This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-307672, filed on Nov. 14, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Related Art
In recent years, an FBC memory device is expected to replace a DRAM as a semiconductor memory device. The FBC memory device is configured so that FETs (Field Effect Transistors) each including a floating body (hereinafter, also “body region”) are formed on an SOI (Silicon On Insulator) substrate, and so that data “1” or “0” is stored in each of the FETs according to the number of majority carriers accumulated in the body region.
In the FBC memory device, it is desirable that a capacity between the body region and the substrate is larger so as to increase a signal difference between the data “0” and “1”. With a view of increasing the signal difference between the data “0” and “1”, therefore, it is preferable to make a BOX (Buried Oxide) layer included in the SOI substrate thinner.
However, if the BOX layer is thinner, both the capacity between a source layer of each FET and the substrate and that between a drain layer thereof and the substrate become larger. Due to this, a bit line capacity is substantially increased and it takes longer time to raise a potential of drain layers. As a result, an operating rate for turning on or off the FBC memory device is disadvantageously decelerated.
To deal with the disadvantage, a structure in which a bottom of the body region protrudes in a convex manner toward a supporting substrate is disclosed in JP-A 2003-168802 (KOKAI) (Patent Document 1). However, the structure has a disadvantage of high cost because of the complicated manufacturing process for the structure.
A semiconductor memory device according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a semiconductor substrate; a buried insulating film provided on the semiconductor substrate; a semiconductor layer provided on the buried insulating film; an N-type source layer formed in the semiconductor layer; an N-type drain layer formed in the semiconductor layer; a body region formed in the semiconductor layer to be provided between the source layer and the drain layer, the body region being in an electrically floating state and holding data according to a state of accumulating majority carriers in the body region; a gate insulating film provided on the body region; a gate electrode provided on the gate insulating film; and a P-type diffusion layer provided on a surface of the semiconductor substrate present under the drain layer, wherein a conduction type of a surface of the semiconductor substrate present under the body region is an N type.
A semiconductor memory device according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a P-type semiconductor substrate; a buried insulating film provided on the semiconductor substrate; a semiconductor layer provided on the buried insulating film; an N-type source layer formed in the semiconductor layer; an N-type drain layer formed in the semiconductor layer; a body region formed in the semiconductor layer to be provided between the source layer and the drain layer, the body region being in an electrically floating state and holding data according to a state of accumulating majority carriers in the body region; a gate insulating film provided on the body region; a gate electrode provided on the gate insulating film; and a P-type diffusion layer provided on a surface of the semiconductor substrate present under the drain layer, the P-type diffusion layer being lower in impurity concentration than the semiconductor substrate, wherein a conduction type of a surface of the semiconductor substrate present under the body region is same conduction type as the other part of the semiconductor substrate.
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor memory device according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises preparing a semiconductor substrate including a semiconductor substrate, a buried insulating film provided on the semiconductor substrate, and a semiconductor layer provided on the buried insulating film; forming a gate insulating film on the semiconductor layer; depositing a gate electrode material on the gate insulating film; depositing a mask material on the gate electrode material; working the mask material into a gate electrode pattern; forming a gate electrode by etching the gate electrode material using the mask material as a mask; forming a diffusion layer in the semiconductor substrate in a self-aligned fashion by implanting an impurity into a surface of the semiconductor substrate using the mask material or the gate electrode as a mask; and forming a source layer and a drain layer in the semiconductor layer in a self-aligned fashion by implanting an impurity opposite in conduction type to the impurity of the diffusion layer into the semiconductor layer using the gate electrode as a mask.
Embodiments of the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the invention is not limited thereto.
A silicide layer 110 is formed on a surface of each of the source layers 40 and the drain layers 50, and a silicide layer 120 is formed on an upper surface of each of the gate electrodes 80. Contact resistances with respect to the source layers 40 and the drain layers 50 and gate resistances are thereby reduced.
Sidewall films 130 are provided on both side surfaces of each of the gate electrodes 80, respectively. Further, a liner layer 140 is formed to cover up the silicide layer 120 and the sidewall films 130. An interlayer insulating film 150 is provided on the liner layer 140.
Source lines SLs are connected to the source layers 40 via contact plugs CPs, respectively. The source lines SLs extend in parallel to the gate electrodes 80. Bit lines BLs are connected to the drain layers 50 via contact plugs CPs, respectively. The bit lines BLs extend to be orthogonal to the gate electrodes 80 and the source lines SLs.
The FBC memory device 100 also includes P-type capacity adjustment layers 90. The capacity adjustment layers 90 are provided on a surface of the N substrate 10 present right under the source layers 40 and the drain layers 50. The capacity adjustment layers 90 are provided to adjust capacities of the source lines SLs and the bit lines BLs, respectively. On the other hand, the capacity adjustment layers 90 are not provided on a surface of the N substrate 10 present right under the body regions 60. Due to this, a conduction type of the surface of the N substrate 10 right under the body regions 60 remains N type. An impurity concentration of the N substrate 10 is, for example, about 1×1015/cm−3 and that of the capacity adjustment layers 90 is, for example, about 1×1015/cm−3 to 1×1016/cm−3.
Each of memory cells MCs of the FBC memory device 100 according to the first embodiment is an N-type FET. The FBC memory device 100 can store data in each memory cell MC according to the number of majority carriers accumulated in the body region 60 of the memory cell MC. If the memory cells MCs are N-type FETs, it is defined that a state of each memory cell MC in which the number of holes accumulated in the body region 60 is large is a state in which the memory cell MC stores therein data “1” and that a state thereof in which the number of holes accumulated in the body regions 60 is small is a state in which the memory cell MC stores therein data “0”.
To write data “1” to each of the memory cells MC, the memory cell MC is caused to operate in a saturation state. For example, a potential of the word line WL connected to the memory cell MC is biased to 1.5 V, and that of the bit line BL connected to the memory cell is biased to 1.5 V. A potential of the source line SL connected to the memory cell MC is set to a ground voltage GND (0 V). By doing so, impact ionization occurs near the drain layer 50 of the memory cell MC to thereby generate many pairs of electrons and holes. The electrons generated by the impact ionization flow into the drain layer 50 whereas the holes generated by the impact ionization are accumulated in the low-potential body region 60. If a current flowing when the holes are generated by the impact ionization becomes proportional to a forward current at a pn junction between the body region 60 and the source layer 40 of the memory cell MC, a body voltage turns into an equilibrium state. The body voltage in the equilibrium state is about 0.7 V.
To write data “0” to each memory cell MC, a potential of the bit line BL connected to the memory cell MC is reduced to negative voltage. For example, the potential of the bit line BL connected thereto is reduced to −1.5 V. By doing so, a pn junction between the body region 60 and the drain layer 50 of the memory cell MC is largely biased in a forward direction. The holes accumulated in the body region 60 are discharged to the drain layer 50, whereby data “0” is stored in the memory cell MC.
During a data read operation, i.e., to read data from each of the memory cells MCs, the word line WL connected to the memory cell MC is activated similarly to the data write operation but the potential of the bit line BL connected thereto is set lower than that during the operation for writing data “1” to the memory cell MC. For example, the potential of the word line WL is set to 1.5 V and that of the bit line BL is set to 0.2 V. The memory cell MC is caused to operate in a linear region. The memory cells MCs storing therein data “1” differ from the memory cells MCs storing therein data “0” in threshold voltage due to the difference therebetween in the number of holes accumulated in the body region 60. By detecting the threshold voltage difference, the data “1” is discriminated from the data “0”. The reason for setting the potential of the bit line BL to the low voltage during the data read operation is as follows. If the voltage of the bit line BL connected to one memory cell MC is set high to bias the memory cell MC to the saturation state, the data “0” is changed to the data “1” by the impact ionization at the time of reading the data “0”.
Generally, a constant potential (e.g., −3 V) lower than any of a source voltage, a bit voltage, and a gate voltage is applied to the N substrate 10. Accordingly, a depletion layer is generated from a surface of each P-type capacity adjustment layer 90, thus reducing the capacities between the drain layer 50 of each memory cell MC and the substrate 10, and between the source layer 40 thereof and the substrate 10. In other words, by providing the capacity adjustment layers 90 opposite in conduction type to the source layer 40 and the drain layer 50 of each memory cell MC only on the surface of the N substrate 10 present under the source layer 40 and the drain layer 50, capacities of the source lines SLs and the bit lines BLs can be substantially reduced without changing a thickness of the BOX layer 20. As a result, operating rates such as a data write rate and a data read rate are accelerated. Moreover, if the thickness of the BOX layer 20 is reduced, it is possible to suppress deceleration of the operating rates such as the data write rate and the data read rate.
On the other hand, no capacity adjustment layer 90 is provided right under the body region 60 of each memory cell MC, where only the N substrate 10 is present as it is. Accordingly, no depletion layer is generated under the body region 60. Namely, the capacity between the body region 60 and the N substrate 10 is not reduced and the signal difference (voltage difference) between the data “1” and “0” is not reduced. In other words, if the thickness of the BOX layer 20 is reduced, the signal difference can be increased accordingly.
A method of manufacturing the FBC memory device 100 according to the first embodiment will be described.
As shown in
As shown in
The mask material 85 is worked into a pattern of the gate electrodes 80 shown in
Using the mask material 85 or the gate electrodes 80 as a mask, P-type impurity ions (e.g., boron) are implanted into the surface of the N substrate 10. At this time, the P-type impurity ions are implanted in a self-aligned fashion while using the mask material 85 or the gate electrodes 80 as the mask. Due to this, the P-type impurity ions are not implanted into the N substrate 10 present under body formation regions. Acceleration energy at this ion implantation step is adjusted so that a range of the impurities is up to or slightly short of the surface of the N substrate 10.
After removing the mask material 85 as shown in
Using the gate electrodes 80 as a mask, impurity ions (e.g., phosphor or arsenic ions) opposite in conduction type to the P-type impurity ions contained in the P-type capacity adjustment layers 90 are implanted into the SOI layer 30. As a result, the source layers 40 and the drain layers 50 as shown in
Thereafter, the silicide layers 110 and 120, the contact plugs CPs, the source lines SLs, and the bit lines BLs are formed by well-known methods, thereby completing the FBC memory device 100. Before forming the source layers 40 and the drain layers 50, an extension layer (not shown) can be formed if it is necessary to do so. The extension layer is formed to be adjacent to the source layers 40 and the drain layers 50 and equal in conduction type to the source layers 40 and the drain layers 50.
In the first embodiment, if a thickness of each of the gate electrodes 80 is larger than a sum of the thickness of the SOI layer 30 and that of the BOX layer 20, P-type impurity ions can be implanted into the N substrate 10 using only the gate electrodes 80 as the mask at the step of forming the capacity adjustment layers 90.
In the manufacturing method according to the first embodiment, it suffices to add only the ion implantation steps and the annealing step to ordinary FBC memory device manufacturing steps as the steps of forming the capacity adjustment layers 90. Furthermore, the capacity adjustment layers 90 are formed in a self-aligned fashion using the pattern of the gate electrodes 80. Namely, there is no need to execute a lithography step and an etching step to form the capacity adjustment layers 90. Therefore, the manufacturing method according to the first embodiment can be carried out far more easily at lower cost than the manufacturing method disclosed in the Patent Document 1.
To diffuse the capacity adjustment layers 90 more widely, it is preferable to execute the ion implantation step for the capacity adjustment layers 90, the ion implantation step for the extension layer, and the ion implantation step for the source layers 40 and the drain layers 50 in this order after the formation of the gate electrodes 80.
The capacity adjustment layers 90 provided under the source layers 40 can substantially reduce the capacities of the respective source lines SLs. This can give an advantage of accelerating memory cell operating rates when the source voltage is varied. If the source voltage is fixed, the capacity adjustment layers 90 can be provided only under the respective drain layers 50 and not under the respective source layers 40 as shown in
According to the second embodiment, the impurity concentration of the capacity adjustment layers 90 is lower than that of the P substrate 10. Due to this, if memory cells MCs operate, then depletion layers are generated from surfaces of the respective capacity adjustment layers 90, and the capacity between each drain layer 50 and the P substrate 10 and that between each source layer 40 and the P substrate 10 are reduced. Namely, by providing the capacity adjustment layers 90 opposite in conduction type to the source layers 40 and the drain layers 50 only on the surface of the P substrate 10 right under the source layers 40 and the drain layers 50, it is possible to substantially reduce capacities of the source lines SLs and the bit lines BLs without changing the thickness of the BOX layer 20. As a result, the second embodiment can exhibit the same advantages as those of the first embodiment.
A method of manufacturing the FBC memory device 200 according to the second embodiment differs from the manufacturing method according to the first embodiment in that the silicon substrate 10 is the P-type bulk substrate or P-type plate and in that N-type impurity ions are implanted in a self-aligned fashion using the gate electrodes 80 and the mask material 85 as a mask at a step of forming the capacity adjustment layers 90. The other steps of the manufacturing method according to the second embodiment can be similar to those according to the first embodiment.
The N-type impurity ions implanted at the step of forming the capacity adjustment layers 90 are, for example, phosphor or arsenic ions. The implanted impurity amount of the N-type impurities is about 1×1012/cm−2 if the impurity concentration of the P substrate 10 is about 1×1017/cm−3.
In the second embodiment, if a thickness of each of the gate electrodes 80 is larger than a sum of the thickness of the SOI layer 30 and that of the BOX layer 20, N-type impurity ions can be implanted into the P substrate 10 using only the gate electrodes 80 as a mask at the step of forming the capacity adjustment layers 90.
In the manufacturing method according to the second embodiment similarly to the first embodiment, it suffices to add only the ion implantation steps and the annealing step to ordinary FBC memory device manufacturing steps as the steps of forming the capacity adjustment layers 90. Furthermore, the capacity adjustment layers 90 are formed in a self-aligned fashion using the pattern of the gate electrodes 80. Therefore, similarly to the manufacturing method according to the first embodiment, the manufacturing method according to the second embodiment can be carried out far more easily at lower cost than the manufacturing method disclosed in the Patent Document 1.
The capacity adjustment layers 90 provided under the source layers 40 can substantially reduce the capacities of the respective source lines SLs. This can give an advantage of accelerating memory cell operating rates when the source voltage is varied. If the source voltage is fixed, the capacity adjustment layers 90 can be provided only under the respective drain layers 50 and not under the respective source layers 40 similarly to the first embodiment. Even if the capacity adjustment layers 90 are provided as above, the capacities of the bit lines BLs can be substantially reduced. Therefore, the above-stated advantages of the second embodiment are not lost.
A manufacturing method according to the third embodiment differs from that according to the first embodiment in a mask pattern using when STIs are formed. The other steps of the manufacturing method according to the third embodiment can be similar to those according to the first embodiment. The third embodiment can exhibit the same advantages as those of the first embodiment.
The third embodiment can be combined with the second embodiment. Namely, in the third embodiment, the substrate 10 can be either the P-type bulk substrate or P-type plate. In this case, the capacity adjustment layers 90 are lower in impurity concentration than the substrate 10. Therefore, the third embodiment can exhibit the same advantages as those of the second embodiment.
The capacity adjustment layers 90 provided under the source layers 40 can substantially reduce the capacities of the respective source lines SLs. This can give an advantage of accelerating memory cell operating rates when the source voltage is varied. If the source voltage is fixed, the capacity adjustment layers 90 can be provided only under the respective drain layers 50 and not under the respective source layers 40 similarly to the first embodiment. Even if the capacity adjustment layers 90 are provided as above, the capacities of the bit lines BLs can be substantially reduced. Therefore, the above-stated advantages of the third embodiment will not be lost.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006-307672 | Nov 2006 | JP | national |