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| United States Patent | 6,025,627 |
| Forbes, et. al. | Feb. 15, 2000 |
Abstract
A method and structure for textured surfaces in non volatile floating gate tunneling oxide (FLOTOX) devices, e.g. FLOTOX transistors, are provided. The present invention capitalizes on using "self-structured masks" and a controlled etch to form nanometer scale microtip arrays to form the textured surfaces. The present invention further employs atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) to create a very conformal tunnel oxide layer which complements the nanometer scale microtip arrays. The resulting structure provides a higher tunneling current than currently exists in FLOTOX technology. The improved tunneling currents at low voltages can make these FLOTOX devices suitable for replacing DRAMS.
| Inventors: | Forbes; Leonard (Corvallis, OR); Geusic; Joseph E. (Berkeley Heights, NJ). |
| Assignee: | Micron Technology, Inc. (Boise, ID). |
| Appl. No.: | 87,473 |
| Filed: | May 29, 1998 |
| Intl. Cl. : | H01L 29/788 |
| Current U.S. Cl.: | 257/321; 257/316; 257/319 |
| Field of Search: | 257/316, 319, 321; 365/185.2 |
| 4,757,360 | Jul., 1988 | Faraone et al. | 257/317 |
| 4,947,221 | Aug., 1990 | Stewart et al. | 257/316 |
| 5,429,966 | Jul., 1995 | Wu et al. | 438/594 |
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Klaus, et al., "Atomic Layer Controlled Growth of SiO2 Films Using Binary Reaction Sequence Chemistry", Applied Physics Let. 70 (9), 1092-94, ) Mar. 3, 1997.
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