NON-VOLATILE MEMORY COMPRISING BIT LINE AIR GAPS AND WORD LINE AIR GAPS AND CORRESPONDING MANUFACTURING METHOD

摘要

Air gap isolation in non-volatile memory arrays and related fabrication processes are provided. Electrical isolation between adjacent active areas of a substrate can be provided, at least in part, by bit line air gaps (436) that are elongated in a column direction between the active areas. At least one cap (434) is formed over each isolation region, at least partially overlying air to provide an upper endpoint for the corresponding air gap. The caps may be formed at least partially along the sidewalls of adjacent charge storage regions. In various embodiments, selective growth processes are used to form capping strips over the isolation regions to define the air gaps. Word line air gaps (487) that are elongated in a row direction between adjacent rows of storage elements are also provided. The selective growth processes involve a modification of the surface of the charge storage regions, either by deposition of a catalyst layer or by ion implantation.