This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-362355, filed on Dec. 15, 2004; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device having a trench, such as a method of forming a trench for use in a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) to bury a capacitor therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor devices such as DRAMs and analog circuits are provided with capacitors. For example, the DRAM is configured to store one bit information based on the amount of charge accumulated in the capacitor. The DRAM inevitably causes leakage of the charge accumulated in the capacitor. Accordingly, it is required to read information once prior to dissipation of the charge from the capacitor and then write the same information. This is called refresh operation. Without a need for excessive refresh operation to store information correctly, the capacitor is required to have a larger capacitance. The capacitance C of the capacitor can be represented by C=εS/d, where ε denotes a dielectric constant of a capacitor insulator or a dielectric film; S denotes a surface area of the capacitor insulator; and d denotes a thickness of the capacitor insulator. Thus, the capacitance C is proportional to the surface area S of the capacitor insulator.
Fine patterning of the DRAM prevents a capacitor formed in planar on the surface of the semiconductor substrate from having a larger surface area of the capacitor insulator that increases the capacitance of the capacitor. Thus, a trench is formed in the semiconductor substrate by etching to bury the capacitor therein to extend the capacitor vertically. This is effective to enlarge the surface area of the capacitor insulator to increase the capacitance of the capacitor.
In the case of the capacitor formed in the trench, a deeper trench ensures the capacitance of the capacitor even if the DRAM is more finely patterned. A larger aspect ratio of the trench (Depth of the trench/Aperture Diameter of the upper end of the trench) makes the etching hard to proceed in the depth of the trench. Accordingly, various methods of forming trenches have been proposed (for example, JP Patent No. 3219149, FIGS. 1, 4-7 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,823, FIGS. 5 and 6).
In an aspect the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. The method comprises, forming a mask member on a surface of a semiconductor substrate; and forming a trench in the semiconductor substrate by selectively etching the semiconductor substrate with a mask of the mask member under a certain pressure. The pressure is changed on arrival of (Etching Depth)/(Aperture Width in said surface) at 30 or more for the remainder of the etching by a factor ranging from 1/2 to 9/10 relative to the pressure at the time of the arrival.
In another aspect the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. The method comprises, forming a mask member on a surface of a semiconductor substrate; and forming a trench in the semiconductor substrate by selectively etching the semiconductor substrate with a mask of the mask member under a certain bias power. The bias power is changed on arrival of (Etching Depth)/(Aperture Width in said surface) at 30 or more for the remainder of the etching by a factor ranging from 1.25 to 1.5 relative to the bias power at the time of the arrival.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. In the figures the same reference numerals are given to the parts same as or similar to those once described to avoid duplicate description thereof. The embodiment has a primary characteristic in forming a trench in a semiconductor substrate by selectively etching the semiconductor substrate under a certain pressure. The pressure is changed on arrival of (Etching Depth)/(Aperture Width (Diameter) in a surface of the semiconductor substrate) at 40 or more for the remainder of the etching by a factor ranging from 1/2 to 9/10 relative to the pressure at the time of the arrival.
In the trench formed in accordance with the embodiment, a trench capacitor for a DRAM memory cell is disposed. The following description is given first to a structure of the DRAM memory cell fabricated in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the embodiment.
In the p-type semiconductor substrate (such as a silicon substrate) 1, a plurality of deep trenches 7 are formed so as to extend from the surface 3 to the inside of the semiconductor substrate 1. The trench 7 has a depth of 6-8 μm, for example. The trench 7 has an upper portion 9 above a border set at a depth of 1.3-1.5 μm from the surface 3, for example, and a lower portion 11 below the border. The upper portion 9 has tapered sides such that the trench 7 has a smaller width at the inside of the semiconductor substrate 1 than that at the surface 3. Accordingly, in the upper portion 9 of the trench, the trench 7 has a gradually decreasing width. In contrast, in the lower portion 11 of the trench, the trench 7 has a substantially constant width.
An n-type impurity region 13 is formed in the semiconductor substrate 1 around the lower portion 11 of the trench. A capacitor insulator film 15 is formed on a side of the lower portion 11. A buried conductive member 17 composed of polysilicon is formed on the capacitor insulator film 15 as buried in the lower portion 11. The capacitor Cs includes the impurity region 13 serving as one electrode, the capacitor insulator film 15, and the buried conductive member 17 serving as the other electrode.
A collar insulator film 19 is formed on a side of the upper portion 9 of the trench. The collar insulator film 19 prevents formation of a parasitic transistor. Accordingly, the collar insulator film 19 is thicker than the capacitor insulator film 15. A buried wire 21 is formed on the collar insulator film 19 as buried in the upper portion 9 of the trench. The buried wire 21 is connected to the buried conductive member 17 in the trench 7. A conductive film 23 is formed on the upper portion 9 of the trench to cover the collar insulator film 19 and the buried wire 21 and is in contact with the buried wire 21. A device isolation film 25 is buried in the surface 3 and disposed between adjoining trenches 7.
A gate insulator film 27 for the MOS transistor Tr is formed over the surface 3. Word lines WL are disposed at intervals on the gate insulator. The word line WL located on an active region serves as the gate electrode 5. The active region is defined as a region that includes no device isolation film 25 formed therein. An n-type source region 29 and an n-type drain region 31 are formed in the active region to configure the MOS transistor Tr. The source region 29 is in contact with the conductive film 23.
An interlayer insulator film 33 is formed over the word lines WL. A bit line BL is formed on the interlayer insulator film 33. The bit line BL is connected to the drain region 31 through a connection member 35 buried in the interlayer insulator film 33.
An equivalent circuit of the memory cell MC shown in
The following description is given to an etching apparatus for use in the trench formation in the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the embodiment.
The etching apparatus 101 further comprises a vacuum pump 107 operative to adjust pressure in the chamber 103, and two radio-frequency power sources 111, 113 connected to an electrode in the chamber 103 through an impedance matching device or matcher 109. The radio-frequency power source 111 is connected to the stage 105 serving as the cathode electrode to supply a radio-frequency power of 3.2 MHz. The radio-frequency power source 113 is also connected to the stage 105 to supply a radio-frequency power of 40 MHz. The radio-frequency power source 111 supplies the power to the stage 105 at a low frequency as a bias power. The radio-frequency power source 113 on the other hand supplies the power to the stage 105 at a high frequency as a source power. Thus, the etching apparatus 101 operates in a double-frequency superimposition scheme that employs two different frequencies superimposed.
The etching apparatus 101 further comprises a gas conduit 119 having one end led to the upper portion in the chamber 103 and the other end connected through a mass flow 115 to a gas storage bin 117 for etching gas, and an anode electrode 120 grounded and arranged opposite to the stage 105 serving as the cathode electrode.
The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the embodiment is described separately about the steps to the trench formation and about the steps thereafter.
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A silicon oxide film 41 with a thickness of 1600 nm is then formed by CVD over the silicon nitride film 39. A spin coating method is employed to form a film of resist 43 with a thickness of 600 nm over the silicon oxide film 41. A process of photolithography is applied to pattern the resist 43 such that the resist 43 has an aperture 47 at the position corresponding to a region 45 for formation of the trench 7.
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After formation of the upper portion 9 of the trench, the process is transferred to the step of forming the lower portion 11 of the trench with the use of RIE as shown in
In the embodiment the former step and the latter step are divided on arrival of (Etching Depth d)/(Aperture Width w in the surface 3) at 40 as a border, immediately before the arrival at approximately 42-43. In the latter step, the pressure inside the chamber 103 is changed for further etching by a factor ranging from 1/2 to 9/10 relative to that in the former step. In other words, the pressure is changed on arrival of (Etching Depth d)/(Aperture Width w in the surface 3) at 40 for the remainder of the etching by a factor ranging from 1/2 to 9/10 relative to the pressure at the time of the arrival. This is effective to retain the straightness of traveling ions and prevent the bend of the trench 7.
The pressure is changed by 1/2 or more because, if less than 1/2, the selective etching ratio between the mask member 51 and the semiconductor substrate 1 becomes too small to form the trench 7 with a desired depth. On the other hand, the pressure is changed by 9/10 or less because, if more than 9/10, reacted products yielded by etching at the deepest portion in the trench 7 are hardly exhausted to external. As a result, the reacted products present in the deepest portion have a lowered uniformity, which causes the above-described bent portion 55 of the trench 7 consequently. Preferably, the pressure inside the chamber 103 at the former step is equal to 180 mTorr or higher from the viewpoint of a selective etching ratio sufficiently ensured between the mask member 51 and the semiconductor substrate 1 to form a deep trench 7 with (Etching Depth d)/(Aperture Width w in the surface 3) more than 40.
The specific conditions for the former step shown in
On arrival of (Etching Depth d)/(Aperture Width w in the surface 3) at 40, as shown in
As described above, in the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the embodiment, the bent portion 55 (
In the embodiment, considering that the trench 7 begins to bend at about 42-43 of (Etching Depth d)/(Aperture Width w in the surface 3), the pressure inside the chamber 103 is changed at 40 as a border, which appears immediately before those. Even if the pressure inside the chamber 103 is changed on arrival at 30 or more, the formation of the bent portion 55 at the lower portion 11 of the trench can be prevented. Nevertheless, the trench 7 can be formed deeper if the pressure inside the chamber 103 is changed at a value close to 40 of (Etching Depth d)/(Aperture Width w in the surface 3).
If the trench 7 begins to bend at much more than 42-43 of (Etching Depth d)/(Aperture Width w in the surface 3), the pressure inside the chamber may be changed at a value less than such one that appears immediately before the beginning of the bend.
Instead of changing the pressure inside the chamber 103 between the former and latter steps, the bias power in the latter step may be changed by a factor ranging from 1.25 to 1.5 relative to that in the former step. Even in this case, it is also possible to retain the straightness of traveling ions to achieve the effect for preventing the bend of the trench 7. The bias power is changed by 1.25 or more because, if less than 1.25, the straightness of traveling ions is worsened at the deepest portion in the trench 7 and the shape of the trench 7 can not be controlled. The bias power is changed by 1.5 or less on the other hand because, if more than 1.5, the selective etching ratio between the mask member 51 and the semiconductor substrate 1 becomes too small to form the trench 7 with a desired depth. Preferably, the bias power in the former step is kept at 1000 W or less to ensure a sufficient selective etching ratio between the mask member 51 and the semiconductor substrate 1 to form a deep trench 7 with (Etching Depth d)/(Aperture Width w in the surface 3) more than 40.
The specific conditions in the case of changing the bias power are described. In both the former and latter steps, the etching gas is a mixed gas containing 230 sccm of HBr, 8 sccm of O2 and 17 sccm of NF3. The chamber 103 has an internal pressure of 200 mTorr, for example. The source power is kept at 800 W, for example. The bias power in the former step is set at 900 W while the bias power in the latter step is set at 1200 W (about 1.3 times).
If the bias power in the former step is set at 900 W, the bias power in the latter step may be set in a range between 1150 W and 1350 W. In this case, the effect for preventing formation of the bent portion 55 at the lower portion 11 of the trench is more remarkable than when the bias power falls outside the range.
Finally, the steps after the trench formation are described.
A spin coating method is then employed to form a film of resist 61 with a thickness of several 1000 nm over the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 1. The resist 61 is buried in the trench 7. A down-flow etching is applied to remove the resist 61 formed on the silicon nitride film 39 and in the upper portion 9 of the trench 7 therefrom to make the AsSG film 59 exposed. The resist 61 is left in the lower portion 11 of the trench 7.
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Not only the capacitor in the DRAM, but also a capacitor in an analog circuit may be disposed in the trench that is formed in accordance with the embodiment.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004-362355 | Dec 2004 | JP | national |