Globalfoundries Inc.

Advanced Micro Devices Corporation

Roman Boschke

Maciej Wiatr

Andy C Wei

Stephan Kronholz

Peter Javorka

Stefan Flachowsky

Thorsten E Kammler

Andreas Kurz

Markus Forsberg

Frank Wirbeleit

Anthony Mowry

Casey Scott

Jan Hoentschel

Ralf Richter

Christoph Schwan

Martin Gerhardt

Matthias Kessler

John Morgan

Manfred Horstmann

Markus Lenski

James F Buller

Uwe Griebenow

Vassilios Papageorgiou

Andreas Gehring

Christian Krueger

Oliver Aubel

Stephan-Detlef Kronholz

Elke Erben

Christian Schippel

Jens Poppe

By forming a trench isolation structure after providing a high-k dielectric layer stack, direct contact of oxygen-containing insulating material of a top surface of the trench isolation structure with the high-k dielectric material in shared polylines may be avoided. This technique is self-aligned, thereby enabling further device scaling without requiring very tight lithography tolerances. After forming the trench isolation structure, the desired electrical connection across the trench isolation structure may be re-established by providing a further conductive material.

Semiconductor device having a high-K gate dielectric above an STI region

E-fuses are used in integrated circuits in order to permit real-time dynamic reprogramming of the circuit after manufacturing. An e-fuse is hereby proposed wherein the metal element adapted to be blown upon passage of a current is not comprised of a silicide layer but is rather a metal layer above which a semiconductor layer is formed. A dielectric layer is then formed on the semiconductor layer, in order to prevent metal silicide from forming over the metal layer. The process of manufacturing the e-fuse can be easily integrated in an HKMG manufacturing flow. In particular, fully silicided metal gates may be manufactured in conjunction with the e-fuse, without jeopardizing the correct functioning of the e-fuse.

E-fuse design for high-K metal-gate technology

By reconfiguring material in a recess formed in drain and source regions of SOI transistors, the depth of the recess may be increased down to the buried insulating layer prior to forming respective metal silicide regions, thereby reducing series resistance and enhancing the stress transfer when the corresponding transistor element is covered by a highly stressed dielectric material. The material redistribution may be accomplished on the basis of a high temperature hydrogen bake.

SOI transistor having drain and source regions of reduced length and a stressed dielectric material adjacent thereto

When forming field effect transistors according to the gate-first HKMG approach, the cap layer formed on top of the gate electrode had to be removed before the silicidation step, resulting in formation of a metal silicide layer on the surface of the gate electrode and of the source and drain regions of the transistor. The present disclosure improves the manufacturing flow by skipping the gate cap removal process. Metal silicide is only formed on the source and drain regions. The gate electrode is then contacted by forming an aperture through the gate material, leaving the surface of the gate metal layer exposed.

Simplified gate-first HKMG manufacturing flow

When forming field effect transistors, a common problem is the formation of a Schottky barrier at the interface between a metal thin film in the gate electrode and a semiconductor material, typically polysilicon, formed thereupon. Fully silicided gates are known in the state of the art which may overcome this problem. The claimed method proposes an improved fully silicided gate achieved by forming a gate structure including an additional metal layer between the metal gate layer and the gate semiconductor material. A silicidation process can then be optimized so as to form a lower metal silicide layer comprising the metal of the additional metal layer and an upper metal silicide layer forming an interface with the lower metal silicide layer.

Sandwich silicidation for fully silicided gate formation

By using an implantation mask having a high intrinsic stress, SMT sequences may be provided in which additional lithography steps may be avoided. Consequently, a strain source may be provided without significantly contributing to the overall process complexity.

Method for forming a strained transistor by stress memorization based on a stressed implantation mask

Method for self-aligned removal of a high-K gate dielectric above an STI region

A semiconductor device includes a first transistor positioned in and above a first semiconductor region, the first semiconductor region having a first upper surface and including a first semiconductor material. The semiconductor device further includes first raised drain and source portions positioned on the first upper surface of the first semiconductor region, the first drain and source portions including a second semiconductor material having a different material composition from the first semiconductor material. Additionally, the semiconductor device includes a second transistor positioned in and above a second semiconductor region, the second semiconductor region including the first semiconductor material. Finally, the semiconductor device also includes strain-inducing regions embedded in the second semiconductor region, the embedded strain-inducing regions including the second semiconductor material.

Transistor with embedded Si/Ge material having reduced offset and superior uniformity

An embedded or buried resistive structure may be formed by amorphizing a semiconductor material and subsequently re-crystallizing the same in a polycrystalline state, thereby providing a high degree of compatibility with conventional polycrystalline resistors, such as polysilicon resistors, while avoiding the deposition of a dedicated polycrystalline material. Hence, polycrystalline resistors may be advantageously combined with sophisticated transistor architectures based on non-silicon gate electrode materials, while also providing high performance of the resistors with respect to the parasitic capacitance.

Semiconductor device comprising a buried poly resistor

In sophisticated semiconductor devices, the defect rate that may typically be associated with the provision of a silicon/germanium material in the active region of P-channel transistors may be significantly decreased by incorporating a carbon species prior to or during the selective epitaxial growth of the silicon/germanium material. In some embodiments, the carbon species may be incorporated during the selective growth process, while in other cases an ion implantation process may be used. In this case, superior strain conditions may also be obtained in N-channel transistors.

Reduction of defect rates in PFET transistors comprising a Si/Ge semiconductor material formed by epitaxial growth

A method for performing silicidation of a gate electrode is provided that includes forming both a first transistor with a first gate electrode covered by a cap layer and a semiconductor device on the same semiconductor substrate, forming an organic planarization layer (OPL) on the first transistor and the semiconductor device, back etching the OPL such that an upper surface of the OPL is positioned at a level that is below a level of an upper surface of the cap layer, forming a mask layer covering the semiconductor device without covering the first transistor, removing the cap layer while the back-etched OPL and the mask layer are present, and performing silicidation of the first gate electrode.

Silicidation of semiconductor devices

Methods for forming CMOS integrated circuit structures are provided, the methods comprising performing a first implantation process for performing at least one of a halo implantation and a source and drain extension implantation into a region of a semiconductor substrate and then forming a stressor region in another region of the semiconductor substrate. Furthermore, a semiconductor device structure is provided, the structure comprising a stressor region embedded into a semiconductor substrate adjacent to a gate structure, the embedded stressor region having a surface differing along a normal direction of the surface from an interface by less than about 8 nm, wherein the interface is formed between the gate structure and the substrate.

Semiconductor device structure and methods for forming a CMOS integrated circuit structure

When forming sophisticated gate electrode structures requiring a threshold adjusting semiconductor alloy for one type of transistor, a recess is formed in the corresponding active region, thereby providing superior process uniformity during the deposition of the semiconductor material. Moreover, the well dopant species is implanted after the recessing, thereby avoiding undue dopant loss. Due to the recess, any exposed sidewall surface areas of the active region may be avoided during the selective epitaxial growth process, thereby significantly contributing to enhanced threshold stability of the resulting transistor including the high-k metal gate stack.

Enhancing deposition uniformity of a channel semiconductor alloy by forming a recess prior to the well implantation

By forming an additional dielectric material, such as silicon nitride, after patterning dielectric liners of different intrinsic stress, a significant increase of performance of N-channel transistors may be obtained while substantially not contributing to a performance loss of the P-channel transistor.

Enhanced transistor performance of N-channel transistors by using an additional layer above a dual stress liner in a semiconductor device

The PN junction of a substrate diode in a sophisticated SOI device may be formed on the basis of an embedded in situ doped semiconductor material, thereby providing superior diode characteristics. For example, a silicon/germanium semiconductor material may be formed in a cavity in the substrate material, wherein the size and shape of the cavity may be selected so as to avoid undue interaction with metal silicide material.

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Dresden, Germany

Roman Boschke