Samsung patents memory chip design with stacked semiconductor layers
Samsung has been granted a patent for a semiconductor memory device that uses a vertical structure to store data. The design features a vertical channel made of alternating layers of heavily and lightly doped materials, with a sensing line contacting the top layer to read information.
In the filing’s own words
A semiconductor memory device is provided. The semiconductor device includes: a word line extending in a lateral direction; a sensing line apart from the word line, the sensing line overlapping the word line in a vertical direction and extending in the lateral direction; a vertical semiconductor structure passing through the word line and the sensing line in the vertical direction, the vertical semiconductor structure having a vertical channel region facing the word line in the lateral direction; and a gate dielectric film between the vertical channel region and the word line. The vertical semiconductor structure includes a first heavily doped film of a first conductivity type, a first lightly doped film of a second conductivity type, a second lightly doped film of the first conductivity type, and a second heavily doped film of the second conductivity type, which are sequentially provided in the vertical direction.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A semiconductor memory device comprising: a word line extending in a lateral direction; a sensing line apart from the word line, the sensing line overlapping the word line in a vertical direction and extending in the lateral direction; a vertical semiconductor structure passing through the word line and the sensing line in the vertical direction, the vertical semiconductor structure having a vertical channel region facing the word line in the lateral direction; and a gate dielectric film between the vertical channel region and the word line, wherein the vertical semiconductor structure comprises a first heavily doped film of a first conductivity type, a first lightly doped film of a second conductivity type, a second lightly doped film of the first conductivity type, and a second heavily doped film of the second conductivity type, which are sequentially provided in the vertical direction, wherein the vertical channel region comprises the first lightly doped film or the second lightly doped film, and wherein the sensing line is in contact with the first heavily doped film of the vertical semiconductor structure.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
- Official title
- Semiconductor memory device
- Patent number
- US12757376B2
- Application number
- 18636876
- Filed
- Apr 16, 2024
- Granted
- Oct 6, 2026
- Inventors
- 6
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H10B 12/20 Electricity & electronicsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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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.