conductive layers so that the inter-electrode dielectric can be shared by the memory cell transistors belonging to different cell columns' relative dielectric constant of the inter-electrode dielectric is higher than relative dielectric constant of the device isolation films, and (d) a second conductive layer running along the row-direction, arranged on the inter-electrode dielectric. Here, upper corners of the device isolation films are chamfered.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2004
    Publication date: March 3, 2005
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hiroki Yamashita, Yoshio Ozawa, Atsuhiro Sato
  • Publication number: 20050029573
    Abstract: The memory cell transistor has a first cell site gate insulator, a first lower conductive layer on the first cell site gate insulator, a first inter-electrode dielectric on the first lower conductive layer, and a first upper conductive layer on the first inter-electrode dielectric. A select transistor has a second cell site gate insulator having a same thickness as the first cell site gate insulator, a second lower conductive layer on the second cell site gate insulator, a second inter-electrode dielectric on the second lower conductive layer, and a second upper conductive layer on the second inter-electrode dielectric. The peripheral transistor has a first peripheral site gate insulator having a thickness thinner than the first cell site gate insulator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2004
    Publication date: February 10, 2005
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Atsuhiro Sato, Makoto Sakuma, Fumitaka Arai
  • Patent number: 6853029
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, source and drain regions, a channel region, a gate insulating film, a charge storage layer, and a control gate electrode. The source and drain regions include first impurities of a first conductivity type. The channel region includes second impurities of a second conductivity type. The gate insulating film includes the second impurities in a region thereof located immediately above at least a portion of the channel region. The charge storage layer is formed on the gate insulating film. The control gate electrode is provided on the charge storage layer. The control gate electrode is formed on the charge storage layer and is electrically connected to the charge storage layer by a connection portion provided on a part of the charge storage layer, which is located immediately above at least a part of the region of the gate insulating film including the second impurities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2005
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Masayuki Ichige, Yuji Takeuchi, Michiharu Matsui, Atsuhiro Sato, Kikuko Sugimae, Riichiro Shirota
  • Publication number: 20050003619
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory encompasses a memory cell matrix, which embraces device isolation films running along the column-direction, arranged alternatively between the cell columns; first conductive layers having top surfaces lower than the device isolation films; inter-electrode dielectrics arranged on the corresponding first conductive layers, the inter-electrode dielectric has a dielectric constant larger than that of silicon oxide; and second conductive layers running along the row-direction, each of the second conductive layers arranged on the inter-electrode dielectric and the device isolation films so that the second conductive layer can be shared by the memory cell transistors arranged along the row-direction belonging to different cell columns.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2003
    Publication date: January 6, 2005
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Masayuki Tanaka, Atsuhiro Sato, Hiroki Yamashita, Ichiro Mizushima, Yoshio Ozawa
  • Patent number: 6798038
    Abstract: Forming of a first silicon oxide film is started on an internal surface of a trench formed on a surface or upwardly of a semiconductor substrate according to an HDP technique. Then, deposition of the first silicon oxide film stops before an opening of the trench closes. Further, the first silicon oxide film deposited in the vicinity of an opening is etched, and a second silicon oxide film is formed on the first silicon oxide film deposited on the bottom of the trench according to the HDP technique. In this manner, the first and second silicon oxide films can be laminated on the bottom of the trench.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2004
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Atsuhiro Sato, Masayuki Ichige, Seiichi Mori, Yuji Takeuchi, Hiroaki Hazama, Yukio Nishiyama, Hirotaka Ogihara, Naruhiko Kaji
  • Publication number: 20040173870
    Abstract: Forming of a first silicon oxide film is started on an internal surface of a trench formed on a surface or upwardly of a semiconductor substrate according to an HDP technique. Then, deposition of the first silicon oxide film stops before an opening of the trench closes. Further, the first silicon oxide film deposited in the vicinity of an opening is etched, and a second silicon oxide film is formed on the first silicon oxide film deposited on the bottom of the trench according to the HDP technique. In this manner, the first and second silicon oxide films can be laminated on the bottom of the trench.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2004
    Publication date: September 9, 2004
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Atsuhiro Sato, Masayuki Ichige, Seiichi Mori, Yuji Takeuchi, Hiroaki Hazama, Yukio Nishiyama, Hirotaka Ogihara, Naruhiko Kaji
  • Publication number: 20040081002
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory device includes a semiconductor substrate, an element isolation region formed in the semiconductor substrate and including a thick element isolating insulation film, for isolating an element region, a first gate electrode provided on the element region in the semiconductor substrate in self-alignment with the element isolation region, a second gate electrode provided on the first gate electrode with an insulation film interposed therebetween, and a resistance element formed on the element isolation region, the resistance element and the second gate electrode being formed of the same conductive film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2003
    Publication date: April 29, 2004
    Inventors: Riichiro Shirota, Kikuko Sugimae, Masayuki Ichige, Atsuhiro Sato, Hiroaki Hazama
  • Patent number: 6667507
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory device includes a semiconductor substrate, an element isolation region formed in the semiconductor substrate and including a thick element isolating insulation film, for isolating an element region, a first gate electrode provided on the element region in the semiconductor substrate in self-alignment with the element isolation region, a second gate electrode provided on the first gate electrode with an insulation film interposed therebetween, and a resistance element formed on the element isolation region, the resistance element and the second gate electrode being formed of the same conductive film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2003
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Riichiro Shirota, Kikuko Sugimae, Masayuki Ichige, Atsuhiro Sato, Hiroaki Hazama
  • Publication number: 20030052384
    Abstract: Forming of a first silicon oxide film is started on an internal surface of a trench formed on a surface or upwardly of a semiconductor substrate according to an HDP technique. Then, deposition of the first silicon oxide film stops before an opening of the trench closes. Further, the first silicon oxide film deposited in the vicinity of an opening is etched, and a second silicon oxide film is formed on the first silicon oxide film deposited on the bottom of the trench according to the HDP technique. In this manner, the first and second silicon oxide films can be laminated on the bottom of the trench.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 9, 2002
    Publication date: March 20, 2003
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Atsuhiro Sato, Masayuki Ichige, Seiichi Mori, Yuji Takeuchi, Hiroaki Hazama, Yukio Nishiyama, Hirotaka Ogihara, Naruhiko Kaji
  • Publication number: 20020175364
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, source and drain regions, a channel region, a gate insulating film, a charge storage layer, and a control gate electrode. The source and drain regions include first impurities of a first conductivity type. The channel region includes second impurities of a second conductivity type. The gate insulating film includes the second impurities in a region thereof located immediately above at least a portion of the channel region. The charge storage layer is formed on the gate insulating film. The control gate electrode is provided on the charge storage layer. The control gate electrode is formed on the charge storage layer and is electrically connected to the charge storage layer by a connection portion provided on a part of the charge storage layer, which is located immediately above at least a part of the region of the gate insulating film including the second impurities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 28, 2002
    Publication date: November 28, 2002
    Inventors: Masayuki Ichige, Yuji Takeuchi, Michiharu Matsui, Atsuhiro Sato, Kikuko Sugimae, Riichiro Shirota