Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comp. Ltd.

Promos Technologies, Inc

Other

Su-Chen Lai

Kong-Beng Thei

Harry Chuang

Gary Shen

Chiung-Han Yeh

Ming-Yuan Wu

Tzung-Chi Lee

Chien-Hung Wu

Hong-Dyi Chang

Ryan Chia-Jen Chen

Yu Chao Lin

Harry Hak-Lay Chuang

Yi-Shien Mor

Hak-Lay Chuang

Yi-Hsing Chen

Shun-Jang Liao

Chao-Hsi Chung

Kuo Cheng Cheng

Kuo Cheng-Cheng

A method for fabricating an integrated circuit with improved uniformity among the step heights of isolation regions is disclosed. The method comprises providing a substrate having one or more trenches; filling the one or more trenches; performing a chemical mechanical polishing on the one or more filled trenches, wherein each of the one or more filled trenches comprises a thickness; measuring the thickness of each of the one or more filled trenches; determining, based on the measured thickness of each of the one or more filled trenches, an amount of time to perform an etching process; and performing the etching process for the determined amount of time.

Process for controlling shallow trench isolation step height

A method of semiconductor device fabrication including forming a plurality of gate structures in a first portion of a substrate, wherein the plurality of gate structures have a first height. A first metal gate structure is formed in a second portion of the substrate, the first metal gate structure being surrounded by an isolation region. A plurality of dummy gate structures is formed in the second portion of the substrate. The plurality of dummy gate structures are configured in a ring formation encircling the metal gate structure and the isolation region. The plurality of dummy structures have a top surface that is substantially planar with the plurality of gate structures and covers at least 5% of a pattern density of the second portion of the substrate.

Method of fabricating a dummy gate structure in a gate last process

A method for fabricating a semiconductor device is provided which includes providing a semiconductor substrate, forming a plurality of transistors, each transistor having a dummy gate structure, forming a contact etch stop layer (CESL) over the substrate including the dummy gate structures, forming a first dielectric layer to fill in a portion of each region between adjacent dummy gate structures, forming a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) stop layer over the CESL and first dielectric layer, forming a second dielectric layer over the CMP stop layer, performing a CMP on the second dielectric layer that substantially stops at the CMP stop layer, and performing an overpolishing to expose the dummy gate structure.

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) method for gate last process

The present disclosure provides a method of fabricating a semiconductor device. The method includes providing a semiconductor substrate having a first active region and a second active region, forming a high-k dielectric layer over the semiconductor substrate, forming a capping layer over the high-k dielectric layer, forming a first metal layer over the capping layer, the first metal layer having a first work function, forming a mask layer over the first metal layer in the first active region, removing the first metal layer and at least a portion of the capping layer in the second active region using the mask layer, and forming a second metal layer over the partially removed capping layer in the second active region, the second metal layer having a second work function.

High-k metal gate CMOS patterning method

A semiconductor device is provided which includes a semiconductor substrate having a first portion and a second portion, transistors formed in the first portion of the substrate, each transistor having a gate structure with a high-k dielectric and a metal gate, a device element formed in the second portion of the substrate, the device element being isolated by an isolation region, and a polishing stopper formed adjacent the isolation region and having a surface that is substantially planar with a surface of the gate structures of the transistors in the first region.

Dummy gate structure for gate last process

A method for fabricating a semiconductor device is disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate; forming one or more gate structures over the substrate; forming a buffer layer over the substrate, including over the one or more gate structures; forming an etch stop layer over the buffer layer; forming a interlevel dielectric (ILD) layer over the etch stop layer; and removing a portion of the buffer layer, a portion of the etch stop layer, and a portion of the ILD layer over the one or more gate structures.

Method for a gate last process

Provided is a method that includes forming first and second gate structures in first and second regions, respectively, the first gate structure including a first hard mask layer having a first thickness and the second gate structure including a second hard mask layer having a second thickness less than the first thickness, removing the second hard mask layer from the second gate structure, forming an inter-layer dielectric (ILD) over the first and second gate structures, performing a first chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), remove the silicon layer from the second gate structure thereby forming a first trench, forming a first metal layer to fill the first trench, performing a second CMP, remove the remaining portion of the first hard mask layer and the silicon layer from the first gate structure thereby forming a second trench, forming a second metal layer to fill the second trench, and performing a third CMP.

Method for gate height control in a gate last process

A method is provided for fabricating a semiconductor device that includes providing a semiconductor substrate having a first region and a second region, forming a high-k dielectric layer over the substrate, forming a silicon layer over the high-k dielectric layer, forming a hard mask layer over the silicon layer, patterning the hard mask layer, silicon layer, and high-k dielectric layer to form first and second gate structures over the first and second regions, respectively, forming a contact etch stop layer (CESL) over the first and second gate structures, modifying a profile of the CESL by an etching process, forming an inter-layer dielectric (ILD) over the modified CESL, performing a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) on the ILD to expose the silicon layer of the first and second gate structures, respectively, and removing the silicon layer from the first and second gate structures, respectively, and replacing it with metal gate structures.

Method for gap filling in a gate last process

A gate structure includes a substrate, a gate dielectric layer, a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer, a cap layer and a first insulating spacer. The gate dielectric layer is disposed on the substrate. The first conductive layer is disposed on the gate dielectric layer and has an opening. A part of the second conductive layer is disposed in the opening. The second conductive layer has an extrusion that protrudes above the opening of the first conductive layer. The extrusion has a cross-sectional width less than the width of the second conductive layer inside the opening. The cap layer is disposed on the extrusion. The first insulating spacer is disposed on a part of the first conductive layer and covers the sidewalls of the extrusion. The inclusion of the extrusion in the second conductive layer decreases the resistance of the gate structure and promotes the efficiency of the device.

Gate structure

A gate structure comprising a substrate, a gate dielectric layer, a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer, a cap layer and a first insulating spacer is provided. The gate dielectric layer is disposed on the substrate. The first conductive layer is disposed on the gate dielectric layer and has an opening. Part of the second conductive layer is disposed in the opening. The second conductive layer has an extrusion that protrudes above the opening of the first conductive layer. The extrusion has a cross-sectional width less than the width of the second conductive layer inside the opening. The cap layer is disposed on the extrusion. The first insulating spacer is disposed on part of the first conductive layer and covers the sidewalls of the extrusion. The inclusion of the extrusion in the second conductive layer decreases the resistance of the gate structure and promotes the efficiency of the device.

Fabricating method of gate structure

The invention provides a method for forming a bottle-shaped trench. A semiconductor substrate having a pad stack layer and a trench formed thereon is provided. Sidewall protective layers are then formed on the upper sidewalls of the trench. A masking layer is formed at the bottom of the trench, followed by wet etching to remove the semiconductor substrate not covered by the sidewall protective layers thus forming a bottle-shaped trench. Finally, the masking layer is removed.

Method for forming a bottle-shaped trench

A method of fabricating a deep trench capacitor is provided. A substrate with a deep trench thereon is provided. A bottom electrode is formed at a bottom of the deep trench and a capacitor dielectric layer, a first conductive layer, a protective layer and a collar layer are sequentially formed on the surface of the deep trench. The protective layer and the collar oxide layer on the surface of the first conductive layer are removed, material is deposited into the deep trench to form a material layer. A portion of the material layer is removed to form a first opening. Thereafter, collar oxide layer and the protective layer not covered by the material layer is removed. A portion of the mask layer and the protective layer on the sidewall of the first opening is removed to form a second opening. After removing the material layer, a second conductive layer and a third conductive layer are sequentially formed in the deep trench.

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Hsinchu, Taiwan

Su-Chen Lai