Methods of manufacturing three dimensional semiconductor memory devices using sub-plates

1. A method of manufacturing a Three Dimensional (3D) semiconductor memory device, the method comprising:

forming a plate stack structure comprising a plurality of plate insulation patterns and plate sacrificial patterns which are stacked alternately and repeatedly on a substrate;

forming edges of the plate sacrificial patterns as pads included in a stepped structure;

forming at least one first trench which divides the plate stack structure comprising the pads into a plurality of sub-plate stack structures;

forming a plurality of vertical active patterns passing through each of the sub-plate stack structures; and

forming at least one second trench which divides each of the sub-plate stack structures to provide a plurality of mold-stack structures, the method further comprising:

forming a well region doped with a first conductive dopant, in the substrate;

forming a first doped-region in the well region under the at least one first trench; and

forming a second doped-region doped with a second conductive dopant, in the well region under the at least one second trench.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a capping dielectric layer which covers the pads, before the first trench is formed,

wherein:

the at least one first trench is formed by patterning the plate stack structure comprising the pads and the capping dielectric layer,

the sub-plate stack structure comprises sub-pads constituting a stepped structure which are divided from the pads of the plate sacrificial patterns, and

the at least one second trench is formed by patterning the sub-plate stack structure and a portion of the capping dielectric layer covering the sub-pads.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the mold-stack structure comprises a plurality of mold insulation patterns and mold sacrificial patterns which are stacked alternately and repeatedly, and

the method further comprises:

removing the mold sacrificial patterns to form a plurality of gap regions;

forming a multi-layered dielectric layer on sidewalls of the plurality of gap regions; and

forming a plurality of gate patterns in the gap regions on the multi-layered dielectric layer.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

forming a first isolation pattern filling the at least one first trench before the vertical active patterns are formed; and

forming a second isolation pattern filling the at least one second trench after the gate patterns are formed.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the first and second trenches extend in a first direction,

the at least one first trench has a first width in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction,

the at least one second trench has a second width in the second direction, and

the first width differs from the second width.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the vertical active patterns passing though each of the sub-plate stack structures are divided into a plurality of column groups, in a plan view,

the at least one second trench is formed between a pair of the column groups adjacent to each other, and

the vertical active patterns in each of the column groups pass through each of the mold-stack structures.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein:

the vertical active patterns in the each of the column groups are arranged in a first direction, and

odd-numbered vertical active patterns are offset in a second direction, perpendicular to the first direction relative to even-numbered vertical active patterns.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the first doped-region is doped with the first conductive dopant, and

a dopant concentration of the first doped-region is higher than a dopant concentration of the well region.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second doped-region is doped with the second conductive dopant.

10. A method of manufacturing a Three Dimensional (3D) semiconductor memory device, the method comprising:

forming a plate stack structure including a plurality of insulation patterns and sacrificial patterns which are stacked alternately and repeatedly on a substrate;

forming edges of the sacrificial patterns as pads included in a stepped structure;

forming at least one first trench which divides the plate stack structure comprising the pads into a plurality of sub-plate stack structures, the first trench having a first width;

forming a plurality of vertical active patterns passing through each of the sub-plate stack structures;

forming a plurality of second trenches which divides each of the sub-plate stack structures to provide a plurality of mold-stack structures, the second trenches having a second width smaller than the first width;

removing the sacrificial patterns of the mold-stack structures exposed by the second trenches to form a plurality of gap regions between the insulating patterns, the gap regions partially exposing the vertical active patterns; and

forming a plurality of gate patterns in the gap regions, wherein the at least one first trench is disposed between the second trenches adjacent to each other.