IP Library Granted Patent US 12,362,004
Granted Patent B2
US 12,362,004 · App. 18/320,234 · Granted Jul 15, 2025

Scaled 2T DRAM

Inventors: Min Gyu Sung (Latham, NY); Julien Frougier (Albany, NY); Ruilong Xie (Niskayuna, NY); Chanro Park (Clifton Park, NY); Juntao Li (Cohoes, NY)
Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
G11C11/4096H01L23/5226H01L23/5283H10B12/05H10B12/30H10D30/014H10D30/43H10D30/6729H10D30/6755H10D30/6757H10D62/121
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,362,004
App. No.
18/320,234
Granted
Jul 15, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Embodiments of present invention provide a semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure includes a dynamic random-access-memory (DRAM), and the DRAM includes a vertical transistor and a nanosheet transistor, the vertical transistor being stacked on top of the nanosheet transistor, where a bottom source/drain of the vertical transistor is directly above and connected to a gate of the nanosheet transistor through a conductive via. A method of manufacturing the semiconductor structure is also provided.

Claims (37)

1. A memory device comprising:

a vertical transistor and a nanosheet transistor, the vertical transistor being stacked on top of the nanosheet transistor,

wherein a bottom source/drain of the vertical transistor is directly above and connected to a gate of the nanosheet transistor through a conductive via, and wherein a channel region of the vertical transistor comprises indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO).

2. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the IGZO in the channel region is horizontally surrounded by a metal gate via a layer of gate oxide.

3. The memory device of claim 2 , wherein the channel region of the vertical transistor has a vertical length that is equal to or larger than 10 nm.

4. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the vertical transistor is a write-transistor and the nanosheet transistor is a read-transistor, and the write-transistor and the read-transistor form a dynamic random-access-memory (DRAM).

5. The memory device of claim 4 , wherein a top source/drain of the vertical transistor is connected to a write-bit-line, and a gate of the vertical transistor is connected to a write-word-line.

6. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the nanosheet transistor has a dimension measured from a first source/drain region to a second source/drain region, and wherein a channel region of the vertical transistor is horizontally smaller than the dimension of the nanosheet transistor.

7. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the nanosheet transistor has three or more nanosheets.

8. A semiconductor structure comprising:

a dynamic random-access-memory (DRAM), the DRAM comprising:

a vertical transistor and a nanosheet transistor, the vertical transistor being stacked on top of the nanosheet transistor,

wherein a bottom source/drain of the vertical transistor is directly above and connected to a gate of the nanosheet transistor through a conductive via; and

a frontside interconnect underneath the nanosheet transistor and a backside interconnect above a top source/drain of the vertical transistor.

9. The semiconductor structure of claim 8 , wherein a channel region of the vertical transistor comprises indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO).

10. The semiconductor structure of claim 9 , wherein the IGZO in the channel region is horizontally surrounded by a metal gate via a layer of gate oxide.

11. The semiconductor structure of claim 9 , wherein the vertical transistor is a write-transistor and the nanosheet transistor is a read-transistor of the DRAM.

12. The semiconductor structure of claim 11 , wherein the top source/drain of the vertical transistor is connected to a write-bit-line and a gate of the vertical transistor is connected to a write-word-line, both the write-bit-line and the write-word-line being in the backside interconnect.

13. The semiconductor structure of claim 11 , wherein a first source/drain of the nanosheet transistor is connected to a read-bit-line in the frontside interconnect, and a second source/drain of the nanosheet transistor is grounded.

14. A method of forming a semiconductor structure comprising:

forming a nanosheet transistor;

flipping the nanosheet transistor upside-down; and

forming a vertical transistor on top of the nanosheet transistor,

wherein a bottom source/drain of the vertical transistor is connected to a gate of the nanosheet transistor.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein forming the vertical transistor comprises:

removing a substrate upon which the nanosheet transistor is formed until an etch-stop layer is exposed;

depositing a dielectric layer on top of the etch-stop layer;

creating an opening in the dielectric layer and the etch-stop layer to expose the gate of the nanosheet transistor; and

forming a conductive via in the opening to contact the gate of the nanosheet transistor.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein forming the vertical transistor further comprises:

forming a stack of layers on top of the dielectric layer and the conductive via; and

patterning the stack of layers into the bottom source/drain, a channel region, and a top source/drain of the vertical transistor.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein forming the vertical transistor further comprises:

forming a gate dielectric horizontally surrounding the channel region; and

forming a metal gate horizontally surrounding the channel region and the gate dielectric,

wherein the channel region comprises indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO).

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein patterning the stack of layers comprises forming the bottom source/drain, the channel region, and the top source/drain to have a horizontal dimension that is smaller than a dimension of the nanosheet transistor, the dimension of the nanosheet transistor being measured from a first source/drain region to a second source/drain region of the nanosheet transistor.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 19, 2023
From: LI, JUNTAO; SUNG, MIN GYU; FROUGIER, JULIEN; XIE, RUILONG; PARK, CHANRO
To: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 063695/0434 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240386943A1 · Nov 21, 2024
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