Patent ID: 11903211
Assignee: nan
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 5:
6. A method of forming a microelectronic device, the method comprising:
forming a stack structure comprising a vertically alternating arrangement of insulative materials and additional insulative materials arranged in tiers;
forming a lowermost stair step structure in the stack structure;
forming a photoresist material over the lowermost stair step structure;
forming other stair step structures in the stack structure after forming the photoresist material;
forming nitride structures on steps of the other stair step structures;
exposing the nitride structures to a plasma;
removing portions of the nitride structures to form isolated nitride structures;
replacing the isolated nitride structures and the additional insulative materials with an electrically conductive material to respectively form conductive pad structures and electrically conductive structures.