The present disclosure generally relates to semiconductor devices and methods for fabricating semiconductor devices. In some previous approaches, semiconductor devices on the same wafer may be limited to having the same top layer thickness, and therefore may be limited to having similar characteristics. Semiconductor devices are used in a wide variety of electronics, and improvements regarding both production and performance of semiconductor devices are generally desired.
Aspects of the present disclosure are best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying figures. It is noted that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.
The following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of the provided subject matter. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. For example, the formation of a first feature over or on a second feature in the description that follows may include embodiments in which the first and second features are formed in direct contact, and may also include embodiments in which additional features may be formed between the first and second features, such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed.
Further, spatially relative terms, such as “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. The spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. The apparatus may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein may likewise be interpreted accordingly.
Referring now to
Circuit 100 is shown to include three separate semiconductor devices: a semiconductor device 110, a semiconductor device 120, and a semiconductor device 130. Each of semiconductor device 110, semiconductor device 120, and semiconductor device 130 are formed on a common substrate. Circuit 100 is shown to include a base silicon layer 150 and a buried oxide (BOX) layer 140 formed on a top surface of base silicon layer 150. For example, base silicon layer 150 and BOX layer 140 can be bottom layers of an SOI structure. In some embodiments, base silicon layer 150 is a bulk silicon layer. BOX layer 140 can be formed of silicon dioxide material, for example, and can provide an insulating layer disposed between layers of silicon to reduce parasitic capacitance.
Semiconductor device 110 is shown to include a gate oxide layer 111, a gate 112, a spacer 113, a source 114, and a drain 115. Gate oxide layer 111 is generally a dielectric layer that separates gate 112 from source 114 and drain 115. For example, gate oxide layer 111 can be formed of materials such as silicon nitride, aluminum oxide, silicon dioxide, and other suitable materials. In some embodiments, gate 112 is formed of polysilicon material. However, gate 112 can also be a metal gate. Voltage applied at gate 112 can generally control the operation and conductance of semiconductor device 110. Spacer 113 is formed around gate 112 in order to electrically isolate gate 112 and prevent charge leakage. Spacer 113 can be formed of materials with high dielectric constants such as silicon nitride, silicon oxide, or other suitable materials and combinations thereof. Source 114 and drain 115 are doped regions (e.g. n-type, p-type).
Semiconductor device 110 is also shown to include a top silicon layer 116 and an added oxide layer 117. Top silicon layer 116 is an active layer in contact with source 114, drain 115, and gate oxide layer 111. Added oxide layer 117 is additional oxide material that essentially thickens BOX layer 140 beneath device 110, but not beneath device 120 or device 130. For example, added oxide layer 117 can be additional silicon dioxide material disposed on top of BOX layer 140 to form a larger depletion region.
Similarly, semiconductor device 120 is shown to include a gate oxide layer 121, a gate 122, a spacer 123, a source 124, a drain 125, a top silicon layer 126, and an added oxide layer 127. These structures are similar to gate oxide layer 111, gate 112, spacer 113, source 114, drain 115, top silicon layer 116, and added oxide layer 117 described above. Further, semiconductor device 130 is shown to include a gate oxide layer 131, a gate 132, a spacer 133, a source 134, a drain 135, a top silicon layer 136, and an added oxide layer 137. These structures are also similar to gate oxide layer 111, gate 112, spacer 113, source 114, drain 115, top silicon layer 116, and added oxide layer 117 described above.
Circuit 100 is also shown to include a plurality of isolation structures 161, 162, 163, and 164. These isolation structures can be formed between devices to prevent crosstalk and other unwanted phenomena. Isolation structures 161, 162, 163, and 164 can be formed of a dielectric material such as silicon oxide, silicon nitride, and other suitable materials and combinations of materials. The height of isolation structures 161, 162, 163, and 164 may vary depending on the thickness of the surrounding top silicon layers. For example, the height of isolation structure 162 may depend on TS1 and TS2 such that the height of isolation structure 162 needs to be greater than both TS1 and TS2 by at least a threshold amount. Similarly, the height of isolation structure 163 may depend on TS2 and TS3 such that the height of isolation structure 163 needs to be greater than both TS2 and TS3 by at least a threshold amount. However, the height and/or other dimensions of any of isolation structures 161, 162, 163, and 164 can also be independent of the surrounding top silicon layers. The variables TS1, TS2, and TS3 are discussed in more detail below.
In some previous SOI structures, the thickness of the top silicon layer (analogous to top silicon layers 116, 126, and 136) and the thickness of the BOX layer (analogous to the sum of the BOX layer 140 and the associated added oxide layer, such as added oxide layer 117) is essentially the same for all devices on the common substrate. However, it may be desirable to provide the ability to fabricate devices with different characteristics on a single substrate. For example, it may be desirable to fabricate both fully depleted and partially depleted semiconductor devices on a single substrate. Thus, it may be desirable to vary the thickness of the top silicon layer and the BOX layer for different devices on the same substrate. Circuit 100 provides an example of such a structure, wherein the thicknesses of top silicon layer 116, top silicon layer 126, and top silicon layer 136 are all different, as discussed in more detail below.
The top silicon layer is generally thinner for a fully depleted device than it is for a partially depleted device. For example, in a structure like circuit 100, a fully depleted device will typically have a top silicon layer thickness of about 50-500 angstroms and a partially depleted device will typically have a top silicon layer thickness of about 500-3000 angstroms, however thicknesses outside of these ranges can also apply and these ranges can vary depending on the intended application. As shown in
Referring now to
Process 200 can generally be divided into three sub-processes. First, a carrier wafer is formed; second, a device wafer is formed; and third, the carrier wafer and the device wafer are bonded together. At a step 212, an insulating layer is formed on top of a base substrate layer to from the carrier wafer (
At a step 222, a device wafer is formed by forming a layer of silicon and a layer of silicon-germanium on a doped substrate layer (
At a step 224, the layer of silicon is etched based on a desired top layer thickness for one or more devices (
At a step 226, a layer of oxide is formed over the etched layer of silicon (
At a step 228, the layer of oxide is polished (
After step 228 is complete, formation of the device wafer is complete, and process 200 continues to the wafer bonding phase. At a step 232, the carrier wafer and the device wafer are bonded together such that the oxide layer of the device wafer contacts the insulating layer of the carrier wafer (
At a step 234, the doped substrate layer of the device wafer is removed (
At a step 236, the layer of silicon-germanium is removed and the top surface of the layer of silicon is polished (
Referring now to
Process 300 can generally be divided into three sub-processes. First, a carrier wafer is formed; second, a device wafer is formed; and third, the carrier wafer and the device wafer are bonded together. At a step 312, a trap-rich layer is formed on top of a base substrate layer (base substrate layer 250 and trap-rich layer 280 in
The steps involving formation of the device wafer and bonding of the device wafer to the carrier wafer in process 300 are similar to those of process 200 described above. At a step 322, a device wafer is formed by forming a layer of silicon and a layer of silicon-germanium on a doped substrate layer (doped substrate layer 252, silicon-germanium layer 270, and silicon layer 206 in
Referring now to
Process 400 is shown to include forming a carrier wafer by forming a base oxide layer over a base silicon layer (step 401). For example, step 401 can include forming BOX layer 140 over base silicon layer 150. In some embodiments, a trap-rich layer is formed between the base oxide layer and the base silicon layer to trap charge and lower the effective resistivity of the carrier wafer structure.
Process 400 is also shown to include forming a device wafer by forming a silicon-germanium layer over a doped silicon layer, forming a top silicon layer over the silicon-germanium layer, and forming an oxide layer over the top silicon layer (step 402). In some embodiments, both the silicon-germanium layer and the top silicon layer are formed over the doped silicon layer using an epitaxial growth process. Moreover, in some embodiments, the top silicon layer is etched such that different regions of the top silicon layer have different thicknesses. For example, the top silicon layer can be etched such that it has two or more different regions having different thicknesses. In this sense, different semiconductor devices can be formed over the different regions of top silicon layer such that the devices have different characteristics, but are disposed on the wafer.
Process 400 is also shown to include bonding the device wafer to the carrier wafer such that the oxide layer is in contact with the base oxide layer (step 403). The oxide layer can be polished, for example using a CMP process, before the bonding in step 403 occurs. Multiple device wafers can be bonded to the carrier wafer, or a single device wafer can be bonded to the carrier wafer having different regions of different thicknesses.
Process 400 is also shown to include removing the doped silicon layer and removing the silicon-germanium layer to expose the top silicon layer (step 404). Removing the doped silicon layer can include removing at least a portion of the doped silicon layer using a grinding process and/or using an HNA mixture. Removing the silicon-germanium layer can include removing the silicon-germanium layer using a wet etching process. After exposing the top silicon layer, the top silicon layer can be polished, for example using a wet cleaning process or a thermal cleaning process.
Process 400 is also shown to include forming a first semiconductor device over a first region of the top silicon layer and forming a second semiconductor device over a second region of the top silicon layer (step 405). For example, the regions can be different regions of the top silicon layer that have different thicknesses as discussed above. In this sense, different semiconductor devices can be formed over the different regions of top silicon layer such that the devices have different characteristics, but are disposed on the same wafer. For example, the first region of the top silicon layer can have a thickness between 500 and 3000 angstroms and the second region of the top silicon layer can have a thickness between 50 and 500 angstroms. Thicknesses outside of these ranges can also apply and these ranges can vary depending on the intended application. In this example, the first semiconductor device is a partially depleted device and the second semiconductor device is a fully depleted device.
The approaches described herein can provide a single semiconductor wafer with devices that have different top layer thicknesses. This structure can provide advantages in that all of semiconductor devices do not have to have the same or nearly the same characteristics. For example, both fully depleted and partially depleted devices can be formed on a single wafer. This structure and the processes described herein to fabricate the structure can be utilized in a variety of ways depending on the intended application.
An implementation of the present disclosure is a circuit. The circuit includes a base silicon layer, a base oxide layer, a first top silicon layer, a second top silicon layer, a first semiconductor device, and a second semiconductor device. The base oxide layer is formed over the base silicon layer. The first top silicon layer is formed over a first region of the base oxide layer and has a first thickness. The second top silicon layer is formed over a second region of the base oxide layer and has a second thickness that is less than the first thickness. The first semiconductor device is formed over the first top silicon layer and the second semiconductor device is formed over the second top silicon layer.
Another implementation of the present disclosure is a method of fabricating a circuit. The method includes forming a carrier wafer by forming a base oxide layer over a base silicon layer. The method further includes forming a first device wafer by forming a first top silicon layer having a first thickness over a first doped silicon layer and forming a first oxide layer over the first top silicon layer, and bonding the first device wafer to a first region of the carrier wafer such that the first oxide layer is in contact with the base oxide layer. The method further includes forming a second device wafer by forming a second top silicon layer having a second thickness less than the first thickness over a second doped silicon layer and forming a second oxide layer over the second top silicon layer, and bonding the second device wafer to a second region of the carrier wafer such that the second oxide layer is in contact with the base oxide layer. The method further includes removing the first doped silicon layer and removing the second doped silicon layer to expose the first top silicon layer and the second top silicon layer and forming a first semiconductor device over the first top silicon layer and forming a second semiconductor device over the second top silicon layer.
Yet another implementation of the present disclosure is another method of fabricating a circuit. The method includes forming a carrier wafer by forming a base oxide layer over a base silicon layer. The method further includes forming a device wafer by forming a silicon-germanium layer over a doped silicon layer, forming a top silicon layer over the silicon-germanium layer, and forming an oxide layer over the top silicon layer. A first region of the top silicon layer has a first thickness and a second region of the top silicon layer has a second thickness different from the first thickness. The method further includes bonding the device wafer to the carrier wafer such that the oxide layer is in contact with the base oxide layer and removing the doped silicon layer and removing the silicon-germanium layer to expose the top silicon layer. The method further includes forming a first semiconductor device over the first region of the top silicon layer and forming a second semiconductor device over the second region of the top silicon layer.
The foregoing outlines features of several embodiments so that those skilled in the art may better understand the aspects of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the present disclosure as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and/or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments introduced herein. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and that they may make various changes, substitutions, and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
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