1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of a semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a structure of a semiconductor device, which is capable of improving a problem in the case where contacts are formed in source and drain regions of a convex type Fin-FET (Fin Field Effect Transistor), and relates to a manufacturing method of the semiconductor device having such structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the advancement of miniaturization of semiconductor elements, not only the gate length (channel length) but also the diffusion layer width (channel width) of a transistor has been increasingly reduced. Recently, attention has been given to a Fin-FET, which uses not only the upper surface but also the side surface of the diffusion layer of the transistor as the channel to gain the on-state current (see National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2006-501672 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-310921).
Further, when the diffusion layer width (in the shorter side direction) of the Fin-FET is reduced to about 30 nm (where Lg (gate length)>W (diffusion layer width)), the channel region can be completely depleted, so that an excellent off-state current (Ioff) characteristic can be obtained. Further, the Fin-FET has a double gate structure and hence has a more excellent gate control characteristic as compared with a planar type transistor. For this reason, the Fin-FET is expected as a completely depleted transistor having excellent sub-threshold characteristics.
In the above described patent documents, Fin-shaped semiconductor layers are formed on an SOI substrate, and hence there is a problem that parasitic resistance is increased in the diffusion layer.
On the other hand, there is disclosed a technique in which the Fin is formed by etching a bulk silicon substrate without using the expensive SOI substrate (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-118255, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-13521 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-218415).
Further, there has been proposed a method in which a Fin-FET is formed in such a manner that after formation of STI (Shallow Trench Isolation), an insulating film buried in the STI is dug down by using a dry or wet technique so as to expose the side surface of the diffusion layer, and that the gate electrode is laid on the upper and side surfaces of the diffusion layer.
However, the width of the diffusion layer is only about 30 nm, which results in a problem that the parasitic resistance of contacts needs to be reduced. As one of the methods to solve the problem, there has been considered a method for reducing the parasitic resistance in such a manner that an epitaxial silicon is selectively grown on the side wall of the diffusion layer to thereby make the size of the contact bottom larger than the width of the diffusion layer.
In the case where a convex type Fin-FET is produced, there is a possibility that when the epitaxial silicon is selectively grown on the surface of the diffusion layer side, the epitaxial silicon is made to grow on the side surface of the diffusion layer. This results in a problem that when the space separating the diffusion layers is reduced due to the advancement of miniaturization, a short circuit is caused in this portion.
The invention seeks to solve one or more of the above problems, or to improve upon those problems at least in part.
As a result of an extensive investigation of the above described problems, the present inventors have found, as a method for surely reducing the parasitic resistance, a method in which before an epitaxial silicon is selectively grown, a side wall (SW) is formed on the side surface of the diffusion layer so that the epitaxial silicon is selectively grown only on the upper surface of the diffusion layer.
In one embodiment, there is provided a semiconductor device that includes: a field effect transistor configured in a convex type Fin structure having a diffusion layer serving as source and drain regions formed in a semiconductor layer that is sandwiched by shallow trench isolation (STI) regions and projected upward of the isolation region; and having a gate electrode overlapping a channel region between the source and drain regions, the semiconductor device including: side walls on the sides of the diffusion layer serving as the source and drain regions; a selective epitaxial growth silicon layer on the upper surface of the diffusion layer sandwiched by the side walls; and a contact plug connected to the selective epitaxial growth silicon layer.
In the present invention, the selective epitaxial growth silicon layer is formed only on the upper surface of the diffusion layer sandwiched by the side walls. Thus, even in the case of miniaturization, the selective epitaxial growth silicon layers can be prevented from being brought into contact with each other and short-circuited with each other, and the bottom size of the contact can be made larger than the width of the diffusion layer. Thereby, it is possible to reduce the parasitic resistance in the source and drain regions.
Further, in the present invention, when phosphorus and arsenic are implanted after cell contact holes are opened, the phosphorus and arsenic can be implanted into the surface of epitaxial growth silicon at a high concentration by using the epitaxial growth silicon, so that the parasitic resistance (contact resistance) can be reduced. Further, the distance between the bottom of the cell contact plug and the end of the gate electrode is increased, so that a margin for the leakage of phosphorus from the cell contact plug is increased. For this reason, it is possible to increase the impurity concentration of the phosphorus doped amorphous silicon film in the cell contact plug, so that the parasitic resistance can be further reduced.
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:
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device using convex type Fin-FETs in a cell array of a dynamic random access memory (hereinafter referred to as DRAM), and relates to a manufacturing method of the semiconductor device.
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 purpose.
First, as shown in
When the Fin-FET is used in the cell array of a DRAM, a diffusion layer width (in the shorter side direction of convex diffusion layer 4 (semiconductor layer)) of about 30 nm or less needs to be targeted to realize miniaturization in the gate width direction and a completely depleted device using the Fin-FET. To this end, after the above described field nitride film is patterned, the field nitride film mask before Si etching is slimmed down to about 60 nm or less by the dry etching or the wet etching, and then Si etching is performed. As a result of a subsequent oxidization process, and the like, the width of the diffusion layer is reduced to about 30 nm or less.
After the Si etching, silicon oxide film 20 is formed in the isolation trench by a thermal oxidation method, to remove etching damage and to protect diffusion layer 4 from the plasma of the HDP-CVD (High Density Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition) method as will be described below. Then, silicon oxide film 5a is formed by the HDP-CVD method. Thereafter, silicon oxide film 5a is polished and removed by the CMP method by using silicon nitride film 3 as a stopper (
Next, impurities are implanted to form wells and channels of transistors in the cell region and the peripheral region, and are heat treated so as to be activated (not shown). The Fin-FET has an excellent gate control characteristic as compared with a planar type transistor. Thus, in the Fin-FET, the channel doping for threshold adjustment is not performed, or even when the channel doping is performed, acceptor impurities are implanted at a low concentration so that the impurity concentration in the channel region is prevented from exceeding about 1.0×1018 cm−3.
Subsequently, in the above described structure, the applied resist (not shown) is opened only in the inside of the cell array by using the lithography technique, and the STI oxide film of isolation region 5 is etched to a depth of about 100 nm by the wet or dry etching technique. Thereafter, the resist is removed by ashing (
In the exemplary embodiment, the silicon oxide film is buried in isolation region (STI) 5. However, further miniaturization of the device prevents the silicon oxide film from being buried in isolation region (STI) 5 sufficiently. For this reason, an SOG (Spin-On-Glass) monolayer, or a laminated structure of the SOG and a silicon oxide film may also be used in preparation for the further miniaturization. When the SOG is reformed, a high temperature heat treatment is applied. Thus, a silicon nitride film or a silicon oxynitride film is used as a liner film. For this reason, in the case where the liner structure is used, when the insulating film buried in the STI is removed, the silicon oxide film is first etched to about 100 nm. Thereafter, a process of removing the liner film is added, and further, silicon oxide film 20 is removed.
Next, thermal oxidation is performed to form gate insulating film 6 in about 6 to 7 nm thick. Thereafter, polysilicon 7 used as gate electrode 9 is formed in about 200 nm thick. Polysilicon 7 may contain a large amount of phosphorus or a large amount of boron. The impurity of polysilicon 7 may be introduced by implantation after a non-doped polysilicon film is once formed, or the impurity may be introduced at the time of film formation. (When the polysilicon containing a large amount of boron is used as the gate electrode, it is preferred to add nitrogen by nitriding gate insulating film 6.) After polysilicon 7 is formed, polysilicon 7 is planarized to about 70 nm from the upper surface of diffusion layer 4 by using the CMP technique. Thereafter, boron is implanted to form the channel region. The implantation condition is set to about 65 keV/5.0E12 cm−3. Then, silicon nitride film 8 to be used as a hard mask is formed in about 70 nm (
Even when the width of STI and the thickness of polysilicon 7 are reduced due to the advancement of miniaturization, the STI oxide film region formed by etching based on the wet technique or the dry technique can be filled with oxide, and recessions and projections on the upper surface of the silicon are reduced. Thereby, even when the CMP for planarizing is not performed, it is possible to produce the polycide structure and poly metal structure.
After patterning, the side surface portion of polysilicon of gate electrode 9 and the substrate are selectively oxidized to several nm by thermal oxidation. Then, after the implantation of LDD (Lightly Doped Drain) regions of peripheral transistors and cell transistors is performed, silicon nitride film 10 is formed in about 25 nm thick (
Thereafter, as a pretreatment to form selective epitaxial growth silicon, the wet treatment is performed by using a solution containing HF (for example, a dilute HF solution (HF:H2O=1:500), so that a natural oxide film, which is formed on diffusion layer 4 exposed on the surface, is removed. Then, only on the region in which silicon is exposed, that is, only on the upper surface of diffusion layer 4, epitaxial growth silicon 11 is selectively grown to about 50 nm thick by the selective epitaxial technique. At this time, the side surface of diffusion layer 4 is covered by SW 10b of silicon nitride film, and hence epitaxial growth silicon 11 is not grown on the side surface of diffusion layer 4 (
Further, in the case where the epitaxial growth silicon is used, when phosphorus and arsenic are implanted after the opening of cell contact holes as will be described below, the phosphorus and arsenic can be implanted at a high concentration into the surface of the epitaxial growth silicon, so that the parasitic resistance (contact resistance) can be reduced. Further, the distance between the bottom of cell contact plug and the end of the gate electrode is increased, so that a margin for the leakage of phosphorus from the cell contact plug is increased. For this reason, it is possible to increase the impurity concentration of the phosphorus doped amorphous silicon film which is buried as the cell contact plug, so that the parasitic resistance can be further reduced.
Further, since the epitaxial growth silicon layer is provided, the position, at which the electric field is increased due to the leakage of phosphorus from the cell contact plug, can be separated from the vicinity of the gate electrode, which also serves to improve the refreshing characteristics.
Next, silicon nitride film 12 is formed in a thickness of about 6 nm in order to improve a SAC (Self Align Contact) margin at the time when the cell contact holes are formed (
Thereafter, a silicon nitride film (not shown) is formed in a thickness of several nm. Further, a BPSG film is formed in a thickness of about 600 nm to about 700 nm. Thereafter, the portion between the gate layers is filled with BPSG and the surface of the BPSG film is planarized by a reflow treatment at a temperature of about 800° C. and the CMP technique. Then, a TEOS-NSG film is formed in a thickness of about 50 nm on the BPSG film, so that there is formed first interlayer insulating film 13 made of the BPSG oxide film and the TEOS-NSG film.
Finally, as shown in
After forming cell contact holes 14, phosphorus and arsenic are implanted to a position shallower than the height of the Fin-FET (which is assumed to be 100 nm in the first exemplary embodiment), so that the source and drain regions are formed (the source electrode and the drain electrode (in the n-type diffusion layer in this case) are not shown). The implantation condition of phosphorus is set to about 30 keV/5.0E12 cm−3. The implantation condition of arsenic is set to about 25 keV/1.0E13 cm−3.
After the implantation, the amorphous silicon film, in which a large amount of phosphorus is doped, is filled in cell contact holes 14, and is deposited on first interlayer insulating film 13. Then, only the first silicon film on first interlayer insulating film 13 is removed by etch-back using the dry etching technique and by the CMP technique, so that cell contact plugs 15 are formed (
In the first exemplary embodiment, the amorphous silicon film, in which a large amount of phosphorus is doped, is used for the cell contact plug. However, it is possible to further reduce the resistance of the cell contact plug by using a high melting point metal, such as W. However, when the high melting point metal is used, it is preferred to use a barrier metal, such as TiN, WN2 and TaN, which prevents the diffusion of the high melting point metal.
Thereafter, contacts of the peripheral transistors, and bit lines which are used to provide potentials to all of the transistors and portions, capacitors, wirings (Al and Cu) and the like are formed (not shown) by using a known method. Thereby, it is possible to produce a DRAM in which the Fin-FET is used as the cell array transistor. For example,
In the exemplary embodiment shown in
In the first exemplary embodiment, diffusion layer 4 is tapered. Thus, when the thickness of the insulating film formed for SW 10b is further reduced due to miniaturization, there is a possibility that the bottom side of the diffusion layer is exposed after the pretreatment (using the solution containing HF) before epitaxial growth silicon is selectively grown. In the following, there will be described a second exemplary embodiment in which a countermeasure against this problem is taken.
Similarly to the first exemplary embodiment, Si is etched to a depth of about 200 nm by the dry technique using a field nitride film as a mask. At this time, a portion of diffusion layer 104 above an STI oxide film, that is, the portion having a depth of 100 nm above the STI oxide film is vertically recessed (in the second exemplary embodiment, the STI oxide film is etched to a depth of about 100 nm in the subsequent process), and the portion under the vertically recessed portion is formed in a tapered shape. All of the portion having the depth of 200 nm may be formed in a vertical shape (not shown).
Further, after the gate electrode is formed similarly to
By this method, the SW can be more surely formed on the side surface of the diffusion layer as compared with the case of the first exemplary embodiment, and the selective epitaxial growth silicon films on the surface of the diffusion layer side can be prevented from being brought into contact with each other. Thereby, the diffusion layers can be brought closer to each other, and hence the miniaturization can be further advanced. Further, the second exemplary embodiment is described by using the production flow of DRAM cell transistors, but transistors used in logic circuits can be produced by the same method.
Note that in the exemplary embodiments, there is used polysilicon which contains a large amount of phosphorus in the cell contact plug. However, as a measure to reduce the resistance in the case where the size of the cell contact hole is further reduced due to the further advancement of miniaturization, it is also possible to use a cell contact plug formed in such a manner that after phosphorus and arsenic are implanted subsequently to the opening of the cell contact holes, a refractory metal, such as W, is buried in the cell contact hole via a barrier metal, such as TiN and TaN. Also in this case, an excellent ohmic contact can be formed by implanting high concentration impurities into the epitaxial growth silicon surface.
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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2007-275038 | Oct 2007 | JP | national |