This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-043254, filed on Feb. 29, 2012; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Embodiments described herein relate generally to a semiconductor device.
There have been proposed 1T (Transistor) memories that constitute a memory device with a single transistor, such as FBC (Floating Body Cell), or TRAM (Thyristor RAM). Most of these memories are volatile memories that aim to replace 1T/1C DRAM into 1T DRAM. There have also been proposed SONOS non-volatile 1T memories utilizing an ONO membrane as a charge trap film. However, they need voltage of 10 V or more for writing data or erasing data, which is a problem from the viewpoint of power consumption and reliability of a device. Accordingly, a non-volatile 1T memory that can operate at low voltage has been demanded.
In general, according to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a fin, a gate electrode, a gate insulating film, source/drain regions, and a piezoelectric element. The fin is formed on a semiconductor substrate. The piezoelectric element is formed on the fin. The gate electrode is formed to cover the fin through the gate insulating film and the piezoelectric element, which are formed on the surface of the fin. The gate electrode applies voltage to the piezoelectric element, thereby applying stress to the fin, and can adjust a drain current by changing a channel potential of a fin field-effect transistor. The semiconductor device according to the embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below.
In
A buried insulating layer 2 is formed on the semiconductor substrate 1 in such a manner that the fin 3 is buried therein. The buried insulating layer 2 has a function of an isolation layer (STI: Shallow Trench Isolation). The height of the buried insulating layer 2 can be set such that the top of the fin 3 projects from the buried insulating layer 2. A silicon oxide film can be used as the material of the buried insulating layer 2, for example. A piezoelectric element 5 that applies stress to the fin 3 is formed on the fin 3. A piezoelectric ceramic such as barium titanate can be used as the material of the piezoelectric element 5.
A gate electrode G that applies voltage to the side face of the fin 3 and the piezoelectric element 5 is formed on the buried insulating layer 2. The gate electrode G is formed to cover the fin 3 through a gate insulating film 4 and the piezoelectric element 5. For example, the gate electrode G can be arranged to cross the piezoelectric element 5 on both side faces of the fin 3. A silicon oxide film can be used as the material of the gate insulating film 4, for example. A polycrystalline silicon film can be used as the material of the gate electrode G, for example. Alternatively, the material of the gate electrode G may be a single metal compound such as titanium nitride, tantalum carbide, lanthanum materials, aluminum materials, or magnesium materials, or a combination of these metal compounds.
An impurity diffusion layer 6 is formed between the vicinity of the top end of the STI of the fin 3 and a root. The conductive type of the impurity diffusion layer 6 can be set to P-type. Boron or Indium can be used, for example, as the impurity of the impurity diffusion layer 6. The impurity concentration of the impurity diffusion layer 6 is set to be larger than the impurity concentration of the fin channel region. The impurity diffusion layer 6 can suppress a leakage current between the source and drain, flowing through the bottom region of the fin 3 below the gate electrode G. It is preferable that the impurity diffusion layer 6 does not spread over the top end of the STI of the fin 3 in order to prevent the impurity concentration of a fin channel from being increased.
A drain region D and a source region S are formed on both sides of a channel that is formed on a region where the gate electrode G and the fin 3 are overlapped. The conductive type of the drain region D and the source region S can be set to N-type. Phosphorus or Arsenic can be used, for example, as the N-type impurity.
In order to control the body potential of the fin, the impurity concentration of the channel may be slightly increased to form a partially-depleted fin field effect transistor. The piezoelectric element 5 is preferably formed to be self-aligned with the fin 3. The piezoelectric element 5 formed on the fin 3 may protrude from the region where the gate electrode G and the fin 3 are overlapped, and extend toward the source region and the drain region D. The surface orientation of the side face of the fin on which the channel is formed is preferably (110).
In
When the fin 3 and the piezoelectric element 5 are integrally processed, and the piezoelectric element 5 is formed in a self-aligned manner on the fin 3, the increase in the number of the process steps required to form the piezoelectric element 5 can be minimized, and the increase in a footprint of the fin field effect transistor, which is caused by the formation of the piezoelectric element 5, can be suppressed.
Since the gate electrode G is arranged on both side faces of the fin 3 as crossing the piezoelectric element 5, data can be written, erased, and read through the application of voltage to the gate electrode G. Therefore, the semiconductor device does not need a circuit dedicated to drive the piezoelectric element 5.
It is found from
In
When the residual polarizations of B and E points upon the voltage of zero are utilized, the semiconductor device is expected to be used as a non-volatile memory that can retain data even if the voltage is zero. However, in the case of the hysteresis curve that is symmetric with respect to the points where the voltage V and the polarization PA are both zero as illustrated in
When the hysteresis curve is asymmetric with respect to the points where the voltage V and the polarization PA are both zero as illustrated in
There has been known a phenomenon called imprint in the ferromagnetic body in which the hysteresis curve becomes asymmetric because the ferromagnetic body is retained to be in the same polarization state for a long period. By utilizing this phenomenon, the ferromagnetic body showing the symmetric hysteresis curve illustrated in
In
The drain voltage VD and the gate voltage VG are set to 0 V, during the hold of the data “1”. In this case, the polarization PA of the piezoelectric element 5 is fixed on the B′ point in
During the read of the data “1”, the drain voltage VD is biased to be positive, and the gate voltage VG is set so as to satisfy 0<VD<VG<Vmax. It is desirable that the drain voltage VD and the gate voltage VG are set such that the fin field effect transistor is operated in the triode mode. In this case, the drain current corresponding to the polarization state of the piezoelectric element 5 on the B′ point flows through the fin field effect transistor. By detecting this drain current, the memory state of the data “1” can be determined.
On the other hand, in
During the hold of the data “0”, the drain voltage VD and the gate voltage VG are both set to 0 V. In this case, the polarization PA of the piezoelectric element 5 is fixed to the E′ point in
During the read of the data “0”, the drain voltage VD is biased to be positive, and the gate voltage VG is set so as to satisfy 0<VD<VG<Vmax. It is desirable that the drain voltage VD and the gate voltage VG are set such that the fin field effect transistor is operated in the triode mode. In this case, the drain current corresponding to the polarization state of the piezoelectric element 5 on the E′ point flows through the fin field effect transistor. By detecting this drain current, the memory state of the data “0” can be determined.
When the gate voltage VG (=VR) during the read is set to satisfy 0<VR<Vmax, the occurrence of the data inversion (“1”→“0”) during the read can be prevented.
The method of operating the semiconductor device provided with the piezoelectric element 5 on the fin 3 illustrated in
In
The gate electrodes G1 and G2 are arranged on a buried insulating layer 2 so as to be opposite to each other across the fin 3. The gate electrode G3 is arranged on the piezoelectric element 5 so as to be aligned with the gate electrodes G1 and G2 in the longitudinal direction. The lengths of the gate electrodes G1 to G3 can be set to be equal to one another. The heights of the gate electrodes G1 and G2 can be set to be equal to the height of the fin 3 that protrudes from the buried insulating layer 2. The width of the gate electrode G3 can be set to be equal to the width of the fin 3.
In
During the hold of the data “1”, the drain voltage VD and the gate voltage VG2 applied to the gate electrode G3 are both set to 0 V.
During the read of the data “1”, the drain voltage is biased to be positive, and a gate voltage VG1 is applied to the gate electrodes G1 and G2 with 0 V being applied to the gate electrode G3. In this case, the VG1 is set to satisfy 0<VD<VG1<Vmax.
On the other hand, in
During the hold of the data “0”, the drain voltage VD and the gate voltage VG2 applied to the gate electrode G3 are set to 0 V.
During the read of the data “0”, the drain voltage VD is biased to be positive, and the gate voltage VG1 is applied to the gate electrodes G1 and G2 with 0 V being applied to the gate electrode G3. In this case, the VG1 is set to satisfy 0<VD<VG1<Vmax.
In the present embodiment, since the voltage is not applied to the gate electrodes G1 and G2 during the write of the data, the load of the electric field to the gate insulating film 4 can be reduced, and even if high voltage is applied to the gate electrode G3, the deterioration in the reliability of the gate insulating film 4 can be prevented.
Since the gate electrode G3 is isolated from the gate electrodes G1 and G2, the deterioration in the reliability of the gate insulating film 4 can be prevented, and the high voltage can be applied to the gate electrode G3. Therefore, a larger distortion is generated on the piezoelectric element 5, whereby the modulation of the mobility in the fin side channel can be increased. Consequently, a read margin of a memory can be increased.
In
Gate electrodes G11 and G12 are arranged as being isolated from each other on both side faces of the stacked structure of the semiconductor layers 8A to 8C and the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C on the fin 3 over the buried insulating layer 2. The gate electrodes G11 and G12 are arranged on the buried insulating layer 2 so as to be opposite to each other across the stacked structure of the semiconductor layers 8A to 8C and the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C. The material of the semiconductor layers 8A to 8C can be selected from, for example, Si, Ge, SiGe, GaAs, InP, GaP, InGaAs, GaN, and SiC. The gate electrodes G11 and G12 can be set to have equal length. The heights of the gate electrodes G11 and G12 can be set such that the topmost surfaces of the gate electrodes G11 and G12 correspond with the topmost surface of the stacked structure of the semiconductor layers 8A to 8C and the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C. The width of the stacked structure of the semiconductor layers 8A to 8C and the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C can be set to be equal to the width of the fin 3.
In
In the semiconductor device illustrated in
In the description below, the polarization in the direction from the gate electrode G11 to the gate electrode G12 is referred to as positive polarization, and the polarization in the direction from the gate electrode G11 to the gate electrode G12 is referred to as negative polarization.
In the write of the data “1”, the drain voltage VD and the gate voltage VG2 are set to 0 V, and the gate voltage VG1 is swept till the voltage Vmax. In this case, the positive polarization is generated on the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C.
In the hold of the data “1”, the drain voltage VD and the gate voltages VG1 and VG2 are set to 0 V. In this case, the polarizations of the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C are fixed on the B′ point in
During the read of the data “1”, the drain voltage VD and the gate voltages VG1 and VG2 are set such that the fin field effect resistor is operated in the triode mode. In this case, the drain current corresponding to the polarization state of the piezoelectric elements 5A to 50 on the point B′ flows through the fin field effect transistor. By detecting this drain current, the memory state of the data “1” can be determined.
On the other hand, the drain voltage VD and the gate voltage VG1 are set to 0 V, and the gate voltage VG2 is swept till the voltage Vmin, during the write of the data “0”. In this case, the negative polarization is generated on the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C.
During the hold of the data “0”, the drain voltage VD and the gate voltages VG1 and VG2 are both set to 0 V. In this case, the polarizations of the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C are fixed to the E′ point in
During the read of the data “0”, the drain voltage VD and the gate voltages VG1 and VG2 are set such that the fin field effect transistor is operated in the triode mode. In this case, the drain current corresponding to the polarization state of the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C on the E′ point flows through the fin field effect transistor. By detecting this drain current, the memory state of the data “0” can be determined.
The gate voltages VG1 and VG2 can be set to be equal to each other during the read. This can prevent the application of voltage to the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C during the read, whereby the data inversion can be prevented from occurring.
In the present embodiment, the stacked structure in which each of the semiconductor layers 8A to 8C and each of the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C are formed to have small thickness is used, whereby the distortion amount of the semiconductor layers 8A to 8C caused by the distortion of the piezoelectric elements 5A to 5C is increased. Accordingly, the modulation of the mobility in the channel can be increased.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2012-043254 | Feb 2012 | JP | national |