Method to manufacture silicon quantum islands and single-electron devices
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsChristoph Wasshuber, Gabriel George Barna, Olivier Alain Faynot
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of manufacturing a single-electron transistor device is provided. The method includes forming a thinned region in a silicon substrate, the thinned region offset by a non-selected region. The method also includes forming at least one quantum island from the thinned region by subjecting the thinned region to an annealing process. The non-selected region is aligned with the quantum island and tunnel junctions are formed between the quantum island and the non-selected region. The present invention also includes a single-electron device, and a method of manufacturing an integrated circuit that includes a single-electron device.
Claims7
A method comprising:
- forming a silicon layer on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate;
- forming a sacrificial layer over the silicon layer, wherein the sacrificial layer is patterned with a thinned sacrificial region;
- etching the sacrificial layer and the silicon layer under the thinned sacrificial region to form a thinned silicon region having a thickness of less than about 20 nm and to form a drain region, a source region, and a gate region in the silicon layer that are adjacent to the thinned silicon region;
- annealing at least the thinned silicon region to form a plurality of agglomerates of silicon;
- and
- forming an insulating layer over the agglomerates of silicon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.