A chip part includes a substrate, an element formed on the substrate, and an electrode formed on the substrate. A recess and/or projection expressing information related to the element is formed at a peripheral edge portion of the substrate.

A method includes forming a first dielectric layer over the substrate and covering first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth protrusion regions; forming first, second, and third gate conductors over the first, fourth, and fifth protrusion regions, respectively; performing a first implantation process to form a second source region and a second drain region in the fourth protrusion region; performing a second implantation process to form a first source region and a first drain region in the first protrusion region, and to form a third source region and a third drain region in the fifth protrusion region; forming a metal layer over the third protrusion region; patterning the metal layer to form an inner circular electrode and an outer ring electrode encircling the inner circular electrode; forming a word line; and forming a bit line.

A One Time Programmable (OTP) memory can have a memory cell, which includes two series diodes as a fuse structure.

An arrangement of nonvolatile memory devices, having at least one memory device level stacked level by level above a semiconductor substrate, each memory level comprising an oxide layer substantially disposed above a semiconductor substrate, a plurality of word lines substantially disposed above the oxide layer; a plurality of bit lines substantially disposed above the oxide layer; a plurality of via plugs substantially in electrical contact with the word lines and, an anti-fuse dielectric material substantially disposed on side walls beside the bit lines and substantially in contact with the plurality of bit lines side wall anti-fuse dielectrics.

In a memory cell unit array, memory cell units each constituted of first wires, second wires, and a nonvolatile memory cell are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix form in a first direction and a second direction. Each of the memory cell units includes a control circuit below it. The control circuit is constituted of a first control circuit and a second control circuit. The second wires are connected to the second control circuit. Some of the first wires that constitute the memory cell unit are connected to the first control circuit that constitutes this memory cell unit. Others of the first wires are connected to the first control circuit that constitutes an adjacent memory cell unit adjacent thereto in the first direction.

In a compact three-dimensional memory (3D-M.sub.C), a memory array and an above-substrate decoding stage thereof are formed on a same memory level. For the memory devices in the memory array, the overlap portion and the non-overlap portions of the x-line are both highly-conductive; for the decoding device in the above-substrate decoding stage, while the non-overlap portions are still highly-conductive, the overlap portion is semi-conductive.

The above-substrate decoding stage of a compact three-dimensional memory (3D-M.sub.c) could be an intra-level decoding stage, an inter-level decoding stage, or a combination thereof. For the intra-level decoding stage, contact vias can be shared by address-lines in the same memory level; for the inter-level decoding stage, contact vias can be shared by address-lines from different memory levels.

Some embodiments include apparatus and methods having a memory cell with a first electrode, a second electrode, and a dielectric located between the first and second electrodes. The dielectric may be configured to allow the memory cell to form a conductive path in the dielectric from a portion of a material of the first electrode to represent a first value of information stored in the memory cell. The dielectric may also be configured to allow the memory cell to break the conductive path to represent a second value of information stored in the memory cell.

Some embodiments include apparatus and methods having a memory device with diodes coupled to memory elements. Each diode may be formed in a recess of the memory device. The recess may have a polygonal sidewall. The diode may include a first material of a first conductivity type (e.g., n-type) and a second material of a second conductive type (e.g., p-type) formed within the recess.

The present invention is a method of incorporating a non-volatile memory into a CMOS process that requires four or fewer masks and limited additional processing steps. The present invention is an epi-silicon or poly-silicon process sequence that is introduced into a standard CMOS process (i) after the MOS transistors' gate oxide is formed and the gate poly-silicon is deposited (thereby protecting the delicate surface areas of the MOS transistors) and (ii) before the salicided contacts to those MOS transistors are formed (thereby performing any newly introduced steps having an elevated temperature, such as any epi-silicon or poly-silicon deposition for the formation of diodes, prior to the formation of that salicide). A 4F.sup.2 memory array is achieved with a diode matrix wherein the diodes are formed in the vertical orientation.