SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME

Abstract

A semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof for preventing gate electrode degradation and gate current leakage. The semiconductor device includes a gate insulating layer including an H-k (high dielectric) material on a semiconductor substrate, a barrier metal layer including a metal alloy on the gate insulating layer, and a gate electrode layer formed on the barrier metal layer. Illustratively, the barrier metal layer includes at least one of TaAlN (tantalum aluminum nitride) or TiAlN (titanium aluminum nitride). The barrier metal layer can include an oxidation-resistant material so that oxidation of the barrier metal layer is prevented during a subsequent annealing of the semiconductor device in an oxygen atmosphere. Thus, degradation of a gate electrode is prevented, and gate current leakage due to degradation of the gate electrode is prevented.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects and features of the present invention will become more apparent and more readily appreciated from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a semiconductor device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating capacitance as a function of voltage for an exemplary material used to form the barrier metal layer of FIG. 1, thereby demonstrating an illustrative source of current leakage for the semiconductor device;

FIGS. 3 through 6 are cross-sectional views illustrating a semiconductor device manufactured according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 7 through 11 are cross-sectional views illustrating a semiconductor device manufactured according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a view illustrating a state of a barrier metal layer of FIG. 7 having undergone an annealing process;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a conventional semiconductor device compared with a semiconductor device constructed in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of an area A shown in FIG. 13; and

FIG. 15 is a graph illustrating a composition state of area I-I′ of FIG. 14.

Claims

1. A semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor substrate;a gate insulating layer including an H-k (high dielectric) material on the semiconductor substrate;a barrier metal layer including a metal alloy on the gate insulating layer; anda gate electrode layer formed on the barrier metal layer.

2. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the metal alloy is an aluminum alloy.

3. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the barrier metal layer includes at least one of TaAlN (tantalum aluminum nitride) or TiAlN (titanium aluminum nitride).

4. The semiconductor device of claim 1, further comprising: an isolation layer defining an active area of the semiconductor substrate;a low density dopant area formed in a first portion of the active area proximate to the gate insulating layer, the barrier metal layer, and the gate electrode layer;a gate spacer covering sidewalls of the gate insulating layer, the barrier metal layer, and the gate electrode layer; anda high density dopant area formed in a second portion of the active area proimate to the gate spacer.

5. The semiconductor device of claim 4, wherein the gate insulating layer, the barrier metal layer, and the gate electrode layer form a gate electrode of the semiconductor device, and at least one of: (a) the low density dopant area, or (b) the high density dopant area, are used to form drain and source electrodes for the semiconductor device.

6. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the barrier metal layer is within a range between about 20Δ and 50Δ.

7. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the gate insulating layer includes an oxide layer.

8. The semiconductor device of claim 7, wherein the gate insulating layer includes at least one of tantalum oxide (Ta2O5), titanium oxide (TiO2), hafnium oxide (HfO2), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), lanthanum oxide (La2O3), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), yttrium oxide (Y2O3), niobium oxide (Nb2O5), cesium oxide (CeO2), iridium oxide (IrO2), indium oxide (InO3), BST ((Ba,Sr)TiO3), or PZT ((Pb,Zr)TiO3).

9. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the gate insulating layer is within a range between about 20Δ and 40Δ.

10. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the gate electrode layer includes a polysilicon.

11. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: forming a gate insulating layer including an H-k material on a semiconductor substrate;forming a barrier metal layer including a metal alloy on the gate insulating layer; andforming a gate electrode layer on the barrier metal layer.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the metal alloy is an aluminum alloy.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the barrier metal layer is formed using a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method comprising at least one of a MOCVD (metal organic CVD) method or an ALD (atomic layer deposition) method.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the barrier metal layer is formed using a PVD (physical vapor deposition) method comprising sputtering.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the barrier metal layer includes at least one of TaAlN or TiAlN.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the forming of the barrier metal layer including the aluminum alloy on the gate insulating layer comprises: spraying a mixture of Ta or Ti and an Al ligand on the semiconductor substrate on which the gate insulating layer is formed to form a layer including TaAl or TiAl; andspraying an ammonia gas (NH3) on the semiconductor substrate on which the mixture is sprayed to form a layer including TaAlN or TiAlN.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the Al ligand comprises Al[(CH3)3].

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the forming of the barrier metal layer including the aluminum alloy on the gate insulating layer comprises: spraying a mixture of Ta or Ti and an ammonia gas (NH3) on the semiconductor substrate on which the gate insulating layer is formed to form a layer including TaN or TiN;spraying a mixture of an Al ligand and an ammonia gas (NH3) on the TaN or TiN layer to form a layer including AlN;spraying a mixture of Ta or Ti and an ammonia gas (NH3) on the layer including AlN to form a layer including TaN or TiN; andannealing the semiconductor substrate to form a layer including TaAlN or TiAlN.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the Al ligand comprises Al[(CH3)3].

20. The method of claim 12, wherein a thickness of the barrier metal layer is within a range between about 20Δ and 50Δ.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the gate insulating layer is formed using a CVD method comprising at least one of a MOCVD method or an ALD method.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein the gate insulating layer includes an oxide layer.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the gate insulating layer includes at least one of tantalum oxide (Ta2O5), titanium oxide (TiO2), hafnium oxide (HfO2), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), lanthanum oxide (La2O3), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), yttrium oxide (Y2O3), niobium oxide (Nb2O5), cesium oxide (CeO2), iridium oxide (IrO2), indium oxide (InO3), BST ((Ba,Sr)TiO3), or PZT ((Pb,Zr)TiO3).

24. The method of claim 12, wherein a thickness of the gate insulating layer is within a range between about 20Δ and 40Δ.

25. The method of claim 12, further comprising: patterning the gate insulating layer, the barrier metal layer, and the gate electrode layer;forming a spacer insulating layer covering at least one sidewall of the patterned gate insulating layer, barrier metal layer, and gate electrode layer; andetching the spacer insulating layer to form a gate spacer.