1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to method and structure for manufacturing a flash memory device. The present invention further relates to the method and structure for manufacturing a flash memory device with enhanced gate coupling ratio (GCR) and thereafter a smaller applied control gate voltage needed in the operation of the flash memory device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nonvolatile flash memory devices such as erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) or flash memory have been widely used and accepted as data storage devices due to their capabilities to store data after the power is turned off.
Generally, a flash memory device is very similar to a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) except that it has a stacked gate structure. Two gates are provided generally in a stacked manner in a flash memory device, one of which is a floating gate, normally formed by polysilicon for the storage of electrical charges, and the other of which is the control gate to control the access of information. The floating gate is generally located underneath the control gate with a dielectric layer (for example, oxide/nitride/oxide stacked structure) lying between the two gates. The floating gate is named because it is always in the “floating” state without a connection to the exterior circuitry. Instead, the control gate is usually connected to a word line. A gate oxide (sometimes called tunnel oxide) lies between the floating gate and the semiconductor substrate. Additionally, source and drain regions are arranged on the semiconductor substrate on both sides of the gates.
The operation of a flash memory device will be described briefly as follows. During a write operation, a high programming voltage is applied on the control gate, and this forces an inversion region to form in the p-type substrate. The drain voltage is increased to half of the control gate voltage while the source is grounded, and this increases the voltage drop between the drain and the source. In the presence of the inversion region, the current between the drain and the source increases. The resulting high electron flow from the source to the drain increases the kinetic energy of the electrons. This causes electrons to gain enough energy to overcome the silicon/silicon oxide energy barrier and be collected in the floating gate. The floating gate can be erased by grounding the control gate and raising the source voltage to a sufficiently high positive voltage to transfer electrons out of the floating gate to the source gate by tunneling through the thin gate oxide layer.
It is the general trend in the semiconductor market to manufacture devices with miniaturized dimensions, lower operation voltage, lower cost, higher speed, etc. One of the key features of a flash memory device is the gate coupling ratio (GCR) between the floating gate and the control gate, which affects both the operating voltage and device speed. The read/write method of a flash memory is effected by means of electrons transferring between the floating gate and the source/drain gate.
The gate coupling ratio is defined as the ratio of an induced voltage on the floating gate to the incident voltage applied on the control gate. For the perfect coupling, this ratio is equal to 100%. Generally, increasing the gate coupling ratio can lower the operating voltage and increase the device speed at the same time. A few approaches, which have been taken to increase the gate coupling ratio, include: increasing the overlapped area between the floating gate and the control gate; reducing the dielectric thickness between the floating gate and the control gate; and increasing the dielectric constant (k) of the dielectric layer between the floating gate and the control gate.
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In the prior art, the floating gate surface area is the floating gate periphery length times the floating gate width “Lw”. As shown in
Floating gate surface area (for the prior art)=(800+2500+800)×Lw=4100 Lw
In the prior art as described above, the surface area of the floating gate overlapped with that of the control gate is limited, which results in a gate coupling ratio of only 60%. It would therefore be desirable to provide a manufacturing method for a flash memory device with a larger surface area of the floating gate overlapped with that of the control gate so that a higher gate coupling ratio can be obtained.
In accordance with the present invention, method and structure are provided for forming a flash memory device with a semiconductor spacer that substantially increases the overlapped area between the floating gate and the control gate, which in turn results in a substantially improved gate coupling ratio (GCR).
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, method and structure to improve the gate coupling ratio (GCR) for fabricating a flash memory device are provided. The method and structure include the following steps. A gate oxide layer, a first semiconductor layer, and an insulating layer are formed sequentially over a provided semiconductor substrate. Then the insulating layer is partially removed until the partial first semiconductor layer is exposed. After that, a semiconductor spacer is formed on both the exposed insulating layer and first semiconductor layer. The semiconductor spacer is partially removed until the insulating layer is exposed. Then the insulating layer is partially removed in order to expose the first semiconductor layer; thus, the semiconductor spacer protrudes through the surface of the first semiconductor layer. Later an insulating stacked structure is formed over the surface of the first semiconductor layer and the semiconductor spacer. Finally a second semiconductor layer is formed over the insulating stacked structure.
Further objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a careful reading of the detailed description provided herein below with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.
The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated and be better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Reference will be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
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An etching process is then performed on the insulating layer 213. Next, the photo resist layer 220 is stripped after the etching reaction is completed, as shown in
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New floating gate surface area (for the current invention)=2×area320+2×area321+area322
According to this calculation, the new floating gate area that is effectively coupled to the control gate is as follows,
New floating gate surface area (for the current invention)>9100 Lw
It is now quite clear that the capacitance of the inter-poly layer (the insulating stacked structure) will be increased to more than twice the prior art value since the surface area of the floating gate effectively coupled to the control gate has been increased to more than twice the prior art value in the current invention. The GCR therefore is expected to be increased from 60% in the prior art to more than 75% in the current invention. Once the gate coupling ratio is enhanced, we can therefore expect a lower voltage to be applied on the control gate during device operation. A lower applied control gate voltage further results in less hazard of breakdown of the inter-poly dielectric (i.e., the insulating stacked structure) and hence a better device reliability is expected with the current invention.
Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from what is intended to be limited solely by the appended claims.