Patent ID: 11889683
Assignee: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A method used in forming a memory array comprising strings of memory cells, comprising:
forming a stack comprising vertically-alternating first tiers and second tiers, the first tiers being conductive and the second tiers being insulative in a finished construction, a channel-material string being in individual channel openings in the vertically-alternating first tiers and second tiers, the channel-material strings individually comprising a cylindrical shell of the channel material, insulator material being radially inside the cylindrical shell of the channel material, storage material being radially outside the cylindrical shell of the channel material;
vertically recessing the insulator material in the individual channel openings relative to the storage material and relative to the channel material;
forming a conductor-material contact in the individual channel openings radially inside of and directly against radially-inner sides of the cylindrical shell of the channel material of individual of the channel-material strings and atop the vertically-recessed insulator material, the conductor-material contact having a bottom that is below a bottom of an uppermost of the first tiers;
etching the conductor material of the conductor-material contact vertically-downward to vertically recess the conductor material relative to the storage material in the individual channel openings and etching the channel material of the cylindrical shell of the individual channel-material strings vertically-downward to vertically recess the cylindrical shell relative to the storage material in the individual channel openings, the conductor material after said etching thereof having a planar uppermost surface; and
forming a conductive via in the individual channel openings directly against a top of the channel material of the vertically-recessed cylindrical shell of the channel-material string and directly against all of the planar uppermost surface of the vertically-recessed conductor-material contact that are in that individual channel opening.