Conductive nanoparticles
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorsBrenda D. Kraus, Eugene P. Marsh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Isolated conductive nanoparticles on a dielectric layer and methods of fabricating such isolated conductive nanoparticles provide charge storage units in electronic structures for use in a wide range of electronic devices and systems. The isolated conductive nanoparticles may be used as a floating gate in a flash memory. In an embodiment, conductive nanoparticles are deposited on a dielectric layer by a plasma-assisted deposition process such that each conductive nanoparticle is isolated from the other conductive nanoparticles to configure the conductive nanoparticles as charge storage elements.
Claims4
A method of forming an apparatus, the method comprising:
- forming a dielectric in an integrated circuit on a substrate;
- forming, after forming the dielectric, conductive nanoparticles on the formed dielectric, the conductive nanoparticles formed by a plasma-assisted deposition process such that each conductive nanoparticle is isolated from the other conductive nanoparticles, wherein forming conductive nanoparticles includes forming iridium;
- forming, after forming the conductive nanoparticles, a capping dielectric on and contacting the formed conductive nanoparticles and contacting the dielectric, the capping dielectric providing isolation from conductive elements;
- and
- configuring the conductive nanoparticles as charge storage elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.