Patent Application
20150214315
The present invention relates to a structure of an integrated circuit component and its producing methods and, more particularly, to a non-volatile memory and methods for producing the non-volatile memory.
Non-volatile memories have advantages of small volumes, light weights, low power consumption, and prevention of loss of data resulting from power interruption and are, thus, suitable for applications in hand-held electronic devices. Following the popularization of hand-held electronic devices, non-volatile memories have widely been used as multimedia storage devices or used for maintaining normal operation of electronic systems. The need of non-volatile memories increases every year, and the costs and prices decrease, which is a positive cycle for non-volatile memories. Thus, non-volatile memories have become one of the most important products in the semiconductor industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,787 discloses a non-volatile memory unit of a stack-gate non-volatile memory structure including a floating gate. When the memory undergoes an operation of writing “1”, a sufficient amount of electrons is trapped in the floating gate by hot-electron injection, such that the status of the memory unit is “1”. When the memory undergoes an operation of writing “0” or erasing, electrons are removed from the floating gate by Fowler-Nordheim tunneling, such that the status of the memory unit is “0”. Since the status of the memory unit depends on whether a sufficient amount of electrons is trapped in the floating gate, the status of the memory unit can be maintained even if the power source is removed and is, thus, referred to as a non-volatile memory.
However, the stack-gate non-volatile memory still have the following disadvantages. Firstly, an over erasure effect exists. When the memory unit undergoes the erasing operation, excessive electrons could be removed from the floating gate, resulting in a negative threshold voltage of an equivalent transistor component in the memory unit; namely, the memory unit is normally in a conductive state that leads to unnecessary leakage current. Secondly, a larger operating current is required during the erasing operation. When the memory undergoes the erasing operation, the source voltage is much larger than the voltage of the floating gate and, thus, results in a gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) effect, leading to leakage current from the source to the substrate. As a result, an external power source more powerful in providing current is required in the operation, leading to difficulties in integration of the whole circuit. Furthermore, to reduce the extent of leakage, the source is in the form of a lightly-doped drain structure.
However, as the processes are more and more advanced and the size becomes smaller and smaller, the lightly-doped drain is apt to cause a punch-through effect. Thus, when a stack-gate non-volatile memory is produced by a process for less than 0.2 μm technology node, the lightly-doped drain structure is replaced by a deep N-well to isolate the source from the substrate to avoid leakage. However, in a memory matrix comprised of stack-gate non-volatile memories, a plurality of memory units shares the deep N-well to save the area. Due to the structural limitation, the memory units sharing the deep N-well must simultaneously undergo the erasing operation, which sacrifices the operational flexibility of the circuit. Lastly, during writing of “1”, the tunneling probability of electrons is low, because the electric field of the channel is stronger. Thus, a stronger current is required in the operation for increasing the operating speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,952 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,286 disclose a split-gate non-volatile memory. In comparison with the above conventional technique, the split-gate non-volatile memory has an additional select gate. Since conduction of the channel in an equivalent transistor component of the non-volatile memory unit requires a positive voltage at both the floating gate and the select gate to be larger than the threshold voltage, the drawback of normal leakage can be avoided by controlling the voltage of the selective gate. However, the floating gate and the selective gate do not overlap, such that the area of the chip is larger. Aside from this, the principles of writing operation and erasing operation are the same as a stack-gate non-volatile memory. U.S. Pat. No. 7,009,144, U.S. Pat. No. 7,199,424, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,407,857 also disclose a split-gate non-volatile memory structure in which a stepped structure is provided at a bottom of the floating gate. In comparison with the above conventional techniques, this invention has two advantages. Firstly, in comparison with the conventional technique of the above split-gate non-volatile memory, the wedge structure can reduce the degree of capacitor coupling between the floating gate and the source, such that a larger portion of the voltage applied to a control gate can be coupled to the floating gate. Thus, when the memory unit undergoes the writing or erasing operation, a lower supply voltage can be used. Secondly, in comparison with the above two conventional techniques, the wedge structure can reduce the intensity of the electric field between the source and the floating gate to reduce leakage from the source to the substrate, avoiding processes using lightly-doped drains or deep N-wells. Thus, the area can be further reduced to cut the costs. However, during conduction of an equivalent transistor component of the non-volatile memory unit, the magnitude of the conduction current is decided by a thicker gate dielectric layer formed by the wedge structure, such that the change in the conduction current is larger and, thus, adversely affects the yield of the memories. Furthermore, the thicker tunnel dielectric layer of the stepped floating gate is liable to cause a short circuit between the drain and the source, resulting in great limitation to further miniaturization of the structure.
Furthermore, in the above split-gate non-volatile memory structures, since multiple polycrystalline silicon etching processes are involved in formation of the floating gate during implementation of U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,952, U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,286, U.S. Pat. No. 7,009,144,U.S. Pat. No. 7,199,242, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,407,857, residuals of polycrystalline silicon resulting from excessive etching in through-holes in the surface of the drain or resulting from shallow etching occur easily. Thus, it is difficult to stably maintain the integrity of the non-volatile memory and, thus, reduces the practicability of the split-gate non-volatile memory.
An objective of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the conventional techniques by providing a non-volatile memory which can reduce the leakage current resulting from the gate-induced drain leakage effect, which can provide good control on the magnitude of the conduction current during conduction, and which can further cooperate with advanced processes to reduce the per unit area of the memory unit and to provide integrity of the product.
The technical solution for achieving the above objective is a non-volatile memory unit according to the present invention including a substrate having an upper surface. The substrate further includes a source diffusion region and a drain diffusion region in the substrate. A first dielectric layer is formed on the upper surface of the substrate and is located on the drain diffusion region side. A tunnel dielectric layer is formed on the upper surface of the substrate and is located on the source diffusion region side. The tunnel dielectric layer includes a lower face covering a portion of the source diffusion region. A source insulating layer is formed on an upper surface of the source diffusion region of the substrate and includes a lower face. An entire area of the lower face of the source insulating layer covers the source diffusion region. A select gate is formed on the first dielectric layer. A floating gate is formed on a face of the tunnel dielectric layer and a face of the source insulating layer. A portion of the floating gate is located on the tunnel dielectric layer covering a portion of the source diffusion region. A second dielectric layer is formed on a face of the floating gate. A control gate is formed on the floating gate. The control gate and the floating gate are insulating to each other by the second dielectric layer.
The source diffusion region can be a gradually diffused doped structure.
The first dielectric layer can have a thickness of 0.5-10 nm.
The tunnel dielectric layer can have a thickness of 5-15 nm.
The source insulating layer can have a thickness of 10-30 nm and can be thicker than a thickness of the tunnel dielectric layer.
The present invention further provides a method for producing a non-volatile memory unit. The method includes:
providing a substrate, with the substrate including an upper surface;
forming a first dielectric layer on the upper surface of the substrate;
forming a select gate on the first dielectric layer;
forming a select gate sidewall insulating layer, and forming a tunnel dielectric layer on the upper surface of the substrate at a location not covered by the select gate;
forming a self-aligned source dope blocking layer;
forming a source diffusion region by doping;
removing the self-aligned source dope blocking layer; forming a tunnel dielectric layer and a source insulating layer on a face of the source doped region by silicon oxidation, with the source insulating layer thicker than the tunnel dielectric layer, with a lightly-doped region of the source diffusion region formed at a junction between the tunnel dielectric layer and the source insulating layer and covering a portion of the tunnel dielectric layer;
forming a self-aligned floating gate on the tunnel dielectric layer and the source insulating layer;
forming a second dielectric layer on the floating gate; and
forming a control gate on the second dielectric layer, with a portion of the control gate located in a space of a channel structure of the second dielectric layer.
The source diffusion region can be a gradually diffused doped structure.
The first dielectric layer can have a thickness of 0.5-10 nm.
The tunnel dielectric layer can have a thickness of 5-12 nm.
The source insulating layer can have a thickness of 10-30 nm and is thicker than a thickness of the tunnel dielectric layer.
The self-aligned source dope blocking layer can be made of silicon nitride.
Formation of the source diffusion region by doping can be accomplished by implantation.
Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for producing a non-volatile memory unit. The method includes:
providing a substrate, with the substrate including an upper surface;
forming a first dielectric layer on the upper surface of the substrate;
forming a select gate on the first dielectric layer;
forming a select gate sidewall insulating layer, and forming a tunnel dielectric layer on the upper surface 1a of the substrate at a location not covered by the select gate;
forming a self-aligned source dope blocking layer;
forming a source diffusion region by doping;
forming a source insulating layer on a face of the source doped region by silicon oxidation;
removing the self-aligned source dope blocking layer;
forming a tunnel dielectric layer, with a lightly-doped region of the source diffusion region formed at a junction between the tunnel dielectric layer and the source insulating layer and covering a portion of the tunnel dielectric layer;
forming a self-aligned floating gate on the tunnel dielectric layer and the source insulating layer;
forming a second dielectric layer on the floating gate; and
forming a control gate on the second dielectric layer, with a portion of the control gate located in a space of a channel structure of the second dielectric layer.
The source diffusion region can be a gradually diffused doped structure.
The first dielectric layer can have a thickness of 0.5-10 nm.
The tunnel dielectric layer can have a thickness of 5-12 nm.
The source insulating layer can have a thickness of 10-30 nm and can be thicker than a thickness of the tunnel dielectric layer.
The self-aligned source dope blocking layer can be made of silicon nitride.
Formation of the source diffusion region by doping can be accomplished by implantation.
The advantages of the present invention are that the thickness of the dielectric layer between the floating gate and the source doped region of the non-volatile memory unit and the repairing the substrate surface defects (resulting from the doping procedure) by oxidation of the silicon substrate are automatically adjusted by the doping concentration of the source diffusion, such that when the non-volatile memory undergoes an erasing operation, the horizontal and vertical electric filed intensity between the source and the p-typed silicon substrate can effectively be reduced. Thus, the substrate defects triggering the source leakage can be sufficiently reduced by oxidation annealing, thereby reducing the leakage current from the source diffusion region to the p-type silicon substrate resulting from gate-induced drain leakage. The current supply demand of power source is reduced to permit easy achievement of integration of the whole circuit.
Furthermore, in the structure of this split-gate type non-volatile memory unit, the thicker source insulating layer can permit multiple polycrystalline silicon etching for forming the floating gate and can protect the drain diffusion surface and the source diffusion surface. The integrity of the non-volatile memory unit can be maintained during more etching processing for removing the residuals of polycrystalline silicon between the floating gates. Furthermore, this improvement also permits the area of the non-volatile memory unit to be further reduced under cooperation with advanced processes, further reducing the costs and increasing the yield.
The present invention will become clearer in light of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments of this invention described in connection with the drawings.
a is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a select gate and a first insulating layer by an example of a method for producing a non-volatile memory unit according to the present invention.
b is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a sidewall barrier layer on the structure of
c is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of an n-type doped region of a source on the structure of
d is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a tunnel oxidation layer and a source insulating layer on the structure of
e is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a polycrystalline silicon layer on the structure of
f is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a floating gate, a drain diffusion region and a source diffusion region on the structure of
g is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a second dielectric layer on the structure of
h is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a control gate on the structure of
a is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a select gate and a first insulating layer by another example of a method for producing a non-volatile memory unit according to the present invention.
b is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a sidewall barrier layer on the structure of
c is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of an n-type doped region of a source on the structure of
d is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of source side sacrificial oxide on the structure of
e is a diagrammatic view illustrating removal of residual oxidation layer from a substrate and removal of a portion of the source insulating layer from the structure of
f is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a tunnel oxidation layer and a source insulating layer on the structure of
g is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a polycrystalline silicon layer on the structure of
h is a diagrammatic view illustrating formation of a control gate on the structure of
1 p-type substrate
1
a upper surface
3 select gate
4 first insulating layer
5
a tunnel dielectric layer
5
b source insulating layer
6 source side sacrificial oxide
7 polycrystalline silicon layer
8 floating gate
9 drain diffusion region
10 source diffusion region
11 second dielectric layer
12 control gate
13 first dielectric layer
15 sidewall barrier layer of silicon nitride
17 composite sidewall insulating layer of silicon dioxide or silicon nitride
18 sidewall barrier layer of silicon dioxide or silicon nitride
The present invention will be further described by way of examples in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The technical terms in the following description are used in reference to the idioms in the art. Some of the terms are explained or defined in the specification, and such explanation or definition in the specification should be based to interpret these terms. Furthermore, on the premise of practicability, the terms “on”, “under”, “at”, etc. used in the specification refers to directly or indirectly “on” or “under” an object or a reference object and directly or indirectly “at” an object or a reference object. The term “indirect” used herein refers to the existence of an intermediate object or a physical space. On the premise of practicability, the terms “contiguous” and “between” used herein refers to two objects or two reference objects between which an intermediate object or a space exists or does not exist. Furthermore, in the following description related to semiconductor processes, the terms common in the semiconductor processing field, such as the techniques of “formation of an oxidation layer”, “lithography”, “etching”, “cleaning”, “diffusion”, “ion implantation”, “chemical and physical vapor deposition”, will not be described to avoid redundancy if these terms do not involve the technical features of the present invention. Furthermore, the shape, size, and proportion of the components in the figures are illustrative only and are related to the parameters and processing capability mentioned in the specification to provide ease of understanding of the present invention by a person having ordinary in the art, rather than limiting the embodying scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the producing method mentioned in the specification is merely related to production of a single non-volatile memory unit. In fact, a person having ordinary skill in the art can use conventional techniques to implement an industrially applicable non-volatile memory matrix comprised of a plurality of non-volatile memory units.
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The first dielectric layer 13 is a gate dielectric layer and is generally an oxidation layer. The first dielectric layer 13 is formed on the upper surface 1a of the p-type silicon substrate 1. A thickness of the first dielectric layer 13 is 0.5-10 nm. The thickness of the first dielectric layer 13 can be equal to the thickness of a dielectric layer of any logic gate.
The tunnel dielectric layer 5a is generally a tunnel insulating layer of silicon dioxide and is formed between the first dielectric layer 13 and the source diffusion region 10. A thickness of the tunnel dielectric layer 5a is between 5-15 nm, generally 10 nm. The source insulating layer 5b is formed on the main doped region of the source. A thickness of the source insulating layer 5b is between 10-50 nm, generally 20 nm. The tunnel dielectric layer 5a is contiguous to the source insulating layer 5b.
The select gate 3 is formed on the first dielectric layer 13. The first insulating layer 4 is formed on the select gate 3. The floating gate 8 is formed on the tunnel dielectric layer 5a. A portion of the floating gate 8 is located on a portion of the source insulating layer 5b, which, in turn, is located on the lightly-doped region 10a of the source diffusion region 10. The floating gate 8 is spaced from the select gate 3 and the first insulating layer 4 by a sidewall insulating layer 17 (generally a composite layer made of silicon dioxide or made of silicon dioxide and silicon nitride) and is formed on a side of the sidewall insulating layer 17. A thickness of the sidewall insulating layer 17 is 10-30 nm, preferably 20 nm. A second dielectric layer 11 (generally a composite layer made of silicon dioxide and silicon nitride) is formed on the floating gate 8 and the first insulating layer 4. A thickness of the second dielectric layer 11 is 10-20 nm.
The control gate 12 generally has a thickness of 100 nm. At least a portion of the control gate 12 is formed on the floating gate 8. Furthermore, the control gate 12 and the floating gate 8 are insulating to each other by the second dielectric layer 11.
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Since the floating gate 8 of the non-volatile memory unit is located on the source diffusion region (heavily doped) 10 and the lightly-doped region 10a of the source diffusion region 10, when the non-volatile memory unit undergoes an erasing operation, the source diffusion region 10 is spaced from the floating gate 8 by the thicker source insulating layer 5b, and the lightly-doped region 10a is spaced from the floating gate 8 by the tunnel dielectric layer 5a and undergoes electron tunneling, such that the source leakage effect between the floating gate 8 and the p-typed silicon substrate 1 can effectively be reduced to reduce the current supply demand of the power source, permitting easy achievement of integration of the whole circuit. Furthermore, in the structure of this split-gate type non-volatile memory unit, the thicker source insulating layer 5b can permit multiple polycrystalline silicon etching for forming the floating gate and can protect the drain diffusion surface and the source diffusion surface. The integrity of the non-volatile memory unit can be maintained during more etching processing for removing the residuals of polycrystalline silicon between the floating gates. Furthermore, this improvement also permits the area of the non-volatile memory unit to be further reduced under cooperation with advanced processes, further reducing the costs and increasing the yield.
An example of a method for producing the non-volatile memory unit will now be set forth.
a-2h are diagrammatic views illustrating an example of the method for producing the non-volatile memory unit disclosed in the present invention, which can be used in production of a non-volatile memory unit. This example includes the following steps.
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Another example of the method for producing the non-volatile memory unit will now be set forth.
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Operation of the non-volatile memory unit will now be set forth.
During the erasing operation, i.e., when the non-volatile memory unit undergoes the operation of writing “1”, a voltage of 6V is applied to the source diffusion region 10, a voltage of −9V is applied to the control gate 12, and a voltage of 0V is applied to the drain diffusion region 9 and the select gate 3. Since an equivalent capacitor exists between the floating gate 8 and the control gate 12, the capacitance of the equivalent capacitor is far larger than the capacitance of an equivalent capacitor between the floating gate 8 and the source diffusion region 10. Thus, most of a voltage difference applied between the control gate 12 and the source diffusion region 10 will be reflected on the voltage difference between the floating gate 8 and the source diffusion region 10. Namely, the voltage of the floating gate 8 is about −8V. According to the principle of Fowler-Nordheim tunneling, the electrons will tunnel through the tunnel dielectric layer 5a at the bottom of the floating gate 8 into the source diffusion region 10, and the final equivalent polarity of the floating gate 8 is positive.
Since the voltage difference between the source diffusion region 10 and the control gate 12 is as high as 14V and since the source diffusion region 10 has a higher voltage, band-to-band tunneling (or referred to as gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL)) is triggered, leading to a breakdown voltage between the source diffusion region 10 and the p-typed silicon substrate 1. The magnitude of the leakage current depends on the electric field intensity between the source diffusion region 10 and the p-typed silicon substrate 1. In the non-volatile memory unit according to the present invention, since the source diffusion region 10 has a larger space extending in the transverse direction and forms a lightly-doped source, the electric field intensity can effectively be reduced to greatly reduce the magnitude of the leakage current, increasing the utility efficiency of the power source and reducing the temperature increase during operation of the circuit. The service life of the circuit is, thus, prolonged.
During the operation of writing “0”, a voltage of 5-6V is applied to the source diffusion region 10, a voltage of 9V is applied to the control gate 12, a voltage of 0-0.5V is applied to the drain diffusion region 9, and a voltage of about 1V is applied to the select gate 3. The voltage of 1V is slightly higher than the threshold voltage of an equivalent transistor component of the non-volatile memory unit, such that the equivalent transistor component is in a conductive state. This conductive state causes the equivalent transistor component of the non-volatile memory unit to conduct a micro ampere (μA) current. This current flows from the source diffusion region 10, flows in the p-type silicon substrate 1 along the channel portion of the tunnel dielectric layer 5a, takes a quarter turn at below the first dielectric layer 13, and flows into the drain diffusion region 9 via the channel portion below the select gate 3. The electrons flow in a reverse direction opposite to the current. In this case, the floating gate is in a state having a higher voltage due to the bias of the control gate 12, such that the tunnel dielectric layer 5a below the floating gate 8 is also in a state having a higher voltage. However, the voltage at the channel portion below the first dielectric layer 13 is lower due to the conductive state of the equivalent transistor component. Thus, when the electrons flow through the channel portion below the first dielectric layer 13 into the channel portion of the tunnel dielectric layer 5a, the corresponding voltage change (about 5V) creates a high electric field which triggers the mechanism of hot electron injection. Most of the electrons will flow from the high electric field through the tunnel dielectric layer 5a (tunneling) into the floating gate 8. Finally, the equivalent polarity of the floating gate 8 turns into negative after the floating gate 8 has trapped a sufficient amount of electrons.
During reading operation, a voltage of 0V is applied to the source diffusion region 10 and the control gate 12 (or a voltage of Vcc is applied to the control gate 12, Vcc is the power supply voltage of the memory circuit and is generally 1.8V in a 0.18 μm process), a voltage of about 1V is applied to the drain diffusion region 9, and a voltage of Vcc is applied to the select gate 3. In this case, the channel portion below the select gate 3 is in a conductive state. Assume that the storage state of the non-volatile memory unit is “0” (namely, the polarity of the floating gate 8 is negative), the channel portion of the tunnel dielectric layer 5a below the floating gate 8 is not in the conductive state (namely, the magnitude of the current in the channel portion is almost 0). On the other hand, assume that the storage state of the non-volatile memory unit is “1” (namely, the polarity of the floating gate 8 is positive), the channel portion of the tunnel dielectric layer 5a below the floating gate 8 is also in the conductive state. In this case, a current of about 30 μA exists in the channel. The storage content in the non-volatile memory unit can be known by detecting the magnitude of the current in the channel.
Thus since the illustrative embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or general characteristics thereof, some of which forms have been indicated, the embodiments described herein are to be considered in all respects illustrative and not restrictive. The scope is to be indicated by the appended claims, rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201410042003.1 | Jan 2014 | CN | national |
