Methods of forming an array comprising pairs of vertically opposed capacitors and arrays comprising pairs of vertically opposed capacitors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9761580-B1
Application number	US-201615340842-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Nov 1, 2016
Priority date	Nov 1, 2016
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

A method of forming an array comprising pairs of vertically opposed capacitors comprises forming an upwardly-open conductive lining in individual capacitor openings in insulative-comprising material. An elevational mid-portion of individual of the conductive linings is removed to form an upper capacitor electrode lining and a lower capacitor electrode lining that are elevationally separate and spaced from one another in the individual capacitor openings. A capacitor insulator is formed radially inward of the upper and lower capacitor electrode linings in the individual capacitor openings. Conductive material is formed radially inward of the capacitor insulator in the individual capacitor openings and elevationally between the capacitor electrode linings. The conductive material is formed to comprise a shared capacitor electrode that is shared by vertically opposed capacitors in individual of the pairs of vertically opposed capacitors. Additional methods and structure independent of method are disclosed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An array comprising:
pairs of vertically opposed capacitors, the pairs individually comprising an upper capacitor electrode lining and a lower capacitor electrode lining that are elevationally separate and spaced from one another;
a shared capacitor electrode that is shared by the vertically opposed capacitors in individual of the pairs, the shared capacitor electrode being radially inward of and elevationally between the upper and lower capacitor electrode linings; and
a capacitor insulator between the shared capacitor electrode and the upper and lower capacitor electrode linings, the capacitor insulator being directly against all top and bottom surfaces of the shared capacitor electrode.

2. The array of claim 1 wherein the capacitor insulator is directly against all sidewall edge surfaces of the shared capacitor electrode.

3. The array of claim 1 wherein the shared capacitor electrode is also shared by multiple of the pairs of vertically opposed capacitors, the capacitor insulator extending laterally continuously between immediately adjacent of the pairs of vertically opposed capacitors.

4. The array of claim 3 wherein the capacitor insulator is directly against all sidewall edge surfaces of the shared capacitor electrode.

5. The array of claim 1 wherein the upper capacitor electrode lining comprises conductive material of a downwardly facing container shape comprising sidewalls and a top extending radially to and between the sidewalls, the capacitor insulator being elevationally thicker between the top of the upper capacitor electrode lining and the shared capacitor electrode at its radial center than it is laterally thick between the sidewalls of the upper capacitor electrode lining and the shared capacitor electrode.

6. The array of claim 1 wherein the capacitor insulator comprises ferroelectric material such that the capacitors are non-volatile and programmable into at least two different magnitude capacitive states.

7. The array of claim 1 wherein the capacitor insulator comprises dielectric material such that the capacitors are volatile.

8. An array comprising:
pairs of vertically opposed upper and lower capacitors, the pairs individually comprising an upper capacitor electrode of the upper capacitor and a lower capacitor electrode of the lower capacitor that are elevationally separate and spaced from one another;
a shared capacitor electrode that is shared by the vertically opposed upper and lower capacitors in individual of the pairs, the shared capacitor electrode being radially inward of and elevationally between the upper and lower capacitor electrodes;
a capacitor insulator between the shared capacitor electrode and the upper and lower capacitor electrodes; and
the upper capacitor electrode comprising conductive material of a downwardly facing container shape comprising sidewalls and a top extending radially to and between the sidewalls, the capacitor insulator being elevationally thicker between the top of the upper capacitor electrode and the shared capacitor electrode at its radial center than it is laterally thick between the sidewalls of the upper capacitor electrode and the shared capacitor electrode.

9. The array of claim 8 wherein the shared capacitor electrode is also shared by multiple of the pairs of vertically opposed capacitors, the capacitor insulator extending laterally continuously between immediately adjacent of the pairs of vertically opposed capacitors.

10. The array of claim 8 wherein the capacitor insulator comprises ferroelectric material such that the capacitors are non-volatile and programmable into at least two different magnitude capacitive states.

11. A memory array comprising:
pairs of vertically opposed capacitors, the pairs individually comprising an upper capacitor electrode lining and a lower capacitor electrode lining that are elevationally separate and spaced from one another, the capacitors in individual of the pairs individually being in two different memory cells of the memory array;
a shared capacitor electrode that is shared by the vertically opposed capacitors in individual of the pairs, the shared capacitor electrode being radially inward of and elevationally between the upper and lower capacitor electrode linings;
a capacitor insulator between the shared capacitor electrode and the upper and lower capacitor electrode linings, the capacitor insulator being directly against all top and bottom surfaces of the shared capacitor electrode;
upper transistors individually elevationally outward of and electrically coupled to one of the upper capacitor electrode linings to comprise one 1T-1C memory cell of the array; and
lower transistors individually elevationally inward of and electrically coupled to one of the lower capacitor electrode linings to comprise another 1T-1C memory cell of the array.

12. The memory array of claim 11 wherein the capacitor insulator comprises ferroelectric material such that the capacitors are non-volatile and programmable into at least two different magnitude capacitive states.

13. The memory array of claim 11 wherein the lower transistors extend elevationally.

14. The memory array of claim 13 wherein the lower transistors are vertical transistors.

15. The memory array of claim 11 wherein the upper transistors extend elevationally.

16. The memory array of claim 15 wherein the upper transistors are vertical transistors.

17. The memory array of claim 11 wherein the upper transistors are directly electrically coupled to the respective one upper capacitor electrode lining and the lower transistors are directly electrically coupled to the respective one lower capacitor electrode lining.

18. A memory array comprising:
pairs of vertically opposed capacitors, the pairs of vertically opposed capacitors individually comprising an upper capacitor electrode lining and a lower capacitor electrode lining that are elevationally separate and spaced from one another, the capacitors in individual of the pairs of vertically opposed capacitors individually being in a same individual 2T-2C memory cell of the memory array;
a shared capacitor electrode that is shared by the vertically opposed capacitors in individual of the pairs of vertically opposed capacitors, the shared capacitor electrode being radially inward of and elevationally between the upper and lower capacitor electrode linings;
a capacitor insulator between the shared capacitor electrode and the upper and lower capacitor electrode linings, the capacitor insulator being directly against all top and bottom surfaces of the shared capacitor electrode;
upper transistors individually elevationally outward of and electrically coupled to one of the upper capacitor electrode linings;
lower transistors individually elevationally inward of and electrically coupled to one of the lower capacitor electrode linings; and
pairs of one of the upper transistors and one of the lower transistors having their respective gates directly electrically coupled together to comprise the individual 2T-2C memory cells of the memory array.

19. The memory array of claim 18 wherein respective one source/drain regions of the one upper transistor and the one lower transistor in individual of the pairs are electrically coupled to a respective one of two comparative bitlines that are electrically coupled to the same sense amplifier.

20. The memory array of claim 18 wherein the upper transistors are directly electrically coupled to the respective one upper capacitor electrode lining an

Assignees

• Micron Technology Inc

Inventors

• Ramaswamy Durai Vishak Nirmal

Classifications

• G11C11/401

  forming cells needing refreshing or charge regeneration, i.e. dynamic cells · CPC title

• H01L27/0629 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L28/60

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10D1/716 Primary

  having vertical extensions · CPC title

• H10D1/692

  Electrodes · CPC title