Samsung patents chip design with uneven metal layers around nanosheets
Samsung describes a microchip structure that combines traditional fin-shaped silicon with newer nanosheet layers. The design uses a metal gate layer that is thicker on the top of the nanosheets than on their sides to control the flow of electricity.
In the filing’s own words
An integrated circuit device includes a fin-type active region extending in a first horizontal direction, a nanosheet stack apart in a vertical direction from a fin top surface of the fin-type active region and including a plurality of nanosheets vertically overlapping the fin top surface, a device isolation film covering sidewalls of the fin-type active region, and a gate line extending in a second horizontal direction on the fin-type active region and the device isolation film and including a work-function metal-containing structure surrounding the nanosheets, wherein the second horizontal direction intersects the first horizontal direction, wherein a first thickness in the vertical direction of a portion of the work-function metal-containing structure, which covers a top surface of the nanosheet stack, is greater than a second thickness in the second horizontal direction of a portion of the work-function metal-containing structure, which covers a sidewall of the nanosheet stack.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An integrated circuit device comprising: a fin-type active region extending in a first horizontal direction; a nanosheet stack spaced apart in a vertical direction from a fin top surface of the fin-type active region, the nanosheet stack comprising a plurality of nanosheets vertically overlapping the fin top surface of the fin-type active region; a device isolation film covering sidewalls of the fin-type active region; and a gate line extending in a second horizontal direction on the fin-type active region and the device isolation film, the gate line comprising a work-function metal-containing structure surrounding the plurality of nanosheets, wherein the second horizontal direction intersects the first horizontal direction, wherein a first thickness in the vertical direction of a portion of the work-function metal-containing structure, which covers a top surface of the nanosheet stack, is greater than a second thickness in the second horizontal direction of a portion of the work-function metal-containing structure, which covers a sidewall of the nanosheet stack.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DEVICE
- Publication number
- US20260271392A1
- Application number
- 19330287
- Filed
- Sep 16, 2025
- Published
- Sep 10, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H10D 84/851 Electricity & electronicsH10D 84/0177 Electricity & electronicsH10D 84/83135 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.