A fully functional 1 K ECL RAM on a bounded SOI wafer

A fully functional 1 K ECL RAM (emitter-coupled logic random-access memory) with a Schottky-clamped cell has been fabricated on a bounded silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. The complete isolation made possible by both the SOI technique and the trench structure has made it possible to reduce the number of soft errors induced by alpha -particles. The cell was completely isolated by using U-grooves deep enough to reach the thick oxide layer (1 mu m). The SOI RAM's performance was improved by reducing the parasitic capacitance. It is shown that the rate of soft-error occurrence for the SOI RAM is three-hundred times smaller than that for the conventional RAM.<>