This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority from prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-277444, filed on Oct. 28, 2008, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and its fabrication process especially the device with high voltage transistors operated in a high voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
In non-volatile semiconductor memory devices, such as flush memories, a high voltage of 20-30 V is necessary when data is programmed to memory cells. A plurality of high voltage transistors are employed, for example, in a word line driving circuit used for programming of data. The plurality of high voltage transistors are isolated each other by STI (Shallow Trench Isolation) including a shallow trench and an element isolation insulator film. However, a leakage current at a semiconductor substrate under the STI exists because of the high operation voltage. To prevent the leakage current, a region with the same impurity type as the semiconductor substrate and has a higher impurity concentration than the semiconductor substrate is formed under the shallow trench. The region is called a channel stop region hereinafter.
An impurity profile of the channel stop region is affected by a thickness variation of the element isolation insulator film when the channel stop region is formed by an ion implantation through the element isolation insulator film. To avoid this problem, ion implantation for the channel stop region is carried out after forming the shallow trench, using a photo resist pattern with an opening at the center of the shallow trench as a mask. (Ref. Japanese Patent Laid Open P2002-141408 page 6, FIG. 4)
However, with the method explained above, a residual photo resist may exist in the shallow trench due to an insufficient exposure of the photo resist at the bottom of the shallow trench caused by a large step between the surface of the semiconductor substrate and the bottom of the shallow trench. The residual photo resist makes the ion implantation process unstable and a controllability of the impurity profile of the channel stop region is likely to become worse.
One aspect of this invention is to provide a semiconductor device comprises: a semiconductor substrate with a first impurity type; a plurality of active areas formed in the semiconductor substrate; an element isolation trench including a first trench part and a second trench part surrounding the plurality of active areas, the first trench part being extended from a surface of the semiconductor substrate to a depth direction, the second trench part being extended from the center of a bottom surface of the first trench part to the depth direction with a narrower width than the width of the first trench part in a width direction; an element isolation insulator film filled in the element isolation trench; a gate electrode formed on the plurality of active areas via a gate insulator film; a plurality of diffusion layers with a second impurity type formed in a surface of the plurality of active areas, the plurality of diffusion layers being located on each side of the element isolation trench and separated each other on each side of the gate electrode; and a channel stop region extended from the bottom surface of the second trench part to the depth direction in a predetermined depth with the first impurity type, the channel stop region having a higher impurity concentration than the impurity concentration of the semiconductor substrate.
Another aspect of this invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor memory device comprises: forming a first trench part in a semiconductor substrate with a first impurity type; filling the first trench part with a first element isolation insulator film; planerizing a surface of the first element isolation insulator film; forming a photo resist pattern on the surface of the first element isolation insulator film, the photo resist pattern having an opening on the center of the first element isolation insulator film; etching the first element isolation insulator film to expose the semiconductor substrate at the bottom of the first trench part, using the photo resist pattern as a mask; etching the exposed semiconductor substrate to form a second trench part, the second trench part having a narrower width than the width of the first trench part, and being extended from the bottom surface of the first trench part to a depth direction; implanting ions of the first impurity type element to form a channel stop region using the photo resist pattern as a mask, the channel stop region being extended from the bottom of the second trench part to the depth direction in a predetermined depth with the first impurity type and having a higher impurity concentration than the semiconductor substrate; filling a second element isolation insulator film in the second trench part; forming a gate electrode on the surface of the semiconductor substrate via a gate insulator film; and forming diffusion layers having a second impurity type opposite of the first impurity type in the surface of the semiconductor substrate, the diffusion layers being located on each side of the first trench part, and being separated each other on each side of the gate electrode.
As a semiconductor memory device according to an embodiment of the invention, a NAND flash memory device is described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings to be referred to in the following description, the same or similar reference numerals designate the same or similar parts. The drawings are schematic, and the ratio between thickness and the planner dimension of each part, and the ratio among the thickness of layers differ from actual ones, for example.
The memory cell array 211 includes a plurality of blocks. The memory cell array 211 is coupled to the word line control circuit 212 and the bit line control circuit 213, which controls word lines, and the bit lines of memory cells in the memory cell array, respectively.
The word line control circuit 212 selects a word line in the memory cell array 211 to apply reading, programming, or erasing voltage to the selected word line.
The bit line control circuit 213 reads data of a memory cell in the memory cell arrays 211 via a bit line. It also programs to a memory cell with applying a program control voltage to a corresponding bit line. The column decoder 216 and the control signal and control voltage generation circuit 214 are connected to the bit line control circuit 213.
A data latch circuit (not shown) is included in the bit line control circuit 213, and the data latch circuit is selected by the column decoder 216. Memory cell data in the data latch circuit is output from the data input/output pads 217 via the column decoder 216. The data input/output pads 217 are coupled to host devices outside of the NAND flash memory device.
The control signal and control voltage generation circuit 214 controls the memory cell array 211, the word line control circuit 212, and the bit line control circuit 213. The control signal and control voltage generation circuit 214 is electrically connected to the control signal input pads 215, and controlled by a control signal ALE (Address Latch Enable) input from a host device via the control signal input pads 215, for example.
A programming circuit and a reading circuit include the word line control circuit 212, the bit line control circuit 213, the column decoder 216, and the control signal and control voltage generation circuit 214. High voltage transistors are used, for example, in a word line driver circuit of the word line control circuit 212 because high voltage is necessary during programming data to memory cells.
Structure of high voltage transistors and their peripheral area of a NAND flash memory device according to the embodiment of the present invention will be explained in reference with
As shown in
As shown in
A first element isolation insulator film 5a is filled in the first trench part 6a except the area where the second trench part 6b is formed. The upper surface of the first element isolation insulator film 5a is projected from the surface of the semiconductor substrate 100 and is located in the same height as the top surface of the lower electrode 21. A second element isolation insulation film 5b is filled in the second trench part 6b. The second element isolator film 5b is the same materials as the inter poly insulator film 22 shown in
A channel stop region 30 is located in the semiconductor substrate 100 under the second trench part 6b, and is substantially the same size as the second trench part 6b both in the width direction and the direction orthogonal to the width direction. The channel stop region 30 has a predetermined depth with the same impurity type as the semiconductor substrate 100 and has a higher concentration than the semiconductor substrate 100. The channel stop region 30 is contacted directly to the bottom of the second trench part 6b.
Though two active areas are drawn in
The manufacturing method of the semiconductor device according to the embodiment will now be described with reference to
In the first step, a sacrificial silicon dioxide (not shown) is formed on a p-type semiconductor substrate 100. Photo resist patterns (not shown) are formed on the sacrificial silicon dioxide with a photo lithography process. Then, boron (B) is implanted with masks of the photo resist patterns.
In the next step, the photo resist patterns and the sacrificial silicon dioxide are stripped and a gate insulator film 7 is formed on the semiconductor substrate 100. On the gate insulator film 7, a poly silicon layer 21 is formed and a pad silicon nitride layer (not shown) is formed on the poly silicon layer 21. Then, a photo resist (not shown) is applied on the pad silicon nitride layer. The photo resist is patterned into shapes of active areas with the photo lithography process. The pad silicon nitride layer, the poly silicon layer 21, the gate insulator film 7 and the semiconductor substrate 100 are etched using the photo resist patterns as masks, and the first trench part 6b is formed in the semiconductor substrate 100.
A first element isolation insulator film 5a such as silicon dioxide is deposited in the first trench 6a with a HDP (High Density Plasma) method, and the upper part of the first element isolation insulator film 5a is planerized by a CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) method with the pad silicon nitride layer used as a stopper. The pad silicon nitride layer is stripped by a wet process with Phosphorous acid after the first element isolation insulator film 5a is etched to the same height as the poly silicon layer 21 by a RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) method. The first element isolation insulator film 5a is formed in the first trench part 6a as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The etching process of the first element isolation insulator film 5a and the stripping process of the pad silicon nitride layer can be performed after the formation of the second trench part 6b and the ion implantation.
In the next step, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
After a photo resist (not shown) is applied on the cap silicon nitride 29, photo resist patterns of the gate electrodes are formed by a photo lithography process. Using the photo resist patterns as masks, the cap silicon nitride 29 is etched by the RIE method. After the photo resist patterns are stripped, the metal silicide layer 25, the poly silicon layer 24, the inter gate film 22, the poly silicon layer 21 and the gate insulator film 7 are etched with the silicon nitride 29 used as a mask and the gate electrodes are formed. Diffusion layers 10 used for source/drain of high voltage transistors is formed by an ion implantation process with the gate electrodes 20 as a mask for the implantation. Thus, high voltage transistors shown in
A metal silicide layer such as CoSi or NiSi can also be formed on the upper gate electrode with an alternative process as following. The cap nitride layer 29 is formed on the poly silicon layer 24, and the gate electrodes are formed with the photo lithography process and the RIE method. After the inter layer dielectric is deposited and planerinzed, the cap nitride 29 is stripped and the poly silicon layer 24 is exposed. Then, a metal layer such as Co or Ni is deposited on the poly silicon layer 24. A heat treatment is performed and CoSi or NiSi is formed on the poly silicon layer 24.
The poly silicon layers 21, 23 and 24 can be replaced by other materials like amorphous silicon.
According to the embodiment of the present invention, the first element isolation insulator film 5a is formed in the first trench part 6a, and the upper part of the first element isolation insulator film 5a is planerized. A photo resist pattern with an opening on the center of the first element isolation insulator film 5a′s surface is formed by the photo lithography process. The first element isolation insulator film 5a and the semiconductor substrate 100 are etched with the photo resist pattern used as a mask to form the second trench part 6b. Then, the ion implantation into the second trench 6b to form the channel stop region 30 is performed with the photo resist used as a mask. In the embodiment of the present invention, a residual resist does not exist at the ion implantation process because the photo resist pattern used for the mask of ion implantation is formed on the flat surface of the first element isolation insulator film 5a by a photo lithography process. The controllability of the channel profile of the channel stop region 30 becomes better because there is no effect from the residual photo resist during the ion implantation process.
Furthermore, the second trench part 6b is formed in the semiconductor substrate 100 by the over etching during the etching process for the first element isolation insulator film 5a in the center of the first trench part 6a. The channel stop area 30 is formed with the second trench part 6b. For that reason, the channel profile of the channel stop area 30 in the semiconductor substrate 100 is stable without being affected by the depth of the first trench part 6a.
A junction leakage current in the embodiment can be reduced because the channel stop region 30 is located at a lower position than the conventional STI bottom which is the same level as the bottom of the first trench part 6a.
In
As shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2008-277444 | Oct 2008 | JP | national |