Patent ID: 7910429

Claim:
A method of forming sidewall dielectric on an ONO-type memory cell stack where at least one sidewall of the ONO-type memory cell stack includes at least three exposed material layers with at least two of the exposed material layers being respectively composed of an oxide and an oxidizable material disposed adjacent to the oxide, the method comprising: (a) subjecting the at least one sidewall to a dry ISSG process (In-Situ Steam Generation) where the dry ISSG process comprises: (a.1) flowing molecular oxygen (O 2 ) towards the stack; and (a.2) flowing molecular hydrogen (H 2 ) towards the stack, where the volumetric flow ratio of the H 2 to the O 2 is less than about 0.2; wherein said oxidizable material has a sacrificial nitride layer disposed thereon and the method further comprises: (b) stripping off the sacrificial nitride layer after performance of said step (a) of subjecting the at least one sidewall to the dry ISSG process.