WO2004059737A1 - Multi-level memory cell with lateral floating spacers - Google Patents

Multi-level memory cell with lateral floating spacers Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2004059737A1
WO2004059737A1 PCT/US2003/040205 US0340205W WO2004059737A1 WO 2004059737 A1 WO2004059737 A1 WO 2004059737A1 US 0340205 W US0340205 W US 0340205W WO 2004059737 A1 WO2004059737 A1 WO 2004059737A1
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Prior art keywords
spacers
control gate
conductive
source
transistors
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PCT/US2003/040205
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French (fr)
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WO2004059737B1 (en
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Bohumil Lojek
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Atmel Corporation
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Priority to JP2004563670A priority Critical patent/JP2006511940A/en
Priority to AU2003300994A priority patent/AU2003300994A1/en
Priority to CA002508810A priority patent/CA2508810A1/en
Priority to EP03814101A priority patent/EP1576668A4/en
Publication of WO2004059737A1 publication Critical patent/WO2004059737A1/en
Publication of WO2004059737B1 publication Critical patent/WO2004059737B1/en
Priority to NO20053531A priority patent/NO20053531L/en

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    • HELECTRICITY
    • H10SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10BELECTRONIC MEMORY DEVICES
    • H10B41/00Electrically erasable-and-programmable ROM [EEPROM] devices comprising floating gates
    • H10B41/30Electrically erasable-and-programmable ROM [EEPROM] devices comprising floating gates characterised by the memory core region
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L29/00Semiconductor devices adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching, or capacitors or resistors with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof  ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/40Electrodes ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/41Electrodes ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape, relative sizes or dispositions
    • H01L29/423Electrodes ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape, relative sizes or dispositions not carrying the current to be rectified, amplified or switched
    • H01L29/42312Gate electrodes for field effect devices
    • H01L29/42316Gate electrodes for field effect devices for field-effect transistors
    • H01L29/4232Gate electrodes for field effect devices for field-effect transistors with insulated gate
    • H01L29/42324Gate electrodes for transistors with a floating gate
    • H01L29/42332Gate electrodes for transistors with a floating gate with the floating gate formed by two or more non connected parts, e.g. multi-particles flating gate
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L27/00Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
    • H01L27/02Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier; including integrated passive circuit elements with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier
    • H01L27/04Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier; including integrated passive circuit elements with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier the substrate being a semiconductor body
    • H01L27/10Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier; including integrated passive circuit elements with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier the substrate being a semiconductor body including a plurality of individual components in a repetitive configuration
    • H01L27/105Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier; including integrated passive circuit elements with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier the substrate being a semiconductor body including a plurality of individual components in a repetitive configuration including field-effect components
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L29/00Semiconductor devices adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching, or capacitors or resistors with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof  ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/40Electrodes ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/401Multistep manufacturing processes
    • H01L29/4011Multistep manufacturing processes for data storage electrodes
    • H01L29/40114Multistep manufacturing processes for data storage electrodes the electrodes comprising a conductor-insulator-conductor-insulator-semiconductor structure
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L29/00Semiconductor devices adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching, or capacitors or resistors with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof  ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/66Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/66007Multistep manufacturing processes
    • H01L29/66075Multistep manufacturing processes of devices having semiconductor bodies comprising group 14 or group 13/15 materials
    • H01L29/66227Multistep manufacturing processes of devices having semiconductor bodies comprising group 14 or group 13/15 materials the devices being controllable only by the electric current supplied or the electric potential applied, to an electrode which does not carry the current to be rectified, amplified or switched, e.g. three-terminal devices
    • H01L29/66409Unipolar field-effect transistors
    • H01L29/66477Unipolar field-effect transistors with an insulated gate, i.e. MISFET
    • H01L29/66825Unipolar field-effect transistors with an insulated gate, i.e. MISFET with a floating gate
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L29/00Semiconductor devices adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching, or capacitors or resistors with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof  ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/66Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/68Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor controllable by only the electric current supplied, or only the electric potential applied, to an electrode which does not carry the current to be rectified, amplified or switched
    • H01L29/76Unipolar devices, e.g. field effect transistors
    • H01L29/772Field effect transistors
    • H01L29/78Field effect transistors with field effect produced by an insulated gate
    • H01L29/788Field effect transistors with field effect produced by an insulated gate with floating gate
    • H01L29/7887Programmable transistors with more than two possible different levels of programmation
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H10SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10BELECTRONIC MEMORY DEVICES
    • H10B41/00Electrically erasable-and-programmable ROM [EEPROM] devices comprising floating gates
    • H10B41/40Electrically erasable-and-programmable ROM [EEPROM] devices comprising floating gates characterised by the peripheral circuit region
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H10SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10BELECTRONIC MEMORY DEVICES
    • H10B41/00Electrically erasable-and-programmable ROM [EEPROM] devices comprising floating gates
    • H10B41/40Electrically erasable-and-programmable ROM [EEPROM] devices comprising floating gates characterised by the peripheral circuit region
    • H10B41/42Simultaneous manufacture of periphery and memory cells
    • H10B41/49Simultaneous manufacture of periphery and memory cells comprising different types of peripheral transistor
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H10SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10BELECTRONIC MEMORY DEVICES
    • H10B69/00Erasable-and-programmable ROM [EPROM] devices not provided for in groups H10B41/00 - H10B63/00, e.g. ultraviolet erasable-and-programmable ROM [UVEPROM] devices

Definitions

  • the invention relates to semiconductor integrated memory cells and, in particular, to multibit charge storage transistors.
  • nonvolatile memory transistors stored only one binary bit.
  • EEPROM electrically eraseable programmable read only memory
  • floating gate memory cell transistors In order to store two binary bits in an EEPROM transistor, some modification of the transistor design is needed.
  • Multibit charge storage transistors are known, including nonvolatile multibit transistors.
  • Such boards contain microprograms to control operation or to store data. It is desirable to provide a single chip with high-density memory, rather than to rely on a plurality of separate memory chips. While use of multi-level memory chips would provide a solution, such chips are often larger than conventional transistors and so part of the advantage of such a solution is lost.
  • An object of the invention was to devise a nonvolatile multi-level memory transistor, particularly an EEPROM, that is comparable in size to single bit nonvolatile memory chips.
  • the above object has been met with a nonvolatile memory transistor that uses a pair of polysilicon floating spacer structures for storage of two data bits.
  • the two spacers are on opposite sides of a single central conductive gate, but separated from the conductive gate by tunnel oxide having a thickness in the range of 10-50 angstroms. Tunnel oxide also separates the floating spacer structures from subsurface source and drain electrode regions.
  • the spacers themselves behave as principal conductive charge storage floating members on either side of the single central gate that is wired to be the control gate.
  • the two binary bit lateral charge storage members of the present invention use approximately the same space as a conventional EEPROM cell using nitride or oxide spacers, while not increasing vertical dimensions.
  • the control gate is wired as a word line, while the subsurface source and drain regions are the digit lines which are each connected to auxiliary transistors controlling phases for addressing each side of the memory cell independently.
  • Fig. 1 is a schematic drawing of a portion of a memory array on an integrated circuit chip employing multi-level non-volatile memory cells of the present invention.
  • Fig. 2 is an electrical schematic drawing of a multi-level non-volatile memory cell shown in Fig. 1.
  • Fig. 3 is a side sectional view of a multi- level non-volatile memory cell shown in Fig. 2, as constructed in a silicon process fabrication of the cell, as taken along lines 3-3 of Fig. 5.
  • Fig. 4 is another a side sectional view of a multi-level non-volatile memory cell shown in Fig. 2, as constructed in a silicon process fabrication of the cell, as taken along lines 4-4 of Fig. 5.
  • Fig. 5 is a top view of a multi-level nonvolatile memory cell shown in Fig. 2, as constructed in a silicon process fabrication of the memory cell.
  • Figs. 6-22 are side sectional views of steps in a silicon process fabrication of a memory cell and two ancillary transistors, shown in Fig. 1 and manufactured at the same time.
  • a non-volatile memory array 11 is shown having memory array columns 10 and 12 with respective columnar lines 13 and 14 for array column 10 which, together, form a single bitline.
  • columnar lines 15 and 16 define a second bitline for array column 12.
  • a first non-volatile memory transistor 33 and a second nonvolatile memory transistor 43 are situated between columnar lines 13 and 14 .
  • third and fourth non-volatile memory transistors 35 and 45 are situated.
  • ancillary low voltage transistors 23 on timing line 29 and ancillary transistor 24 on timing line 27 are also associated with the first bitline.
  • the non-volatile memory transistor device 33 may be seen to have a control gate 51, a substrate 57 and left and right storage sites 53 and 55.
  • the transistor device also has a source electrode 61 and a drain electrode 63.
  • the device 33 is seen to be constructed on a silicon substrate 57 having a subsurface active region with source and drain implants 61 and 63 respectively.
  • Control gate 51 is separated from the substrate by an oxide layer 56.
  • conductive polysilicon spacers 53 and 55 are constructed in a manner so that they are separated from the control gate 51 and from the substrate by a very thin layer of tunnel oxide, approximately 25 to 70 angstroms thick.
  • the spacers are upright structures, thinner at their top and wider at their base, having the cross-sectional appearance of a right triangle, with the top of each spacer at a level near the top of the control gate.
  • the thickness of the tunnel oxide is selected to allow electron tunneling from the subsurface electrodes 61 and 63 into the floating polysilicon spacers 53 and 55 by means of an appropriate potential on the control gate 51.
  • the present invention features a lateral construction where the floating regions are to the side of the control gate and above active regions of the substrate.
  • This lateral construction allows memory devices of the present invention to be approximately the same height as ancillary transistors employing nitride spacers. This has advantages in fabrication and reliability of finished devices .
  • Each of the spacers can store charge independently of the other spacer. This allows two binary bits to be stored independently, giving rise to four states. If the spacers are designated Q L and Q R , then four data states are feasible, as shown in the table below. 10
  • both spacers have no charge.
  • the left spacer has an amount of charge designated "-Q” and the right spacer has no charge.
  • the left spacer, Q L has no charge and the right spacer, Q R , has an amount of charge designated "-Q” .
  • both right and left spacers have an amount of data charge "-Q" .
  • FIG. 4 shows the transistor of Fig. 3 with gate 51 spaced above substrate 57 by oxide 56.
  • active regions and substrate 69 are defined with subsurface doping indicated by stripes 71 and 73. In subsequent processing steps, further doping will define source and drain regions within the active region stripes 71 and 73. Edges of tunnel oxide stripes 81 and 83 may be seen, over which the polysilicon spacer stripes 75 and 77 are deposited.
  • One of the final steps in processing is the deposition of a polysilicon cap ' 85 over ' each of the cells 91, 93, 95 and 97. From Fig. 5, it is seen that construction of cells in the present invention may be achieved with a stripe linear geometry.
  • the stripes 71 and 73 defining active the active regions are perpendicular to all other stripes.
  • Polysilicon spacer stripe portions between cells are removed in finishing individual devices, but such removal is not shown in Fig. 5, but is described in below.
  • the following figures describe the step-by-step self-formation process with illustration of significant steps. Intermediate masking steps are not shown but may be deduced from what is shown. Also, the drawings illustrate memory cell formation on the left side of each drawing and simultaneous ancillary low voltage gate formation on the right hand side of each drawing.
  • the divider line, D separates memory cell formation on the left and ancillary low voltage transistor formation on the right.
  • Fig. 6 shows substrate 57 having a layer of gate oxide 56 on the left side.
  • a transistor with a different oxide 58 thickness is placed over common substrate 57. The oxide could be thinner or thicker depending on the type of device .
  • a layer of polysilicon 60 is deposited over the oxide regions 56 and 58.
  • the polysilicon layer 60 will form poly gates for the diverse transistors .
  • the polysilicon layer of Fig. 7 has been etched to form mesas.
  • the mesa in the memory cell area becomes a polysilicon control gate 62 above the full height of a portion of an oxide layer 56 previously described.
  • gates 64 and 66 are defined for low voltage transistors.
  • the polysilicon shown in Fig. 7 has been etched away to form the mesas. Oxide adjacent to the mesas has been removed by etching. Adjacent to polysilicon gate 62 some residual oxide remains in regions 68.
  • the low voltage transistors are protected by an insulative layer 72.
  • the protective layer may be TEOS mask formed by the decomposition of tetraethyl orthosilicate.
  • the residual oxide has been removed and a new thin layer of tunnel oxide 74 is deposited over polysilicon gate 62.
  • the tunnel oxide layer has a thickness typically ranging between 25-70 angstroms. Thin oxide may be deposited over the TEOS mask 72, but is inconsequential in the low voltage region.
  • a polysilicon layer 82 is deposited over the tunnel oxide layer 74, as well as over the TEOS layer 72.
  • Arsenic is implanted into the polysilicon layer 82 to adjust conductivity for the spacers formed in Fig. 12 by etching away polysilicon.
  • the polysilicon layer of Fig. 11 has been etched defining spacers 91 and 93 on both sides of the polysilicon gate 62 but spaced from the gate by tunnel oxide layer 74.
  • the polysilicon spacers 91 and 93 have the shape and size of conventional insulative spacers.
  • polysilicon spacers 91 and 93 are conductive, intended to store charge with tunneling into the spacers from the substrate through the thin oxide .
  • the upwardly extending thin oxide allows control gate 62 to communicate control signals individually to the polysilicon spacers 91 and 93 in a manner described below based upon timing signals applied to substrate electrodes .
  • the insulative TEOS layer 72 is exposed over the transistors with different oxide thicknesses. This TEOS layer is etched away, as seen in Fig. 13, while at the same time the " memory cell is protected by a nitride layer 95 extending over the memory cell, including the poly spacers 91 and 93, as well as the control gate 62.
  • Oxide layer has a thickness of approximately 1,500 angstroms and extends over the poly gates of the low voltage transistors .
  • the oxide is removed except over the mesa regions including the poly spacers 91 and 93.
  • subsurface source and drain regions 101 and 103 of lightly doped N-type material slightly outboard of the respective poly spacers 101 and 103, or slightly beneath the spacers. Similar regions are formed slightly outboard of both sides of mesa 64. P-type ions are injected on either side of mesa 66, opposite the conductivity type of subsurface regions on either side of mesa 64. This will allow formation of low voltage P- and N-type transistors. In Fig. 16, a new nitride layer 109 is deposited over all transistors.
  • nitride is etched in the low voltage transistor region, leaving nitride spacers 111 and 115 on opposite sides of mesa 64, a poly gate. Similarly, nitride spacers 117 and 119 are on either side of mesa 66, another poly gate.
  • the low voltage transistors are now fully formed with source and drain electrodes. Sources and drains are the implant regions in the substrate, while the gate for each transistor is the polysilicon mesa structure above the substrate. Nitride 109 remains above the poly gate 62 and the poly spacers 91 and 93.
  • the polysilicon spacer 91 is seen to be a floating spacer insulated from the poly gate 62 by vertically extending tunnel oxide and insulated from substrate 57 by horizontally extending tunnel oxide. Separate oxide layer 104 separates poly spacer 91 from nitride layer 109.
  • the doped subsurface region 101 a source region, can communicate electrons through the tunnel oxide to the floating spacer 91 where charge is preserved, with an appropriate voltage potential placed on the gate 62 to manipulate charge onto the floating spacer.
  • the poly gate 62 assumes an opposite voltage, which causes tunneling of electrons back toward source 101. Timing signals applied to source and drain regions 101 and 103 determine which of the spacers 91 and 93 is to be read or written to.
  • an insulative TEOS layer 121 is deposited over the wafer but is etched from the memory area, leaving the TEOS layer on the low voltage transistors .
  • a thick nitride layer 123 is deposited over the entire wafer including the TEOS layer 121 and the nitride layer 109 in the memory cell area.
  • An opening 125 is cut into the nitride layer centered on the gate 62.
  • the nitride layer 123 is seen to be removed and replaced by a polysilicon layer 127 which fills the opening 125 thereby forming a gate electrode making contact with polysilicon gate 62.
  • a supply voltage communicated to layer 127 and into opening 125 is transferred to gate 62 for reaching or writing charge on poly spacers 91 and 93 depending on voltages applied to source 101 or drain 103.
  • the polysilicon layer also extends over the TEOS layer 121 in the low voltage area. Next, the polysilicon is trimmed in a memory cell area so that it resides only over the memory cell.
  • the polysilicon and TEOS is completely removed from the low voltage area, thereby leaving the gates 64 and 66, each with nitride spacers 140 above the substrate.
  • the low voltage transistors are fully formed.
  • the memory cell transistor is fully formed with polysilicon gate 62 separated from poly spacers 91 and 93 by tunnel oxide.
  • a layer of oxide extends above the poly spacers 91 and 93 and a partial layer of nitride 131 and 133 extends over the poly spacers 91 and 93 respectively.
  • a partial poly layer 127 makes contact with the control gate at region 125 so that word line voltages can be applied to the control gate. Digit line signals are applied to the polysilicon spacers 91 and 93 as previously described.
  • the low voltage transistors 23 and 24 are activated by opposite phase clock pulses on lines 27 and 27, allowing bias voltage, V ss and V ss to be applied alternately to source and drain electrodes of memory cells along lines 13 and 14.
  • a word line 31 applies a programming or read voltage, V pp , to selected transistor 33 along line 31.
  • the entire array 11 operates similarly so that two bits can be stored on each of the array transistors 33, 35, 43 and 45.

Abstract

A multi-level non-volatile memory transistor (33) is formed in a semiconductor substrate (57). A conductive polysilicon control gate (51; 62) having opposed sidewalls is insulatively spaced (56) just above the substrate. Conductive polysilicon spacers (53, 55;91, 93) are separated from the opposed sidewalls by thin tunnel oxide (59; 74). Source and drain implants (61, 63; 101, 103) are beneath or slightly outboard of the spacers. Insulative material (104, 109) is placed over the structure with a hole (125) cut above the control gate for contact by a gate electrode (127) connected to, or part of, a conductive word line. Auxiliary low voltage transistors (23-26) which may be made at the same time as the formation of the memory transistor apply opposite phase clock pulses((~1, p2) to source and drain electrodes so that first one side of the memory transistor may be written to, or read, then t he other side.

Description

Description
MULTI -LEVEL MEMORY CELL WITH LATERAL FLOATING SPACERS
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to semiconductor integrated memory cells and, in particular, to multibit charge storage transistors.
BACKGROUND ART
In the past, nonvolatile memory transistors stored only one binary bit. In EEPROM (electrically eraseable programmable read only memory) transistors such charge storage occurs on a floating gate and so, such transistors are referred to as floating gate memory cell transistors. In order to store two binary bits in an EEPROM transistor, some modification of the transistor design is needed. Multibit charge storage transistors are known, including nonvolatile multibit transistors.
In U.S. Patent No. 6,323,088, Gonzalez et al . teach the use of two floating gates, placed side-by-side, beneath a control gate to form a multi-level memory cell. The control gate is connected to a word line over both of the floating gates while the active subsurface source and drain regions are connected to respective digit lines. By appropriately controlling the voltage and timing applied to the word line and the digit lines, separate charges can be stored and read from each of the two floating gates of the single transistor. Use of the two floating gates allows storage of two independent bits of information by separately controlling charge stored in each of the two floating gates.
In U.S. Patent No. 6,178,113, Gonzalez et al . teach another type of multi-level memory cell. Once again a pair of floating gates are provided beneath a control gate, with electrode connections as in the previously mentioned patent. However, here one or each of the floating gates is associated with a side insulator and an associated doped region next to the insulator, forming a capacitor across the side insulator with a floating gate. So now the structure has the properties of side-by-side capacitive structures fabricated as a single EEPROM transistor but with multi-level storage. While the above structures are significant contributions to the state of the art, even more compact structures are needed for embedded memory applications. In embedded memory, a circuit board might have a principal function, such as a processor function or a communications function. Frequently such boards contain microprograms to control operation or to store data. It is desirable to provide a single chip with high-density memory, rather than to rely on a plurality of separate memory chips. While use of multi-level memory chips would provide a solution, such chips are often larger than conventional transistors and so part of the advantage of such a solution is lost. An object of the invention was to devise a nonvolatile multi-level memory transistor, particularly an EEPROM, that is comparable in size to single bit nonvolatile memory chips.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above object has been met with a nonvolatile memory transistor that uses a pair of polysilicon floating spacer structures for storage of two data bits. The two spacers are on opposite sides of a single central conductive gate, but separated from the conductive gate by tunnel oxide having a thickness in the range of 10-50 angstroms. Tunnel oxide also separates the floating spacer structures from subsurface source and drain electrode regions. In this arrangement, the spacers themselves behave as principal conductive charge storage floating members on either side of the single central gate that is wired to be the control gate. In this manner the two binary bit lateral charge storage members of the present invention use approximately the same space as a conventional EEPROM cell using nitride or oxide spacers, while not increasing vertical dimensions. Charge is stored and isolated within the floating spacers by tunneling action with respect to both the substrate and the central gate. The control gate is wired as a word line, while the subsurface source and drain regions are the digit lines which are each connected to auxiliary transistors controlling phases for addressing each side of the memory cell independently.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a schematic drawing of a portion of a memory array on an integrated circuit chip employing multi-level non-volatile memory cells of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is an electrical schematic drawing of a multi-level non-volatile memory cell shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side sectional view of a multi- level non-volatile memory cell shown in Fig. 2, as constructed in a silicon process fabrication of the cell, as taken along lines 3-3 of Fig. 5.
Fig. 4 is another a side sectional view of a multi-level non-volatile memory cell shown in Fig. 2, as constructed in a silicon process fabrication of the cell, as taken along lines 4-4 of Fig. 5.
Fig. 5 is a top view of a multi-level nonvolatile memory cell shown in Fig. 2, as constructed in a silicon process fabrication of the memory cell. Figs. 6-22 are side sectional views of steps in a silicon process fabrication of a memory cell and two ancillary transistors, shown in Fig. 1 and manufactured at the same time.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
With reference to Fig. 1, a non-volatile memory array 11 is shown having memory array columns 10 and 12 with respective columnar lines 13 and 14 for array column 10 which, together, form a single bitline. Similarly, columnar lines 15 and 16 define a second bitline for array column 12. Between columnar lines 13 and 14 a first non-volatile memory transistor 33 and a second nonvolatile memory transistor 43 are situated. In the second bitline, between columnar lines 15 and 16, third and fourth non-volatile memory transistors 35 and 45 are situated. Also associated with the first bitline are ancillary low voltage transistors 23 on timing line 29 and ancillary transistor 24 on timing line 27. Similarly, associated with the second bitline, ancillary low voltage transistor 25 is associated with timing line 29 and ancillary low voltage transistor 26 is associated with timing line 27. The function of the ancillary transistors will be explained below. With reference to Fig. 2, the non-volatile memory transistor device 33 may be seen to have a control gate 51, a substrate 57 and left and right storage sites 53 and 55. The transistor device also has a source electrode 61 and a drain electrode 63. In Fig. 3, the device 33 is seen to be constructed on a silicon substrate 57 having a subsurface active region with source and drain implants 61 and 63 respectively. Control gate 51 is separated from the substrate by an oxide layer 56. Near opposite lateral edges of the control gate 51, conductive polysilicon spacers 53 and 55 are constructed in a manner so that they are separated from the control gate 51 and from the substrate by a very thin layer of tunnel oxide, approximately 25 to 70 angstroms thick. The spacers are upright structures, thinner at their top and wider at their base, having the cross-sectional appearance of a right triangle, with the top of each spacer at a level near the top of the control gate. The thickness of the tunnel oxide is selected to allow electron tunneling from the subsurface electrodes 61 and 63 into the floating polysilicon spacers 53 and 55 by means of an appropriate potential on the control gate 51.
Unlike floating gate transistors of the prior art, where the control gate is atop the floating gate in vertical arrangement with respective substrate, the present invention features a lateral construction where the floating regions are to the side of the control gate and above active regions of the substrate. This lateral construction allows memory devices of the present invention to be approximately the same height as ancillary transistors employing nitride spacers. This has advantages in fabrication and reliability of finished devices .
Each of the spacers can store charge independently of the other spacer. This allows two binary bits to be stored independently, giving rise to four states. If the spacers are designated QL and QR, then four data states are feasible, as shown in the table below. 10
Figure imgf000007_0001
To designate data state 0,0 both spacers have no charge. To designate the state 1,0 the left spacer has an amount of charge designated "-Q" and the right spacer has no charge. To designate the state 0,1 the left spacer, QL, has no charge and the right spacer, QR, has an amount of charge designated "-Q" . In order to designate the data state 1,1 both right and left spacers have an amount of data charge "-Q" .
The sectional view of Fig. 4 shows the transistor of Fig. 3 with gate 51 spaced above substrate 57 by oxide 56. With reference to Fig. 5, active regions and substrate 69 are defined with subsurface doping indicated by stripes 71 and 73. In subsequent processing steps, further doping will define source and drain regions within the active region stripes 71 and 73. Edges of tunnel oxide stripes 81 and 83 may be seen, over which the polysilicon spacer stripes 75 and 77 are deposited. One of the final steps in processing is the deposition of a polysilicon cap' 85 over' each of the cells 91, 93, 95 and 97. From Fig. 5, it is seen that construction of cells in the present invention may be achieved with a stripe linear geometry. The stripes 71 and 73 defining active the active regions are perpendicular to all other stripes. Polysilicon spacer stripe portions between cells are removed in finishing individual devices, but such removal is not shown in Fig. 5, but is described in below. The following figures describe the step-by-step self-formation process with illustration of significant steps. Intermediate masking steps are not shown but may be deduced from what is shown. Also, the drawings illustrate memory cell formation on the left side of each drawing and simultaneous ancillary low voltage gate formation on the right hand side of each drawing.
With reference to Fig. 6, the divider line, D, separates memory cell formation on the left and ancillary low voltage transistor formation on the right. Fig. 6 shows substrate 57 having a layer of gate oxide 56 on the left side. To the right of line, D, a transistor with a different oxide 58 thickness is placed over common substrate 57. The oxide could be thinner or thicker depending on the type of device .
In Fig. 7, a layer of polysilicon 60 is deposited over the oxide regions 56 and 58. The polysilicon layer 60 will form poly gates for the diverse transistors .
In Fig. 8, the polysilicon layer of Fig. 7 has been etched to form mesas. The mesa in the memory cell area becomes a polysilicon control gate 62 above the full height of a portion of an oxide layer 56 previously described. At the same time, gates 64 and 66 are defined for low voltage transistors. The polysilicon shown in Fig. 7 has been etched away to form the mesas. Oxide adjacent to the mesas has been removed by etching. Adjacent to polysilicon gate 62 some residual oxide remains in regions 68.
In Fig. 9, the low voltage transistors are protected by an insulative layer 72. The protective layer may be TEOS mask formed by the decomposition of tetraethyl orthosilicate.
In Fig. 10, the residual oxide has been removed and a new thin layer of tunnel oxide 74 is deposited over polysilicon gate 62. The tunnel oxide layer has a thickness typically ranging between 25-70 angstroms. Thin oxide may be deposited over the TEOS mask 72, but is inconsequential in the low voltage region.
In Fig. 11, a polysilicon layer 82 is deposited over the tunnel oxide layer 74, as well as over the TEOS layer 72. Arsenic is implanted into the polysilicon layer 82 to adjust conductivity for the spacers formed in Fig. 12 by etching away polysilicon.
In Fig. 12, the polysilicon layer of Fig. 11 has been etched defining spacers 91 and 93 on both sides of the polysilicon gate 62 but spaced from the gate by tunnel oxide layer 74. The polysilicon spacers 91 and 93 have the shape and size of conventional insulative spacers. However, polysilicon spacers 91 and 93 are conductive, intended to store charge with tunneling into the spacers from the substrate through the thin oxide . The upwardly extending thin oxide allows control gate 62 to communicate control signals individually to the polysilicon spacers 91 and 93 in a manner described below based upon timing signals applied to substrate electrodes .
By removing most of the polysilicon from the wafer, the insulative TEOS layer 72 is exposed over the transistors with different oxide thicknesses. This TEOS layer is etched away, as seen in Fig. 13, while at the same time the" memory cell is protected by a nitride layer 95 extending over the memory cell, including the poly spacers 91 and 93, as well as the control gate 62.
In Fig. 14, the insulative nitride layer 95 is removed and a thick oxide layer 97 is substituted. Oxide layer has a thickness of approximately 1,500 angstroms and extends over the poly gates of the low voltage transistors .
In Fig. 15, the oxide is removed except over the mesa regions including the poly spacers 91 and 93.
On each side of the spacers an ion implantation is made, forming subsurface source and drain regions 101 and 103 of lightly doped N-type material slightly outboard of the respective poly spacers 101 and 103, or slightly beneath the spacers. Similar regions are formed slightly outboard of both sides of mesa 64. P-type ions are injected on either side of mesa 66, opposite the conductivity type of subsurface regions on either side of mesa 64. This will allow formation of low voltage P- and N-type transistors. In Fig. 16, a new nitride layer 109 is deposited over all transistors.
In Fig. 17, it can be seen that the nitride is etched in the low voltage transistor region, leaving nitride spacers 111 and 115 on opposite sides of mesa 64, a poly gate. Similarly, nitride spacers 117 and 119 are on either side of mesa 66, another poly gate. The low voltage transistors are now fully formed with source and drain electrodes. Sources and drains are the implant regions in the substrate, while the gate for each transistor is the polysilicon mesa structure above the substrate. Nitride 109 remains above the poly gate 62 and the poly spacers 91 and 93.
In Fig. 18, the polysilicon spacer 91 is seen to be a floating spacer insulated from the poly gate 62 by vertically extending tunnel oxide and insulated from substrate 57 by horizontally extending tunnel oxide. Separate oxide layer 104 separates poly spacer 91 from nitride layer 109. The doped subsurface region 101, a source region, can communicate electrons through the tunnel oxide to the floating spacer 91 where charge is preserved, with an appropriate voltage potential placed on the gate 62 to manipulate charge onto the floating spacer. To discharge the floating spacer, the poly gate 62 assumes an opposite voltage, which causes tunneling of electrons back toward source 101. Timing signals applied to source and drain regions 101 and 103 determine which of the spacers 91 and 93 is to be read or written to. In Fig. 19, an insulative TEOS layer 121 is deposited over the wafer but is etched from the memory area, leaving the TEOS layer on the low voltage transistors .
In Fig. 20, a thick nitride layer 123 is deposited over the entire wafer including the TEOS layer 121 and the nitride layer 109 in the memory cell area. An opening 125 is cut into the nitride layer centered on the gate 62.
In Fig. 21, the nitride layer 123 is seen to be removed and replaced by a polysilicon layer 127 which fills the opening 125 thereby forming a gate electrode making contact with polysilicon gate 62. A supply voltage communicated to layer 127 and into opening 125 is transferred to gate 62 for reaching or writing charge on poly spacers 91 and 93 depending on voltages applied to source 101 or drain 103. The polysilicon layer also extends over the TEOS layer 121 in the low voltage area. Next, the polysilicon is trimmed in a memory cell area so that it resides only over the memory cell. The polysilicon and TEOS is completely removed from the low voltage area, thereby leaving the gates 64 and 66, each with nitride spacers 140 above the substrate. The low voltage transistors are fully formed. Similarly, the memory cell transistor is fully formed with polysilicon gate 62 separated from poly spacers 91 and 93 by tunnel oxide. A layer of oxide extends above the poly spacers 91 and 93 and a partial layer of nitride 131 and 133 extends over the poly spacers 91 and 93 respectively. A partial poly layer 127 makes contact with the control gate at region 125 so that word line voltages can be applied to the control gate. Digit line signals are applied to the polysilicon spacers 91 and 93 as previously described.
In operation, referring to Fig. 1, the low voltage transistors 23 and 24 are activated by opposite phase clock pulses on lines 27 and 27, allowing bias voltage, Vss and Vss to be applied alternately to source and drain electrodes of memory cells along lines 13 and 14. At the same time, a word line 31 applies a programming or read voltage, Vpp, to selected transistor 33 along line 31. The entire array 11 operates similarly so that two bits can be stored on each of the array transistors 33, 35, 43 and 45.

Claims

Claims
1. A multi-level non-volatile memory transistor with lateral charge storage areas, comprising: a semiconductor substrate having an active region with spaced apart source and drain regions in the active region; a first insulative layer disposed over the substrate between the source and drain regions; a conductive control gate disposed over the first insulative layer and having opposed sidewalls; a pair of conductive upright spacers located on opposite sides of the control gate adjacent to the sidewalls but separated therefrom and from the substrate by a tunnel oxide, the source and drain regions in the substrate being in charge tunneling communication with the respective spacers via the tunnel oxide under control of the control gate; a second insulative layer covering the control gate and spacers such that the spacers are electrically floating structures acting as charge storage areas; and a conductive gate electrode layer disposed over the second insulative layer and contacting the control gate through an opening in the second insulative layer, the gate electrode layer associated with a voltage supply for providing voltage levels to the control gate effective for controlling writing and reading of charge on the spacers .
2. A memory transistor as in claim 1, wherein the source and drain regions are connected to power supplies through respective first and second low voltage MOS transistors, the first and second transistors having gates connected to receive timing signals of opposite phase such that the first and second transistors conduct in opposed phases and power supply voltages are applied first to one of the source and drain regions and then to the other, whereby each of the spacers is written to or read from independently.
3. A memory transistor as in claim 1 which is located in an array of identical memory transistors, with the conductive gate electrode layer defining wordlines of the array, and with the source and drain regions connected to bitlines of the array.
4. A method of making a multi-level non-volatile memory transistor with lateral charge storage areas, comprising: defining a conductive control gate having opposed sidewalls and separated from a semiconductor substrate by a first insulative layer; defining a pair of conductive upright spacers adjacent opposite sidewalls of the control gate and separated therefrom and from the substrate by a tunnel oxide; defining source and drain regions in the substrate adjacent to the respective pair of spacers in charge tunneling communication therewith; covering the control gate and spacers with a second insulative layer such that the spacers form electrically floating structures that act as charge storage areas; and defining a conductive gate electrode layer over the second insulative layer and contacting the control gate through an opening in the second insulative layer.
5. A method as in claim 4, wherein the control gate and spacers are composed of polysilicon.
6. A method as in claim 4, further defined by forming gates of low voltage MOS transistors at the same time as defining the conductive gate electrode layer of the memory transistor.
7. A method as in claim 4, further defined by forming an array of such memory transistors in a stripe geometry, wherein active regions for the memory transistors are formed in pairs of parallel stripes extending in a first direction, and all insulative and conductive structures of the memory transistors are formed in parallel stripes extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.
PCT/US2003/040205 2002-12-20 2003-12-18 Multi-level memory cell with lateral floating spacers WO2004059737A1 (en)

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CA002508810A CA2508810A1 (en) 2002-12-20 2003-12-18 Multi-level memory cell with lateral floating spacers
EP03814101A EP1576668A4 (en) 2002-12-20 2003-12-18 Multi-level memory cell with lateral floating spacers
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TW200427066A (en) 2004-12-01
US7180126B2 (en) 2007-02-20
US20050062092A1 (en) 2005-03-24
EP1576668A4 (en) 2008-03-26
US20040119112A1 (en) 2004-06-24
CA2508810A1 (en) 2004-07-15
US20070134875A1 (en) 2007-06-14
WO2004059737B1 (en) 2004-09-02
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US6831325B2 (en) 2004-12-14
AU2003300994A1 (en) 2004-07-22

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