Process for producing a semiconductor memory device

Claim 1

A process for producing a semiconductor memory device provided with memory cells, each said memory cell having a capacitor for accumulating an electric charge and a transistor for charging and discharging said capacitor, said capacitor comprising a substrate, an insulator layer disposed on said substrate and a monocrystalline semiconductor layer on said insulator layer, said method comprising the steps of: (a) forming, on said insulator layer provided on said substrate, an amorphous nucleation surface with a different material of a nucleation density sufficiently larger than that of the material constituting said insulator layer and of a size sufficiently small as to allow the growth of only one nucleus; (b) growing a single crystal from the single nucleus of a semiconductor material grown on said amorphous nucleation surface to form a monocrystalline semiconductor layer; and (c) forming said transistor in said monocrystalline semiconductor layer.