Process for making a late programming enhanced contact ROM

Claim 1

A method of making a high density read-only memory and encoding it in later steps of the method comprising: forming on a silicon surface, an array of operative IGFETs having shallow source and drain regions and a plurality of generally parallel polycrystalline silicon gate lines and a thermally grown silicon oxide coating on the array; opening array enhancement contact windows in said oxide using a mask that also opens ion implantation openings over selected IGFET channels without also exposing gate line edges over said channels; significantly altering threshold voltage of said selected IGFET channels by ion implantation; diffusing a dopant into silicon exposed by said oxide etching, to enhance IGFET contact formation; covering said exposed silicon with an insulating coating; etching array contact windows in said insulating coating without also exposing gate line surfaces; and forming a conductor pattern for drains in said array, which pattern crosses said gate lines over said channels without incurring significant parasitic interaction therewith.

Claim 2

A method of making a high density read-only memory and encoding it in later steps of the method comprising: forming on a silicon surface, an array of operative IGFETs having shallow source and drain regions and a plurality of generally parallel polycrystalline silicon gate lines and a thermally grown silicon oxide coating on the array; opening array enhancement contact windows in said oxide using a mask that also opens ion implantation openings over selected IGFET channels without also exposing gate line edges over said channels; significantly altering threshold voltage of said selected IGFET channels by ion implantation; diffusing a dopant into silicon exposed by said oxide etching, to enhance IGFET contact formation; covering said exposed silicon with an insulating coating; etching array contact windows in said insulating coating without also exposing gate line surfaces; and forming a conductor pattern for drains in said array, which pattern crosses said gate lines over said channels without incurring significant parasitic interaction therewith.

Claim 3

A method of making a high density read-only memory and encoding it in later steps of the method comprising: forming an arsenic diffused array of operative IGFETs that includes a plurality of generally parallel self-aligned polycrystalline silicon gate lines and a thermally grown silicon oxide covering thereon; coating each gate line over each IGFET channel in said array with a second layer of polysilicon that overlaps edges of said gate lines; opening array contact enhancement contact windows using a mask that is also used to open implantation openings in said oxide over selected IGFET channels, said openings traversing said channels but not exposing gate line edges at ends of said channels; significantly selectively altering threshold voltage of said selected IGFET channels by ion implantation of said array; diffusing phosphorus into silicon exposed in said windows, to enhance IGFET contact formation; covering said exposed silicon with a blanket insulating coating that allows only minimal capacitance effects when disposed between an array gate line and drain line; etching array contact windows in said insulating coating corresponding to said enhancement windows; forming a pattern of drain lines on said coating that cross said gate lines over said selected channels with only minimal capacitance effects to slow array operating speed.

Claim 4

A method of making a high density read-only memory and encoding it in later steps of the method comprising: forming an arsenic diffused array of operative IGFETs that includes a plurality of generally parallel self-aligned polycrystalline silicon gate lines and a thermally grown silicon oxide covering thereon; coating each gate line over each IGFET channel in said array with a second layer of polysilicon that overlaps edges of said gate lines; opening array contact enhancement contact windows using a mask that is also used to open implantation openings in said oxide over selected IGFET channels, said openings traversing said channels but not exposing gate line edges at ends of said channels; significantly selectively altering threshold voltage of said selected IGFET channels by ion implantation of said array; diffusing phosphorus into silicon exposed in said windows, to enhance IGFET contact formation; covering said exposed silicon with a blanket insulating coating that allows only minimal capacitance effects when disposed between an array gate line and drain line; etching array contact windows in said insulating coating corresponding to said enhancement windows; forming a pattern of drain lines on said coating that cross said gate lines over said selected channels with only minimal capacitance effects to slow array operating speed.

Claim 5

A method of making a high density read-only memory and encoding it in later steps of the method comprising: forming an arsenic diffused IGFET array having a plurality of generally parallel polycrystalline silicon gate lines covering operative IGFET channels of predetermined threshold voltage and a thermally grown silicon oxide coating on said IGFETs and gate lines; at least partially covering gate lines over IGFET channels with islands of a second layer of polycrystalline silicon having a higher electrical resistivity than said gate lines; thermally growing silicon oxide on said second polycrystalline silicon layer; etching windows in said first and second mentioned silicon oxide, respectively, over IGFET contact areas and over selected IGFET channels intended to be inoperative in said memory, without also exposing gate line edges at ends of said channels; significantly selectively raising threshold voltage of said selected IGFET channels above said predetermined threshold voltage by blanket ion implantation of said array before removing an adherent mask thereon used for said etching; diffusing phosphorus through said windows, whereby contact formation is enhanced but channel threshold voltage is not significantly affected; forming a blanket insulating and surface smoothing layer on said array of a thickness at least that of said second polycrystalline silicon layer; etching array contact windows in said insulating layer corresponding to the previously mentioned windows over IGFET contact areas; and forming a plurality of generally parallel drain lines on said array that cross said gate lines over said channels but are spaced therefrom by said insulating coating.

Claim 6

A method of making a high density read-only memory and encoding it in later steps of the method comprising: forming an arsenic diffused IGFET array having a plurality of generally parallel polycrystalline silicon gate lines covering operative IGFET channels of predetermined threshold voltage and a thermally grown silicon oxide coating on said IGFETs and gate lines; at least partially covering gate lines over IGFET channels with islands of a second layer of polycrystalline silicon having a higher electrical resistivity than said gate lines; thermally growing silicon oxide on said second polycrystalline silicon layer; etching windows in said first and second mentioned silicon oxide, respectively, over IGFET contact areas and over selected IGFET channels intended to be inoperative in said memory, without also exposing gate line edges at ends of said channels; significantly selectively raising threshold voltage of said selected IGFET channels above said predetermined threshold voltage by blanket ion implantation of said array before removing an adherent mask thereon used for said etching; diffusing phosphorus through said windows, whereby contact formation is enhanced but channel threshold voltage is not significantly affected; forming a blanket insulating and surface smoothing layer on said array of a thickness at least that of said second polycrystalline silicon layer; etching array contact windows in said insulating layer corresponding to the previously mentioned windows over IGFET contact areas; and forming a plurality of generally parallel drain lines on said array that cross said gate lines over said channels but are spaced therefrom by said insulating coating.

Claim 7

A method of making a high density read-only memory (ROM) and a random-access memory (RAM) on the same silicon surface and encoding the read-only memory in later steps of the method without adding a mask to the method, said method comprising: forming an arsenic diffused ROM and RAM IGFET array on a silicon surface, with the ROM array having a plurality of generally parallel polycrystalline silicon gate lines covering operative IGFET channels, the RAM array including a second level of polycrystalline silicon, and a thermally grown silicon oxide coating covering said arrays; covering gate lines over substantially all of said ROM IGFET channels with islands of said second layer of polycrystalline silicon; forming a photoresist mask on said arrays that not only has openings for contact enhancement windows but also has ion implant openings therein above selected IGFET channels in said ROM; etching windows in said silicon oxide over ROM and RAM contact areas, and incidentally also over said selected IGFET channels without also exposing gate line edges of said channels; significantly altering threshold voltage of said selected IGFET channels to make them unresponsive to a predetermined gate line voltage; diffusing phosphorus through said windows; forming a blanket insulating layer on said array of a thickness at least that of said second polycrystalline silicon layer; etching array contact windows in said insulating layer corresponding to said ROM and RAM contact areas; and forming a plurality of generally parallel drain lines on said layer over said array that crosses said gate lines over said channels with said insulating layer therebetween.

Claim 8

A method of making a high density read-only memory (ROM) and a random-access memory (RAM) on the same silicon surface and encoding the read-only memory in later steps of the method without adding a mask to the method, said method comprising: forming an arsenic diffused ROM and RAM IGFET array on a silicon surface, with the ROM array having a plurality of generally parallel polycrystalline silicon gate lines covering operative IGFET channels, the RAM array including a second level of polycrystalline silicon, and a thermally grown silicon oxide coating covering said arrays; covering gate lines over substantially all of said ROM IGFET channels with islands of said second layer of polycrystalline silicon; forming a photoresist mask on said arrays that not only has openings for contact enhancement windows but also has ion implant openings therein above selected IGFET channels in said ROM; etching windows in said silicon oxide over ROM and RAM contact areas, and incidentally also over said selected IGFET channels without also exposing gate line edges of said channels; significantly altering threshold voltage of said selected IGFET channels to make them unresponsive to a predetermined gate line voltage; diffusing phosphorus through said windows; forming a blanket insulating layer on said array of a thickness at least that of said second polycrystalline silicon layer; etching array contact windows in said insulating layer corresponding to said ROM and RAM contact areas; and forming a plurality of generally parallel drain lines on said layer over said array that crosses said gate lines over said channels with said insulating layer therebetween.