Self-aligned channel stop for trench-isolated island
US5436189A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 13, 1993 |
| Grant date | Jul 25, 1995 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 13, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S148/05
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A channel stop is self-aligned with a trench sidewall of a trench-isolated semiconductor architecture, so that there is no alignment tolerance between the stop and the trench wall. An initial masking layer, through which the trench pattern is to be formed in a semiconductor island layer, is used as a doping mask for introducing a channel stop dopant into a surface portion of the semiconductor layer where the trench is to be formed. The lateral diffusion of the dopant beneath the oxide and adjacent to the trench aperture defines the eventual size of the channel stop. The semiconductor layer is then anisotropically etched to form a trench to a prescribed depth, usually intersecting the underlying semiconductor substrate. Because the etch goes through only a portion of the channel stop diffusion, leaving that portion which has laterally diffused beneath-the oxide mask, the channel stop is self-aligned with the sidewall of the trench. The trench may be then oxidized and filled with polysilicon material to complete the trench isolation process. The width of the stop is controlled by lateral diffusion, which can be smaller than the width of a line defined by a mask, since that width is t…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.