Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company, ltd. (20240122077). SPACER SCHEME AND METHOD FOR MRAM simplified abstract

SPACER SCHEME AND METHOD FOR MRAM

Organization Name

taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company, ltd.

Inventor(s)

Joung-Wei Liou of Zhudong Township (TW)

Chin Kun Lan of Hsinchu City (TW)

SPACER SCHEME AND METHOD FOR MRAM - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 20240122077 titled 'SPACER SCHEME AND METHOD FOR MRAM

Simplified Explanation

The patent application describes an MRAM cell structure with a metal tunneling junction and a thin layer containing compounds of a metal found in one of the electrodes.

• The MRAM cell consists of a bottom electrode, a metal tunneling junction, and a top electrode.
• The metal tunneling junction has a side surface with a thin layer containing compounds of a metal from one of the electrodes.
• The thin layer has lower conductance than the metal tunneling junction.
• The electrode metal may have been deposited on the side during MTJ patterning and reacted to form a compound with lower conductance than a nitride of the electrode metal.
• The thin layer may include an oxide or compound of the electrode metal deposited over the redeposited electrode metal.
• A silicon nitride spacer may be formed over the thin layer without forming nitrides of the electrode metal.

Potential Applications

This technology could be applied in the development of more efficient and reliable MRAM cells for use in various electronic devices.

Problems Solved

This innovation addresses the challenge of improving the performance and stability of MRAM cells by optimizing the structure of the metal tunneling junction.

Benefits

The benefits of this technology include enhanced conductivity, reduced power consumption, and increased data retention in MRAM cells.

Potential Commercial Applications

The optimized MRAM cell structure could find applications in industries such as data storage, computing, and telecommunications.

Possible Prior Art

Prior research may have explored different methods to enhance the performance of MRAM cells, but the specific approach of using a thin layer with compounds of the electrode metal for conductivity improvement may be novel.

How does this technology compare to existing MRAM cell structures in terms of performance and reliability?

This article does not provide a direct comparison with existing MRAM cell structures to evaluate the performance and reliability improvements achieved by the proposed innovation.

What are the potential challenges or limitations of implementing this technology on a larger scale for commercial production?

The article does not address the potential challenges or limitations that may arise when scaling up the production of MRAM cells using this new structure.

Original Abstract Submitted

an mram cell has a bottom electrode, a metal tunneling junction, and a top electrode. the metal tunneling junction has a side surface between the bottom electrode and the top electrode. a thin layer on the side surface includes one or more compounds of a metal found in one of the electrodes. the thin layer has a lower conductance than the mtj. the electrode metal may have been deposited on the side during mtj patterning and subsequently been reacted to form a compound having a lower conductance than a nitride of the electrode metal. the thin layer may include an oxide deposited over the redeposited electrode metal. the thin layer may include a compound of the electrode metal deposited over the redeposited electrode metal. a silicon nitride spacer may be formed over the thin layer without forming nitrides of the electrode metal.