This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-187225 filed on Aug. 30, 2011, the disclosure of which are incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A gate insulating film used in a transistor has been made of silicon dioxide having a dielectric constant of about 3.9. As a transistor is miniaturized and the thickness of the gate insulating film decreases accordingly, the amount of leak current increases and hence the transistor device disadvantageously consumes large power and requires large standby power. In view of the situation described above, there has developed a transistor which comprises an insulating film having a dielectric constant higher than that of a silicon oxide film (high dielectric constant insulating film) is used as the gate insulting film (hereinafter referred to as a “high dielectric constant gate insulting film” in some cases). In this transistor, the actual thickness of the insulating film is thicker than that of a silicon oxide film, but an effective oxide thickness (EOT) of the insulating film can be thinned.
However, simply combining a polycrystalline silicon gate electrode in related art and a high dielectric constant gate insulting film disadvantageously leads to a phenomenon called gate electrode depletion, in which depletion layer capacitance is formed between the high dielectric constant gate insulting film and the polycrystalline silicon gate electrode and disables the advantage of the high dielectric constant gate insulting film, which is a thin EOT. To prevent the gate electrode depletion, the portion of the gate electrode that is in contact with the high dielectric constant gate insulting film is made of a metal layer instead of the polycrystalline silicon layer.
On the other hand, when the gate electrode is made only of a metal layer, the following problems occur: (1) Since gate electrode-based threshold voltage control depends on film thickness, it is difficult to achieve a thickness that satisfies a desired threshold voltage and resistance using only a metal layer, and (2) It is difficult to form the gate electrode entirely with a metal layer in terms of manufacturability. To solve the problems described above, a transistor including a gate electrode formed by stacking a polycrystalline silicon layer on a metal layer has been proposed.
JP2011-14689 discloses an HKMG transistor in which TiN and polycrystalline silicon as a gate electrode are stacked on a high dielectric constant gate insulting film. In the process for forming the transistor, polycrystalline silicon electrodes 112 and 118 are positioned as top layers of gate electrodes, and ion implantation is performed using polycrystalline silicon electrodes 112 and 118 as a mask, in order to form extension layers 108 and 114 and diffusion layers 107 and 113 to be sources and drains. An impurity of the same conductivity type as that of the channel is doped into the polycrystalline silicon electrode in each transistor. In other words, an n-type impurity is doped into the polycrystalline silicon electrode 118 in an n-channel transistor, whereas a p-type impurity is doped into the polycrystalline silicon electrode 112 in a p-channel transistor.
In the process of forming a transistor including a gate electrode made of polycrystalline silicon, the impurity is introduced into the polycrystalline silicon gate electrode by impurity implantation for forming an extension layer, a source, and a drain in some cases. The thus formed polycrystalline silicon gate electrode has a structure containing the impurity which has the same polarity as the conductivity type of the channel of the transistor.
JP2009-267180 discloses an HKMG transistor obtained by stacking a metal film (made, for example, of TiAlN or TiN) and polycrystalline silicon as a gate electrode on a high dielectric constant gate insulting film. In a method for manufacturing the transistor, conductive film 32 made of n-conductive polycrystalline silicon to which phosphorus as the impurity is doped, is deposited on gate insulating film 5 and first metal film 30 or a stacked film of first metal film 30 and second metal film 31. Gate electrodes 6 and 7 are then formed by processing the stacked film. In both of p-type transistor Qp and n-type transistor Qn, conductive film 32 constituting gate electrodes 6 and 7 is made of n-conductive polycrystalline silicon.
As described above, in the process of forming a transistor including a gate electrode made of polycrystalline silicon, an impurity is doped into a polycrystalline silicon in advance at the time of depositing the polycrystalline silicon in some cases. In particular, it is known that n-conductive polycrystalline silicon is lower than p-conductive polycrystalline silicon in terms of resistivity of polycrystalline silicon itself. An impurity to be doped in advance into polycrystalline silicon is therefore typically a donor impurity, as described in JP2009-267180. The thus formed polycrystalline silicon gate electrode is n-conductive irrespective of the conductivity type of the channel of the transistor and has a structure containing a donor impurity.
In one embodiment, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising an MIS field effect transistor,
the MIS field effect transistor comprising:
In another embodiment, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising:
a p-conductive first semiconductor region formed in a surface of a semiconductor substrate;
a first insulating film that covers part of the p-conductive first semiconductor region and contains a first insulating material having dielectric constant higher than dielectric constant of silicon dioxide;
a conductive film formed on the first insulating film, the conductive film including a first metal film and a p-conductive silicon film, the first metal film having a work function greater than a work function of intrinsic semiconductor silicon, the p-conductive silicon film being in contact with the first metal film; and
an n-conductive second semiconductor region formed in a portion of the p-conductive first semiconductor region located under each of sidewalls of the conductive film.
In another embodiment, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising an n-channel transistor and a p-channel transistor,
wherein each of the n-channel transistor and the p-channel transistor includes:
The above features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description of certain preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
In the drawings, numerals have the following meanings: 1: semiconductor substrate, 2: n-well, 3: p-well, 4: isolation region, 5, 5a, 5b: silicon oxide film or silicon nitride film, 6, 6a, 6b: high dielectric constant insulating film (high-k film), 7: first metal film, 7a, 7b: first metal film, 8: amorphous silicon film, 8a: p-conductive first polycrystalline silicon film, 8b: p-conductive second polycrystalline silicon film, 9, 9a, 9b: barrier metal film, 10: fourth metal film, 10a, 10b: gate wiring, 11: silicon nitride film, 11a, 11b: cap insulating film, 12: offset spacer, 13: sidewall spacer, 14: interlayer insulating film, 15: contact plug, 16: upper layer wiring, 21: gate electrode, 22: gate insulating film, 23: source and drain, 24: bit contact interlayer insulating film, 25: silicon oxide film, 26: high dielectric constant insulating film, 27: first metal film, 28a: first mask, 28b: second mask, 28c: third mask, 28d: fourth mask, 28e: fifth mask, 29: contact hole, 30: polycrystalline silicon film, 30a: p-conductive polycrystalline silicon film, 30b: n-conductive polycrystalline silicon film, 31: cap insulating film, 32: fourth metal film, 33: second metal film, 34: bit line, 35: offset spacer insulating film, 36: offset spacer, 37a, 37b: LDD region, 38: silicon oxide film, 39: offset spacer, 40a, 40b: source and drain, 41: contact hole, 42: first interlayer insulating film, 43: capacitance contact sidewall, 44: capacitance contact hole, 45: polycrystalline silicon (DOPOS) film, 46: cobalt silicide film, 47: tungsten film, 48: capacitance contact pad, 49: second interlayer insulating film, 50: third interlayer insulating film, 51a, 51b: LDD region, 52a, 52b: source and drain, 53: lower electrode, 55: upper electrode, 58: capacitance insulating film, 60: capacitance contact plug, 62: wiring, A: memory cell formation region, B: peripheral circuit formation region, Cap: capacitor, Tr1: n-channel transistor, Tr2: p-channel transistor, Tr3: memory-cell transistor, X: memory cell region, Y: peripheral circuit region
One exemplary embodiment of a semiconductor device includes a MIS field effect transistor. The MIS field effect transistor includes a gate electrode formed on a gate insulating film including a first insulating film. The gate electrode includes a first metal film formed on the gate insulating film and having a work function greater than that of intrinsic semiconductor silicon, and a p-conductive silicon film formed on the first metal film and in contact with the first metal film.
For example, when a high dielectric constant gate insulating film, such as hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, hafnium silicate, and zirconium silicate which has a dielectric constant higher than that of silicon dioxide, is used, the metal material used as the first metal film, such as titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, hafnium nitride, and titanium carbide, has a relatively large work function Φm, and the work function Φm is larger than that of intrinsic semiconductor silicon. In other words, Fermi level Ef of the metal material used as the first metal film is closer to valence band end Ev than to conduction band end Ec of silicon (The first metal film made of such a metal material is hereinafter referred to as a “first metal film closer to p type”). When n-conductive silicon is joined with such a first metal film closer to p type, the energy barrier from metal Fermi level closer to p type Ef to conductive band end Ec is high and the depletion layer spreads widely into the n-type silicon. In this case, the interface resistance increases.
In contrast, when p-conductive silicon is joined with a first metal film closer to p type, the energy barrier from metal Fermi level closer to p type Ef to valence band end Ev lowers and the size of the depletion layer that spreads into the p-type silicon decreases. Accordingly, the interface resistance decreases.
For example, the n-channel and p-channel transistors constituting CMOS are required to have characteristics highly symmetric with each other. To this end, it is usual to configure the gate electrode of the n-channel transistor to be n-conductive and the gate electrode of the p-channel transistor to be p-conductive, as described in JP2011-14689. Since in terms of the resistivity of silicon itself, n-conductive silicon is lower than p-conductive silicon, it is usual that the skilled in the art who desire to lower the resistance of silicon itself dopes a donor impurity into silicon to make it n-conductive, as described in JP2009-267180.
In contrast, the present inventor focused attention to the fact that in a stacked structure of metal material/silicon used as the gate electrode of a field effect transistor using a high dielectric constant gate insulating film, the phenomenon described above occurs in the vicinity of the interface due to Schottky junction of the interface between the metal material and the polycrystalline silicon, and the phenomenon prevents the resistance from being lowered. In one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a silicon film (polycrystalline silicon film, for example) in contact with a first metal film closer to p type in a gate electrode is made p-conductive. As a result, the interface resistance between the first metal film closer to p type and the silicon film can be lowered.
The invention will be now described herein with reference to illustrative embodiments. Those skilled in the art will recognize that many alternative embodiments can be accomplished using the teachings of the present invention and that the invention is not limited to the embodiments illustrated for explanatory purposes.
A first exemplary embodiment relates to a semiconductor device including n-channel and p-channel transistors.
Transistor Tr1 includes p-well 3 (p-conductive first semiconductor region) provided in semiconductor substrate 1 made of silicon, LDD region 51a and n-type source and drain 52a (n-conductive second semiconductor region) provided in p-well 3, a first gate insulating film, and a first gate electrode. The first gate insulating film is formed of silicon oxide film or silicon nitride film (corresponding to second insulating film) 5a and high dielectric constant insulating film (high-k film) (corresponding to first insulating film containing first insulating material) 6a having a dielectric constant higher than that of silicon dioxide, and the components described above are formed in this order from the side of semiconductor substrate 1. Silicon oxide film or silicon nitride film 5a can stabilize the interface characteristic of semiconductor substrate 1. Since high dielectric constant insulating film 6a has a high dielectric constant, it can improve EOT (equivalent oxide thickness).
The first gate electrode of transistor Tr1 is formed of first metal film 7a having a work function greater than that of intrinsic semiconductor silicon, p-conductive polycrystalline silicon film 8a, barrier metal film 9a made of a second metal material (second metal film), and a conductive film made of gate wiring 10a in this order from the side of the first gate insulating film. Using first metal film 7a allows a desired work function to be set, in order to adjust the threshold voltage. Further, first metal 7a cannot be formed to a desired thickness because the threshold voltage varies and it is difficult to process first metal film 7a. The gate electrode can be formed to a desired thickness by using polycrystalline silicon film 8a, which is readily processed. Using barrier metal film (second metal film) 9a prevents polycrystalline silicon film 8a from reacting with gate wiring 10a so that the metal that forms gate wiring 10a is silicified. Gate wiring 10a allows the gate electrodes of a plurality of transistors to be electrically connected to each other.
Cap insulating film 11a made of a silicon nitride film is provided on gate wiring 10a in transistor Tr1. Cap insulating film 11a can be used in later steps not only as a hard mask when the first metal film 7a, the polycrystalline silicon film 8a, the second metal film 9a, and the metal film for the gate wiring 10a are etched to change these film into a shape of the gate electrode but also as a mask when an impurity is implanted in order to form the LDD region 51a and the source and drain 52a. Offset spacers 12 made of a silicon nitride film are provided on each side of the gate electrode. Sidewall spacers 13 made of a silicon oxide film are further provided on each offset spacer 12.
Transistor Tr2 includes n-well 2 provided in semiconductor substrate 1, LDD region 51b and p-conductive source and drain 52b provided in n-well 2, a second gate insulating film including a high dielectric constant insulating film, and a second gate electrode. The second gate insulating film is formed of silicon oxide film or silicon nitride film (second insulating film) 5b and high dielectric constant insulating film (high-k film) (first insulating film) 6b having a dielectric constant higher than that of silicon dioxide, in this order from the side of semiconductor substrate 1. The second gate electrode is formed of first metal film 7b, p-conductive polycrystalline silicon film 8b, barrier metal film (second metal film) 9b, and gate wiring 10b, in this order from the side of the second gate insulating film. Cap insulating film 11b, offset spacers 12, and sidewall spacers 13 are also provided in transistor Tr2, as in transistor Tr1.
Interlayer insulating film 14 is provided over semiconductor substrate 1 to cover transistors Tr1 and Tr2. Upper layer wiring 16 is provided on interlayer insulating film 14 and electrically connected to sources and drains 52a, 52b via contact plugs 15 provided so as to penetrate through interlayer insulating film 14. P-well 3 and n-well 2 are electrically isolated with each other by isolation region 4.
In operation of transistor Tr1, a channel region is formed in a region directly below the first gate electrode in p-well 3. Similarly, in operation of transistor Tr2, a channel region is formed in a region directly below the second gate electrode in n-well 2.
In the first exemplary embodiment, the first and second gate electrodes include p-conductive polycrystalline silicon films 8a and 8b on first metal films 7a and 7b, respectively. Further, the first and second gate insulating films have high dielectric constant insulating films 6a and 6b in contact with metal films 7a and 7b, respectively. When the p-conductive polycrystalline silicon films 8a and 8b are thus joined with first metal films closer to p type 7a and 7b, the energy barrier from metal Fermi level closer to p type Ef to valence band end Ev lowers. As a result, the size of the depletion layer that spreads into each of the p-type polycrystalline silicon films 8a and 8b decreases, thereby reducing the resistance. Further, as the barrier metal films (second metal films) 9a and 9b which prevent the polycrystalline silicon films from being chemically combined with tungsten wiring, titanium nitride or tantalum nitride are formed on the polycrystalline silicon films 8a and 8b. These barrier metal films 9a and 9b also have Fermi levels in the vicinity of the valence band end of silicon and are closer to p type, as first metal films 7a and 7b. Therefore, in the first exemplary embodiment, conversion of polycrystalline silicon into p-conductive polycrystalline silicon lowers interface resistance resulting from not only Schottky junction between the polycrystalline silicon and first metal films 7a, 7b but also Schottky junction between the polycrystalline silicon 8a and 8b and the barrier metal films 9a and 9b.
The high dielectric constant insulating film (first insulating film) 6a and 6b of each of transistors Tr1 and Tr2 may be a monolayer film or a stacked film of a plurality of films and preferably has a dielectric constant higher than that of silicon nitride. The high dielectric constant insulating film can be made, for example, of at least one insulating material (first insulating material) selected from the group consisting of HfSiON, ZrO2, Ta2O5, Nb2O5, Al2O3, HfO2, Sc2O3, Y2O3, La2O3, CeO2, Pr2O3, Nd2O3, Sm2O3, Eu2O3, Gd2O3, Tb2O3, Dy2O3, Ho2O3, Er2O3, Tm2O3, Yb2O3, Lu2O3, HfSiO, ZrSiO and ZrSiON.
Each of first metal films 7a and 7b may be a monolayer film or a stacked film of a plurality of films and may be made of at least one film selected from the group consisting of titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, hafnium nitride, and titanium carbide.
It is preferable that the barrier metal film (second metal film) 9a and 9b has the work function greater than the work function of intrinsic semiconductor silicon. The barrier metal film 9a and 9b of each of transistors Tr1 and Tr2 may be made of at least one film selected from the group consisting of titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, hafnium nitride, titanium carbide, and tungsten nitride. The gate wiring 10a and 10b can be made of a tungsten film.
A method for manufacturing the semiconductor device according to the first exemplary embodiment will be described below with reference to
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In the first exemplary embodiment, after amorphous silicon film 8 is deposited, a p-conductive impurity is ion-implanted into amorphous silicon film 8 to form p-conductive amorphous silicon film 8 in one of the steps shown in
A second exemplary embodiment relates to a case where the structure according to the first exemplary embodiment is used as a peripheral transistor in a DRAM (dynamic random access memory).
In memory cell region X, there is provided memory-cell transistor Tr3 which includes trench-shaped gate electrode 21 provided in semiconductor substrate 1, gate insulating film 22, and source and drain 23. Cap insulating film 31 is provided on trench-shaped gate electrode 21. On semiconductor substrate 1, there are sequentially provided first interlayer insulating film 42, second interlayer insulating film 49, and third interlayer insulating film 50. Bit line 34 connected to one of source and drain 23 is provided in first interlayer insulating film 42. Bit line 34 is formed by stacking n-conductive polycrystalline silicon film 30b, barrier metal film 33, and third metal film 32 in this order from the side of the one of the source and drain. Cap insulating film 31 is provided on bit line 34.
Capacitance contact plug 60 connected to the other one of source and drain 23 is provided in first interlayer insulating film 42. Capacitance contact plug 60 is formed by stacking polycrystalline silicon film (DOPOS) 45 into which an impurity is doped, cobalt silicide film 46, and tungsten film 47 in this order from the side of the other one of the source and drain. Offset spacer insulating film 35 and capacitance contact sidewall 43 electrically isolate bit line 34 and capacitance contact plug 60 from each other. Capacitance contact pad 48 connected to the capacitance contact plug 60 is provided in second interlayer insulating film 49. Capacitor Cap formed of lower electrode 53, capacitance insulating film 58, and upper electrode 55 is provided so that capacitor Cap is connected to capacitance contact pad 48.
Capacitor Cap and transistor Tr3 form a memory cell, and a plurality of memory cells form the DRAM.
In the second exemplary embodiment, in each of the first and second gate electrodes in peripheral circuit region Y, the contact (interface) resistance at the interface between the polycrystalline silicon film 8a and 8b and the first metal film 7a and 7b can be lowered. Further, a titanium nitride or tantalum nitride as a barrier metal film 9a and 9b is formed on the polycrystalline silicon film 8a and 8b, in order to prevent reaction between the polycrystalline silicon film 8a and 8b and the tungsten wiring 10a and 10b. The resistance resulting from Schottky junction between the polycrystalline silicon film 8a and 8b and the barrier metal film 9a and 9b can therefore be also lowered. As a result, the performance of the entire semiconductor device including the DRAM can be enhanced.
A method for manufacturing the semiconductor device according to the second exemplary embodiment will be described below with reference
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In the exemplary embodiment described above, each bit line 34 is formed of n-conductive polycrystalline silicon film 30b, barrier metal film 33, and third metal film 32. The structure of each of the bit lines is, however, not limited to the one described above. Each of the bit lines 34 may alternatively be formed of the barrier metal film and the third metal film without the polycrystalline silicon film. In this case, the step for the bit lines of implanting an n-conductive impurity into the polycrystalline silicon film (the step of
It is apparent that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but may be modified and changed without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2011-187225 | Aug 2011 | JP | national |