Detailed Description
Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
Referring to fig. 1A, a substrate 100 is provided. In addition, a contact (not shown) to be connected to an electrode of the resistance random access memory is formed in the substrate 100. Next, a first electrode 102 is formed over the substrate 100. The first electrode 102 is connected to the contact described above. The first electrode 102 serves as a bottom electrode of the rram. The first electrode 102 is formed, for example, by forming an electrode material layer on the substrate 100 and then performing a patterning process on the electrode material layer. In the present embodiment, the first electrode 102 is a stripe electrode, which extends in a first direction (a direction perpendicular to the direction entering fig. 1A) on the substrate 100. In the present embodiment, the material of the first electrode 102 is, for example, Ti, Ta, TiN, TaN, TiAlN, TiW, Pt, Ir, W, Ru, graphite, or a combination thereof. Next, a dielectric layer 104 is formed on the substrate 100. A dielectric layer 104 covers the first electrode 102. In the present embodiment, the dielectric layer 104 is, for example, a silicon oxide layer.
Referring to fig. 1B, a patterning process is performed on the dielectric layer 104 to remove a portion of the dielectric layer 104, so as to form an isolation layer 106a on the top surface of the first electrode 102 and expose the sidewall and a portion of the top surface of the first electrode 102. The isolation layer 106a is used to separate a second electrode and a third electrode which are formed on the first electrode 102. In addition, after the patterning process is performed, besides forming the isolation layer 106a on the top surface of the first electrode 102, an isolation layer 106b may also be formed on the substrate 100 between two adjacent first electrodes 102 to separate the two adjacent first electrodes 102. In this embodiment, the top surface of the isolation layer 106a and the top surface of the isolation layer 106b are coplanar.
Then, a selection layer 108 is formed on the first electrode 102. In the present embodiment, the selection layer 108 is conformally formed on the substrate 100, covering the substrate 100, the first electrode 102, the isolation layer 106a and the isolation layer 106 b. The selective layer 108 is formed, for example, by a chemical vapor deposition process. In the present embodiment, the material of the selective layer 108 is, for example, Al2O3. Next, a variable resistance layer 110 is formed on the selection layer 108. The variable resistance layer 110 is formed by, for example, performing a chemical vapor deposition process. In the present embodiment, the material of the variable resistance layer 110 is, for example, HfO2、ZrO2HfZrO, HfAlO, HfON, HfSiO, HfSrO, HfYO, or combinations thereof. Then, an electrode material layer 112 is formed on the variable resistance layer 110. The electrode material layer 112 is formed by, for example, performing a chemical vapor deposition process. In the present embodiment, the material of the electrode material layer 112 is, for example, Ti, Ta, TiN, TaN, TiAlN, TiW, Pt, Ir, W, Ru, graphite, or a combination thereof.
Referring to fig. 1C, a planarization process is performed to remove a portion of the electrode material layer 112 until the variable resistance layer 110 on the isolation layer 106a and the isolation layer 106b is exposed, so as to form a second electrode 114 and a third electrode 116. The planarization process is, for example, a chemical mechanical polishing process. In detail, after the planarization process is performed, the second electrode 114 and the third electrode 116 are formed on two sides of the isolation layer 106a, and the second electrode 114 and the third electrode 116 are respectively overlapped with the sidewall and the top surface of the first electrode 102. As shown in fig. 1C, the second electrode 114 on the left side of the isolation layer 106a covers a portion of the left sidewall and the top surface of the first electrode 102, and the second electrode 116 on the right side of the isolation layer 106a covers a portion of the right sidewall and the top surface of the first electrode 102. In this way, the first memory cell 10 is configured by the first electrode 102 (lower electrode), the second electrode 114 (upper electrode), and the selection layer 108 and the variable resistance layer 110 interposed therebetween on the left side and the upper side of the first electrode 102, and the second memory cell 20 is configured by the first electrode 102 (lower electrode), the third electrode 116 (upper electrode), and the selection layer 108 and the variable resistance layer 110 interposed therebetween on the right side and the upper side of the first electrode 102.
In the embodiment, after the planarization process is performed, the variable resistance layer 110 on the isolation layer 106a and the isolation layer 106b is exposed, i.e. the planarization process uses the variable resistance layer 110 as a stop layer, but the invention is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, during the planarization process, in addition to removing a portion of the electrode material layer 112, a portion of the variable resistance layer 110 and the selection layer 108 may be removed until the top surfaces of the isolation layer 106a and the isolation layer 106b are exposed, i.e., the planarization process uses the isolation layer 106a and the isolation layer 106b as a stop layer.
In addition, in the present embodiment, the variable resistance layer 110 is used as a stop layer, so that the planarization process is more easily controlled. When the varistor layer 110 is used as a stop layer, even if the varistor layer 110 is slightly removed, the device performance is not affected because the varistor layer 110 is not a main operation region. That is, the process window (process window) of the planarization process can be increased by using the variable resistance layer 110 as a stop layer.
Then, a dielectric layer 118 is formed on the second electrode 114 and the third electrode 116. The dielectric layer 118 is formed by, for example, performing a chemical vapor deposition process. In the present embodiment, the dielectric layer 118 is, for example, a silicon oxide layer. In addition, in order to prevent oxygen atoms in the dielectric layer 118 from diffusing into the variable resistance layer 110 and affecting the operation of the memory, an oxygen barrier layer 120 may be optionally formed on the second electrode 114 and the third electrode 116 before the dielectric layer 118 is formed. The oxygen barrier layer 120 is formed by, for example, performing a chemical vapor deposition process. In the present embodiment, the material of the oxygen barrier layer 120 is, for example, Al2O3。
Referring to fig. 1D, a first contact 122a connected to the second electrode 114 and a second contact 122b connected to the third electrode 116 are formed in the dielectric layer 118. It is important that the first contact 122a and the second contact 122b are staggered, i.e., the position of the first contact 122a and the position of the second contact 122b are not aligned with each other, as shown in fig. 2. In fig. 2, for clarity, only the substrate 100, the first electrode 102, the second electrode 114, the third electrode 116, the first contact 122a, the second contact 122b, and the bit lines formed subsequently are shown.
Then, a first bit line 124a connected to the first contact 122a and a second bit line 124b connected to the second contact 122b are formed on the dielectric layer 118 to form the resistance random access memory of the present embodiment. The formation methods of the first bit line 124a and the second bit line 124b are well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described herein. In the present embodiment, since the first contact 122a and the second contact 122b are alternately disposed, the first bit line 124a and the second bit line 124b may be disposed parallel to each other in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.
In the resistance random access memory of the present embodiment, the second electrode 114 and the third electrode 116 are electrically connected to different bit lines, so that the first memory cell 10 and the second memory cell 20 can be operated independently. In addition, since the adjacent first memory cell 10 and the adjacent second memory cell 20 are electrically connected to different bit lines, the adjacent memory cells do not affect each other during the operation.
In the present embodiment, since the second electrode 114 and the third electrode 116 are respectively overlapped with the sidewall and the top surface of the first electrode 102, conductive paths (conductive wires) can be intensively formed at the upper left corner and the upper right corner of the first electrode 102. In other words, when the memory cell of the present embodiment is operated, the formation position of the conductive path (conductive filament) can be more well controlled.
In the present embodiment, the second electrode 114 and the third electrode 116 disposed on the first electrode 102 are separated from each other by the isolation layer 106a, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, the isolation layer 106a may also be omitted, as will be further described below.
Fig. 3A to fig. 3B are schematic cross-sectional views illustrating a manufacturing process of a resistance random access memory according to a second embodiment of the invention. In the present embodiment, the same components as those of the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and a description thereof will not be given.
Referring to fig. 3A, when the patterning process of fig. 1B is performed, only the isolation layer 106B is formed, but the isolation layer 106a is not formed on the top surface of the first electrode 102. Then, a selection layer 108, a variable resistance layer 110 and an electrode material layer 112 are sequentially formed.
Referring to fig. 3B, a patterning process is performed to remove a portion of the electrode material layer 112, a portion of the variable resistance layer 110, and a portion of the selection layer 108, so as to expose a portion of the top surface of the first electrode 102. In this way, the second electrode 114 and the third electrode 116 are formed on two opposite sides of the first electrode 102. Then, an oxygen barrier layer 120 and a dielectric layer 118 are sequentially formed, and the process as described in fig. 1D is performed to form the rram of the present embodiment.
In the above embodiments, the selection layer 108 is located between the variable resistance layer 110 and the first electrode 102, that is, the selection layer is located between the variable resistance layer 110 and the lower electrode, but the invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the selection layer 108 may be located between the variable resistance layer 110 and the second electrode 114 and the third electrode 116, that is, the selection layer may be located between the variable resistance layer 110 and the upper electrode. In this case, the selection layer may be formed on the variable resistance layer 110 after the variable resistance layer 110 is formed. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the selection layer may be disposed between the variable resistance layer 110 and the lower electrode and between the variable resistance layer 110 and the upper electrode. The location and formation of such selective layers are well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail herein.
Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, and not to limit the same; while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced; and the modifications or the substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions depart from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.