| 摘要 |
<p>Shield plates for reduced coupling between charge storage regions in nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices, and associated techniques for forming the same, are provided. Electrical fields associated with charge stored in the floating gates or other charge storage regions of a memory device can couple to neighboring charge storage regions because of the close, and continually decreasing proximity of these regions. A shield plate can be formed adjacent to the bit line sides of floating gates that face opposing bit line sides of adjacent floating gates. Insulating layers can be formed between each shield plate and its corresponding adjacent charge storage region. The insulating layers can extend to the levels of the upper surfaces of the control gates formed above the charge storage regions. In such a configuration, sidewall fabrication techniques can be implemented to form the insulating members and shield plates. Each shield plate can be deposited and etched without complex masking to connect the control gates and shield plates. In one embodiment, the shield plates are at a floating potential.</p> |
