PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15967156
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-04
Publication Date: 2018-10
Patent Classification: ["257", "401000"]

Abstract:
A shallow trench isolation (STI) structure is formed having a conventional STI trench structure formed of dielectric material extending into the substrate. A planarizing stack of nitride and oxide is formed above the STI trench structure (and optionally a dummy gate may be formed above this stack). After further conventional processing, the nitride layer results in a structure that extends laterally outward beyond the outer edges of the underlying STI structure—creating a shadow or umbrella structure. The S/D cavity is formed (between the active gate and dummy gate) and the epitaxial S/D regions are grown. The placement and configuration of the nitride layer assists in reducing the amount of substrate material removed adjacent the STI structure during the S/D region cavity formation.

Claim (Index 17):
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device for use with one or more field-effect transistor (FET) devices, the method comprising:\n forming a shallow trench isolation (STI) structure within a semiconductor substrate, comprising,\n forming first insulating material in a first shallow trench within the substrate, \n forming a second trench above the first insulating material and in the substrate, wherein the second trench is wider and shallower than the first trench, and forming a protective layer within the second trench and above the first insulating material, the protective layer extending laterally beyond a side of the first insulating material in the second shallow trench, and \n forming second insulating material above the protective layer and within at least a portion of the second trench; \n forming a dummy gate structure above and aligned with the STI structure, the dummy gate structure having a first sidewall and a second sidewall; forming a first field effect transistor (FET) on the substrate, the first FET having a gate structure adjacent the dummy gate structure, a first source/drain (S/D) region and a second S/D region, wherein the first S/D region is formed adjacent to the STI structure, and the protective layer of the STI structure extends into the first source/drain region and extends laterally outward beyond a sidewall of the dummy gate structure; removing selected portions of the first S/D region, wherein a portion of the first S/D region underneath the protective layer is protected from being removed; and epitaxially growing and forming the first S/D region.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 29.0
- Percentile: 91.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.88732
- Patent Class: 257.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15665183', '15397978', '15184479', '15282836', '10952286']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.9206279326151184
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5201630125237121
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.880581440605978
- Mean Citation Score: 267.180246
- Max Citation Score: 337.7358
- Similarity Product: 285.7424083684087

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 0
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test