Patent Grant
8816315
The present invention relates to non-volatile memories and more particularly to a memory cell that employs a selectively grown reversible resistance-switching element and methods of forming the same.
Non-volatile memories formed from reversible resistance-switching elements are known. For example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/125,939, filed May 9, 2005 and titled “Rewriteable Memory Cell Comprising A Diode And A Resistance-Switching Material” (hereinafter “the '939 application”), which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes, describes a rewriteable non-volatile memory cell that includes a diode coupled in series with a reversible resistivity-switching material such as a metal oxide or metal nitride.
However, fabricating memory devices from rewriteable resistivity-switching materials is difficult; and improved methods of forming memory devices that employ reversible resistivity-switching materials are desirable.
In a first aspect of the invention, a memory cell is provided that includes a reversible resistance-switching element above a substrate. The reversible resistance-switching element includes an etched material layer that includes an oxidized layer of the etched material layer above a non-oxidized layer of the etched material layer.
In a second aspect of the invention, a memory cell is provided that includes a first conductor above a substrate, a reversible resistance-switching element above the first conductor, and a second conductor above the reversible resistance-switching element. The reversible resistance-switching element includes an etched material layer that includes an oxidized layer of the etched material layer above a non-oxidized layer of the etched material layer.
Other features and aspects of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the appended claims and the accompanying drawings.
As stated above, fabricating memory devices from rewriteable resistivity-switching materials is difficult. For example, many rewriteable resistivity-switching materials are difficult to etch chemically, increasing fabrication costs and complexity associated with their use in integrated circuits.
In accordance with the present invention, difficult-to-etch-chemically rewriteable resistivity-switching materials may be used within a memory cell without being etched. For example, in at least one embodiment, a memory cell is provided that includes a reversible resistivity-switching material formed using a selective growth process so that the reversible resistivity-switching material may be used within the memory cell without being etched.
In one or more exemplary embodiments, a reversible resistance-switching element may be formed using titanium oxide as a reversible resistivity-switching material. Titanium oxide films have been shown to be suitable for use in memory cells, as described, for example, in the '939 application, previously incorporated.
Titanium oxide films such as TiO, TiO2, TiOx, TiOxNy, etc., are difficult to etch chemically. In at least one embodiment, through use of a selective growth process, a titanium oxide layer may be used in a reversible resistance-switching element of a memory cell without the titanium oxide layer being etched. For example, a reversible resistance-switching element may be formed by oxidizing a titanium-containing layer, such as titanium nitride, that is easier to pattern and etch than titanium oxide. In this manner, only the underlying titanium-containing layer (e.g., titanium nitride or titanium) is patterned and/or etched prior to oxidation of the titanium-containing layer and not the titanium oxide layer.
In some embodiments, titanium oxide may be selectively formed by rapid thermal oxidation of a titanium-containing layer in an oxygen environment such as O2, ozone, a combination of the same, or using any other suitable oxidizing species. In other embodiments, titanium oxide may be formed by oxidizing a titanium-containing layer using oxygen diffusion in a chemical vapor deposition (“CVD”) chamber with an ozone or other oxygen source, using gaseous or liquid ozone cleaning, or using any other suitable oxidation process. In any case, the need for etching of titanium oxide layers may be eliminated and memory cell fabrication significantly simplified.
Other materials may be selectively oxidized in accordance with the present invention to form reversible or one-time-programmable resistivity-switching materials for use in memory cells. For example, a layer of Ta, TaN, Nb, NbN, Al, AlN, Hf, HfN, V, VN, etc., may be deposited on a substrate, patterned, etched and/or oxidized similarly to a titanium-containing layer so as to form a reversible resistivity-switching material such as Ta2O5, Nb2O5, Al2O3, HfO2, V2O5, etc.
Exemplary Inventive Memory Cell
Reversible resistance-switching element 102 includes a reversible resistivity-switching material (not separately shown) having a resistance that may be reversibly switched between two or more states. For example, the reversible resistivity-switching material of reversible resistance-switching element 102 may be in an initial, low-resistivity state upon fabrication that is switchable to a high-resistivity state upon application of a first voltage and/or current. Application of a second voltage and/or current may return the reversible resistivity-switching material to a low-resistivity state.
Alternatively, reversible resistance-switching element 102 may be in an initial, high-resistance state upon fabrication that is reversibly switchable to a low-resistance state upon application of the appropriate voltage(s) and/or current(s). When used in a memory cell, one resistance state may represent a binary “0,” while another resistance state may represent a binary “1,” although more than two data/resistance states may be used. Numerous reversible resistivity-switching materials and operation of memory cells employing reversible resistance-switching elements are described, for example, in the '939 application, previously incorporated.
In at least one embodiment of the invention, reversible resistance-switching element 102 is formed using a selective growth process. As will be described further below, use of a selective growth process allows a reversible resistivity-switching material to be provided within reversible resistance-switching element 102 without the reversible resistivity-switching material having to be etched. Fabrication of reversible resistance-switching element 102 thereby is simplified.
Steering element 104 may include a thin film transistor, a diode, or another suitable steering element that exhibits non-ohmic conduction by selectively limiting the voltage across and/or the current flow through reversible resistance-switching element 102. In this manner, memory cell 100 may be used as part of a two or three dimensional memory array and data may be written to and/or read from memory cell 100 without affecting the state of other memory cells in the array.
Exemplary embodiments of memory cell 100, reversible resistance-switching element 102 and steering element 104 are described below with reference to
First Exemplary Embodiment of a Memory Cell
As will be described further below, reversible resistance-switching element 202 is selectively formed so as to simplify fabrication of memory cell 200. In at least one embodiment, reversible resistance-switching element 202 includes at least a portion of a titanium oxide layer formed by oxidizing a titanium-containing layer such as titanium nitride. For example, a titanium nitride layer or another similar form of titanium may be deposited above or below diode 204, patterned and etched (e.g., such as with first conductor 206). The titanium nitride (or other) layer then may be oxidized to form titanium oxide (e.g., using rapid thermal oxidation or another oxidation process).
In the embodiment of
While reversible resistance-switching element 202 is shown as being positioned below diode 204 in
Diode 204 may include any suitable diode such as a vertical polycrystalline p-n or p-i-n diode, whether upward pointing with an n-region above a p-region of the diode or downward pointing with a p-region above an n-region of the diode. Exemplary embodiments of diode 204 are described below with reference to
First and/or second conductor 206, 208 may include any suitable conductive material such as tungsten, any appropriate metal, heavily doped semiconductor material, a conductive silicide, a conductive silicide-germanide, a conductive germanide, or the like. In the embodiment of
As stated, other materials may be used to form reversible resistance-switching element 202. For example, materials such as Ta, TaN, Nb, NbN, Al, AlN, Hf, HfN, V, VN, etc., may be similarly deposited over (and/or patterned and etched with) first conductor 206 and then oxidized to form layer 212, which includes reversible resistance-switching element 202.
For example,
In some embodiments, the memory levels may be formed, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,952,030, “High-density three-dimensional memory cell” which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes. For instance, the upper conductors of a first memory level may be used as the lower conductors of a second memory level that is positioned above the first memory level as shown in
In such embodiments, the diodes on adjacent memory levels preferably point in opposite directions as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/692,151, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,767,499, filed Mar. 27, 2007 and titled “Large Array Of Upward Pointing P-I-N Diodes Having Large And Uniform Current” (hereinafter “the '151 application”), which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes.
For example, the diodes of first memory level 218 may be upward pointing diodes as indicated by arrow A1 (e.g., with p regions at the bottom of the diodes), while the diodes of second memory level 220 may be downward pointing diodes as indicated by arrow A2 (e.g., with n regions at the bottom of the diodes), or vice versa.
A monolithic three dimensional memory array is one in which multiple memory levels are formed above a single substrate, such as a wafer, with no intervening substrates. The layers forming one memory level are deposited or grown directly over the layers of an existing level or levels. In contrast, stacked memories have been constructed by forming memory levels on separate substrates and adhering the memory levels atop each other, as in Leedy, U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,167, “Three dimensional structure memory.” The substrates may be thinned or removed from the memory levels before bonding, but as the memory levels are initially formed over separate substrates, such memories are not true monolithic three dimensional memory arrays.
In the embodiment of
Titanium-containing layer 210 may be oxidized by any suitable process. For instance, titanium-containing layer 210 may be oxidized using thermal oxidation in oxygen, ozone, a combination of the same or another oxygen source (e.g., using rapid thermal oxidation). Alternatively or additionally, titanium-containing layer 210 may be oxidized using oxygen diffusion in a CVD chamber with an ozone or other oxygen source, using gaseous or liquid ozone cleaning, or using any other suitable oxidation process to form titanium oxide. As stated, other reversible resistance-switching materials may be similarly formed by oxidizing Ta, TaN, Nb, NbN, Al, AlN, Hf, HfN, V, VN, etc.
In one exemplary embodiment, rapid thermal oxidation may be performed at a temperature of about 300° C. to about 800° C. for about one second to about 5 minutes at an oxygen flow rate of about 2 sccm to about 40 sccm, depending on the desired oxide thickness and/or other properties. Other oxidizing species, temperatures, times and/or flow rates may be used.
Oxidation by ozone diffusion in a CVD chamber may be performed at a temperature of about 300° C. to about 800° C., more preferably at a temperature of about 350° C. to about 450° C., for about 2 minutes to about 4 hours, more preferably for about 15 to 25 minutes, at a suitable ozone flow rate, such as between about 10 and 60 sccm, depending on the desired oxide thickness and/or other properties. Other oxidizing species, temperatures, times and/or flow rates may be used.
In each of the above cases, only titanium-containing layer 210 is patterned and etched, and the need for etching of titanium oxide layers is eliminated. Memory cell fabrication is thereby significantly simplified. Further, any desired thickness of titanium oxide may be formed. In some embodiments, a titanium oxide layer thickness of about 500 angstroms or less, and more preferably about 300 angstroms or less, is employed for reversible resistance-switching element 202 (although other thickness ranges may be used).
As stated, diode 204 may be a vertical p-n or p-i-n diode, which may either point upward or downward. In the embodiment of
In some embodiments, diode 204 may be formed from a polycrystalline semiconductor material such as polysilicon, a polycrystalline silicon-germanium alloy, polygermanium or any other suitable material. For example, diode 204 may include a heavily doped n+ polysilicon region 302, a lightly doped or an intrinsic (unintentionally doped) polysilicon region 304 above n+ polysilicon region 302 and a heavily doped, p+ polysilicon region 306 above intrinsic region 304.
In some embodiments, a thin (e.g., a few hundred angstroms or less) germanium and/or silicon-germanium alloy layer (not shown), with about 10 at % or more of germanium when using a silicon-germanium alloy layer, may be formed on n+ polysilicon region 302 to prevent and/or reduce dopant migration from n+ polysilicon region 302 into intrinsic region 304, as described, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/298,331, filed Dec. 9, 2005, and titled “Deposited Semiconductor Structure To Minimize N-Type Dopant Diffusion And Method Of Making” (hereinafter “the '331 application”), which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes. It will be understood that the locations of the n+ and p+ regions may be reversed.
In some embodiments, a barrier layer 308 such as titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, tungsten nitride, etc., may be formed between titanium oxide layer 212 and n+ region 302 (e.g., to prevent and/or reduce migration of metal atoms into the polysilicon regions). Use of such a metal barrier layer may form an unwanted rectifying contact between barrier layer 308 and titanium oxide layer 212. Accordingly, in some embodiments, a thin conductive layer (not shown), such as titanium, nickel, other conductive materials, etc., may be formed between titanium oxide layer 212 and barrier layer 308 (e.g., for work function tuning, to reduce or prevent formation of a rectifying contact).
When diode 204 is formed from deposited silicon (e.g., amorphous or polycrystalline), a silicide layer 310 may be formed on diode 204 to place the deposited silicon in a low resistivity state, as fabricated. Such a low resistivity state allows for easier programming of memory cell 200 as a large voltage is not required to switch the deposited silicon to a low resistivity state.
For example, a silicide-forming metal layer 312 such as titanium or cobalt, may be deposited on p+ polysilicon region 306. During a subsequent anneal step (described below) employed to crystallize the deposited silicon that forms diode 204, silicide-forming metal layer 312 and the deposited silicon of diode 204 interact to form silicide layer 310, consuming all or a portion of silicide-forming metal layer 312.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,176,064, “Memory Cell Comprising a Semiconductor Junction Diode Crystallized Adjacent to a Silicide,” which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, silicide-forming materials such as titanium and cobalt react with deposited silicon during annealing to form a silicide layer. The lattice spacings of titanium silicide and cobalt silicide are close to that of silicon, and it appears that such silicide layers may serve as “crystallization templates” or “seeds” for adjacent deposited silicon as the deposited silicon crystallizes (e.g., silicide layer 310 enhances the crystalline structure of silicon diode 204 during annealing). Lower resistivity silicon thereby is provided. Similar results may be achieved for silicon-germanium alloy and/or germanium diodes.
Following formation of silicide-forming metal layer 312, top conductor 208 is formed. In some embodiments, one or more barrier layers and/or adhesion layers 314 may be formed over silicide-forming metal layer 312 prior to deposition of a conductive layer 315. Conductive layer 315, barrier layer 314 and silicide-forming metal layer 312 may be patterned and/or etched together to form top conductor 208.
Following formation of top conductor 208, memory cell 200 may be annealed to crystallize the deposited semiconductor material of diode 204 (and/or to form silicide layer 310). In at least one embodiment, the anneal may be performed for about 10 seconds to about 2 minutes in nitrogen at a temperature of about 600 to 800° C., and more preferably between about 650 and 750° C. Other annealing times, temperatures and/or environments may be used. As stated, silicide layer 310 may serve as a “crystallization template” or “seed” during annealing for underlying deposited semiconductor material that forms diode 204. Lower resistivity diode material thereby is provided.
An exemplary process for fabricating a memory cell in accordance with the present invention is described below with reference to
Exemplary Fabrication Process for a Memory Cell
With reference to
Isolation layer 402 is formed above substrate 400. In some embodiments, isolation layer 402 may be a layer of silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride or any other suitable insulating layer. In other embodiments, isolation layer 402 may be a shallow trench isolation (“STI”) region formed by etching a trench in substrate 400, depositing a dielectric such as silicon dioxide, silicon nitride or another dielectric over substrate 400 to fill the trench and planarizing substrate 400 to re-expose a top surface 403 of substrate 400.
Note that in one or more embodiments, a silicon nitride or similar protective layer (not shown) may be formed over active regions (not shown) of substrate 400 prior to isolation region formation (e.g., to protect the active regions). As an alternative, a localized oxidation of silicon (“LOCOS”) process or any other suitable process may be employed to define isolation layer 402.
Following formation of isolation layer 402, an adhesion layer 404 is formed over isolation layer 402 (e.g., by physical vapor deposition or another method). For example, adhesion layer 404 may be about 20 to about 500 angstroms, and preferably about 100 angstroms, of titanium nitride or another suitable adhesion layer such as tantalum nitride, tungsten nitride, combinations of one or more adhesion layers, or the like. Other adhesion layer materials and/or thicknesses may be employed. In some embodiments, adhesion layer 404 may be optional.
After formation of adhesion layer 404, a conductive layer 406 is deposited over adhesion layer 404. Conductive layer 406 may include any suitable conductive material such as tungsten or another appropriate metal, heavily doped semiconductor material, a conductive silicide, a conductive silicide-germanide, a conductive germanide, or the like deposited by any suitable method (e.g., chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, etc.). In at least one embodiment, conductive layer 406 may comprise about 200 to about 2500 angstroms of tungsten. Other conductive layer materials and/or thicknesses may be used.
After formation of conductive layer 406, a titanium-containing layer 407, such as titanium nitride, is formed over conductive layer 406 (e.g., using physical vapor deposition or another method). In some embodiments, titanium-containing layer 407 includes about 20 to about 1200 angstroms of titanium nitride. Other titanium-containing layer materials, such as titanium, a titanium alloy, TiSi2, TiW, etc., and/or thicknesses may be used.
Following formation of titanium-containing layer 407, adhesion layer 404, conductive layer 406 and titanium-containing layer 407 are patterned and etched. For example, adhesion layer 404, conductive layer 406 and titanium-containing layer 407 may be patterned and etched using conventional lithography techniques, with a soft or hard mask, and wet or dry etch processing.
In at least one embodiment, adhesion layer 404, conductive layer 406 and titanium-containing layer 407 are patterned and etched so as to form substantially parallel, substantially co-planar conductors 408 (as shown in
After conductors 408 have been formed, a dielectric layer 410 is deposited over substrate 400 so as to fill the voids between conductors 408. For example, approximately 3000-7000 angstroms of silicon dioxide may be deposited on substrate 400 and planarized using chemical mechanical polishing or an etchback process to form a planar surface 412. Planar surface 412 includes exposed, discrete regions 407a-f of titanium-containing layer material 407 separated by dielectric material 410, as shown. The discrete titanium-containing layer regions 407a-f may be used to selectively form a titanium oxide reversible resistance-switching element for each memory cell being formed above substrate 400 (as described further below).
Other dielectric materials such as silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, low K dielectrics, etc., and/or other dielectric layer thicknesses may be used. Exemplary low K dielectrics include carbon doped oxides, silicon carbon layers, or the like.
If a reversible resistance-switching element is to be formed by oxidizing a material other than a titanium-containing material, titanium-containing layer 407 may be replaced with a layer of the material to be oxidized, such as Ta, TaN, Nb, NbN, Al, AlN, Hf, HfN, V, VN, etc.
Referring to
As described previously, any suitable method may be employed to oxidize titanium-containing layer regions 407a-f such as rapid thermal oxidation in an oxygen environment such as O2, ozone, a combination of the same, or using any other suitable oxidizing species. In other embodiments, a titanium-containing layer region may be oxidized using oxygen diffusion in a CVD chamber with an ozone or other oxygen source, using gaseous or liquid ozone cleaning, or using any other suitable oxidation process to form titanium oxide.
With reference to
Barrier layer 414 may be on top of, in addition to or in place of the thin conductive layer and may be about 20 to about 500 angstroms, and preferably about 100 angstroms, of titanium nitride or another suitable barrier layer such as tantalum nitride, tungsten nitride, combinations of one or more barrier layers, barrier layers in combination with other layers such as titanium/titanium nitride, tantalum/tantalum nitride or tungsten/tungsten nitride stacks, or the like. Other barrier layer materials and/or thicknesses may be employed.
After deposition of the thin conductive layer (if used) and/or barrier layer 414, deposition of the semiconductor material used to form the diode of each memory cell begins (e.g., diode 204 in
With reference to
In at least one embodiment, n+ silicon layer 416 may be formed, for example, from about 100 to about 1000 angstroms, preferably about 100 angstroms, of phosphorus or arsenic doped silicon having a doping concentration of about 1021 cm−3. Other layer thicknesses, dopants and/or doping concentrations may be used. N+ silicon layer 416 may be doped in situ, for example, by flowing a donor gas during deposition. Other doping methods may be used (e.g., implantation).
After deposition of n+ silicon layer 416, a lightly doped, intrinsic and/or unintentionally doped silicon layer 418 is formed over n+ silicon layer 416. In some embodiments, intrinsic silicon layer 418 is in an amorphous state as deposited. In other embodiments, intrinsic silicon layer 418 is in a polycrystalline state as deposited. Chemical vapor deposition or another suitable deposition method may be employed to deposit intrinsic silicon layer 418. In at least one embodiment, intrinsic silicon layer 418 may be about 500 to about 4800 angstroms, preferably about 2500 angstroms, in thickness. Other intrinsic layer thicknesses may be used.
A thin (e.g., a few hundred angstroms or less) germanium and/or silicon-germanium alloy layer (not shown) may be formed on n+ silicon layer 416 prior to deposition of intrinsic silicon layer 418 to prevent and/or reduce dopant migration from n+ silicon layer 416 into intrinsic silicon layer 418 (as described in the '331 application, previously incorporated).
Following formation of n+ silicon layer 416 and intrinsic silicon layer 418, n+ silicon layer 416, intrinsic silicon layer 418, barrier layer 414 and/or any conductive layer (if used) are patterned and etched so as to form silicon pillars 420 overlying conductors 408 (as shown). Conventional lithography techniques, with a soft or hard mask, and wet or dry etch processing may be employed to form silicon pillars 420.
After silicon pillars 420 have been formed, a dielectric layer 422 is deposited to fill the voids between silicon pillars 420. For example, approximately 200-7000 angstroms of silicon dioxide may be deposited and planarized using chemical mechanical polishing or an etchback process to form a planar surface 424. Planar surface 424 includes exposed top surfaces of silicon pillars 420 separated by dielectric material 422, as shown. Other dielectric materials such as silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, low K dielectrics, etc., and/or other dielectric layer thicknesses may be used. Exemplary low K dielectrics include carbon doped oxides, silicon carbon layers, or the like.
After formation of silicon pillars 420, a p+ silicon region 426 is formed within each silicon pillar 420, near the upper surface of silicon pillars 420. For example, a blanket p+ implant may be employed to implant boron a predetermined depth within silicon pillars 420. Exemplary implantable molecular ions include BF2, BF3, B and the like. In some embodiments, an implant dose of about 1-5×1015 ions/cm2 may be employed. Other implant species and/or doses may be used.
Further, in some embodiments, a diffusion process may be employed to dope the upper portion of silicon pillars 420. In at least one embodiment, p+ silicon regions 426 have a depth of about 100-700 angstroms, although other p+ silicon region sizes may be used. (Note that if the diodes to be formed are upward pointing p-n or p-i-n diodes, the upper portion of silicon pillars 420 will be doped n-type). Each silicon pillar 420 thereby includes a downward-pointing, p-i-n diode 428.
With reference to
Following formation of silicide-forming metal layer 430, a second set of conductors 436 may be formed above diodes 428 in a manner similar to the formation of the bottom set of conductors 408. In some embodiments, one or more barrier layers and/or adhesion layers 438 may be placed over silicide-forming metal layer 430 prior to deposition of a conductive layer 440 used to form the upper, second set of conductors 436.
Conductive layer 440 may be formed from any suitable conductive material such as tungsten, another suitable metal, heavily doped semiconductor material, a conductive silicide, a conductive silicide-germanide, a conductive germanide, or the like deposited by any suitable method (e.g., chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, etc.). Other conductive layer materials may be used.
Barrier layers and/or adhesion layers 438 may include titanium nitride or another suitable layer such as tantalum nitride, tungsten nitride, combinations of one or more layers, or any other suitable material(s). The deposited conductive layer 440, barrier and/or adhesion layer 438, and/or silicide-forming metal layer 430 may be patterned and/or etched to form the second set of conductors 436. In at least one embodiment, upper conductors 436 are substantially parallel, substantially coplanar conductors that extend in a different direction than lower conductors 408.
Following formation of upper conductors 436, the structure may be annealed to crystallize the deposited semiconductor material of diodes 428 (and/or to form silicide regions 432). In at least one embodiment, the anneal may be performed for about 10 seconds to about 2 minutes in nitrogen at a temperature of about 600 to 800° C., and more preferably between about 650 and 750° C. Other annealing times, temperatures and/or environments may be used. Silicide regions 432 may serve as “crystallization templates” or “seeds” during annealing for underlying deposited semiconductor material that forms diodes 432 (e.g., changing any amorphous semiconductor material to polycrystalline semiconductor material and/or improving overall crystalline properties of diodes 432). Lower resistivity diode material thereby is provided.
Alternative Exemplary Memory Cell
In the embodiment shown, an insulating region 506 such as silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, oxynitride, etc., is formed above substrate 505 and a deposited semiconductor region 507 such as deposited silicon, germanium, silicon-germanium, etc., is formed above insulating region 506. The thin film MOSFET 502 is formed within deposited semiconductor region 507 and is insulated from substrate 505 by insulating region 506.
MOSFET 502 includes source/drain regions 508, 510 and channel region 512, as well as gate dielectric layer 514, gate electrode 516 and spacers 518a-b. In at least one embodiment, source/drain regions 508, 510 may be doped p-type and channel region 512 may be doped n-type, while in other embodiments source/drain regions 508, 510 may be doped n-type and channel region 512 may be doped p-type. Any other MOSFET configuration or any suitable fabrication techniques may be employed for thin film MOSFET 502.
In some embodiments, MOSFET 502 may be electrically isolated by isolation regions (not shown) formed in substrate 506 (e.g., formed using an STI, LOCOS or other similar process). Alternatively, gate, source and/or drain regions of MOSFET 502 may be shared with other transistors (not shown) formed on substrate 506.
Reversible resistance-switching element 504 includes a lower conductor 520, a titanium-containing layer 521 formed over lower conductor 520, a titanium oxide layer 522 selectively grown over titanium-containing layer 521 and an upper conductor 524 formed over the reversible resistivity-switching material (titanium oxide layer 522). Upper and lower conductors 520, 524 may include any suitable conductive material such as tungsten, another metal, heavily doped semiconductor material, a conductive silicide, a conductive silicide-germanide, a conductive germanide, or the like.
In some embodiments, one or more barrier and/or adhesion layers (not shown) may be provided between upper and lower conductors 520, 524 and the reversible resistivity-switching material (titanium oxide layer 522).
In at least one embodiment, the reversible resistivity-switching material (titanium oxide layer 522) is formed using a selective growth process as previously described with reference to the embodiments of
In other embodiments, titanium oxide layer 522 may be formed by oxidizing titanium-containing layer 521 using oxygen diffusion in a chemical vapor deposition (“CVD”) chamber with an ozone or other oxygen source, using gaseous or liquid ozone cleaning, or using any other suitable oxidation process. In any case, the need for etching of titanium oxide layers may be eliminated and memory cell fabrication significantly simplified. Other materials may be selectively oxidized in accordance with the present invention to form reversible resistivity-switching materials for use in memory cell 500 (e.g., Ta, TaN, Nb, NbN, Al, AlN, Hf, HfN, V, VN, etc.).
As shown in
The conductive plugs and/or lines may be formed from any suitable materials (without or without barriers layers) such as tungsten, another metal, heavily doped semiconductor material, a conductive silicide, a conductive silicide-germanide, a conductive germanide, or the like. Note that when MOSFET 502 is an n-channel device, region 508 serves as the drain and region 510 serves as the source for MOSFET 502; and when MOSFET 502 is an p-channel device, region 508 serves as the source and region 510 serves as the drain for MOSFET 502. Dielectric layer 532 may include any suitable dielectric such as silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, low K dielectrics, etc.
In memory cell 500, thin film MOSFET 502 operates as a steering element in a manner similar to that of the diodes employed in the memory cells of
In at least one embodiment, reversible resistance-switching element 504 includes a titanium oxide layer having a thickness of about 500 angstroms or less, and more preferably a thickness of about 300 angstroms or less. Other titanium oxide thicknesses may be employed.
The foregoing description discloses only exemplary embodiments of the invention. Modifications of the above disclosed apparatus and methods which fall within the scope of the invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.
For instance, although the present invention has been described primarily with regard to selective oxidation of titanium nitride, it will be understood that other materials may be selectively oxidized to form reversible resistivity-switching materials for use in memory cells such as Ta, TaN, Nb, NbN, Al, AlN, Hf, HfN, V, VN, etc.
Accordingly, while the present invention has been disclosed in connection with exemplary embodiments thereof, it should be understood that other embodiments may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined by the following claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/037,591, filed Mar. 1, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,373,150, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/772,088, filed Jun. 29, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,902,537, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes. This application is related to the following patent applications, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/772,081, filed Jun. 29, 2007, now abandoned, and titled “Method To Form A Rewriteable Memory Cell Comprising A Diode And A Resistivity-Switching Grown Oxide.” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/772,090, filed Jun. 29, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,846,785, and titled “Memory Cell That Employs A Selectively Deposited Reversible Resistance-Switching Element And Methods Of Forming The Same.” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/772,084, filed Jun. 29, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,233,308, and titled “Memory Cell That Employs A Selectively Deposited Reversible Resistance-Switching Element And Methods Of Forming The Same.”
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20130146832 A1 | Jun 2013 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13037591 | Mar 2011 | US |
| Child | 13764065 | US | |
| Parent | 11772088 | Jun 2007 | US |
| Child | 13037591 | US |
