Semiconductor device architectures including UV transmissive nitride layers

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6274900
  • Patent Number
    6,274,900
  • Date Filed
    Tuesday, January 5, 1999
    25 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, August 14, 2001
    23 years ago
Abstract
A transistor 10 is formed on an outer surface of a substrate 12. The transistor comprises a floating gate 18 and a control gate 20. An outer encapsulation layer 22 and sidewall bodies 26 and 28 comprise silicon nitride that is deposited in such a manner such that the material is transmissive to ultraviolet radiation. In this manner, the sidewall bodies 26 and 28 and the layer 22 can be used as an etch stop during the formation of a drain contact 38. These layers will also permit the transmission of ultraviolet radiation to the floating gate 18 to enable the erasure of floating gate 18.
Description




TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION




This invention relates in general to the field of electronic devices and, more particularly, to improved architectures for semiconductor devices that include nitride layers that are transmissive to ultraviolet radiation.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




The formation of modern integrated circuit elements often includes chemical etch processes where various chemicals react with materials in an integrated architecture being constructed to remove portions of the materials. In these processes, certain materials are often used to protect portions of the device from chemicals being used to form other portions of the device. In these processes, developers utilize the selective nature of certain processes to erode one type of material and leave another type of material substantially unaffected. In this context, silicon nitride is often used as an etch stop for chemical etching processes used to etch silicon dioxide layers. By using silicon nitride layers as an etch stop, device architectures can be compactly spaced and overall device density can be increased.




A significant problem arises, however, when silicon nitride etch stop layers are used with flash memory or electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) or UV EPROM devices. These devices typically utilize a floating gate that stores charge representative of data stored by the memory device. This charge is placed on the floating gate through operations that result in charge injection onto the floating gate. The charge is removed from the gate electrically or the memory cell is erased by exposing the device to ultraviolet radiation for a sufficient period of time. If the floating gate is covered by a silicon nitride layer, the floating gate will either not be able to be erased or the time period required to erase the floating gate will be dramatically increased, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the device.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




Accordingly, a need has arisen for a semiconductor device architecture that allows for the use of silicon nitride as an etch stop within electronic devices but does not prevent the operation of memory systems that require ultraviolet radiation for erasability.




In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a semiconductor device architecture is provided that substantially eliminates or reduces disadvantages associated with prior architectures and methods of construction.




In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor device architecture is provided that comprises a floating gate formed outwardly from an outer surface of a semiconductor layer. A control gate is formed outwardly from the floating gate and separated therefrom by an interstitial insulator layer. The control gate and floating gate are covered by a silicon nitride encapsulation layer that comprises silicon nitride that exhibits a refractive index of less than 1.95 such that the transmittance of the silicon nitride material with respect to ultraviolet radiation is sufficient to allow for the erasure of charge stored on the floating gate by the radiation of the floating gate with ultraviolet radiation.




An important technical advantage of the present invention inheres in the fact that a silicon nitride etch stop layer can be used to completely encapsulate a gate structure for a flash memory or EEPROM device. The silicon nitride etch stop layer can be used to form the drain or bit line contact to the device and allows this contact to be spaced very close to the region occupied by the gate. Alternatively, the silicon nitride layer can be used to prevent the etching of the field oxide material surrounding the active moat area of an integrated device. This prevents the drain or bit line contact of a memory device from directly contacting the semiconductor substrate material within the active region of the device.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




A more complete understanding of the teachings of the present invention and the advantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the accompanying figures in which like reference numbers indicate like features and wherein:





FIG. 1

is a greatly enlarged cross-sectional elevational diagram of a transistor constructed according to the teachings of the present invention; and





FIGS. 2A through 2C

are selected cross-sectional and planer views of an alternate embodiment of a transistor constructed according to the teachings of the present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION





FIG. 1

illustrates a transistor, indicated generally at


10


, that is formed on the outer surface of a semiconductor substrate


12


. Semiconductor substrate


12


may comprise, for example, a wafer of single crystalline silicon or other suitable semiconductor material. A gate oxide layer


14


is formed on an outer surface of substrate


12


. Gate oxide layer


14


may comprise, for example, a layer of silicon dioxide that is grown to be on the order of 90 Angstroms in thickness. Alternatively, gate oxide layer


14


may comprise silicon nitride or combinations of layers of silicon dioxide and silicon nitride.




Transistor


10


is controlled through the operation of a gate stack indicated generally at


16


that comprises a floating gate


18


, a control gate


20


, and an outer encapsulation layer


22


. Control gate


20


and floating gate


18


are separated by an interstitial insulator layer


24


. Floating gate


18


is formed from a layer of polysilicon which is on the order of 1500 Angstroms in thickness. Interstitial insulator layer


24


may comprise a first layer of silicon dioxide, a layer of silicon nitride, and a second layer of silicon dioxide with all three layers being on the order of 60 Angstroms in thickness. Alternatively, interstitial insulator layer


24


may comprise a homogenous layer of silicon dioxide or silicon nitride or other combinations of these layers. The control gate


20


may comprise a layer of polycrystalline silicon on the order of 2500 Angstroms in thickness and may also comprise tungsten silicide layers or other like materials. The floating gate


18


and the control gate


20


are both doped either in situ as they are formed or after they are formed with sufficient amounts of impurities to render them conductive.




Outer encapsulation layer


22


comprises a layer of silicon nitride on the order of 1000 Angstroms in thickness. In order to form gate stack


16


, the layers from which floating gate


18


, interstitial insulator layer


24


, control gate


20


and outer encapsulation layer


22


are formed are all deposited or grown outwardly from gate insulator layer


14


. The entire structure can then be patterned, masked and etched using conventional photolithographic techniques.




Following the formation of gate stack


16


, a layer of silicon nitride is conformably deposited covering gate stack


16


and the outer surface of gate insulator layer


14


. This layer is on the order of 1,000 Angstroms in thickness. This layer is anisotropically etched until the outer surface of gate oxide layer


14


is exposed leaving sidewall bodies


26


and


28


disposed on opposite sidewalls of the gate stack


16


. Sidewall bodies


26


and


28


will be something less than 1000 Angstroms in width after the anisotropic etch process is completed and typically will be on the order of 800 or 900 Angstroms in width if the initial thickness is chosen to be 1000 Angstroms.




Following the formation of sidewall bodies


26


and


28


, ion plantation processes are used to form a source region


30


and a drain region


32


. In a typical flash memory or EEPROM memory architecture, the drain region


32


will be connected to the bit line of the array and the control gate


20


will be connected to the word line of the array. The source region


30


will be electrically connected and shared with adjacent memory cells. The source region


30


and the drain region


32


define a channel region, indicated generally at


34


, in the outer surface of substrate


12


. The conductance of the channel region


34


is controlled by placing a voltage on the control gate


20


. The conductance is further controlled by whether or not a sufficient amount of charge is trapped within the floating gate


18


.




As shown in

FIG. 1

, the control gate


20


and the floating gate


18


are completely encapsulated by silicon nitride sidewall bodies


26


and


28


and outer encapsulation layer


22


. Together, these structures form a silicon nitride encapsulation shell that will prevent later etch processes from inadvertently attacking the polysilicon used to form the control gate


20


and the floating gate


18


.




An interlevel isolation layer


36


is then deposited covering the entire gate stack


16


and the sidewall bodies


26


and


28


. Interlevel isolation layer


36


may comprise on the order of 9000 Angstroms of silicon dioxide. Interlevel isolation layer


36


is then patterned and etched to form a contact opening indicated generally at


38


. A drain contact


40


is then formed in opening


38


to provide electrical contact to the drain region


32


. According to an alternate embodiment of the present invention, additional processes are utilized to form a titanium silicide layer on the outer surface of drain region


32


to reduce the contact resistance between drain contact


40


and drain region


32


. Drain contact


40


may comprise, for example, tungsten, aluminum, platinum, or copper.




Due to the fact that the control gate


20


and floating gate


18


are encapsulated by bodies


26


and


28


and layer


22


, the etch process used to form opening


38


can be designed to be selective to silicon nitride relative to silicon dioxide. In other words, the etch chemistry used to form opening


38


will remove the silicon dioxide comprising interlevel isolation layer


36


without substantially removing the silicon nitride forming sidewall body


28


or outer encapsulation layer


22


. Because of this fact, the opening


38


can be advantageously placed extremely close to and even overlapping with the control gate


20


and floating gate


18


. The ability to closely place the drain contact


40


relative to the gate stack


16


provides for the overall reduction in the dimension of the memory cell formed by transistor


10


. A reduction in the cell size of each memory cell means a correspondingly larger reduction in the size of the entire memory array.




Accordingly, an architecture is provided that allows for an extremely compact memory cell architecture. However, transistor


10


utilizes the floating gate


18


that is erased by exposing the floating gate


18


to ultraviolet radiation. Accordingly, the silicon nitride encapsulation shell formed by sidewall bodies


26


and


28


and layer


22


must have a sufficient ultraviolet transmittance to allow for the erasure of the floating gate


18


. This can be accomplished by altering the conventional way that silicon nitride is deposited. Normal silicon nitride will have a refractive index between 2.0 and 2.1. By altering the deposition of the silicon nitride according to the teachings of the present invention, the refractive index can be reduced to less than 2.0 and can be reduced as low as 1.86. In this manner, ultraviolet transmittance of up to 90% can be achieved through the silicon nitride formed using the techniques of the present invention.




Silicon nitride can be deposited using a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition process that uses silane, ammonia, and nitrogen as source gases. According to the teachings of the present invention, the nitrogen is provided on approximately 1,800 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm). The silane is provided on the order of 85 to 130 sccm for 150 mm wafers and 160 to 210 sccm for 200 mm wafers. This compares to a silane introduction rate on the order of 180 sccm for 150 mm wafers and 275 sccm for 200 mm wafers for conventional silicon nitride deposition. The RF power for the plasma enhancement is set to on the order of 345-370 watts for 150 mm wafers and 600 watts for 200 mm wafers. This compares to a conventional setting of 415 watts and 720 watts for 150 mm and 200 mm wafers, respectively. The pressure of the reactive vessel is held at 5 torr. This compares to a conventional pressure on the order of 4.5 torr. The ammonia is introduced on the order 40-70 sccm for 150 mm wafers and 100 sccm for 200 mm wafers, compared to a conventional rate of 75 sccm for 150 mm wafers and 120 sccm for 200 mm wafers. Using these parameters, refractive indices as low as 1.86 are possible corresponding to an ultraviolet transmittance as high as 90%. Conventional nitride has a refractive index greater than 2.0 and a corresponding UV transmittance on the order of 30-40%.





FIGS. 2A through 2C

illustrate an alternate application of the teachings of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A through 2C

illustrate a transistor architecture where the drain contact is not as closely spaced to the gate stack but must be spaced carefully with respect to the moat region and the surrounding field oxide material. Referring to

FIG. 2A

, a transistor, indicated generally at


50


, comprises a control gate stack


52


. As discussed previously, the control gate stack comprises both a control gate and a floating gate separated by an interstitial insulator layer. The control gate stack is separated from the surface of the semiconductor substrate by a gate insulator layer. These structures will be more completely depicted with reference to

FIG. 2B

herein.




A channel region


54


is defined by the intersection of the control gate stack


52


with an active moat region


56


. On opposite sides of the active moat region


56


are field oxide regions


58


and


60


. The portion of moat region


56


on the right side of control gate stack


52


is a drain region


62


. The left side of control gate stack


52


is a shared source region


64


which runs parallel to the control gate stack


52


. Outwardly from drain region


62


and spaced apart from control gate stack


52


is a drain contact


66


which is generally square in shape and is intended to be centered over moat region


56


. It should be understood, however, that drain contact


66


must be formed using conventional photolithographic processes. As such, drain contact


66


may not actually be centered on moat region


56


and must be sized because of misalignment tolerances to be somewhat larger than moat region


56


to ensure contact with drain region


62


. As will be discussed herein, a silicon nitride layer is used to prevent the unwanted etching of field oxide regions


58


and


60


during the formation of the opening in the isolation insulator layer used to form the drain contact


66


.





FIG. 2

illustrates the cross-section of transistor


50


shown along the


2


B cross-section illustrated in FIG.


2


A. Transistor


50


is constructed on a semiconductor substrate


70


which may comprise, for example, a single crystalline layer of silicon or other suitable semiconductor material. As discussed previously, the control gate stack indicated generally at


52


comprises a floating gate


72


and a control gate


74


separated by an interstitial insulator layer


76


. The floating gate


72


is separated from the outer surfaces of substrate


70


by gate insulator layer


78


. Gate insulator layer


78


may be constructed identically to gate insulator layer


14


discussed previously. Similarly, floating gate


72


, interstitial insulation layer


76


, and control gate


74


may be constructed identically as floating gate


18


, insulator layer


24


, and control gate


20


discussed with reference to

FIG. 1

previously.




A titanium silicide layer


80


on the order of 500 Angstroms in thickness may be formed on the outer surface of control gate


74


to reduce the resistance of control gate


74


. Following the formation of control gate stack


52


, sidewall bodies


82


and


84


may be formed by conformally depositing an insulation layer and anisotropically etching the insulation layer until bodies


82


and


84


remain. Bodies


82


and


84


may comprise silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, or alternating layers of silicon dioxide and silicon nitride. Bodies


82


and


84


may be formed using the techniques described with reference to bodies


26


and


28


described with reference to

FIG. 1

previously. Following the formation of bodies


82


and


84


, implant processes can be used to form the source region


64


and the drain region


62


discussed previously with reference to FIG.


2


A. According to one embodiment of the present invention, successive implantation processes using different implant energies can be used to provide for the shallow junction source and drain region profiles shown in FIG.


2


B. After the formation of source and drain regions


64


and


62


, a titanium silicide layer


86


can be formed outwardly from source region


64


and a titanium silicide layer


88


can be formed outwardly from drain region


62


in order to reduce the sheet resistance of these regions and to provide lower contact resistance with source and drain contacts formed in successive operations. Layers


86


and


88


may be on the order of 500 Angstroms in thickness.




A silicon nitride encapsulation layer


90


can then be deposited covering the entire structure. Silicon nitride encapsulation layer


90


may be on the order of 300 Angstroms in thickness. Silicon nitride encapsulation layer


90


may be formed using the silicon nitride deposition process detailed earlier such that although layer


90


completely encapsulates floating gate


72


, the ultraviolet transmittance of layer


90


will allow ultraviolet radiation to penetrate and thereby allow the erasure of floating gate


72


as required.




An interlevel insulator layer


92


is then deposited outwardly from layer


90


. Interlevel insulator layer


92


may comprise on the order of 9,000 Angstroms of silicon dioxide. Using photolithographic processes, an opening


94


is then made in layer


92


by first using an etch process which is selective to silicon nitride relative to silicon dioxide. In other words, the etch process used to make opening


94


will remove the silicon dioxide within layer


92


but will stop when it reaches silicon nitride encapsulation layer


90


. A second etch process selective to silicon dioxide and silicon relative to silicon nitride is then used to remove the exposed portions of layer


90


to provide direct contact to the titanium silicide layer


88


disposed outwardly from drain region


62


. Drain contact


66


is then formed in opening


94


. Drain contact


66


may be formed using the same process as used to form drain contact


38


discussed with reference to

FIG. 1

previously.




The etch processes used to form opening


94


are problematic because of the necessity of making opening


94


larger than moat region


56


due to the possibility of misalignment error. This creates a potential of etching through the field oxide region


58


and


60


and providing inadvertent contact between the drain contact


66


and the semiconductor substrate within moat region


56


.




The solution to this problem is clearly illustrated in

FIG. 2C

, which is a cross-sectional illustration taken along section line


2


C shown in FIG.


2


A.

FIG. 2C

illustrates the placement of moat region


56


relative to opening


94


.

FIG. 2C

clearly illustrates that the opening


94


in isolation layer


92


extends beyond the edges of moat region


56


and overlaps with field oxide regions


60


and


58


. Field oxide regions


58


and


60


may comprise, for example, silicon dioxide layers on the order of 3,500 Angstroms in thickness that are formed using conventional shallow trench isolation techniques. As shown in

FIG. 2C

, silicon nitride encapsulation layer


90


extends outwardly and underneath opening


94


. If layer


90


were not present, the initial etch processes that were used to form opening


94


could also remove enough of field oxide region


60


or field oxide region


58


to expose portions of the sidewalls of moat region


56


. In this manner, after the formation of drain contact


66


, electrical contact could be made between drain contact


66


and the undoped substrate within moat region


56


disposed inwardly from drain region


62


shown in FIG.


2


C. This inadvertent contact could dramatically affect the operation of transistor


50


.




In comparison, because of the inclusion of layer


90


, an initial etch process is used to remove the silicon dioxide of layer


92


. This etch process stops on layer


90


. A second etch process is then used to remove the portion of layer


90


within opening


94


. The second etch process only etches silicon nitride substantially and will not substantially remove the silicon dioxide within field oxide regions


58


or


60


. In this manner, the drain contact


66


only contacts drain region


62


and is isolated from the remainder of moat region


56


by the field oxide regions


58


and


60


.




The encapsulation layer


90


can be used in this context because it is transmissive to ultraviolet light. Accordingly, it can be used as an etch stop without affecting the operation and the erasure of floating gate


72


described previously.




Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood the various alterations, substitutions, and modifications that may be made to the teachings contained herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention which is solely defined by the appending claims.



Claims
  • 1. A semiconductor device formed proximate a surface of a semiconductor layer, comprising:a gate stack disposed outwardly from the surface of the semiconductor layer and operable to control the conductance of a channel region of the semiconductor layer proximate the gate stack; a silicon nitride encapsulation layer covering portions of the gate stack, the silicon nitride encapsulation layer comprising silicon nitride that exhibits a refractive index of less than 2.0 such that the transmittance of the silicon nitride material with respect to ultraviolet radiation is sufficient to allow for the erasure of charge stored on portions of the gate stack by the radiation of the gate stack with ultraviolet radiation.
  • 2. The semiconductor device of claim 1 and further comprising:a drain region disposed proximate an edge of the gate stack; field oxide regions formed proximate the surface of the semiconductor layer and the drain region; an isolation insulator layer overlying the drain region and the field oxide regions; and a drain contact formed through the isolation insulator layer at a selected location of the drain region; wherein the silicon nitride encapsulation layer is disposed outwardly from the drain region and the field oxide regions, the silicon nitride encapsulation layer operating as an etch stop during an etch process used to form an opening through the isolation insulator layer, the drain contact formed in the opening in the isolation insulation layer.
  • 3. The semiconductor device of claim 2 wherein the drain contact comprises a conductor chosen from the group consisting of tungsten, platinum, aluminum, and copper.
  • 4. The semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the gate stack comprises:a floating gate formed outwardly from the surface of the semiconductor layer; a control gate formed outwardly from the floating gate; and an interstitial insulator layer separating the control gate and the floating gate.
  • 5. The semiconductor device of claim 4 wherein the control gate and the floating gate comprise polysilicon and wherein the interstitial insulator layer comprises silicon dioxide.
Parent Case Info

This application claims priority under 35 USC § 119 (e) (1) of provisional application No. 60/070,568, filed Jan. 05,1998.

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Number Date Country
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Provisional Applications (1)
Number Date Country
60/070568 Jan 1998 US