Patent ID: 9679906
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: H01L

Claim:
1. A monolithic three-dimensional memory device comprising a first memory block containing a plurality of memory sub-blocks located on a substrate, wherein: each memory sub-block comprises a set of memory stack structures and a portion of alternating layers laterally surrounding the set of memory stack structures; alternating layers comprising insulating layers and electrically conductive layers are located over the substrate; a first portion of neighboring pair of memory sub-blocks is laterally spaced from each other along a first horizontal direction by a backside contact via structure; and a subset of the alternating layers contiguously extends between a second portion of the neighboring pair of memory sub-blocks through a gap in a bridge region between two portions of the backside contact via structure that are laterally spaced apart along a second horizontal direction to provide a connecting portion between the neighboring pair of memory sub-blocks; wherein the monolithic three-dimensional memory device further comprises: a contact region located adjacent to a device region containing the first memory block; a plurality of sets of stepped surfaces in the contact region located adjacent to a respective memory sub-block within the first memory block in the device region; a first set of stepped surfaces includes a first set of vertically coincident sidewalls of a first subset of the electrically conductive layers located at a first set of levels; a second set of stepped surfaces includes a second set of vertically coincident sidewalls of a second subset of the electrically conductive layers located at a second set of levels; the first set of levels and the second set of levels are staggered with respect to each other; and a block level backside contact via structure located between the first memory block and a second memory block, wherein there is no gap in the block level backside contact via structure and the alternating layers do not contiguously extend between the memory block and the second memory block.