U.S. patent application number 10/067600 was filed with the patent office on 2003-08-07 for scalable multi-bit flash memory cell and its memory array.
Invention is credited to Wu, Ching-Yuan.
Application Number | 20030146465 10/067600 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 27658877 |
Filed Date | 2003-08-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030146465 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wu, Ching-Yuan |
August 7, 2003 |
SCALABLE MULTI-BIT FLASH MEMORY CELL AND ITS MEMORY ARRAY
Abstract
The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell includes three regions:
the first-side region, the gate region, and the second-side region,
in which the gate region includes two stack-gate transistors and
one select-gate transistor. The first-side/second-side region
comprises a sidewall-oxide spacer formed over the gate region and
from top to bottom comprises a planarized thick-oxide layer, a
silicided conductive layer formed on a flat bed, and a
common-diffusion region. The stack-gate transistor comprises from
top to bottom a sidewall dielectric spacer, an elongated
control-gate layer formed over an intergate dielectric layer, and
an integrated floating-gate layer. The select-gate transistor
comprises a planarized conductive island formed over a
gate-dielectric layer and is connected to a word line. A plurality
of scalable multi-bit flash memory cells are alternately arranged
to form a scalable multi-bit flash memory cell array.
Inventors: |
Wu, Ching-Yuan; (Hsinchu,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
POWELL, GOLDSTEIN, FRAZER & MURPHY LLP
P.O. Box 97223
Washington
DC
20090-7223
US
|
Family ID: |
27658877 |
Appl. No.: |
10/067600 |
Filed: |
February 7, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
257/314 ;
257/315; 257/E21.209; 257/E21.682; 257/E27.103 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01L 27/115 20130101;
H01L 29/7881 20130101; H01L 29/7885 20130101; H01L 29/40114
20190801; G11C 16/0458 20130101; H01L 27/11519 20130101; H01L
27/11521 20130101; H01L 29/42328 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
257/314 ;
257/315 |
International
Class: |
H01L 029/76; H01L
029/788 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A scalable multi-bit flash memory cell, comprising: a
semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type; a cell region
including an active region and two shallow-trench-isolation (STI)
regions being formed on said semiconductor substrate and dividing
into three regions: a gate region being formed between a first-side
region and a second-side region, wherein said gate region is
defined by a masking photoresist step and is therefore scalable; a
common-diffusion region of a second conductivity type being
separately formed in said active region of said first-side region
and said second-side region using said gate region as an
implantation mask; a flat bed being separately formed in said
first-side region and said second-side region, wherein said flat
bed is formed by said common-diffusion region and etched raised
field-oxide layers over said two STI regions; a sidewall-oxide
spacer being separately formed over each sidewall of said gate
region and on a portion of said flat bed; a conductive layer acting
as a bit line being separately formed over said flat bed outside of
said sidewall-oxide spacer; a planarized thick-oxide layer being
formed over said conductive layer and said sidewall-oxide spacer;
two stack-gate transistors being separately formed in the side
portions of said gate region and one select-gate transistor being
formed between said two stack-gate transistors, wherein each of
said two stack-gate transistors comprises from top to bottom a
sidewall dielectric spacer formed over a sidewall created by said
sidewall-oxide spacer and said planarized thick-oxide layer, an
elongated control-gate layer over an intergate dielectric layer,
and an integrated floating-gate layer; wherein said integrated
floating-gate layer comprises a major floating-gate layer being
formed on a thin tunneling-dielectric layer and two extended
floating-gate layers being separately formed on a portion of nearby
raised field-oxide layer formed on each of said two STI regions; a
gate-dielectric layer being formed over a semiconductor surface
between said two stack-gate transistors, said two stack-gate
transistors and their inner sidewalls, and said planarized
thick-oxide layers in said first-side region and said second-side
region; and a word line being patterned above said active region
and transversely to said elongated control-gate layer, wherein said
word line comprises from top to bottom a hard masking layer over a
metal layer and a planarized conductive island being formed over
said gate-dielectric layer and between said two stack-gate
transistors.
2. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell according to claim 1,
wherein said common-diffusion region is preferably a lightly-doped
diffusion region.
3. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell according to claim 1,
wherein said conductive layer is preferably a heavily-doped
polycrystalline-silicon layer of said second conductivity type
capped with a refractory-metal silicide layer and said
heavily-doped polycrystalline-silicon layer is acted as a dopant
diffusion source for forming a heavily-doped common-diffusion
region within said common-diffusion region.
4. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell according to claim 1,
wherein said elongated control-gate layer is preferably a
polycide-gate layer.
5. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell according to claim 1,
wherein said integrated floating-gate layer is preferably made of
doped polycrystalline-silicon or doped amorphous-silicon.
6. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell according to claim 1,
wherein said sidewall dielectric spacer formed is preferably made
of silicon-nitrides, silicon-oxynitrides, silicon-oxides, or
dielectric materials of low dielectric constant.
7. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell according to claim 1,
wherein said gate-dielectric layer is preferably a silicon-oxide
layer or a composite dielectric layer having a nitride-oxide
structure or an oxide-nitride-oxide structure.
8. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell according to claim 1,
wherein said planarized conductive island is preferably made of
doped polycrystalline-silicon or doped amorphous-silicon capped
with a refractory-metal silicide layer.
9. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell according to claim 1,
wherein said planarized conductive island is preferably a
planarized metal island over a barrier-metal layer.
10. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell according to claim 1,
wherein said metal layer is preferably a composite layer of an
aluminum (Al) layer, a copper (Cu) layer, a tungsten (W) layer, or
a tungsten-silicide (WSi.sub.2) layer over a barrier-metal
layer.
11. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell according to claim 1,
wherein said hard masking layer comprises a masking dielectric
layer formed above said active region and two sidewall dielectric
spacers formed over the sidewalls of said masking dielectric layer
and is preferably made of silicon-nitrides or silicon-oxides.
12. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell according to claim 1,
wherein a surface of said semiconductor substrate between said two
stack-gate transistors is preferably implanted to form an implanted
region and said implanted region comprises a shallow implanted
region for threshold-voltage adjustment and a deep implanted region
for forming a punch-through stop.
13. A scalable multi-bit flash memory cell array, comprising: a
semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type; a plurality
of parallel shallow-trench-isolation (STI) regions and a plurality
of active-regions being formed on said semiconductor substrate,
wherein each of the plurality of parallel STI regions is filled
with a raised field-oxide layer; a plurality of gate regions being
formed alternately on said semiconductor substrate and transversely
to the plurality of parallel STI regions, wherein each of the
plurality of gate regions is formed between a pair of common
bit-line regions and is defined by a masking photoresist step and
is therefore scalable; a plurality of common-diffusion regions of a
second conductivity type being formed in said semiconductor
substrate of the plurality of active regions in said common
bit-line regions; a flat bed being formed in each of said common
bit-line regions, wherein said flat bed is formed alternately by
the plurality of common-diffusion regions and etched raised
field-oxide layers; a sidewall-oxide spacer being formed over the
sidewalls of each of the plurality of gate regions and on a portion
of said flat bed; a conductive layer acting as a bit line being
formed over said flat bed between a pair of said sidewall-oxide
spacers; a planarized thick-oxide layer being formed over a pair of
said sidewall-oxide spacers and said conductive layer formed
therebetween; two stack-gate regions being formed in the side
portions of each of the plurality of gate regions and one
select-gate region being formed between said two stack-gate
regions, wherein each of said stack-gate regions comprises from top
to bottom a sidewall-dielectric spacer formed over a sidewall
created by said sidewall-oxide spacer and said planarized
thick-oxide layer, an elongated control-gate layer over an
intergate-dielectric layer, a plurality of integrated floating-gate
layers formed under said intergate-dielectric layer; wherein each
of the plurality of integrated floating-gate layers comprises a
major floating-gate layer being formed on a thin
tunneling-dielectric layer and two extended floating-gate layers
being separately formed on a portion of each of nearby two raised
field-oxide layers; a gate-dielectric layer being formed
alternately over a plurality of semiconductor surfaces between said
two stack-gate regions, said two stack-gate regions and their inner
sidewalls, and said planarized thick-oxide layers; and a plurality
of word lines being formed above the plurality of active regions
and transversely to said elongated control-gate layers, wherein
each of the plurality of word lines comprises a hard masking layer
over a metal layer and a plurality of planarized conductive islands
with each of the plurality of planarized conductive islands being
formed over said gate dielectric layer between a pair of said two
stack-gate regions.
14. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell array according to
claim 13, wherein said common-diffusion region comprises a
lightly-doped diffusion region being formed within a heavily-doped
diffusion region.
15. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell array according to
claim 13, wherein said conductive layer is preferably a
heavily-doped polycrystalline-silicon layer capped with a
refractory-metal silicide layer.
16. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell array according to
claim 13, wherein said planarized conductive island is preferably
made of doped polycrystalline-silicon and is capped with a
refractory-metal silicide layer.
17. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell array according to
claim 13, wherein said planarized conductive island is preferably
formed by a planarized metal island over a barrier-metal layer and
said planarized metal island is preferably made of
tungsten-silicide or tungsten.
18. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell array according to
claim 13, wherein said metal layer acting as said word line is
preferably an aluminum layer or a copper layer or a
tungsten-silicide layer or a tungsten layer formed over a
barrier-metal layer.
19. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell array according to
claim 13, wherein said hard masking layer comprises a masking
dielectric layer and its two sidewall dielectric spacers and is
preferably made of silicon-oxides or silicon-nitrides.
20. The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell array according to
claim 17 or claim 18, wherein said barrier-metal layer is
preferably made of refractory-metal-nitrides such as
titanium-nitride (TiN) or tantalum-nitride (TaN).
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates in general to a flash memory
cell and its memory cell array and, more particularly, to a
scalable multi-bit flash memory cell and its memory cell array.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Basically, flash memory devices can be divided into two
categories: a stack-gate structure and a split-gate structure. The
stack-gate structure is known to be a one-transistor cell, in which
the gate length of a cell can be defined by using the
minimum-feature-size (F) of technology used. However, the
split-gate structure including a floating-gate and a select gate is
known to be a 1.5-transistor cell. Therefore, the stack-gate
structure is often used in a high-density flash memory system. The
stack-gate structure can be connected in series to form a
high-density NAND-type array with common source/drain diffusion
regions. However, the access speed is slow in an NAND-type flash
memory array due to the series resistance of the configuration.
Moreover, an NAND-type flash memory array is programmed by
Fowler-Nordheim tunneling which is relatively slow process. The
split-gate structure having a select gate used to prevent the
over-erasing problem is in general configured to form a NOR-type
array and the hot-electron injection is used to obtain high-speed
programming. As a consequence, a flash memory cell taking the
advantages of stack-gate and split-gate structures is a major trend
for development, and a typical example is shown in FIG. 1 as
disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,806.
[0005] Referring to FIG. 1A, two stack-gate structures 20G, 22G are
separated by a select gate 24G and two common N+/N- diffusion lines
20A, 22A acted as the bit lines are formed in each side of the
stack-gate structure. A top plan view of FIG. 1A is shown in FIG.
1B, in which a third poly-silicon layer 28 acted as a select gate
is formed above the common N+/N- diffusion lines 20A, 22A and the
control-gate lines 20C, 22C. From FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, four masking
steps are required to implement the device and the cell size of
each bit is limited to 4F.sup.2, which is equivalent to that of an
NAND-type array using the stack-gate structure. However, there are
several drawbacks as compared to existing NAND-type array: very
high parasitic capacitances between the select-gate (word) line and
the bit line; very high parasitic capacitances between the
select-gate (word) line and the control-gate line; the isolation
between the cells in the nearby word lines is poor; and the
isolation between the nearby bit lines and the nearby word lines is
weak. More seriously, a poor isolation between the word lines may
result in an erroneous data in reading for a selected cell.
[0006] It is therefore an objective of the present invention to
provide a multi-bit cell having a cell size of each bit being
smaller than 4F.sup.2 and scalable.
[0007] It is another objective of the present invention to provide
a shallow-trench-isolation structure for a high-density multi-bit
flash memory array.
[0008] It is further objective of the present invention to provide
a better density.cndot.speed.cndot.power product for a multi-bit
flash memory array.
[0009] Other objectives and advantages of the present invention
will be apparent from the following description.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell and its memory
array are disclosed by the present invention. The scalable
multi-bit flash memory cell of the present invention is divided
into three regions: the first-side region, the gate region, and the
second-side region, in which the gate region is defined by a
masking photoresist step and is therefore scalable. The gate region
includes two stack-gate transistors being formed in each side
portion of the gate region and one select-gate transistor being
formed between two stack-gate transistors. The
first-side/second-side region comprises a sidewall-oxide spacer
being formed over the sidewalls of the gate region and on a portion
of a flat bed and outside of a sidewall-oxide spacer comprises from
top to bottom a planarized thick-oxide layer, a silicide layer, and
a conductive layer formed over a portion of a flat bed. The flat
bed is formed by a common-diffusion region and two etched raised
field-oxide layers formed nearby and each of two stack-gate
transistors comprises from top to bottom a sidewall dielectric
spacer, an elongated control-gate layer formed over an intergate
dielectric layer, and an integrated floating-gate layer, wherein
the integrated floating-gate layer comprises a major floating-gate
layer being formed over a thin tunneling-dielectric layer and two
extended floating-gate layers being separately formed on a portion
of each of raised field-oxide layers formed nearby. A
gate-dielectric layer is formed over the planarized thick-oxide
layers, two stack-gate transistors and their inner sidewalls, and a
semiconductor surface between two stack-gate transistors. A
planarized conductive island being patterned and etched
simultaneously with a word line is formed over the gate-dielectric
layer between two stack-gate transistors, wherein an implanted
region is formed in the semiconductor substrate under the
select-gate region with a shallow implant for threshold-voltage
adjustment and a deep implant for forming a punch-through stop. The
word line comprises a metal layer being formed over the
gate-dielectric layer and a planarized conductive island being
formed between two stack-gate transistors, and a hard masking layer
including a masking dielectric layer and its two sidewall spacers
being formed over the metal layer to simultaneously pattern and
etch the metal layer and the planarized conductive island.
[0011] A plurality of scalable multi-bit flash memory cells of the
present invention are arranged to form a scalable flash memory cell
array of the present invention. A plurality of parallel
shallow-trench-isolation (STI) regions are formed on a
semiconductor substrate having a plurality of active regions formed
therebetween, wherein each of the plurality of parallel STI regions
comprises a raised field-oxide layer and each of the plurality of
active regions comprises a thin tunneling dielectric layer being
formed on the semiconductor substrate. A plurality of gate regions
are formed over the semiconductor substrate and transversely to the
plurality of parallel STI regions and a plurality of common
bit-line regions are formed therebetween. Each of the plurality of
gate regions includes two stack-gate regions being separately
formed in each side portion and one select-gate region being formed
between two stack-gate regions. Each of two stack-gate regions
comprises from top to bottom a sidewall dielectric spacer, an
elongated control-gate layer formed over an intergate dielectric
layer, and a plurality of integrated floating-gate layers. Each of
the plurality of integrated floating-gate layers comprises a major
floating-gate layer being formed over a thin tunneling-dielectric
layer and two extended floating-gate layers being formed separately
on a portion of each of raised field-oxide layers formed nearby.
Each of the plurality of common bit-line regions comprises a pair
of sidewall dielectric spacers being formed over the sidewalls of
the plurality of gate regions and on a portion of a flat bed, and
outside of the pair of sidewall dielectric spacers further
comprises a planarized thick-oxide layer, a silicide layer, and a
conductive layer formed on a flat bed. The flat bed is formed
alternately by common-diffusion regions and etched raised
field-oxide layers. A gate-dielectric layer is formed alternately
over the planarized thick-oxide layers, stack-gate regions and
their inner sidewalls, and a semiconductor surface of the
select-gate region, and a plurality of planarized conductive
islands are formed over the gate-dielectric layer between a pair of
stack-gate regions in each of the plurality of gate regions. A
plurality of word lines are formed above the plurality of active
regions, wherein each of the plurality of word lines comprises a
metal layer being formed over the gate-dielectric layer and the
planarized conductive islands and a hard masking layer including a
masking dielectric layer and its two sidewall dielectric spacers
being formed over the metal layer to simultaneously pattern and
etch the metal layer and the planarized conductive islands.
[0012] The scalable multi-bit flash memory cell and its memory
array of the present invention may offer the following advantages
and features: scalable cell size; a highly conductive bit line
having lower bit-line capacitance and resistance; no contact
problems for shallow diffusion junction; good isolation for memory
cells; and better density.cndot.speed.cndot.power product as
compared to the prior art.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B show the schematic diagrams of the prior
art, in which FIG. 1A shows a cross-sectional view of a multi-bit
flash memory cell and FIG. 1B shows a top plan view of a multi-bit
flash memory cell.
[0014] FIG. 2A through FIG. 2C show the schematic diagrams of the
present invention, in which FIG. 2A shows a cross-sectional view of
a scalable flash memory bit cell; FIG. 2B shows a top plan view of
a scalable multi-bit flash memory array of the present invention;
and FIG. 2C shows a schematic circuit diagram of a scalable
multi-bit flash memory array shown in FIG. 2B.
[0015] FIG. 3A through FIG. 3I show the process steps and their
cross-sectional view for forming a shallow trench-isolation
structure having the integrated floating-gate layers.
[0016] FIG. 4A through FIG. 4I show the process steps and their
cross-sectional views for forming a scalable multi-bit flash memory
cell and its memory array.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0017] Referring now to FIG. 2A, there is shown a cross-sectional
view of a scalable multi-bit flash memory cell of the present
invention. As shown in FIG. 2A, the scalable multi-bit flash memory
cell can be divided into three regions: the first-side region, the
gate region, and the second-side region, in which the gate region
being situated between the first-side region and the second-side
region includes two stack-gate transistors formed separately on
each side portion of the gate region and one select-gate transistor
formed between two stack-gate transistors; the first-side region
and the second-side region are the bit-line regions. Each of two
stack-gate transistors comprises from top to bottom a sidewall
dielectric spacer 115b, an elongated control-gate layer 108b, an
intergate dielectric layer 107b, an integrated floating-gate layer,
and a thin tunneling-dielectric layer 101c formed on the
semiconductor substrate 100 of a first conductivity type. The
first-side/second-side region comprises a sidewall-oxide spacer
111b formed over a sidewall of the gate region and comprises from
top to bottom a planarized thick-oxide layer 114b, a silicide layer
113b, a conductive layer 112b formed over a flat bed. The flat bed
is formed by a heavily-doped diffusion region 117a of a second
conductivity type being formed within a lightly-doped diffusion
region 110a of a second conductivity type and etched raised
field-oxide layers 104c. The integrated floating-gate layer
includes a major floating-gate layer 102c formed over a thin
tunneling-dielectric layer 101c and two extended floating-gate
layers 105c formed over a portion of each of raised field-oxide
layers 104b formed nearby. A gate-dielectric layer 118 is formed
over the planarized thick-oxide layers 114b, the stack-gate
transistors and their inner sidewalls, and a semiconductor surface
between two stack-gate transistors. A planarized conductive island
119a is formed over the gate-dielectric layer 118 between two
stack-gate transistors and is patterned and etched simultaneously
with a word line 120a using a hard masking layer formed by a
masking dielectric layer 121a and its two sidewall dielectric
spacers 122a. The semiconductor surface under the select-gate
region is implanted to form an implanted region 116a with a shallow
implant (dash lines) for threshold-voltage adjustment and a deep
implant (cross symbols) for forming a punch-through stop.
[0018] FIG. 2B shows a top plan view of a scalable multi-bit flash
memory cell array of the present invention, in which a plurality of
parallel shallow-trench-isolation (STI) regions are formed on a
semiconductor substrate 100 of a first conductivity type with a
plurality of active regions being formed therebetween; a plurality
of gate regions as marked by XF are formed transversely to the
plurality of parallel STI regions and are patterned by a masking
photoresist step having a plurality of bit-line (BL) regions formed
therebetween; a plurality of word lines (WL) are formed above the
plurality of active regions and are located transversely to the
plurality of bit-line regions. Each of the plurality of parallel
STI regions comprises a raised field-oxide layer 104b being formed
on the semiconductor substrate 100 and each of the plurality of
active regions comprises a thin tunneling-dielectric layer 101a
being formed over the semiconductor substrate 100. Each of the
plurality of bit-line regions comprises a pair of sidewall
dielectric spacers 111b formed over an opposite sidewall of the
nearby gate regions and on a portion of a flat bed and from top to
bottom comprises a planarized thick-oxide layer 114b, a silicide
layer 113b, and a conductive layer 112b formed over a flat bed
between a pair of sidewall dielectric spacers 111b. A plurality of
common-diffusion regions of a second conductivity type being formed
in the semiconductor substrate 100 of the plurality of active
regions along each bit-line region and a flat bed being formed
alternately by common-diffusion regions and etched raised
field-oxide layer 104c. Each of the plurality of common-diffusion
regions comprises a heavily-doped diffusion region 117a being
formed within a lightly-doped diffusion region 110a. Each of the
plurality of gate regions comprises two stack-gate regions being
located in each side portion of the gate region and formed on the
semiconductor substrate 100 and a select-gate region being located
between two stack-gate regions. Each of two stack-gate regions
comprises from top to bottom a sidewall dielectric spacer 115b, an
elongated control-gate layer 108b formed over an intergate
dielectric spacer 107b, and a plurality of integrated floating-gate
layers. Each of the plurality of integrated floating-gate layers
comprises a major floating-gate layer 102c being formed on a thin
tunneling-dielectric layer 101c and two extended floating-gate
layers 105c being separately formed on a portion of a pair of
raised field-oxide layers 104b formed nearby. A gate-dielectric
layer 118 is formed alternately over the planarized thick-oxide
layers 114b, two stack-gate regions and their inner sidewalls, and
a semiconductor surface between two stack-gate regions, wherein an
implanted region 116a being formed in the semiconductor substrate
100 between two stack-gate regions comprises a shallow implant
(dash line) for threshold-voltage adjustment and a deep implant for
forming a punch-through stop. Each of the plurality of word lines
comprises a metal layer formed over a gate-dielectric layer 118 and
a plurality of planarized conductive islands 119a formed over the
select-gate regions, wherein a hard masking layer including a
masking dielectric layer 121a and its two sidewall dielectric
spacers 122a is used to simultaneously pattern and etch the metal
layer 120 and the planarized conductive islands 119a to form an
integrated word line.
[0019] A cross-sectional view along A-A' direction shown in FIG. 2B
is shown in FIG. 2A and FIG. 4I(a); a cross-sectional view along
B-B' direction shown in FIG. 2B is shown in FIG. 4I(b); a
cross-sectional view along C-C' direction shown in FIG. 2B is shown
in FIG. 4I(c); and a cross-sectional view along D-D' direction
shown in FIG. 2B is shown in FIG. 4I(d). From an unit cell as
marked by the dash line, the cell area of a multi-bit flash memory
cell is 2(1+X)F.sup.2, where X is a scale factor and can be
controlled to be 1.ltoreq.X<3. For X=2, the cell size of each
bit is only 3F.sup.2 which is much smaller than the limiting cell
size of 4F.sup.2 for an advanced NAND-type array or a multi-bit
cell of the prior art.
[0020] According to the description as addressed, the multi-bit
flash memory cell and its memory array of the present invention
exhibit the following advantages and features:
[0021] (a) The multi-bit flash memory cell of the present invention
offers a scalable cell size and the cell size of each bit can be
made to be smaller than 4F.sup.2.
[0022] (b) The multi-bit flash memory cell of the present invention
offers a self-aligned integrated floating-gate layer to largely
increase the coupling ratio of the floating-gate as compared to the
multi-bit flash memory cell of the prior art.
[0023] (c) The multi-bit flash memory cell array of the present
invention offers a conductive bit line with a lower bit-line
resistance, a lower bit-line capacitance, and a lower bit-line
leakage current, as compared to the buried diffusion bit line of
the prior art.
[0024] (d) The multi-bit flash memory cell array of the present
invention offers a shallow-trench-isolation structure for multi-bit
flash memory cells in different word lines (or select lines) to
eliminate the erroneous data in reading.
[0025] (e) The multi-bit flash memory array of the present
invention offers lower word-line resistance and capacitance as
compared to the multi-bit memory array of the prior art.
[0026] (f) The multi-bit flash memory cell array of the present
invention offers a much better density.cndot.speed.cndot.power
product as compared to that of NAND-type arrays.
[0027] Referring now to FIG. 2C, there is shown a simplified
circuit diagram for a multi-bit flash memory array shown in FIG.
2B. As shown in FIG. 2C, there are a plurality of bit-lines
(BL0.about.BL3) and a plurality of elongated control-gate lines
(CG0.about.CG7) being formed in parallel and a plurality of word
lines (WL0.about.WL3) being formed transversely to the plurality of
bit-lines with a plurality of select-gates of a plurality of
multi-bit flash memory cells in a row being connected to a word
line.
[0028] If a multi-bit flash memory cell 305 is to be programmed, a
first voltage is applied to BL1 and a second voltage is applied to
BL2; a first voltage is also applied to the bit lines in the same
side of BL1 (for example BL0) and a second voltage is also applied
to the bit lines in the same side of BL2 (for example BL3); a third
voltage is applied to the control-gate lines CG3 and CG4; a fourth
voltage is applied to the word line WL1. If the first voltage is 0
volts, the second voltage is 3.about.5 volts, the third voltage is
10.about.12 volts and the fourth voltage is slightly larger than
the threshold voltage V.sub.T of the select-gate transistor, the
stack-gate transistor near the bit-line BL2 will be programmed to a
desired state by hot-electron-injection through a high lateral
electric field across the gap between the select-gate and the
stack-gate transistor near the bit-line BL2 if the fourth voltage
is applied for a predetermined period of time. Similarly, if the
first voltage is 3.about.5 volts, the second voltage is 0 voltage,
the third voltage is 10.about.12 volts and the fourth voltage is
slightly larger than the threshold voltage of the select-gate is
applied for a predetermined period of time, the stack-gate
transistor near the bit line BL1 will be programmed to a desired
state. It is clear that each of stack-gate transistor can be
programmed to a different desired state by controlling the period
of time for a fourth voltage on the selected word line and the
programming current is mainly controlled by a fourth voltage on the
select-gate. Therefore, the programming efficiency is high and the
programming power is less as compared to those of conventional
channel-end hot-electron-injection.
[0029] For erasing, a first voltage of 10.about.12 volts is applied
to BL1 and a third voltage of 0 volts is applied to the
control-gate line CG3, the stack-gate transistors under the
control-gate line CG3 can be erased by tunneling electrons from the
floating-gates under the control-gate line CG3 into the bit line
BL1. Similarly, a second voltage of 10.about.12 voltage is applied
to BL2 and a third voltage of 0 volts is applied to CG4, the
stack-gate transistors under the control-gate CG4 can be erased.
Since the bit line is a common bit line for nearby cells in two
columns, the stack-gate transistors near a bit line can be
simultaneously erased if a first voltage of 10.about.12 volts is
applied to the bit line and the third voltage of 0 volts is applied
to the control-gate lines near the bit line. By the same way, all
of the multi-bit flash memory cells can be simultaneously erased if
all of the bit lines are applied with a voltage of 10.about.12
volts and all of the control-gate lines are applied with a voltage
of 0 volts. It should be noted that no over-erasing problem may
occur because the select-gate transistors are normally in the off
state.
[0030] For a multi-bit flash memory cell 305 is to be read, a first
voltage of 0 volts is applied to the bit line BL1 and the bit lines
in the same side of BL1 (for example BL0), a second voltage of
1.0.about.1.5 v is applied to the bit line BL2 and the bit-lines in
the same side of BL2, a third voltage of 5 volts is applied to the
word line WL1, a fourth voltage of 10.about.12 volts is applied to
CG4 and a fourth voltage of 5 volts is applied to CG3, then the
state of stack-gate transistor under CG3 in a multi-bit flash
memory cell 305 can be read; the state of another stack-gate
transistor under CG4 in a multi-bit flash memory cell 305 can be
read if a fourth voltage of 10.about.12 volts is applied to CG3 and
a fourth voltage of 5 volts is applied to CG4. Similarly, the state
of stack-gate transistor under CG4 can be read by reversing the
applied voltage on the bit line BL1 and the bit line BL2, and a
fourth voltage of 10.about.12 volts is applied to CG3 and a fourth
voltage of 5 volts is applied to CG4.
[0031] It is clearly visualized that the operation voltages of a
scalable multi-bit flash memory cell and its memory array are
simple and the speed of programming, erasing and read is faster, as
compared to those of a NAND-type flash memory array. As a
consequence, a better density.cndot.speed.cndot.power product can
be obtained by the scalable multi-bit flash memory cell and it
memory array of the present invention.
[0032] Referring now to FIG. 3A through FIG. 3I, there are shown
the process steps and their cross-sectional views for fabricating a
shallow-trench-isolation structure having an integrated
floating-gate layer for a scalable multi-bit flash memory cell of
the present invention. FIG. 3A shows that a thin
tunneling-dielectric layer 101 is formed over a semiconductor
substrate 100, a first conductive layer 102 is formed over the thin
tunneling-dielectric layer 101, a first masking dielectric layer
103 is formed over the first conductivity layer 102, and the
patterned photoresist PR1 are formed over the first masking
dielectric layer 103 to define a plurality of active regions (under
PR1) and a plurality of parallel shallow-trench-isolation (STI)
regions (between PR1). The thin tunneling-dielectric layer 101 is
preferably a thermal-oxide layer or a nitrided thermal-oxide layer
having a thickness between 60 Angstroms and 150 Angstroms. The
first conductive layer 102 is preferably a doped
polycrystalline-silicon layer or a doped amorphous-silicon layer
having a thickness between 1000 Angstroms and 3000 Angstroms, as
deposited by low-pressure chemical-vapor-deposition (LPCVD). The
first masking dielectric layer 103 is preferably made of
silicon-nitrides having a thickness between 1000 Angstroms and 5000
Angstroms, as deposited by LPCVD. It should be noted that FIG. 3A
shows only a small portion of a memory array and in fact a
plurality of patterned photoresist PR1 are formed to define a
plurality of active regions and a plurality of parallel STI
regions. The width and the space of the patterned photoresist PR1
can be defined to be a minimum feature size F as shown in FIG.
3A.
[0033] FIG. 3B shows that the first masking dielectric layer 103,
the first conductive layer 102, the thin tunneling-dielectric layer
101, and the semiconductor substrate 100 are anisotropically etched
to form the shallow trenches, and the patterned photoresist PR1 are
then stripped. The depth of the shallow trenches formed in the
semiconductor substrate 100 is preferably between 3000 Angstroms
and 8000 Angstroms.
[0034] FIG. 3C shows that the planarized field-oxide (FOX) layers
104a are formed over the gaps being formed by the etching process
shown in FIG. 3B. The planarized field-oxide layers 104a are formed
by first depositing a thick-oxide film 104 using CVD or
high-density plasma (HDP) CVD to fill up the gaps and then
planarizing the deposited thick-oxide film 104 using
chemical-mechanical-polishing (CMP) with the first masking
dielectric layer 103a as a polishing stop. It should be noted that
the shallow-trench surface can be oxidized first to eliminate the
defects produced by the shallow-trench etching and the thick-oxide
film 104 is then deposited.
[0035] FIG. 3D shows that the planarized field-oxide layers 104a
are etched back to a level being approximately equal to a half
thickness of the first conductive layer 102a and then the
planarized second conductive layers 105a are formed over the gaps
produced by the etched-back planarized field-oxide layers 104b. The
planarized second conductive layers 105a are formed by first
depositing a thick second conductive film 105 to fill up the gaps
and then planarizing the deposited thick second conductive film
using CMP with the first masking dielectric layer 103a as a
polishing stop. The planarized second conductive layer 105a is
preferably made of doped polycrystalline-silicon or doped
amorphous-silicon, as deposited by LPCVD.
[0036] FIG. 3E shows that the planarized second conductive layers
105a are etched back to a thickness being approximately equal to
the thickness of the first masking dielectric layer 103a and a
first dielectric spacer 106a is then formed over the sidewalls of
the first masking dielectric layer 103a and on the etched-back
second conductive layers 105b. The first dielectric spacer 106a is
formed by depositing a conformal dielectric layer 106 over the
structure and then etching back anisotropically a thickness of the
deposited conformal dielectric layer 106. The first dielectric
spacer 106a is preferably made of silicon-nitrides as deposited by
LPCVD. Note that the spacer width of the first dielectric spacer
106a can be controlled by the thickness of the deposited conformal
dielectric layer 106.
[0037] FIG. 3F shows that the etched-back second conductive layers
105b are etched by using the first dielectric spacers 106a and the
first masking dielectric layers 103a as an etching mask to form an
extended second conductive layers 105c, then the first dielectric
spacers 106a and the first masking dielectric layers 103a are
removed preferably by hot-phosphoric acid.
[0038] FIG. 3G shows that an intergate dielectric layer 107 is
formed over the first conductive layers 102a, the extended second
conductive layers 105c, and the raised field-oxide layers 104b. The
intergate dielectric layer 107 is preferably a composite dielectric
layer of an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) structure or a nitride-oxide
structure and its equivalent oxide thickness is between 80
Angstroms and 150 Angstroms.
[0039] FIG. 3H shows that a third conductive layer 108 is formed
over the intergate dielectric layer 107. The third conductive layer
108 is preferably a composite conductive layer of a polycide
structure such as a tungsten-silicide (WSi.sub.2) layer over a
doped polycrystalline-silicon layer. The thickness of the polycide
structure is preferably between 3000 Angstroms and 6000 Angstroms.
The second masking dielectric layer 109 is then formed over the
third conductive layer, as shown in FIG. 3I. The second masking
dielectric layer 109 is preferably a silicon-nitride layer as
deposited by LPCVD and it thickness is preferably between 1000
Angstroms and 5000 Angstroms. It should be noted that the third
conductive layer 108 can be a doped polycrystalline-silicon layer
or a barrier-metal layer formed between two doped
polycrystalline-silicon layers and is silicided later. It is
clearly seen from FIG. 3I that the integrated conductive layer
including a first conductive layer 102a and two extended second
conductive layers 105c may largely increase the coupling ratio of
the floating-gate and the formed surface is quite flat for
fine-line lithography. Moreover, the extended second conductive
layers 105c are formed by the sidewall spacer technique and there
is no additional masking step required. Therefore, the isolation
region can be defined by a minimum-feature-size F.
[0040] A cross-sectional view along A-A' direction in FIG. 3I is
shown in FIG. 4A. As shown in FIG. 4A, the patterned photoresist
PR2 are formed over the second masking dielectric layer 109 to
define a plurality of gate regions (under PR2) and the width of a
gate region including two stack-gate transistors and a select-gate
transistor is marked by XF, where X can be a value larger than or
equal to unity and is a scale factor. The regions outside of the
gate region (not covered by PR2) are the common diffusion regions
and can be defined to be F for each region.
[0041] FIG. 4B shows that the second masking dielectric layer 109,
the third conductive layer 108, the intergate dielectric layer 107
outside of the gate regions are selectively etched and removed in a
self-aligned manner, a part of the first conductive layer 102a is
selectively etched and the extended second conductive layers 105c
over the raised field-oxide layers 104b (as shown in FIG. 3I) are
removed, the raised field-oxide layers 104b are then selectively
etched back to a depth approximately equal to the top level of the
thin tunneling-dielectric layer 101a and, subsequently, the
remained first conductivity layer is selectively removed and then
the patterned masking photoresist PR2 are stripped.
Ion-implantation is performed across the thin tunneling-dielectric
layer 101a in a self-aligned manner to form the lightly-doped
diffusion regions 110a in the semiconductor substrate 100, as shown
in FIG. 4B. The implanted doping impurities are preferably
phosphorous impurities for a p-type semiconductor substrate.
Similarly, the boron impurities are preferably for an n-type
semiconductor substrate. In the following process steps, the case
of a p-type semiconductor substrate is described and that of an
n-type semiconductor substrate can be treated by a well-known
fashion.
[0042] FIG. 4C shows that the thin tunneling-dielectric layers 101a
outside of the gate region are removed and the etched raised
field-oxide layers are further etched by dipping in a dilute
hydroflouric acid to form a plurality of flat beds with each flat
bed being alternately formed by the lightly-doped diffusion regions
110a and the etched raised field-oxide layers 104c, as will be
shown later. The second dielectric spacers 111a are formed over the
sidewalls of the gate regions and on a portion of the flat beds.
The second dielectric spacer 111a is preferably a silicon-oxide
layer deposited by LPCVD and its spacer width is preferably between
200 Angstroms to 2000 Angstroms.
[0043] FIG. 4D shows that the planarized fourth conductive layer
112a (not shown) is formed over a flat bed between a pair of second
dielectric spacers 111a and is etched back to a level approximately
equal to the top surface of the first conductive layer 102b to form
a conductive bus line 112b and a first silicide layer 113b is then
formed over the conductive bus line 112b and, subsequently, a
planarized thick-oxide layer 114a is formed over the first silicide
layer 113b. The planarized fourth conductive layer 112a is formed
by first depositing a thick fourth conductive layer 112 over the
gap formed between a pair of second dielectric spacers and then
planarizing the deposited thick fourth conductive layer 112 using
CMP with a second masking dielectric layer 109a as a polishing
stop. The thick fourth conductive layer 112 is preferably made of
doped polycrystalline-silicon deposited by LPCVD and is
heavily-implanted with phosphorous impurities after etching back to
form a conductive bus line 112b. The first silicide layer 113b can
be obtained by using either a well-known self-aligned silicidation
technique or depositing a planarized thick first silicide layer and
then etching back. The first silicide layer 113b is preferably made
of refractory-metal silicides such as tungsten-silicides
(WSi.sub.2) or high melting-point silicides. The planarized first
thick-oxide layer 114a is preferably made of CVD oxides or
phosphosilicate glass (PSG) and is formed by first depositing a
first thick-oxide layer 114 to fill up the gaps over the first
silicide layer 113b and then planarizing the deposited first
thick-oxide layer 114 using CMP with the second masking dielectric
layer 109a as a polishing stop.
[0044] FIG. 4E shows that the second masking dielectric layer 109a
is removed by using hot-phosphoric acid or anisotropic dry etching
and two third dielectric spacers 115a are then formed over the
inner sidewalls of each gate region. The third dielectric spacer
115a is preferably made of silicon-nitrides or silicon-oxides, as
deposited by LPCVD. It should be noted that the spacer width of the
third dielectric spacer 115a is used to control the gate length of
two stack-gate transistors formed in a gate region.
[0045] FIG. 4F shows that the third conductive layer 108a, the
intergate dielectric layer 107a, and the first conductive layer
102b/the extended second conductive layer 105c outside of the third
dielectric spacers 115b are selectively etched. Then,
ion-implantation is performed across the thin tunneling-dielectric
layer 101b in a self-aligned manner to form the implanted region
116a in the semiconductor substrate 100, which includes a shallow
implant (dash lines) for threshold-voltage adjustment of the
select-gate transistor and a deep implant (cross symbols) for
forming a punch-through stop. The shallow implanted region is
preferably formed by using boronflouride (BF.sub.2) impurities and
the deep implanted region is preferably formed by using boron
impurities.
[0046] FIG. 4G shows that the thin tunneling-dielectric layer 101b
between two stack-gate transistors is removed and the raised
field-oxide layers 104b are simultaneously etched by dipping in a
dilute hydroflouric-acid and a gate-dielectric layer 118 is formed
over the structure. The gate-dielectric layer 118 is preferably an
silicon-oxide layer deposited by high-temperature oxidation or a
composite dielectric layer of a nitride-oxide structure or an
oxide-nitride-oxide structure and its equivalent oxide thickness is
preferably between 200 Angstroms and 500 Angstroms.
[0047] FIG. 4H shows that a fifth conductive layer 119 is deposited
over the gate-dielectric layer 118 to fill up the gaps between two
stack-gate transistors and the planarization is performed by using
CMP. The fifth conductive layer 119 is preferably a doped
polycrystalline-silicon layer or a first metal layer over a first
barrier-metal layer. For a doped polycrystalline-silicon layer as
the fifth conductive layer 119, the gate-dielectric layer 118 is
preferably a nitride-oxide structure or an oxide-nitride-oxide
structure and the planarized fifth conductive layer 119a is formed
by using the silicon-nitride layer in the nitride-oxide structure
or the oxide-nitride-oxide structure as a polishing stop; the
planarized fifth conductive layer 119a can be further heavily
implanted with phosphorous impurities (not shown) and a second
silicide layer (not shown ) is then formed over the palanarized
fifth conductive layer 119a using a well-known self-aligned
silicidation process. The second silicide layer is preferably a
refractory-metal silicide layer such as titanium-silicide
(TiSi.sub.2), cobalt-silicide (CoSi.sub.2), tantalum-silicide
(TaSi.sub.2), nickel-silicide (NiSi.sub.2), molybdenum-silicide
(MoSi.sub.2), platinum-silicide (PtSi.sub.2) or tungsten-silicide
(WSi.sub.2) etc.. A sixth conductive layer 120 is then formed over
the gate-dielectric layer 118 and the planarized fifth conductive
layers 119a, as shown in FIG. 4H. For a first metal layer over a
first barrier-metal layer as the fifth conductive layer 119, the
first metal layer is preferably made of tungsten (W) or
tungsten-silicide (WSi.sub.2) and the first barrier-metal layer is
preferably made of refractory-metal nitrides such as
titanium-nitrides (TiN) or tantalum-nitrides (TaN), and the
planarized fifth conductive layer 119a is obtained by CMP with the
gate-dielectric layer 118 as a polishing stop, The sixth conductive
layer 120 is then formed over the gate-dielectric layer 118 and the
planarized fifth conductive layer 119a as shown in FIG. 4H. The
sixth conductive layer 120 for both cases is preferably made of a
second metal layer formed over a second barrier-metal layer. The
second metal layer is preferably made of aluminum (Al) or copper
and the second barrier-metal layer is preferably made of
refractory-metal nitrides such as titanium-nitrides and tantalum
nitrides.
[0048] FIG. 4I(a) shows that a plurality of hard masking layers are
formed over the sixth conductive layer 120 to form a plurality of
word lines above the plurality of active-region lines and are
further used as a mask to etch the sixth conductive layer 120 and
the fifth conductive layers 119. The hard masking layer includes a
third masking dielectric layer 121a and its two sidewall dielectric
spacers 122a (as shown in FIG. 4I(b) through FIG. 4I(d)) and is
preferably made of silicon-nitrides or silicon-oxides.
[0049] Referring now to FIG. 4I(b) through FIG. 4I(d), there are
shown various cross-sectional views as indicated in FIG. 4I(a), in
which FIG. 4I(b) shows a cross-sectional view along B-B' direction
as indicated in FIG. 4I(a); FIG. 4I(c) shows a cross-sectional view
along C-C' direction as indicated in FIG. 4I(a); and FIG. 4I(d)
shows a cross-sectional view along D-D' direction. As shown in FIG.
4I(b), the bit line consisting of a thinner planarized fourth
conductive layer 112b capped with a first silicide layer 113b is
situated over a flat bed being alternately formed by the etched
raised field-oxide layers 104c and the heavily-doped n.sup.+
diffusion regions 117a. A plurality of word lines including the
patterned sixth conductive layers 120a are formed over a
gate-dielectric layer 118 formed on a planarized thick-oxide layer
114b and a hard masking layer including a third masking-dielectric
layer 121a and its two sidewall dielectric spacers 122a is used as
a mask to etch a word line above the active region.
[0050] FIG. 4I(c) shows a cross-sectional view along C-C' direction
as indicated in FIG. 4I(a) and is also a cross-sectional view along
the elongated control-gate layer 108b of the stack-gate transistors
in the gate region. As shown in FIG. 4I(c), an integrated
floating-gate layer including a major floating-gate layer 102c
formed on the thin tunneling-dielectric layer 101c and two extended
floating-gate layers 105c formed separately over a portion of two
nearby raised field-oxide layers 104b; an intergate dielectric
layer 107b is formed over the plurality of integrated floating-gate
layers and the raised field-oxide layers 104b; a third conductive
layer 108b acting as an elongated control-gate layer is formed over
an intergate dielectric layer 107b; a second dielectric spacer 115b
is formed over the third conductive layer 108b to define the
control-gate length; a gate-dielectric layer 118 is formed over the
second dielectric spacer 115b; a plurality of word lines including
the patterned sixth conductive layers 120a are formed over a
gate-dielectric layer 118 and a hard masking layer including a
third masking dielectric layer 121a and its two sidewall dielectric
spacers 122a is used as a mask to etch a word line above the active
region.
[0051] FIG. 4I(d) shows that a cross-sectional view along D-D'
direction as indicated in FIG. 4I(a) and is also a cross-sectional
view along the select-gate in a gate region. As shown in FIG.
4I(d), a gate-dielectric layer 118 is formed over a plurality of
etched raised field-oxide layers 104c and the semiconductor surface
in the plurality of active regions; a plurality of word lines
together a plurality of planarized fifth conductive layers 119a are
patterned and etched by using a plurality of hard masking layers as
a mask, wherein a hard masking layer includes a third masking
dielectric layer 121a and its two sidewall dielectric spacers 122a.
It is clearly seen that the sidewall dielectric spacer 122a is used
to eliminate the misalignment of a word line and its integrated
select gate with respect to an active region.
[0052] While the present invention has been particularly shown and
described with a reference to the present examples and embodiments
as considered as illustrative and not restrictive. Moreover, the
present invention is not to be limited to the details given herein,
it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various
changes in form and details may be made without departure from the
true spirit and scope of the present invention.
* * * * *