Friday, September 17, 2004
A joint research team from Hitachi Ltd and Elpida Memory Inc has developed a capacitor intended for use in next-generation DRAM chips with a linewidth of 65 nanometers, sources at the companies said.
The capacitor, a device for storing electric energy, features the addition of niobium pentoxide to the tantalum pentoxide currently used as the insulating membrane that serves to prevent leaks of electric current. The newly developed membrane has doubled the capacitor's permittivity, or the rate at which the capacitor can store electric energy, the sources said.
The addition of niobium has also made it possible to crystallize the insulating membrane at 500 C, 200 degrees lower than the temperature used to heat membranes made of tantalum pentoxide alone.
To make capacitors with greater capacity, the team has also adopted a structure in which the insulating membrane is sandwiched between two metal electrodes -- titanium nitride for the upper electrode and ruthenium for the lower one. Titanium nitride and a silicon semiconductor are used as the electrodes in existing capacitors.
Electronics manufacturers are expected to begin production of the next generation of DRAMs around 2007, and Hitachi and Elpida Memory want to start supplying DRAMs using the new capacitor by that time.
A report on the technology behind the new capacitor will be presented on Friday at the 2004 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials (SSDM 2004), now underway in Tokyo.
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The capacitor, a device for storing electric energy, features the addition of niobium pentoxide to the tantalum pentoxide currently used as the insulating membrane that serves to prevent leaks of electric current. The newly developed membrane has doubled the capacitor's permittivity, or the rate at which the capacitor can store electric energy, the sources said.
The addition of niobium has also made it possible to crystallize the insulating membrane at 500 C, 200 degrees lower than the temperature used to heat membranes made of tantalum pentoxide alone.
To make capacitors with greater capacity, the team has also adopted a structure in which the insulating membrane is sandwiched between two metal electrodes -- titanium nitride for the upper electrode and ruthenium for the lower one. Titanium nitride and a silicon semiconductor are used as the electrodes in existing capacitors.
Electronics manufacturers are expected to begin production of the next generation of DRAMs around 2007, and Hitachi and Elpida Memory want to start supplying DRAMs using the new capacitor by that time.
A report on the technology behind the new capacitor will be presented on Friday at the 2004 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials (SSDM 2004), now underway in Tokyo.
By: DocMemory
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