Patents by Inventor Wei Hwang

Wei Hwang 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: 20030108587
    Abstract: Methods and devices for transmitting micromechanical forces locally to induce surface convolutions into tissues on the millimeter to micron scale for promoting wound healing are presented. These convolutions induce a moderate stretching of individual cells, stimulating cellular proliferation and elaboration of natural growth factors without increasing the size of the wound. Micromechanical forces can be applied directly to tissue, through biomolecules or the extracellular matrix. This invention can be used with biosensors, biodegradable materials and drug delivery systems. This invention will also be useful in pre-conditioned tissue-engineering constructs in vitro. Application of this invention will shorten healing times for wounds and reduce the need for invasive surgery.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2002
    Publication date: June 12, 2003
    Inventors: Dennis P. Orgill, Quentin Gavin Eichbaum, Sui Huang, Chao-Wei Hwang, Donald E. Ingber, Vishal Saxena, Evan Stuart Garfein
  • Patent number: 6559010
    Abstract: A method is described for forming a non-volatile memory comprising dividing a substrate into at least a memory array area and a logic device area. An oxide/nitride/oxide (ONO) layer is firstly formed on the substrate, and a photoresist layer is formed on the ONO layer by bit line photo process, and a bit line ion implantation process is performed on the substrate to form the plurality of bit lines structure. Then, a first polysilicon layer is deposited to form a plurality of word lines by word line photo condition. The complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) ONO layer is used to store the charge and the ONO layer is only touched by the photoresist layer once. Furthermore, the separated adjust photo condition of the memory array area and the logic device area can create a safe oxide thickness to solve the problem of leakage path between bit lines to bit lines by using a self-aligned silicide process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2003
    Assignee: Macronix International Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tung-Cheng Kuo, Shou-Wei Hwang, Chien-Hung Liu, Shyi-Shuh Pan
  • Publication number: 20030082253
    Abstract: A mold includes a bottom die, and an upper die closed on the bottom die and defining with the bottom die a cavity for folding molding food materials into a predetermined shape, the upper die having a coupling flange around the cavity and retaining means in the coupling flange, the bottom die having a coupling flange fitted into the coupling flange of the upper die, retaining means adapted for engaging the retaining means of the upper die, and an overflow outlet through which an overflow of inserted food passes to the outside of said mold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2001
    Publication date: May 1, 2003
    Inventor: Wei-Hwang Chang
  • Patent number: 6548406
    Abstract: A method for forming an integrated circuit having metal-oxide nitride-oxide semiconductor (MONOS) memories and mixed-signal circuits is disclosed. The invention integrates non-volatile memory devices such as MONOS devices and logic devices such as MOS devices as well as PIP capacitors into SOC devices with reduced process steps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Macronix International Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Erh-Kun Lai, Hsin-Huei Chen, Ying-Tso Chen, Shou-Wei Hwang, Yu-Ping Huang
  • Publication number: 20030036275
    Abstract: A method for forming an integrated circuit having metal-oxide nitride-oxide semiconductor (MONOS) memories and mixed-signal circuits is disclosed. The invention integrates non-volatile memory devices such as MONOS devices and logic devices such as MOS devices as well as PIP capacitors into SOC devices with reduced process steps.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 17, 2001
    Publication date: February 20, 2003
    Applicant: MACRONIX INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Erh-Kun Lai, Hsin-Huei Chen, Ying-Tso Chen, Shou-Wei Hwang, Yu-Ping Huang
  • Publication number: 20030027420
    Abstract: This invention relates to a method for forming the salicide, more particularly, to the method for forming the salicide in the partial region. The present invention uses a silicon layer to be the mask layer to form the salicide in the partial region of the logic circuit. The silicide is formed on the gate and is not formed in the diffusion region, which are in the cell array region. The silicide is formed on the gate and in the diffusion region, which are in the periphery region. The present invention method can make the semiconductor device obtain lower resistance and decrease the leakage defects.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2001
    Publication date: February 6, 2003
    Applicant: MACRONIX INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Erh-Kun Lai, Shou-Wei Hwang, Tung-Cheng Kuo, Yu-Ping Huang
  • Publication number: 20030027422
    Abstract: The present invention mainly provides a method to locally form metal silicides on an integral circuit. The method can avoid forming metal silicides on the surface of those devices with high resistance, so the performance of those devices will not degrade. The method can also avoid a phenomenon of leakage current which is caused by forming metal silicide between the memory cells on the same word line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2001
    Publication date: February 6, 2003
    Applicant: MACRONIX INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Erh-Kun Lai, Hsin-Huei Chen, Ying-Tso Chen, Shou-Wei Hwang, Yu-Ping Huang
  • Publication number: 20030027421
    Abstract: The present invention mainly provides a method to locally form metal suicides on an integral circuit. The method can avoid forming metal silicides on the surface of those devices with high resistance, so the performance of those devices will not degrade. The method can also avoid a phenomenon of leakage current which is caused by forming metal silicides between the memory cells on the same word line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2001
    Publication date: February 6, 2003
    Applicant: MACRONIX INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ying-Tso Chen, Erh-Kun Lai, Hsin-Huei Chen, Yu-Ping Huang, Shou-Wei Hwang
  • Patent number: 6511882
    Abstract: A method for forming an embedded non-volatile memory is disclosed. The embedded non-volatile memory, comprises memory array and logic device area, is formed on a substrate where an oxide/nitride/oxide (ONO) layer on a memory array, a gate oxide layer on a logic device area. The method is that transistors of memory array and transistors of logic device area are formed by two separately photolithography processes. In memory array, the pitch between the poly gate electrodes is equivalent and has wider spacer width. In logic device area, the pitch between the poly gate electrodes is different and has suitable spacer width. According to above-mentioned, by using separated spacer width in memory array and logic device area can avoid the leakage path between bit line to bit line in subsequently self-aligned salicide process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2003
    Assignee: Macronix International Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tung-Cheng Kuo, Shou-Wei Hwang, Chien-Hung Liu, Shyi-Shuh Pan
  • Patent number: 6492227
    Abstract: A method is provided for fabricating memory devices on a semiconductor substrate using a dual damascene process. The method includes the steps of forming at least one dummy gate structure for at least one memory device on the semiconductor substrate, depositing dielectric material on surroundings of the at least one dummy gate structure, etching the dielectric material and the at least one dummy gate structure to form at least one control gate void and at least one floating gate void, forming a gate dielectric layer on a bottom surface of the at least one floating gate void, depositing floating gate material on the gate dielectric layer in the at least one floating gate void to form a floating gate, depositing a dielectric layer on the floating gate, and depositing control gate material on the dielectric layer in the at least one control gate void to form a control gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Li-Kong Wang, Louis L. Hsu, Wei Hwang
  • Publication number: 20020182797
    Abstract: The present invention provides a memory array fabricated by complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor salicide process. The memory array comprises a semiconductor substrate. Multitudes of first isolation devices are aligned in the semiconductor substrate and second isolation devices aligned on the semiconductor substrate. The alignment of the second isolation devices is parallel to one of the first isolation devices. Some polysilicon lines are on the second isolation devices therefor have null memory function. A conductive structure is below a surface of the semiconductor substrate. The conductive structure is located between the first isolation devices. A conductive contact is on the conductive structure. The correspondence of the first isolation devices and the polysilicon lines can prevent the conductive structures from short effect.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2001
    Publication date: December 5, 2002
    Applicant: MACRONIX INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ming-Hung Chou, Jui-Lin Lu, Chong-Jen Huang, Shou-Wei Hwang, Hsin-Huei Chen
  • Patent number: 6482738
    Abstract: The present invention mainly provides a method to locally form metal silicide on an integral circuit and to avoid the phenomenon of leakage current which is caused by metal silicide formed between the memory cells on the same word line. The method of present invention achieve above objectives by principally using a design rule to adequately arrange elements in proper distance. In an embodiment, in order to form metal silicide layers on an integral circuit and to avoid metal silicide formed between two neighboring memory cell on the same word line, a dielectric layer is previously formed in the spaced region between the two neighboring memory cells and is used as a mask. Thus, in a following selective etching process, a part of silicon substrate within the above spaced region can be protected and not exposed. Therefore, no metal silicide is formed in the spaced region, and the above objectives is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2002
    Assignee: Macronix International Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ying-Tso Chen, Erh-Kun Lai, Hsin-Huei Chen, Shou-Wei Hwang, Yu-Ping Huang
  • Patent number: 6468867
    Abstract: This invention relates to a method for forming the salicide, more particularly, to the method for forming the salicide in the partial region. The present invention uses a nitride layer to be the mask layer to form the salicide in the partial region of the logic circuit. The silicide is formed on the gate and is not formed in the diffusion region, which are in the cell array region. The silicide is formed on the gate and in the diffusion region, which are in the periphery region. The present invention method can make the semiconductor device obtain lower resistance and decrease the leakage defects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2002
    Assignee: Macronix International Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Erh-Kun Lai, Hsin-Huei Chen, Ying-Tso Chen, Shou-Wei Hwang, Yu-Ping Huang
  • Patent number: 6437623
    Abstract: A data retention system has master-slave latches for holding data in an active mode; a data retention latch for preserving data read from the master latch in a sleep mode, which is connected to the master latch in parallel with the slave latch; a first multiplexer for receiving data externally provided and feedback data from the data retention latch, and selectively outputting either the data externally provided or the feedback data to the master latch in response to a first control signal; and a second multiplexer for transferring output data of the master latch to the slave latch and the data retention latch in response to a second control signal, wherein power for the data retention latch remains turned on in the sleep mode, while power for the data retention system except for the data retention latch is turned off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2002
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Louis L. Hsu, Wei Hwang, Stephen V. Kosonocky, Li-Kong Wang
  • Patent number: 6387750
    Abstract: A method of forming a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor is disclosed. The method provides a three dimensional MIM capacitor having upgraded capacitance. A plurality of trenches are formed within the MIM capacitor to increase the charge storage area of the MIM capacitor without occupying additional planar area thereby upgrade the capacitance of the MIM capacitor and the integration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2002
    Assignee: Macronix International Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Erh-Kun Lai, Shou-Wei Hwang, Jiann-Jen Chiou, Yu-Ping Huang
  • Patent number: 6383903
    Abstract: This invention relates to a method for forming the salicide, more particularly, to the method for forming the salicide in the partial region. The present invention uses an oxide layer to be the mask layer to form the salicide in the partial region of the logic circuit. The silicide is formed on the gate and is not formed in the diffusion region, which are in the cell array region. The silicide is formed on the gate and in the diffusion region, which are in the periphery region. The present invention method can make the semiconductor device obtain lower resistance and decrease the leakage defects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2002
    Assignee: Macronix International Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Erh-Kun Lai, Hsin-Huei Chen, Ying-Tso Chen, Shou-Wei Hwang, Yu-Ping Huang
  • Patent number: 6372640
    Abstract: The present invention mainly provides a method to locally form metal silicide on an integral circuit and to avoid the phenomenon of leakage current which is caused by metal silicide formed between the memory cells on the same word line. The method of the present invention achieves the above objectives by principally using a design rule to adequately arrange elements within a proper distance. In an embodiment, in order to form metal silicide layers on an integral circuit and to avoid metal silicide formed between two neighboring memory cell on the same word line, a dielectric layer is first formed in the spaced region between the two neighboring memory cells to be used as a mask. Thus, in a following selective etching process, a part of the silicon substrate within the above spaced region can be protected and not exposed. Therefore, no metal silicide is formed in the spaced region, and the above objective is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2002
    Assignee: Macronix International Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ying-Tso Chen, Erh-Kun Lai, Hsin-Huei Chen, Shou-Wei Hwang, Yu-Ping Huang
  • Patent number: 6307805
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory device accessed with wordlines and bitlines has memory cells which operate at high performance with lower power consumption and have a high density. Each of the memory cells has pass transistors connected to a corresponding wordline and a corresponding pair of bitlines, and the pass transistors are gated by a signal of the corresponding wordline. The semiconductor memory device includes a wordline drive unit for selectively driving the wordlines in response to a row address. A wordline driver in the wordline drive unit boosts a corresponding wordline in a positive direction when the corresponding wordline is activated to access the memory cell and boosts the corresponding wordline in a negative direction when the corresponding wordline is inactive. By boosting the wordline in the positive direction, the performance of the memory cells is enhanced, and by boosting the wordline in the negative direction, a leakage current in the pass transistors with a low-threshold voltage is prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2001
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John E. Andersen, Terence B. Hook, Louis L. Hsu, Wei Hwang, Stephen V. Kosonocky, Li-Kong Wang
  • Publication number: 20010028059
    Abstract: The present invention describes the use of two semiconductor layers, a thin film (TF) layer and a bulk Si wafer layer, to make high density and high speed merged logic and memory IC chips. The memory cells use three-dimensional (3D) SRAM structures. Two kinds of 3D logic cells are disclosed. 3D form of the differential cascode voltage switch (DCVS) architecture, and a 3D form of the DCVS with pass gate (DCVSPG) logic architecture. A high density “system on chip” architecture is described. The high density is achieved by locating large PMOS transistors in the TF Si layer, and the fast NMOS transistors in a bulk Si wafer layer. A single process sequence to simultaneously make the logic and memory circuits on the IC chip is also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2001
    Publication date: October 11, 2001
    Inventors: Philip George Emma, Wei Hwang, Stephen McConnell Gates
  • Patent number: 6285050
    Abstract: The present invention describes the use of large thin film (TF) capacitors having capacitance C made in a separate set of TF layers ABOVE the Si and wiring levels of an integrated circuit (IC). This C is very large. This invention describes a two-level IC architecture in which a metal/insulator/metal (MIM) capacitor structure comprises the upper level, and CMOS logic and memory circuits made in the Si wafer substrate comprise the lower level. The added thin film capacitance serves to stabilize the power supply voltage at a constant level during GHz IC operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2001
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Philip George Emma, Wei Hwang, Stephen McConnell Gates