Semiconductor Manufacturing International Assigned Patent

Semiconductor Manufacturing International, Shanghai, Corporation, China, has been assigned a patent (8,916,413) by Hu Minda, and Hong James, Shanghai, China, for a “phase change memory and manufacturing method therefor.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention discloses a phase change memory and a manufacturing method thereof. The phase change memory according to the present invention uses top electrodes provided on the top of storage nodes to heat the storage nodes such that a phase change layer in the storage nodes undergoes a phase change. In the phase change memory of embodiments of the present invention, the contact area between the top electrode and the storage node is relatively small, which is good for phase change. Moreover, each column of storage nodes is connected by the same linear top electrode, which can improve photo alignment shift margin.“

The patent application was filed on October 19, 2012 (13/656,370)