Samsung patents memory layout with vertical contacts between word lines
Samsung describes a semiconductor memory design where word lines run horizontally across a stack and pad region. The invention places a specific pad and vertical contact structure between two adjacent word lines at the same level to connect them.
In the filing’s own words
A semiconductor memory device includes a substrate including a stack region and a pad region arranged in a first horizontal direction, a first word line and a second word line arranged at a same vertical level, extending in the first horizontal direction in the stack region and the pad region, and spaced apart in a second horizontal direction intersecting the first horizontal direction, a plurality of bit lines extending in a vertical direction in the stack region and spaced apart in the first horizontal direction, a plurality of memory cells in the stack region, a word line pad between the first word line and the second word line in the pad region, and a word line contact extending in the vertical direction on the word line pad.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A semiconductor memory device comprising: a substrate comprising a stack region and a pad region arranged in a first horizontal direction; a first word line and a second word line at a same vertical level and extending in the first horizontal direction in the stack region and the pad region, the first word line and the second word line spaced apart in a second horizontal direction intersecting the first horizontal direction; a plurality of bit lines extending in a vertical direction in the stack region and spaced apart in the first horizontal direction; a plurality of memory cells in the stack region; a word line pad between the first word line and the second word line in the pad region; and a word line contact extending in the vertical direction on the word line pad.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
- Official title
- SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE
- Publication number
- US20260313883A1
- Application number
- 19629227
- Filed
- Mar 26, 2026
- Published
- Oct 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H10B 12/488 Electricity & electronicsH10B 12/02 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.