Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
140 words
A method of controllably growing an oxide layer of a desired small thickness upon a silicon wafer, comprising: a. passing an inert gas through an oxidation container and over said silicon wafer to flush oxygen from said oxidation container; b. heating said silicon wafer in said flushed oxygen-free container to a selected temperature; c. simultaneously passing a mixture of an oxidizing gas at a first selected flow rate and an inert gas at a second flow rate selected in relation to said first flow rate, through said oxidation container and over said silicon wafer, for a selected period of time, so as to slowly grow an oxide layer of a desired small thickness on said silicon wafer; and d. stopping the flow of said oxidizing gas after said selected period of time while continuing the flow of said inert gas.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
140 words
A method of controllably growing a less than 200-angstrom thick silicon dixode layer upon a silicon wafer, comprising: a. passing an inert gas through an oxidation container and over said silicon wafer to flush oxygen from said oxidation container; b. heating said silicon wafer in said flushed oxygen-free container to a temperature of approximately 1,000* centigrade; c. simultaneously passing a mixture of oxygen gas at a first selected flow rate, and an inert gas at a second flow rate selected in relation to said first flow rate through said oxidation container for a period of approximately 20 minutes, so as to grow a silicon dioxide layer of less than a 200 angstrom thickness on the silicon wafer; and d. stopping the flow of said oxygen gas after said selected period of time while continuing the flow of said inert gas.
Claim 3
Independent Claim
112 words
A method of controllably growing a silicon dioxide layer less than 200 angstroms upon a silicon wafer, comprising a. heating said silicon wafer to a temperature between 700* and 1,100* centigrade within a flushed oxygen-free oxidation container, b. simultaneously passing a mixture of an oxidizing gas at a first flow rate between 0 and 100 liters per minute and an inert gas at a second flow rate between 0 and 100 liters per minute through said flushed oxygen-free oxidation container for a period of time less than 60 minutes; and c. stopping the flow of said oxidizing gas after said selected period of time while continuing the flow of said inert gas.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
111 words
A method of controllably growing an approximately 50-angstrom thick silicon dioxide layer upon a silicon wafer, comprising: a. heating said silicon wafer in a flushed oxygen-free oxidation container to a temperature of approximately 1,000* centigrade; b. simultaneously passing a mixture of a flowing oxygen gas and a flowing inert gas through said oxidation container and over said silicon wafer for a concurrent period of approximately 15 minutes, the flow rate of the oxygen gas being approximately 4 percent of the total flow rate of the two flowing gases; and c. stopping the flow of said oxidizing gas after said selected period of time while continuing the flow of said inert gas.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 5 wherein the oxidation container is an epitaxial reactor one.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
222 words
A method of making a nonvolatile metal-silicon nitride-silicon oxide-silicon field effect memory transistor whose threshold voltage is easily varied by means of a switching voltage, comprising: a. heating a silicon wafer of a first conductivity type, having source and drain regions of a second conductivity type, in a flushed oxygen-free oxidation container to a temperature of approximately 1,000* centigrade; b. simultaneously passing flowing oxygen gas, along with flowing inert gas, through said oxidation container and over said silicon wafer for a period of approximately 15 minutes, the oxygen flow rate being approximately 4 percent of the total flow rate of the two flowing gases to controllably grow an approximately 50-angstrom thick silicon dioxide layer on the silicon wafer; c. stopping the flow of said oxygen gas while continuing the flow of said inert gas; d. passing silicon-nitride-forming gases through said oxidation container to form an approximately 1,000-angstrom thick silicon nitride layer on the silicon dioxide layer; e. cooling the silicon wafer; f. stopping the flow of said inert gas; g. etching the silicon dioxide and silicon nitride layers off of the source and drain regions; and h. evaporating a gate electrode on the silicon nitride layer, a source electrode on said source region, and a drain electrode on said drain region, to form a nonvolatile metal-silicon nitride-silicon oxide-silicon field effect memory transistor.