What is claimed is:
1. A method of forming shallow trench isolation in a substrate, comprising the steps of:
(a) forming a shield layer on part of the substrate;
(b) using the shield layer as a mask, removing part of the substrate to form a trench in the substrate;
(c) forming a first insulation layer in part of the trench and on the shield layer, wherein the trench retains an opening;
(d) partially etching back the first insulation layer to leave a remaining first insulation layer at the bottom of the trench and to expose the sidewall of the trench above the remaining first insulation layer;
(e) filling up the trench with a second insulation layer extending onto the shield layer; and
(f) performing a planarization on the second insulation layer, wherein the shield layer serves as a stop layer for the planarization.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, after the step (d), at least one cycle of the steps of:
(d1) forming a third insulation layer in part of the trench having the remaining first insulation layer; and
(d2)partially etching back the third insulation layer to leave a remaining third insulation layer on the remaining first insulation layer and to expose the sidewall of the trench above the remaining third insulation layer.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the shield layer is composed of a pad oxide layer and a SiN layer.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the pad oxide layer is a SiO2 layer formed by thermal oxidation.
5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the SiN layer is formed by deposition.
6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, after the step (b), the step of:
forming a conformal linear layer on the side and the bottom of the trench.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first insulation layer is a SiO2 layer formed by HDP-CVD.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second insulation layer is a SiO2 layer formed by HDP-CVD.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second insulation layer is a SiO2 layer formed by TEOS-CVD.
10. The method according to claim 2, wherein the third insulation layer is a SiO2 layer formed by HDP-CVD.
11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the planarization is chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).
12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method of partial etching back of the first insulation layer is wet etching.
13. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method of partial etching back of the third insulation layer is wet etching.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A serial data cursor for an analog waveform display of a serial digital data stream comprising:
a cursor representation having a horizontal length equal to a \u201cword-time\u201d for the serial digital data stream derived from a specified protocol and a clock recovered from the serial digital data stream; and
means for decoding a portion of the analog waveform display delimited by the cursor representation to present a human readable content display.
2. The serial data cursor as recited in claim 1 wherein the cursor representation comprises a highlighted box that encompasses the \u201cword-time\u201d of the analog waveform display.
3. The serial data cursor as recited in claim 1 wherein the cursor representation comprises a linear bar that extends along the analog waveform display for the \u201cword-time\u201d.
4. A serial data cursor for extracting content from a serial digital data stream comprising:
means for displaying an analog waveform of the serial digital data stream;
means for displaying a representation of the serial data cursor along with the analog waveform, the representation having a horizontal length equal to a \u201cword-time\u201d for the serial digital data stream derived from a specified protocol and a clock recovered from the serial digital data stream; and
means for decoding a portion of the analog waveform delimited by the representation to provide a display of the content in human readable form.
5. The serial data cursor as recited in claim 4 wherein the representation comprises a highlighted box that encompasses the \u201cword-time\u201d of the displayed analog waveform.
6. The serial data cursor as recited in claim 4 wherein the representation comprises a linear bar that extends along the displayed analog waveform for the \u201cword-time\u201d.
7. A method of using a serial data cursor for extracting content from the analog waveform of a serial digital data stream comprising the steps of:
loading a data protocol having parameters for the serial digital data stream;
determining a \u201cword-time\u201d from the parameters and a clock recovered from the serial digital data stream;
displaying the analog waveform together with a representation of the serial data cursor having a length equal to the \u201cword-time\u201d; and
decoding a portion of the analog waveform delimited by the serial data cursor to provide the content in human readable form.
8. The method as recited in claim 7 further comprising the steps of:
generating a trigger according to a specified characteristic of the serial digital data stream from the parameters; and
capturing the analog waveform according to the trigger.
9. The method as recited in claim 7 further comprising the steps of:
comparing the portion with a specified parameter from among the parameters; and
incrementing the serial data cursor by \u201cbit-time\u201d increments until the portion equals the specified parameter.