Semiconductor Islands Formed Upon Insulating Substrate Or Layer (e.g., Mesa Formation, Etc.) Patents (Class 438/164)
  • Patent number: 7029960
    Abstract: A device manufacturing method, including: a first process for providing the plural elements on the original substrate via a separation layer in a condition where terminal sections are exposed to a surface on an opposite side to the separation layer; a second process for adhering the surface where the terminal sections of the elements to be transferred on the original substrate are exposed, via conductive adhesive, to a surface of the final substrate on a side where conductive sections for conducting with the terminal sections of the elements are provided; a third process for producing exfoliation in the separation layer between the original substrate and the final substrate; and a fourth process for separating the original substrate from which the transfer of elements has been completed, from the final substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2006
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Hashimoto, Atsushi Takakuwa, Tomoyuki Kamakura, Sumio Utsunomiya
  • Patent number: 7029959
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device may include forming a fin structure on an insulator and depositing a gate material over the fin structure. The method may also include depositing an organic anti-reflective coating on the gate material and forming a gate mask on the organic anti-reflective coating. The organic anti-reflective coating around the gate mask may be removed, and the gate material around the gate mask may be removed to define a gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2006
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Chih-Yuh Yang, Shibly S. Ahmed, Srikanteswara Dakshina-Murhty, Cyrus E. Tabery, Bin Yu
  • Patent number: 7026199
    Abstract: Transistor of semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same are disclosed. The transistor comprises a channel region formed on a sidewall of a silicon fin extruding above a device isolation region. The silicon fin serves as an active region and is shorter in length so as to be spaced apart from an adjacent gate electrode. The width of the channel region is determined by the height of the silicon fin. The source/drain region of the transistor is disposed at an upper surface and the sidewall of the silicon fin to increase the contact region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2006
    Assignee: Hynix Semiconductor Inc.
    Inventor: Sang Don Lee
  • Patent number: 7023015
    Abstract: A thin-film semiconductor device is provided including a plurality of thin-film transistors (TFT) having different driving voltages formed on an glass substrate, wherein a gate insulator electric field at each of the driving voltages of the plurality of thin-film transistors is in a range of about 1 MV/cm to 2 MV/cm, and a drain concentration of p-type thin-film transistors (TFT) is in a range of about 3E+19/cm3 to 1E+20/cm3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2006
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Naoki Matsunaga, Kenji Sera, Mitsuasa Takahashi
  • Patent number: 7018551
    Abstract: A method of forming integrated circuits having FinFET transistors includes a method of forming sub-lithographic fins, in which a mask defining a block of silicon including a pair of fins in reduced in width or pulled back by the thickness of one fin on each side, after which a second mask is formed around the first mask, so that after the first mask is removed, an aperture remains in the second mask having the width of the separation distance between the pair of fins. When the silicon is etched through the aperture, the fins are protected by the second mask, thereby defining fin thickness by the pullback step. An alternative method uses lithography of opposite polarity, first defining the central etch aperture between the two fins lithographically, then expanding the width of the aperture by a pullback step, so that filling the widened aperture with an etch-resistant plug defines the outer edges of the pair of fins, thereby setting the fin width without an alignment kstep.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jochen C. Beintner, Dureseti Chidambarrao, Yujun Li, Kenneth T. Settlemyer, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7015081
    Abstract: A thin film transistor substrate manufacturing method, including the steps of forming on a first region of a transparent insulating substrate a first semiconductor film with a first film thickness that is crystallized through excimer laser irradiation; forming on a second region of the transparent insulating substrate a second semiconductor film that is laterally crystallized through continuous wave laser irradiation, the second semiconductor film being arranged to have a film thickness that is greater than or equal to the first film thickness; forming a first thin film transistor on the first semiconductor film; and forming on the second semiconductor film a second thin film transistor that operates at a speed greater than a speed of the first thin film transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2006
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazushige Hotta
  • Patent number: 7011994
    Abstract: A method for forming via holes includes placing an insulating layer on a first wiring layer, forming opening portions in the insulating layer, and forming a second wiring layer on the insulating layer. At the time of forming the opening portions, the insulating layer is irradiated with a laser beam with the focus position staggered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2006
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Yanagisawa, Toshiaki Iwafuchi
  • Patent number: 7011996
    Abstract: After a polysilicon semiconductor film 5 and a first gate oxide film 6 are formed on a transparent insulating substrate 1, the semiconductor film 5 and the first gate oxide film 6 are patterned into an island shape to form an island part. At this time, an overhang part 8 of a visor shape is formed where side end surfaces of the first gate oxide film 6 and the semiconductor film 5 are not aligned and an end part of the first gate oxide film 6 projects slightly from a position of a side end surface of the semiconductor film 5. The overhang part 8 is removed, for example, during cleaning, which thus enhances yield.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2006
    Assignees: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd., NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Okumura, Kunihiro Shiota
  • Patent number: 7008834
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: forming a first photoresist pattern on a second hard mask by use of ArF; forming first and second openings in the second hard mask by use of the first photoresist pattern as an etching mask; forming third and fourth openings in a first hard mask under the first and second openings; forming a partial trench (first trench) and a trench for a full trench (second trench) in an SOI substrate (semiconductor substrate) under the first and second openings; and forming the trench for a full trench into a full trench by etching the trench for a full trench through the fourth opening exposed through a third window of a second photoresist pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2006
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Satoshi Nakai, Jun Sakuma, Mitsugu Tajima
  • Patent number: 7001804
    Abstract: An SOI wafer including an active semiconductor material layer on an insulating layer is processed to form thereon first and second active semiconductor regions that respectively have different thicknesses and that are vertically and laterally insulated. In the process, a trench is etched into the SOI wafer, seed openings are formed in the bottom of the trench to reach the underlying active material layer, the trench is filled with epitaxially grown semiconductor material progressing from the seed openings, some of the epitaxially grown material is removed to form the second active regions, and oxide layers are provided so that the second active regions are laterally and vertically insulated from the first active regions formed by remaining portions of the active semiconductor material layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: ATMEL Germany GmbH
    Inventors: Franz Dietz, Volker Dudek, Michael Graf
  • Patent number: 6998299
    Abstract: To provide a liquid crystal display device having high quality display with a high aperture ratio while securing a sufficient storage capacitor (Cs), and at the same time, by dispersing a load (a pixel writing-in electric current) of a capacitor wiring in a timely manner to effectively reduce the load. A scanning line is formed on a layer that is different from a gate electrode so that the capacitor wiring is arranged in parallel with a signal line. Each pixel is connected to the individually independent capacitor wiring via a dielectric. Therefore, variations in the electric potential of the capacitor wiring caused by a writing-in electric current of adjacent pixels can be avoided, thereby obtaining satisfactory display images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2006
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Shibata, Atsuo Isobe
  • Patent number: 6991998
    Abstract: A method of forming a semiconductor structure comprising a first strained semiconductor layer over an insulating layer is provided in which the first strained semiconductor layer is relatively thin (less than about 500 ?) and has a low defect density (stacking faults and threading defects). The method of the present invention begins with forming a stress-providing layer, such a SiGe alloy layer over a structure comprising a first semiconductor layer that is located atop an insulating layer. The stress-providing layer and the first semiconductor layer are then patterned into at least one island and thereafter the structure containing the at least one island is heated to a temperature that causes strain transfer from the stress-providing layer to the first semiconductor layer. After strain transfer, the stress-providing layer is removed from the structure to form a first strained semiconductor island layer directly atop said insulating layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen W. Bedell, Anthony G. Domenicucci, Keith E. Fogel, Effendi Leobandung, Devendra K. Sadana
  • Patent number: 6991974
    Abstract: A method for fabricating a low temperature polysilicon thin film transistor. The method includes steps of: first, a substrate is provided and a buffer layer is then formed over the substrate. Next, a low surface energy material layer is formed over the buffer layer and then a first amorphous silicon layer is formed on the low surface energy material layer, or on a buffer layer processed by hydrogen plasma. The first amorphous silicon layer is completely melted by a laser annealing step so that the liquid first amorphous silicon layer sequentially transforms into a number of polysilicon seeds being uniformly distributed on the low surface energy material layer. A second amorphous silicon layer is further formed over the low surface energy material layer and covers the polysilicon seeds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2006
    Assignee: Au Optronics Corp.
    Inventor: Yi-Chang Tsao
  • Patent number: 6989300
    Abstract: A semiconductor film formation method allowing a single-crystal semiconductor film to be formed at a desired position on a substrate with reliability is disclosed. After preparing the substrate having a non-single-crystal semiconductor film formed thereon and an optical mask having a predetermined pattern, a projection area of the optical mask is relatively positioned at the desired position on the substrate. Thereafter, the desired position of the non-single-crystal semiconductor film is irradiated with laser light through the optical mask to change an irradiated portion of the non-single-crystal semiconductor film to the single-crystal semiconductor film. Then, an insulation film is formed on at least the single-crystal semiconductor film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2006
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroshi Tanabe
  • Patent number: 6989299
    Abstract: A method for fabricating on-chip spacers for a TFT panel exposes a photoresist layer on top of the TFT panel using two exposure processes, one through the bottom of the TFT and the other through a mask over the TFT panel. The exposure process through the bottom exposes all photoresist covering windows on the TFT panel and leaves all photoresist corresponding to an opaque grid corresponding a TFT driving circuit. A second exposure process through a mask above the photoresist leaves part of the photoresist in the opaque grid unexposed. The exposed photoresist is removed leaving on-chip spacers only on the opaque grid. Therefore, the on-chip spacers can not affect the display quality and can be easily formed on a high dpi TFT panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2006
    Assignee: Forhouse Corporation
    Inventors: Yuan-Tung Dai, Tsung-Neng Liao, Chun-Chi Lee
  • Patent number: 6984551
    Abstract: The invention is concerned with the fabrication of a MIS semiconductor device of high reliability by using a low-temperature process. Disclosed is a method of fabricating a MIS semiconductor device, wherein doped regions are selectively formed in a semiconductor substrate or a semiconductor thin film, provisions are then made so that laser or equivalent high-intensity light is radiated also onto the boundaries between the doped regions and their adjacent active region, and the laser or equivalent high-intensity light is radiated from above to accomplish activation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2006
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Yasuhiko Takemura
  • Patent number: 6984552
    Abstract: A low concentration impurity diffusion region is formed with good controllability even in case of using a low heat resistant substrate. When doping a semiconductor layer, after forming the semiconductor layer on the substrate, the amount of the dopant ion adsorbed on a surface of the semiconductor layer is controlled by introducing hydrogen gas at the time of plasma irradiation and activating the adsorbed dopant ion in the semiconductor layer by an excimer laser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2006
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Akio Machida, Setsuo Usui, Dharam Pal Gosain
  • Patent number: 6984550
    Abstract: There are provided a structure of a semiconductor device in which low power consumption is realized even in a case where a size of a display region is increased to be a large size screen and a manufacturing method thereof. A gate electrode in a pixel portion is formed as a three layered structure of a material film containing mainly W, a material film containing mainly Al, and a material film containing mainly Ti to reduce a wiring resistance. A wiring is etched using an IPC etching apparatus. The gate electrode has a taper shape and the width of a region which becomes the taper shape is set to be 1 ?m or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2006
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Hideomi Suzawa, Yoshihiro Kusuyama, Koji Ono, Jun Koyama
  • Patent number: 6984542
    Abstract: A method for forming via holes includes placing an insulating layer on a first wiring layer, forming opening portions in the insulating layer, and forming a second wiring layer on the insulating layer. At the time of forming the opening portions, the insulating layer is irradiated with a laser beam with the focus position staggered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2006
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Yanagisawa, Toshiaki Iwafuchi
  • Patent number: 6982460
    Abstract: A structure and method of manufacturing a double-gate integrated circuit which includes forming a laminated structure having a channel layer and first insulating layers on each side of the channel layer, forming openings in the laminated structure, forming drain and source regions in the openings, removing portions of the laminated structure to leave a first portion of the channel layer exposed, forming a first gate dielectric layer on the channel layer, forming a first gate electrode on the first gate dielectric layer, removing portions of the laminated structure to leave a second portion of the channel layer exposed, forming a second gate dielectric layer on the channel layer, forming a second gate electrode on the second gate dielectric layer, doping the drain and source regions, using self-aligned ion implantation, wherein the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode are formed independent of each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Guy M. Cohen, Hon-Sum P. Wong
  • Patent number: 6979603
    Abstract: TFT structures optimal for driving conditions of a pixel portion and driving circuits are obtained using a small number of photo masks. First through third semiconductor films are formed on a first insulating film. First shape first, second, and third electrodes are formed on the first through third semiconductor films. The first shape first, second, third electrodes are used as masks in first doping treatment to form first concentration impurity regions of one conductivity type in the first through third semiconductor films. Second shape first, second, and third electrodes are formed from the first shape first, second, and third electrodes. A second concentration impurity region of the one conductivity type which overlaps the second shape second electrode is formed in the second semiconductor film in second doping treatment. Also formed in the second doping treatment are third concentration impurity regions of the one conductivity type which are placed in the first and second semiconductor films.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2005
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takashi Hamada, Yasuyuki Arai
  • Patent number: 6972228
    Abstract: A method is described for forming an element of a microelectronic circuit. A sacrificial layer is formed on an upper surface of a support layer. The sacrificial layer is extremely thin and uniform. A height-defining layer is then formed on the sacrificial layer, whereafter the sacrificial layer is etched away so that a well-defined gap is left between an upper surface of the support layer and a lower surface of the height-defining layer. A monocrystalline semiconductor material is then selectively grown from a nucleation silicon site through the gap. The monocrystalline semiconductor material forms a monocrystalline layer having a thickness corresponding to the thickness of the original sacrificial layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2005
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Brian S. Doyle, Anand S. Murthy, Robert S. Chau
  • Patent number: 6972218
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a semiconductor device that allows assuredly ion implanting an impurity to a support substrate and a semiconductor device that can rapidly operate an electric potential of the support substrate. According to the present fabricating method, an impurity is ion implanted over an entire surface of a support substrate under a buried oxide film; accordingly, the impurity can be delivered to other than a bottom portion of a contact hole. Accordingly, a low electric resistance layer extending from a lower portion of an element formation region to a lower portion of an element isolation region can be formed. As a result, an electric current can be flowed much from a contact to the support substrate at the lower portion of the element formation region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2005
    Assignee: Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Koichi Kishiro
  • Patent number: 6967129
    Abstract: This invention provides a semiconductor device having high operation performance and high reliability. An LDD region 707 overlapping with a gate wiring is arranged in an n-channel TFT 802 forming a driving circuit, and a TFT structure highly resistant to hot carrier injection is achieved. LDD regions 717, 718, 719 and 720 not overlapping with a gate wiring are arranged in an n-channel TFT 804 forming a pixel unit. As a result, a TFT structure having a small OFF current value is achieved. In this instance, an element belonging to the Group 15 of the Periodic Table exists in a higher concentration in the LDD region 707 than in the LDD regions 717, 718, 719 and 720.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2005
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Satoshi Murakami, Jun Koyama, Yukio Tanaka, Hidehito Kitakado, Hideto Ohnuma
  • Patent number: 6962838
    Abstract: The present invention provides a device design and method for forming Field Effect Transistors (FETs) that have improved performance without negative impacts to device density. The present invention forms high-gain p-channel transistors by forming them on silicon islands where hole mobility has been increased. The hole mobility is increased by applying physical straining to the silicon islands. By straining the silicon islands, the hole mobility is increased resulting in increased device gain. This is accomplished without requiring an increase in the size of the devices, or the size of the contacts to the devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Brent A. Anderson, Xavier Baie, Randy W. Mann, Edward J. Nowak, Jed H. Rankin
  • Patent number: 6955954
    Abstract: A semiconductor device using a crystalline semiconductor film is manufactured. The crystalline semiconductor film is formed by providing an amorphous silicon film with a catalyst metal for promoting a crystallization thereof and then heated for performing a thermal crystallization, following which the crystallized film is further exposed to a laser light for improving the crystallinity. The concentration of the catalyst metal in the semiconductor film and the location of the region to be added with the catalyst metal are so selected in order that a desired crystallinity and a desired crystal structure such as a vertical crystal growth or lateral crystal growth can be obtained. Further, active elements and driver elements of a circuit substrate for an active matrix type liquid crystal device are formed by such semiconductor devices having a desired crystallinity and crystal structure respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2005
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akiharu Miyanaga, Hisashi Ohtani, Yasuhiko Takemura
  • Patent number: 6953714
    Abstract: A method for producing a thin film semiconductor device is described. In the method, a thin film layer of non-single-crystalline semiconductor, which is deposited on a base layer of glass, is processed to an island-shaped thin film layer at the time prior to the layer irradiation step. The laser irradiation to the thin film layer of non-single-crystalline semiconductor is carried out after forming an insulation film layer and a gate electrode over the island-shaped thin film layer, by using the gate electrode as the irradiation mask, whereby the center area of the island-shaped thin film layer masked by the gate electrode is crystallized, and simultaneously, the both side areas thereof which is not masked by the gate electrode are annealed. Next, a source electrode and a drain electrode is formed in the annealed areas. The implantation of impurity ion may be carried out either before or after the laser irradiation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2005
    Assignee: Advanced LCD Technologies Development Center Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshinobu Kimura, Masakiyo Matsumura, Mikihiko Nishitani, Masato Hiramatsu, Masayuki Jyumonji, Yoshitaka Yamamoto, Hideo Koseki
  • Patent number: 6953713
    Abstract: A circuit adapted to dynamically activate an electro-optical display device is constructed from a thin-film gate-insulated semiconductor device. This device comprises PMOS TFTs producing only a small amount of leakage current. Besides the dynamic circuit, a CMOS circuit comprising both NMOS and PMOS thin-film transistors is constructed to drive the dynamic circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2005
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Yasuhiko Takemura
  • Patent number: 6949388
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Silicon) image sensor; and, more particularly, to an image sensor integrated into one chip, together with a memory. The CMOS image sensor according to the present invention comprises: a pixel array formed on a chip, having a plurality of unit pixels; a logic circuit formed on the chip to process signals form the pixel array; and a memory formed on the chip to store outputs from the logic circuit, wherein the pixel array, the logic circuit and the memory are isolated from each other by insulating layers, whereby the pixel array, the logic circuit and the memory are integrated on the same chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2005
    Assignee: Hynix Semiconductor Inc.
    Inventor: Sang Hoon Park
  • Patent number: 6943405
    Abstract: A method and structure for an integrated circuit structure that utilizes complementary fin-type field effect transistors (FinFETs) is disclosed. The invention has a first-type of FinFET which includes a first fin, and a second-type of FinFET which includes a second fin running parallel to the first fin. The invention also has an insulator fin positioned between the source/drain regions of the first first-type of FinFET and the second-type of FinFET. The insulator fin has approximately the same width dimensions as the first fin and the second fin, such that the spacing between the first-type of FinFET and the second-type of FinFET is approximately equal to the width of one fin. The invention also has a common gate formed over channel regions of the first-type of FinFET and the second-type of FinFET. The gate includes a first impurity doping region adjacent the first-type of FinFET and a second impurity doping region adjacent the second-type of FinFET.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Andres Bryant, William F. Clark, Jr., David M. Fried, Mark D. Jaffe, Edward J. Nowak, John J. Pekarik, Christopher S. Putnam
  • Patent number: 6939736
    Abstract: A method of reducing package stress includes placing matched components of an op-amp substantially in a region of a die having the least stress gradients. The region is located in the center of the die. Further, the center is the common centroid of the die. The matched components are the current mirror input stages of the op-amp. In one embodiment, a semiconductor configuration includes a die having a region with the least stress gradients, and an op-amp containing matched components that are located substantially in the region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2005
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Marty A. Grabham, Brian Lance Clinton
  • Patent number: 6933183
    Abstract: A selfaligned FinFET is fabricated by defining a set of fins in a semiconductor wafer, depositing gate material over the fins, defining a gate hardmask having a thickness sufficient to withstand later etching steps, etching the gates material outside the hardmask to form the gate, depositing a conformal layer of insulator over the gate and the fins, etching the insulator anistotropically until the insulator over the fins is removed down to the substrate, the hardmask having a thickness such that a portion of the hardmask remains over the gate and sidewalls remain on the gate, and forming source and drain areas in the exposed fins while the gate is protected by the hardmask material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jochen C. Beintner, Edward J. Nowak
  • Patent number: 6927105
    Abstract: A thin film transistor array substrate, and manufacturing methods thereof, having a dual data link structure comprised of a first data link made from a gate metal layer and of a second data link made from a transparent conductive layer. A gate pad made from the gate metal layer electrically connects directly with the first data link, and to the second data link via a data pad protection electrode that passes through contact holes. The data pad protection electrode makes surface connections to the data pad. A data line is electrically connected via a contact electrode to the first data link. The data line and the data pad are formed from different metal layers. The data pad is protected by a gate insulating layer. The contact electrode is extended from the second data link.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2005
    Assignee: LG.Philips LCD Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hae Jin Yun
  • Patent number: 6927108
    Abstract: An exemplary solution-processed thin film transistor formation method of the invention forms conductive solution-processed thin film material contacts, semiconductor solution-processed thin film material active regions, and dielectric solution-processed thin film material isolations in a sequence and organization to form a solution-processed thin film structure capable of transistor operation. During or after the formation of the transistor structure, laser ablation is applied to one or more of the conductive solution-processed thin film material contacts, the semiconductor solution-processed thin film material active regions and the dielectric solution-processed thin film material isolations to pattern or complete patterning of a material being selectively ablated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2005
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Jian-gang Weng, Ravi Prasad, Cary G Addington, Man Ho Cheung
  • Patent number: 6927088
    Abstract: An electrooptical substrate device has pixel electrodes and pixel-switching TFTs connected thereto, on a substrate. The TFT is a P-channel TFT of an SOI structure that does not have a body contact. Due to this, a transistor is architected in each pixel that is suited to broaden the opening area in each pixel, and having comparatively high performance, thereby enabling bright, high-quality image display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2005
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Shigenori Katayama
  • Patent number: 6924517
    Abstract: A field effect transistor (FET), integrated circuit (IC) chip including the FETs and a method of forming the FETS. The devices have a thin channel, e.g., an ultra-thin (smaller than or equal to 10 nanometers (10 nm)) silicon on insulator (SOI) layer. Source/drain regions are located in recesses at either end of the thin channel and are substantially thicker (e.g., 30 nm) than the thin channel. Source/drain extensions and corresponding source/drain regions are self aligned to the FET gate and thin channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Huajie Chen, Bruce B. Doris, Philip J. Oldiges, Xinlin Wang, Huilong Zhu
  • Patent number: 6921686
    Abstract: An amorphous semiconductor film is etched so that a width of a narrowest portion thereof is 100 ?m or less, thereby forming island semiconductor regions. By irradiating an intense light such as a laser into the island semiconductor regions, photo-annealing is performed to crystallize it. Then, of end portions (peripheral portions) of the island semiconductor regions, at least a portion used to form a channel of a thin film transistor (TFT), or a portion that a gate electrode crosses is etched, so that a region that the distortion is accumulated is removed. By using such semiconductor regions, a TFT is produced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2005
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoto Kusumoto, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 6921685
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a thin film transistor includes the steps of (a) forming an amorphous silicon film containing hydrogen therein, on a substrate composed of resin, and (b) irradiating laser beams to the amorphous silicon film at an intensity equal to or smaller than a threshold intensity at which the amorphous silicon film is crystallized. For instance, the step (a) includes the steps of forming the amorphous silicon film on the resin substrate by sputtering, and doping hydrogen ions into the amorphous silicon film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2005
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Okumura
  • Patent number: 6913959
    Abstract: A strained semiconductor device suitable for use in an integrated circuit and a method for manufacturing the strained semiconductor device. A mesa isolation structure is formed from a semiconductor-on-insulator substrate. A gate structure is formed on the mesa isolation structure. The gate structure includes a gate disposed on a gate dielectric material and has two sets of opposing sidewalls. Semiconductor material is selectively grown on portions of the mesa isolation structure adjacent a first set of opposing sidewalls of the gate structure and then doped. The doped semiconductor material is silicided and protected by a dielectric material. The gate is silicided wherein the silicide wraps around a second set of opposing sidewalls and stresses a channel region of the semiconductor device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2005
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventor: Zoran Krivokapic
  • Patent number: 6911358
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device having steps of forming an amorphous semiconductor on a substrate having an insulating surface; patterning the amorphous semiconductor to form plural first island-like semiconductors; irradiating a linearly condensed laser beam on the plural first island-like semiconductors while relatively scanning the substrate, thus crystallizing the plural first island-like semiconductors; patterning the plural first island-like semiconductors that have been crystallized to form plural second island-like semiconductors; forming plural transistors using the plural second island-like semiconductors; and forming a unit circuit using a predetermined number of the transistors, where the second island-like semiconductors used for the predetermined number of the transistors are formed from the first island-like semiconductors that are different from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2005
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Munehiro Azami, Chiho Kokubo, Aiko Shiga, Atsuo Isobe, Hiroshi Shibata, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 6902961
    Abstract: A method of forming a CMOS thin film transistor device. A dry etching procedure is performed to remove part of a photoresist layer and part of a metal layer and thus forms a gate with a symmetrical cone shape and a remaining photoresist layer. The dielectric layer is thus exposed in the lightly doped area. Specially, the bottom width of the first gate is narrower than that of the first metal layer and the symmetrical cone shape is gradually thinner from bottom to top. Using the gate as a mask, an n?-ion implantation is performed to form a self-aligned and symmetrical LDD region in a semiconductor layer without additional photolithography steps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2005
    Assignee: Au Optronics Corp.
    Inventors: Chih-Chin Chang, Chih-Hung Wu
  • Patent number: 6903377
    Abstract: The purpose of the invention is to improve reliability of a light emitting apparatus including a TFT and organic light emitting elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2005
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Satoshi Murakami, Masayuki Sakakura, Toru Takayama
  • Patent number: 6890793
    Abstract: A method for producing a die package is disclosed. A bumped die comprises solder bumps mounted to a leadframe including a first lead comprising a first locating hole and a second lead comprising a second locating hole. The solder bumps are present in the first and second locating holes, and a molding material is formed around the die.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2005
    Assignee: Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventor: Inderjit Singh
  • Patent number: 6887724
    Abstract: To provide a TEG capable of early stage feedback of testing contents and a method of testing using the TEG. TFTs for TEG are manufactured on a different substrate than actual panel TFTs by using from among processes for manufacturing actual panel TFTs, processes that may easily lead to dispersion in the TFT characteristics, and the minimum number of processing steps necessary for TFT manufacture. The number of processing steps is fewer than the number for the actual panel, and therefore it is possible to complete the TFTs for TEG quicker than those of the actual panel, and it becomes possible to feed back an evaluation of the TEG TFT characteristics to the actual panel manufacturing process at an early stage. Time and costs associated with manufacture of the actual panel can therefore be suppressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2005
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Nakamura, Mai Akiba
  • Patent number: 6887746
    Abstract: In an inverted stagger type thin-film transistor, the preparing process thereof can be simplified, and the unevenness of the thin film transistor prepared thereby can be reduced. That is, disclosed is a preparing method which comprises selectively doping a semiconductor on a gate insulating film with an impurity to form source, drain, and channel forming regions, and conducting a laser annealing to them, or a preparing method which comprises selectively doping the semiconductor region with an impurity by a laser doping method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2005
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Yasuhiko Takemura
  • Patent number: 6887745
    Abstract: A polysilicon thin film transistor and a method of forming the same is provided. A poly-island layer is formed over a substrate. A gate insulation layer is formed over the poly-island layer. A gate is formed over the gate insulation layer. Using the gate as a mask, an ion implantation of the poly-island layer is carried out to form a source/drain region in the poly-island layer outside the channel region. An oxide layer and a silicon nitride layer, together serving as an inter-layer dielectric layer, are sequentially formed over the substrate. Thickness of the oxide layer is thicker than or the same as (thickness of the nitride layer multiplied by 9000 ?)1/2 and maximum thickness of the nitride layer is smaller than 1000 ?.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2005
    Assignee: Au Optronics Corporation
    Inventors: Kun-Hong Chen, Chinwei Hu
  • Patent number: 6884668
    Abstract: To provide devices relating to a manufacturing method for a semiconductor device using a laser crystallization method, which is capable of reducing a cost involved in a design change, preventing a grain boundary from developing in a channel formation region of a TFT, and preventing a remarkable reduction in mobility of the TFT, a decrease in an ON current, and an increase in an OFF current due to the grain boundary and to a semiconductor device formed by using the manufacturing method. In a semiconductor device according to the present invention, among a plurality of TFTs formed on a base film, some TFTs are electrically connected to form logic elements. The plurality of logic elements are used to form a circuit. The base film has a plurality of projective portions having a rectangular or stripe shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2005
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Atsuo Isobe, Tamae Takano, Hidekazu Miyairi
  • Patent number: 6884667
    Abstract: Field effect transistor with increased charge carrier mobility due to stress in the current channel 22. The stress is in the direction of current flow (longitudinal). In PFET device, the stress is compressive; in NFET devices, the stress is tensile. The stress is created by a compressive film 34 in an area 32 under the channel. The compressive film pushes up on the channel 22, causing it to bend. In PFET devices, the compressive film is disposed under ends 31 of the channel (e.g. under the source and drain), thereby causing compression in an upper portion 22A of the channel. In NFET devices, the compressive film is disposed under a middle portion 40 of the channel (e.g. under the gate), thereby causing tension in the, upper portion of the channel. Therefore, both NFET and PFET device can be enhanced. A method for making the devices is included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Bruce B. Doris, Dureseti Chidambarrao, Xavier Baie, Jack A. Mandelman, Devendra K. Sadana, Dominic J. Schepis
  • Patent number: 6884699
    Abstract: A process for making a polycrystalline silicon film includes forming, on a glass substrate, an amorphous silicon film having a first region and a second region that contacts the first region, forming a first polycrystalline portion by irradiating the first region of the amorphous silicon film with laser light having a wavelength not less than 390 nm and not more than 640 nm and forming a second polycrystalline portion that contacts the first polycrystalline portion by irradiating the second region and the portion of the region of the first polycrystalline portion that contacts the second region of the amorphous silicon film with the laser light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2005
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsuya Ogawa, Hidetada Tokioka, Junichi Nishimae, Tatsuki Okamoto, Yukio Sato, Mitsuo Inoue, Mitsutoshi Miyasaka, Hiroaki Jiroku
  • Patent number: 6878611
    Abstract: In the preferred embodiment of this invention a method is described to convert patterned SOI regions into patterned SGOI (silicon-germanium on oxide) by the SiGe/SOI thermal mixing process to further enhance performance of the logic circuit in an embedded DRAM. The SGOI region acts as a template for subsequent Si growth such that the Si is strained, and electron and holes in the Si have higher mobility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Devendra K. Sadana, Stephen W. Bedell, Tze-Chiang Chen, Kwang Su Choe, Keith E. Fogel