Patent ID: 8216877

Claim:
A method for fabricating phase-change memory elements, comprising: providing a substrate; forming a first electrode on the substrate; forming a first dielectric layer on the first electrode; patterning the first dielectric layer to form a dielectric pillar, wherein the top view of the dielectric pillar is circle or polygon; conformally forming a phase-change material to cover the dielectric pillar and etching back the phase-change material to remove phase-change material on the top surface of the dielectric pillar and first electrode, a phase-change material spacer remaining on the side walls of the dielectric pillar; forming a second dielectric layer on the substrate and subjecting the second dielectric layer to a back-etch, the second dielectric layer covering the sidewalls of the phase-change material spacer; forming a second electrode on the dielectric pillar and second dielectric layer to electrically connect to the phase-change material; and after forming the second electrode, patterning the first electrode and the second electrode with the substrate acting as an etching-stop, and blanketly forming a third dielectric layer to surround the electrodes.