Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080203427 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE HAVING A STRAINED SEMICONDUCTOR ALLOY CONCENTRATION PROFILE - A new technique enables providing a stress-inducing alloy having a highly stress-inducing region and a region which is processable by standard processing steps suitable for use in a commercial high volume semiconductor device manufacturing environment. The regions may be formed by a growth process with a varying composition of the growing material or by other methods such as ion implantation. The highly stress-inducing region near the channel region of a transistor may be covered with an appropriate cover. | 08-28-2008 |
20080203486 | METHOD FOR DIFFERENTIAL SPACER REMOVAL BY WET CHEMICAL ETCH PROCESS AND DEVICE WITH DIFFERENTIAL SPACER STRUCTURE - By removing an outer spacer of a transistor element, used for the formation of highly complex lateral dopant profiles, prior to the formation of metal silicide, employing a wet chemical etch process, it is possible to position a stressed contact liner layer more closely to the channel region, thereby allowing a highly efficient stress transfer mechanism for creating a corresponding strain in the channel region, without affecting circuit elements in the P-type regions. | 08-28-2008 |
20080237723 | METHOD FOR CREATING TENSILE STRAIN BY REPEATEDLY APPLIED STRESS MEMORIZATION TECHNIQUES - By introducing additional strain-inducing mechanisms on the basis of stress memorization techniques, the performance of NMOS transistors may be significantly increased, thereby reducing the imbalance between PMOS transistors and NMOS transistors. By amorphizing and re-crystallizing the respective material in the presence of a mask layer at various stages of the manufacturing process, a drive current improvement of up to approximately 27% has been observed, with the potential for further performance gain. | 10-02-2008 |
20080268585 | SOI DEVICE HAVING A SUBSTRATE DIODE WITH PROCESS TOLERANT CONFIGURATION AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SOI DEVICE - A substrate diode for an SOI device is formed in accordance with an appropriately designed manufacturing flow, wherein transistor performance enhancing mechanisms may be implemented substantially without affecting the diode characteristics. In one aspect, respective openings for the substrate diode may be formed after the formation of a corresponding sidewall spacer structure used for defining the drain and source regions, thereby obtaining a significant lateral distribution of the dopants in the diode areas, which may therefore provide sufficient process margins during a subsequent silicidation sequence on the basis of a removal of the spacers in the transistor devices. In a further aspect, in addition to or alternatively, an offset spacer may be formed substantially without affecting the configuration of respective transistor devices. | 10-30-2008 |
20090001484 | REDUCING TRANSISTOR JUNCTION CAPACITANCE BY RECESSING DRAIN AND SOURCE REGIONS - By recessing portions of the drain and source areas on the basis of a spacer structure, the subsequent implantation process for forming the deep drain and source regions may result in a moderately high dopant concentration extending down to the buried insulating layer of an SOI transistor. Furthermore, the spacer structure maintains a significant amount of a strained semiconductor alloy with its original thickness, thereby providing an efficient strain-inducing mechanism. By using sophisticated anneal techniques, undue lateral diffusion may be avoided, thereby allowing a reduction of the lateral width of the respective spacers and thus a reduction of the length of the transistor devices. Hence, enhanced charge carrier mobility in combination with reduced junction capacitance may be accomplished on the basis of reduced lateral dimensions. | 01-01-2009 |
20090035924 | METHOD OF FORMING A SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE COMPRISING AN IMPLANTATION OF IONS OF A NON-DOPING ELEMENT - A method of forming a semiconductor structure includes providing a substrate having a first feature and a second feature. A mask is formed over the substrate. The mask covers the first feature. An ion implantation process is performed to introduce ions of a non-doping element into the second feature. The mask is adapted to absorb ions impinging on the first feature. After the ion implantation process, an annealing process is performed. | 02-05-2009 |
20090108415 | INCREASING ETCH SELECTIVITY DURING THE PATTERNING OF A CONTACT STRUCTURE OF A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - By forming an intermediate etch stop material or by appropriately positioning an additional etch stop material in a spacer structure of a polysilicon line, the probability of exposing a shallow doped region of an active semiconductor region during a critical contact etch step for forming rectangular contacts may be significantly reduced. Thus, leakage current, which may conventionally be created by etching into shallow doped regions during the contact etch step, may be reduced. | 04-30-2009 |
20090142900 | METHOD FOR CREATING TENSILE STRAIN BY SELECTIVELY APPLYING STRESS MEMORIZATION TECHNIQUES TO NMOS TRANSISTORS - By selectively applying a stress memorization technique to N-channel transistors, a significant improvement of transistor performance may be achieved. High selectivity in applying the stress memorization approach may be accomplished by substantially maintaining the crystalline state of the P-channel transistors while annealing the N-channel transistors in the presence of an appropriate material layer which may not to be patterned prior to the anneal process, thereby avoiding additional lithography and masking steps. | 06-04-2009 |
20090166618 | TEST STRUCTURE FOR MONITORING PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS FOR FORMING EMBEDDED SEMICONDUCTOR ALLOYS IN DRAIN/SOURCE REGIONS - By providing a test structure for evaluating the patterning process and/or the epitaxial growth process for forming embedded semiconductor alloys in sophisticated semiconductor devices, enhanced statistical relevance in combination with reduced test time may be accomplished. | 07-02-2009 |
20090246926 | METHOD FOR CREATING TENSILE STRAIN BY APPLYING STRESS MEMORIZATION TECHNIQUES AT CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE GATE ELECTRODE - After forming the outer drain and source regions of an N-channel transistor, the spacer structure may be removed on the basis of an appropriately designed etch stop layer so that a rigid material layer may be positioned more closely to the gate electrode, thereby enhancing the overall strain-inducing mechanism during a subsequent anneal process in the presence of the material layer and providing an enhanced stress memorization technique (SMT). In some illustrative embodiments, a selective SMT approach may be provided. | 10-01-2009 |
20090294860 | IN SITU FORMED DRAIN AND SOURCE REGIONS IN A SILICON/GERMANIUM CONTAINING TRANSISTOR DEVICE - By repeatedly applying a process sequence comprising an etch process and a selective epitaxial growth process during the formation of drain and source areas in a transistor device, highly complex dopant profiles may be generated on the basis of in situ doping. Further-more, a strain material may be provided while stress relaxation mechanisms may be reduced due to the absence of any implantation processes. | 12-03-2009 |
20100155727 | TEST STRUCTURE FOR MONITORING PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS FOR FORMING EMBEDDED SEMICONDUCTOR ALLOYS IN DRAIN/SOURCE REGIONS - By providing a test structure for evaluating the patterning process and/or the epitaxial growth process for forming embedded semiconductor alloys in sophisticated semiconductor devices, enhanced statistical relevance in combination with reduced test time may be accomplished. | 06-24-2010 |
20100237431 | REDUCING TRANSISTOR JUNCTION CAPACITANCE BY RECESSING DRAIN AND SOURCE REGIONS - By recessing portions of the drain and source areas on the basis of a spacer structure, the subsequent implantation process for forming the deep drain and source regions may result in a moderately high dopant concentration extending down to the buried insulating layer of an SOI transistor. Furthermore, the spacer structure maintains a significant amount of a strained semiconductor alloy with its original thickness, thereby providing an efficient strain-inducing mechanism. By using sophisticated anneal techniques, undue lateral diffusion may be avoided, thereby allowing a reduction of the lateral width of the respective spacers and thus a reduction of the length of the transistor devices. Hence, enhanced charge carrier mobility in combination with reduced junction capacitance may be accomplished on the basis of reduced lateral dimensions. | 09-23-2010 |
20110183477 | SOI DEVICE HAVING A SUBSTRATE DIODE WITH PROCESS TOLERANT CONFIGURATION AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SOI DEVICE - A substrate diode for an SOI device is formed in accordance with an appropriately designed manufacturing flow, wherein transistor performance enhancing mechanisms may be implemented substantially without affecting the diode characteristics. In one aspect, respective openings for the substrate diode may be formed after the formation of a corresponding sidewall spacer structure used for defining the drain and source regions, thereby obtaining a significant lateral distribution of the dopants in the diode areas, which may therefore provide sufficient process margins during a subsequent silicidation sequence on the basis of a removal of the spacers in the transistor devices. In a further aspect, in addition to or alternatively, an offset spacer may be formed substantially without affecting the configuration of respective transistor devices. | 07-28-2011 |
20120223309 | TEST STRUCTURE FOR MONITORING PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS FOR FORMING EMBEDDED SEMICONDUCTOR ALLOYS IN DRAIN/SOURCE REGIONS - By providing a test structure for evaluating the patterning process and/or the epitaxial growth process for forming embedded semiconductor alloys in sophisticated semiconductor devices, enhanced statistical relevance in combination with reduced test time may be accomplished. | 09-06-2012 |