Semiconductor device architectures including UV transmissive nitride layers
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsKemal Tamer San, Wei William Lee, Cetin Kaya
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Abstract
A transistor 10 is formed on an outer surface of a substrate 12. The transistor comprises a floating gate 18 and a control gate 20. An outer encapsulation layer 22 and sidewall bodies 26 and 28 comprise silicon nitride that is deposited in such a manner such that the material is transmissive to ultraviolet radiation. In this manner, the sidewall bodies 26 and 28 and the layer 22 can be used as an etch stop during the formation of a drain contact 38. These layers will also permit the transmission of ultraviolet radiation to the floating gate 18 to enable the erasure of floating gate 18.
Claims5
A semiconductor device formed proximate a surface of a semiconductor layer, comprising:
- a gate stack disposed outwardly from the surface of the semiconductor layer and operable to control the conductance of a channel region of the semiconductor layer proximate the gate stack;
- a silicon nitride encapsulation layer covering portions of the gate stack, the silicon nitride encapsulation layer comprising silicon nitride that exhibits a refractive index of less than 2.0 such that the transmittance of the silicon nitride material with respect to ultraviolet radiation is sufficient to allow for the erasure of charge stored on portions of the gate stack by the radiation of the gate stack with ultraviolet radiation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.