An integrated circuit device includes a semiconductor substrate having a memory area and a logic area. A memory cell in the memory area includes a select gate separated from a floating gate by a floating gate spacer. A select gate spacer is formed on a side of the select gate opposite the floating gate. The select gate spacer has a uniform thickness over most of the select gate. The first layer of the select gate spacer may be formed by oxidizing the select gate electrode. A second layer of the select gate spacer may be formed by atomic layer deposition. the memory area may be covered by a protective layer while spacers are formed adjacent logic gates in the logic region.

A method for fabricating a semiconductor device is provided. The method includes providing a substrate, having a cell region and a logic region and including a first conductive layer as a top layer, wherein shallow trench isolation (STI) structures are disposed in the substrate at cell region and the logic region. A first dry etching process is performed to preliminarily etch the first conductive layer and the STI structures at the cell region. A wet etching process is performed over the substrate to etch the STI structures down to a preserved height. A control gate stack is formed on the first conductive layer at the cell region. A second dry etching process is performed on a portion of the first conductive layer to form a floating gate under the control gate stack at the cell region and remove the first conductive layer at the logic region.

A semiconductor memory device and method of making the same are disclosed. The semiconductor memory device includes a substrate that includes a memory region and a peripheral region, a transistor including a metal gate located in the peripheral region, a composite dielectric film structure located over the metal gate of the transistor, the composite dielectric film structure including a first dielectric layer and a second dielectric layer over the first dielectric layer, where the second dielectric layer has a greater density than a density of the first dielectric layer, and at least one memory cell located in the memory region. The composite dielectric film structure provides enhanced protection of the metal gate against etching damage and thereby improves device performance.

In some implementations, one or more semiconductor processing tools may form a triple-stacked polysilicon structure on a substrate of a semiconductor device. The one or more semiconductor processing tools may form one or more polysilicon-based devices on the substrate of the semiconductor device, wherein the triple-stacked polysilicon structure has a first height that is greater than one or more second heights of the one or more polysilicon-based devices. The one or more semiconductor processing tools may perform a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) operation on the semiconductor device, wherein performing the CMP operation comprises using the triple-stacked polysilicon structure as a stop layer for the CMP operation.

A semiconductor structure including a semiconductor substrate and at least one patterned dielectric layer is provided. The semiconductor substrate includes a semiconductor portion, at least one first device, at least one second device and at least one first dummy ring. The at least one first device is disposed on a first region surrounded by the semiconductor portion. The at least one second device and the at least one first dummy ring are disposed on a second region, and the second region surrounds the first region. The at least one patterned dielectric layer covers the semiconductor substrate.

Various embodiments of the present application are directed to a method for forming an embedded memory boundary structure with a boundary sidewall spacer. In some embodiments, an isolation structure is formed in a semiconductor substrate to separate a memory region from a logic region. A multilayer film is formed covering the semiconductor substrate. A memory structure is formed on the memory region from the multilayer film. An etch is performed into the multilayer film to remove the multilayer film from the logic region, such that the multilayer film at least partially defines a dummy sidewall on the isolation structure. A spacer layer is formed covering the memory structure, the isolation structure, and the logic region, and further lining the dummy sidewall. An etch is performed into the spacer layer to form a spacer on dummy sidewall from the spacer layer. A logic device structure is formed on the logic region.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a nonvolatile memory, including the steps of: forming a gate oxide layer on a substrate; forming a stacked capacitor of a storage cell after making a logic gate polysilicon undertake at least two deposition processes; and removing the extra logic gate polysilicon by an etching process to form a storage transistor and a peripheral logic transistor. According to the method of the present invention, the stacked capacitor of the storage transistor is formed by depositing at least twice, and the memory is manufactured in a standard logic process, which makes the manufacturing process of the memory simpler, the memory has good compatibility with the logic process and has low cost.

Various embodiments of the present application are directed to a method for forming an integrated circuit (IC), and the associated integrated circuit. In some embodiments, a substrate is provided including a logic region having a plurality of logic sub-regions including a low-voltage logic sub-region and a high-voltage logic sub-region. The method further comprises forming a stack of gate dielectric precursor layers on the plurality of logic sub-regions and removing the stack of gate dielectric precursor layers from the low-voltage logic sub-region and the high-voltage logic sub-region. The method further comprises forming a high-voltage gate dielectric precursor layer on the low-voltage logic sub-region and the high-voltage logic sub-region and removing the high-voltage gate dielectric precursor layer from the low-voltage logic sub-region. The low-voltage logic sub-region has a logic device configured to operate at a voltage smaller than that of another logic device of the high-voltage logic sub-region.

A semiconductor device include a nonvolatile memory device, including a first well region formed in a substrate, a tunneling gate insulator formed on the first well region, a floating gate formed on the tunneling gate insulator, a control gate insulator formed on the substrate, a control gate formed on the control gate insulator, and a first source region and a first drain region formed on opposite sides of the control gate, respectively, and a first logic device, including a first logic well region formed in the substrate, a first logic gate insulator formed on the first logic well region, a first logic gate formed on the first logic gate insulator, wherein the first logic gate comprises substantially a same material as a material of the control gate of the nonvolatile memory device.

Various embodiments of the present application are directed to a method of forming an integrated circuit (IC). An isolation structure is formed between a logic region and a memory region of a substrate. A dummy structure is formed on the isolation structure and defines a dummy sidewall of the dummy structure facing the logic region. A boundary sidewall spacer is formed covering the dummy structure and at least partially defines a boundary sidewall of the boundary sidewall spacer facing the logic region. A protecting dielectric layer is formed on a top surface of the boundary sidewall spacer by converting an uppermost portion of the boundary sidewall spacer to the protecting dielectric layer. The protecting dielectric layer is removed, and a logic device structure is formed on the logic region.