1. Field
The disclosed technology relates to semiconductor technology, and particularly, to FinFETs and methods for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Technology
With size reduction of planar-type semiconductor devices, short channel effect becomes increasingly obvious. In order to address problems caused by the short channel effect, three-dimensional semiconductor devices such as Fin Field Effect Transistors (FinFETs) have been proposed. The FinFET comprises a semiconductor fin forming a channel region and a gate stack covering at least a sidewall of the semiconductor fin. The gate stack intersects the semiconductor fin and comprises a gate conductor and a gate dielectric. The gate dielectric isolates the gate conductor from the semiconductor fin. The FinFET may have a double-gate, a tri-gate, or an annular-gate configuration. The semiconductor fin has a small width (i.e., thickness), and thus the FinFET can improve control of carriers in the channel region by the gate conductor and suppress the short-channel effect.
The FinFET may be manufactured on a bulk silicon substrate or a Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) wafer. The FinFET based on the bulk silicon substrate has an advantage of low cost in massive production. However, the semiconductor substrate under the semiconductor fin may provide a leakage path between a source region and a drain region, causing performance deterioration or even failure of the device. Therefore, there is a need for FinFET devices that reduce leakage between the source and drain regions via the semiconductor substrate.
One aspect of the disclosed technology includes a FinFET capable of reducing the leakage between the source region and the drain region.
One aspect of the disclosed technology includes a method for manufacturing a FinFET. The method includes forming, on a semiconductor substrate, at least two openings to define a semiconductor fin. The method also includes forming a first gate dielectric layer that conformally covers the semiconductor fin and the at least two openings. The method also includes forming within the at least two openings a first gate conductor adjacent to a bottom of the semiconductor fin. The method also includes forming within the at least two openings an insulating isolation layer arranged on the first gate conductor. The method also includes forming a second gate conductor having a first portion on the insulating isolation layer, the first portion adjacent to a top of the semiconductor fin, and the second gate conductor having a second portion on the semiconductor fin. The method also includes forming spacers on sidewalls of the second gate conductor. The method also includes forming a source region and a drain region in the semiconductor fin.
Another aspect of the disclosed technology includes a FinFET. The FinFET includes a semiconductor substrate. The FinFET also includes a semiconductor fin formed in the semiconductor substrate. The FinFET also includes source/drain regions arranged at opposite ends of the semiconductor fin. The FinFET also includes a gate dielectric layer arranged on the semiconductor fin. The FinFET also includes a first gate conductor adjacent to a bottom of the semiconductor fin. The FinFET also includes an insulating isolation layer arranged on the first gate conductor. The FinFET also includes a second gate conductor having a first portion on the insulating isolation layer and adjacent to a top of the semiconductor fin and a second portion on the semiconductor fin. The FinFET also includes spacers arranged on sidewalls of the second gate conductor.
The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the disclosed technology will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Next, the disclosed technology will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings. Similar components throughout the drawings are indicated by similar reference numbers. The drawings are not drawn to scale for purpose of clarity.
A semiconductor structure obtained after several steps may be illustrated in a single figure for conciseness.
It will be understood that, in describing a structure of a device, when a layer or region is referred to as being arranged “on” or “above” another layer or region, the layer or region may be directly on or above the other layer or region, or there may be one or more other layers or regions sandwiched therebetween. When the device is turned over, the layer or region will be “under” or “below” the other layer or region. If the layer or region is to be directly arranged on the other layer or region, it will be described as “directly on” or “on and in contact with” the other layer or region.
In the disclosed technology, terminology “semiconductor structure” generally refers to a structure that has been formed after respective steps in manufacturing the semiconductor device and comprises all of the layers or regions that have been formed. Various specific details of the disclosed technology, such as structures, materials, sizes, and manufacturing processes and technologies of the device, will be described in the following to facilitate understanding of the disclosed technology. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the disclosed technology can be implemented without theses specific details.
Unless otherwise particularly indicated, parts of a FinFET may be formed of materials known to one of ordinary skill in the art. For some embodiments, a semiconductor material may comprise a Group III-V semiconductor material, such as GaAs, InP, GaN, and SiC, or a Group IV semiconductor material, such as Si or Ge. For some embodiments, a gate conductor may comprise a conductive material, such as any one selected from a group consisting of metal, doped polysilicon, a stack of metal and doped polysilicon, and any other conductive material including, e.g., any one selected from a group consisting of TaC, TiN, TaTbN, TaErN, TaYbN, TaSiN, HfSiN, MoSiN, RuTax, NiTax, MoNx, TiSiN, TiCN, TaAlC, TiAlN, TaN, PtSix, Ni3Si, Pt, Ru, Ir, Mo, HfRu, and RuOx. The gate conductor may also be any combination of the foregoing conductive materials. A gate dielectric may comprise SiO2 or any other material having a dielectric constant larger than that of SiO2. Such material may comprise, e.g., any one selected from a group consisting of oxide, nitride, oxynitride, silicide, aluminate, and titanate. The oxide may comprise, e.g., any one selected from a group consisting of SiO2, HfO2, ZrO2, Al2O3, TiO2, and La2O. The nitride may comprise, e.g., Si3N4. The silicide may comprise, e.g., HfSiOx. The aluminate may comprise, e.g., LaAlO3. The titanate may comprise, e.g., SrTiO3. The oxynitride may comprise, e.g., SiON. The gate dielectric may comprise any suitable material known to one of ordinary skill in the art or a suitable material that might be invented in the future.
The disclosed technology can be implemented in various ways, some examples of which will be described as follows.
According to an embodiment of the method of the disclosed technology, steps as illustrated in
As illustrated in
Next, the semiconductor substrate 101 is patterned to form a semiconductor fin 102. The patterning may comprise: forming a patterned photoresist mask PR1 on the semiconductor substrate 101 by photolithography comprising exposure and development; and removing exposed portions of the semiconductor substrate 101 through dry etching, such as ion milling, plasma etching, reactive ion etching, and laser ablation, or wet etching using an etching agent solution, in order to form at least two openings for defining the semiconductor fin 102. By controlling the etching time, it is possible to etch the semiconductor substrate 101 to a desired depth and thus control a height of the semiconductor fin 102.
It should be noted that although only one semiconductor fin 102 is shown in the drawings, the disclosed technology is not limited thereto. A plurality of semiconductor fins may be formed for a FinFET simultaneously. The plurality of semiconductor fins may be advantageous in increasing a turn-on current, for example.
Next, the photoresist mask PR1 is removed by being ashed or dissolved in a solution. Then, a high-k dielectric layer 103 is formed conformally with a polysilicon layer 104 overlaid thereon on a surface of the semiconductor structure by a known deposition process, such as Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), Atom Layer Deposition, or sputtering,. The high-k dielectric layer 103 may be, e.g., an HfO2 layer having a thickness of 5-10 nm. The polysilicon layer 104 should have a thickness sufficient to fill the openings. A portion of the polysilicon 104 is selectively removed with respect to the underlying high-k dielectric layer 103 through selective dry etching or wet etching, such as Reactive Ion Etching (ME), as shown in
Next, an oxide layer 105 is formed on a surface of the semiconductor structure by a High Density Plasma (HDP) deposition process, as shown in
By selective dry etching or wet etching, such as Reactive Ion Etching (ME), the oxide layer 105 is etched back with respect to the high-k dielectric layer 103. By controlling the etching time, the portion of the oxide layer 105 on the top of the semiconductor fin is entirely removed and the portions of the oxide layer 105 within the openings are partly removed.
As a result, the etched oxide layer 105 is arranged on only the polysilicon layer 104 within each opening and has a thickness of, e.g., about 10-20 nm, as shown in
Next, the second gate conductor 106 is formed on a surface of the semiconductor substrate by the above-described known deposition process, as shown in
For some embodiments, before the second gate conductor 106 is formed, exposed portions of the high-k dielectric layer 103 may be removed and a conformal high-k dielectric layer (e.g., HfO2, not shown) having a thickness of about 2-5 nm may be formed to provide an additional high-quality gate dielectric, which covers the semiconductor fin 102 and the openings conformally.
For some embodiments, before the second gate conductor 106 is formed, a conformal interface layer (e.g., silicon oxide, not shown) having a thickness of about 0.3-0.7 nm and a conformal high-k dielectric layer (e.g., HfO2, not shown) having a thickness of about 2-5 nm may be formed to provide an additional high-quality gate dielectric.
For some embodiments, before the second gate conductor 106 is formed, a work function adjustment layer (not shown) may be formed. The work function adjustment layer may comprise, e.g., one of TaC, TiN, TaTbN, TaErN, TaYbN, TaSiN, HfSiN, MoSiN, RuTa, NiTa, MoN, TiSiN, TiCN, TaAlC, TiAlN, TaN, PtSi, Ni3Si, Pt, Ru, Ir, Mo, HfRu, or RuOx, or any combinations thereof. The work function adjustment layer may have a thickness of about 2-10 nm. One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the work function adjustment layer is optional. A gate stack comprising the work function adjustment layer, e.g., HfO2/TiN/polysilicon, may advantageously achieve a decreased gate leakage current.
Next, the second gate conductor 106 is patterned as desired through the above-described patterning process using a photoresist mask PR2, as shown in
Next, the photoresist mask PR2 is removed by being ashed or dissolved in a solution, in order to expose a surface of the second gate conductor 106. Then, a nitride layer having a thickness of, e.g., 10-50 nm is deposited on a surface of the semiconductor structure through the above-described known deposition process. A portion of the nitride layer that extends in parallel with a main surface of the semiconductor substrate 101 is removed by anisotropic etching. Portions of the nitride layer that extend vertically on sidewalls of the second gate conductor 106 are retained to form spacers 107, as shown in
Then, source/drain regions (not shown) are formed by conducting ion implantation in the semiconductor fin 102 through the high-k dielectric layer 103 by using the second gate conductor 106 and the spacers 107 as a hard mask. During the ion implantation for forming the source/drain regions, for a p-type device, p-type dopants such as In, BF2, or B may be implanted, while for an n-type device, n-type dopants such as As or P may be implanted.
Additional ion implantations may be conducted to form extension and halo regions if desired. In the additional ion implantation for forming the extension regions, for the p-type device, the p-type dopants as described above may be implanted, while for the n-type device, the n-type dopants as described above may be implanted. In the additional ion implantation for forming the halo regions, for the p-type device, the n-type dopants as described above may be implanted, while for the n-type device, the p-type dopants as described above may be implanted.
For some embodiments, after the above-described ion implantation, the implanted dopants may be activated by annealing such as spike annealing, laser annealing, or rapid annealing, etc.
Next, exposed portions of the high-k dielectric layer 103 are selectively removed through the above-described dry etching or wet etching such as ME using a suitable etching agent and using the second gate conductor 106 and the spacers 107 as a hard mask. A top surface of the semiconductor substrate 101 and of the semiconductor fin 102 formed therein are exposed through the etching.
For some embodiments, silicification is performed on a surface of the second gate conductor 106 (if it is formed of silicon) and the exposed surfaces of the semiconductor substrate 101 and the semiconductor fin 102 to form a metal silicide layer 108, in order to reduce contact resistance with the gate, source and the drain regions, as shown in
Such silicification process is known. As an example, a Ni layer having a thickness of about 5-12 nm is deposited and then subjected to thermal process under 300-500° C. for 1-10 seconds such that NiSi is formed on the surfaces of the second gate conductor 106, the semiconductor substrate 101, and the semiconductor fin 102. Then, remaining parts of the Ni layer are removed by wet etching.
After the steps shown in
The first gate conductor 104 extends along a direction substantially in parallel with a length direction of the semiconductor fin 102. The second gate conductor 107 intersects the semiconductor fin 102. As an example, the second gate conductor 107 extends along a direction substantially perpendicular to the length direction of the semiconductor fin 102.
For some embodiments, a metal silicide layer 108 may be formed on top of the second gate conductor 107 and the semiconductor fin 102 to reduce the contact resistance.
According to the disclosed technology, bias voltage can be applied to the bottom of the semiconductor fin through the first gate conductor in order to reduce the leakage between the source region and the drain region.
The foregoing description does not explain technical details such as patterning and etching of each layer. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that layers and regions of desired shapes can be formed using various processes. Furthermore, processes different from those described above can be used to form the same structure. Features described in various embodiments can be combined for benefit.
The embodiments of the disclosed technology have been described as above. However, these embodiments are explanatory rather than for limiting scope of the disclosed technology. The scope of the disclosed technology is defined by the attached claims and equivalents thereof. One with ordinary skill in the art will understand that various modifications and substitutions can be made to these embodiments without departing from the scope of the disclosed technology.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201210447946.3 | Nov 2012 | CN | national |
This application claims priority to International Application No. PCT/CN2012/085634, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, entitled “FINFET AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREFOR,” and Chinese Application No. 201210447946.3, filed on Nov. 9, 2012, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/CN2012/085634 | Nov 2012 | US |
Child | 14585053 | US |