A Semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, an insulating film, a first conductive film, a ferroelectric film, an insulating layer, a first plug and a second plug. The semiconductor substrate includes a source region and a drain region which are formed on a main surface thereof. The insulating film is formed on the semiconductor substrate such that the insulating film is located between the source region and the drain region in a plan view. The first conductive film is formed on the insulating film. The ferroelectric film is formed on the first conductive film. The insulating layer covers the first conductive film and the ferroelectric film. The first plug reaches the first conductive film. The second plug reaches the ferroelectric film. A material of the ferroelectric film includes hafnium and oxygen. In plan view, a size of the ferroelectric film is smaller than a size of the insulating film.

Semiconductor memory having both volatile and non-volatile modes and methods of operation. A semiconductor storage device includes a plurality of memory cells each having a floating body for storing, reading and writing data as volatile memory. The device includes a floating gate or trapping layer for storing data as non-volatile memory, the device operating as volatile memory when power is applied to the device, and the device storing data from the volatile memory as non-volatile memory when power to the device is interrupted.

Provided is a method of forming a decoupling capacitor device and the device thereof. The decoupling capacitor device includes a first dielectric layer portion that is deposited in a deposition process that also deposits a second dielectric layer portion for a non-volatile memory cell. Both portions are patterned using a single mask. A system-on-chip (SOC) device is also provided, the SOC include an RRAM cell and a decoupling capacitor situated in a single inter-metal dielectric layer. Also a method for forming a process-compatible decoupling capacitor is provided. The method includes patterning a top electrode layer, an insulating layer, and a bottom electrode layer to form a non-volatile memory element and a decoupling capacitor.

Methods of forming flash memory cells are described which incorporate air gaps for improved performance. The methods are useful for so-called 2-d flat cell flash architectures. 2-d flat cell flash memory involves a reactive ion etch to dig trenches into multi-layers containing high work function and other metal layers. The methods described herein remove the metal oxide debris from the sidewalls of the multi-layer trench and then, without breaking vacuum, selectively remove shallow trench isolation (STI) oxidation which become the air gaps. Both the metal oxide removal and the STI oxidation removal are carried out in the same mainframe with highly selective etch processes using remotely excited fluorine plasma effluents.

Semiconductor memory having both volatile and non-volatile modes and methods of operation. A semiconductor storage device includes a plurality of memory cells each having a floating body for storing, reading and writing data as volatile memory. The device includes a floating gate or trapping layer for storing data as non-volatile memory, the device operating as volatile memory when power is applied to the device, and the device storing data from the volatile memory as non-volatile memory when power to the device is interrupted.

Active areas of memory cells and active areas of transistors are delimited in an upper portion of a wafer. Floating gates are formed on active areas of the memory cells. A silicon oxide-nitride-oxide tri-layer is then deposited over the wafer and a protection layer is deposited over the silicon oxide-nitride-oxide tri-layer. Portions of the protection layer and tri-layer located over the active areas of transistors are removed. Dielectric layers are formed over the wafer and selectively removed from covering the non-removed portions of the protection layer and tri-layer. A memory cell gate is then formed over the non-removed portions of the protection layer and tri-layer and a transistor gate is then formed over the non-removed portions of the dielectric layers.

A non-volatile memory device includes a plurality of memory cells. Each memory cell includes a vertical channel, a control gate, a floating gate, and an erase gate disposed on a substrate. The vertical channel extends upwards in a vertical direction. The control gate, the floating gate, and the erase gate surround the vertical channel respectively, and a part of the floating gate is surrounded by the control gate. The erase gate is disposed between the substrate and the floating gate in the vertical direction, and the floating gate include a tip extending toward the erase gate. The vertical channel and electrodes surrounding the vertical channel, such as the control gate, the floating gate, and the erase gate, are used to reduce the area of the memory cell on the substrate of the non-volatile memory device in the present invention. The density of the memory cells may be enhanced accordingly.

A method for fabricating an NAND flash memory includes providing a semiconductor substrate with a core region and a peripheral region, forming a plurality of discrete gate stack structures in the core region with neighboring gate stack structures separated by a first dielectric layer. The method further includes forming a flowable dielectric layer on the first dielectric layer and the gate stack structures, and forming a solid dielectric layer through a solidification treatment process performed on the flowable dielectric layer. Voids and seams formed in the top portion of the first dielectric layer are filled by the solid dielectric layer. The method also includes removing the solid dielectric layer and a portion of the first dielectric layer to expose a top portion of the gate stack structures, and forming a metal silicide layer on each gate stack structure.

An integrated circuit including a first EPROM, a second EPROM, and a circuit. The first EPROM is configured to provide a first state and a second state. The second EPROM is configured to provide a third state and a fourth state. The circuit is configured to select the first EPROM and the second EPROM individually and in parallel with each other.

A flash memory device in a dual fin single floating gate configuration is provided. Semiconductor fins are formed on a stack of a back gate conductor layer and a back gate dielectric layer. Pairs of semiconductor fins are formed in an array environment such that shallow trench isolation structures can be formed along the lengthwise direction of the semiconductor fins within the array. After formation of tunneling dielectrics on the sidewalls of the semiconductor fins, a floating gate electrode is formed between each pair of proximally located semiconductor fins by deposition of a conformal conductive material layer and an isotropic etch. A control gate dielectric and a control gate electrode are formed by deposition and patterning of a dielectric layer and a conductive material layer.