Patent ID: 11943923
Assignee: YANGTZE MEMORY TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 15:
16. A three-dimensional (3D) memory device, comprising:
a stack structure on a substrate, the stack structure comprising a first conductor layer and a second conductor layer, the first conductor layer and the second conductor layer being separated from each other in a vertical direction perpendicular to a top surface of a substrate by a gate-to-gate dielectric layer, the gate-to-gate dielectric layer comprising a first composite layer, a second composite layer, and an airgap extending along a lateral direction fully and completely separating the first composite layer and the second composite layer; and
a channel structure extending from a top surface of the stack structure to the substrate along the vertical direction, wherein the channel structure comprises a memory layer between a blocking layer and a tunneling layer, the memory layer comprising a plurality of disconnected memory layer segments each being disconnected from one another and corresponding to a respective one of conductor layers, wherein each of the memory layer segments comprises a vertical portion along the vertical direction and at least one lateral portion along the lateral direction, and ends of two lateral portions of two memory layer segments corresponding to two adjacent conductor layers are exposed by the airgap between the two adjacent conductor layers, with a contacting interface extending along the vertical direction perpendicular to the top surface of the substrate, wherein the contacting interface is between the airgap and each end of the two lateral portions of two memory layer segments, wherein the blocking layer and the tunneling layer are partially exposed by the airgap; and
a source structure extending from the top surface of the stack structure to the substrate, wherein the source structure comprises a source contact and an insulating structure, and both the source contact and the insulating structure are partially exposed by the airgap.