This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-45000, filed on Mar. 2, 2011; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Embodiments described herein relate generally to a semiconductor memory device.
Recently, information storage devices (memories) formed on a silicon substrate are widely used in current personal computers, home appliances, digital cameras, and mobile phones, and are increased in capacity and moreover reduced in price and improved in performance year by year.
Information storage devices are classified into some memory types depending on an information storage capacity, an access time, and the like, and 1-transistor type memories are studied and developed as one of memory device candidates that have a large capacity and are capable of high-speed operation equivalent to a dynamic memory (DRAM).
A 1-transistor type memory is called also a capacitor-less DRAM and functions as a memory by modulating an electrical potential of a channel portion in one field-effect transistor and generating a difference in an amount of read current. This is equivalent to varying a threshold voltage of a field-effect transistor by changing a potential of the channel portion.
Such a 1-transistor type memory includes one that uses a fin-type transistor formed on a bulk substrate. In this 1-transistor type memory, a potential barrier for holes is formed near the bottom of a fin and holes generated by GIDL (Gate Induced Drain Leakage current) are confined in the fin to change the potential of the channel portion. Therefore, in such a 1-transistor memory, it is important to make it difficult for holes confined in the fin to escape for holding data.
In general, according to a semiconductor memory device in embodiments, a fin, a gate electrode, a depletion layer, and a source/drain layer are provided. The fin is formed on a semiconductor substrate. The gate electrode is provided on both sides of the fin via a gate dielectric film. The depletion layer forms a potential barrier that confines a hole in a body region between channel regions of the fin. The source/drain layer is formed in the fin to sandwich the gate electrode.
A semiconductor memory device and a manufacturing method of a semiconductor memory device according to the embodiments will be explained below with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to these embodiments.
In
Then, a buried dielectric layer 2 is formed on the semiconductor substrate 1 to fill a portion between the fins 3. The height of the buried dielectric layer 2 can be set such that the upper portion of the fin 3 projects. Moreover, as the material of the buried dielectric layer 2, for example, a silicon oxide film can be used.
Then, gate electrodes G provided on both sides of the fin 3 via a gate dielectric film 5 are formed on the buried dielectric layer 2. The gate electrode G may be formed to span across the fin 3, that is, the gate electrodes G on both sides of the fin 3 may be integrated. As the material of the gate dielectric film 5, for example, a silicon oxide film can be used. As the material of the gate electrode G, for example, a polycrystalline silicon film can be used. Alternatively, as the material of the gate electrode G, for example, metallic compounds, such as titanium nitride, tantalum carbon, a lanthanum-based material, an aluminum-based material, and a magnesium-based material may be used alone or in combination.
In the present embodiment, because an n-type fin FET is used, a P-type impurity diffusion layer 6 and an N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 are provided at a position around the middle between the tip end and the bottom of the fin 3. Then, a depletion layer KU is formed in the interface between the P-type impurity diffusion layer 6 and the N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 by forming the PN junction with the P-type impurity diffusion layer 6 and the N-type impurity diffusion layer 7, so that a potential barrier BP that confines holes h+ in the body region between the channel regions of the fin 3 can be formed in the fin 3. As the P-type impurity of the P-type impurity diffusion layer 6, for example, B or In can be used. As the N-type impurity of the N-type impurity diffusion layer 7, for example, P or As can be used. The P-type impurity concentration of the P-type impurity diffusion layer 6 is set to be higher than the P-type impurity concentration of the fin 3. Moreover, the N-type impurity concentration of the N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 is set to be lower than the P-type impurity concentration of the P-type impurity diffusion layer 6, so that the depletion layer KU is configured to extend on the N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 side. The N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 is preferably fully depleted by a built-in potential.
The N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 is preferably arranged so as not to overlap the channel region formed in the fin 3 in the gate electrode G. Moreover, preferably, the N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 is formed at a position to be sandwiched on both sides by the buried dielectric layer 2 and does not protrude outside the fin 3.
Moreover, in the fin 3, a drain layer D and a source layer S are formed to sandwich the channel region formed in the fin 3 in the gate electrode G. The N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 needs to be electrically separated from the drain layer D and the source layer S via the depletion layer KU. The conductivity type of the drain layer D and the source layer S can be set to the N-type. As this N-type impurity, for example, P or As can be used.
In
The operation of the semiconductor memory device in
When the data ‘1’ is written in this semiconductor memory device, the gate voltage Vg is set to a negative potential, the drain voltage Vd is set to a positive potential, and the substrate bias voltage Vb and the source voltage Vs are set to a ground potential.
At this time, when the gate voltage Vg is set to a negative potential, the fin transistor FT is turned off and the depletion layer near the drain layer D is bent and intense electric field is applied, so that a band-to-band tunneling current flows. This band-to-band tunneling current generates GIDL.
In
On the other hand, when the data ‘0’ is written in this semiconductor memory device, the gate voltage Vg, the substrate bias voltage Vb, and the source voltage Vs are set to a ground potential and the drain voltage Vd is set to a negative potential. Therefore, holes accumulated in the body region between the channel regions of the fin 3 are drained to the drain layer D and the data ‘0’ is written.
When holes h+ are confined in the body region between the channel regions of the fin 3, the potential of the body region becomes high on the plus side compared with the case where holes h+ are not confined. Therefore, when holes h+ are confined in the body region between the channel regions of the fin 3, the gate voltage Vg (threshold Vt) at which the fin transistor FT starts to move into an on-state becomes low compared with the case where holes h+ are not confined and an amount of current that flows when the same gate voltage Vg is applied becomes large. It is possible to determine whether data stored in the semiconductor memory device in
In a method of writing the data ‘1’ by GIDL, the gate voltage Vg is set to a negative potential, so that, as shown in
Moreover, the depletion layer KU is formed between a portion near the height of the upper end portion of the ST1 and the root of the fin 3, so that, even when the depletion layer KU is electrically separated from the semiconductor substrate 1 in the fin 3, the potential barrier BP can be made high. Therefore, holes h+ can be efficiently confined in the body region between the channel regions of the fin 3 and a contact for applying voltage to the N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 is not needed, so that the layout area can be reduced.
Moreover, the N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 is arranged so as not to overlap the channel region, so that the depletion layer KU can be suppressed from affecting the threshold, the gate capacity, a S factor, and the like of the fin transistor FT. Therefore, it is possible to prevent device design from becoming difficult and the position and the thickness of the depletion layer KU do not need to be controlled accurately, so that a manufacturing process can be generalized.
Moreover, a gate current Ig and a drain current Id in an accumulation state of the field-effect transistor can be represented by the following Equation (1) and Equation (2).
Ig(L,Vg,Vb)=Igch(L,Vg,Vb)+Igs+Igd (1)
Id(L,Vg,Vb)=Igd+IGIDL(Vg,Vb)+IJL (2)
In Equation (1), Igs+Igd is a gate leakage current generated in a portion in which the gate electrode G and the source layer S and the drain layer D overlap. Moreover, Igch is a gate leakage current generated between the channel region and the gate electrode G, and is typically a function of a gate length L, the gate voltage Vg, and the substrate bias voltage Vb.
In Equation (2), a component monitored as the drain current Id is a gate leakage current Igd, a junction leakage current IJL, and IGIDL (Vg,Vb) generated by GIDL.
This band-to-band tunneling current TN depends on the width and the electric field of the depletion layer KU and therefore is affected by an impurity profile of the drain layer D. If the impurity concentration of the drain layer D is too large, the depletion layer KU is not bent by the gate voltage Vg, and if the impurity concentration of the drain layer D is too low, the width of the depletion layer KU becomes large and it becomes difficult to cause band-to-band tunneling. Therefore, GIDL when the gate voltage Vg is fixed can be increased by adjusting the impurity profile of the drain layer D and near the channel region near the drain layer D.
Moreover, the fin transistor FT is a double-gate transistor. Therefore, the short channel effect and characteristic variation attributed to a substrate impurity profile can be suppressed, so that the transistor is suitable for scaling of a memory.
Moreover, because the fin transistor FT operates as a fully-depleted channel device, the Vt (threshold) characteristics do not vary even if the substrate bias voltage Vb is applied. Specially, the fin transistor FT using a bulk substrate does not include a box layer, so that when the substrate bias voltage Vb is applied, the substrate bias voltage Vb can be directly transmitted to the fin 3. However, the Id-Vg characteristics in a gate voltage range in an inversion region (state in which an inversion layer of a minority carrier is formed in a channel region) from a depletion region in a fully-depleted state are substantially determined by a work function of the shape (fin width) of the fin 3 and the gate electrode G.
In
Moreover, the potential barrier BP formed in the depletion layer KU is substantially independent on the substrate bias voltage Vb. In other words, even if the potential of the semiconductor substrate 1 changes, the potential variation is absorbed in the n region. Therefore, even if the potential of the semiconductor substrate 1 varies for some reasons (noise or soft error by α-ray), the height of the potential barrier BP with respect to holes h+ and the potential in the channel region vary little, so that a device having a high resistance to variation can be realized.
In
At this time, holes h+ generated by GIDL are confined in the body region between the channel regions of the fin 3 by the potential barrier BP, so that the data ‘1’ is written.
In the hold period after writing the data ‘1’, for example, the gate voltage Vg, the drain voltage Vd, the substrate bias voltage Vb, and the source voltage Vs are set to 0 V.
At this time, holes h+ generated by GIDL remain confined in the body region between the channel regions of the fin 3 by the potential barrier BP.
In the read period after holding the data ‘1’, for example, the gate voltage Vg is set to −0.05 V, the drain voltage Vd is set to −1 V, and the source voltage Vs and the substrate bias voltage Vb are set to 0 V.
At this time, when holes h+ are confined in the body region between the channel regions of the fin 3, the threshold Vt becomes low and an amount of current of the fin transistor FT becomes large compared with the case where holes h+ are not confined.
On the other hand, in
At this time, holes h+ accumulated in the body region between the channel regions of the fin 3 are drained to the drain later D, so that the data ‘0’ is written.
In the hold period after writing the data ‘0’, for example, the gate voltage Vg, the drain voltage Vd, the substrate bias voltage Vb, and the source voltage Vs are set to 0 V.
At this time, holes h+ remain drained from the body region between the channel regions of the fin 3.
In the read period after holding the data ‘0’, for example, the gate voltage Vg is set to −0.05 V, the drain voltage Vd is set to −1 V, and the substrate bias voltage Vb and the source voltage Vs are set to 0 V.
At this time, when holes h+ are not confined in the body region between the channel regions of the fin 3, the threshold Vt becomes high and an amount of current of the fin transistor FT becomes small compared with the case where holes h+ are confined.
In the above embodiment, the method of forming the fin 3 directly from the semiconductor substrate 1 is explained, however, a well may be formed in the semiconductor substrate 1 and the fin 3 may be formed from this well. In this case, it is sufficient to apply a well bias voltage to the well instead of the substrate bias voltage Vb.
In
Next, as shown in
Next, as shown in
Next, as shown in
Next, as shown in
Thereafter, as shown in
In
The bit line decoder 11 can apply the drain voltage Vd to the bit line BL of a selected row. The word line decoder 12 can apply the gate voltage Vg to the word line WL of a selected column.
Then, the gate voltage Vg is applied to the gate electrode G of a selected cell, which is selected in the bit line decoder 11 and the word line decoder 12, via the word line WL and the drain voltage Vd is applied to the drain layer D via the bit line BL, so that the write operation and the read operation are performed.
In
A contact to be connected to the N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 does not need to be formed individually for each fin transistor FT by depleting the N-type impurity diffusion layer 7 in
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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2011-045000 | Mar 2011 | JP | national |