Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 4
Claim 1
Independent Claim
423 words
A process of fabricating an integrated circuit having both P-well and N-well regions in a single semiconductor body, which process uses only a single lithographic masking step to define the positions of both of said well regions and also the position of doped field regions for controlling the parasitic threshold voltages of portions of said body, character-Led by a) forming a first electrically insulating layer (10) on a surface of said semiconductor body ( 1 2); b) forming on said first layer (10) a second electrically insulating layer (14) from a material preselected to be impervious to oxygen diffusion therethrough; c) lithographically forming a mask ( 1 6) over said second electrically insulating layer (14) to define the position of said N-well regions (20) by exposed areas in the mask, and removing said second electrically insulating layer (14) from said exposed areas; d) implanting N-type conductivity-determining impurities in said semiconductor body (12), using said mask (16) as an implantation mask to prevent implantation of said P-well regions (24); e) removing the mask; f) annealing said semiconductor body to form the desired doping profiles in said N-well regions, and oxidizing said body to convert only the body portion in said N-well regions into an electrically insulating grown oxide layer, thus forming a step in said body for use as an alignment mark; g) implanting said first insulating layer 10) with P-type conductivity determining impurities, using the grown oxide layer (29) over the N-well regions (26) as a mask; and using said second electrically insulating layer (14) over said P-well regions (28) as an etching mask for removing the insulating and oxide layers (29) from over said N-well regions (26); and h) forming a new electrically insulating layer (32) over said N-well regions (26), and implanting N-type conductivity determining impurities in said new electrically insulating layer (32) over said N-well regions (26) using said second electrically insulating layer ( 1 4) over said P-wells (28) as a masking layer to prevent said N-type conductivity determining impurities from reaching said first insulating layer portion (10) positioned over said P-well regions (28); thereby producing N- and P-well regions (26, 28) in said body (12) with alignment marks (30) on the surface of said body indicating the separation of said regions (26, 28) and with corresponding field-doped insulating layers (32, 10) over said regions, wherein the doped insulating layer (32) over said N-well regions (26) is doped with predominantly N-type impurities, and the doped insulation layer (10) over said P-well regions (28) is doped with predominantly P-type impurities.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
423 words
A process of fabricating an integrated circuit having both P-well and N-well regions in a single semiconductor body, which process uses only a single lithographic masking step to define the positions of both of said well regions and also the position of doped field regions for controlling the parasitic threshold voltages of portions of said body, character-Led by a) forming a first electrically insulating layer (10) on a surface of said semiconductor body ( 1 2); b) forming on said first layer (10) a second electrically insulating layer (14) from a material preselected to be impervious to oxygen diffusion therethrough; c) lithographically forming a mask ( 1 6) over said second electrically insulating layer (14) to define the position of said N-well regions (20) by exposed areas in the mask, and removing said second electrically insulating layer (14) from said exposed areas; d) implanting N-type conductivity-determining impurities in said semiconductor body (12), using said mask (16) as an implantation mask to prevent implantation of said P-well regions (24); e) removing the mask; f) annealing said semiconductor body to form the desired doping profiles in said N-well regions, and oxidizing said body to convert only the body portion in said N-well regions into an electrically insulating grown oxide layer, thus forming a step in said body for use as an alignment mark; g) implanting said first insulating layer 10) with P-type conductivity determining impurities, using the grown oxide layer (29) over the N-well regions (26) as a mask; and using said second electrically insulating layer (14) over said P-well regions (28) as an etching mask for removing the insulating and oxide layers (29) from over said N-well regions (26); and h) forming a new electrically insulating layer (32) over said N-well regions (26), and implanting N-type conductivity determining impurities in said new electrically insulating layer (32) over said N-well regions (26) using said second electrically insulating layer ( 1 4) over said P-wells (28) as a masking layer to prevent said N-type conductivity determining impurities from reaching said first insulating layer portion (10) positioned over said P-well regions (28); thereby producing N- and P-well regions (26, 28) in said body (12) with alignment marks (30) on the surface of said body indicating the separation of said regions (26, 28) and with corresponding field-doped insulating layers (32, 10) over said regions, wherein the doped insulating layer (32) over said N-well regions (26) is doped with predominantly N-type impurities, and the doped insulation layer (10) over said P-well regions (28) is doped with predominantly P-type impurities.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
297 words
The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the steps e) and f) are replaced by i) forming on said first insulating layer (10) over said N-well regions (20) and on the mask ( 1 6) over said P-well regions a layer (22) of lift-off material, and then removing said mask (16) over the P-well regions together with the lift-off material thereon; j) implanting into said body (12) P-type conductivity determining impurities using said lift-off material (22) as an implantation mask to prevent P-type impurities from reaching into said N-well regions (20); k) removing the remaining lift-off material from said N-well regions (20), and annealing said semiconductor body to form the desired doping profiles in said P and N-well regions (26, 28), and oxidizing said body to convert only the body portion in said N-well regions (26) into an electrically insulating grown oxide layer (29), thus forming a step (30) in said body (12) for use as an alignment mark. 3. The process as claimed in claim 2, characterized by annealing said semiconductor body between steps (i) and (j) to drive the N-type impurities into the N-well regions (20). 4. The process as claimed in claims 1 to 3, characterized by further comprising the steps of a) depositing a field isolation oxide layer (34) over said body; b) using said step (30) as an alignment mark, defining field isolations in the isolation oxide layer (34) over said well regions (26, 28) and removing the field-doped insulation layers (32, 10) from the active device regions of said well regions (26, 28); and c) driving the dopants from the remaining doped insulating layers into said body to form corresponding field dopings ( 4 0, 42) under the field isolations (32, 10) of said well regions (26, 28).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
34 words
The process as claimed in claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said body (12) is silicon, said first insulating layer (10) is silicon dioxide, and said second insulating layer (14) is silicon nitride.