Patents by Inventor Thomas Scharnagl

Thomas Scharnagl 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: 20120214314
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a semiconductor structure comprising complementary bipolar transistors, wherein for manufacture of a PNP-type structure, an emitter layer having a surface oxide layer is present on top of an NPN-type structure, the emitter layer comprising lateral and vertical surfaces, and wherein for removal of the oxide layer, an ion etching step is applied, wherein for the on etching step a plasma for providing ions is generated in a vacuum chamber by RF coupling and the generated ions are accelerated by an acceleration voltage between the plasma and a wafer comprising the semiconductor structure, and wherein the plasma generation and the ion acceleration are controlled independently from each other
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 21, 2012
    Publication date: August 23, 2012
    Applicant: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Thomas SCHARNAGL, Berthold STAUFER
  • Publication number: 20120184291
    Abstract: Using a method for a subscriber unit's communication with a service that requires information about the subscriber unit's location, the subscriber unit sends the service a message containing information about the subscriber unit's location and at least one piece of information about the subscriber unit's location is stored in at least one network component and is made available by a network component.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2010
    Publication date: July 19, 2012
    Inventors: Michael Tietsch, Karl Klaghofer, Holger Prange, Thomas Scharnagl
  • Patent number: 8129248
    Abstract: In the method of producing bipolar transistor structures in a semiconductor process, an advanced epitaxial trisilane process can be used without the risk of poly stringers being formed. A base window is structured in a polycrystalline silicon layer covered with an oxide layer, and a further step is epitaxial growing of a silicon layer in the base window from trisilane. The window structuring is performed in a sequence of anisotropic etch and isotropic ash steps, thereby creating stepped and inwardly sloping window edges. Due to the inwardly sloping side walls of the window, the epitaxially grown silicon layer is formed without inwardly overhanging structures, and the cause of poly stringers forming is thus eliminated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2012
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Thomas Scharnagl, Berthold Staufer
  • Publication number: 20110165760
    Abstract: In the method of producing bipolar transistor structures in a semiconductor process, an advanced epitaxial trisilane process can be used without the risk of poly stringers being formed. A base window is structured in a polycrystalline silicon layer covered with an oxide layer, and a further step is epitaxial growing of a silicon layer in the base window from trisilane. The window structuring is performed in a sequence of anisotropic etch and isotropic ash steps, thereby creating stepped and inwardly sloping window edges. Due to the inwardly sloping side walls of the window, the epitaxially grown silicon layer is formed without inwardly overhanging structures, and the cause of poly stringers forming is thus eliminated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 9, 2010
    Publication date: July 7, 2011
    Applicant: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS DEUTSCHLAND GMBH
    Inventors: Thomas SCHARNAGL, Berthold Staufer
  • Publication number: 20100244184
    Abstract: Method of forming an electrical contact between a support wafer and a surface of a top silicon layer of a silicon-on-insulator wafer. The method comprises etching a cavity into the top silicon layer and the insulator layer. A selective epitaxial step is performed for growing an epitaxial layer of silicon inside the cavity up to the surface of the top silicon layer. An electrical device comprising an electrical contact between a support wafer and a surface of a top silicon layer of a silicon-on-insulator wafer formed according to the inventive method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2010
    Publication date: September 30, 2010
    Applicant: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Philipp STEINMANN, Manfred SCHIEKOFER, Michael KRAUS, Thomas SCHARNAGL, Wolfgang SCHWARTZ
  • Patent number: 7498639
    Abstract: An integrated BiCMOS semiconductor circuit has active moat areas in silicon. The active moat areas include electrically active components of the semiconductor circuit, which comprise active window structures for base and/or emitter windows. The integrated BiCMOS semiconductor circuit has zones where silicon is left to form dummy moat areas which do not include electrically active components, and has isolation trenches to separate the active moat areas from each other and from the dummy moat areas. The dummy moat areas comprise dummy window structures having geometrical dimensions and shapes similar to those of the active window structures for the base and/or emitter windows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2009
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Philipp Steinmann, Scott Balster, Badih El-Kareh, Thomas Scharnagl, Michael Schmitt
  • Patent number: 7192838
    Abstract: Method of producing complementary SiGe bipolar transistors. In a method of producing complementary SiGe bipolar transistors, interface oxide layers (38, 58) for NPN and PNP emitters (44, 64), are separately formed and emitter polysilicon (40, 60) is separately patterned, allowing these layers to be optimized for the respective conductivity type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2007
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Philipp Steinmann, Scott Balster, Badih El-Kareh, Thomas Scharnagl
  • Patent number: 7144789
    Abstract: In a method of fabricating complementary bipolar transistors with SiGe base regions the base regions of the NPN and PNP transistors are formed one after the other over two collector regions 20, 14 by epitaxial deposition of crystalline silicon-germanium layers 32a, 36a. With this method the germanium profile of the SiGe layers can be freely selected for both NPN and PNP transistors in thus enabling complementary transistor performance to be optimized individually. The SiGe layers 32a, 36a can be doped with an n-type or p-type dopant during or after deposition of the silicon-germanium layers 32a, 36a.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2006
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Badih El-Kareh, Scott Balster, Philipp Steinmann, Thomas Scharnagl, Manfred Schiekofer, Carl Willis
  • Publication number: 20060073672
    Abstract: An integrated BiCMOS semiconductor circuit has active moat areas in silicon. The active moat areas include electrically active components of the semiconductor circuit, which comprise active window structures for base and/or emitter windows. The integrated BiCMOS semiconductor circuit has zones where silicon is left to form dummy moat areas which do not include electrically active components, and has isolation trenches to separate the active moat areas from each other and from the dummy moat areas. The dummy moat areas comprise dummy window structures having geometrical dimensions and shapes similar to those of the active window structures for the base and/or emitter windows.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2005
    Publication date: April 6, 2006
    Inventors: Philipp Steinmann, Scott Balster, Badih El-Kareh, Thomas Scharnagl, Michael Schmitt
  • Publication number: 20050054170
    Abstract: Method of producing complementary SiGe bipolar transistors. In a method of producing complementary SiGe bipolar transistors, interface oxide layers (38, 58) for NPN and PNP emitters (44, 64), are separately formed and emitter polysilicon (40, 60) is separately patterned, allowing these layers to be optimized for the respective conductivity type.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2004
    Publication date: March 10, 2005
    Inventors: Philipp Steinmann, Scott Balster, Badih El-Kareh, Thomas Scharnagl
  • Publication number: 20050014341
    Abstract: In a method of fabricating complementary bipolar transistors with SiGe base regions the base regions of the NPN and PNP transistors are formed one after the other over two collector regions 20, 14 by epitaxial deposition of crystalline silicon-germanium layers 32a, 36a. With this method the germanium profile of the SiGe layers can be freely selected for both NPN and PNP transistors in thus enabling complementary transistor performance to be optimized individually. The SiGe layers 32a, 36a can be doped with an n-type or p-type dopant during or after deposition of the silicon-germanium layers 32a, 36a.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2004
    Publication date: January 20, 2005
    Inventors: Badih El-Kareh, Scott Balster, Philipp Steinmann, Thomas Scharnagl, Manfred Schiekofer, Carl Willis