USO0RE41868E
(19) United States (12) Reissued Patent
(10) Patent Number:
Sano et a]. (54)
US RE41,868 E
(45) Date of Reissued Patent:
SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE
4,380,057 A
*
Oct. 26, 2010
4/1983 Kotecha et al. ........... .. 365/184
(75) Inventors: Toshiaki Sano, TachikaWa (JP);
(Continued)
Yano, Hino (JP); Toshiyuki Mine, Fussa (JP)
EP
0504946
EP
0642173
(73) Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo (JP); Hitachi
8/1994
.
Device Engineering Co., Ltd.,
(Commued)
Chiba-ken (JP)
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
(21) App1_ NO; 11 /708,145
Notice of Reason of Rejection, mailed Jul. 6, 2004iEnglish
_
(22)
9/1992
translation of Examiner’s remarks regarding Reason 1 of
Filed:
Feb. 20, 2007
Claim 2_
Related US. Patent Documents
(Continued)
Reissue of:
(64) Patent No.:
6,040,605
Primary ExamineriNgan Ngo
Issued: Appl. No.:
Mar. 21, 2000 09/236,630
(74) Attorney, Agent, or FirmiAntonelli, Terry, Stout & Kraus, LLP.
Filed:
Jan. 26, 1999
(57)
US. Applications: (60)
Division of application No. 10/101,370, ?led on Mar. 20, 2002, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 09/126,437, ?led on Jul. 30, 1998, now Pat. No. 6,104,056.
(30)
Foreign Application Priority Data
Jan. 28, 1998
(51)
(52)
(JP) ......................................... .. 10-015369
Int. Cl. H01L 29/76 H01L 29/788
(2006.01) (2006.01)
US. Cl. ........................ .. 257/314; 257/66; 257/315;
257/316; 257/368; 257/369; 257/390; 257/E29.129; 365/185.05; 365/185.13; 365/185.29 (58)
Field of Classi?cation Search ................ .. 257/314,
257/315, 316, E29.129, 66, 368, 369, 390; 365/185.05, 185.13 See application ?le for complete search history. (56)
References Cited
A memory cell With a small surface area is fabricated by
forming source lines and data lines above and beloW and by running the channels to face up and doWn. The local data lines for each vertically stacked memory cell are connected to a global data line by Way of separate selection by a molecular oxide semiconductor, and use of a large surface
area is avoided by making joint use of peripheral circuits such as global data lines and sensing ampli?ers by perform ing read and Write operations in a timed multiplex manner. Moreover, data lines in multi-layers and memory cells (?oating electrode cell) Which are non-destructive With respect to readout are utilized to alloW placement of memory
cells at all intersecting points of Word lines and data lines While having a folded data line structure. An improved noise tolerance is attained by establishing a standard threshold voltage for identical dummy cells even in any of the read
verify, Write verify and erase verify operations. A register to temporarily hold Write data in a memory cell during Writing is also used as a register to hold a ?ag shoWing that Writing has ended during Write verify. Also, a circuit comprised of one nMOS transistor is utilized as a means to change values
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 4,242,737 A
ABSTRACT
on the Wme-end ?ag
* 12/1980 Bate ......................... .. 365/184
35 Claims, 48 Drawing Sheets
n BIT /_—A_——?
:
i
J
WORD LINE DRIVER
MEMORY CELL ARRAY
L DATA/ SOURCE LINE DRIVER
1
CONTROLLER REGISTER 1 (n BIT)
REGISTER 2 (n an)
_
US RE41,868 E Page 2
US. PATENT DOCUMENTS
7,110,299 B2 *
9/2006
Forbes ................. .. 365/185.18 Guterman et a1. ......... .. 257/319 Guterman etal. ......... .. 438/257
4,892,840 A
*
l/1990
Esquivel er a1 ----------- -- 438/262
7,449,746 B2 * 11/2008 2004/0063283 A1 * 4/2004
5,272,372 A
* 12/1993
Kuzuhara etal. ......... .. 257/608
2006/0163645 A1 *
7/2006
Guterman etal,
5,313,421 A
*
5/1994
Guterman et a1. .... .. 365/185.15
2007/0004134 A1 *
1/2007
Vora ......................... .. 438/257
5,349,221 A
*
9/1994
Shimoji .................... .. 257/324
2008/0111177 A1 *
5/2008
Maayan et a1. ............ .. 257/315
5,411,905 A
257/316
5/1995 Acovic et a1.
5,412,600 A
5/1995 Nakajima
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,477,068 A
* 12/1995
OZaWa ..................... .. 257/214
5,508,543 A 5,576,570 A
*
4/1996 Hartstein 61 3.1. 11/1996 Ohsawa et a1. .
257/314 257/369
5,589,700 A
* 12/1996 Nakao ............ ..
257/325
5,612,913 A * 3/1997 Cappelletti et 5,654,577 A 8/1997 Nakamuraetal. 5,684,734 A 11/1997 Ishii et a1. 5,739,569 A
*
4/1998
Chen ........................ .. 257/321
5,768,192 A
*
6/1998
Eitan ..... ..
5,793,087 A
8/1998 Chevallier .... ..
5,838,041 A
* 11/1998
Sakagamiet a1. .
5,850,091 A
* 12/1998 Li et a1. .... ..
6,030,869 A * 2/2000 Odake e131. 6,140,181 A * 10/2000 Forbes et a1.
GB
1297899
11/1972
JP JP
04439859 06_267286
5/1992 9/1994
JP
07057484
“995
JP JP JP
9_2l3822 A 9413822 09413822
8/l996 8/1997 @1997
JP
09_2l3898
8/1997
365/185.24
257/390 257/324
OTHER PUBLICATIONS _
_
257/316
T- 1511111, 61211348343 $1I1g1e*E1eCIrOI1*MemOryC611Struc
438/266 438/257
ture With 2P2 per bit, IEDM 97,pp- 924*926 Yano et a1., “RoomiTemperature singleiElectron
6,232,643 B1 *
5/2001 Forbes @181
~~~~~ -- 257/405
Memory”, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, V01. 41,
6,246,606 B1 *
6/2001 Forbes et a1.
.. 365/185.03
NO_9,Sep_1994_
6,614,070 B1 *
9/2003
Hirose et a1. .............. .. 257/316
6,649,972 B2 * 11/2003 Eitan ........................ .. 257/324
* cited by examiner
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 1 0f 48
FIG. 1(a)
FIG. 1(b) 7s
88
80\\ \\ \\ 81“ ;\\\\\\\\\f"w/82 f“
on T
;
86»/74///////////////
US RE41,868 E
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 2 0f 48
FIG. 2(a)
FIG. 2(b) 12
1O
\M\\\\\\\\\ \
\
US RE41,868 E
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 3 0f 48
US RE41,868 E
FIG. 3(a) 17
Vi:-
"
n
-
‘5
A (‘IT-1 88 E? Li__4 |_____
14
1% 11+
13
fui‘j: ‘Vam
FIG. 3(19) 17
88
15
16
14
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 4 0f48
US RE41,868 E
FIG. 4(a) 21
22
23
20
§\ \
A\ § \
24/"\\
19 26
FIG. 4(1)) 23 25
24
/
20
\\\26
21 20
26
1985
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 5 0f 48
FIG. 5(a)
US RE41,868 E
US. Patent
Oct. 26, 2010
Sheet 6 0f 48
US RE41,868 E
FIG. 7(a)
“i 37
36 4O
38
FIG. 7(b) 41 \
37
36
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 7 0f 48
US RE41,868 E
FIG. 8(a) 46
47
A (.0
FIG. 8(b) 46
47
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 8 0f 48
FIG. 9(1))
US RE41,868 E
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 9 0f 48
US RE41,868 E
FIG. 1 0(a)
6/3\
66
A
nI!I l
~
/ II
184
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 10 0f 48
FIG. 1 1(a) 71
FIG. 11(1))
I
.
l L\\\\\ l
|
\
\\
US RE41,868 E
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 11 0148
FIG. 12(a)
FIG. 12(1))
US RE41,868 E
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 12 0f48
FIG. 13(a)
US RE41,868 E
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 13 0f 48
US RE41,868 E
FIG. 15(a)
3
x8
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 14 0f48
FIG. 16(a)
FIG. 16(b)
US RE41,868 E
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 15 0f 48
FIG. 18(a)
FIG. 18(b) (A9)
(A8)
US RE41,868 E
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 16 0f 48
US RE41,868 E
m
I
w
"--w--’\ W (A11)
FIG. 20 (A13) I LOW POTENTIAL AREA
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 17 0f 48
I I
US RE41,868 E
US. Patent
0a. 26, 2010
Sheet 18 0f 48
US RE41,868 E
FIG. 22 //
(A18) (A17)