Samsung patents memory chip design using metal silicide at grain boundaries
Samsung describes a nonvolatile memory device where the semiconductor channel is made of polycrystalline silicon. The design places metal silicide specifically at the boundaries between silicon crystals to improve the device's structure.
In the filing’s own words
A volatile memory device and a nonvolatile memory device are provided. Provided is a plurality of gate electrodes and a plurality of insulating patterns alternately stacked on top of each other in a first direction, an information storage film formed along a sidewall of a trench, wherein the trench extends through the plurality of gate electrodes and the insulating patterns in the first direction, and a semiconductor pattern formed on the information storage film, wherein the semiconductor pattern is made of polycrystalline silicon composed of a first monocrystalline silicon and a second monocrystalline silicon, wherein a metal silicide is present in a grain boundary between the first monocrystalline silicon and the second monocrystalline silicon, wherein the metal silicide is absent in each of the first monocrystalline silicon and the second monocrystalline silicon except for the grain boundary therebetween.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A nonvolatile memory device comprising: a plurality of gate electrodes and a plurality of insulating patterns alternately stacked in a first direction; an information storage film formed along a sidewall of a trench, wherein the trench extends through the plurality of gate electrodes and the insulating patterns in the first direction; a semiconductor pattern formed on the information storage film; a spacer layer in contact with an inner sidewall of the semiconductor pattern; and a filling pattern in contact with the spacer layer and filling an inner space of spacer layer, wherein the semiconductor pattern is made of polycrystalline silicon composed of a first monocrystalline silicon and a second monocrystalline silicon, wherein a metal silicide is present in a grain boundary between the first monocrystalline silicon and the second monocrystalline silicon, and wherein the metal silicide is absent in each of the first monocrystalline silicon and the second monocrystalline silicon except for the grain boundary therebetween.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- Nonvolatile memory device with MILC channel
- Patent number
- US12740058B2
- Application number
- 18140009
- Filed
- Apr 27, 2023
- Granted
- Sep 15, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H10B 43/27 Electricity & electronicsH10B 41/10 Electricity & electronicsH10B 41/27 Electricity & electronicsH10B 41/35 Electricity & electronicsH10B 41/40 Electricity & electronicsH10B 43/10 Electricity & electronicsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
- Samsung patents chip that combines camera and screen Oct 13, 2026
- Samsung patents faster chip testing using machine learning Sep 1, 2026
- Samsung patents radar method to pinpoint target direction more accurately Sep 1, 2026
- Samsung patents memory chip that searches data by content, not address Sep 1, 2026
- Samsung patents chip design that skips empty data to speed up AI Sep 1, 2026
Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.