Intel Corporation

Mohit K Haran

Charles Henry Wallace

Reken Patel

Paul Anton Nyhus

Leonard P Guler

Richard E Schenker

Ruth Amy Brain

Tahir Ghani

Michael Harper

Curtis W Ward

Marvin Young Paik

Alexander F Kaplan

Deepak S Rao

Manish Chandhok

Oleg Golonzka

Florian Gstrein

Eungnak Han

Gurpreet Singh

Hiten Kothari

Debashish Basu

Nicholas J Kybert

Hyunsoo Park

Sean Michael Pursel

Biswajeet Guha

Swaminathan Sivakumar

William Hsu

Jason W Klaus

David N Shykind

Andy Chih-Hung Wei

Atul Madhavan

Robert M Bigwood

James Jeong

Mohammad Hasan

Seungdo An

Jeffrey Miles Tan

Niels Zussblatt

Benjamin Kriegel

Suzanne S Rich

Daniel James Bahr

Kilhyun Bang

Elijah V Karpov

Rami Hourani

Elliot Tan

Urusa Alaan

Gopinath Bhimarasetti

Dax M Crum

Guillaume Bouche

Chanaka D Munasinghe

Dan S Lavric

Saurabh Morarka

Krishna Kumar Ganesan

Changyok Park

Jitendra Kumar Jha

Orb Acton

David J Towner

Jinnie Aloysius

Hyuk Ju Ryu

YenTing Chiu

Makram Abd El Qader

Marie Conte

Contact over active gate (COAG) structures with etch stop layers, and methods of fabricating contact over active gate (COAG) structures using etch stop layers, are described. In an example, an integrated circuit structure includes a plurality of gate structures above substrate, each of the gate structures including a gate insulating layer thereon. A plurality of conductive trench contact structures is alternating with the plurality of gate structures, each of the conductive trench contact structures including a trench insulating layer thereon. A first dielectric etch stop layer is directly on and continuous over the trench insulating layers and the gate insulating layers. A second dielectric etch stop layer is directly on and continuous over the first dielectric etch stop layer, the second dielectric etch stop layer distinct from the first dielectric etch stop layer. An interlayer dielectric material is on the second dielectric etch stop layer.

Contact over active gate structures with etch stop layers for advanced integrated circuit structure fabrication

Contact over active gate (COAG) structures with conductive trench contact taps are described. In an example, an integrated circuit structure includes a plurality of gate structures above a substrate, each of the gate structures including a gate insulating layer thereon. A plurality of conductive trench contact structures is alternating with the plurality of gate structures, each of the conductive trench contact structures including a trench insulating layer thereon. One of the plurality of conductive trench contact structures includes a conductive tap structure protruding through the corresponding trench insulating layer. An interlayer dielectric material is above the trench insulating layers and the gate insulating layers. A conductive structure is in direct contact with the conductive tap structure of the one of the plurality of conductive trench contact structures.

Contact over active gate structures with conductive trench contact taps for advanced integrated circuit structure fabrication

An integrated circuit structure includes a first vertical arrangement of horizontal nanowires and a second vertical arrangement of horizontal nanowires. A first gate stack is over the first vertical arrangement of horizontal nanowires, and a second gate stack is over the second vertical arrangement of horizontal nanowires. An end of the second gate stack is spaced apart from an end of the first gate stack by a gap. A first dielectric gate spacer is laterally around the first gate stack and has a portion along an end of the first gate stack and in the gap. A second dielectric gate spacer is laterally around the second gate stack and has a portion along an end of the second gate stack and in the gap. The portion of the second dielectric gate spacer is laterally merged with the portion of the first dielectric gate spacer in the gap.

Integrated circuit structures having cut metal gates with dielectric spacer fill

Gate-all-around integrated circuit structures having pre-spacer-deposition cut gates are described. For example, an integrated circuit structure includes a first vertical arrangement of horizontal nanowires and a second vertical arrangement of horizontal nanowires. A first gate stack is over the first vertical arrangement of horizontal nanowires, and a second gate stack is over the second vertical arrangement of horizontal nanowires. An end of the second gate stack is spaced apart from an end of the first gate stack by a gap. The integrated circuit structure also includes a dielectric structure having a first portion forming a gate spacer along sidewalls of the first gate stack, a second portion forming a gate spacer along sidewalls of the second gate stack, and a third portion completely filling the gap, the third portion continuous with the first and second portions.

Fabrication of gate-all-around integrated circuit structures having pre-spacer deposition cut gates

An integrated circuit structure comprises a first and second vertical arrangement of horizontal nanowires in a PMOS region and in an NMOS region. A first gate stack having a P-type conductive layer surrounds the first vertical arrangement of horizontal nanowires. A second gate stack surrounds the second vertical arrangement of horizontal nanowires. In one embodiment, the second gate stack has an N-type conductive layer, the P-type conductive layer is over the second gate stack, and an N-type conductive fill is between N-type conductive layer and the P-type conductive layer to provide same polarity metal filled gates. In another embodiment, the second gate stack has an N-type conductive layer comprising Titanium (Ti) and 'Nitrogen (N) having a low saturation thickness of 3-3.5 nm surrounding the nanowires, and the N-type conductive layer is covered by the P-type conductive layer.

Gate-all-around integrated circuit structures having uniform threshold voltages and tight gate endcap tolerances

Methods and architectures for IC interconnect trenches, and trench plugs that define separations between two adjacent trench ends. Plugs and trenches may be defined through a multiple patterning process. An upper grating pattern may be summed with a plug keep pattern into a pattern accumulation layer. The pattern accumulation layer may be employed to define plug masks. A lower grating pattern may then be summed with the plug masks to define a pattern in a trench ILD material, which can then be backfilled with interconnect metallization. As such, a complex damascene interconnect structure can be fabricated at the scaled-down geometries achievable with pitch-splitting techniques. In some embodiments, the trenches are located at spaces between first spacer masks defined in a patterning process associated with the first grating pattern while the plug masks are located based on a tone-inversion of second spacer masks associated with the second grating pattern.

Plug and trench architectures for integrated circuits and methods of manufacture

Contact over active gate (COAG) structures are described. In an example, an integrated circuit structure includes a plurality of gate structures above substrate, each of the gate structures including a gate insulating layer thereon. A plurality of conductive trench contact structures is alternating with the plurality of gate structures, each of the conductive trench contact structures including a trench insulating layer thereon. A remnant of a di-block-co-polymer is over a portion of the plurality of gate structures or the plurality of conductive trench contact structures. An interlayer dielectric material is over the di-block-co-polymer, over the plurality of gate structures, and over the plurality of conductive trench contact structures. An opening in the interlayer dielectric material. A conductive structure is in the opening, the conductive structure in direct contact with a corresponding one of the trench contact structures or with a corresponding one of the gate contact structures.

Contact over active gate structures using directed self-assembly for advanced integrated circuit structure fabrication

Disclosed herein are transistor arrangements with trench contacts that have two parts—a first trench contact and a second trench contact—stacked over one another. Such transistor arrangements may be fabricated by forming a first trench contact over a source or drain contact of a transistor, recessing the first trench contact, forming the second trench contact over the first trench contact, and, finally, forming a gate contact that is electrically isolated from, while being self-aligned to, the second trench contact. Such a fabrication process may provide improvements in terms of increased edge placement error margin, cost-efficiency, and device performance, compared to conventional approaches to forming trench and gate contacts. The conductive material of the first trench contact may also be deposited over the gate electrodes of transistors, forming a gate strap, to advantageously reduce gate resistance.

Transistor arrangements with stacked trench contacts and gate straps

Contact over active gate (COAG) structures with a tapered gate or trench contact are described. In an example, an integrated circuit structure includes a plurality of gate structures above a substrate, wherein individual ones of the plurality gate of structures have thereon a conductive cap between sidewall spacers. A plurality of conductive trench contact structures is alternating with the plurality of gate structures, wherein individual ones of the plurality of conductive trench contact structures have thereon a conductive cap between sidewall spacers. A conductive structure is in direct contact with the conductive cap and sidewall spacers on one of the plurality of gate structures or with the conductive cap and sidewall spacers on one of the plurality of conductive trench contact structures.

Contact over active gate structures with tapered gate or trench contact for advanced integrated circuit structure fabrication

Self-aligned patterning with colored blocking and resulting structures are described. In an example, an integrated circuit structure includes an inter-layer dielectric (ILD) layer above a substrate, and a hardmask layer on the ILD layer. A plurality of conductive interconnect lines is in and spaced apart by the ILD layer and the hardmask layer. The plurality of conductive interconnect lines includes a first interconnect line having a first width. A second interconnect line is immediately adjacent the first interconnect line by a first distance, the second interconnect line having the first width. A third interconnect line is immediately adjacent the second interconnect line by the first distance, the third interconnect line having the first width. A fourth interconnect line is immediately adjacent the third interconnect line by a second distance greater than the first distance, the fourth interconnect line having a second width greater than the first width.

Self-aligned patterning with colored blocking and structures resulting therefrom

Contact over active gate structure with metal oxide layers are described are described. In an example, an integrated circuit structure includes a plurality of gate structures above substrate, each of the gate structures including a gate insulating layer thereon. A plurality of conductive trench contact structures is alternating with the plurality of gate structures. A portion of one of the plurality of trench contact structures has a metal oxide layer thereon. An interlayer dielectric material is over the plurality of gate structures and over the plurality of conductive trench contact structures. An opening is in the interlayer dielectric material and in a gate insulating layer of a corresponding one of the plurality of gate structures. A conductive via is in the opening, the conductive via in direct contact with the corresponding one of the plurality of gate structures, and the conductive via on the metal oxide layer.

Contact over active gate structures with metal oxide layers to inhibit shorting

Discussed herein is gate spacing in integrated circuit (IC) structures, as well as related methods and components. For example, in some embodiments, an IC structure may include: a first gate metal having a longitudinal axis; a second gate metal, wherein the longitudinal axis of the first gate metal is aligned with a longitudinal axis of the second gate metal; a first gate contact above the first gate metal; a second gate contact above the second gate metal; and an unordered region having an unordered lamellar pattern, wherein the unordered region is coplanar with the first gate contact and the second gate contact.

Gate spacing in integrated circuit structures

Embodiments disclosed herein include semiconductor devices and methods of forming such devices. In an embodiment a semiconductor device comprises a first interlayer dielectric (ILD), a plurality of source/drain (S/D) contacts in the first ILD, a plurality of gate contacts in the first ILD, wherein the gate contacts and the S/D contacts are arranged in an alternating pattern, and wherein top surfaces of the gate contacts are below top surfaces of the S/D contacts so that a channel defined by sidewall surfaces of the first ILD is positioned over each of the gate contacts, mask layer partially filling a first channel over a first gate contact, and a fill metal filling a second channel over a second gate contact that is adjacent to the first gate contact.

1D vertical edge blocking (VEB) via and plug

Growing community of inventors

Hillsboro, OR, United States of America

Mohit K Haran