The present disclosure relates to an integrated circuit (IC) that includes a HKMG hybrid non-volatile memory (NVM) device and that provides small scale and high performance, and a method of formation. In some embodiments, the integrated circuit includes a memory region having a NVM device with a pair of control gate electrodes separated from a substrate by corresponding floating gates. A pair of select gate electrodes are disposed at opposite sides of the pair of control gate electrodes comprise polysilicon. A logic region is disposed adjacent to the memory region and has a logic device with a metal gate electrode disposed over a logic gate dielectric and having bottom and sidewall surfaces covered by a high-k gate dielectric layer.

A memory device includes an active region with a drain; a plurality of memory blocks arranged in a first direction; and a plurality of pass transistors formed in the active region and sharing the drain, each one of the plurality of pass transistors configured to transfer an operating voltage from the drain to a corresponding one of the plurality of memory blocks in response to a block select signal. The plurality of pass transistors is divided into first pass transistors and second pass transistors. A channel length direction of the first pass transistors and a channel length direction of the second pass transistors are different from each other.

A semiconductor device with split gate flash memory cell structure includes a substrate having a first area and a second area, at least a first cell formed in the first area and at least a second cell formed in the second area. The first cell includes a first dielectric layer formed on the substrate, a floating gate (FG), a word line and an erase gate (EG) formed on the first dielectric layer, an interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer, an inter-gate dielectric layer and a control gate (CG). The FG is positioned between the word line and the EG, and the ILD layer is formed on the word line and the EG, wherein the ILD layer has a trench exposing the FG. The inter-gate dielectric layer is formed in the trench as a liner, and the CG formed in the trench is surrounded by the inter-gate dielectric layer.

A semiconductor memory device includes: a substrate including a cell region and a connection region; a first word line stack comprising a plurality of first word lines that extend to the connection region and are stacked on the cell region; a second word line stack comprising a plurality of second word lines that extend to the connection region and are stacked on the cell region, the second word line being adjacent to the first word line stack; vertical channels in the cell region of the substrate, the vertical channels being connected to the substrate and coupled with the plurality of first and second word lines; a bridge region that connects the first word lines of the first word line stack with the second word lines of the second word line stack; and a local planarized region under the bridge region.

Integrated circuit devices having improved interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer topography and methods of fabrication thereof are disclosed herein. An exemplary integrated circuit device includes a first gate structure having a first height disposed over a substrate in a first region and a second gate structure having a second height disposed over the substrate in a second region. The second height is less than the first height. A first contact etch stop layer is disposed over the first gate structure. A second contact etch stop layer disposed over the second gate structure. The first contact etch stop layer has a first thickness, the second contact etch stop layer has a second thickness, and the second thickness is greater than the first thickness. An interlayer dielectric layer is disposed over the first contact etch stop layer and the second contact etch stop layer. A difference between a first sum of the first height and the first thickness and a second sum of the second height and the second thickness is less than or equal to about 10%.

A semiconductor device of the present invention is a semiconductor device selectively including a nonvolatile memory cell on a semiconductor substrate, and includes a trench formed in the semiconductor substrate, an element separation portion buried into the trench such that the element separation portion has a projecting part projecting from the semiconductor substrate, the element separation portion defining an active region in first a region for the nonvolatile memory cell of the semiconductor substrate, and a floating gate disposed in the active region such that the floating gate selectively has an overlapping part overlapping the element separation portion, and the floating gate has a shape recessed with respect to the overlapping part.

Integrated circuits described herein implement an x-input logic gate. The integrated circuit includes a plurality of Schottky diodes that includes x Schottky diodes and a plurality of source-follower transistors that includes x source-follower transistors. Each respective source-follower transistor of the plurality of source-follower transistors includes a respective gate node that is coupled to a respective Schottky diode. A first source-follower transistor of the plurality of source-follower transistors is connected serially to a second source-follower transistor of the plurality of source-follower transistors.

The present invention provides a manufacturing method for a semiconductor memory device. The method comprises: providing a substrate, wherein a gate structure of a memory transistor is formed on a memory area of the substrate, and a first layer used for forming a gate structure of a peripheral transistor is formed on a peripheral area of the substrate; performing lightly doped drain ion implantation on an upper part of a portion, on two sides of the gate structure of the memory transistor, of the memory area of the substrate by applying the first layer as a mask of the peripheral area; and etching the first layer to form the gate structure of the peripheral transistor. According to the present invention, an ion diffusion degree of source and drain electrodes of the memory area may be effectively increased, and the uniformity of a memory cell device is improved.

Apparatuses and methods have been disclosed. One such apparatus includes strings of memory cells formed on a topside of a substrate. Support circuitry is formed on the backside of the substrate and coupled to the strings of memory cells through vertical interconnects in the substrate. The vertical interconnects can be transistors, such as surround substrate transistors and/or surround gate transistors.

In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a memory cell structure covered by a protective layer is formed in a memory cell area of a substrate. A mask pattern is formed. The mask pattern has an opening over a first circuit area, while the memory cell area and a second circuit area are covered by the mask pattern. The substrate in the first circuit area is recessed, while the memory cell area and the second circuit area are protected. A first field effect transistor (FET) having a first gate dielectric layer is formed in the first circuit area over the recessed substrate and a second FET having a second gate dielectric layer is formed in the second circuit area over the substrate as viewed in cross section.