PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16052401
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-08
Publication Date: 2019-02
Patent Classification: ["438", "257000"]

Abstract:
Methods and apparatuses for selectively depositing silicon nitride (SiN) via high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP CVD) to form a SiN pad on an exposed flat surface of a nitride layer in a 3D NAND staircase structure with alternating oxide and nitride layers are provided. In some embodiments, selective etching is performed to remove undesirable buildup of SiN on sidewalls of the oxide layers of the staircase structure. Nitride layers of the staircase structure are replaced with tungsten (W) to form tungsten wordlines, while the SiN pads are replaced with tungsten to from landing pads, which prevent punchthrough of the tungsten wordlines on the staircase structure by interconnects extending thereto.

Claim (Index 10):
The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:\n after depositing the SiN via HDP CVD over both the oxide and nitride layers, depositing the oxide filler over the staircase pattern; etching the oxide filler to form vertical vias in the oxide filler which extend to the tungsten wordlines, wherein the oxide filler is etched selective to the tungsten landing pads; depositing tungsten in the vias to form tungsten interconnects which extend to the tungsten wordlines.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 35.0
- Percentile: 96.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.71831
- Patent Class: 438.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15972554', '15408291', '15894635', '12122614', '14803578']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8580443488511621
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5075493844872889
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.8229948524147748
- Mean Citation Score: 244.015214
- Max Citation Score: 286.54504
- Similarity Product: 219.5067293986606

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

Dataset: test