This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-200742, filed on Aug. 4, 2008, and No. 2009-144058, filed on Jun. 17, 2009, 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 for improving the operation speed of an n-type field effect transistor (FET) by applying a strain.
2. Background Art
Recently, miniaturization of semiconductor devices is proceeding, and has resulted in achievement of semiconductor devices having a gate length less than 65 nm that can operate at ultrahigh speeds.
In such FETs, which are extremely miniaturized and can operate at ultrahigh speeds, the area of a channel region beneath a gate electrode is very small compared with conventional FETs. It is known that, in the FETs concerned, the mobility of electrons or holes traveling in a channel region are therefore largely affected by a stress applied to the channel region.
There are many attempts to improve operating speeds of semiconductor devices by optimizing such a stress applied to a channel region.
As conventionally recognized, technology of silicon containing carbon (Si:C) is a promising one for manufacturing high-performance n-type FETs formed on silicon.
For example, if Si:C is embedded in a silicon substrate adjacent to a channel region of an n-type FET, a tensile stress is applied to the channel region. This increases the mobility of electrons to allow the performance of the n-type FET to be improved.
Typically, an embedded Si:C structure is formed by deeply digging a source/drain region by Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) or the like and then using vapor phase epitaxial growth, such as Remote Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (RP-CVD) or Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LP-CVD).
In recent years, there has been reported a technique of implanting carbon monomer ions into a source/drain region by an ion implantation technique, without digging the source/drain region by RIE or the like, and then applying activation heat treatment. By the use of this technique, an embedded Si:C structure is formed (for example, see Kah Wee Ang et al., “50 nm Silicon-On-Insulator N-MOSFET Featuring Multiple Stressors: Silicon-Carbon Source/Drain Regions and Tensile Stress Silicon Nitride Liner”, 2006 Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical Papers, IEEE, 2006.).
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided: a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device for forming an n-type FET, comprising:
forming an isolation insulating film on a surface of the semiconductor substrate consisting primarily of silicon, the isolation insulating film partitioning a device region of the semiconductor substrate;
forming a gate insulating film on the device region of the semiconductor substrate;
forming a gate electrode on the gate insulating film;
amorphizing regions to be source/drain contact regions adjacent to the gate electrode, of the device region, by first ion implanting one of a carbon cluster ion, a carbon monomer ion and a molecular ion containing carbon into the regions to be the source/drain contact regions;
forming an impurity-implanted layer to be the source/drain contact regions by second ion implanting at least one of arsenic and phosphorus as an n-type impurity into the amorphized regions; and
activating the carbon and the impurity in the impurity-implanted layer by heat treatment.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided: a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device for forming an n-type FET, comprising:
forming an isolation insulating film on a surface of the semiconductor substrate consisting primarily of silicon, the isolation insulating film partitioning a device region of the semiconductor substrate;
forming a gate insulating film on the device region of the semiconductor substrate;
forming a gate electrode on the gate insulating film;
amorphizing regions to be source/drain contact regions adjacent to the gate electrode, of the device region, by first ion implanting at least one of arsenic and phosphorus as an n-type impurity into the regions to be the source/drain contact regions;
forming an impurity-implanted layer to be the source/drain contact regions by second ion implanting one of a carbon cluster ion, a carbon monomer ion and a molecular ion containing carbon into the amorphized regions; and
activating the carbon and the impurity in the impurity-implanted layer by heat treatment.
When carbon monomer ions are implanted by an ion implantation technique in a way as described above to form an embedded Si:C structure, the solubility limit of carbon in Si is extremely low, 3.5×1017 cm−3 (at the melting point). It is therefore difficult to dissolve carbon at substitutional sites in Si at a high concentration for straining Si crystal without precipitation of SiC.
Further, the carbon concentration at substitutional sites in Si is low, ranging from about 1.0 to 1.5%. Accordingly, the carbon concentration at interstitial sites is high.
Because crystalline recovery in a carbon-ion-implanted region is incomplete, degradation in transistor characteristics, such as a junction leakage error, occurs.
For the purpose of crystalline recovery of an amorphous Si layer after implanting of carbon ions, implanting of carbon cluster ions that reduces the dose rate to be able to suppress self-annealing is considered to be more effective than implanting of monomer ions.
However, there is no carbon activation method that realizes complete crystalline recovery while achieving a high carbon concentration at substitutional sites. That is, conventional technologies as described above cannot improve the operational performance of n-type FETs.
In embodiments according to the present invention, there is proposed a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device to form an n-type FET with an improved operation speed.
Each embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, an isolation insulating film 102 to partition a device region of a silicon substrate 101 is formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate (silicon substrate) 101 consisting primarily of silicon. The isolation insulating film 102 is made, for example, of a silicon oxide film. Further, by ion implantation, a p-type well diffusion layer region 103 is formed in the device region surrounded with the isolation insulating film 102 (
Next, a gate insulating film 104 is formed on the device region (the well diffusion layer region 103) of the silicon substrate 101. Further, a polysilicon 105, which will be a gate electrode, and a silicon nitride film (not shown), which is a mask material, are sequentially formed on the gate insulating film 104. By patterning this laminated structure film, a gate electrode structure is formed (
Next, a thin silicon nitride film (e.g., from about 2 to 10 nm) is deposited, and the silicon nitride film is anisotropically etched by RIE or the like. Thus, a silicon nitride film sidewall (offset spacer) 106 is formed on the surface of a side wall of the gate electrode (
Next, a thin silicon oxide film (e.g., from about 5 to 20 nm) is deposited, and the silicon oxide film is anisotropically etched by RIE or the like. Thus, a silicon oxide film sidewall 107 is formed on the surface of the side wall of the gate electrode 105 with the silicon nitride film sidewall 106 interposed therebetween (
Next, carbon cluster ions are implanted into the exposed p-type well diffusion layer region 103 by an ion implantation technique under a condition that the peak concentration of carbon is 2% or more. That is, regions to be source/drain contact regions sandwiching (adjacent to) the gate electrode 105, of the device region, are amorphized by implanting carbon cluster ions into the regions to be source/drain contact regions. Note that the carbon cluster ions are at least one of C7H7 and C5H5.
Further, at least one of arsenic and phosphorus as an n-type impurity is implanted at a dose of 1×1015 cm−2 or more into the amorphized regions by an ion implantation technique.
Thus, an impurity-implanted layer 108 to be n-type source/drain contact regions is formed above the exposed surface of the silicon substrate 101 (or the exposed surface of the well diffusion layer region 103) (
Note that, in order to obtain a carbon concentration of about 2% at substitutional sites, the peak concentration of carbon needs to be 2% or more as described above.
In the impurity-implanted layer 108, the n-type impurity (arsenic, phosphorus) is ion implanted so that the concentration of the impurity is maximum near a depth at which the carbon concentration is maximum. This compensates for a decrease of a solid phase growth velocity, which is caused by carbon, allowing a desired crystallinity to be obtained as described later.
Next, after the silicon oxide film sidewall 107 is removed, a silicon oxide film is deposited and anisotropic etching, such as RIE, is performed. Thus, a silicon oxide sidewall 109 is formed. Thereafter, impurities, such as arsenic and phosphorus, are implanted by an ion implantation technique.
Thus, an impurity-implanted layer 110 to be n-type source/drain extension regions is formed on the surface of the n-type well diffusion layer region 103 (
Next, heat treatment is performed at high temperature for an extremely short time by means of Xe flash lamp annealing. By the Xe flash lamp annealing, the substrate surface temperature of the silicon substrate 101 is controlled to be in a range from 1200 to 1400° C. The treatment time ranges from 0.2 to 2.0 ms.
This annealing activates the carbon and the impurity in the impurity-implanted layer 108 to be n-type source/drain contact regions, and activates the carbon and the impurity in the impurity-implanted layer 110 to be n-type source/drain extension regions.
Next, a silicon nitride film is deposited, and the silicon nitride film is anisotropically etched by RIE or the like. Thus, a silicon nitride film sidewall 111 is formed. Thereafter, nickel monosilicide (NiSi) films 112a and 112b are formed on the surface of the source/drain contact region (impurity-implanted layer) 108 and the surface of the polycrystal gate electrode 105 by a silicidation technique (
Next, an interlayer insulating film 114 is formed above the silicon substrate 101. Further, a wiring layer connected to the nickel monosilicide (NiSi) films 112a and 112b is formed in the interlayer insulating film 114. Thus, a semiconductor device 100 functioning as a transistor device is completed (
As such, carbon with a high concentration is implanted into the source/drain contact region 108 by a carbon cluster ion implantation technique to amorphize it. This allows self-annealing upon the ion implantation to be suppressed. Excellent crystalline recovery can thus be achieved by later heat treatment.
Further, arsenic and phosphorus are implanted at least one of before and after implanting carbon cluster ions by an ion implantation technique. This can compensate for the decreased velocity of silicon recrystallization (solid phase growth) by carbon as described later.
Further, activation of the carbon and the arsenic and phosphorus is performed by heat treatment at high temperature for an extremely short time. Thus, a strained carbon-containing silicon crystal whose crystal structure has extremely excellent crystallinity as same as that of silicon and that has a high carbon concentration at substitutional sites can be formed in the source/drain contact region.
As a result, a tensile stress is applied to a channel region of an n-type FET, enabling the mobility of carriers (electrons) flowing through a channel area to be increased. That is, an n-type FET with high performance can be obtained.
As described above, in the present embodiment, the impurity-implanted layer 108 to be an n-type source/drain contact region and the impurity-implanted layer 110 to be an n-type source/drain extension region are activated. This activation is achieved by heat treatment at high temperature for an extremely short time by means of Xe flash lamp annealing. By the Xe flash lamp annealing, the silicon substrate surface temperature is controlled to be in a range from 1200 to 1400° C., and the heat treatment time is in a range from 0.2 to 2.0 ms.
However, similar heat treatment at high temperature for an extremely short time may be performed by means of laser annealing using a semiconductor laser, a carbon dioxide gas laser or the like, instead of the Xe flash lamp annealing.
Here,
Note that in
As shown in
As shown in
In the case of activation heat treatment close to thermal equilibrium, like such soak annealing and spike annealing at 900° C. and 1050° C., the solubility limit of carbon in Si is extremely low (3.5×10 cm−2 at the melting point). It is therefore difficult to achieve a high carbon concentration at the substitutional site.
On the other hand, as shown in
As such, heat treatment at high temperature for an extremely short time, which is thermal nonequilibrium obtained by the Xe flash lamp annealing and laser annealing described above, can achieve a high carbon concentration at the substitutional site.
Note that the relationships between carbon concentrations at the substitutional site and activation heat treatment conditions in the case of selecting C5H5 as carbon cluster ions are the same as those shown in
Here,
Note that, in
As shown in
Here,
As shown in
On the other hand, arsenic or phosphorus that can be used as an n-type dopant increases the solid phase growth velocity of the (100) single-crystal silicon.
Arsenic or phosphorus that can be used as an n-type dopant is ion implanted into a region into which carbon cluster ions have been implanted. Further, carbon is activated by heat treatment at high temperature for an extremely short time, which is extremely thermal non-equilibrium and is achieved by Xe flash lamp annealing or laser annealing. This allows crystalline recovery to be performed while achieving a high carbon concentration at substitutional sites.
As described above, with a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present embodiment, an n-type FET with an improved operation speed can be formed.
Note that in a process shown in
This can further improve crystallinity of the source/drain contact regions (the impurity-implanted layer 108).
In the present embodiment, in a process shown in
In the process shown in
In this case, after carbon cluster ions are implanted, carbon and the impurity in the impurity-implanted layer 108 are activated by RTA (e.g., from 750 to 850° C., from 30 to 120 s). This improves crystallinity of the impurity-implanted layer 108. Thereafter, carbon and the impurity in the impurity-implanted layer 108 may further be activated by heat treatment, such as the Xe flash lamp annealing mentioned before.
Also, in this case, crystallinity of the source/drain contact regions (the impurity-implanted layer 108) can further be improved.
In the first embodiment, an example where after source/drain contact regions are formed, source/drain extension regions are formed has been described. The order of forming these regions may be reversed.
In a present second embodiment, an example of forming source/drain contact regions after forming source/drain extension regions will be described.
Note that in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the second embodiment, the processes shown in
First, like the first embodiment, the silicon nitride film sidewall (offset spacer) 106 is formed on the surface of a side wall of the gate electrode.
Next, impurities such as arsenic and phosphorus are ion implanted into the exposed p-type well diffusion layer region 103 by an ion implantation technique.
Thus, an impurity-implanted layer 210 to be n-type source/drain extension regions is formed on the surface of the n-type well diffusion layer region 103 (
Next, a silicon nitride film is deposited, and the silicon nitride film is anisotropically etched by RIE or the like. Thus, a silicon nitride film sidewall 211 is formed on the surface of the side wall of the gate electrode 105 with the silicon nitride film sidewall 106 interposed therebetween.
Then, carbon cluster ions are implanted into the exposed p-type well diffusion layer region 103 by an ion implantation technique under a condition that the peak concentration of carbon is 2% or more. That is, regions to be source/drain contact regions sandwiching (adjacent to) the gate electrode 105, of the device region, are amorphized by implanting carbon cluster ions into the regions to be source/drain contact regions. Note that the carbon cluster ions are at least one of C7H7 and C5H5.
Further, at least one of arsenic and phosphorus as an n-type impurity is implanted into the amorphized regions at a dose of 1×1015 cm−2 or more by an ion implantation technique.
Thus, an impurity-implanted layer 208 to be n-type source/drain contact regions is formed on an exposed surface of the silicon substrate 101 (
Next, heat treatment is performed at high temperature for an extremely short time by means of Xe flash lamp annealing. By the Xe flash lamp annealing, the substrate surface temperature of the silicon substrate 101 is controlled to be in a range from 1200 to 1400° C. The treatment time is in a range from 0.2 to 2.0 ms.
This annealing activates the carbon and the impurity in the impurity-implanted layer 208 to be n-type source/drain contact regions, and activates the carbon and the impurity in the impurity-implanted layer 210 to be n-type source/drain extension regions.
Subsequently, in the same way as shown in
As such, carbon with a high concentration is implanted into the source/drain contact regions 208 by a carbon cluster ion implantation technique to amorphize the regions. This allows self-annealing upon the ion implantation to be suppressed. Excellent crystalline recovery can thus be achieved by later heat treatment.
Further, like the first embodiment, arsenic and phosphorus are implanted at least one of before and after implanting carbon cluster ions by an ion implantation technique. This can compensate for the decreased velocity of recrystallization (solid phase growth) of silicon, which is caused by carbon, as described later.
Further, like the first embodiment, activation of the carbon and the arsenic and phosphorus is performed at high temperature for an extremely short time. Thus, a strained carbon-containing silicon crystal whose crystal structure has extremely excellent crystallinity as same as that of silicon and that has a high carbon concentration at the substitutional site can be formed in the source/drain contact region.
As a result, a tensile stress is applied to a channel region of an n-type FET, enabling the mobility of carriers (electrons) flowing through a channel area to be increased. That is, an n-type FET with high performance can be obtained.
As described above, in the present embodiment, the impurity-implanted layer 208 to be n-type source/drain contact regions and the impurity-implanted layer 210 to be n-type source/drain extension regions are activated. This activation is achieved by heat treatment at high temperature for an extremely short time by means of Xe flash lamp annealing. By the Xe flash lamp annealing, the silicon substrate surface temperature is controlled to be in a range from 1200 to 1400° C., and the heat treatment time ranges from 0.2 to 2.0 ms.
However, similar heat treatment at high temperature for an extremely short time may be performed by means of laser annealing using a semiconductor laser, a carbon dioxide gas laser or the like, instead of the Xe flash lamp annealing.
As described above, with a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present embodiment, an n-type FET with an improved operation speed can be formed.
Note that in a process shown in
This can further improve crystallinity of the source/drain contact regions (the impurity-implanted layer 208).
In the present embodiment, in a process shown in
In the process shown in
In this case, after carbon cluster ions are implanted, carbon and the impurity in the impurity-implanted layer 208 are activated by RTA (e.g., from 750 to 850° C., from 30 to 120 s). This improves crystallinity of the impurity-implanted layer 208. Thereafter, carbon and the impurity in the impurity-implanted layer 208 may further be activated by heat treatment, such as the Xe flash lamp annealing mentioned before.
Also, in this case, crystallinity of the source/drain contact regions (the impurity-implanted layer 208) can further be improved.
Note that in the above first and second embodiments, description has been given on the case where carbon cluster ions are implanted into regions to be an impurity-implanted layer, so that carbon to be substituted at substitutional sites of a silicon crystal is supplied to the regions to be the impurity-implanted layer.
However, carbon monomer ions and molecular ions containing carbon may be implanted into regions to be an impurity-implanted layer. This holds true for the following embodiment.
As described above with reference to
That is, if the concentration of carbon supplied to the impurity-implanted layer is higher than the concentration of carbon to be substituted at substitutional sites of a silicon crystal by heat treatment for activation, surplus carbon that is not substituted by activation precipitates in the amorphous region. This results in crystal defects as described above.
In a third embodiment, description will be given on a case of setting a condition on the carbon concentration in ion implantation so as to suppress crystal defects as described above. Note that conditions other than that on the carbon concentration in ion implantation are the same as those in the first and second embodiments described above.
Here,
In the conventional model, the concentration of carbon supplied to an impurity-implanted layer is higher than the maximum value (solubility limit) CO of the concentration of carbon that is substituted at substitutional sites of a silicon crystal by heat treatment for activation. Therefore, as shown in
On the other hand, in the model of this third embodiment, conditions of ion implantation of one of the carbon cluster ion, the carbon monomer ion and the molecular ion containing carbon are set so that the peak value of the carbon concentration in the impurity-implanted layer before heat treatment for activation is equal to or less than the maximum value (solubility limit) CO of the carbon concentration at substitutional sites of silicon in the impurity-implanted layer after the heat treatment.
This setting of conditions of ion implantation allows the concentration of carbon supplied to the impurity-implanted layer to be lower than the concentration of carbon substituted at substitutional sites of a silicon crystal by heat treatment for activation.
Thus, as shown in
Accordingly, surplus carbon that is not substituted by activation is prevented from segregating in the amorphous region. That is, crystal defects as described above can be suppressed.
Note that conditions of ion implantation are similarly set in the case of ion implanting of carbon monomer ions and molecular ions containing carbon described above.
As described above, with a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present embodiment, an n-type FET with an improved operation speed can be formed while crystal defects and the like in the impurity-implanted layer are suppressed.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2008-200742 | Aug 2008 | JP | national |
2009-144058 | Jun 2009 | JP | national |