Intel Corporation

Johann Christian Rode

Han Wui Then

Walid M Hafez

Rahul Ramaswamy

Nidhi Nidhi

Marko Radosavljevic

Sansaptak W Dasgupta

Paul B Fischer

Samuel Jack Beach

Glenn A Glass

Nicholas G Minutillo

Suresh Vishwanath

Yang Cao

Robert Ehlert

Sandrine Charue-Bakker

Michael S Beumer

Patrick M Wallace

Xiaoye Qin

Gregory P McNerney

Sanyam Bajaj

Atsunori Tanaka

Heli Chetanbhai Vora

Xiaojun Weng

In one embodiment, a transistor includes a substrate, a buffer layer on the substrate a channel layer on the buffer layer, and one or more polarization layers on the channel layer. The one or more polarization layers include a group III-N material comprising a first group III constituent and a second group III constituent. The transistor further includes a plurality of p-type doped layers on the one or more polarization layers. Each of the plurality of p-type doped layers includes a first p-type dopant and the III-N material, wherein each successive layer of the first p-type doped layers has a lower proportion of the first group III constituent to the second group III constituent relative to a layer below it. The transistor also includes a p-type doped layer on the plurality of p-type doped layers comprising a second p-type dopant and a group III-N material.

Gate structures to enable lower subthreshold slope in gallium nitride-based transistors

Disclosed herein are IC structures, packages, and devices that include Si-based semiconductor material stack monolithically integrated on the same support structure as non-Si transistors or other non-Si-based devices. In some aspects, the Si-based semiconductor material stack may be provided by semiconductor regrowth over an insulator material. Providing a Si-based semiconductor material stack monolithically integrated on the same support structure as non-Si based devices may provide a viable approach to integrating Si-based transistors with non-Si technologies because the Si-based semiconductor material stack may serve as a foundation for forming Si-based transistors.

Integration of Si-based transistors with non-Si technologies by semiconductor regrowth over an insulator material

Disclosed herein are IC structures, packages, and devices that include III-N transistor arrangements that may reduce nonlinearity of off-state capacitance of the III-N transistors. In various aspects, III-N transistor arrangements limit the extent of access regions of the transistors, compared to conventional implementations, which may limit the depletion of the access regions. Due to the limited extent of the depletion regions of a transistor, the off-state capacitance may exhibit less variability in values across different gate-source voltages and, hence, exhibit a more linear behavior during operation.

III-N transistor arrangements for reducing nonlinearity of off-state capacitance

A transistor is disclosed. The transistor includes a substrate, a superlattice structure that includes a plurality of heterojunction channels, and a gate that extends to one of the plurality of heterojunction channels. The transistor also includes a source adjacent a first side of the superlattice structure and a drain adjacent a second side of the superlattice structure.

Superlattice FINFET with tunable drive current capability

Disclosed herein are IC structures, packages, and devices that include transistors, e.g., III-N transistors, having a source region, a drain region (together referred to as 'source/drain' (S/D) regions), and a gate stack. In one aspect, a contact to at least one of the S/D regions of a transistor may have a width that is smaller than a width of the S/D region. In another aspect, a contact to a gate electrode material of the gate stack of a transistor may have a width that is smaller than a width of the gate electrode material. Reducing the width of contacts to S/D regions or gate electrode materials of a transistor may reduce the overlap area between various pairs of these contacts, which may, in turn, allow reducing the off-state capacitance of the transistor. Reducing the off-state capacitance of III-N transistors may advantageously allow increasing their switching frequency.

III-N transistors with contacts of modified widths

Embodiments include a transistor and methods of forming such transistors. In an embodiment, the transistor comprises a semiconductor substrate, a barrier layer over the semiconductor substrate; a polarization layer over the barrier layer, an insulating layer over the polarization layer, a gate electrode through the insulating layer and the polarization layer, a spacer along sidewalls of the gate electrode, and a gate dielectric between the gate electrode and the barrier layer.

E-D mode 2DEG FET with gate spacer to locally tune VT and improve breakdown

Disclosed herein are IC structures, packages, and devices that include III-N transistors implementing various means by which their threshold voltage it tuned. In some embodiments, a III-N transistor may include a doped semiconductor material or a fixed charge material included in a gate stack of the transistor. In other embodiments, a III-N transistor may include a doped semiconductor material or a fixed charge material included between a gate stack and a III-N channel stack of the transistor. Including doped semiconductor or fixed charge materials either in the gate stack or between the gate stack and the III-N channel stack of III-N transistors adds charges, which affects the amount of 2DEG and, therefore, affects the threshold voltages of these transistors.

Charge-induced threshold voltage tuning in III-N transistors

An integrated circuit includes a gate structure in contact with a portion of semiconductor material between a source region and a drain region. The gate structure includes gate dielectric and a gate electrode. The gate dielectric includes at least two hybrid stacks of dielectric material. Each hybrid stack includes a layer of low-&#x3ba; dielectric and a layer of high-&#x3ba; dielectric on the layer of low-&#x3ba; dielectric, where the layer of high-&#x3ba; dielectric has a thickness at least two times the thickness of the layer of low-&#x3ba; dielectric. In some cases, the layer of low-&#x3ba; dielectric has a thickness no greater than 1.5 nm. The layer of high-&#x3ba; dielectric may be a composite layer that includes two or more layers of compositionally-distinct materials. The gate structure can be used with any number of transistor configurations but is particularly useful with respect to group III-V transistors.

Transistor gate structure with hybrid stacks of dielectric material

Disclosed herein are IC structures, packages, and device assemblies with III-N transistors that include additional materials, referred to herein as 'stressor materials,' which may be selectively provided over portions of polarization materials to locally increase or decrease the strain in the polarization material. Providing a compressive stressor material may decrease the tensile stress imposed by the polarization material on the underlying portion of the III-N semiconductor material, thereby decreasing the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) and increasing a threshold voltage of a transistor. On the other hand, providing a tensile stressor material may increase the tensile stress imposed by the polarization material, thereby increasing the 2DEG and decreasing the threshold voltage. Providing suitable stressor materials enables easier and more accurate control of threshold voltage compared to only relying on polarization material recess.

III-N transistors with local stressors for threshold voltage control

Disclosed herein are IC structures, packages, and devices assemblies that use ions or fixed charge to create field plate structures which are embedded in a dielectric material between gate and drain electrodes of a transistor. Ion- or fixed charge-based field plate structures may provide viable approaches to changing the distribution of electric field at a transistor drain to increase the breakdown voltage of a transistor without incurring the large parasitic capacitances associated with the use of metal field plates. In one aspect, an IC structure includes a transistor, a dielectric material between gate and drain electrodes of the transistor, and an ion- or fixed charge-based region within the dielectric material, between the gate and the drain electrodes. Such an ion- or fixed charge-based region realizes an ion- or fixed charge-based field plate structure. Optionally, the IC structure may include multiple ion- or fixed charge-based field plate structures.

Transistors with ion- or fixed charge-based field plate structures

Disclosed herein are IC structures, packages, and devices that include thin-film transistors (TFTs) integrated on the same substrate/die/chip as III-N devices, e.g., III-N transistors. In various aspects, TFTs integrated with III-N transistors have a channel and source/drain materials that include one or more of a crystalline material, a polycrystalline semiconductor material, or a laminate of crystalline and polycrystalline materials. In various aspects, TFTs integrated with III-N transistors are engineered to include one or more of 1) graded dopant concentrations in their source/drain regions, 2) graded dopant concentrations in their channel regions, and 3) thicker and/or composite gate dielectrics in their gate stacks.

III-N transistors integrated with thin-film transistors having graded dopant concentrations and/or composite gate dielectrics

Embodiments include a transistor and methods of forming a transistor. In an embodiment, the transistor comprises a semiconductor channel, a source electrode on a first side of the semiconductor channel, a drain electrode on a second side of the semiconductor channel, a polarization layer over the semiconductor channel, an insulator stack over the polarization layer, and a gate electrode over the semiconductor channel. In an embodiment, the gate electrode comprises a main body that passes through the insulator stack and the polarization layer, and a first field plate extending out laterally from the main body.

Antenna gate field plate on 2DEG planar FET

An integrated circuit structure comprises a base layer that includes a channel region, wherein the base layer and the channel region include group III-V semiconductor material. A polarization layer stack is over the base layer, wherein the polarization layer stack comprises a buffer stack, an interlayer over the buffer stack, a polarization layer over the interlayer. A cap layer stack is over the polarization layer to reduce transistor access resistance.

Cap layer on a polarization layer to preserve channel sheet resistance

Disclosed herein are integrated circuit structures, packages, and devices that include resistors and/or capacitors which may be provided on the same substrate/die/chip as III-N devices, e.g., III-N transistors. An integrated circuit structure, comprising a base structure comprising a III-N material, the base structure having a conductive region of a doped III-N material. The IC structure further comprises a first contact element, including a first conductive element, a dielectric element, and a second conductive element, wherein the dielectric element is between the first conductive element and the second conductive element, and wherein the first conductive element is between the conductive region and the dielectric element. The IC structure further comprises a second contact element electrically coupled to the first contact element via the conductive region.

Integration of passive components in III-N devices

Disclosed herein are IC structures, packages, and devices that include planar III-N transistors with wrap-around gates and/or one or more wrap-around source/drain (S/D) contacts. An example IC structure includes a support structure (e.g., a substrate) and a planar III-N transistor. The transistor includes a channel stack of a III-N semiconductor material and a polarization material, provided over the support structure, a pair of S/D regions provided in the channel stack, and a gate stack of a gate dielectric material and a gate electrode material provided over a portion of the channel stack between the S/D regions, where the gate stack at least partially wraps around an upper portion of the channel stack.

Growing community of inventors

Hillsboro, OR, United States of America

Johann Christian Rode