Crown-shaped stacked-capacitor cell for 1.5-V operation 64-Mb DRAMs

A self-aligned stacked-capacitor cell called the CROWN cell (a crown-shaped stacked-capacitor cell), used for experimental 64-Mb-DRAMs operated at 1.5 V, has been developed using 0.3-μm electron-beam lithography. This memory cell has an area of 1.28 μm². The word-line pitch and sense-amplifier pitch of this cell are 0.8 and 1.6 μm, respectively. In spite of this small cell area, the CROWN cell has a large capacitor surface area of 3.7 μm² because (1) it has a crown-shaped capacitor electrode, (2) its capacitor is on the data line, and (3) it has a self-aligned memory cell fabrication process and structure. The large capacitor area and a Ta₂O₅ film equivalent to a 2.8-nm SiO₂ film ensure a large storage charge of 33 fC (storage capacitance equals 44 fF) for 1.5-V operation. A small CROWN cell array and a memory test circuit were successfully used to achieve a basic DRAM cell operation     

An electrical study of SIMOX material by a quick-turn-around approach

Circuits built on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates, have different requirements for material quality, depending on the intended application. Thus, the need exists for a detailed characterization of the electrical properties of the silicon and buried oxide layers. In this paper, we study the effects of processing on the electrical characteristics of SOI wafers formed by the implantation of oxygen (SIMOX). To facilitate this investigation, we developed a quick-turn-around (QT) approach, based on C-V and C-t measurements on a capacitor formed with the buried oxide as the capacitor dielectric. A simple process is used to isolate silicon islands in the film layer, thus delineating the capacitor. The measurements allow one to determine the fixed oxide charge and interface trap densities of both buried oxide interfaces, and the minority carrier generation time of both the film and substrate. The QT approach is used to study the effects of changing the post-implant anneal time and temperature, and of using a screen oxide during the oxygen implant.     

Charge pumping in SOS—MOS transistors

The variation of the floating-substrate potential of SOS-MOS transistors is studied by applying frequent pulses to the gate. The minority carriers are injected into the floating substrate by charge pumping and they recombine there. The injected charges are stored because of the reverse-biased junctions at the source and drain. The threshold-voltage change by the substrate bias is also investigated. If the silicon film is fully depleted under the gate, the threshold-voltage change does not occur. This condition is used to stabilize the high-speed operations of the SOS-MOS integrated circuits. A new memory cell consisting of only one transistor without a storage capacitor is realized utilizing the change of the floating-substrate potential by the charge pumping and the avalanche multiplication. The sensitivity of the memory cell is affected by the channel length of an SOS-MOS transistor. The memory storage time is obtained as 300 µs.     

A capacitor-less 1T-DRAM cell

A simple true 1 transistor dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cell concept is proposed for the first time, using the body charging of partially-depleted SOI devices to store the logic "1" or "0" binary states. This cell is two times smaller in area than the conventional 8F ² 1T/1C DRAM cell and the process of its manufacturing does not require the storage capacitor fabrication steps. This concept will allow the manufacture of simple low cost DRAM and embedded DRAM chips for 100 and sub-100 nm generations     

A vertically integrated GaAs bipolar/FET DRAM cell with internalgain

The authors describe a novel dynamic memory cell incorporating a p-n junction storage capacitor, bipolar write-access transistor (BJT), and a junction field-effect transistor (JFET) for nondestructive readout with internal gain. The bipolar transistor is vertically integrated over the storage capacitor and the JFET is formed from the base region of the BJT. Internal gain improves the signal-to-noise ratio and eliminates the requirement that a specific number of electrons be stored in the cell for reliable readout     

High speed and high density static induction transistor memory

Describes a high speed and high density dynamic RAM utilizing a static induction transistor (SIT) structure. The main conduction mechanism of an SIT is carrier injection control due to the potential hump at the intrinsic gate, where the potential hump is capacitively controlled by the gate and the drain voltage in a basic operation. The SIT forms a dynamic RAM memory cell if one of the drain and the source regions is set as a floating region directly connected to the storage capacitor. Basic operation of a single SIT memory cell is experimentally demonstrated in this paper.     

A vertically integrated bipolar storage cell in 6H silicon carbidefor nonvolatile memory applications

A vertically integrated one transistor memory cell, in which an n-p-n bipolar access transistor is merged with a p-n-p storage capacitor, based on the wide-bandgap semiconductor silicon carbide (SiC), results in a greatly reduced thermal generation rate. Extrapolation of charge recovery data obtained at elevated temperatures suggests a room temperature recovery time of over 10⁶ years     

Numerical analysis of alpha-particle-induced soft errors in floating channel type surrounding gate transistor (FC-SGT) DRAM cell

This paper clarifies alpha-particle-induced soft error mechanisms in floating channel type surrounding gate transistor (FC-SGT) DRAM cells. One FC-SGT DRAM cell consists of an FC-SGT and a three-dimensional (3-D) storage capacitor. The cell itself arranges bit line (BL), storage node and body region in a silicon pillar vertically and achieves cell area of 4F/sup 2/ (F: feature size) per bit. In FC-SGT DRAM cells, the parasitic bipolar current is a major factor to cause soft errors. When an alpha particle penetrates the silicon pillar, generated electrons are collected to the storage node or BL due to the tunneling and diffusion mechanisms. On the other hand, holes are swept into the body region and accumulated. Consequently, the current flows not only in the surface but also in the entire body region due to the floating body effect. This parasitic bipolar current becomes the largest when an alpha particle penetrates the silicon pillar along the vertical axis. However, in case of FC-SGT DRAM cells, the surrounding gate structure can suppress the floating body effect compared with floating channel type SOI DRAM cells. As a result, the loss of the stored charge in the storage capacitor can be drastically decreased by using FC-SGT DRAM cell. Therefore, FC-SGT DRAM is a promising candidate for future high-density DRAMs having high soft-error immunity.     

Unclamped inductive switching behaviour of high power SOI vertical DMOS transistors with lateral drain contacts

The switching dynamics of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) high power vertical double diffused MOS (VDMOS) transistors with an inductive load has been investigated by device simulation. Unlike other conventional VDMOS devices, this device has drain contacts at the top surface. In general the switching behaviour of a power device during the unclamped inductive switching (UIS) test will determine the reliability of the power device as the energy stored in the inductor during the on state is dumped directly into the device when it is turned off. In this paper we compare the switching dynamics of the SOI VDMOS transistor with standard bulk silicon VDMOS device by doing numerical simulations. It is shown here, using 2D-device simulations that the power dissipated in the SOI VDMOS device during the UIS test is smaller by approximately a factor of 2 than in the standard bulk silicon VDMOSFET. The lower dissipation is due to the presence of the silicon film/buried oxide/substrate structure (this structure forms a SOI capacitor). In the case of the SOI VDMOS transistor the energy released from the inductor during the UIS test is stored to some extent in the SOI capacitor and partly dumped directly into the device. As a result the maximum current through the SOI device is separated in time from the maximum voltage across the device, unlike in the bulk case, thereby reducing the maximum power.     

A model for analyzing the interface properties of asemiconductor-insulator-semiconductor structure. I. Capacitance andconductance techniques

A model is presented for analyzing the interface properties of a semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor (SIS) capacitor structure. By introducing a coupling factor, conventional metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor theory is extended to analyze the interface properties of the film/buried-oxide/substrate interfaces of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) material. This model was used to determine parameters such as doping concentration, buried oxide thickness, fixed oxide charge, and interface trap density from the SIMOX (separation by implantation of oxygen) based SIS capacitors     

Low-power and high-stability SRAM technology using alaser-recrystallized p-channel SOI MOSFET

Laser recrystallization of p-channel SOI MOSFETs on an undulated insulating layer is demonstrated for SRAMs with low power and high stability. Self-aligned p-channel SOI MOSFETs for loads are stacked over bottom n-channel bulk MOSFETs for both drivers and transfer gates. A sufficient laser power assures the same leakage currents between SOI MOSFETs fabricated on an undulated insulating layer in memory cell regions and on an even insulating layer in field regions. The on/off ratio of the SOI MOSFETs is increased by a factor of 10⁴, and the source-drain leakage current is decreased by a factor of 10-10² compared with those of polysilicon thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated by using low-temperature regrowth of amorphous silicon. A test 256-kb SRAM fabricated this technology shows improved stand-by power dissipation and cell stability. The process steps can be decreased to 83% of those TFT load SRAMs if both the peripheral circuit and memory cells are made with p-channel SOI and n-channel bulk MOSFETs     

A new cell structure with a spread source/drain (SSD) MOSFET and acylindrical capacitor for 64-Mb DRAM's

A new cell structure for realizing a small memory cell size has been developed for 64-Mb dynamic RAMs (DRAMs). The source/drain regions of a switching transistor are raised by using a selective silicon growth technique. Because of lateral growth of the silicon over gate and field regions, the bitline contact can overlap the gate and field regions. The shallow source/drain junction by the raised source/drain structure realizes a reduction of gate length and isolation spacing. As a result, the DRAM memory cell area can be reduced to 37% of that using the conventional LDD MOSFET. In the fabrication of an experimental DRAM cell, a new stacked capacitor structure has been introduced to maintain enough storage capacitance, even in the small-cell area. The new capacitor is made by a simple and unique process using a cylindrical silicon-nitride sidewall layer. It has been verified that this cell structure has the potential to realize multimegabit DRAMs, such as 64-Mb DRAMs     

Long Retention of Gain-Cell Dynamic Random Access Memory With Undoped Memory Node

Low current leakage characteristics of a novel silicon-on-insulator (SOI) device are investigated in view of application to a gain-cell dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The device consists of a two-layered poly-Si gate. Since, in this device, the memory node is electrically formed by the gate in undoped SOI wire, no p-n junction is required. The retention is found to be dominated by the subthreshold leakage, which leads to long data retention. The device also achieved a fast (10 ns) writing time and its fabrication process is compatible with those of SOI MOSFETs. The present results, thus, strongly suggest a way of conducting a gain-cell DRAM to be embedded into logic circuits     

Characterization of double gate MOSFETs fabricated by a simple method on a recrystallized silicon film

A simple process to fabricate double gate SOI MOSFET is proposed. The new device structure utilizes the bulk diffusion layer as the bottom gate. The active silicon film is formed by recrystallized amorphous silicon film using metal-induced-lateral-crystallization (MILC). While the active silicon film is not truly single crystal, the material and device characteristics show that the film is equivalent to single crystal SOI film with high defect density, like SOI wafers produced in early days. The fabricated double gate MOSFETs are characterized, which demonstrate excellent device characteristics with higher current drive and stronger immunity to short channel effects compared to the single gate devices.     

新型部分耗尽SOI器件体接触结构

提出了一种部分耗尽SOI MOSFET体接触结构,该方法利用局部SIMOX技术在晶体管的源、漏下方形成薄氧化层,采用源漏浅结扩散,形成体接触的侧面引出,适当加大了Si膜厚度来减小体引出电阻.利用ISE-TCAD三维器件模拟结果表明,该结构具有较小的体引出电阻和体寄生电容、体引出电阻随器件宽度的增加而减小、没有背栅效应.而且,该结构可以在不增加寄生电容为代价的前提下,通过适当的增加Si膜厚度的方法减小体引出电阻,从而更有效地抑制了浮体效应.     

A simple electrical method to determine the Si and oxidethicknesses in SOI materials

It is shown that the thickness of the silicon and oxide layers of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structure can be determined from high-frequency capacitance-voltage measurements. The test device consists of a Schottky diode in series with a Si-oxide-Si capacitor. The Si film and the substrate are n-type. The operation of this device is explained for n-type Si with the help of the energy-band diagrams. It is demonstrated that this simple test device can be implemented as a process monitor for silicon thickness control     

Operation of the cryogenic continuous film memory cell

Problems and requirements associated with using the cryogenic continuous film memory (CCFM) cell in a random access memory with coincident current cell selection are discussed. Pulse measurement techniques are described which provide informarion on the storage level within the cell and on the basis of several simple a sumptions, permit the operating range (drive current tolerance) of the cell in a memory array to be calculated. The influence of nonideal superconducting to normal phase transitions on storage levels is discussed as is the effect of various memory disturb programs on cell operation. The restricted operating limits of the CCFM cell are found to place requirements on cell uniformity which severely tax today's thin film capabilities.     

Spread-vertical-capacitor cell (SVC) for high-density dRAM's

An advanced three-dimensionally (3-D) stacked-capacitor cell, the spread-vertical-capacitor cell (SVC), was developed. SVC realized a storage capacitance (C_s) of 30 fF with a cell area of 1.8 μm², a capacitor height of 0.37 μm, and an equivalent SiO₂ film thickness of 7 nm for oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO). By extrapolating these results to 256-Mb DRAMs, a C_s of 24 fF is obtained with a cell area of 0.5 μm², a capacitor height of 0.4 μm, and an equivalent SiO₂ thickness of 5 nm, and these values satisfy the specifications for 256-Mb DRAMs. The low capacitor height of SVC makes possible a fabrication process using ArF excimer laser lithography     

Advanced technologies for optimized sub-quarter-micrometer SOI CMOSdevices

Two manufacturable technologies of fully-depleted (FD) thin-film silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFET's for low-power applications are proposed in this paper. To maintain high current drive while aggressively thinning down the SOI film, silicide is to be formed on Ge-damaged silicon layers. Ge preamorphization facilitates silicide formation at low temperature (~450°C) and effectively controls the silicide depth without void formation. It also reduces the floating body effect. In addition, a reliable gate work-function engineering is introduced for good threshold voltage management. A p⁺SiGe/Si stack gate alleviates the threshold voltage instability of SOI due to film thickness nonuniformity and broadens the design window for channel doping. These advanced technologies, compatible with existing bulk CMOS technology, are integrated into SOI CMOS process. Excellent electrical device results are presented     

对异型硅岛实现的厚膜全耗尽SOIMOSFET的模拟研究

本文提出了用异型硅岛实现的厚膜全耗尽(FD)SOI MOSFET的新结构,并分析了其性能与结构参数的关系.通过在厚膜SOI MOSFET靠近背栅的界面形成一个相反掺杂的硅岛,从而使得厚膜SOI MOSFET变成全耗尽器件.二维模拟显示,通过对异型硅岛的宽度、厚度、掺杂浓度以及在沟道中位置的分析与设计,厚膜SOI MOSFET不仅实现了全耗尽,从而克服了其固有的Kink效应,而且驱动电流也大大增加,器件速度明显提高,同时短沟性能也得到改善.模拟结果证明:优化的异型硅岛应该位于硅膜的底部中央处,整个宽度约为沟道长度的五分之三,厚度大约等于硅膜厚度的一半,掺杂浓度只要高出硅膜的掺杂浓度即可.重要的是,异型硅岛的设计允许其厚度、宽度、掺杂浓度以及位置的较大波动.可以看出,异型硅岛实现的厚膜全耗尽 SOI MOSFET 为厚膜SOI器件提供了一个更广阔的设计空间.