Patents by Inventor Stefan Duenkel

Stefan Duenkel 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).

  • Publication number: 20240284680
    Abstract: A ferroelectric memory device includes a substrate including a source region and a drain region, and a gate structure disposed over the substrate. The gate structure includes a gate electrode including a plurality of electrode portions arranged in a first direction parallel to a top surface of the substrate, an oxide layer including a plurality of oxide portions corresponding respectively to the plurality of electrode portions, and a ferroelectric layer disposed between the gate electrode and the oxide layer along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and including a plurality of ferroelectric portions corresponding respectively to the plurality of oxide portions. A least one of the plurality of oxide portions and at least one of the plurality of ferroelectric portions have different thicknesses along the second direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 21, 2023
    Publication date: August 22, 2024
    Inventors: Zhixing Zhao, Dominik M. Kleimaier, Stefan Duenkel
  • Patent number: 10388514
    Abstract: In semiconductor devices, high-k dielectric materials may be formed on the basis of engineered surface conditions, thereby contributing to superior uniformity of the resulting characteristics. In some illustrative embodiments, the dielectric material may be stabilized in a ferroelectric phase, wherein the previous surface modulation, which, in the illustrative embodiments may include the introduction of respective species, such as dopant species, thereby contributing to uniform ferroelectric characteristics. In some illustrative embodiments, the process strategy may be applied to a buried insulating layer of an SOI substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc.
    Inventors: Lars Mueller-Meskamp, Stefan Duenkel
  • Patent number: 10319732
    Abstract: In sophisticated SOI transistor elements, the buried insulating layer may be specifically engineered so as to include non-standard dielectric materials. For instance, a charge-trapping material and/or a high-k dielectric material and/or a ferroelectric material may be incorporated into the buried insulating layer. In this manner, non-volatile storage transistor elements with superior performance may be obtained and/or efficiency of a back-bias mechanism may be improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc.
    Inventors: Ralf Richter, Jochen Willi. Poth, Sven Beyer, Stefan Duenkel, Sandhya Chandrashekhar, Zhi-Yuan Wu
  • Publication number: 20190108998
    Abstract: In semiconductor devices, high-k dielectric materials may be formed on the basis of engineered surface conditions, thereby contributing to superior uniformity of the resulting characteristics. In some illustrative embodiments, the dielectric material may be stabilized in a ferroelectric phase, wherein the previous surface modulation, which, in the illustrative embodiments may include the introduction of respective species, such as dopant species, thereby contributing to uniform ferroelectric characteristics. In some illustrative embodiments, the process strategy may be applied to a buried insulating layer of an SOI substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2017
    Publication date: April 11, 2019
    Inventors: Lars Mueller-Meskamp, Stefan Duenkel
  • Patent number: 10176859
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides storage elements, such as storage transistors, wherein at least one storage mechanism is provided on the basis of a ferroelectric material formed in the buried insulating layer of an SOI transistor architecture. In further illustrative embodiments, one further storage mechanism is implemented in the gate electrode structure, thereby providing increased overall information density. In some illustrative embodiments, the storage mechanism in the gate electrode structure is provided in the form of a ferroelectric material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc.
    Inventors: Stefan Duenkel, Ralf Illgen, Ralf Richter, Soeren Jansen
  • Publication number: 20180366484
    Abstract: In sophisticated SOI transistor elements, the buried insulating layer may be specifically engineered so as to include non-standard dielectric materials. For instance, a charge-trapping material and/or a high-k dielectric material and/or a ferroelectric material may be incorporated into the buried insulating layer. In this manner, non-volatile storage transistor elements with superior performance may be obtained and/or efficiency of a back-bias mechanism may be improved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2017
    Publication date: December 20, 2018
    Inventors: Ralf Richter, Jochen Willi. Poth, Sven Beyer, Stefan Duenkel, Sandhya Chandrashekhar, Zhi-Yuan Wu
  • Publication number: 20180322912
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides storage elements, such as storage transistors, wherein at least one storage mechanism is provided on the basis of a ferroelectric material formed in the buried insulating layer of an SOI transistor architecture. In further illustrative embodiments, one further storage mechanism is implemented in the gate electrode structure, thereby providing increased overall information density. In some illustrative embodiments, the storage mechanism in the gate electrode structure is provided in the form of a ferroelectric material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 3, 2017
    Publication date: November 8, 2018
    Inventors: Stefan Duenkel, Ralf Illgen, Ralf Richter, Soeren Jansen
  • Patent number: 10033383
    Abstract: In illustrative embodiments disclosed herein, a logic element may be provided on the basis of a non-volatile storage mechanism, such as ferroelectric transistor elements, wherein the functional behavior may be adjusted or programmed on the basis of a shift of threshold voltages. To this end, a P-type transistor element and an N-type transistor element may be connected in parallel, while a ferroelectric material may be used so as to establish a first polarization state resulting in a first functional behavior and a second polarization state resulting in a second different functional behavior. For example, the logic element may enable a switching between P-type transistor behavior and N-type transistor behavior depending on the polarization state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc.
    Inventors: Ralf Richter, Stefan Duenkel, Sven Beyer