International Business Machines Corporation

Screen Spe USA LLC

Jing Guo

Ekmini Anuja De Silva

Indira P Seshadri

Nelson M Felix

Ruqiang Bao

Ruilong Xie

Dario Leonardo Goldfarb

Jennifer Church

Bharat Kumar

Kangguo Cheng

Chih-Chao Yang

Nicolas J Loubet

Oleg Gluschenkov

Sivananda K Kanakasabapathy

Zhenxing Bi

Wenyu Xu

Jingyun Zhang

Su Chen Fan

Ashim Dutta

Muthumanickam Sankarapandian

Yongan Xu

Romain Lallement

Luciana Meli

Yann Mignot

Chi-Chun Liu

Koji Watanabe

Daniel Sanders

Cheng Chi

Hoa D Truong

Hao Tang

Kristin Schmidt

Luciana Meli Thompson

Abraham Arceo De La Pena

Lijuan Zou

Domenico DiPaola

Jon Fayad

Luciana Meli-Thompson

Dustin Wayne Janes

Eric Evans

A method for forming a planarization layer is provided that can include depositing an organic planarization layer on a deposition surface using a spin on deposition method; and treating the deposited organic planarization layer with a solvent anneal. In some embodiments, a vapor of solvent is passed over the deposited organic planarization layer to increase uniformity of the deposited organic planarization layer. The method may further include curing the deposited organic planarization layer with a thermal anneal.

Solvent annealing of an organic planarization layer

Embodiments of the invention include a dielectric reflow technique for boundary control in which a first layer is deposited on a first transistor region and a second transistor region, the first and second transistor regions being adjacent. A dielectric layer is formed to protect the second transistor region such that the first transistor region is exposed, the dielectric layer bounded at a first location. In response to removing a portion of the first layer on the first transistor region, the dielectric layer protecting the second transistor region is reflowed such that at least a reflowed portion of the dielectric layer extends beyond the first location.

Dielectric reflow for boundary control

Techniques for area scaling of contacts in VTFET devices are provided. In one aspect, a VTFET device includes: a fin(s); a bottom source/drain region at a base of the fin(s); a gate stack alongside the fin(s); a top source/drain region present at a top of the fin(s); a bottom source/drain contact to the bottom source/drain region; and a gate contact to the gate stack, wherein the bottom source drain and gate contacts each includes a top portion having a width W1over a bottom portion having a width W2, wherein W2<W1, and wherein a sidewall along the top portion is discontinuous with a sidewall along the bottom portion. The bottom portion having the width W2is present alongside the gate stack and the top source/drain region. A method of forming a VTFET device is also provided.

Area scaling for VTFET contacts

A method of making an adhesion layer of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) stack is presented. The method includes grafting an ultraviolet (UV) sensitive polymer brush on a hardmask, the polymer brush including a UV cleavable unit, depositing EUV resist over the polymer brush, exposing the EUV resist to remove the EUV resist in exposed areas by applying a developer, and flooding the exposed area with a UV light and a solvent developer to remove exposed portions of the polymer brush.

Polymer brush adhesion promoter with UV cleavable linker

Techniques for selective CD shrink for source and drain contact trench to optimize FET device performance are provided. In one aspect, a semiconductor FET device includes: at least one gate; source and drains on opposite sides of the at least one gate; recesses in the source and drains; and metal contacts disposed over the source and drains and in the recesses, wherein the metal contacts are in direct contact with a bottom and sidewalls of each of the recesses in both a first direction and a second direction, wherein the first direction is perpendicular to the at least one gate, and wherein the second direction is parallel to the at least one gate. A method of forming a semiconductor FET device is also provided.

Selective shrink for contact trench

A semiconductor device is provided. The semiconductor device includes a bottom epitaxial layer, a gate stack formed over the bottom epitaxial layer, the gate stack including a work function metal (WFM) layer, a channel fin formed on the bottom epitaxial layer, a first interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer formed in a gate landing area over the gate stack, a second ILD layer formed in an area other than the gate landing area, and a WFM encapsulation layer formed between the first ILD layer and the second ILD layer, and formed on sidewalls of the gate stack.

Vertical transport field-effect transistor with gate patterning

Alternating copolymers having hydrocarbon-substituted terminal units and repeat units each containing two different monomer units with extreme ultraviolet (EUV)-absorbing elements are disclosed. Alternating copolymers having organic terminal units and repeat units each containing a monomer unit with an EUV-absorbing element and an organic monomer unit are also disclosed. A process of forming a polymer resist, which includes providing an alternating copolymer having repeat units with at least one EUV-absorbing monomer unit and replacing end groups of the alternating copolymer with unreactive terminal units, is disclosed as well.

Alternating copolymer chain scission photoresists

Methods are presented for forming multi-threshold field effect transistors. The methods generally include depositing and patterning an organic planarizing layer to protect underlying structures formed in a selected one of the nFET region and the pFET region of a semiconductor wafer. In the other one of the nFET region and the pFET region, structures are processed to form an undercut in the organic planarizing layer. The organic planarizing layer is subjected to a reflow process to fill the undercut. The methods are effective to protect a boundary between the nFET region and the pFET region.

Transistor boundary protection using reversible crosslinking reflow

A semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor substrate, with first, second, and third field effect transistors (FETs) formed on the substrate. A gate of the first FET includes a gate electrode, a first work function metal (WFM) layered with a first interfacial layer (IL) and a first high-k dielectric (HK); a gate of the second FET includes the first WFM layered with a second IL, a second HK, and a first dipole material; and a gate of the third FET includes the first WFM layered with a third IL, a third HK, the first dipole material, and a second dipole material. The first FET does not include the first dipole material and does not include the second dipole material, and the second FET does not include the second dipole material.

Gate stack dipole compensation for threshold voltage definition in transistors

A semiconductor structure and a method for fabricating the same. The semiconductor structure includes at least a first channel region and a second channel region. The first channel region and the second channel region each include metal gate structures surrounding a different nanosheet channel layer. The metal gate structures of the first and second channel regions are respectively separated from each other by an unfilled gap. The method includes forming a gap fill layer between and in contact with gate structures surrounding nanosheet channel layers in multiple channel regions. Then, after the gap fill layer has been formed for each nanosheet stack, a masking layer is formed over the gate structures and the gap fill layer in at least a first channel region. The gate structures and the gap fill layer in at least a second channel region remain exposed.

Enabling residue free gap fill between nanosheets

A field effect transistor is provided. The field effect transistor includes a first source/drain on a substrate, a second source/drain on the substrate, and a channel region between the first source/drain and the second source/drain. The field effect transistor further includes a metal liner on at least three sides of the first source/drain and/or the second source/drain, wherein the metal liner covers less than the full length of a sidewall of the first source/drain and/or the second source/drain. The field effect transistor further includes a metal-silicide between the metal liner and the first source/drain and/or the second source/drain, and a conductive contact on the metal liner on the first source/drain and/or the second source/drain, wherein the conductive contact is a conductive material different from the conductive material of the metal liner.

Low capacitance low RC wrap-around-contact

An adhesion promoter composition comprising at least one of the following compounds: (a) a cyclic compound having the formula: (b) a non-cyclic compound having the formula: wherein Rand Reach independently represents a non-photoactive phenyl, a photoactive phenyl or a C-Calkyl; Rrepresents a non-photoactive phenyl; Rrepresents a photoactive phenyl; W represents Si or Ge; n represents an integer of value greater than 1;m represents an integer between 0 and 1.

Adhesion promoters

A semiconductor structure comprises a semiconductor substrate, and a multi-layer patterning material film stack formed on the semiconductor substrate. The patterning material film stack comprises at least a hard mask layer and a resist layer formed over the hard mask layer. The hard mask layer is configured to support selective deposition of a metal-containing layer on a developed pattern of the resist layer through inclusion in the hard mask layer of one or more materials inhibiting deposition of the metal-containing layer on portions of the hard mask layer corresponding to respective openings in the resist layer. The hard mask layer illustratively comprises, for example, at least one of a grafted self-assembled monolayer configured to inhibit deposition of the metal-containing layer, and a grafted polymer brush material configured to inhibit deposition of the metal-containing layer.

Patterning material film stack with hard mask layer configured to support selective deposition on patterned resist layer

A metal brush layer is provided. The metal brush layer includes a polymer backbone including at least one grafting unit, G, attached to the polymer backbone, and a plurality of metal-containing moieties, M, attached to the polymer backbone.

Metal brush layer for EUV patterning

A photolithography patterning stack and method for repairing defects in the stack. The stack includes an organic planarization layer, a hardmask layer, and a plurality of patterned photoresist lines in contact with the hardmask layer. A plurality of trenches is situated between the plurality of patterned photoresist lines. Each trench exposes a portion of the hardmask layer. A repairing layer is formed in contact with and only bonded to surfaces of the plurality of patterned photoresist lines. The method includes forming a photolithographic patterning stack. The stack includes at least a hardmask layer formed on one or more underlayers and a photoresist layer formed in contact with the hardmask layer. The photoresist layer is patterned into a plurality of patterned portions. A repairing layer is formed in contact with and only bonded to surfaces of each patterned portion of the plurality of portions.

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Niskayuna, NY, United States of America

Jing Guo