Claims
- 1. A method for forming a semiconductor device structure in a semiconductor layer, comprising:
forming a first trench of a first width and a second trench of a second width in the semiconductor layer; forming a first insulator liner in the first trench and a second insulator liner in the second trench; forming a mask over the second trench; etching at least a portion of the first insulator liner while the mask is over the second trench; removing the mask; and depositing an insulating layer in the first trench and the second trench.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first width is less than the second width.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of etching comprises completely removing the first insulator liner.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of etching results in leaving at least one hundred Angstroms of the first insulator liner.
- 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming first insulator liner and the second insulator liner comprises growing oxide in the first trench and the second trench.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of etching comprises dipping the semiconductor device structure in hydrofluoric acid.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of etching comprises applying a dry etch chemistry to the semiconductor device structure.
- 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the insulator layer comprises high density plasma oxide fill.
- 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming a barrier layer and a stress relief layer over the semiconductor layer in areas adjacent to the first trench and the second trench.
- 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming a pad nitride and pad oxide over the semiconductor layer prior to forming the first trench and the second trench, and wherein the step of forming the first trench and the second trench comprises etching through selected portions of the pad nitride and the pad oxide and into the semiconductor layer.
- 11. A semiconductor device structure formed in a semiconductor layer, comprising:
a first trench of a first width in the semiconductor layer; a first grown oxide liner in the first trench having a first thickness; a second trench of a second width in the semiconductor layer; a second grown oxide liner in the second trench having a second thickness; an insulator fill in the first trench and the second trench and over the first grown oxide liner and the second grown oxide liner; wherein the first width is less than the second width and the first thickness is less than the second thickness.
- 12. The semiconductor device structure of claim 11, further comprising a pad nitride and a pad oxide adjacent to the first trench and the second trench.
- 13. The semiconductor device structure of claim 11, wherein the insulator fill comprises a high density plasma oxide fill.
- 14. A semiconductor device structure formed in a semiconductor layer, comprising:
a first trench of a first width in the semiconductor layer; a first grown oxide liner in the first trench having a first thickness; a second trench of a second width in the semiconductor layer; an insulator fill in the second trench and over the grown oxide liner and on the first trench with no intervening grown oxide; wherein the first width is less than the second width.
- 15. A method for forming a semiconductor device structure in a semiconductor layer, comprising:
forming a first trench of a first width and a second trench of a second width in the semiconductor layer, the first width being less than the second width; forming a first insulator liner in the first trench and a second insulator liner in the second trench; forming a mask over the second trench; and etching at least a portion of the first insulator liner while the mask is over the second trench.
- 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of etching comprises a wet etch.
- 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of etching comprises dipping the semiconductor device structure in hydrofluoric acid.
- 18. The method of claim 15, wherein the etching comprises a dry etch.
- 19. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of forming the first insulator liner and the second insulator liner comprises growing oxide in the first trench and the second trench.
- 20. The method of claim 15, wherein:
the semiconductor layer has a top surface; the second trench has a corner where the trench adjoins the top surface of the semiconductor layer; and the step of forming the first insulator liner and the second insulator liner comprises rounding of the corner of the second trench.
- 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the corner is semiconductor.
- 22. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of etching comprises leaving at least 100 Angstroms of the first insulating liner.
- 23. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of etching comprises removing the first insulating liner.
- 24. The method of claim 15, further comprising forming a barrier layer and a stress relief layer over the semiconductor layer in areas adjacent to the first trench and the second trench.
- 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the barrier layer comprises nitride and the stress relief layer comprises oxide.
- 26. A method for forming a semiconductor device structure in a semiconductor layer, comprising:
forming a first trench of a first width in the semiconductor layer; forming a second trench of a second width greater than the first width in the second semiconductor layer; forming a first insulator liner in the first trench and a second insulator liner in the second trench; etching a portion of the first insulator liner; and depositing an insulating layer in the first trench.
- 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising
forming a mask over the second trench prior to the step of etching; and removing the mask prior to the step of depositing.
- 28. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of etching further comprises etching a portion of the second insulator liner and leaves at least 50 Angstroms of the first insulator liner and 50 Angstroms of the second liner.
- 29. A method for forming a semiconductor device structure in a semiconductor layer, comprising:
forming a first trench of a first width in the semiconductor layer; forming a second trench of a second width in the second semiconductor layer; forming a first insulator liner in the first trench and a second insulator liner in the second trench; etching a portion of the first insulator liner and a portion of the second insulator liner; and depositing an insulating layer in the first trench and the second trench.
- 30. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of etching comprises a wet etch.
- 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the wet etch uses hydrofluoric acid.
- 32. The method of claim 29, wherein the first insulator and the second insulator liner comprises thermal oxide.
- 33. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of depositing comprises filling the first trench and second trench.
- 34. The method of claim 33, wherein the insulating layer comprises high density plasma oxide.
- 35. A semiconductor device structure formed in a semiconductor layer, comprising:
a first trench of a first width in the semiconductor layer; a first grown oxide liner in the first trench having a first thickness; a second trench of a second width in the semiconductor layer; a second grown oxide liner in the second trench having a second thickness; an insulator fill in the first trench and the second trench and over the first grown oxide liner and the second grown oxide liner; wherein the first width is the greater than the second width and the first thickness is the same as the second thickness.
- 36. The semiconductor device structure of claim 35, wherein the first trench has a corner at a surface of the semiconductor layer that has a radius of curvature of at least 200 Angstroms.
- 37. The semiconductor device structure of claim 36, wherein the second trench has a corner at the surface of the semiconductor layer that has a radius of curvature of at least 200 Angstroms.
- 38. A method for forming a semiconductor device structure in a semiconductor layer having a top surface, comprising:
forming a first trench of a first width in the semiconductor layer and having a first corner at the surface of the semiconductor layer; forming a second trench of a second width greater than the first trench in the second semiconductor layer and having a second corner at the surface of the semiconductor layer; growing a first insulator liner in the first trench and a second insulator liner in the second trench to achieve a radius of curvature of at least 200 Angstroms in the first and second corner; etching a portion of the first insulator liner and a portion of the second insulator liner; and depositing an insulating layer in the first trench and the second trench that fills the first and second trenches, wherein the insulating layer is free of voids.
- 39. The method of claim 38, wherein the first insulator liner and the second insulator liner are thermal oxide.
- 40. The method of claim 38, wherein the step of etching leaves the first insulator liner and the second insulator liner at a thickness sufficiently small to allow for completely filling the first trench with the insulating layer without voids in the insulating layer.
- 41. The method of claim 40, wherein the insulating layer comprises high density plasma oxide.
- 42. The method of claim 38, wherein the step of etching is further characterized as leaving at least 50 Angstroms of the first insulator liner and the second insulator liner.
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This is related to U.S. patent application having Attorney Docket Number SC11798TP, entitled “Semiconductor Device Structure and Method for Forming,” filed on even date, and assigned to the current assignee hereof.
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09997145 |
Nov 2001 |
US |
Child |
10045913 |
Jan 2002 |
US |