The present invention generally relates to the field of semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs). More particularly, the present invention relates to ICs having Schottky barrier Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor-Field-Effect-Transistors (MOSFETs) including at least one Schottky barrier P-type MOSFETs (PMOS) or N-type MOSFETs (NMOS) and/or Schottky barrier complimentary MOSFETs (CMOS).
When scaled to sub-30 nm gate lengths, traditional CMOS technology is approaching fundamental limits, as highlighted by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). Critical technology challenges cited by the ITRS include gate leakage due to extremely thin gate insulators, various deleterious short channel effects, and parasitic resistance/capacitance. Furthermore, shallow doped source/drain junction formation is becoming a necessity but is leading to increasingly complex fabrication processes, requiring precise implant control and tight thermal budgets. Threshold voltage variation, manufacturability and yield issues further hinder implementation of highly scaled doped source/drain junction CMOS technology. Many of these and other CMOS technology challenges are traceable to the doped source/drain architecture and corresponding manufacturing processes. Replacing the doped source/drain MOSFET architecture with a metal source/drain structure offers an elegant solution to a number of scaling challenges, including those listed above.
Although there are numerous compelling reasons to consider metal source/drain Schottky barrier CMOS (SB-CMOS) technology for highly scaled CMOS applications, early fabrication and simulation results were far from optimal. Furthermore, Schottky barrier NMOS engineering challenges impeded the realization of SB-CMOS circuits. However, due to recent progress in simulation, device fabrication and engineering, interest in SB-CMOS technology continues to grow. Based on new measurements, a capacitance mechanism is proposed to explain an unexpectedly high fT performance. This mechanism will also play a role in enhancing the digital logic speed and power performance of SB-CMOS technology.
In one aspect, the present invention provides an integrated circuit, the integrated circuit comprising: at least one NMOS device or PMOS device; wherein at least one of the NMOS devices or PMOS devices is a Schottky barrier MOS (SB-MOS) device with substantial bulk charge transport.
In another aspect of the present invention, a CMOS circuit is provided. The CMOS circuit comprises at least one Schottky barrier NMOS device; at least one Schottky barrier PMOS device, electrically connected to the at least one Schottky barrier NMOS device; wherein at least one of the Schottky barrier NMOS devices or the Schottky barrier PMOS devices provides substantial bulk transport.
In another aspect of the present invention, a CMOS circuit is provided. The CMOS circuit comprises at least one Schottky barrier NMOS device; at least one Schottky barrier PMOS device, electrically connected to the at least one Schottky barrier NMOS device; wherein at least one of the Schottky barrier NMOS devices or the Schottky barrier PMOS devices provides a capacitance determined by measurements of cutoff frequency fT and transconductance gm that is less than an expected capacitance based on physical parameters of the device.
In one embodiment of the invention the Schottky barrier NMOS and Schottky barrier PMOS devices each comprise a semiconductor substrate, a gate electrode on the semiconductor substrate, and a source electrode and a drain electrode on the semiconductor substrate. The source and drain electrodes define a channel region having a channel-length and having mobile charge carriers, wherein at least one of the source electrode and drain electrode forms a Schottky or Schottky-like contact to the substrate.
While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which shows and describes illustrative embodiments of the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of modifications in various obvious aspects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.
TABLE 1 illustrates a summary of DC performance of 25 nm, 60 nm and 80 nm Schottky barrier PMOS devices. All devices had a 1.8 nm gate oxide. The ITRS roadmap high performance logic data comes from the 2000 Update (80 nm device), 2002 Edition (60 nm device) and 2004 Update (25 nm device). ITRS entries marked “red” indicate this parameter has no known manufacturable solution. ITRS entries marked “yellow” indicates this parameter has known manufacturable solutions. V*g is the applied gate bias increased by +1.1V to account for the N+ poly gate work function difference. V*g is the equivalent gate bias had P+ poly-equivalent gates with minimal poly-depletion been used.
TABLE 2 illustrates a summary of DC and RF performance for 60 nm and 80 nm gate length Schottky barrier PMOS devices. V*g is the applied gate bias increased by +1.1V to account for the N+ poly gate work function difference. V*g is the equivalent gate bias had P+ poly-equivalent gates with minimal poly-depletion been used.
TABLE 3 illustrates a comparison of the expected gate-to-source capacitance (Cgs,exp) with the estimated Cgs based on fT and gm measurements (Cgs, fT). Cgs,exp is calculated based on the physical parameters for each device using equation 3.
Device Fabrication and Measurement
Bulk silicon Schottky barrier PMOS (SB-PMOS) devices were fabricated using a modified version of a simple four-mask process. A blanket As implant to the active area was modified to have a dose of either 1×1013 cm−2 (“full implant”) or 5×1012 cm−2 (“half-dose implant”). 25 nm, 60 nm and 80 nm gate length devices are characterized. An n-type gate rather than p-type gate for the PMOS devices was used, resulting in a 1.1 V threshold voltage shift. Furthermore, a relatively thick gate oxide having an EOT of 1.8 nm was used, whereas the ITRS recommends for high performance logic a physical EOT of approximately 0.9, 1.2 nm and 1.4 nm for 25, 60 nm and 80 nm gate length devices, respectively.
DC I-V measurements were performed using an Agilent 4155C Parameter Analyzer while scattering parameters were measured with on-wafer probes up to 110 GHz using an HP 8510C Network Analyser linked to a Cascade Microtech Probe Station incorporating an Agilent E7352L/R 110 GHz test head. The ground-signal-ground transistor test structure comprised two fingers, each having a width of 2 μm. Standard RF calibration procedures were used to de-embed probe-to-pad parasitic capacitance. DC I-V measurements performed before and after the scattering parameter measurements ensured device integrity.
Results and Discussion
DC Results
Table 1 summarizes the DC results and includes for reference the ITRS specifications for devices of similar geometries. The 80 nm device has a drive current of 300 μA/μm, off-state current of 6 nA/μm, resulting in an on-off ratio of 50,000. The subthreshold swing is 91 mV/dec and DIBL is 25 mV/V. Transconductance (Gm) is 420 mS/mm. ITRS specifications for 80 nm devices from 2000 roadmap were 350 μA/μm and 13 nA/μm on- and off-current respectively. Although the process technology used in the present invention was tailored for fabricating sub-30 nm transistors, this 80 nm device data nearly meets the high performance logic performance requirements as suggested by the ITRS, exceeding the off-state and on/off current ratio requirements while nearly meeting the on-state requirements. This is accomplished without using SOI substrates, complicated interfacial layer structures, or optimization experiments.
Referencing
Shorter gate length devices of 60 nm and 25 nm were also measured, as shown in
RF Results
While the devices measured for DC electrical characteristics received the full implant, the RF measurements were performed on devices having the half dose implant.
Table 2 summarizes the measured fT results together with on-current (Ion), off-current (Ioff) and saturation transconductance (gm) data for the measured devices shown in
Due to the lighter implant, these devices provide improved on-current of 423 μA/μm and 452 μA/μm for the 60 nm and 80 nm devices respectively at the expense of higher off-state current. Over-driving the 60 nm device further increases the on-current to 614 μA/μm. The transconductance is 528 mS/mm and 548 mS/mm for the 60 nm and 80 nm devices respectively. For the 60 nm device, fT is 164 GHz and 280 GHz at the standard and over-drive bias conditions respectively, while fT is 158 GHz for the 80 nm device at the standard bias condition.
Unlike the SB-PMOS fT data reported by us previously in which the 25 nm devices were significantly over-driven, non-over-driven bias conditions were used in the present invention. As shown in
In order to explain the significantly improved fT performance of the SB-PMOS devices, we considered the key parameters that determine fT, including transconductance (gm) and gate-to-source capacitance (Cgs):
Although gm for these devices is good as shown in Table 2, it is not sufficiently high to explain the observed factor of 2-4 enhancement in fT. For this reason, we examined Cgs, comparing Cgs based on the fT and gm measurements (Cgs,fT):
with an expected Cgs based on the physical parameters of the fabricated devices (Cgs,exp):
Cgs,exp=Cgs,ox+Cgs,o+Cgs,f. (3)
The gate-to-source capacitance originating from the channel region (Cgs,ox) is:
and Cf is the parasitic fringing capacitance:
Tpoly is the thickness of the poly gate, Lg is the gate length, EOTinv is the effective oxide thickness in inversion and accounts for the oxide thickness (Tox), and poly depletion and inversion layer quantization effects. The gate-to-source overlap capacitance is Cgs,o. The component of capacitance originating from the channel Cgs,ox is assumed to be ⅔ of the total gate capacitance when the device is operated in the on-state, which is standard practice in the industry. Therefore, with knowledge of the device physical parameters and measurements of fT and gm, one can compare Cgs,exp with Cgs,fT. The ratio Cgs,fT/Cgs,exp should be approximately one for any combination of Lg and EOT.
Table 3 provides data for calculating the Cgs ratio Cgs,fT/Cgs,exp for a variety of examples from known literature, and for the devices reported in the present invention.
As shown in Table 3 and
Regarding the comparison of the capacitance ratio, it is apparent that the simple model described by equations 3-5 over-estimates the SB-PMOS capacitance. Referencing equations 3-5, the parameter of greatest uncertainty is EOTinv, which was assumed to be Tox plus a constant of 0.4 nm due to inversion layer quantization effects. High resolution cross-section TEM analysis was used to estimate Tox, so the error in Tox is relatively small. However, EOTinv may not be simply Tox plus the constant 0.4 nm for SB-MOS devices. Further simulation, fabrication and electrical testing will be required to explain enhanced fT performance.
Finally, it is worth noting that reduced device capacitance plays a role both for fT, as well as for other performance metrics such as gate delay (τ) and energy (E), which both scale linearly with gate capacitance:
As noted previously, SB-MOS devices exhibit a sub-linear turn-on characteristic for low Vd. However, while Id is reduced, according to the measurements above, Cg may simultaneously be reduced, which may more than compensate for the reduced current in the low Vd regime. Further, for higher Vd's, where the current drive of SB-PMOS devices is good, the results of the present invention suggest Cg will continue to be significantly lower than conventional doped source/drain devices, while the currents will be similar. It is impossible to predict the net effect of this reduced capacitance on the overall frequency response of SB-CMOS technology in digital circuits. It is apparent that some prior assumptions about the ultimate performance of SB-CMOS technology may have been premature. Furthermore, reduced capacitance may relax requirements for drive current and NMOS engineering, making high performance SB-CMOS technology more achievable.
Conclusion
New 25 nm, 60 nm and 80 nm DC transistor curve measurements are reported for SB-PMOS. The 60 nm and 80 nm devices provide performance nearly commensurate with prior ITRS specifications for high performance logic, while the 25 nm devices provide competitive performance with the sub-35 nm state-of-the-art. New fT measurements for high speed SB-PMOS 60 nm (164 GHz) and 80 nm (158 GHz) devices were also presented. By using a metal source/drain architecture, fT performance is enhanced by a factor of 2-3 at equivalent gate lengths and using standard roadmap bias conditions. In view of gm data and estimates for the gate-to-source capacitance Cgs, the metal source/drain SB-MOS device architecture provides a significantly reduced Cgs, compared to doped source/drain MOSFET technology, which results in enhanced fT performance. One possible mechanism causing reduced Cgs is a more disperse charge distribution in the channel region, although additional simulation and device measurements will be required to validate this proposed theory. Finally, reduced gate capacitance provides speed and power advantages for both RF mixed signal and digital logic applications, and will help enable demonstration of high performance SB-CMOS technology.
The present invention teaches an integrated circuit having at least one SB-PMOS device or at least one SB-NMOS device having substantial bulk charge transport, which thereby counteracts the effects provided by the sub-linear turn-on characteristic, and thereby provides improved IC performance. The present invention is particularly suitable for use in situations where short channel length MOSFETs are to be fabricated, especially in the range of channel lengths less than 500 nm. However, nothing in the teachings of the present invention limits application of the teachings of the present invention to these short channel length devices.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, persons skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The application of the present invention applies to any use of metal source drain technology, whether it employs SOI substrate, strained Silicon substrate, SiGe substrate, FinFET technology, high K gate insulators, and metal gates. This list is not limitive. Any device for regulating the flow of electric current that employs metal source-drain contacts used in an IC will have the benefits taught herein.
This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/666,991, filed Mar. 31, 2005 which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60666991 | Mar 2005 | US |