This invention relates generally to non-volatile flash memory systems, and, more specifically, to the structures of memory cells and arrays of memory cells, and to the process of forming them.
There are many commercially successful non-volatile memory products being used today, particularly in the form of small form factor cards, which use an array of flash EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) cells having a “split-channel” between source and drain diffusions. The floating gate of the cell is positioned over one portion of the channel and the word line (also referred to as a control gate) is positioned over the other channel portion as well as over the floating gate. This effectively forms a cell with two transistors in series, one (the memory transistor) with a combination of the amount of charge on the floating gate and the voltage on the word line controlling the amount of current that can flow through its portion of the channel, and the other (the select transistor) having the word line alone serving as its gate. The word line extends over a row of floating gates. Examples of such cells, their uses in memory systems and methods of manufacturing them are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,070,032, 5,095,344, 5,315,541, 5,343,063, 5,661,053, and 6,281,075, which patents are incorporated herein by this reference.
A modification of this split-channel flash EEPROM cell adds a steering gate positioned between the floating gate and the word line. Each steering gate of an array extends over one column of floating gates, perpendicular to the word line. The effect is to relieve the word line from having to perform two functions at the same time when reading or programming a selected cell. Those two functions are (1) to serve as a gate of a select transistor, thus requiring a proper voltage to turn the select transistor on and off, and (2) to drive the voltage of the floating gate to a desired level through an electric field (capacitive) coupling between the word line and the floating gate. It is often difficult to perform both of these functions in an optimum manner with a single voltage. With the addition of the steering gate, the word line need only perform function (1), while the added steering gate performs function (2). The use of steering gates in a flash EEPROM array is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,313,421 and 6,222,762, which patents incorporated herein by this reference.
In either of the two types of memory cell arrays described above, the floating gate of a cell is programmed by injecting electrons from the substrate to the floating gate. This is accomplished by having the proper doping in the channel region and applying the proper voltages to the source, drain and remaining gate(s). So-called “source side” injection is preferred, which is also described in the foregoing U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,421.
Two techniques for removing charge from floating gates to erase memory cells are used in both of the two types of memory cell arrays described above. One is to erase to the substrate by applying appropriate voltages to the source, drain and other gate(s) that cause electrons to tunnel through a portion of a dielectric layer between the floating gate and the substrate. The other erase technique is to transfer electrons from the floating gate to another gate through a tunnel dielectric layer positioned between them. In the first type of cell described above, a third erase gate is provided for that purpose. In the second type of cell described above, which already has three gates because of the use of a steering gate, the floating gate is erased to the word line, without the necessity to add a fourth gate. Although this later technique adds back a second function to be performed by the word line, these functions are performed at different times, thus avoiding the necessity of making a compromise because of the two functions. When either erase technique is utilized, a large number of memory cells are grouped together for simultaneously erasure, in a “flash.” In one approach, the group includes enough memory cells to store the amount of user data stored in a disk sector, namely 512 bytes, plus some overhead data. In another approach, each group contains enough cells to hold several thousand bytes of user data, equal to many disk sectors' worth of data. Multi-block erasure, defect management and other flash EEPROM system features are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,148, which patent is incorporated herein by this reference.
As in most all integrated circuit applications, the pressure to shrink the silicon substrate area required to implement some integrated circuit function also exists with flash EEPROM systems. It is continually desired to increase the amount of digital data that can be stored in a given area of a silicon substrate, in order to increase the storage capacity of a given size memory card and other types of packages, or to both increase capacity and decrease size. One way to increase the storage density of data is to store more than one bit of data per memory cell. This is accomplished by dividing a window of a floating gate charge level voltage range into more than two states. The use of four such states allows each cell to store two bits of data, eight states stores three bits of data per cell, and so on. A multiple state flash EEPROM structure and operation is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,043,940 and 5,172,338, which patents are incorporated herein by this reference.
Increased data density can also be achieved by reducing the physical size of the memory cells and/or the overall array. Shrinking the size of integrated circuits is commonly performed for all types of circuits as processing techniques improve over time to permit implementing smaller feature sizes. But there are usually limits of how far a given circuit layout can be shrunk in this manner, since there is often at least one feature that is limited as to how much it can be shrunk, thus limiting the amount that the overall layout can be shrunk. When this happens, designers will turn to a new or different layout or architecture of the circuit being implemented in order to reduce the amount of silicon area required to perform its functions. The shrinking of the above-described flash EEPROM integrated circuit systems can reach similar limits.
Therefore, in order to further increase data storage density, a flash EEPROM system using a dual floating gate memory cell is being utilized along with the storage of multiple states on each floating gate. In this type of cell, two floating gates are included over its channel between source and drain diffusions with a select transistor in between them. A steering gate is included along each column of floating gates and a word line is provided thereover along each row of floating gates. When accessing a given floating gate for reading or programming, the steering gate over the other floating gate of the cell containing the floating gate of interest is raised sufficiently high to turn on the channel under the other floating gate no matter what charge level exists on it. This effectively eliminates the other floating gate as a factor in reading or programming the floating gate of interest in the same memory cell. For example, the amount of current flowing through the cell, which can be used to read its state, is then a function of the amount of charge on the floating gate of interest but not of the other floating gate in the same cell. Examples of this cell array architecture and operating techniques are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,712,180, 6,103,573 and 6,151,248, which patents are expressly incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference.
Another flash EEPROM architecture utilizes a NAND array, wherein series strings of more than two memory cells, such as 16 or 32, are connected along with one or more select transistors between individual bit lines and a reference potential to form columns of cells. Word lines extend across cells within a large number of these columns. An individual cell within a column is read and verified during programming by causing the remaining cells in the string to be turned on hard so that the current flowing through a string is dependent upon the level of charge stored in the addressed cell. An example of a NAND architecture array and its operation as part of a memory system is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,935, which patent is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.
In these and other types of non-volatile memories, the amount of field coupling between the floating gates and the control gates passing over them is carefully controlled. The amount of coupling determines the percentage of a voltage placed on the control gate that is coupled to its floating gates. The percentage coupling is determined by a number of factors including the amount of surface area of the floating gate that overlaps a surface of the control gate. It is often desired to maximize the percentage coupling between the floating and control gates by maximizing the amount of overlapping area. One approach to increasing coupling area is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,063, which patent is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference. The approach described in that patent is to make the floating gates thicker than usual to provide large vertical surfaces that may be coupled with the control gates.
When increasing the vertical coupling areas between adjacent floating and control gates, it is further desirable to do so in a manner that does not increase the area of the substrate that is occupied by each cell.
According to a primary aspect of the present invention, an increased floating gate vertical surface area is provided on a projection from a base element that interfaces with the substrate surface, wherein the projection is much smaller in one direction than the base and preferably the same size as the base in the other direction. The control gate that interfaces with the vertical surfaces of the floating gate projection, with an inter-gate dielectric layer therebetween, can be positioned within the area of the floating gate base, thereby not causing the area the memory cell to be increased as a result. And the base can still be made with dimensions across the substrate surface equal to the minimum resolvable element size for the process being used.
The floating gate is shaped, according to one specific configuration, as an inverted “T”, as viewed across the length of a memory cell channel between its source and drain regions. A thin base portion of the minimum element size is positioned over the substrate with gate dielectric therebetween, and a thinner portion projects upward from the base in its middle. This projection preferably extends completely across the base in an orthogonal direction, across the width of the channel, thereby to provide a significant amount of vertical surface area for coupling with a control gate that is positioned adjacent the surfaces of the projection through an inter-gate dielectric layer. The control gate wraps over the projection but need not extend beyond the base in a direction of the length of the channel.
According to another specific example, a further element is added to the top of the floating gate projection that is parallel with the base, thereby forming a floating gate in the shape of an “H” rotated 90 degrees, as viewed in a direction of the memory cell channel length. The control gate then extends through the floating gate between the base and the top element, on both sides of the vertical projection, with an inter-gate dielectric layer therebetween. The interface between the top element and the control gate adds to the coupling area between the floating and control gates.
According to another aspect of the present invention, for a different type of memory cell that erases its floating gate to an erase gate instead of to the substrate, the floating gate is provided with a base and narrow projection as described above, except that the projection need not be made to extend very high. An erase gate wraps around the projection with a suitable tunnel dielectric therebetween. The sharp edges on the top of the projection enhance tunneling of electrons from the floating gate to the erase gate through the intermediate dielectric.
The forgoing structures and techniques are extensions of those described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/925,102, filed Aug. 8, 2001. They are also related to those described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/667,344, filed Sep. 22, 2000. These applications are expressly incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference.
Additional aspects, advantages and features of the present invention are included in the following description of these detailed examples, which description should be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
An example memory system incorporating the various aspects of the present invention is generally illustrated in the block diagram of
The controller 27 is connectable through lines 35 to a host device (not shown). The host may be a personal computer, notebook computer, digital camera, audio player, various other hand held electronic devices, and the like. The memory system of
The decoder and driver circuits 13, 19 and 21 generate appropriate voltages in their respective lines of the array 11, as addressed over the bus 25, according to control signals in respective control and status lines 29, 31 and 33, to execute programming, reading and erasing functions. Any status signals, including voltage levels and other array parameters, are provided by the array 11 to the controller 27 over the same control and status lines 29, 31 and 33. A plurality of sense amplifiers within the circuit 13 receive current or voltage levels that are indicative of the states of addressed memory cells within the array 11, and provides the controller 27 with information about those states over lines 41 during a read operation. A large number of sense amplifiers are usually used in order to be able to read the states of a large number of memory cells in parallel. During reading and program operations, one row of cells is typically addressed at a time through the circuits 19 for accessing a number of cells in the addressed row that are selected by the circuits 13 and 21. During an erase operation, all cells in each of many rows are typically addressed together as a block for simultaneous erasure.
Operation of a memory system such as illustrated in
A plan view of an example memory cell array 11 is shown in
A large number of floating gates are included across the substrate surface 47 with suitable gate dielectric therebetween, in an array of rows and columns. One row of floating gates 55-60 is adjacent to and parallel with another row of floating gates 62-67, for example. The floating gates are shown cross-sectioned in
The bit line decoder and driver circuit 13 (
In the example memory array in which the present invention is being described, two types of control gates are utilized, steering gates and word lines. Steering gates 77-82, one for each column of floating gates, are elongated in the y-direction and have widths in the x-direction that are coextensive with the widths of the floating gates they cross. Both dimensions of the floating gates and the widths of the steering gates are preferably that of the minimum resolvable element size for the process being used. The space between any two of the steering gates in the x-direction is similarly dimensioned. The steering gates are also formed from conductively doped polysilicon, being separated from the floating gates by appropriate inter-gate (inter-polysilicon) dielectric layer. The steering gate decoder and driver circuit 21 (
Word lines 85-88 of
Although the gates in the foregoing structure are preferably made of doped polysilicon material, other suitable electrically conductive materials may be used in place of one or more of the three polysilicon layers described. The third layer, for example, from which the word lines and select gates are formed, may be a polycide material, which is polysilicon with a conductive refractive metal silicide on its top, such as tungsten, in order to increase its conductivity. Polycides are generally not used in place of either the first or second polysilicon layers because the quality of oxide grown from a polycide is usually not satisfactory.
Not shown in
A primary example of the inverted “T” floating gate structure is illustrated in the cross-sectional view of
Next, a layer of doped polysilicon (example thickness of 500 Å) is deposed over the layer 101, later separated into strips 103-107 shown in
The area of the memory cell array is then etched through a mask formed on the top of the oxide layer, which mask totally covers the area of peripheral circuits, to leave the polysilicon/nitride strips 103/109, 104/110, 105/111, 106/112, 107/113, etc. over similarly shaped strips of gate oxide 101. Each strip is covered with the top oxide layer (not shown). After that mask is removed, another mask is formed that totally covers the area of the memory cell array but contains openings for etching through the tunnel oxide, polysilicon, silicon nitride and silicon dioxide layers, and also into the substrate 45 to form isolation trenches 121, 123, etc. (example depth of 3000 Å into the substrate) to isolate the peripheral devices. After that mask is removed, a thick layer of silicon dioxide (7000 Å, for example) is deposited over both the memory cell array and the peripheral circuit region, causing regions between the polysilicon/nitride/oxide strips and substrate trenches to be filed with oxide. The integrated circuit is then planarized by subjecting it to chemical-mechanical-polishing (CMP) in order to remove the oxide above the nitride strips 109-113. The result of these steps is shown in
A next series of steps results in the intermediate memory cell array structure of
After these slots are formed, a second layer 131 of doped polysilicon is deposited over the entire memory array area, and into these slots to mechanically and electrically contact the underlying polysilicon strip 105, as shown in
Next, a third layer of doped polysilicon is deposited over the entire memory array region of the integrated circuit (from 1000-2000 Å thickness, for example), which fills the regions between the projections 129 etc., over the inter-gate dielectric, and extends above those projections. A layer of oxide is then deposited (about 500 Å thick, for example) over this polysilicon, and a layer of nitride deposited (about 500 Å thick, for example) over the oxide. The polysilicon/oxide/nitride structure is then etched away through an appropriate mask (not shown) to form steering gates 141-145, each capped with a remaining portion of the oxide and nitride layers 147 and 149 that were formed over the third polysilicon layer. The steering gates are positioned in the x-direction in order that each surrounds the tops and broad sides of a column of projections 129, 130 etc., because those projections become part of floating gates with which a high degree of floating/steering gate coupling is desired.
The steering gates 141-145 are each elongated in the y-direction. Since the oxide isolation strips 115-118 have the same height as the projections 129, 130 etc. from the CMP step resulting in the polarized surface illustrated in
For the specific type of memory cell being formed in this example, every other space between steering gates is masked and source and drain regions 49, 51 and 53 are then formed by implanting ions into the substrate surface 47 through the remaining spaces between steering gates. The implant mask is then removed. An implant of significantly less dose is often made, as a separate step, in the spaces between the steering gates that are masked during the source and drain implant in order to adjust the threshold of the select transistor that is included as part of each memory cell. This level of implant can initially be made to all of the exposed areas of the substrate between the steering gates, followed by a separate implant for the source and drain regions 49, 51 and 53 after the remaining regions of the select transistors are masked as above.
It is preferable, before performing these implant steps, to form dielectric on the exposed steering gate sidewalls and substrate surface. Layers 155 of inter-gate dielectric are formed on the sidewalls of the steering gates, layers 157 of select gate dielectric and layers 159 of word line/substrate isolation dielectric are formed on the substrate surface 47, preferably in a coordinated manner. In one example, a layer (120 Å thick, for example) of oxide is deposited over the entire structure, including the steering gate sidewalls and exposed substrate surface regions. It is after this step that the blanket threshold adjusting implant may be made to all of the exposed substrate regions between the steering gates.
Next, a nitride layer (example of 100 Å in thickness) is deposited over the array. This layer is then anisotropically etched away, thereby to leave nitride spacers along the sidewalls of the steering gates, while the nitride on the exposed substrate regions between the steering gates is removed. Next, the final oxide layer (example thickness of 100 Å) of an ONO dielectric structure is formed over the nitride. If the source and drain implant step is performed after this dielectric is formed, then the substrate regions between the steering gates other than those where source and drain regions are to be formed are masked and the implant takes place. After the implant, however, the final oxide layer of the dielectric is removed from the exposed substrate regions, and a thin gate dielectric (such as 50 Å thick) is grown in its place over the initial oxide layer that remains on the substrate from the first oxide layer of the ONO structure.
A next series of steps forms the conductive word lines 85-88 of
One example of the floating gate shape and cooperative control gate structure of the present invention has been described as incorporated within a specific example of an array of non-volatile memory cells that individually have two floating gate storage elements. This and other dual floating gate structures are described in several of the patents and patent applications incorporated herein by the foregoing references. Two storage transistors and an intermediate select transistor are formed with a common channel between adjacent source and drain substrate regions. The referenced patents and patent applications also describe the use and operation of the memory cell arrays. Such a gate structure can also be applied to the other specific dual floating gate memory cell array structures that are described in these references. Further, the gate structure of the present invention can be incorporated into other types of memory cells, including a split-channel type of memory cell, an array of NAND cells, and others. The structure has an advantage whenever it is desired to have a high level of coupling between an individual floating gate and a control gate.
This coupling is illustrated by the schematic, isometric view of
The projection 173 is made narrow enough in the B direction to allow its position to change somewhat relative to the base 171 in that direction as a result of any likely maximum misalignment of masks used to form the base 171 and the projection 173. In the discussion above with respect to
An advantage of the inverse T floating gate structure shown in
The purpose of the gate shapes discussed above is to increase the coupling area between the floating and control gates. An example of where this is important is where the floating gates are erased to the substrate. A high coupling ratio in favor of the control gate allows the voltage of the floating gates to be raised to the necessary level for erasing by using a lower voltage than usual on the control gate.
In the modification of
Although the invention has been described above as embodied in several different memory cell structures, it will be understood that the invention is entitled to protection within the full scope of the appended claims.
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/132,522, filed May 18, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,170,131, which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/268,635, filed Oct. 9, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,817, which applications are incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5043940 | Harari | Aug 1991 | A |
5070032 | Yuan et al. | Dec 1991 | A |
5095344 | Harari | Mar 1992 | A |
5168465 | Harari | Dec 1992 | A |
5172338 | Mehrotra et al. | Dec 1992 | A |
5198380 | Harari | Mar 1993 | A |
5268318 | Harari | Dec 1993 | A |
5268319 | Harari | Dec 1993 | A |
5297148 | Harari et al. | Mar 1994 | A |
5313421 | Guterman et al. | May 1994 | A |
5315541 | Harari et al. | May 1994 | A |
5343063 | Yuan et al. | Aug 1994 | A |
5380672 | Yuan | Jan 1995 | A |
5389808 | Arai | Feb 1995 | A |
5459091 | Hwang | Oct 1995 | A |
5512505 | Yuan | Apr 1996 | A |
5534456 | Yuan | Jul 1996 | A |
5554553 | Yuan | Sep 1996 | A |
5579259 | Samachisa | Nov 1996 | A |
5595924 | Yuan | Jan 1997 | A |
5640032 | Tomioka | Jun 1997 | A |
5654217 | Yuan | Aug 1997 | A |
5661053 | Yuan | Aug 1997 | A |
5677872 | Samachisa | Oct 1997 | A |
5712179 | Yuan | Jan 1998 | A |
5712180 | Guterman et al. | Jan 1998 | A |
5716863 | Arai | Feb 1998 | A |
5747359 | Yuan | May 1998 | A |
5756385 | Yuan | May 1998 | A |
5786988 | Harari | Jul 1998 | A |
5817580 | Violette | Oct 1998 | A |
5847425 | Yuan | Dec 1998 | A |
5867429 | Chen | Feb 1999 | A |
5883409 | Guterman | Mar 1999 | A |
5923976 | Kim | Jul 1999 | A |
5965913 | Yuan | Oct 1999 | A |
5966618 | Sun et al. | Oct 1999 | A |
5981335 | Chi | Nov 1999 | A |
5999448 | Kurihara | Dec 1999 | A |
6028336 | Yuan | Feb 2000 | A |
6046935 | Takeuchi et al. | Apr 2000 | A |
6060360 | Lin et al. | May 2000 | A |
6103573 | Harari et al. | Aug 2000 | A |
6133093 | Prinz et al. | Oct 2000 | A |
6151248 | Harari et al. | Nov 2000 | A |
6172395 | Chen et al. | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6184093 | Sung | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6208545 | Leedy | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6222762 | Guterman et al. | Apr 2001 | B1 |
6235586 | Au | May 2001 | B1 |
6258665 | Shimizu | Jul 2001 | B1 |
6281075 | Yuan et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6281077 | Patelmo et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6295227 | Sakui et al. | Sep 2001 | B1 |
6297097 | Jeong | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6326263 | Hsieh | Dec 2001 | B1 |
6365525 | Miller | Apr 2002 | B2 |
6391722 | Koh | May 2002 | B1 |
6417051 | Takebuchi | Jul 2002 | B1 |
6417538 | Choi | Jul 2002 | B1 |
6448126 | Lai et al. | Sep 2002 | B1 |
6455440 | Jeng | Sep 2002 | B1 |
6461973 | Hui et al. | Oct 2002 | B1 |
6465323 | Yu et al. | Oct 2002 | B1 |
6483146 | Lee et al. | Nov 2002 | B2 |
6512263 | Yuan | Jan 2003 | B1 |
6529410 | Han et al. | Mar 2003 | B1 |
6544431 | Gill et al. | Apr 2003 | B2 |
6548374 | Chung | Apr 2003 | B2 |
6559008 | Rabkin et al. | May 2003 | B2 |
6562682 | Chiu et al. | May 2003 | B1 |
6614684 | Shukuri et al. | Sep 2003 | B1 |
6620681 | Kim et al. | Sep 2003 | B1 |
6689653 | Seah et al. | Feb 2004 | B1 |
6762092 | Yuan | Jul 2004 | B2 |
6768161 | Kinoshita | Jul 2004 | B2 |
6770932 | Himeno et al. | Aug 2004 | B2 |
6791142 | Tseng | Sep 2004 | B2 |
6794708 | Mori | Sep 2004 | B2 |
6815755 | Colclaser et al. | Nov 2004 | B2 |
6853037 | Kudo et al. | Feb 2005 | B2 |
6891246 | Aritome | May 2005 | B2 |
6894930 | Chien et al. | May 2005 | B2 |
6897524 | Kamiya | May 2005 | B2 |
6908817 | Yuan | Jun 2005 | B2 |
7023049 | Takebuchi et al. | Apr 2006 | B2 |
20010001491 | Sakui | May 2001 | A1 |
20020048897 | Hong | Apr 2002 | A1 |
20020072197 | Kang et al. | Jun 2002 | A1 |
20020093073 | Mori et al. | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020197800 | Hashimoto et al. | Dec 2002 | A1 |
20030015497 | Gill et al. | Jan 2003 | A1 |
20030029839 | Chou | Feb 2003 | A1 |
20040084713 | Hsieh | May 2004 | A1 |
20050199939 | Lutze et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
196 17 632 | Jul 1997 | DE |
1274132 | Jan 2003 | EP |
1363324 | Nov 2003 | EP |
5-190809 | Jul 1993 | JP |
2001-135736 | May 2001 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20070122980 A1 | May 2007 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 10268635 | Oct 2002 | US |
Child | 11132522 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 11132522 | May 2005 | US |
Child | 11668306 | US |