| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080217686 | ULTRA-THIN SOI CMOS WITH RAISED EPITAXIAL SOURCE AND DRAIN AND EMBEDDED SIGE PFET EXTENSION - A method for improving channel carrier mobility in ultra-thin Silicon-on-oxide (UTSOI) FET devices by integrating an embedded pFET SiGe extension with raised source/drain regions. The method includes selectively growing embedded SiGe (eSiGe) extensions in pFET regions and forming strain-free raised Si or SiGe source/drain (RSD) regions on CMOS. The eSiGe extension regions enhance hole mobility in the pFET channels and reduce resistance in the pFET extensions. The strain-free raised source/drain regions reduce contact resistance in both UTSOI pFETs and nFETs. | 09-11-2008 |
| 20080224256 | SEMICONDUCTOR-ON-INSULATOR(SOI) STRUCTURES INCLUDING GRADIENT NITRIDED BURIED OXIDE (BOX) - A semiconductor-on-insulator structure includes a buried dielectric layer interposed between a base semiconductor substrate and a surface semiconductor layer. The buried dielectric layer comprises an oxide material that includes a nitrogen gradient that peaks at the interface of the buried dielectric layer with at least one of the base semiconductor substrate and surface semiconductor layer. The interface of the buried dielectric layer with the at least one of the base semiconductor substrate and surface semiconductor layer is abrupt, providing a transition in less than about 5 atomic layer thickness, and having less than about 10 angstroms RMS interfacial roughness. A second dielectric layer comprising an oxide dielectric material absent nitrogen may be located interposed between the buried dielectric layer and the surface semiconductor layer | 09-18-2008 |
| 20080248615 | CMOS STRUCTURE FOR BODY TIES IN ULTRA-THIN SOI (UTSOI) SUBSTRATES - The present invention provides a semiconducting structure including a substrate having an UTSOI region and a bulk-Si region, wherein the UTSOI region and the bulk-Si region have a same crystallographic orientation; an isolation region separating the UTSOI region from the bulk-Si region; and at least one first device located in the UTSOI region and at least one second device located in the bulk-Si region. The UTSOI region has an SOI layer atop an insulating layer, wherein the SOI layer has a thickness of less than about 40 nm. The bulk-Si region further comprises a well region underlying the second device and a contact to the well region, wherein the contact stabilizes floating body effects. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20080290409 | HALO-FIRST ULTRA-THIN SOI FET FOR SUPERIOR SHORT CHANNEL CONTROL - Superior control of short-channel effects for an ultra-thin semiconductor-on-insulator field effect transistor (UTSOI-FET) is obtained by performing a halo implantation immediately after a gate reoxidation step. An offset is then formed and thereafter an extension implantation process is performed. This sequence of processing steps ensures that the halo implant is laterally separated from the extension implant by the width of the offset spacer. This construction produces equivalent or far superior short channel performance compared to conventional UTSOI-FETs. Additionally, the above processing steps permit the use of lower halo doses as compared to conventional processes. | 11-27-2008 |
| 20080303105 | DUAL GATE DIELECTRIC SRAM - An SRAM cell structure containing a PFET gate dielectric having a thicker effective oxide thickness (EOT) than an NFET gate dielectric and methods of manufacturing the same is provided. The PFET gate dielectric and the NFET gate dielectric may be silicon oxynitride layers, CVD oxide layers, or high-K dielectric layers having different thicknesses. The PFET gate dielectric may be a stack of two dielectric layers and the NFET gate dielectric may be one of the two dielectric layers. The greater EOT of the PFET gate dielectric produces reduction of the on-current of the pull-up PFETs for optimal SRAM performance. | 12-11-2008 |
| 20090045462 | ULTRATHIN SOI CMOS DEVICES EMPLOYING DIFFERENTIAL STI LINERS - An oxynitride pad layer and a masking layer are formed on an ultrathin semiconductor-on-insulator substrate containing a top semiconductor layer comprising silicon. A first portion of a shallow trench is patterned in a top semiconductor layer by lithographic masking of an NFET region and an etch, in which exposed portions of the buried insulator layer is recessed and the top semiconductor layer is undercut. A thick thermal silicon oxide liner is formed on the exposed sidewalls and bottom peripheral surfaces of a PFET active area to apply a high laterally compressive stress. A second portion of the shallow trench is formed by lithographic masking of a PFET region including the PFET active area. A thin thermal silicon oxide or no thermal silicon oxide is formed on exposed sidewalls of the NFET active area, which is subjected to a low lateral compressive stress or no lateral compressive stress. | 02-19-2009 |
| 20090065876 | Metal High-K Transistor Having Silicon Sidewall for Reduced Parasitic Capacitance, and Process to Fabricate Same - A method is disclosed to reduce parasitic capacitance in a metal high dielectric constant (MHK) transistor. The method includes forming a MHK gate stack upon a substrate, the MHK gate stack having a bottom layer of high dielectric constant material, a middle layer of metal, and a top layer of one of amorphous silicon or polycrystalline silicon. The method further forms a depleted sidewall layer on sidewalls of the MHK gate stack so as to overlie the middle layer and the top layer, and not the bottom layer. The depleted sidewall layer is one of amorphous silicon or polycrystalline silicon. The method further forms an offset spacer layer over the depleted sidewall layer and over exposed surfaces of the bottom layer. | 03-12-2009 |
| 20090072312 | Metal High-K (MHK) Dual Gate Stress Engineering Using Hybrid Orientation (HOT) CMOS - A hybrid orientation technology (HOT) CMOS structure is comprised of a tensile stressed NFET gate stack and a compressively stressed PFET gate stack, where each gate stack is comprised of a high dielectric constant oxide/metal, and where the source of the stress in the tensile stressed NFET gate stack and the compressively stressed PFET gate stack is the metal in the high-k metal gate stack. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20090096034 | Partially and Fully Silicided Gate Stacks - Metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices and techniques for the fabrication thereof are provided. In one aspect, a metal-oxide semiconductor device is provided comprising a substrate; and at least one n-channel field effect transistor (NFET) having a gate stack over the substrate. The NFET gate stack comprises an NFET gate stack metal gate layer; a first NFET gate stack silicon layer over the NFET gate stack metal gate layer; a second NFET gate stack silicon layer over a side of the first NFET gate stack silicon layer opposite the NFET gate stack metal gate layer, wherein an interface is defined between the first NFET gate stack silicon layer and the second NFET gate stack silicon layer; and an NFET gate stack silicide region that extends through the interface between the first NFET gate stack silicon layer and the second NFET gate stack silicon layer. | 04-16-2009 |
| 20090102026 | SEMICONDUCTOR-ON-INSULATOR SUBSTRATE WITH A DIFFUSION BARRIER - A diffusion barrier layer is incorporated between a top semiconductor layer and buried oxide layer. The diffusion barrier layer blocks diffusion of dopants into or out of buried oxide layer. The diffusion barrier layer may comprise a dielectric material such as silicon oxynitride or a high-k gate dielectric material. Alternately, the diffusion barrier layer may comprise a semiconductor material such as SiC. Such materials provide less charge trapping than a silicon nitride layer, which causes a high level of interface trap density and charge in the buried oxide layer. Thus, diffusion of dopants from and into semiconductor devices through the buried oxide layer is suppressed by the diffusion barrier layer without inducing a high interface trap density or charge in the buried oxide layer. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090142891 | MASKLESS STRESS MEMORIZATION TECHNIQUE FOR CMOS DEVICES - In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconducting device that includes providing a silicon containing substrate having PFET device and NFET device, wherein the NFET device includes an amorphous silicon containing region; depositing a tensile strain silicon nitride layer atop the NFET device and the PFET device, wherein the silicon nitride tensile strain layer induces a tensile strain in a channel of the NFET device region; annealing to crystallize the amorphous silicon containing region, wherein the tensile strain silicon nitride layer positioned atop the PFET device confines oxygen within a channel positioned within the silicon containing substrate underlying the PFET device, wherein the oxygen within the channel shifts a threshold voltage of the PFET device towards a valence band of silicon of the silicon containing substrate; and removing the tensile strain silicon nitride layer. | 06-04-2009 |
| 20090152650 | HIGH-K DIELECTRIC AND METAL GATE STACK WITH MINIMAL OVERLAP WITH ISOLATION REGION AND RELATED METHODS - A high-k dielectric and metal gate stack with minimal overlap with an adjacent oxide isolation region and related methods are disclosed. One embodiment of the gate stack includes a high dielectric constant (high-k) dielectric layer, a tuning layer and a metal layer positioned over an active region defined by an oxide isolation region in a substrate, wherein an outer edge of the high-k dielectric layer, the tuning layer and the metal layer overlaps the oxide isolation region by less than approximately 200 nanometers. The gate stack and related methods eliminate the regrowth effect in short channel devices by restricting the amount of overlap area between the gate stack and adjacent oxide isolation regions. | 06-18-2009 |
| 20090273041 | TRANSISTOR WITH HIGH-K DIELECTRIC SIDEWALL SPACER - A transistor is provided that includes a silicon layer including a source region and a drain region, a gate stack disposed on the silicon layer between the source region and the drain region, and a sidewall spacer disposed on sidewalls of the gate stack. The gate stack includes a first layer of high dielectric constant material, a second layer comprising a metal or metal alloy, and a third layer comprising silicon or polysilicon. The sidewall spacer includes a high dielectric constant material and covers the sidewalls of at least the second and third layers of the gate stack. Also provided is a method for fabricating such a transistor. | 11-05-2009 |
| 20090273042 | METAL HIGH DIELECTRIC CONSTANT TRANSISTOR WITH REVERSE-T GATE - A transistor is provided. The transistor includes a silicon layer including a source region and a drain region. A gate stack is disposed on the silicon layer between the source region and the drain region. The gate stack comprises a first layer of a high dielectric constant material, a second layer comprising a metal or metal alloy, and a third layer comprising silicon or polysilicon. A lateral extent of the second layer of the gate stack is substantially greater than a lateral extent of the third layer of the gate stack. Also provided are methods for fabricating such a transistor. | 11-05-2009 |
| 20090275182 | METHOD FOR FABRICATING A METAL HIGH DIELECTRIC CONSTANT TRANSISTOR WITH REVERSE-T GATE - A method is provided for fabricating a transistor. A silicon layer is provided, and a first layer comprising a high dielectric constant material is formed on the silicon layer. A second layer including a metal or metal alloy is formed on the first layer, and a third layer including silicon or polysilicon is formed on the second layer. The first, second, and third layers are etched so as to form a gate stack, and ions are implanted to form source and drain regions in the silicon layer. Source and drain silicide contact areas are formed in the source and drain regions, and a gate silicide contact area is formed in the third layer. After forming these silicide contact areas, the third layer is etched without etching the first and second layers, so as to substantially reduce the width of the third layer. | 11-05-2009 |
| 20090289305 | ULTRA-THIN SOI CMOS WITH RAISED EPITAXIAL SOURCE AND DRAIN AND EMBEDDED SIGE PFET EXTENSION - A method for improving channel carrier mobility in ultra-thin Silicon-on-oxide (UTSOI) FET devices by integrating an embedded pFET SiGe extension with raised source/drain regions. The method includes selectively growing embedded SiGe (eSiGe) extensions in pFET regions and forming strain-free raised Si or SiGe source/drain (RSD) regions on CMOS. The eSiGe extension regions enhance hole mobility in the pFET channels and reduce resistance in the pFET extensions. The strain-free raised source/drain regions reduce contact resistance in both UTSOI pFETs and nFETs. | 11-26-2009 |
| 20090290439 | HIGH PERFORMANCE METAL GATE POLYGATE 8 TRANSISTOR SRAM CELL WITH REDUCED VARIABILITY - A static random access memory cell includes a metal hi-k layer; a poly-SiON gate stack over the metal hi-k layer; a plurality of inverters disposed within the poly-SiON gate stack; and a plurality of field effect transistors placed in the metal hi-k layer. | 11-26-2009 |
| 20090294854 | HALO-FIRST ULTRA-THIN SOI FET FOR SUPERIOR SHORT CHANNEL CONTROL - Superior control of short-channel effects for an ultra-thin semiconductor-on-insulator field effect transistor (UTSOI-FET) is obtained by performing a halo implantation immediately after a gate reoxidation step. An offset is then formed and thereafter an extension implantation process is performed. This sequence of processing steps ensures that the halo implant is laterally separated from the extension implant by the width of the offset spacer. This construction produces equivalent or far superior short channel performance compared to conventional UTSOI-FETs. Additionally, the above processing steps permit the use of lower halo doses as compared to conventional processes. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090298275 | Metal High-K Transistor Having Silicon Sidewall For Reduced Parasitic Capacitance, And Process To Fabricate Same - A method is disclosed to reduce parasitic capacitance in a metal high dielectric constant (MHK) transistor. The method includes forming a MHK gate stack upon a substrate, the MHK gate stack having a bottom layer of high dielectric constant material, a middle layer of metal, and a top layer of one of amorphous silicon or polycrystalline silicon. The method further forms a depleted sidewall layer on sidewalls of the MHK gate stack so as to overlie the middle layer and the top layer, and not the bottom layer. The depleted sidewall layer is one of amorphous silicon or polycrystalline silicon. The method further forms an offset spacer layer over the depleted sidewall layer and over exposed surfaces of the bottom layer. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090305471 | THIN SILICON SINGLE DIFFUSION FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR FOR ENHANCED DRIVE PERFORMANCE WITH STRESS FILM LINERS - The present invention provides a semiconducting device structure including a thin SOI region, wherein the SOI device is formed with an optional single thin diffusion, i.e., offset, spacer and a single diffusion implant. The device silicon thickness is thin enough to permit the diffusion implants to abut the buried insulator but thick enough to form a contacting silicide. Stress layer liner films are used both over nFET and pFET device regions to enhance performance. | 12-10-2009 |
| 20090307635 | METAL HIGH DIELECTRIC CONSTANT TRANSISTOR WITH REVERSE-T GATE - A transistor is provided. The transistor includes a silicon layer including a source region and a drain region. A gate stack is disposed on the silicon layer between the source region and the drain region. The gate stack comprises a first layer of a high dielectric constant material, a second layer comprising a metal or metal alloy, and a third layer comprising silicon or polysilicon. A lateral extent of the second layer of the gate stack is substantially greater than a lateral extent of the third layer of the gate stack. Also provided are methods for fabricating such a transistor. | 12-10-2009 |
| 20090315138 | METHOD AND STRUCTURE FOR SOI BODY CONTACT FET WITH REDUCED PARASITIC CAPACITANCE - In one embodiment, the present invention provides a semiconductor device that includes a substrate including a semiconducting layer positioned overlying an insulating layer the semiconducting layer including a semiconducting body and isolation regions present about a perimeter of the semiconducting body; a gate structure overlying the semiconducting layer of the substrate, the gate structure present on a first portion on an upper surface of the semiconducting body; and a silicide body contact that is in direct physical contact with a second portion of the semiconducting body that is separated from the first portion of the semiconducting body by a non-silicide semiconducting region. | 12-24-2009 |
| 20100006956 | Metal High-K Transistor Having Silicon Sidewall For Reduced Parasitic Capacitance, And Process To Fabricate Same - A method is disclosed to reduce parasitic capacitance in a metal high dielectric constant (MHK) transistor. The method includes forming a MHK gate stack upon a substrate, the MHK gate stack having a bottom layer of high dielectric constant material, a middle layer of metal, and a top layer of one of amorphous silicon or polycrystalline silicon. The method further forms a depleted sidewall layer on sidewalls of the MHK gate stack so as to overlie the middle layer and the top layer, and not the bottom layer. The depleted sidewall layer is one of amorphous silicon or polycrystalline silicon. The method further forms an offset spacer layer over the depleted sidewall layer and over exposed surfaces of the bottom layer. | 01-14-2010 |
| 20100032759 | SELF-ALIGNED SOI SCHOTTKY BODY TIE EMPLOYING SIDEWALL SILICIDATION - A self-aligned Silicon on Insulator (SOI) Schottky Body Tie structure includes: a source region comprising a silicide layer disposed on a top surface of the source region; a drain region comprising a silicide layer disposed on a top surface of the drain region; a gate region disposed above a channel formed by the drain and source regions; and a gate oxide layer disposed between the gate region and the channel formed by the drain and source regions, wherein when silicidation is performed on the diffusion region it forms a metal-silicon alloy contact such that the silicide layer extends into and directly touches the channel. | 02-11-2010 |
| 20100105187 | ULTRATHIN SOI CMOS DEVICES EMPLOYING DIFFERENTIAL STI LINERS - An oxynitride pad layer and a masking layer are formed on an ultrathin semiconductor-on-insulator substrate containing a top semiconductor layer comprising silicon. A first portion of a shallow trench is patterned in a top semiconductor layer by lithographic masking of an NFET region and an etch, in which exposed portions of the buried insulator layer is recessed and the top semiconductor layer is undercut. A thick thermal silicon oxide liner is formed on the exposed sidewalls and bottom peripheral surfaces of a PFET active area to apply a high laterally compressive stress. A second portion of the shallow trench is formed by lithographic masking of a PFET region including the PFET active area. A thin thermal silicon oxide or no thermal silicon oxide is formed on exposed sidewalls of the NFET active area, which is subjected to a low lateral compressive stress or no lateral compressive stress. | 04-29-2010 |
| 20100159684 | Metal High-K (MHK) Dual Gate Stress Engineering Using Hybrid Orientation (HOT) CMOS - A hybrid orientation technology (HOT) CMOS structure is comprised of a tensile stressed NFET gate stack and a compressively stressed PFET gate stack, where each gate stack is comprised of a high dielectric constant oxide/metal, and where the source of the stress in the tensile stressed NFET gate stack and the compressively stressed PFET gate stack is the metal in the high-k metal gate stack. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100167504 | Methods of Fabricating Nanostructures - A method is shown for fabricating nanostructures, and more particularly, to methods of fabricating silicon nanowires. The method of manufacturing a nanowire includes forming a sandwich structure of SiX material and material Si over a substrate and etching the sandwich structure to expose sidewalls of the Si material and the SiX material. The method further includes etching the SiX material to expose portions of the Si material and etching the exposed portions of the Si material. The method also includes breaking away the Si material to form silicon nanowires. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20100193770 | Maskless Process for Suspending and Thinning Nanowires - Semiconductor-based electronic devices and techniques for fabrication thereof are provided. In one aspect, a device is provided comprising a first pad; a second pad and a plurality of nanowires connecting the first pad and the second pad in a ladder-like configuration formed in a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) layer over a buried oxide (BOX) layer, the nanowires having one or more dimensions defined by a re-distribution of silicon from the nanowires to the pads. The device can comprise a field-effect transistor (FET) having a gate surrounding the nanowires wherein portions of the nanowires surrounded by the gate form channels of the FET, the first pad and portions of the nanowires extending out from the gate adjacent to the first pad form a source region of the FET and the second pad and portions of the nanowires extending out from the gate adjacent to the second pad form a drain region of the FET. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100224940 | Partially and Fully Silicided Gate Stacks - Metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices and techniques for the fabrication thereof are provided. In one aspect, a metal-oxide semiconductor device is provided comprising a substrate; and at least one n-channel field effect transistor (NFET) having a gate stack over the substrate. The NFET gate stack comprises an NFET gate stack metal gate layer; a first NFET gate stack silicon layer over the NFET gate stack metal gate layer; a second NFET gate stack silicon layer over a side of the first NFET gate stack silicon layer opposite the NFET gate stack metal gate layer, wherein an interface is defined between the first NFET gate stack silicon layer and the second NFET gate stack silicon layer; and an NFET gate stack silicide region that extends through the interface between the first NFET gate stack silicon layer and the second NFET gate stack silicon layer. | 09-09-2010 |
| 20100295020 | Method For Forming A Robust Top-Down Silicon Nanowire Structure Using A Conformal Nitride And Such Structure - A nanowire product and process for fabricating it has a wafer with a buried oxide (BOX) upper layer in which a well is formed and the ends of a nanowire are on the BOX layer forming a beam that spans the well. A mask coating is formed on the upper surface of the BOX layer leaving an uncoated window over a center part of the beam and also forming a mask coating around the beam intermediate ends between each end of the beam center part and a side wall of the well. Applying oxygen through the window thins the beam center part while leaving the wire intermediate ends over the well thicker and having a generally arched shape. A thermal oxide coating can be placed on the wire and also the mask on the BOX layer before oxidation. | 11-25-2010 |
| 20100297816 | NANOWIRE MESH DEVICE AND METHOD OF FABRICATING SAME - A semiconductor structure is provided that includes a plurality of vertically stacked and vertically spaced apart semiconductor nanowires (e.g., a semiconductor nanowire mesh) located on a surface of a substrate. One end segment of each vertically stacked and vertically spaced apart semiconductor nanowires is connected to a source region and another end segment of each vertically stacked and vertically spaced apart semiconductor nanowires is connected to a drain region. A gate region including a gate dielectric and a gate conductor abuts the plurality of vertically stacked and vertically spaced apart semiconductor nanowires, and the source regions and the drain regions are self-aligned with the gate region. | 11-25-2010 |
| 20100327376 | Metal High-K Transistor Having Silicon Sidewall For Reduced Parasitic Capacitance, And Process To Fabricate Same - A method forms a metal high dielectric constant (MHK) transistor and includes: providing a MHK stack disposed on a substrate, the MHK stack including a first layer of high dielectric constant material, a second overlying layer, and a third overlying layer; selectively removing only the second and third layers, without removing the first layer, to form an upstanding portion of a MHK gate structure; forming a first sidewall layer on sidewalls of the upstanding portion of the MHK gate structure; forming a second sidewall layer on sidewalls of the first sidewall layer; removing a portion of the first layer to form exposed surfaces; forming an offset spacer layer over the second sidewall layer and over the first layer, and forming in the substrate extensions that underlie the first and second sidewall layers and that extend under a portion but not all of the upstanding portion of the MHK gate structure. | 12-30-2010 |
| 20110012177 | Nanostructure For Changing Electric Mobility - A structure and a method for a semiconductor including a nanostructure semiconductor channel. The semiconductor may include a dielectric and an electrode, the electrode attached to the dielectric, a semiconductor channel may be disposed proximate to the dielectric, wherein the semiconductor channel has an electric mobility and is configured to have at least one dimension, and wherein the dielectric may be configured to apply a force at the at least one dimension. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20110012202 | Selective Floating Body SRAM Cell - A memory cell has N≧6 transistors, in which two are access transistors, at least one pair [say (N−2)/2] are pull-up transistors, and at least another pair [say (N−2)/2] are pull-down transistors. The pull-up and pull-down transistors are all coupled between the two access transistors. Each of the access transistors and the pull-up transistors are the same type, p-type or n-type. Each of the pull-down transistors is the other type, p-type or n-type. The access transistors are floating body devices. The pull-down transistors are non-floating body devices. The pull-up transistors may be floating or non-floating body devices. Various specific implementations and methods of making the memory cell are also detailed. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20110049626 | ASYMMETRIC EMBEDDED SILICON GERMANIUM FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR - A semiconductor device, an integrated circuit, and method for fabricating the same are disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a gate stack formed on an active region of a silicon-on-insulator substrate. A gate spacer is formed over the gate stack. A source region that includes embedded silicon germanium is formed within the semiconductor layer. A drain region that includes embedded silicon germanium is formed within the semiconductor layer. The source region includes an angled implantation region that extends into the embedded silicon germanium of the source region, and is asymmetric relative to the drain region. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110049627 | EMBEDDED SILICON GERMANIUM N-TYPE FILED EFFECT TRANSISTOR FOR REDUCED FLOATING BODY EFFECT - A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming a gate stack on an active region of a silicon-on-insulator substrate. The active region is within a semiconductor layer and is doped with an p-type dopant. A gate spacer is formed surrounding the gate stack. A first trench is formed in a region reserved for a source region and a second trench is formed in a region reserved for a drain region. The first and second trenches are formed while maintaining exposed the region reserved for the source region and the region reserved for the drain region. Silicon germanium is epitaxially grown within the first trench and the second trench while maintaining exposed the regions reserved for the source and drain regions, respectively. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110095267 | Nanowire Stress Sensors and Stress Sensor Integrated Circuits, Design Structures for a Stress Sensor Integrated Circuit, and Related Methods - Stress sensors and stress sensor integrated circuits using one or more nanowire field effect transistors as stress-sensitive elements, as well as design structures for a stress sensor integrated circuit embodied in a machine readable medium for designing, manufacturing, or testing an integrated circuit, and related methods thereof. The stress sensors and stress sensor integrated circuits include one or more pairs of gate-all-around field effect transistors, which include one or more nanowires as a channel region. The nanowires of each of the field effect transistors are configured to change in length in response to a mechanical stress transferred from an object. A voltage output difference from the field effect transistors indicates the magnitude of the transferred mechanical stress. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110108804 | Maskless Process for Suspending and Thinning Nanowires - Semiconductor-based electronic devices and techniques for fabrication thereof are provided. In one aspect, a device is provided comprising a first pad; a second pad and a plurality of nanowires connecting the first pad and the second pad in a ladder-like configuration formed in a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) layer over a buried oxide (BOX) layer, the nanowires having one or more dimensions defined by a re-distribution of silicon from the nanowires to the pads. The device can comprise a field-effect transistor (FET) having a gate surrounding the nanowires wherein portions of the nanowires surrounded by the gate form channels of the FET, the first pad and portions of the nanowires extending out from the gate adjacent to the first pad form a source region of the FET and the second pad and portions of the nanowires extending out from the gate adjacent to the second pad form a drain region of the FET. | 05-12-2011 |
| 20110115032 | HIGH-K/METAL GATE TRANSISTOR WITH L-SHAPED GATE ENCAPSULATION LAYER - A transistor is provided that includes a silicon layer with a source region and a drain region, a gate stack disposed on the silicon layer between the source region and the drain region, an L shaped gate encapsulation layer disposed on sidewalls of the gate stack, and a spacer disposed above the horizontal portion of the gate encapsulation layer and adjacent to the vertical portion of the gate encapsulation layer. The gate stack has a first layer of high dielectric constant material, a second layer comprising a metal or metal alloy, and a third layer comprising silicon or polysilicon. The gate encapsulation layer has a vertical portion covering the sidewalls of the first, second, and third layers of the gate stack and a horizontal portion covering a portion of the silicon layer that is adjacent to the gate stack. | 05-19-2011 |
| 20110133280 | DIFFERENT THICKNESS OXIDE SILICON NANOWIRE FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS - A method (that produces a structure) patterns at least two wires of semiconductor material such that a first wire of the wires has a larger perimeter than a second wire of the wires. The method performs an oxidation process simultaneously on the wires to form a first gate oxide on the first wire and a second gate oxide on the second wire. The first gate oxide is thicker than the second gate oxide. The method also forms gate conductors over the first gate oxide and the second gate oxide, forms sidewall spacers on the gate conductors, and dopes portions of the first wire and the second wire not covered by the sidewall spacers and the gate conductors to form source and drain regions within the first wire and the second wire. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110163379 | Body-Tied Asymmetric P-Type Field Effect Transistor - In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, an asymmetric P-type field effect transistor includes: a source region coupled to a drain region via a channel; a gate structure overlying at least a portion of the channel; a halo implant disposed at least partially in the channel, where the halo implant is disposed closer to the source region than the drain region; and a body-tie coupled to the channel. In a further exemplary embodiment, the asymmetric P-type field effect transistor is operable to act as a symmetric P-type field effect transistor. | 07-07-2011 |
| 20110163380 | Body-Tied Asymmetric N-Type Field Effect Transistor - In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, an asymmetric N-type field effect transistor includes: a source region coupled to a drain region via a channel; a gate structure overlying at least a portion of the channel; a halo implant disposed at least partially in the channel, where the halo implant is disposed closer to the source region than the drain region; and a body-tie coupled to the channel. In a further exemplary embodiment, the asymmetric N-type field effect transistor is operable to act as a symmetric N-type field effect transistor. | 07-07-2011 |
| 20110165739 | ULTRA-THIN SOI CMOS WITH RAISED EPITAXIAL SOURCE AND DRAIN AND EMBEDDED SIGE PFET EXTENSION - A method for improving channel carrier mobility in ultra-thin Silicon-on-oxide (UTSOI) FET devices by integrating an embedded pFET SiGe extension with raised source/drain regions. The method includes selectively growing embedded SiGe (eSiGe) extensions in pFET regions and forming strain-free raised Si or SiGe source/drain (RSD) regions on CMOS. The eSiGe extension regions enhance hole mobility in the pFET channels and reduce resistance in the pFET extensions. The strain-free raised source/drain regions reduce contact resistance in both UTSOI pFETs and nFETs. | 07-07-2011 |
