Floating gate transistor with horizontal gate layers stacked next to vertical body

• US 6,744,094 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2001
• Issued: 06/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Forbes, Leonard
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilczewski, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lewis, Monica
• Application Number:
  US09/939,417
• Publication Number:
  US 20030038318A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,012 Days
• Field of Search: 257/314-316, 257/321, 257/331, 257/302, 257/296, 257/330, 257/334, 257/304, 257/347, 438/342, 438/259, 438/242
• US Class Current: 257/315
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/0408 comprising cells containing floating gate transistors G11C16/0483, G11C16/0491 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/0416 comprising cells containing a single floating gate transistor and no select transistor, e.g. UV EPROM
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/40114 the electrodes comprising a conductor-insulator-conductor-insulator-semiconductor structure
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/42336 with one gate at least partly formed in a trench
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/66825 with a floating gate H01L29/6684 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/7881 Programmable transistors with only two possible levels of programmation H01L29/7888 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/7885 Hot carrier injection from the channel
• CPC Class Codes: H10B 41/30 characterised by the memory core region
• CPC Class Codes: H10B 69/00 Erasable-and-programmable ROM [EPROM] devices not provided for in groups H10B41/00 - H10B63/00, e.g. ultraviolet erasable-and-programmable ROM [UVEPROM] devices

Abstract

Vertical body transistors with adjacent horizontal gate layers are used to form a memory array in a high density flash electrically erasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM) or a logic array in a high density field programmable logic array (FPLA). The transistor is a field-effect transistor (FET) having an electrically isolated (floating) gate that controls electrical conduction between source regions and drain regions. If a particular floating gate is charged with stored electrons, then the transistor will not turn on and will provide an indication of the stored data at this location in the memory array within the EEPROM or will act as the absence of a transistor at this location in the logic array within the FPLA. The memory array or the logic array includes densely packed cells, each cell having a semiconductor pillar providing shared source and drain regions for two vertical body transistors that have control gates overlaying floating gates distributed on opposing sides of the semiconductor pillar. Both bulk semiconductor and silicon-on-insulator embodiments are provided. If a floating gate transistor is used to store a single bit of data or to represent a logic function, an area of only 2F² is needed per respective bit of data or bit of logic, where F is the minimum lithographic feature size.

Claims

1. A floating gate transistor comprising:

a pillar of semiconductor material that extends outwardly from a working surface of a substrate to form a source region, a body region and a drain region of a floating gate transistor;

a floating gate along one side of the pillar, wherein the floating gate overlaps the body region in a horizontal direction; and

a control gate overlaying the floating gate, wherein the portion of the control gate overlapping the floating gate does not overlap the body region in either the horizontal direction or a vertical direction.

2. The floating gate transistor of claim 1, wherein charges are selectively stored in the floating gate in programming the floating gate transistor.

3. The floating gate transistor of claim 1, wherein the pillar is formed by etching.

4. The floating gate transistor of claim 1, wherein an absence or a presence of stored charges on the floating gate determines a conductivity state of the transistor between the source region and the drain region.

5. The floating gate transistor of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a bulk semiconductor substrate.

6. The floating gate transistor of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a silicon-on-insulator substrate.

7. The floating gate transistor of claim 2, wherein hot electron injection is used to program the floating gate transistor.

8. The floating gate transistor of claim 2, wherein Fowler-Nordheim tunneling is used to program the floating gate transistor.

9. An array of floating gate transistors comprising:

a plurality of semiconductor stacks arranged in rows and in columns, wherein each stack forms source, body, and drain regions of a respective floating gate transistor;

a plurality of floating gates in trenches between the columns of semiconductor stacks, wherein the floating gates are separated from respective sides of the semiconductor stacks by a gate dielectric; and

a plurality of control gates overlaying the respective floating gates and separated from the respective floating gates by an intergate dielectric, wherein the control gates in vertical alignment with the respective floating gates do not align with the body regions in either a horizontal direction or a vertical direction.

10. The array of claim 9, wherein etching is used to form the plurality of semiconductor stacks which extend vertically from a substrate.

11. The array of claim 9, wherein each of the respective floating gate transistors extend outwardly from a substrate with a source region formed proximally to the substrate, a body region above the source region, and a drain region above the body region.

12. The array of claim 11, wherein two floating gates lie adjacent to each other in each trench between the columns of semiconductor stacks, and one control gate overlays the adjacent floating gates.

13. The array of claim 11, wherein one floating gate lie in each trench between the columns of semiconductor stacks, and one control gate overlays the floating gate.

14. The array of claim 11, wherein two floating gates lie adjacent to each other in each trench between the columns of the semiconductor stacks, and two corresponding control gates lie adjacent to each other above the floating gates.

15. The array of claim 12, wherein the array is a memory cell array with the source regions of common rows electrically connected to be first input selection lines, the control gates electrically connected along the direction of the columns to be second input selection lines, and the drain regions of common columns electrically connected to be output data lines.

16. The array of claim 13, wherein the array is a logic array with the source regions of a common column electrically coupled to be selection lines during programming of the logic array, the control gates electrically coupled along the direction of the columns to be inputs to the logic array, and the drain regions of a common row electrically coupled to be output lines of the logic array.

17. The array of claim 14, wherein the array is a field programmable logic array with the source regions of a common column electrically interconnected, the drain regions of a common row electrically interconnected, and the control gates interconnected along the direction of the columns.

18. The array of claim 15, wherein charges are stored in the floating gates to represent respective data in the memory cell array.

19. The array of claim 18, wherein hot electron injection is used to selectively place charges in the respective floating gates, thereby programming the respective floating gate transistors.

20. A floating gate transistor that is fabricated upon a substrate, the floating gate transistor comprising:

a first conductivity type semiconductor pillar formed upon the substrate, wherein the pillar has top and side surfaces;

a first source/drain region of a second conductivity type formed in a portion of the pillar that is proximal to an interface between the pillar and the substrate;

a second source/drain region of a second conductivity type formed in a portion of the pillar that is distal to the substrate and separated from the first source/drain region;

a gate dielectric formed on at least a portion of one side surface of the pillar;

a floating gate substantially adjacent to a body region defined by the separation between the first source/drain region and the second source/drain region, wherein the floating gate is separated from the body region by the gate dielectric;

an intergate dielectric formed on a top surface of the floating gate; and

a control gate substantially overlaying the floating gate and insulated therefrom by the intergate dielectric, such that the portion of the control gate above the floating gate does not overlap the body region next to the floating gate in either a horizontal or vertical direction.

21. The floating gate transistor of claim 20, wherein electrical charges in the floating gate controls electrical conduction between the first source/drain region and the second source/drain region.

22. The floating gate transistor of claim 20, wherein the floating gate transistor is a data storage element in a programmable memory array with the data represented by charges stored in the respective floating gates.