Gate oxide technology relieving word-line break in 10 nm-class DRAMs

Abstract Modern dynamic random-access memories (DRAMs) have ultra-high densities due to the high integration of cell arrays, and the length of word-line (WL) has become considerably longer. In particular, maintaining the uniform line-profile in the WL of modern 10 nm-class DRAMs is extremely challenging. In this paper, our goal is to investigate the causes of the WL break and propose the new method to solve it. We discuss the novel gate oxide (Gox) formation technology that is able to relieve the WL wiggling and disconnection. The 10 nm-class DRAM is fabricated with the novel Gox process, and its structure and characteristics are studied.