A non-volatile memory cell includes a substrate, a select gate, a floating gate, and an assistant control gate. The substrate includes a first diffusion region, a second diffusion region, a third diffusion region, and a fourth diffusion region. The select gate is formed above the first diffusion region and the second diffusion region in a polysilicon layer. The floating gate is formed above the second diffusion region, the third diffusion region and the fourth diffusion region in the polysilicon layer. The assistant control gate is formed above the floating gate in a metal layer, wherein an area of the assistant control gate overlaps with at least half an area of the floating gate.

A method for forming a semiconductor device structure is provided. The method includes forming a mask layer over a substrate. The method includes forming a first isolation structure and a second isolation structure passing through the mask layer and penetrating into the substrate. The method includes thinning the mask layer to expose a first portion of the first isolation structure and a second portion of the second isolation structure. The method includes partially removing the first portion, the second portion, the third portion, and the fourth portion. The method includes removing the thinned mask layer. The method includes forming a first gate over the substrate and between the first isolation structure and the second isolation structure. The method includes forming a dielectric layer over the first gate. The method includes forming a second gate over the dielectric layer and above the first gate.

Methods of maintaining a state of a memory cell without interrupting access to the memory cell are provided, including applying a back bias to the cell to offset charge leakage out of a floating body of the cell, wherein a charge level of the floating body indicates a state of the memory cell; and accessing the cell.

A method of forming split gate non-volatile memory cells on the same chip as logic and high voltage devices having HKMG logic gates. The method includes forming the source and drain regions, floating gates, control gates, and the poly layer for the erase gates and word line gates in the memory area of the chip. A protective insulation layer is formed over the memory area, and an HKMG layer and poly layer are formed on the chip, removed from the memory area, and patterned in the logic areas of the chip to form the logic gates having varying amounts of underlying insulation.

A memory device including a silicon semiconductor substrate, spaced apart source and drain regions formed in the substrate with a channel region there between, and a conductive floating gate disposed over a first portion of the channel region and a first portion of the source region. An erase gate includes a first portion that is laterally adjacent to the floating gate and over the source region, and a second portion that extends up and over the floating gate. A conductive word line gate is disposed over a second portion of the channel region. The word line gate is disposed laterally adjacent to the floating gate and includes no portion disposed over the floating gate. The thickness of insulation separating the word line gate from the second portion of the channel region is less than that of insulation separating the floating gate from the erase gate.

A semiconductor memory cell and arrays of memory cells are provided In at least one embodiment, a memory cell includes a substrate having a top surface, the substrate having a first conductivity type selected from a p-type conductivity type and an n-type conductivity type; a first region having a second conductivity type selected from the p-type and n-type conductivity types, the second conductivity type being different from the first conductivity type, the first region being formed in the substrate and exposed at the top surface; a second region having the second conductivity type, the second region being formed in the substrate, spaced apart from the first region and exposed at the top surface; a buried layer in the substrate below the first and second regions, spaced apart from the first and second regions and having the second conductivity type; a body region formed between the first and second regions and the buried layer, the body region having the first conductivity type; a gate positioned between the first and second regions and above the top surface; and a nonvolatile memory configured to store data upon transfer from the body region.

A method of fabricating a tunnel oxide layer for a semiconductor memory device, the method comprising: fabricating on a substrate a first oxide layer by an in-situ-steam-generation process; and fabricating at least one further oxide layer by a furnace oxidation process, wherein during fabrication of the at least one further oxide layer, reactive gases penetrate the first oxide layer and react with the silicon substrate to form at least a first portion of the at least one further oxide layer beneath the first oxide layer.

An IC may include an array of memory cells formed in a semiconductor, including memory cells arranged in rows and columns, each memory cell may include a floating body region defining at least a portion of a surface of the memory cell, the floating body region having a first conductivity type; a buried region located within the memory cell and located adjacent to the floating body region, wherein the buried region has a second conductivity type, wherein the floating body region is bounded on a first side by a first insulating region having a first thickness and on a second side by a second insulating region having a second thickness, and a gate region above the floating body region and the second insulating region and is insulated from the floating body region by an insulating layer; and control circuitry configured to provide electrical signals to said buried region.

A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a tunnel insulation pattern on the substrate, a charge storage pattern on the tunnel insulation pattern, a dielectric pattern having a width smaller than a width of the charge storage pattern on the charge storage pattern, a control gate having a width greater than the width of the dielectric pattern on the dielectric pattern, and a metal-containing gate on the control gate.

A method of manufacturing a flash memory cell is provided including forming a plurality of semiconductor fins on a semiconductor substrate, forming floating gates for a sub-set of the plurality of semiconductor fins and forming a first insulating layer between the plurality of semiconductor fins. The first insulating layer is recessed to a height less than the height of the plurality of semiconductor fins and sacrificial gates are formed over the sub-set of the plurality of semiconductor fins. A second insulating layer is formed between the sacrificial gates and, after that, the sacrificial gates are removed. Recesses are formed in the first insulating layer and sense gates and control gates are formed in the recesses for the sub-set of the plurality of semiconductor fins. The first and second insulating layers may be oxide layers.