Intellectual Property Law

US Patent 7902541 - Strained nanowire FET

Strained silicon is used in transistor design to improve mobility and switching speed. This patent from IBM includes some basic claims to strained nanowires used in transistor channels. Claim 1 reads:

1. A semiconductor structure comprising:

a semiconductor nanowire adjoined to a first semiconductor pad and a second semiconductor pad, wherein a middle portion of said semiconductor nanowire is longitudinally strained;

a gate dielectric surrounding said longitudinally strained middle portion of said semiconductor nanowire;

a dielectric material layer embedding said first and second semiconductor pads, wherein said dielectric material layer is substantially stress-free;

at least one source-side contact via embedded in said dielectric material layer and contacting said first semiconductor pad; and

at least one drain-side contact via embedded in said dielectric material layer and contacting said second semiconductor pad.

Full post as published by TinytechIP on March 13, 2011 (boomark / email).