Granted Patent B2

US 9,659,949 · App. 14/666,002 · Granted May 23, 2017

Inventors: Hongbin Zhu (Boise, ID); Gordon A. Haller (Boise, ID); Charles H. Dennison (San Jose, CA); Anish A. Khandekar (Boise, ID); Brett D. Lowe (Boise, ID); Lining He (Singapore, SG); Brian Cleereman (Boise, ID)

Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.

H01L27/11556H01L27/11582

Abstract

Claims (58)

1. An integrated structure, comprising:

a stack of alternating insulative and conductive levels; at least one of the insulative levels being compositionally different than at least one other of the insulative levels, and at least one of the conductive levels being compositionally different than at least one other of the conductive levels;

cavities extending into the conductive levels; at least one of the cavities being shallower than one or more others of the cavities by at least about 2 nanometers;

charge-blocking dielectric within the cavities; and

charge-storage structures within the cavities.

2. The integrated structure of claim 1 wherein said at least one of the cavities is shallower than said one or more others of the cavities by at least about 4 nanometers.

3. An integrated structure, comprising:

a stack of alternating insulative and conductive levels;

cavities extending into the conductive levels; at least one of the cavities being shallower than one or more others of the cavities by at least about 2 nanometers;

charge-blocking dielectric within the cavities;

charge-storage structures within the cavities;

wherein the insulative levels comprise silicon dioxide and the conductive levels comprise conductively-doped silicon; and

wherein one of said at least one of the cavities is between a pair of the insulative levels; and wherein said pair of the insulative levels comprise silicon dioxide that is less dense than silicon dioxide of others of said insulative levels.

4. The integrated structure of claim 3 wherein the pair of the insulative levels are a bottom two insulative levels of the stack.

5. The integrated structure of claim 4 wherein a bottom three insulative levels of the stack comprise the silicon dioxide that is less dense.

6. An integrated structure, comprising:

a stack of alternating insulative and conductive levels;

cavities extending into the conductive levels; at least one of the cavities being shallower than one or more others of the cavities by at least about 2 nanometers;

charge-blocking dielectric within the cavities;

charge-storage structures within the cavities;

wherein the insulative levels comprise silicon dioxide and the conductive levels comprise conductively-doped silicon; and

wherein one of said at least one of the cavities extends into one of the conductive levels; and wherein said one of the conductive levels comprises different doping than others of said conductive levels.

7. An integrated structure, comprising:

a stack of alternating insulative and conductive levels; at least one of the insulative levels being compositionally different than at least one other of the insulative levels, and at least one of the conductive levels being compositionally different than at least one other of the conductive levels;

an opening extending through the stack;

cavities extending into the conductive levels along sidewalls of the opening;

charge-blocking dielectric within the cavities;

charge-storage structures within the cavities;

gate dielectric within the opening and along the charge storage structures;

channel material within the opening and along the gate dielectric; and

the opening having a top dimension along a cross-section, and having a bottom dimension along the cross-section; and wherein the bottom dimension is larger than the top dimension.

8. The integrated structure of claim 7 wherein the bottom dimension is larger by at least about 10%.

9. The integrated structure of claim 7 wherein the top dimension is within a range of from about 50 nm to about 100nm; and wherein the bottom dimension is larger by an amount within a range of from about 5 nm to about 10nm.

10. The integrated structure of claim 7 wherein at least one of the cavities is shallower than one or more others of the cavities by at least about 2 nanometers.

11. The integrated structure of claim 10 wherein said at least one of the cavities is shallower than said one or more others of the cavities by at least about 4 nanometers.

12. An integrated structure, comprising:

a stack of alternating insulative and conductive levels;

an opening extending through the stack;

cavities extending into the conductive levels along sidewalls of the opening;

charge-blocking dielectric within the cavities;

charge-storage structures within the cavities;

gate dielectric within the opening and along the charge storage structures;

channel material within the opening and along the gate dielectric;

the opening having a top dimension along a cross-section, and having a bottom dimension along the cross-section; and wherein the bottom dimension is larger than the top dimension;

wherein at least one of the cavities is shallower than one or more others of the cavities by at least about 2 nanometers; and

wherein one of said at least one of the cavities is between a pair of the insulative levels; and wherein said pair of the insulative levels comprise silicon dioxide that is less dense than silicon dioxide of others of said insulative levels.

13. The integrated structure of claim 12 wherein the pair of the insulative levels are a bottom two insulative levels of the stack.

14. An integrated structure, comprising:

a stack of alternating insulative and conductive levels;

an opening extending through the stack;

cavities extending into the conductive levels along sidewalls of the opening;

charge-blocking dielectric within the cavities;

charge-storage structures within the cavities;

gate dielectric within the opening and along the charge storage structures;

channel material within the opening and along the gate dielectric;

the opening having a top dimension along a cross-section, and having a bottom dimension along the cross-section; and wherein the bottom dimension is larger than the top dimension;

wherein at least one of the cavities is shallower than one or more others of the cavities by at least about 2 nanometers; and

wherein the conductive levels comprise conductively-doped silicon; wherein one of said at least one of the cavities extends into one of the conductive levels; and wherein said one of the conductive levels comprises different doping than others of said conductive levels.

Assignments (8)

Continuity (1)