| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080217663 | Enhanced Transistor Performance by Non-Conformal Stressed Layers - NFET and PFET devices with separately strained channel regions, and methods of their fabrication is disclosed. A stressing layer overlays the device in a manner that the stressing layer is non-conformal with respect the gate. The non-conformality of the stressing layer increases the amount of stress that is imparted onto the channel of the device, in comparison to stressing layers which are conformal. The method for overlaying in a non-conformal manner includes non-conformal deposition techniques, as well as, conformal depositions where subsequently the layer is turned into a non-conformal one by etching. | 09-11-2008 |
| 20080217700 | Mobility Enhanced FET Devices - NFET and PFET devices with separately stressed channel regions, and methods of their fabrication is disclosed. A FET is disclosed which includes a gate, which gate includes a metal in a first state of stress. The FET also includes a channel region hosted in a single crystal Si based material, which channel region is overlaid by the gate and is in a second state of stress. The second state of stress of the channel region is of an opposite sign than the first state of stress of the metal included in the gate. The NFET channel is usually in a tensile state of stress, while the PFET channel is usually in a compressive state of stress. The methods of fabrication include the deposition of metal layers by physical vapor deposition (PVD), in such manner that the layers are in stressed states. | 09-11-2008 |
| 20080217747 | INTRODUCTION OF METAL IMPURITY TO CHANGE WORKFUNCTION OF CONDUCTIVE ELECTRODES - Semiconductor structures, such as, for example, field effect transistors (FETs) and/or metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor (MOSCAPs), are provided in which the workfunction of a conductive electrode stack is changed by introducing metal impurities into a metal-containing material layer which, together with a conductive electrode, is present in the electrode stack. The choice of metal impurities depends on whether the electrode is to have an n-type workfunction or a p-type workfunction. The present invention also provides a method of fabricating such semiconductor structures. The introduction of metal impurities can be achieved by codeposition of a layer containing both a metal-containing material and workfunction altering metal impurities, forming a stack in which a layer of metal impurities is present between layers of a metal-containing material, or by forming a material layer including the metal impurities above and/or below a metal-containing material and then heating the structure so that the metal impurities are introduced into the metal-containing material. | 09-11-2008 |
| 20080224238 | ADVANCED HIGH-k GATE STACK PATTERNING AND STRUCTURE CONTAINING A PATTERNED HIGH-k GATE STACK - An advanced method of patterning a gate stack including a high-k gate dielectric that is capped with a high-k gate dielectric capping layer such as, for example, a rare earth metal (or rare earth like)-containing layer is provided. In particular, the present invention provides a method in which a combination of wet and dry etching is used in patterning such gate stacks which substantially reduces the amount of remnant high-k gate dielectric capping material remaining on the surface of a semiconductor substrate to a value that is less than 10 | 09-18-2008 |
| 20080237720 | HIGH MOBILITY CMOS CIRCUITS - Semiconductor structure formed on a substrate and process of forming the semiconductor. The semiconductor includes a plurality of field effect transistors having a first portion of field effect transistors (FETS) and a second portion of field effect transistors. A first stress layer has a first thickness and is configured to impart a first determined stress to the first portion of the plurality of field effect transistors. A second stress layer has a second thickness and is configured to impart a second determined stress to the second portion of the plurality of field effect transistors. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080242069 | HYBRID SOI/BULK SEMICONDUCTOR TRANSISTORS - Channel depth in a field effect transistor is limited by an intra-layer structure including a discontinuous film or layer formed within a layer or substrate of semiconductor material. Channel depth can thus be controlled much in the manner of SOI or UT-SOI technology but with less expensive substrates and greater flexibility of channel depth control while avoiding floating body effects characteristic of SOI technology. The profile or cross-sectional shape of the discontinuous film may be controlled to an ogee or staircase shape to improve short channel effects and reduce source/drain and extension resistance without increase of capacitance. Materials for the discontinuous film may also be chosen to impose stress on the transistor channel from within the substrate or layer and provide increased levels of such stress to increase carrier mobility. Carrier mobility may be increased in combination with other meritorious effects. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080242070 | INTEGRATION SCHEMES FOR FABRICATING POLYSILICON GATE MOSFET AND HIGH-K DIELECTRIC METAL GATE MOSFET - Multiple integration schemes for manufacturing dual gate semiconductor structures are disclosed. By employing the novel integration schemes, polysilicon gate MOSFETs and high-k dielectric metal gate MOSFETs are formed on the same semiconductor substrate despite differences in the composition of the gate stack and resulting differences in the etch rates. A thin polysilicon layer is used for one type of gate electrodes and a silicon-containing layer are used for the other type of gate electrodes in these integration schemes to balance the different etch rates and to enable etching of the two different gate stacks. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080246090 | SELF-ALIGNED PLANAR DOUBLE-GATE TRANSISTOR STRUCTURE - A double-gate transistor having front (upper) and back gates that are aligned laterally is provided. The double-gate transistor includes a back gate thermal oxide layer below a device layer; a back gate electrode below a back gate thermal oxide layer; a front gate thermal oxide above the device layer; a front gate electrode layer above the front gate thermal oxide and vertically aligned with the back gate electrode; and a transistor body disposed above the back gate thermal oxide layer, symmetric with the first gate. The back gate electrode has a layer of oxide formed below the transistor body and on either side of a central portion of the back gate electrode, thereby positioning the back gate self-aligned with the front gate. The transistor also includes source and drain electrodes on opposite sides of said transistor body. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20080254577 | Sectional Field Effect Devices and Method of Fabrication - A field effect device is disclosed which has a body formed of a crystalline semiconductor material and has at least one vertically oriented section and at least one horizontally oriented section. The device is produced in SOI technology by fabricating first a formation of the device in masking insulators, and then transferring this formation through several etching steps into the SOI layer. The segmented field effect device combines FinFET, or fully depleted silicon-on-insulator FETs, type devices with fully depleted planar devices. This combination allows device width control with FinFET type devices. The segmented field effect device gives high current drive for a given layout area. The segmented field effect devices allow for the fabrication of high performance processors. | 10-16-2008 |
| 20080265343 | FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR WITH INVERTED T SHAPED GATE ELECTRODE AND METHODS FOR FABRICATION THEREOF - A semiconductor structure includes an inverted T shaped gate electrode located over a channel region that separates a plurality of source and drain regions within a semiconductor substrate. The inverted T shaped gate electrode may comprise different gate electrode materials in a horizontal portion thereof and a vertical portion thereof. The semiconductor structure may be passivated with an inter-level dielectric (ILD) layer through which may be located and formed a plurality of vias that contact the plurality of source and drain regions. Due to the inverted T shaped gate electrode, the semiconductor structure exhibits a reduced gate electrode to via capacitance. | 10-30-2008 |
| 20080272437 | Threshold Adjustment for High-K Gate Dielectric CMOS - A CMOS structure is disclosed in which a first type FET has an extremely thin oxide liner. This thin liner is capable of preventing oxygen from reaching the high-k dielectric gate insulator of the first type FET. A second type FET device of the CMOS structure has a thicker oxide liner. As a result, an oxygen exposure is capable to shift the threshold voltage of the second type of FET, without affecting the threshold value of the first type FET. The disclosure also teaches methods for producing the CMOS structure in which differing type of FET devices have differing thickness liners, and the threshold values of the differing type of FET devices is set independently from one another. | 11-06-2008 |
| 20080272438 | CMOS Circuits with High-K Gate Dielectric - A CMOS structure is disclosed in which a first type FET contains a liner, which liner has oxide and nitride portions. The nitride portions are forming the edge segments of the liner. These nitride portions are capable of preventing oxygen from reaching the high-k dielectric gate insulator of the first type FET. A second type FET device of the CMOS structure has a liner without nitride portions. As a result, an oxygen exposure is capable to shift the threshold voltage of the second type of FET, without affecting the threshold value of the first type FET. The disclosure also teaches methods for producing the CMOS structure in which differing type of FET devices have their threshold values set independently from one another. | 11-06-2008 |
| 20080277726 | Devices with Metal Gate, High-k Dielectric, and Butted Electrodes - FET device structures are disclosed with the PFET and NFET devices having high-k dielectric gate insulators and metal containing gates. The metal layers of the gates in both the NFET and PFET devices have been fabricated from a single common metal layer. As a consequence of using a single layer of metal for the gates of both type of devices, the terminal electrodes of NFETs and PFETs can be butted to each other in direct physical contact. The FET device structures further contain stressed device channels, and gates with effective workfunctions of n | 11-13-2008 |
| 20080280404 | RESIDUE FREE PATTERNED LAYER FORMATION METHOD APPLICABLE TO CMOS STRUCTURES - A method for forming a microelectronic structure uses a mask layer located over a target layer. The target layer may be etched while using the mask layer as an etch mask to form an end tapered target layer from the target layer. An additional target layer may be formed over the end tapered target layer and masked with an additional mask layer. The additional target layer may be etched to form a patterned additional target layer separated from the end tapered target layer and absent an additional target layer residue adjacent the end tapered target layer. The method is useful for fabricating CMOS structures including nFET and pFET gate electrodes comprising different NFET and pFET gate electrode materials. | 11-13-2008 |
| 20080286971 | CMOS Gate Structures Fabricated by Selective Oxidation - A sidewall image transfer process for forming sub-lithographic structures employs a layer of sacrificial material that is deposited over a structure layer and covered by a cover layer. The sacrificial material layer and the cover layer are patterned with conventional resist and etched to form a sacrificial mandrel. The edges of the mandrel are oxidized or nitrided in a plasma at low temperature, after which the material layer and the cover layer are stripped, leaving sublithographic sidewalls. The sidewalls are used as hardmasks to etch sublithographic gate structures in the gate conductor layer. | 11-20-2008 |
| 20080296634 | STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING STRAINED SILICON DIRECTLY-ON-INSULATOR SUBSTRATE WITH HYBRID CRYSTALLINE ORIENTATION AND DIFFERENT STRESS LEVELS - The present invention provides a strained Si directly on insulator (SSDOI) substrate having multiple crystallographic orientations and a method of forming thereof. Broadly, but in specific terms, the inventive SSDOI substrate includes a substrate; an insulating layer atop the substrate; and a semiconducting layer positioned atop and in direct contact with the insulating layer, the semiconducting layer comprising a first strained Si region and a second strained Si region; wherein the first strained Si region has a crystallographic orientation different from the second strained Si region and the first strained Si region has a crystallographic orientation the same or different from the second strained Si region. The strained level of the first strained Si region is different from that of the second strained Si region. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20080308872 | CMOS TRANSISTORS WITH DIFFERENTIAL OXYGEN CONTENT HIGH-K DIELECTRICS - An NFET containing a first high-k dielectric portion and a PFET containing a second high-k gate dielectric portion are formed on a semiconductor substrate. A gate sidewall nitride is formed on the gate of the NFET, while the sidewalls of the PFET remain free of the gate sidewall nitride. An oxide spacer is formed directly on the sidewalls of a PFET gate stack and on the gate sidewall nitride on the NFET. After high temperature processing, the first and second dielectric portions contain a non-stoichiometric oxygen deficient high-k dielectric material. The semiconductor structure is subjected to an anneal in an oxygen environment, during which oxygen diffuses through the oxide spacer into the second high-k dielectric portion. The PFET comprises a more stoichiometric high-k dielectric material and the NFET comprises a less stoichiometric high-k dielectric material. Threshold voltages of the PFET and the NFET are optimized by the present invention. | 12-18-2008 |
| 20080311714 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE - A complimentary metal oxide semiconductor and a method of manufacturing the same using a self-aligning process to form one of the stacks of device. The method includes depositing an oxide layer over a portion of a metal layer over an nFET region of a CMOS structure and etching the metal layer over a pFET region of the CMOS structure. The method further includes etching at the oxide layer over the nFET region and forming gate structures over the nFET region and pFET region. | 12-18-2008 |
| 20080318374 | Metal Gated Ultra Short MOSFET Devices - MOSFET devices suitable for operation at gate lengths less than about 40 nm, and methods of their fabrication is being presented. The MOSFET devices include a ground plane formed of a monocrystalline Si based material. A Si based body layer is epitaxially disposed over the ground plane. The body layer is doped with impurities of opposite type than the ground plane. The gate has a metal with a mid-gap workfunction directly contacting a gate insulator layer. The gate is patterned to a length of less than about 40 nm, and possibly less than 20 nm. The source and the drain of the MOSFET are doped with the same type of dopant as the body layer. In CMOS embodiments of the invention the metal in the gate of the NMOS and the PMOS devices may be the same metal. | 12-25-2008 |
| 20090008719 | METAL GATE CMOS WITH AT LEAST A SINGLE GATE METAL AND DUAL GATE DIELECTRICS - A complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) structure including at least one nFET and at least one pFET located on a surface of a semiconductor substrate is provided. In accordance with the present invention, the nFET and the pFET both include at least a single gate metal and the nFET gate stack is engineered to have a gate dielectric stack having no net negative charge and the pFET gate stack is engineered to have a gate dielectric stack having no net positive charge. In particularly, the present invention provides a CMOS structure in which the nFET gate stack is engineered to include a band edge workfunction and the pFET gate stack is engineered to have a ¼ gap workfunction. In one embodiment of the present invention, the first gate dielectric stack includes a first high k dielectric and an alkaline earth metal-containing layer or a rare earth metal-containing layer, while the second high k gate dielectric stack comprises a second high k dielectric. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090008720 | METAL GATE CMOS WITH AT LEAST A SINGLE GATE METAL AND DUAL GATE DIELECTRICS - A complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) structure including at least one nFET and at least one pFET located on a surface of a semiconductor substrate is provided. In accordance with the present invention, the nFET and the pFET both include at least a single gate metal and the nFET gate stack is engineered to have a gate dielectric stack having no net negative charge and the pFET gate stack is engineered to have a gate dielectric stack having no net positive charge. In particularly, the present invention provides a CMOS structure in which the nFET gate stack is engineered to include a band edge workfunction and the pFET gate stack is engineered to have a ¼ gap workfunction. In one embodiment of the present invention, the first gate dielectric stack includes a first high k dielectric and an alkaline earth metal-containing layer or a rare earth metal-containing layer, while the second high k gate dielectric stack comprises a second high k dielectric. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090011552 | METAL GATE CMOS WITH AT LEAST A SINGLE GATE METAL AND DUAL GATE DIELECTRICS - A complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) structure including at least one nFET and at least one pFET located on a surface of a semiconductor substrate is provided. In accordance with the present invention, the nFET and the pFET both include at least a single gate metal and the nFET gate stack is engineered to have a gate dielectric stack having no net negative charge and the pFET gate stack is engineered to have a gate dielectric stack having no net positive charge. In particularly, the present invention provides a CMOS structure in which the nFET gate stack is engineered to include a band edge workfunction and the pFET gate stack is engineered to have a ¼ gap workfunction. In one embodiment of the present invention, the first gate dielectric stack includes a first high k dielectric and an alkaline earth metal-containing layer or a rare earth metal-containing layer, while the second high k gate dielectric stack comprises a second high k dielectric. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090039434 | Simple Low Power Circuit Structure with Metal Gate and High-k Dielectric - FET device structures are disclosed with the PFET and NFET devices having high-k dielectric gate insulators and metal containing gates. The metal layers of the gates in both the NFET and PFET devices have been fabricated from a single common metal layer. Due to the single common metal, device fabrication is simplified, requiring a reduced number of masks. Also, as a further consequence of using a single layer of metal for the gates of both type of devices, the terminal electrodes of NFETs and PFETs can be butted to each other in direct physical contact. Device thresholds are adjusted by the choice of the common metal material and oxygen exposure of the high-k dielectric. Threshold values are aimed for low power consumption device operation. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090039435 | Low Power Circuit Structure with Metal Gate and High-k Dielectric - FET device structures are disclosed with the PFET and NFET devices having high-k dielectric gate insulators, metal containing gates, and threshold adjusting cap layers. The NFET gate stack and the PFET gate stack each has a portion which is identical in the NFET device and in the PFET device. This identical portion contains at least a gate metal layer and a cap layer. Due to the identical portion, device fabrication is simplified, requiring a reduced number of masks. Furthermore, as a consequence of using a single layer of metal for the gates of both type of devices, the terminal electrodes of NFETs and PFETs can be butted with each other in direct physical contact. Device thresholds are further adjusted by oxygen exposure of the high-k dielectric. Threshold values are aimed for low power consumption device operation. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090039436 | High Performance Metal Gate CMOS with High-K Gate Dielectric - A CMOS structure is disclosed in which both type of FET devices have gate insulators containing high-k dielectrics, and gates containing metals. The threshold of the two type of devices are adjusted in separate manners. One type of device has its threshold set by exposing the high-k dielectric to oxygen. During the oxygen exposure the other type of device is covered by a stressing dielectric layer, which layer also prevents oxygen penetration to its high-k gate dielectric. The high performance of the CMOS structure is further enhanced by adjusting the effective workfunctions of the gates to near band-edge values both NFET and PFET devices. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090039447 | FET Device with Stabilized Threshold Modifying Material - A method for fabricating an FET device is disclosed. The FET device has a gate insulator with a high-k dielectric portion, and a threshold modifying material. The method introduces a stabilizing material into the gate insulator in order to hinder one or more metals from the threshold modifying material to penetrate across the high-k portion of the gate insulator. The introduction of the stabilizing material may involve disposing a stabilizing agent over a layer which contains an oxide of the one or more metals. A stabilizing material may also be incorporated into the high-k dielectric. Application of the method may lead to FET devices with unique gate insulator structures. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090057765 | FINFET STRUCTURE USING DIFFERING GATE DIELECTRIC MATERIALS AND GATE ELECTRODE MATERIALS - A semiconductor structure includes a first finFET and a second finFET. The first finFET and the second finFET may comprise an n-finFET and a p-finFET to provide a CMOS finFET structure. Within the semiconductor structure, at least one of: (1) a first gate dielectric within the first finFET and a second gate dielectric within the second finFET comprise different gate dielectric materials; and/or (2) a first gate electrode within the first finFET and a second gate electrode within the second finFET comprise different gate electrode materials. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20090090939 | SELF-ASSEMBLED SIDEWALL SPACER - A semiconductor structure is provided that includes a spacer directly abutting a topographic edge of at least one patterned material layer. The spacer is a non-removable polymeric block component of a self-assembled block copolymer. A method of forming such a semiconductor structure including the inventive spacer is also provided that utilizes self-assembled block copolymer technology. | 04-09-2009 |
| 20090093133 | SELF-ASSEMBLED SIDEWALL SPACER - A semiconductor structure is provided that includes a spacer directly abutting a topographic edge of at least one patterned material layer. The spacer is a non-removable polymeric block component of a self-assembled block copolymer. A method of forming such a semiconductor structure including the inventive spacer is also provided that utilizes self-assembled block copolymer technology. | 04-09-2009 |
| 20090098737 | METHOD OF PATTERNING MULTILAYER METAL GATE STRUCTURES FOR CMOS DEVICES - A method of forming patterning multilayer metal gate structures for complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices includes performing a first etch process to remove exposed portions of a polysilicon layer included within a gate stack, the polysilicon layer formed on a metal layer also included within the gate stack; oxidizing an exposed top portion of the metal layer following the first etch process so as to create an metal oxide layer having an etch selectivity with respect to the polysilicon layer; removing the metal oxide layer through a combination of a physical ion bombardment thereof, and the introduction of an isotropic chemical component thereto so as to prevent oxide material at bottom corners of the polysilicon layer; and performing a second etch process to remove exposed portions of the metal layer. | 04-16-2009 |
| 20090114992 | Mixed gate CMOS with single poly deposition - A method for fabricating metal gate and polysilicon gate FET devices on the same chip is disclosed. The method avoids the use of two separate masks during gate stack fabrication of the differing gates. By using a single mask, tighter NFET to PFET distances can be achieved, and the fabrication process is simplified. After blanket disposing layers for the fabrication of the metal gate stack, a covering protective material layer is formed, again in blanket fashion. A block level mask is used to clear the surface for the gate insulator formation in the poly gate device regions. During oxidation, which forms the gate dielectric for the poly gate devices, the protective material prevents damage of the metal gate device regions. Following oxidation, a single common polysilicon cover is disposed in blanket manner for continuing the fabrication of the gate stacks. The protective material is selected in such a way to be either easily removable upon oxidation, or to be conductive upon oxidation. In this latter case the oxidized protective material is incorporated into the metal gate stack, which incorporation results in a novel CMOS structure. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090121261 | STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR COMPACT LONG-CHANNEL FETs - A compact semiconductor structure including at least one FET located upon and within a surface of a semiconductor substrate in which the at least one FET includes a long channel length and/or a wide channel width and a method of fabricating the same are provided. In some embodiments, the ordered, nanosized pattern is oriented in a direction that is perpendicular to the current flow. In such an embodiment, the FET has a long channel length. In other embodiments, the ordered, nanosized pattern is oriented in a direction that is parallel to that of the current flow. In such an embodiment, the FET has a wide channel width. In yet another embodiment, one ordered, nanosized pattern is oriented in a direction perpendicular to the current flow, while another ordered, nanosized pattern is oriented in a direction parallel to the current flow. In such an embodiment, a FET having a long channel length and wide channel width is provided. | 05-14-2009 |
| 20090140347 | METHOD AND STRUCTURE FOR FORMING MULTIPLE SELF-ALIGNED GATE STACKS FOR LOGIC DEVICES - A method for forming multiple self-aligned gate stacks, the method comprising, forming a first group of gate stack layers on a first portion of a substrate, forming a second group of gate stack layers on a second portion of the substrate adjacent to the first portion of the substrate, etching to form a trench disposed between the first portion and the second portion of the substrate, and filling the trench with an insulating material. | 06-04-2009 |
| 20090149010 | STRUCTURES AND METHODS FOR MANUFACTURING OF DISLOCATION FREE STRESSED CHANNELS IN BULK SILICON AND SOI MOS DEVICES BY GATE STRESS ENGINEERING WITH SiGe AND/OR Si:C - Structures and methods of manufacturing are disclosed of dislocation free stressed channels in bulk silicon and SOI (silicon on insulator) CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) devices by gate stress engineering with SiGe and/or Si:C. A CMOS device comprises a substrate of either bulk Si or SOI, a gate dielectric layer over the substrate, and a stacked gate structure of SiGe and/or Si:C having stresses produced at the interfaces of SSi (strained Si)/SiGe or SSi/Si:C in the stacked gate structure. The stacked gate structure has a first stressed film layer of large grain size Si or SiGe over the gate dielectric layer, a second stressed film layer of strained SiGe or strained Si:C over the first stressed film layer, and a semiconductor or conductor such as p(poly)-Si over the second stressed film layer. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090152651 | GATE STACK STRUCTURE WITH OXYGEN GETTERING LAYER - A transistor has a channel region in a substrate and source and drain regions in the substrate on opposite sides of the channel region. A gate stack is formed on the substrate above the channel region. This gate stack comprises an interface layer contacting the channel region of the substrate, and a high-k dielectric layer (having a dielectric constant above 4.0) contacting (on) the interface layer. A Nitrogen rich first metal Nitride layer contacts (is on) the dielectric layer, and a metal rich second metal Nitride layer contacts (is on) the first metal Nitride layer. Finally, a Polysilicon cap contacts (is on) the second metal Nitride layer. | 06-18-2009 |
| 20090184374 | ANISOTROPIC STRESS GENERATION BY STRESS-GENERATING LINERS HAVING A SUBLITHOGRAPHIC WIDTH - A protruding structure having a linear edge is formed on a substrate. The protruding structure may be a gate line of a field effect transistor. A stress-generating liner is deposited on the substrate. A non-photosensitive self-assembling block copolymer layer containing at least two immiscible polymeric block components is deposited on the stress-generating liner, and is annealed to allow phase separation of immiscible components. The polymeric resist is developed to remove at least one of the at least two polymeric block components, which formed a pattern of nested lines due to the linear edge of the protruding structure. Linear nanoscale stripes are formed in the polymeric resist which is self-aligning and self-assembled. The stress-generating layer is patterned into linear stress-generating stripes having a sublithographic width. The linear stress-generating stripes provide a predominantly uniaxial stress along their lengthwise direction, providing an anisotropic stress to an underlying semiconductor device. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090203200 | GATE PATTERNING SCHEME WITH SELF ALIGNED INDEPENDENT GATE ETCH - A method for self-aligned gate patterning is disclosed. Two masks are used to process adjacent semiconductor components, such as an nFET and pFET that are separated by a shallow trench isolation region. The mask materials are chosen to facilitate selective etching. The second mask is applied while the first mask is still present, thereby causing the second mask to self align to the first mask. This avoids the undesirable formation of a stringer over the shallow trench isolation region, thereby improving the yield of a semiconductor manufacturing operation. | 08-13-2009 |
| 20090283830 | DUAL METAL GATE SELF-ALIGNED INTEGRATION - A semiconductor structure including at least one n-type field effect transistor (nFET) and at least one p-type field effect transistor (pFET) that both include a metal gate having nFET behavior and pFET behavior, respectively, without including an upper polysilicon gate electrode is provided. The present invention also provides a method of fabricating such a semiconductor structure. | 11-19-2009 |
| 20090291553 | Threshold Adjustment for High-K Gate Dielectric CMOS - A CMOS structure is disclosed in which a first type FET has an extremely thin oxide liner. This thin liner is capable of preventing oxygen from reaching the high-k dielectric gate insulator of the first type FET. A second type FET device of the CMOS structure has a thicker oxide liner. As a result, an oxygen exposure is capable to shift the threshold voltage of the second type of FET, without affecting the threshold value of the first type FET. The disclosure also teaches methods for producing the CMOS structure in which differing type of FET devices have differing thickness liners, and the threshold values of the differing type of FET devices is set independently from one another. | 11-26-2009 |
| 20090298244 | Mobility Enhanced FET Devices - NFET and PFET devices with separately stressed channel regions, and methods of their fabrication is disclosed. A FET is disclosed which includes a gate, which gate includes a metal in a first state of stress. The FET also includes a channel region hosted in a single crystal Si based material, which channel region is overlaid by the gate and is in a second state of stress. The second state of stress of the channel region is of an opposite sign than the first state of stress of the metal included in the gate. The NFET channel is usually in a tensile state of stress, while the PFET channel is usually in a compressive state of stress. The methods of fabrication include the deposition of metal layers by physical vapor deposition (PVD), in such manner that the layers are in stressed states. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090298245 | Low Power Circuit Structure with Metal Gate and High-k Dielectric - FET device structures are disclosed with the PFET and NFET devices having high-k dielectric gate insulators, metal containing gates, and threshold adjusting cap layers. The NFET gate stack and the PFET gate stack each has a portion which is identical in the NFET device and in the PFET device. This identical portion contains at least a gate metal layer and a cap layer. Due to the identical portion, device fabrication is simplified, requiring a reduced number of masks. Furthermore, as a consequence of using a single layer of metal for the gates of both type of devices, the terminal electrodes of NFETs and PFETs can be butted with each other in direct physical contact. Device thresholds are further adjusted by oxygen exposure of the high-k dielectric. Threshold values are aimed for low power consumption device operation. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090302399 | Using Metal/Metal Nitride Bilayers as Gate Electrodes in Self-Aligned Aggressively Scaled CMOS Devices - The present invention is directed to CMOS structures that include at least one nMOS device located on one region of a semiconductor substrate; and at least one pMOS device located on another region of the semiconductor substrate. In accordance with the present invention, the at least one nMOS device includes a gate stack comprising a gate dielectric, a low workfunction elemental metal having a workfunction of less than 4.2 eV, an in-situ metallic capping layer, and a polysilicon encapsulation layer and the at least one pMOS includes a gate stack comprising a gate dielectric, a high workfunction elemental metal having a workfunction of greater than 4.9 eV, a metallic capping layer, and a polysilicon encapsulation layer. The present invention also provides methods of fabricating such a CMOS structure. | 12-10-2009 |
| 20090321847 | HIGH PERFORMANCE CMOS DEVICES COMPRISING GAPPED DUAL STRESSORS WITH DIELECTRIC GAP FILLERS, AND METHODS OF FABRICATING THE SAME - The present invention relates to complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices having gapped dual stressors with dielectric gap fillers. Specifically, each CMOS device of the present invention includes at least one n-channel field effect transistor (n-FET) and at least one p-channel field effect transistor (p-FET). A tensilely stressed dielectric layer overlays the n-FET, and a compressively stressed dielectric layer overlays the p-FET. A gap is located between the tensilely and compressively stressed dielectric layers and is filled with a dielectric filler material. In one specific embodiment of the present invention, both the tensilely and compressively stressed dielectric layers are covered by a layer of the dielectric filler material, which is essentially free of stress. In an alternatively embodiment of the present invention, the dielectric filler material is only present in the gap between the tensilely and compressively stressed dielectric layers. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20100019358 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING - A semiconductor device and method is provided that has an oxygen diffusion barrier layer between a high-k dielectric and BOX. The method includes depositing a diffusion barrier layer on a BOX layer and gate structure and etching a portion of the diffusion barrier layer from sidewalls of the gate structure. The method further includes depositing a high-k dielectric on the diffusion barrier layer and the gate structure. | 01-28-2010 |
| 20100038705 | FIELD EFFECT DEVICE WITH GATE ELECTRODE EDGE ENHANCED GATE DIELECTRIC AND METHOD FOR FABRICATION - A semiconductor structure and a method for fabricating the semiconductor structure provide an undercut beneath a spacer that is adjacent a gate electrode within a field effect structure such as a field effect transistor structure. The undercut, which may completely or incompletely encompass the area interposed between the spacer and a semiconductor substrate is filled with a gate dielectric. The gate dielectric has a greater thickness interposed between the spacer and the semiconductor substrate than the gate and the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor structure may be fabricated using a sequential replacement gate dielectric and gate electrode method. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100041221 | HIGH PERFORMANCE CMOS CIRCUITS, AND METHODS FOR FABRICATING SAME - The present invention relates to complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuits that each contains at least a first and a second gate stacks. The first gate stack is located over a first device region (e.g., an n-FET device region) in a semiconductor substrate and comprises at least, from bottom to top, a gate dielectric layer, a metallic gate conductor, and a silicon-containing gate conductor. The second gate stack is located over a second device region (e.g., a p-FET device region) in the semiconductor substrate and comprises at least, from bottom to top, a gate dielectric layer and a silicon-containing gate conductor. The first and second gate stacks can be formed over the semiconductor substrate in an integrated manner by various methods of the present invention. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100048027 | Smooth and vertical semiconductor fin structure - A method for processing a semiconductor fin structure is disclosed. The method includes thermal annealing a fin structure in an ambient containing an isotope of hydrogen. Following the thermal annealing step, the fin structure is etched in a crystal-orientation dependent, self-limiting, manner. The crystal-orientation dependent etch may be selected to be an aqueous solution containing ammonium hydroxide (NH | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100148273 | CMOS TRANSISTORS WITH DIFFERENTIAL OXYGEN CONTENT HIGH-K DIELECTRICS - An NFET containing a first high-k dielectric portion and a PFET containing a second high-k gate dielectric portion are formed on a semiconductor substrate. A gate sidewall nitride is formed on the gate of the NFET, while the sidewalls of the PFET remain free of the gate sidewall nitride. An oxide spacer is formed directly on the sidewalls of a PFET gate stack and on the gate sidewall nitride on the NFET. After high temperature processing, the first and second dielectric portions contain a non-stoichiometric oxygen deficient high-k dielectric material. The semiconductor structure is subjected to an anneal in an oxygen environment, during which oxygen diffuses through the oxide spacer into the second high-k dielectric portion. The PFET comprises a more stoichiometric high-k dielectric material and the NFET comprises a less stoichiometric high-k dielectric material. Threshold voltages of the PFET and the NFET are optimized by the present invention. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100151638 | ANISOTROPIC STRESS GENERATION BY STRESS-GENERATING LINERS HAVING A SUBLITHOGRAPHIC WIDTH - A protruding structure having a linear edge is formed on a substrate. The protruding structure may be a gate line of a field effect transistor. A stress-generating liner is deposited on the substrate. A non-photosensitive self-assembling block copolymer layer containing at least two immiscible polymeric block components is deposited on the stress-generating liner, and is annealed to allow phase separation of immiscible components. The polymeric resist is developed to remove at least one of the at least two polymeric block components, which formed a pattern of nested lines due to the linear edge of the protruding structure. Linear nanoscale stripes are formed in the polymeric resist which is self-aligning and self-assembled. The stress-generating layer is patterned into linear stress-generating stripes having a sublithographic width. The linear stress-generating stripes provide a predominantly uniaxial stress along their lengthwise direction, providing an anisotropic stress to an underlying semiconductor device. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100203732 | FIN AND FINFET FORMATION BY ANGLED ION IMPLANTATION - A semiconductor device is formed by providing a substrate and forming a semiconductor-containing layer atop the substrate. A mask having a plurality of openings is then formed atop the semiconductor-containing layer, wherein adjacent openings of the plurality of openings of the mask are separated by a minimum feature dimension. Thereafter, an angled ion implantation is performed to introduce dopants to a first portion of the semiconductor-containing layer, wherein a remaining portion that is substantially free of dopants is present beneath the mask. The first portion of the semiconductor-containing layer containing the dopants is removed selective to the remaining portion of semiconductor-containing layer that is substantially free of the dopants to provide a pattern of sublithographic dimension, and the pattern is transferred into the substrate to provide a fin structure of sublithographic dimension. | 08-12-2010 |
| 20100237410 | ULTRA-THIN SEMICONDUCTOR ON INSULATOR METAL GATE COMPLEMENTARY FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR WITH METAL GATE AND METHOD OF FORMING THEREOF - A method of forming a semiconductor device is provided that may include providing a semiconductor layer including a raised source and raised drain region that are separated by a recessed channel having a thickness of less than 20 nm, and forming a spacer on a sidewall of the raised source and drain region overlying a portion of the recessed channel. In a following process step, a channel implantation is performed that produces a dopant spike of opposite conductivity as the raised source and drain regions. Thereafter, the offset spacer is removed, and gate structure including a metal gate conductor is formed overlying the recessed channel. | 09-23-2010 |
| 20100297837 | Implantation using a hardmask - A method for processing CMOS wells, and performing multiple ion implantations with the use of a single hard mask is disclosed. The method includes forming and patterning a hardmask over a substrate, whereby the hardmask attains a first opening. The substrate may be a semiconductor substrate. The method further includes performing a first ion implantation, during which, outside the first opening the hardmask is essentially preventing ions from reaching the substrate. The method further involves the application of a photoresist in such a manner that the photoresist is covering the hardmask, and it is also filling up the first opening. This is followed by using the photoresist to pattern the hardmask, whereby the hardmask attains a second opening. The method further includes performing a second ion implantation, during which, outside the second opening, the hardmask and the photoresist, which fills the first opening, are essentially preventing ions from reaching the substrate. The two ion implantations may be used to form the two type of CMOS wells. | 11-25-2010 |
| 20110021010 | METHOD FOR DOUBLE PATTERN DENSITY - A method deposits an undoped silicon layer on a primary layer, deposits a cap layer on the undoped silicon layer, patterns a masking layer on the cap layer, and patterns the undoped silicon layer into silicon mandrels. The method incorporates impurities into sidewalls of the silicon mandrels in a process that leaves sidewall portions of the silicon mandrels doped with impurities and that leaves central portions of at least some of the silicon mandrels undoped. The method removes the cap layer to leave the silicon mandrels standing on the primary layer and performs a selective material removal process to remove the central portions of the silicon mandrels and to leave the sidewall portions of the silicon mandrels standing on the primary layer. The method patterns at least the primary layer using the sidewall portions of the silicon mandrels as a patterning mask and removes the sidewall portions of the silicon mandrels to leave at least the primary layer patterned. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110031503 | DEVICE WITH STRESSED CHANNEL - An FET device is disclosed which contains a source and a drain that are each provided with an extension. The source and the drain, and their extensions, are composed of epitaxial materials containing Ge or C. The epitaxial materials and the Si substrate have differing lattice constants, consequently the source and the drain and their extensions are imparting a state of stress onto the channel. For a PFET device the epitaxial material may be SiGe, or Ge, and the channel may be in a compressive state of stress. For an NFET device the epitaxial material may be SiC and the channel may be in a tensile state of stress. A method for fabricating an FET device is also disclosed. One may form a first recession in the Si substrate to a first depth on opposing sides of the gate. The first recession is filled epitaxially with a first epitaxial material. Then, a second recession may be formed in the Si substrate to a second depth, which is greater than the first depth. Next, one may fill the second recession with a second epitaxial material, which is the same kind of material as the first epitaxial material. The epitaxial materials are selected to have a different lattice constant than the Si substrate, and consequently a state of stress is being imparted onto the channel. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110062546 | STRUCTURE AND METHOD TO MINIMIZE REGROWTH AND WORK FUNCTION SHIFT IN HIGH-K GATE STACKS - The present invention provides a semiconductor structure comprising high-k material portions that are self-aligned with respect to the active areas in the semiconductor substrate and a method of fabricating the same. The high-k material is protected from oxidation during the fabrication of the semiconductor structure and regrowth of the high-k material and shifting of the high-k material work function is prevented. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110068369 | METAL GATE AND HIGH-K DIELECTRIC DEVICES WITH PFET CHANNEL SiGe - A method for fabricating a circuit structure is disclosed. The method includes depositing epitaxially a SiGe layer onto both NFET and PFET portions of a Si surface. Blanket disposing a first sequence of layers over the SiGe layer, including a high-k dielectric and a metal, and incorporating this first sequence of layers into the gatestacks and gate insulators of both NFET devices and PFET devices. This first sequence of layers is selected to yield desired device parameter values for the PFET devices. The method further includes removing the gatestack, the gate dielectric, and the SiGe layer, and re-forming the NFET devices by deploying a second sequence of layers that include a second high-k dielectric and a second metal. The second sequence of layers is selected to yield desired device parameter values for the NFET devices. A circuit structure is also disclosed. PFET devices have a gate dielectric with a high-k dielectric, a gatestack with a metal, and a silicide formed over the p-source/drain. NFET devices also include a gate dielectric with a high-k dielectric, a gatestack with a metal, and silicide formed over the n-source/drain. An epitaxial SiGe layer over the substrate surface is present everywhere in the device structures with the exception that it is absent underneath the NFET gate dielectric. The PFET and NFET device parameters are independently optimized through the composition of their gate dielectrics and gate stacks. | 03-24-2011 |
| 20110101455 | FINFET SPACER FORMATION BY ORIENTED IMPLANTATION - A FinFET having spacers with a substantially uniform profile along the length of a gate stack which covers a portion of a fin of semiconductor material formed on a substrate is provided by depositing spacer material conformally on both the fins and gate stack and performing an angled ion impurity implant approximately parallel to the gate stack to selectively cause damage to only spacer material deposited on the fin. Due to the damage caused by the angled implant, the spacer material on the fins can be etched with high selectivity to the spacer material on the gate stack. | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110108930 | Borderless Contacts For Semiconductor Devices - In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method (e.g., to fabricate a semiconductor device having a borderless contact) including: forming a first gate structure on a substrate; depositing an interlevel dielectric over the first gate structure; planarizing the interlevel dielectric to expose a top surface of the first gate structure; removing at least a portion of the first gate structure; forming a second gate structure in place of the first gate structure; forming a contact area for the borderless contact by removing a portion of the interlevel dielectric; and forming the borderless contact by filling the contact area with a metal-containing material. | 05-12-2011 |
| 20110115023 | HYBRID FinFET/PLANAR SOI FETs - A circuit structure is disclosed which contains least one each of three different kinds of devices in a silicon layer on insulator (SOI): a planar NFET device, a planar PFET device, and a FinFET device. A trench isolation surrounds the planar NFET device and the planar PFET device penetrating through the SOI and abutting the insulator. Each of the three different kinds of devices contain a high-k gate dielectric layer and a mid-gap gate metal layer, each containing an identical high-k material and an identical mid-gap metal. Each of the three different kinds of devices have an individually optimized threshold value. A method for fabricating a circuit structure is also disclosed, which method involves defining portions in SOI respectively for three different kinds of devices: for a planar NFET device, for a planar PFET device, and for a FinFET device. The method also includes depositing in common a high-k gate dielectric layer and a mid-gap gate metal layer, and using workfunction modifying layers to individually adjust thresholds for the various kinds of devices. | 05-19-2011 |
