Spansion Patent Applications

HEAT DISSIPATION METHODS AND STRUCTURES FOR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE

Granted: December 19, 2013
Application Number: 20130337612
A semiconductor device with efficient heat dissipating structures is disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor chip that is flip-chip mounted on a first substrate, a heat absorption portion that is formed between the first semiconductor chip and the first substrate, an outer connection portion that connects the first semiconductor chip to an external device and a heat conduction portion formed between the heat absorption portion and the outer connection portion…

METHOD, APPARATUS, AND MANUFACTURE FOR FLASH MEMORY ADAPTIVE ALGORITHM

Granted: December 5, 2013
Application Number: 20130322181
A method, apparatus, and manufacture for a memory device is provided. The memory device includes a memory cell region including sectors, where each sector includes memory cells. The memory device further includes a memory controller that is configured to control program operations and erase operations to the memory cells. During erase operations to the memory cells, pre-programming occurs in which each un-programmed memory cell in the sector being erased is programmed by applying at…

SELF-ALIGNED NAND FLASH SELECT-GATE WORDLINES FOR SPACER DOUBLE PATTERNING

Granted: November 28, 2013
Application Number: 20130316537
A method for double patterning is disclosed. In one embodiment the formation a pair of select gate wordlines on either side of a plurality of core wordlines begins by placing a spacer pattern around edges of a photoresist pattern is disclosed. The photoresist pattern is stripped away leaving the spacer pattern. A trim mask is placed over a portion of the spacer pattern. Portions of the spacer pattern are etched away that are not covered by the trim mask. The trim mask is removed, wherein…

SOFT ERROR RESISTANT CIRCUITRY

Granted: November 21, 2013
Application Number: 20130306885
An assembly includes an integrated circuit, a film layer disposed over the integrated circuit and having a thickness of at least 50 microns, and a thermal neutron absorber layer comprising at least 0.5% thermal neutron absorber. The thermal neutron absorber layer can be a glass layer or can include a molding compound.

Adaptively Programming or Erasing Flash Memory Blocks

Granted: October 3, 2013
Application Number: 20130258775
Embodiments described herein generally relate to programming and erasing a FLASH memory. In an embodiment, a method of programming or erasing the contents of a block of a FLASH memory includes determining a voltage of a pulse based on an age of the block and outputting the pulse to at least a portion of the block. The pulse is used to program or erase the block.

END-OF-LIFE RELIABILITY FOR NON-VOLATILE MEMORY CELLS

Granted: September 19, 2013
Application Number: 20130242669
A memory chip includes a memory array and a two-dimensional sensing system. The array includes a multiplicity of memory cells connected in rows by word lines and in columns by bit lines. The sensing system moves a read point two-dimensionally within a two-dimensional read space as the two-dimensional read space shrinks and shifts over the life of the chip.

METAL-INSULATOR-METAL (MIM) DEVICE AND METHOD OF FORMATION THEREOF

Granted: September 12, 2013
Application Number: 20130237030
In a method of fabricating a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) device, initially, a first electrode is provided. An oxide layer is provided on the first electrode, and a protective layer is provided on the oxide layer. An opening through the protective layer is provided to expose a portion of the oxide layer, and a portion of the first electrode underlying the exposed portion of the oxide layer is oxidized. A second electrode is provided in contact with the exposed portion of the oxide layer.…

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROTECTION AGAINST PROCESS-INDUCED CHARGING

Granted: September 12, 2013
Application Number: 20130237022
A semiconductor device (400) for improved charge dissipation protection includes a substrate (426), a layer of semiconductive or conductive material (406), one or more thin film devices (408) and a charge passage device (414). The thin film devices (408) are connected to the semiconductive or conductive layer (406) and the charge passage device (414) is coupled to the thin film devices (408) and to the substrate (426) and provides a connection from the thin film devices (408) to the…

MEMORY DEVICE PROTECTION LAYER

Granted: September 5, 2013
Application Number: 20130228851
A memory device includes a group of memory cells formed on a substrate, each memory cell including a source region and a drain region formed in the substrate. The memory device also includes a protection layer formed on top surfaces of the source regions and the drain regions, and on side surfaces of the group of memory cells.

ACCESSING AN NROM ARRAY

Granted: August 29, 2013
Application Number: 20130223144
A method includes minimizing current leaking through a virtual ground pipe during access of NROM memory cells. The minimizing includes operating two neighboring memory cells generally together, which includes connecting an operation voltage to a shared local bit line of the two neighboring memory cells and connecting the external local bit lines of two neighboring memory cells to a receiving unit, such as a ground supply or two sense amplifiers. Also included is an array performing the…

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING PARTICLES WITH A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE

Granted: August 1, 2013
Application Number: 20130193537
Systems and methods are described herein for detecting particles emitted by nuclear material. The systems comprise one or more semiconductor devices for detecting particles emitted from nuclear material. The semiconductor devices can comprise a charge storage element comprising several layers. A non-conductive charge storage layer enveloped on top and bottom by dielectric layers is mounted on a substrate. At least one top semiconductor layer can be placed on top of the top dielectric…

SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD FOR FABRICATING THEREOF

Granted: July 18, 2013
Application Number: 20130183819
A silicon nitride film, which is a second hard mask, is dry etched to be removed completely. The silicon nitride film, which is formed on a sidewall of a silicon nitride film used as a first hard mask, has a relatively low etching rate. Therefore, if the silicon nitride film is continued etching until the corresponding portion thereof is removed, polysilicon is etched in a direction of depth in trench shape. Then, floating gates in adjacent cells are separated and a step portion of the…

FABRICATING METHOD OF MIRROR BIT MEMORY DEVICE HAVING SPLIT ONO FILM WITH TOP OXIDE FILM FORMED BY OXIDATION PROCESS

Granted: July 11, 2013
Application Number: 20130175601
A device and method employing a polyoxide-based charge trapping component. A charge trapping component is patterned by etching a layered stack that includes a tunneling layer positioned on a substrate, a charge trapping layer positioned on the tunneling layer, and an amorphous silicon layer positioned on the charge trapping layer. An oxidation process grows a gate oxide layer from the substrate and converts the amorphous silicon layer into a polyoxide layer.

SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND CONTROL METHOD OF THE SAME

Granted: July 4, 2013
Application Number: 20130169841
The present invention is a semiconductor device including: a resistor R11 (first resistor part) and an FET 15 (second resistor part) connected in series between a power supply Vcc (first power supply) and ground (second power supply); an output node N11 provided between the resistor R11 and FET 15 and used for outputting a reference voltage; a feedback node N12 provided between the power supply Vcc and the ground; and a voltage control circuit (19) that maintains a voltage of the…

FABRICATING METHOD OF MIRROR BIT MEMORY DEVICE HAVING SPLIT ONO FILM WITH TOP OXIDE FILM FORMED BY OXIDATION PROCESS

Granted: June 27, 2013
Application Number: 20130161728
A device and method employing a polyoxide-based charge trapping component. A charge trapping component is patterned by etching a layered stack that includes a tunneling layer positioned on a substrate, a charge trapping layer positioned on the tunneling layer, and an amorphous silicon layer positioned on the charge trapping layer. An oxidation process grows a gate oxide layer from the substrate and converts the amorphous silicon layer into a polyoxide layer.

Arithmetic Logic Unit Architecture

Granted: June 20, 2013
Application Number: 20130159371
Embodiments of the present invention include an apparatus, method, and system for acoustic modeling. In an embodiment, an arithmetic logic unit for computing a one-dimensional score between a feature vector and a Gaussian probability distribution vector is provided. The arithmetic logic unit includes a computational logic unit configured to compute a first value based on a mean value and a variance value associated with a dimension of the Gaussian probability distribution vector and a…

Acoustic Processing Unit Interface

Granted: June 20, 2013
Application Number: 20130158997
Embodiments of the present invention include an apparatus, method, and system for acoustic modeling. In an embodiment, a speech recognition system is provided. The system includes a processing unit configured to divide a received audio signal into consecutive frames having respective frame vectors, an acoustic processing unit (APU), a data bus that couples the processing unit and the APU. The APU includes a local, non-volatile memory that stores a plurality of senones, a memory buffer…

Acoustic Processing Unit

Granted: June 20, 2013
Application Number: 20130158996
Embodiments of the present invention include an apparatus, method, and system for acoustic modeling. The apparatus can include a senone scoring unit (SSU) control module, a distance calculator, and an addition module. The SSU control module can be configured to receive a feature vector. The distance calculator can be configured to receive a plurality of Gaussian probability distributions via a data bus having a width of at least one Gaussian probability distribution and the feature…

RAPID MEMORY BUFFER WRITE STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD

Granted: June 13, 2013
Application Number: 20130151776
Efficient and convenient storage systems and methods are presented. In one embodiment a storage system includes a host for processing information, a memory controller and a memory. The memory controller controls communication of the information between the host and the memory, wherein the memory controller routes data rapidly to a buffer of the memory without buffering in the memory controller. The memory stores the information. The memory includes a buffer for temporarily storing the…

VOID FREE INTERLAYER DIELECTRIC

Granted: June 6, 2013
Application Number: 20130140720
A method of manufacturing a non-volatile memory device includes forming a number of memory cells. The method also includes depositing a first dielectric layer over the memory cells, where the first dielectric layer is a conformal layer having a substantially uniform thickness. The method further includes depositing a second dielectric layer over the first dielectric layer. Together, the first and second dielectric layers form an interlayer dielectric without voids.