1. A semiconductor device, comprising:
a gate electrode having opposing ends that overlap isolation regions and wherein the gate electrode is located over an active region located within a semiconductor substrate;
a gate oxide located between the gate electrode and the active region, wherein the gate oxide has a thickness of about 1.2 nm or less;
sourcedrains located adjacent the gate electrode and within the active region, a transistor channel region being defined under the gate electrode in the active region between the sourcedrains;
an etch stop layer located over the gate electrode; and
at least one electrical contact that extends through the etch stop layer and contacts a portion of the gate electrode located between the isolation regions and that overlies the channel region in the active region.
2. The device of claim 1, further comprising a dielectric layer located over the etch stop layer; and wherein the at least one electrical contact extends vertically through at least a portion of the dielectric layer and through the etch stop layer to contact the gate electrode at the location that overlies the active region.
3. The device of claim 2, wherein the gate electrode comprises at least one of doped polysilicon or metal silicide.
4. The device of claim 2, wherein the etch stop layer comprises silicon nitride.
5. A semiconductor device, comprising:
a gate electrode having opposing ends that overlap isolation regions and wherein the gate electrode is located over an active region located within a semiconductor substrate;
a gate oxide located between the gate electrode and the active region;
sourcedrains located adjacent the gate electrode and within the active region, a transistor channel region being defined under the gate electrode in the active region between the sourcedrains;
an etch stop layer located over the gate electrode; and
at least one electrical contact that extends through the etch stop layer and contacts a portion of the gate electrode located between the isolation regions and that overlies the channel region in the active region;
wherein the gate electrode includes a contact pad; and wherein the at least one electrical contact contacts the gate electrode at the contact pad.
6. The device of claim 5, wherein the at least one electrical contact contacts the gate electrode at the middle of the width of the gate electrode.
7. The device of claim 5, further comprising a dielectric layer located over the etch stop layer; and wherein the at least one electrical contact extends vertically through at least a portion of the dielectric layer and through the etch stop layer to contact the gate electrode at the location that overlies the active region.
8. The device of claim 7, wherein the etch stop layer comprises silicon nitride, and the gate electrode comprises at least one of doped polysilicon or metal silicide.
9. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:
forming a gate oxide over a semiconductor substrate, wherein the gate oxide has a thickness that is about 1.2 nm or less;
forming a gate electrode over the gate oxide, wherein opposing ends of the gate electrode overlap isolation regions and the gate electrode is located over an active region within the semiconductor substrate;
forming sourcedrains adjacent the gate electrode and within the active region, a transistor channel region being defined under the gate electrode in the active region between the sourcedrains;
forming an etch stop layer over the gate electrode; and
forming at least one electrical contact that extends through the etch stop layer and contacts a portion of the gate electrode that overlies the channel region in the active region.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising forming a dielectric layer over the etch stop layer; and wherein forming the at least one electrical contact comprises forming the at least one electrical contact to extend vertically through at least a portion of the dielectric layer and through the etch stop layer to contact the gate electrode at the location that overlies the active region.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein forming the at least one electrical contact comprises forming a contact opening over the gate oxide in at least the dielectric layer using a plasma process.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the etch stop layer comprises silicon nitride, and the gate electrode comprises at least one of doped polysilicon or metal silicide.
13. The method of claim 9, further comprising forming a dielectric layer over the etch stop layer; and wherein forming the at least one electrical contact comprises forming a contact opening over the gate oxide in at least the dielectric layer using a plasma process.
14. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:
forming a gate oxide over a semiconductor substrate;
forming a gate electrode wherein opposing ends of the gate electrode overlap isolation regions and the gate electrode is located over an active region within the semiconductor substrate;
forming sourcedrains adjacent the gate electrode and within the active region, a transistor channel region being defined under the gate electrode in the active region between the sourcedrains;
forming an etch stop layer over the gate electrode; and
forming at least one electrical contact that extends through the etch stop layer and contacts a portion of the gate electrode that overlies the channel region in the active region;
wherein the gate electrode is formed with a contact pad; and the at least one electrical contact is formed to contact the gate electrode at the contact pad.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one electrical contact is formed to contact the gate electrode in the middle of the width of the gate electrode.
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. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:
an ultrasound transducer;
a transmit beamformer;
a receiver beamformer;
a harmonic filter coupled between the ultrasound transducer and the transmit beamformer to reduce transmitted harmonic components;
a fundamental filter coupled between the ultrasound transducer and the receiver beamformer to reduce received fundamental components;
a fusion processor to generate multiple frames of fusion images from subsequent frames of ultrasound transmissions;
a transmitreceive switch to couple either the transmit beamformer or the receive beamformer to the ultrasound transducer;
a first switch to connect the harmonic filter between the transmit beamformer and the transmitreceive switch when in a first mode and to connect the transmit beamformer to the transmitreceive switch without going through the harmonic filter when in a second mode; and
a second switch to connect the fundamental filter between the receive beamformer and the transmitreceive switch when in a first mode and to connect the receive beamformer to the transmitreceive switch without going through the fundamental filter when in a second mode;
wherein the fusion processor combines a harmonic frame derived from a first pair of the subsequent frames with a fundamental frame derived from a second pair of the subsequent frames, or combines a fundamental frame derived from the first pair of the subsequent frames with a harmonic frame derived from the second pair of the subsequent frames, to generate one of the multiple frames.
2. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the harmonic filter is configured to adjust at least one of delay, phase and amplitude of a pulse supplied by the transmit beamformer.
3. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the transmit beamformer is configured to generate two pulses for the two subsequent frames of ultrasound transmissions.
4. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 3, wherein the receiver beamformer is configured to receive and store two beams formed as echoes of the two pulses; and the fusion processor is configured to extract a harmonic frame and a fundamental frame from the two beams.
5. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 4, wherein the fusion processor is configured to perform alignment and matching of the two beams to extract the harmonic frame and the fundamental frame.
6. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 4, wherein the two pulses are identical; and the harmonic filter is applied to a first one of the two pulses and not to a second one of the two pulses.
7. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 4, wherein the ultrasound transducer is excited to transmit multiple amplitude-modulated transmit pulses with different delays for the two subsequent frames of ultrasound transmissions.
8. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 4, wherein the ultrasound transducer is excited to transmit multiple pulses with different amplitudes to extract harmonic signals.
9. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 4, wherein the two pulses differ in at least one of: delay, phase, frequency, duration, width, and amplitude.
10. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 4, wherein the receive beamformer includes a high-dynamic range, low-noise, high-gain amplifier to boost harmonic signals and reduced gain for fundamental signals.
11. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 4, wherein the two pulses are identical; and the fundamental filter is used in receive echoes from a first one of the two pulses and not a second one of the two pulses.
12. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:
an ultrasound transmitter having a harmonic filter to reduce transmitted harmonic components;
an ultrasound receiver having a fundamental filter to reduce received fundamental components; and
a fusion processor to combine a harmonic frame derived from a first pair of reflected beams with a fundamental frame derived from a second pair of reflected beams, or to combine a fundamental frame derived from the first pair of reflected beams and a harmonic frame derived from the second pair of reflected beams, to generate a fused frame;
wherein:
each pair of reflected beams are generated from a first pulse and a second pulse; and
the harmonic filter is applied to the first pulse to generate a first beam of the pair of reflected beams but not to the second pulse substantially identical to the first pulse.
13. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 12, wherein the ultrasound transmitter includes a switch, which when in a first mode applies the harmonic filter to the first pulse and when in a second mode bypasses the harmonic filter for the second pulse.
14. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:
an ultrasound transmitter having a harmonic filter to reduce transmitted harmonic components;
an ultrasound receiver having a fundamental filter to reduce received fundamental components; and
a fusion processor to combine a harmonic frame derived from a first pair of reflected beams with a fundamental frame derived from a second pair of reflected beams, or to combine a fundamental frame derived from the first pair of reflected beams with a harmonic frame derived from the second pair of reflected beams, to generate a fused frame;
wherein the fundamental filter is applied to a first beam of the pair of reflected beams but not to a second beam of the pair of reflected beams.
15. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 14, wherein the first beam and the second beam are generated based on identical pulses from the ultrasound transmitter.
16. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 15, wherein the ultrasound receiver includes a switch, which when in a first mode applies the fundamental filter to the first beam and when in a second mode bypasses the fundamental filter for the second beam.
17. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 15, wherein the ultrasound receiver includes a high-dynamic range, low-noise, high-gain amplifier to boost harmonic signals, with reduced gain for fundamental signals.
18. An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:
an ultrasound transducer;
a transmit beamformer;
a receiver beamformer;
a transmitreceive switch to subsequently:
connect the transmit beamformer to the ultrasound transducer to transmit a first beam into an object,
connect the receiver beamformer to the ultrasound transducer to receive the first beam reflected from the object,
connect the transmit beamformer to the ultrasound transducer to transmit a second beam into the object, and
connect the receiver beamformer to the ultrasound transducer to receive the second beam reflected from the object;
a fusion processor to:
adjust the reflected second beam to align and match with the reflected first beam to compensate a difference between the received first beam and the received second beam,
extract a harmonic signal by adding the reflected first beam and the reflected, adjusted second beam,
extract a fundamental signal by calculating a difference between the reflected first beam and the reflected, adjusted second beam, and
combine the harmonic signal and the fundamental signal to generate a fused signal that is used to generate an ultrasound image.