Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 19
Claim 1
Independent Claim
161 words
A semiconductor substrate having an element isolation region formed at the upper surface of a semiconductor substrate and a device region sandwiched by the element isolation region, the element isolation region comprising: (a) a plurality of rectangular grooves arranged in the semiconductor substrate; each groove having a depth d and a width l 1x so as to make an aspect ration d/l 1x less than 10 and a line-and-space ratio l 1x /l 2x less than 1.5 wherein l 2x is a space between the grooves measured along the direction of l 1x ; and (b) buried oxide films formed in the grooves, the buried oxide films being formed by any or organic silicon based CVD method, spin-on-glass coating method, and anodic oxidation method and being composed of a stress relaxed structure annealed at a temperature of 1100 to 1350° C. so that dislocation density generated in the semiconductor substrate in vicinity of the grooves is less than 1/μm 2 .
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
161 words
A semiconductor substrate having an element isolation region formed at the upper surface of a semiconductor substrate and a device region sandwiched by the element isolation region, the element isolation region comprising: (a) a plurality of rectangular grooves arranged in the semiconductor substrate; each groove having a depth d and a width l 1x so as to make an aspect ration d/l 1x less than 10 and a line-and-space ratio l 1x /l 2x less than 1.5 wherein l 2x is a space between the grooves measured along the direction of l 1x ; and (b) buried oxide films formed in the grooves, the buried oxide films being formed by any or organic silicon based CVD method, spin-on-glass coating method, and anodic oxidation method and being composed of a stress relaxed structure annealed at a temperature of 1100 to 1350° C. so that dislocation density generated in the semiconductor substrate in vicinity of the grooves is less than 1/μm 2 .
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
57 words
The semiconductor substrate of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of grooves has an opening having the width l 1x and a height l 1y so as to make another line-and-space ratio l 1y /l 2y larger than 1.5, with l 2y being a space between the grooves measured along the direction of l 1y .
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
16 words
The semiconductor substrate of claim 1, wherein the width l 1x is less than 0.5 μm.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
16 words
The semiconductor substrate of claim 1, wherein the aspect ratio d/l 1x is higher than 1.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
30 words
The semiconductor substrate of claim 1, wherein an etching rate of the buried oxide films is less than 130 nm/min, substantially the same as that of a thermal oxide film.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
187 words
A semiconductor substrate having an element isolation region formed at the upper surface of a semiconductor substrate and a device region sandwiched by the element isolation region, the element isolation region comprising: (a) a plurality of rectangular grooves arranged in the semiconductor substrate; each groove having a depth d and a width l 1x so as to make an aspect ratio d/l 1x less than 10 and a line-and-space ratio l 1x /l 2x less than 1.5 wherein l 2x is a space between the grooves measured along the direction of l 1x ; and (b) buried oxide films formed in the grooves, each of the buried oxide films being formed by any of organic silicon based CVD method, spin-on-glass coating method, and anodic oxidation method so as to be a non-crystalline silicon oxide film which includes higher order ring structures higher than 5-fold ring and lower order ring structures lower than 4-fold ring at respective predetermined rates so that an etching rate by ammonium fluoride solution of the non-crystalline silicon oxide film is less than 130 nm/min, substantially same as that of a thermal oxide film.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
187 words
A semiconductor substrate having an element isolation region formed at the upper surface of a semiconductor substrate and a device region sandwiched by the element isolation region, the element isolation region comprising: (a) a plurality of rectangular grooves arranged in the semiconductor substrate; each groove having a depth d and a width l 1x so as to make an aspect ratio d/l 1x less than 10 and a line-and-space ratio l 1x /l 2x less than 1.5 wherein l 2x is a space between the grooves measured along the direction of l 1x ; and (b) buried oxide films formed in the grooves, each of the buried oxide films being formed by any of organic silicon based CVD method, spin-on-glass coating method, and anodic oxidation method so as to be a non-crystalline silicon oxide film which includes higher order ring structures higher than 5-fold ring and lower order ring structures lower than 4-fold ring at respective predetermined rates so that an etching rate by ammonium fluoride solution of the non-crystalline silicon oxide film is less than 130 nm/min, substantially same as that of a thermal oxide film.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
16 words
The semiconductor substrate of claim 6, wherein the width l 1x is less than 0.5 μm.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
16 words
The semiconductor substrate of claim 6, wherein the aspect ratio d/l 1x is higher than 1.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
57 words
The semiconductor substrate of claim 6, wherein each of said plurality of grooves has an opening having the width l 1x and a height l 1y so as to make another line-and-space ratio l 1y /l 2y larger than 1.5, with l 2y being a space between the grooves measured along the direction of l 1y .
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
159 words
A semiconductor substrate having an element isolation region formed at the upper surface of a semiconductor substrate and a device region sandwiched by the element isolation region, the element isolation region comprising: (a) grooves formed in the semiconductor substrate; and (b) buried oxide films formed in the grooves, the buried oxide films being formed of the non-crystalline silicon oxide film which includes higher order ring structures higher than 5-fold ring and lower order ring structures lower than 4-fold ring at respective predetermined rates, the respective predetermined rates of the ring structures are determined according to rates of integrated Raman intensities corresponding to respective ring structures to a total integrated Raman intensity, and the structures are formed to satisfy either of or both conditions that the higher order ring structures than 5-fold ring are substantially more than 85% of an overall structure and the lower order ring structures than 4-fold ring are substantially less than 15% of the overall structure.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
159 words
A semiconductor substrate having an element isolation region formed at the upper surface of a semiconductor substrate and a device region sandwiched by the element isolation region, the element isolation region comprising: (a) grooves formed in the semiconductor substrate; and (b) buried oxide films formed in the grooves, the buried oxide films being formed of the non-crystalline silicon oxide film which includes higher order ring structures higher than 5-fold ring and lower order ring structures lower than 4-fold ring at respective predetermined rates, the respective predetermined rates of the ring structures are determined according to rates of integrated Raman intensities corresponding to respective ring structures to a total integrated Raman intensity, and the structures are formed to satisfy either of or both conditions that the higher order ring structures than 5-fold ring are substantially more than 85% of an overall structure and the lower order ring structures than 4-fold ring are substantially less than 15% of the overall structure.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
86 words
The semiconductor substrate of claim 10, wherein said grooves are arranged in the semiconductor substrate, each groove having a depth d, a height l 1y and a width l 1x so as to make an aspect ratio d/l 1x less than 10, a line-and-space ratio l 1x /l 2x less than 1.5 and another line-and-space ratio l 1y /l 2y larger than 1.5, wherein l 2x and l 2y are spaces between the grooves measured along the direction of l 1x and l 1y , respectively.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
25 words
The semiconductor substrate of claim 10, wherein dislocation density generated in the semiconductor substrate in vicinity of the grooves is less than 1/μm 2 .
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
31 words
The semiconductor substrate of claim 10, wherein an etching rate of the non-crystalline silicon oxide film is less than 130 nm/min, substantially the same as that of a thermal oxide film.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
45 words
The substrate of claim 10, wherein the buried oxide films are formed by any of organic silicon based CVD method, spin-on-glass coating method, and anodic oxidation method, and are composed of an oxide film which is annealed at a temperature of 1100 to 1350° C.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
39 words
The substrate of claim 10, wherein an aspect ratio d/l 1 which is defined by a dimensional ratio of a depth d of the grooves to a width l 1 of openings of the grooves is less than 10.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
71 words
The substrate of claim 10, wherein a repetitive pattern having a line-and-space ratio l 1 /l 2 , which is defined as a ratio of a minimum space width l1 corresponding to a width of openings of the grooves to a minimum line width l 2 corresponding to a width of the device region, of less than 1.5 are formed along a specified direction at a surface of the semiconductor substrate.