US Patent Issued on Feb. 10 for "Methods for reliably forming microelectronic devices with conductive contacts to silicide regions" (Japanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,550,692, issued on Feb. 10.

"Methods for reliably forming microelectronic devices with conductive contacts to silicide regions" was invented by Kenichi Kusumoto (Hiroshima, Japan), Taizo Yasuda (Hiroshima, Japan), Hidekazu Nobuto (Hiroshima, Japan) and Kohei Morita (Hiroshima, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Microelectronic devices-having at least one conductive contact structure adjacent a silicide region-are formed using methods that avoid unintentional contact expansion and contact reduction. A first metal nitride liner is formed in a contact opening, and an exposed surface of a polysilicon structure is thereafter treated (e.g., ...