Patents by Inventor Yuki Mizutani

Yuki Mizutani 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: 20160329341
    Abstract: A monolithic three dimensional memory device includes a semiconductor substrate having a major surface and a doped well region of a first conductivity type extending substantially parallel to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate, a plurality of NAND memory strings extending substantially perpendicular to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a plurality of substantially pillar-shaped support members extending substantially perpendicular to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate, each support member including an electrically insulating outer material surrounding an electrically conductive core material that extends substantially perpendicular to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate and electrically contacting the doped well region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2016
    Publication date: November 10, 2016
    Inventors: Seiji Shimabukuro, Ryoichi Honma, Hiroyuki Ogawa, Yuki Mizutani, Fumiaki Toyama
  • Publication number: 20160293621
    Abstract: A structure is formed on a substrate, which includes a stack of alternating layers comprising insulating layers and electrically conductive layers and a plurality of memory stack structures extending through the stack. At least one bridge line structure is formed on top surfaces of a respective subset of the plurality of memory stack structures to provide local lateral electrical connection. At least one dielectric material layer is formed over the at least one bridge line structure and the plurality of memory stack structures. A plurality contact via structures is formed through the dielectric material layer. The plurality of contact via structures includes at least one first contact via structure contacting a top surface of a respective bridge line structure, and second contact via structures contacting a top surface of a respective memory stack structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2015
    Publication date: October 6, 2016
    Inventors: Chenche Huang, Chun-Ming Wang, Yuki Mizutani, Hiroaki Koketsu, Masayuki Hiroi, Masaaki Higashitani
  • Patent number: 9412749
    Abstract: A monolithic three dimensional memory device includes a semiconductor substrate having a major surface and a doped well region of a first conductivity type extending substantially parallel to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate, a plurality of NAND memory strings extending substantially perpendicular to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a plurality of substantially pillar-shaped support members extending substantially perpendicular to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate, each support member including an electrically insulating outer material surrounding an electrically conductive core material that extends substantially perpendicular to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate and electrically contacting the doped well region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES LLC
    Inventors: Seiji Shimabukuro, Ryoichi Honma, Hiroyuki Ogawa, Yuki Mizutani, Fumiaki Toyama
  • Publication number: 20160086671
    Abstract: In NAND Flash memory, bit line precharge/discharge times can be a main component in determining program, erase and read performance. In a conventional arrangement bit line levels are set by the sense amps and bit lines are discharged to a source line level is through the sense amplifier path. Under this arrangement, precharge/discharge times are dominated by the far-side (relative to the sense amps) based on the bit lines' RC constant. Reduction of bit line precharge/discharge times, therefore, improves NAND Flash performance and subsequently the overall system performance. To addresses this, an additional path is introduced between bit lines to the common source level through the use of dummy NAND strings. In an exemplary 3D-NAND (BiCS) based embodiment, the dummy NAND strings are taken from dummy blocks, where the dummy blocks can be placed throughout the array to evenly distribute the discharging current.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2014
    Publication date: March 24, 2016
    Inventors: Juan Carlos Lee, Hao Nguyen, Man Mui, Tien-chien Kuo, Yuki Mizutani
  • Patent number: 9230972
    Abstract: A monolithic three dimensional memory device includes a semiconductor substrate having a major surface and a doped well region of a first conductivity type extending substantially parallel to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate, a plurality of NAND memory strings extending substantially perpendicular to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a plurality of substantially pillar-shaped support members extending substantially perpendicular to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate, each support member including an electrically insulating outer material surrounding an electrically conductive core material that extends substantially perpendicular to the major surface of the semiconductor substrate and electrically contacting the doped well region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES INC
    Inventors: Seiji Shimabukuro, Ryoichi Honma, Hiroyuki Ogawa, Yuki Mizutani, Fumiaki Toyama
  • Patent number: 9224747
    Abstract: A memory device includes a memory cell array having a first side and a second side and a stepped word line contact region located between the first side and the second side of the memory array. A first word line stair pattern is located in the stepped word line contact region adjacent to the first side of the memory array and a second word line stair pattern located in the stepped word line contact region adjacent to the second side of the memory array. A peripheral device region located in the stepped word line contact region between the first and the second word line stair patterns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES INC.
    Inventors: Yuki Mizutani, Fumiaki Toyama
  • Publication number: 20150279852
    Abstract: A memory device includes a memory cell array having a first side and a second side and a stepped word line contact region located between the first side and the second side of the memory array. A first word line stair pattern is located in the stepped word line contact region adjacent to the first side of the memory array and a second word line stair pattern located in the stepped word line contact region adjacent to the second side of the memory array. A peripheral device region located in the stepped word line contact region between the first and the second word line stair patterns.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2014
    Publication date: October 1, 2015
    Inventors: Yuki Mizutani, Fumiaki Toyama