US Patent Issued to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing on March 25 for "Forming nitrogen-containing layers as oxidation blocking layers" (Taiwanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,261,042, issued on March 25, was assigned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Hsinchu, Taiwan).

"Forming nitrogen-containing layers as oxidation blocking layers" was invented by Wan-Yi Kao (Baoshan Township, Taiwan) and Chung-Chi Ko (Nantou, Taiwan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method includes forming a silicon layer on a wafer, forming an oxide layer in contact with the silicon layer, and, after the oxide layer is formed, annealing the wafer in an environment comprising ammonia (NH3) to form a dielectric barrier layer between, and in contact with, the silicon layer and the oxide layer. The dielectric barrier layer compri...