The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, a production method thereof, and a display device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device suitably used in display devices such as a liquid crystal display device and an organic electroluminescent display device, and to a production method of such a semiconductor device, and a display device.
Semiconductor devices are electronic devices including active elements utilizing electric characteristics of a semiconductor material. Such semiconductor devices have been widely used in audio equipment, communication equipment, computers, home electronics, and the like. Particularly, semiconductor devices including a three-terminal active elements such as a thin film transistor (hereinafter, also referred to as a “TFT”) and a MOS (metal oxide semiconductor) transistor are used as a pixel switching element that is arranged in each pixel, a pixel control circuit for controlling each pixel, and the like, in display devices such as an active matrix liquid crystal display device (hereinafter, also referred to as an “LC display”) and an organic electroluminescent display device (hereinafter, also referred to as an “organic EL display”).
There is known a SOI (silicon on insulator) substrate, which is a silicon substrate including a single crystal silicon layer formed on an insulating layer surface. By disposing a device such as a transistor on the SOI substrate, a decrease in parasitic capacitance and an increase in insulating resistance are provided. That is, devices can be provided with higher performance and/or higher integration degree. The above-mentioned insulating layer is composed of, for example, a silicon oxide (SiO2) film.
In the SOI substrate, it is preferable that a thinner single crystal silicon layer is formed in order to increase a speed of operation of the device and to further decrease the parasitic capacitance. A variety of methods for forming the SOI substrate are known, and examples thereof include mechanical polishing, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), and a method including use of porous silicon. The Smart-Cut process, which is one hydrogen implantation-involving method, has been proposed as disclosed in, for example, Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2. The Smart-Cut process includes: implanting hydrogen into a semiconductor substrate; bonding the substrate to another substrate; and separating the semiconductor substrate along the hydrogen-implanted layer by a thermal treatment, whereby transfer of the device is completed.
This technology can provide a SOI substrate that is a silicon substrate including a single crystal silicon layer formed on an insulating layer surface. When a device such as a transistor is formed on this SOI substrate structure, a reduction in parasitic capacitance and an increase in insulating resistance are permitted, and as a result, the device can be provided with high performance and/or high integration degree.
There is disclosed in Patent Document 1 a technology of ensuring formation of a separation layer in a base layer and allowing easy control of ion implantation of a substance for separation. According to this technology, an insulating film for element isolation or a LOCOS oxide film is formed so that its surface is positioned at the same height as that of a film covering an active region of a base layer in a first region, and then, a separation layer is formed in the base layer.
M. Bruel (1995), “Silicon on insulator material technology”, Electronics Letters, vol. 31, No. 14, p. 1201 to 1202, U.S.
Michel Bruel, and three others (1997), “Smart-cut: A New Silicon On Insulator Material Technology Based on Hydrogen Implantation and Wafer Bonding,” Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 36, No. 3B, p. 1636 to 1641, Japan.
Yuan Taur and Tak H. Ning, translated by Shibahara Kentaro, and five others (2002), “Taur-Ning, Fundamentals of Modern VLSI Devices”, Maruzen Co., Ltd., p. 261 to 263.
Japanese Kokai Publication No. 2006-66591
The present inventors found the base film can be thinned in the following manner: A device part including an element such as a MOS transistor is formed in abase layer; and into the base layer, a separation layer is formed; the device part is bonded to another substrate; and part of the base layer is separated and removed along the separation layer. Further, by utilizing this way, a device part including an element such as a MOS transistor, can be produced by being thinned. Further, when the another substrate to which the device part is to be bonded is a transparent substrate, a semiconductor device including the thinned base layer is applicable to display devices such as an LCD device and an organic EL display.
As a result of the inventors' diligent studies, evaluation of electric characteristics of a NMOS transistor and a PMOS transistor, each of which is formed in a thinned base layer and bonded to another substrate, yielded the following results: the NMOS transistor shows excellent characteristics, and on the other hand, as for the PMOS transistor, the subthreshold characteristics (subthreshold slope) are possibly deteriorated.
Referring to
The present invention is devised considering the aforementioned situations. An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device capable of improving subthreshold characteristics of a PMOS transistor that is included in a thinned base layer and that is bonded to another substrate, and also provide a production method thereof and a display device.
The present inventors made various investigations on a semiconductor device capable of improving subthreshold characteristics of a PMOS transistor that is included in a thinned base layer and that is bonded to another substrate, a production method thereof, and a display device. The inventors noted a location of an electrical conduction path (hereinafter, also referred to as a channel) of the PMOS transistor.
The present inventors studied on a factor of the deterioration of the subthreshold characteristics of the PMOS transistor that is included in a thinned base layer and bonded to another substrate, and then found the followings. The gate electrode of the PMOS transistor usually employs an N+ polysilicon gate, as disclosed in Non-patent Document 3. Generally, when an N+ polysilicon gate is used as the gate electrode, as disclosed in Non-patent document 3, it is known that an NMOS transistor is made as a surface channel MOS transistor and a PMOS transistor is made as a buried channel MOS transistor such that a threshold voltage of each transistor is properly set because the gate electrode and each of the NMOS and PMOS transistors are different in work function or in impurity concentration distribution in the channel region.
The PMOS transistor that is included in a thinned base layer and bonded to another substrate is formed through separation of part of the base layer along the separation layer. Therefore, the base layer probably has a surface with large irregularities on the side opposite to the gate electrode, i.e., on the separation layer side, and further, etching damages attributed to the thinning for the base layer would remain on the surface.
After further studies, the inventors found that the subthreshold characteristics of the PMOS transistor can be improved as follows. When the PMOS transistor that is included in a thinned base layer and bonded to another substrate is made as a surface channel MOS transistor, specifically when a channel of the PMOS transistor is provided inside a base layer on a side where a gate electrode of the PMOS transistor is disposed, even in such a PMOS transistor, which is formed in the thinned base layer and bonded to another substrate, its channel is not affected by irregularities of the base layer surface on the side opposite to the gate electrode and/or by etching damages attributed to the thinning for the base layer. As a result, the above-mentioned problems have been admirably solved, leading to completion of the present invention.
A first aspect of the present invention provides a semiconductor device, including:
a substrate; and
a device part bonded to the substrate,
the device part including a base layer and a PMOS transistor,
the PMOS transistor including a first electrical conduction path and a first gate electrode,
the first electrical conduction path being provided inside the base layer on a side where the first gate electrode is disposed.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the base layer includes the first electrical conduction path (a channel of the PMOS transistor) on the first gate electrode (a gate electrode of the PMOS transistor) side. Specifically, the PMOS transistor is a surface channel MOS transistor. According to this, even if the base layer is thinned, the channel of the PMOS transistor is not affected by irregularities of the base layer surface on the side opposite to the gate electrode and/or by etching damages attributed to the thinning of the base layer. As a result, it becomes possible to provide a PMOS transistor having excellent subthreshold characteristics.
In the PMOS transistor, a gate insulating film is usually disposed between the gate electrode and the base layer. Accordingly, it can be also said that the electrical conduction path of the PMOS transistor in the semiconductor device of the present invention is provided inside the base layer on a side where the base insulating film is disposed.
In the present description, the electrical conduction path (channel) means a region into which a current flows when a voltage is applied between a source region and a drain region (an inversion layer located between the source region and the drain region). According to calculation based on the quantum effect model, a channel is known to have a certain breadth and have a peak position (position with the highest electron or hole concentration) about 2 nm away from a gate insulating film/base layer interface. It is also known that at the gate insulating film/base layer interface, the existence probability of electrons or holes is zero. Therefore, it is sufficient that the channel of the PMOS transistor is located 0.1 nm to 5 nm away from the gate insulating film/base layer interface, like in common surface channel MOS transistors.
The device part is a part constituted by one or more elements formed in the base layer. The number of the element included in the device part is not especially limited, and may be one or several millions or more. That is, the device part may be an integrated circuit, and also may be a so-called integrated circuit chip. The device part also may be a large scale integration (LSI) circuit.
The element included in the above-mentioned device part is not especially limited, and elements other than the above-mentioned PMOS and NMOS transistors may be included. Examples of the other elements include a diode, a resistance, a bipolar transistor, a capacitor, and an inductance.
Thus, according to the present invention, the subthreshold characteristics of the PMOS transistor that is included in the thinned base layer and bonded to another substrate can be improved. Therefore, the device part that includes the PMOS transistor and is bonded to the substrate can be provided with higher performances. Accordingly, a part with a high integration degree (e.g., memory, CPU, a fine transistor such as a circuit control) is formed on the device part, whereby the device part can be made into an integrated circuit or a LSI. Further, a large-sized electric element such as a large-area capacitor or inductor can be formed on the substrate. Thus, an optimal design of a semiconductor device which operates only after being finally integrated on a substrate becomes possible. As a result, such a semiconductor device can be produced with high yield and productivity.
A second aspect of the present invention provides a semiconductor device, including:
a substrate; and
a device part bonded to the substrate,
the device part including a base layer and a PMOS transistor,
the PMOS transistor being a surface channel MOS transistor.
Also by the semiconductor device according to the second aspect of the present invention, the same effect as in the semiconductor device according to the first aspect of the present invention can be exhibited. Hereinafter, the phrase “semiconductor device of the present invention” means both of the semiconductor devices according to the first and second aspects of the present invention.
The configuration of the semiconductor device of the present invention is not especially limited. The semiconductor device may or may not include other components as long as it essentially includes the above-mentioned components.
The following will mention preferable embodiments of the semiconductor device of the present invention in detail. The following various embodiments may be used in a proper combination.
It is preferable that the base layer is formed by separating and removing part of the base layer along a separation layer that contains a substance used for the separation. According to this, the thinning of the base layer leads to an increase in operation speed of the device part and a decrease in parasitic capacitance. When the base layer is thinned in this manner, however, the base layer surface is provided with irregularities, as mentioned above. Therefore, in a conventional PMOS transistor, which is a buried channel MOS transistor, its subthreshold characteristics are possibly deteriorated. In contrast to this, the present invention allows effectively suppressing the deterioration of the subthreshold characteristics of the PMOS transistor.
It is preferable that the base layer is formed by further being thinned after the separation and removal. According to this, the thickness of the base layer can be set to a proper value that allows desired characteristics of the element such as the PMOS transistor included in the device part. The thickness of the base layer is closely related to the characteristics (threshold voltage, short channel effect, and the like) of the MOS transistor. The finer the MOS transistor becomes, the thinner the base layer becomes. The thickness of the base layer is required to be properly set in order to obtain desired characteristics of the MOS transistor.
It is preferable that the substance used for the separation contains at least one of hydrogen and an inert element. According to this, part of the base layer including the separation layer formed therein can be easily separated and removed. The substance used for the separation may contain hydrogen or an inert element singly or a combination thereof.
The method of forming the above-mentioned PMOS transistor as a surface channel MOS transistor is not especially limited. Suitably used is a method of making a P+ polysilicon gate as the gate electrode (the first gate electrode) of the PMOS transistor, as disclosed in Non-Patent Document 3, for example. Specifically, it is preferable that the first gate electrode contains P-type conductive polysilicon. According to this method, a state of a hole energy band in the PMOS transistor becomes completely the same as a state of an electron energy band in the NMOS transistor by inverting its polarity. Therefore, like the NMOS transistor, the PMOS transistor also operates as a surface channel one. Thus, the material of the first gate electrode is not limited to metal.
When the first gate electrode contains P-type conductive polysilicon, it is preferred that the first gate electrode contains a P-type impurity element. According to this, the P-type conductive polysilicon can be made into P+ polysilicon, which allows easily making the surface channel PMOS transistor.
It is preferable that the P-type impurity element includes boron. According to this, the surface channel PMOS transistor can be easily made.
It is preferable that the concentration of the P-type impurity element is 1×1019 to 1×1022 cm−3. According to this, the location of the channel of the PMOS transistor can be preferably controlled to a region near the base layer surface on the first gate electrode side.
The substrate is not especially limited as long as the device part can be bonded thereto. It is preferable that the substrate is a glass substrate or a single crystal silicon substrate. When a glass substrate is used as the substrate, the substrate is a transparent one, so that it becomes possible to apply the semiconductor device of the present invention to a display device such as an LCD device.
The base layer is not especially limited as long as it is a layer into which the element can be formed. It is preferable that the base layer is a layer containing a highly crystalline semiconductor such as single crystal silicon and polycrystal silicon. More specifically, it is preferable that the base layer contains at least one semiconductor selected from the group consisting of single crystal silicon semiconductors, Group IV semiconductors, Group II-VI compound semiconductors, Group III-V compound semiconductors, Group IV-IV compound semiconductors, mixed crystals thereof, and oxide semiconductors. As a result, the semiconductor device of the present invention is suitably applicable to optical devices such as a light-emitting diode, a photodiode, and a solid-state laser, or high-speed or high temperature devices.
The semiconductor device may further include, in addition to the device part, a conductive layer and an electric element each formed on the substrate,
wherein the PMOS transistor is electrically connected to the electric element through the conductive layer. As a result, the device part including the PMOS transistor can control an electric element, so that when the electric element is a pixel switching element, the semiconductor device of the present invention is preferably applicable to LC displays (so-called monolithic LC display) including a pixel part and a peripheral driver circuit integrated therewith such as a driving circuit and a control circuit.
It is preferable that the device part further includes an NMOS transistor,
the NMOS transistor includes a second electrical conduction path and a second gate electrode, and
the second electrical conduction path is provided inside the base layer on a side where the second gate electrode is disposed.
As a result, a surface channel MOS transistor can be made as each of the PMOS and NMOS transistors, and therefore a CMOS transistor excellent in subthreshold characteristics can be formed in the device part. In the present description, the second gate electrode means a gate electrode of the NMOS transistor; and the second electrical conduction path means an electrical conduction path of the NMOS transistor.
Like in the above-mentioned PMOS transistor, the method of making a surface channel MOS transistor as the NMOS transistor is not especially limited. Suitably used is a method of making an N+ polysilicon gate as the gate electrode (the second gate electrode) of the NMOS transistor, as disclosed in Non-Patent Document 3, for example. Specifically, it is preferable that the second gate electrode contains N-type conductive polysilicon. Thus, the material of the second gate electrode is not limited to metal.
When the second gate electrode contains N-type conductive polysilicon, it is preferred that the second gate electrode contains an N-type impurity element. According to this, the N-type conductive polysilicon can be made into N+ polysilicon, which allows easily making a surface channel NMOS transistor.
It is preferable that the N-type impurity element includes at least one of phosphorus and arsenic. According to this, a surface channel NMOS transistor can be easily made. The N-type impurity element may contain phosphorus or arsenic singly or a combination thereof.
It is preferable that the concentration of the N-type impurity element is 1×1019 to 1×1022 cm−3. According to this, the location of the channel of the NMOS transistor can be preferably controlled to a region near the base layer surface on the second gate electrode side.
The semiconductor device may further include, in addition to the device part, a conductive layer and an electric element each formed on the substrate,
wherein the PMOS transistor and the NMOS transistor may be electrically connected to the electric element through the conductive layer. According to this, the PMOS and NMOS transistors can constitute a CMOS transistor, so that the device part with a high integration degree and/or low power consumption can control the electric element.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a method of producing the semiconductor device of the present invention,
the method including:
a separation layer-forming step that includes forming the
MOS transistor, and then forming a separation layer in part of the base layer, the separation layer containing a substance used for the separation;
a bonding step that includes bonding the substrate to the device part after the separation layer-forming step; and
a separation and removal step that includes separating and removing part of the base layer along the separation layer after the bonding step. This production method allows easy production of the semiconductor device of the present invention.
The production method of the semiconductor device of the present invention is not especially limited, and may or may not include other steps as long as it essentially includes the above-mentioned steps.
The method of separating and removing part of the base layer is not especially limited, but a heating treatment can be preferably used, for example. That is, it is preferable that the separation and removal step includes a heating treatment. According to this, part of the base layer including the separation layer formed therein can be easily separated and removed.
It is preferable that the method of producing the semiconductor device further includes a step of further thinning the base layer after the separation and removal step. According to this, the thickness of the base layer can be set to a proper value that allows desired characteristics of the PMOS transistor included in the device part.
Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a display device including the semiconductor device of the present invention or a semiconductor device produced by the production method of present invention. According to this, the semiconductor device including a highly integrated device part excellent in transistor characteristics can be mounted on a display device, so that the display device can be provided with a thin profile, a narrow frame region, and high performances.
The semiconductor device, the production method thereof, and the display device of the present invention can improve subthreshold characteristics of a PMOS transistor that is included in a thinned base layer and bonded to another substrate.
Referring to drawings, the present invention is mentioned in more detail below by means of Embodiments, but not limited only to these Embodiments.
The following will mention a configuration of a semiconductor device of Embodiment 1 with reference to the drawings.
As shown in
The device part 60 includes: a silicon layer (silicon substrate, base layer) 1; the NMOS transistor 50n; the PMOS transistor 50p; a flattening layer 37; an interlayer insulating film 34; a flattening layer 31; and a metal wiring 36. The NMOS transistor 50n and the PMOS transistor 50p are formed in the silicon layer 1, and are isolated from each other by a LOCOS oxide film 10. The flattening layer 37, the interlayer insulating film 34, and the flattening layer 31 are stacked in this order from the glass substrate 38 to the silicon layer 1.
The PMOS transistor 50p includes an active region 13a, a P-type lightly-doped region 23, a P-type heavily-doped region 30, a gate oxide film (gate insulating film) 16, and a gate electrode 17p (a first gate electrode). The P-type lightly-doped region 23, the P-type heavily-doped region 30, and the gate oxide film 16 are included in the silicon layer 1. The gate electrode 17p faces the silicon layer 1 with the gate oxide film 16 therebetween. The P-type heavily-doped region 30 is connected to the metal wiring (conductive layer) 41 by the metal electrode 36 through the contact hole 35.
The NMOS transistor 50n includes an active region 13b, an N-type lightly-doped region 20, an N-type heavily-doped region 27, a gate oxide film 16, and a gate electrode 17n (a second gate electrode). The active region 13b, the N-type lightly-doped region 20, the N-type heavily-doped region 27, and the gate oxide film 16 are included in the silicon layer 1. The gate electrode 17n faces the silicon layer 1 with the gate oxide film 16 therebetween. The N-type heavily-doped region 27 is connected to the metal wiring (conductive layer) 41 by the metal electrode 36 through the contact hole 35.
The gate electrode 17p is composed of P+ polysilicon and on the other hand, the gate electrode 17n is composed of N+ polysilicon. Thereby, the PMOS transistor 50p and the NMOS transistor 50n can be made into surface channel MOS transistors. Specifically, the silicon layer 1 includes a channel (the first electrical conduction path) of the PMOS transistor 50p and a channel (the second electrical conduction path) of the NMOS transistor 50n on the side where the gate electrodes 17p and 17n (the gate oxide film 16) are arranged. More specifically, the channel of the PMOS transistor 50p and the channel of the NMOS transistor 50n are each formed near the silicon layer 1 surface on the gate electrodes 17p and 17n (the gate oxide film 16) side (in a region 0.1 nm to 5 nm away from the interface between the gate oxide film 16 and the silicon layer 1). According to this, the channel of the PMOS transistor 50p and the channel of the NMOS transistor 50n are not affected by irregularities of the silicon layer 1 surface on the side opposite to the gate electrodes 17p and 17n and/or by etching damages attributed to a thinning step for the silicon layer 1. As a result, the PMOS transistor 50p and NMOS transistor 50n can both exhibit excellent subthreshold characteristics.
The following will mention a method of the semiconductor device of the present Embodiment.
First, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Next, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
According to the present Embodiment, in the PMOS transistor 50p, the channel can be formed in the region with 0.1 nm or more and 5 nm or less distance from the silicon layer 1 surface on the gate electrode 17p side; and in the NMOS transistor 50n, the channel can be located in the region 0.1 nm or more and 5 nm or less away from the silicon layer 1 surface on the gate electrode 17n side. Specifically, a surface channel MOS transistor can be made as each of the PMOS transistor 50p and the NMOS transistor 50n.
In
Although the semiconductor device of Embodiment 1 has been explained in detail with reference to the drawings as mentioned above, the present invention is not limited thereto. Materials other than polysilicon, for example, a metal material may be used for the gate electrode. When a metal material is used for the gate electrode, metal materials each of which has a suitable work function are independently formed in the NMOS transistor and the PMOS transistor so that the NMOS transistor and the PMOS transistor each exhibit surface channel operation. Elemental metals, metal nitrides, alloys, silicide, and the like may be used as the metal material. More specifically, TaSiN, Ta, TaN, TaTi, HfSi, ErSi, ErGe, NiSi, and the like, maybe used for the gate electrode of the NMOS transistor, for example. On the other hand, for the gate electrode of the PMOS transistor, TiN, Ru, TaGe2, PtSi, NiGe, PtGe, NiSi, and the like, may be used.
The present application claims priority to Patent Application No. 2008-063291 filed in Japan on Mar. 12, 2008 under the Paris Convention and provisions of national law in a designated State, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
a) and 26(b) are cross-sectional views each schematically showing a conventional MOS transistor that is included in a thinned single crystal silicon layer and bonded to another substrate.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2008-063291 | Mar 2008 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2009/053992 | 3/3/2009 | WO | 00 | 9/10/2010 |