Patent Application
20230261107
Transistors may include a gate dielectric between a gate electrode and a semiconducting channel. The gate dielectric may be, for example, a high-k dielectric material.
Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitate this description, like reference numerals designate like structural elements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.
Disclosed herein are transistor gate-channel arrangements with transistor gate stacks that include dipole layers, and related methods and devices. The systems, methods and devices of this disclosure each have several innovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for all of the desirable attributes disclosed herein. Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter described in this specification are set forth in the description below and the accompanying drawings.
For purposes of illustrating transistor gate stacks with dipole layers and associated arrangements (e.g., transistor gate-channel arrangements with dipole layers) and devices (e.g., IC devices implementing transistor gate stacks with dipole layers) as described herein, it might be useful to first understand phenomena that may come into play in certain IC arrangements. The following foundational information may be viewed as a basis from which the present disclosure may be properly explained. Such information is offered for purposes of explanation only and, accordingly, should not be construed in any way to limit the broad scope of the present disclosure and its potential applications.
The performance of a transistor may depend on the number of factors. For example, as described above, some transistors include a gate dielectric, e.g., a high-k dielectric, between a gate electrode and a semiconducting channel material. In such transistors, a stack of a gate dielectric and a gate electrode material is typically referred to as a “transistor gate stack” and careful selection of the gate dielectric is important for optimal performance. Thinner gate dielectrics help increase the gate field and therefore improve the switching ratio of a transistor through better gate control. As is known in the art, the switching ratio is a measure of a ratio of a current (Ion) between source and drain terminals of a transistor when the transistor is supposed to be on and a current (Ioff) between source and drain terminals of a transistor when the transistor is supposed to be off. However, simply reducing the thickness of a gate dielectric leads to increased gate leakage (i.e., a current flowing between a source or a drain terminal and a gate terminal of a transistor). This problem is particularly noticeable at room temperatures because the thermal energy is significantly higher compared to lower-temperature operation and, therefore, trap assisted tunneling, Schottky emission, and other transport modes are active. Operating transistors at lower temperatures may provide some help in that the thermal energy of the carriers may be reduced since the thermal energy is exponentially dependent on the temperature, thus reducing gate leakage, while simultaneously supporting higher mobility due to reduced scattering at lower temperatures and steeper subthreshold swing. Still, even lower operating temperatures cannot sufficiently suppress certain leakage modes such as direct tunneling when using very thin gate dielectrics.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are based on recognition that using an additional dipole layer in a transistor gate stack may help allow using very thin high-k dielectrics (e.g., high-k dielectrics that are thinner than about 1.5 nanometers) while providing improvements in terms of suppressing gate leakage. Transistor gate stacks disclosed herein include a multilayer gate oxide having both a high-k dielectric and a dipole layer. As used herein, a “dipole layer” refers to a layer of a relatively highly polarizable material, i.e., a material having pairs of equal and opposite electric charges which readily separate upon application of an electric field so that charges of opposite signs are separated by a small distance (e.g., a distance of about 0.1-1 nanometers), thus providing temporary polarization (i.e., polarization present when an electric field is applied). Temporary polarization provided by the dipole layer may increase the effective dielectric constant of the high-k dielectric and may allow to use thinner high-k dielectrics and/or high-k dielectrics of suboptimal quality while maintaining transistor performance in terms of, e.g., gate leakage, carrier mobility, and subthreshold swing. In some embodiments, a thin dipole layer may directly border a channel material of choice and may be sandwiched between the channel material and the high-k dielectric. In other embodiments, a passivation layer may spontaneously form between the dipole layer and the channel material, e.g., as an oxide of the channel material. In still other embodiments, the dipole layer may be on the other side of the high-k dielectric, i.e., the high-k dielectric may be between the dipole layer and the channel material. Transistor gate stacks with dipole layers, disclosed herein, may enable the use of a wider array of transistor channel materials, while achieving desirable gate control, than realizable using conventional approaches.
In the following detailed description, various aspects of the illustrative implementations may be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. For example, in context of source/drain (S/D) regions, the term “region” may be used interchangeably with the terms “contact” and “terminal” of a transistor. In another example, as used herein, the term “connected” means a direct electrical or magnetic connection between the things that are connected, without any intermediary devices, while the term “coupled” means either a direct electrical or magnetic connection between the things that are connected, or an indirect connection through one or more passive or active intermediary devices. The term “circuit” means one or more passive and/or active components that are arranged to cooperate with one another to provide a desired function. If used, the terms “oxide,” “carbide,” “nitride,” etc. refer to compounds containing, respectively, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, etc., the term “high-k dielectric” refers to a material having a higher dielectric constant (k) than silicon oxide, while the term “low-k dielectric” refers to a material having a lower k than silicon oxide. The terms “substantially,” “close,” “approximately,” “near,” and “about,” generally refer to being within +/−20%, e.g., within +/−5% or within +/−2%, of a target value based on the context of a particular value as described herein or as known in the art. Similarly, terms indicating orientation of various elements, e.g., “coplanar,” “perpendicular,” “orthogonal,” “parallel,” or any other angle between the elements, generally refer to being within +/−5-20% of a target value based on the context of a particular value as described herein or as known in the art.
The terms “over,” “under,” “between,” and “on” as used herein refer to a relative position of one material layer or component with respect to other layers or components. For example, one layer disposed over or under another layer may be directly in contact with the other layer or may have one or more intervening layers. Moreover, one layer disposed between two layers may be directly in contact with the two layers or may have one or more intervening layers. In contrast, a first layer “on” a second layer is in direct contact with that second layer. Similarly, unless explicitly stated otherwise, one feature disposed between two features may be in direct contact with the adjacent features or may have one or more intervening layers.
For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A and/or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A, B, and/or C” means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B, and C). The term “between,” when used with reference to measurement ranges, is inclusive of the ends of the measurement ranges. As used herein, the notation “A/B/C” means (A), (B), and/or (C).
The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment” or “in embodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous. The disclosure may use perspective-based descriptions such as “above,” “below,” “top,” “bottom,” and “side”; such descriptions are used to facilitate the discussion and are not intended to restrict the application of disclosed embodiments. The accompanying drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. Unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinal adjectives “first,” “second,” and “third,” etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking or in any other manner.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, embodiments that may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense. For convenience, analogous elements designated in the present drawings with different reference numerals after a dash, e.g., dipole layers 104-1, 104-2, and so on may be referred to together without the reference numerals after the dash, e.g., as “dipole layers 104.” In order to not clutter the drawings, if multiple instances of certain elements are illustrated, only some of the elements may be labeled with a reference sign.
In the drawings, some schematic illustrations of example structures of various devices and assemblies described herein may be shown with precise right angles and straight lines, but it is to be understood that such schematic illustrations may not reflect real-life process limitations which may cause the features to not look so “ideal” when any of the structures described herein are examined using e.g., scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images or transmission electron microscope (TEM) images. In such images of real structures, possible processing defects could also be visible, e.g., not-perfectly straight edges of materials, tapered vias or other openings, inadvertent rounding of corners or variations in thicknesses of different material layers, occasional screw, edge, or combination dislocations within the crystalline region, and/or occasional dislocation defects of single atoms or clusters of atoms. There may be other defects not listed here but that are common within the field of device fabrication. Inspection of layout and mask data and reverse engineering of parts of a device to reconstruct the circuit using e.g., optical microscopy, TEM, or SEM, and/or inspection of a cross section of a device to detect the shape and the location of various device elements described herein using, e.g., Physical Failure Analysis (PFA) would allow determination of presence of IC devices implementing transistor gate stacks with dipole layers as described herein.
Various operations may be described as multiple discrete actions or operations in turn in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the claimed subject matter. However, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations may not be performed in the order of presentation. Operations described may be performed in a different order from the described embodiment. Various additional operations may be performed, and/or described operations may be omitted in additional embodiments.
Various IC devices implementing transistor gate stacks with dipole layers as described herein may be implemented in, or associated with, one or more components associated with an IC or/and may be implemented between various such components. In various embodiments, components associated with an IC include, for example, transistors, diodes, power sources, resistors, capacitors, inductors, sensors, transceivers, receivers, antennas, etc. Components associated with an IC may include those that are mounted on IC or those connected to an IC. The IC may be either analog or digital and may be used in a number of applications, such as microprocessors, optoelectronics, logic blocks, audio amplifiers, etc., depending on the components associated with the IC. The IC may be employed as part of a chipset for executing one or more related functions in a computer.
Implementations of the present disclosure may be formed or carried out on any suitable support structure, such as a substrate, a die, a wafer, or a chip. In particular, the transistor gate-channel arrangement 101 may be provided over any suitable support structure. Such a support structure is not shown in
In general, the channel material 102 may be composed of semiconductor material systems including, for example, N-type or P-type materials systems. In some embodiments, the channel material 102 may include a substantially monocrystalline semiconductor, such as silicon (Si) or germanium (Ge). In some embodiments, the channel material 102 may include a compound semiconductor with a first sub-lattice of at least one element from group III of the periodic table (e.g., Al, Ga, In), and a second sub-lattice of at least one element of group V of the periodic table (e.g., P, As, Sb). In some embodiments, the channel material 102 may include a high mobility oxide semiconductor material, such as tin oxide, antimony oxide, indium oxide, indium tin oxide, titanium oxide, zinc oxide, indium zinc oxide, gallium oxide, titanium oxynitride, ruthenium oxide, or tungsten oxide. In some embodiments, the channel material 102 may include a combination of semiconductor materials.
For some example N-type transistor embodiments (i.e., for the embodiments where the transistor in which the gate stack 100 is included is an N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) transistor), the channel material 102 may include a III-V material having a relatively high electron mobility, such as, but not limited to InGaAs, InP, InSb, and InAs. For some such embodiments, the channel material 102 may be a ternary III-V alloy, such as InGaAs, GaAsSb, InAsP, or InPSb. For some InxGa1-xAs fin embodiments, In content (x) may be between 0.6 and 0.9, and may advantageously be at least 0.7 (e.g., In0.7Ga0.3As). For some example P-type transistor embodiments (i.e., for the embodiments where the transistor in which the gate stack 100 is included is a P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (PMOS) transistor), the channel material 102 may advantageously be a group IV material having a high hole mobility, such as, but not limited to Ge or a Ge-rich SiGe alloy. For some example embodiments, the channel material 102 may have a Ge content between 0.6 and 0.9, and advantageously may be at least 0.7.
In some embodiments, the channel material 102 may be a high mobility oxide semiconductor material, such as tin oxide, antimony oxide, indium oxide, indium tin oxide, titanium oxide, zinc oxide, indium zinc oxide, indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO), gallium oxide, titanium oxynitride, ruthenium oxide, or tungsten oxide. In general, the channel material 102 may include one or more of tin oxide, cobalt oxide, copper oxide, antimony oxide, ruthenium oxide, tungsten oxide, zinc oxide, gallium oxide, titanium oxide, indium oxide, titanium oxynitride, indium tin oxide, indium zinc oxide, nickel oxide, niobium oxide, copper peroxide, IGZO, indium telluride, molybdenite, molybdenum diselenide, tungsten diselenide, tungsten disulfide, N- or P-type amorphous or polycrystalline silicon, germanium, indium gallium arsenide, silicon germanium, gallium nitride, aluminum gallium nitride, indium phosphite, and black phosphorus, each of which may possibly be doped with one or more of gallium, indium, aluminum, fluorine, boron, phosphorus, arsenic, nitrogen, tantalum, tungsten, and magnesium, etc.
As noted above, the channel material 102 may include IGZO. IGZO-based devices have several desirable electrical and manufacturing properties. IGZO has high electron mobility compared to other semiconductors, e.g., in the range of 20-50 times than amorphous silicon. Furthermore, amorphous IGZO (a-IGZO) transistors are typically characterized by high band gaps, low-temperature process compatibility, and low fabrication cost relative to other semiconductors. IGZO can be deposited as a uniform amorphous phase while retaining higher carrier mobility than oxide semiconductors such as zinc oxide. Different formulations of IGZO include different ratios of indium oxide, gallium oxide, and zinc oxide. One particular form of IGZO has the chemical formula InGaO3(ZnO)5. Another example form of IGZO has an indium:gallium:zinc ratio of 1:2:1. In various other examples, IGZO may have a gallium to indium ratio of 1:1, a gallium to indium ratio greater than 1 (e.g., 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 6:1, 7:1, 8:1, 9:1, or 10:1), and/or a gallium to indium ratio less than 1 (e.g., 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6, 1:7, 1:8, 1:9, or 1:10). IGZO can also contain tertiary dopants such as aluminum or nitrogen.
In some embodiments, the transistor in which the gate stack 100 is included may be a thin-film transistor (TFT). A TFT is a special kind of a field-effect transistor (FET) made by depositing a thin film of an active semiconductor material, as well as a dielectric layer (e.g., the multilayer gate oxide 110) and a gate electrode (e.g., the gate electrode material 108), over a support (e.g., a support structure as described above) that may be a non-conducting support. Some such materials may be deposited at relatively low temperatures, which allows depositing them within the thermal budgets imposed on back-end fabrication to avoid damaging the front end components such as the logic devices of an IC device in which the gate stack 100 may be included. At least a portion of the active semiconductor material forms a channel of the TFT. In some such embodiments, the channel material 102 may be deposited as a thin film and may include any of the oxide semiconductor materials described above.
In other embodiments, instead of being deposited at relatively low temperatures as described above with reference to the TFTs, the channel material 102 may be epitaxially grown in what typically involves relatively high-temperature processing. In such embodiments, the channel material 102 may include any of the semiconductor materials described above, including oxide semiconductor materials. In some such embodiments, the channel material 102 may be epitaxially grown directly on a semiconductor layer of a support structure over which the transistor that includes the gate stack 100 will be fabricated, in a process known as “monolithic integration.” In other such embodiments, the channel material 102 may be epitaxially grown on a semiconductor layer of another support structure and then the epitaxially grown layer of the channel material 102 may be transferred, in a process known as a “layer transfer,” to a support structure of which the transistor that includes the gate stack 100 will be fabricated, in which case the latter support structure may but does not have to include a semiconductor layer prior to the layer transfer. Layer transfer advantageously allows forming non-planar transistors, such as FinFETs or all-around gate transistors such as nanowire or nanoribbon transistors, over support structures or in layers that do not include semiconductor materials (e.g., in the back-end of an IC device). Layer transfer also advantageously allows forming transistors of any architecture (e.g., non-planar or planar transistors) without imposing the negative effects of the relatively high-temperature epitaxial growth process on devices that may already be present over a support structure.
The channel material 102 deposited at relatively low temperatures is typically a polycrystalline, polymorphous, or amorphous semiconductor, or any combination thereof. The channel material 102 epitaxially grown is typically a highly crystalline (e.g., monocrystalline or single-crystalline) material. Therefore, whether the channel material 102 is deposited at relatively low temperatures or epitaxially grown can be identified by inspecting grain size of the active portions of the channel material 102 (e.g., of the portions of the channel material 102 that form channels of transistors). An average grain size of the channel material 102 being between about 0.5 and 1 millimeters (in which case the material may be polycrystalline) or smaller than about 0.5 millimeter (in which case the material may be polymorphous or amorphous) may be indicative of the channel material 102 having been deposited (e.g., in which case the transistors in which such channel material 102 is included are TFTs). On the other hand, an average grain size of the channel material 102 being equal to or greater than about 1 millimeter (in which case the material may be a single-crystal material) may be indicative of the channel material 102 having been epitaxially grown and included in the final device either by monolithic integration or by layer transfer.
The channel material 102 may have a thickness 113. In some embodiments, the thickness 113 may be between about 5 and 75 nanometers, including all values and ranges therein, e.g., between about 5 and 50 nanometers or between about 5 and 30 nanometers.
The gate electrode material 108 may include at least one P-type work function metal or N-type work function metal, depending on whether the transistor gate stack 100 is to be included in a PMOS transistor or an NMOS transistor. For a PMOS transistor, metals that may be used for the gate electrode material 108 may include, but are not limited to, ruthenium, palladium, platinum, cobalt, nickel, and conductive metal oxides (e.g., ruthenium oxide). For an NMOS transistor, metals that may be used for the gate electrode material 108 include, but are not limited to, hafnium, zirconium, titanium, tantalum, aluminum, alloys of these metals, and carbides of these metals (e.g., hafnium carbide, zirconium carbide, titanium carbide, tantalum carbide, and aluminum carbide). In some embodiments, the gate electrode material 108 may include a stack of two or more metal layers, where one or more metal layers are work function metal layers and at least one metal layer is a fill metal layer. Further metal layers may be included for other purposes, such as to act as a barrier layer.
The multilayer gate oxide 110 may include a high-k dielectric 106 and a dipole layer 104, arranged in the gate stack 100 so that the dipole layer 104 is disposed between the high-k dielectric 106 and the channel material 102. In some embodiments, the high-k dielectric 106 may be in contact with the gate electrode material 108. In some embodiments, the dipole layer 104 may be in contact with the channel material 102, and may provide the interface between the channel material 102 and the remainder of the multilayer gate oxide 110. In other embodiments, a passivation layer may be present between the dipole layer 104 and the channel material 102, where the dipole layer 104 may be in contact with the passivation layer and the passivation layer may be in contact with the channel material 102. Such a passivation layer may be spontaneously formed from a portion of the channel material 102 when the dipole layer 104 is provided on the channel material 102 and, therefore, is not shown in the present drawings as a separate layer (i.e., if formed, the passivation layer is a part of the channel material 102 that is closest to the interface with the dipole layer 104). In some embodiments, a passivation layer may be an oxide of the native semiconductor of the channel material 102. If the channel material 102 is a non-oxide semiconductor, then such a passivation layer may be clearly detectable in characterization images; otherwise the passivation layer may either be absent or it may be more difficult to differentiate the oxide semiconductor of the passivation layer from the oxide semiconductor of the channel material 102.
In some embodiments, the dipole layer 104 may be in contact with the high-k dielectric 106, while in other embodiments, an intermediate material may be disposed between the dipole layer 104 and the high-k dielectric 106. In some embodiments, the dipole layer 104 may include multiple regions of dipole materials having different material properties.
The dipole layer 104 may include any relatively highly polarizable material, e.g., a material with an electric flux density of at least about 10 femtocoulomb per square micrometer (fC/um2). In some embodiments, the dipole layer 104 may include any relatively highly polarizable wide bandgap material, e.g., with a bandgap of at least about 1.5 electron-volt (eV). The use of the dipole layer 104 in the multilayer gate oxide 110 may advantageously increase the effective k-value (i.e., the value of the dielectric constant, k) of the multilayer gate oxide 110 compared to the k-value of the high-k dielectric 106, while allowing to decrease the overall thickness of the multilayer gate oxide 110, and/or may allow using high-k dielectrics with suboptimal properties while reducing the negative consequences, such as gate leakage, on transistor performance.
In some embodiments, the dipole layer 104 may include oxygen and one or more rare-earth elements (e.g., the dipole layer 104 may include one or more rare-earth oxides such as yttrium oxide and/or lanthanum oxide). In some embodiments, the dipole layer 104 may be formed using a low-temperature deposition process, such as physical vapor deposition (PVD) (e.g., sputtering), atomic layer deposition (ALD), or chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The ability to deposit the dipole layer 104 at temperatures low enough to be compatible with back-end manufacturing processes represents a particular advantage. The dipole layer 104 may be deposited on sidewalls or conformably on any desired structure to a precise thickness, allowing the manufacture of transistors having any desired geometry. Additionally, deposition of the dipole layer 104 may be compatible with deposition of many materials that may act as the high-k dielectric 106 (e.g., hafnium oxide). The dipole layer 104 may have a thickness 112. In some embodiments, the thickness 112 may be below about 1.5 nanometer, e.g., below about 1 nanometer. The high-k dielectric 106 may have a thickness 114. In some embodiments, the thickness 114 may be below about 1.5 nanometer, e.g., below about 1 nanometer. In some embodiments, an overall thickness of the high-k dielectric 106 and the dipole layer 104 (i.e., a sum of the thickness 114 and the thickness 112) may be below about 2 nanometers.
The high-k dielectric 106 may include elements such as hafnium, silicon, oxygen, titanium, tantalum, lanthanum, aluminum, zirconium, barium, strontium, yttrium, lead, scandium, niobium, and zinc. Examples of high-k materials that may be used in the high-k dielectric 106 may include, but are not limited to, hafnium oxide, hafnium silicon oxide, lanthanum oxide, lanthanum aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide, zirconium silicon oxide, tantalum oxide, titanium oxide, barium strontium titanium oxide, barium titanium oxide, strontium titanium oxide, yttrium oxide, aluminum oxide, tantalum oxide, tantalum silicon oxide, lead scandium tantalum oxide, and lead zinc niobate. In some embodiments, an annealing process may be carried out on the high-k dielectric 106 during manufacture of the gate stack 100 to improve the quality of the high-k dielectric 106. The high-k dielectric 106 may have a thickness 114. In some embodiments, the thickness 114 may be between 0.5 nanometers and 3 nanometers (e.g., between 1 and 3 nanometers, or between 1 and 2 nanometers).
The transistor gate stack 100 may be included in any suitable transistor structure. For example,
As noted above, the transistor 120 may include a source region 116 and a drain region 118 disposed on the support structure 122, with the channel material 102 disposed between the source region 116 and the drain region 118 so that at least some of the channel material 102 is coplanar with at least some of the source region 116 and the drain region 118. The source region 116 and the drain region 118 may have a thickness 124, and the channel material 102 may have a thickness 126. The thickness 126 may take the form of any of the embodiments of the thickness 113 discussed above with reference to
The source region 116 and the drain region 118 may be formed using any suitable processes known in the art. For example, the source region 116 and the drain region 118 may generally be formed using either an implantation/diffusion process or an etching/deposition process. In the former process, dopants such as boron, aluminum, antimony, phosphorous, or arsenic may be ion-implanted into the channel material to form the source region 116 and the drain region 118. An annealing process that activates the dopants and causes them to diffuse further into the channel material 102 typically follows the ion implantation process. In the latter process, the channel material 102 may first be etched to form recesses at the locations of the source region 116 and the drain region 118. An epitaxial deposition process may then be carried out to fill the recesses with material that is used to fabricate the source region 116 and the drain region 118. In some implementations, the source region 116 and the drain region 118 may be fabricated using a silicon alloy such as silicon germanium or silicon carbide. In some implementations, the epitaxially deposited silicon alloy may be doped in situ with dopants such as boron, arsenic, or phosphorous. In further embodiments, the source region 116 and the drain region 118 may be formed using one or more alternate semiconductor materials such as germanium or a group III-V material or alloy. And in further embodiments, one or more layers of metal and/or metal alloys may be used to form the source region 116 and the drain region 118. Any suitable ones of the embodiments of the source region 116 and the drain region 118 described above may be used for any of the source regions 116 and drain regions 118 described herein.
The gate stack 100 may wrap around the fin 132 as shown, with the channel material 102 corresponding to the portion of the fin 132 wrapped by the gate stack 100. In particular, the dipole layer 104 may wrap around the channel material 102 of the fin 132, the high-k dielectric 106 may wrap around the dipole layer 104, and the gate electrode material 108 may wrap around the high-k dielectric 106. The fin 132 may include a source region 116 and a drain region 118 on either side of the gate stack 100, as shown. The composition of the channel material 102, the source region 116, and a drain region 118 may take the form of any of the embodiments disclosed herein, or known in the art. Although the fin 132 illustrated in
The transistor gate stacks 100 disclosed herein may be manufactured using any suitable techniques. For example,
At 1202, a gate electrode material may be provided. The gate electrode material provided at 1202 may take the form of any of the embodiments of the gate electrode material 108 disclosed herein, for example (e.g., any of the embodiments discussed herein with reference to a transistor 120). The gate electrode material may be provided at 1202 using any suitable deposition and patterning technique known in the art.
At 1204, a layer of high-k dielectric may be provided. The high-k dielectric provided at 1204 may take the form of any of the embodiments of the high-k dielectric 106 disclosed herein, for example. In some embodiments, the layer of high-k dielectric may be provided at 1204 so as to be in contact with the gate electrode material of 1202. In other embodiments, an intermediate material may be disposed between the gate electrode material and the layer of high-k dielectric. The high-k dielectric may be provided at 1204 using any suitable technique known in the art.
At 1206, a dipole layer may be provided such that the layer of high-k dielectric is disposed between the dipole layer and the gate electrode material. The dipole layer provided at 1206 may take the form of any of the embodiments of the dipole layer 104 disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the dipole layer provided at 1206 may be in contact with a channel material of a transistor (e.g., the channel material 102 of any of the transistors 120 disclosed herein). The dipole layer may be provided at 1206 using any suitable technique known in the art. For example, in some embodiments, the dipole layer may be provided by PVD, such as sputtering. In some embodiments, the dipole layer may be provided by ALD. In some embodiments, the dipole layer may be provided by CVD.
The method 1200 may further include other manufacturing operations related to fabrication of other components of a transistor 120. For example, the method 1200 may include providing a channel material over the dipole layer provided at 1206 (e.g., in accordance with any suitable ones of the embodiments discussed above). In some embodiments, the method 1200 may include providing a source region and a drain region (e.g., in accordance with any suitable ones of the embodiments discussed above).
The transistor gate stacks with dipole layers disclosed herein may be included in any suitable electronic device.
The IC device 1400 may include one or more device layers 1404 disposed on the support structure 1402. The device layer 1404 may include features of one or more transistors 1440 (e.g., metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs)) formed on the support structure 1402. The device layer 1404 may include, for example, one or more source and/or drain (S/D) regions 1420, a gate 1422 to control current flow in the transistors 1440 between the S/D regions 1420, and one or more S/D contacts 1424 to route electrical signals to/from the S/D regions 1420. The transistors 1440 may include additional features not depicted for the sake of clarity, such as device isolation regions, gate contacts, and the like. The transistors 1440 are not limited to the type and configuration depicted in
Each transistor 1440 may include a gate 1422 formed of at least two layers, a gate dielectric layer and a gate electrode layer. The gate electrode layer may take the form of any of the embodiments of the gate electrode material 108 disclosed herein. In embodiments in which a transistor 1440 includes one or more transistor gate stacks 100, the gate dielectric layer may take the form of any of the embodiments of the multilayer gate oxide 110 disclosed herein, and may include IGZO 104 and a high-k dielectric 106. Generally, the gate dielectric layer of a transistor 1440 may include one layer or a stack of layers, and the one or more layers may include silicon oxide, silicon dioxide, and/or a high-k dielectric material. The high-k dielectric material included in the gate dielectric layer of the transistor 1440 may take the form of any of the embodiments of the high-k dielectric 106 disclosed herein, for example.
In some embodiments, when viewed as a cross section of the transistor 1440 along the source-channel-drain direction, the gate electrode may consist of a U-shaped structure that includes a bottom portion substantially parallel to the surface of the substrate and two sidewall portions that are substantially perpendicular to the top surface of the substrate (e.g., as discussed above with reference to the FinFET 120 of
In some embodiments, a pair of sidewall spacers may be formed on opposing sides of the gate stack to bracket the gate stack. The sidewall spacers may be formed from a material such as silicon nitride, silicon oxide, silicon carbide, silicon nitride doped with carbon, and silicon oxynitride. Processes for forming sidewall spacers are well known in the art and generally include deposition and etching process steps. In some embodiments, a plurality of spacer pairs may be used; for instance, two pairs, three pairs, or four pairs of sidewall spacers may be formed on opposing sides of the gate stack.
The S/D regions 1420 may be formed within the support structure 1402 adjacent to the gate 1422 of each transistor 1440. The S/D regions 1420 may take the form of any of the embodiments of the source region 116 and the drain region 118 discussed above with reference to the transistors 120. In other embodiments, the S/D regions 1420 may be formed using any suitable processes known in the art. For example, the S/D regions 1420 may be formed using either an implantation/diffusion process or a deposition process. In the former process, dopants such as boron, aluminum, antimony, phosphorous, or arsenic may be ion-implanted into the support structure 1402 to form the S/D regions 1420. An annealing process that activates the dopants and causes them to diffuse farther into the support structure 1402 may follow the ion implantation process. In the latter process, an epitaxial deposition process may provide material that is used to fabricate the S/D regions 1420. In some implementations, the S/D regions 1420 may be fabricated using a silicon alloy such as silicon germanium or silicon carbide. In some embodiments, the epitaxially deposited silicon alloy may be doped in situ with dopants such as boron, arsenic, or phosphorous. In some embodiments, the S/D regions 1420 may be formed using one or more alternate semiconductor materials such as germanium or a group III-V material or alloy. In further embodiments, one or more layers of metal and/or metal alloys may be used to form the S/D regions 1420 (e.g., as discussed above with reference to the source region 116 and the drain region 118). In some embodiments, an etch process may be performed before the epitaxial deposition to create recesses in the support structure 1402 in which the material for the S/D regions 1420 is deposited.
Electrical signals, such as power and/or input/output (I/O) signals, may be routed to and/or from the transistors 1440 of the device layer 1404 through one or more interconnect layers disposed on the device layer 1404 (illustrated in
The interconnect structures 1428 may be arranged within the interconnect layers 1406-1410 to route electrical signals according to a wide variety of designs (in particular, the arrangement is not limited to the particular configuration of interconnect structures 1428 depicted in
In some embodiments, the interconnect structures 1428 may include trench structures 1428a (sometimes referred to as “lines”) and/or via structures 1428b (sometimes referred to as “holes”) filled with an electrically conductive material such as a metal. The trench structures 1428a may be arranged to route electrical signals in a direction of a plane that is substantially parallel with a surface of the support structure 1402 upon which the device layer 1404 is formed. For example, the trench structures 1428a may route electrical signals in a direction in and out of the page from the perspective of
The interconnect layers 1406-1410 may include a dielectric material 1426 disposed between the interconnect structures 1428, as shown in
A first interconnect layer 1406 (referred to as Metal 1 or “M1”) may be formed directly on the device layer 1404. In some embodiments, the first interconnect layer 1406 may include trench structures 1428a and/or via structures 1428b, as shown. The trench structures 1428a of the first interconnect layer 1406 may be coupled with contacts (e.g., the S/D contacts 1424) of the device layer 1404.
A second interconnect layer 1408 (referred to as Metal 2 or “M2”) may be formed directly on the first interconnect layer 1406. In some embodiments, the second interconnect layer 1408 may include via structures 1428b to couple the trench structures 1428a of the second interconnect layer 1408 with the trench structures 1428a of the first interconnect layer 1406. Although the trench structures 1428a and the via structures 1428b are structurally delineated with a line within each interconnect layer (e.g., within the second interconnect layer 1408) for the sake of clarity, the trench structures 1428a and the via structures 1428b may be structurally and/or materially contiguous (e.g., simultaneously filled during a dual-damascene process) in some embodiments.
A third interconnect layer 1410 (referred to as Metal 3 or “M3”) (and additional interconnect layers, as desired) may be formed in succession on the second interconnect layer 1408 according to similar techniques and configurations described in connection with the second interconnect layer 1408 or the first interconnect layer 1406.
The IC device 1400 may include a solder resist material 1434 (e.g., polyimide or similar material) and one or more bond pads 1436 formed on the interconnect layers 1406-1410. The bond pads 1436 may be electrically coupled with the interconnect structures 1428 and configured to route the electrical signals of the transistor(s) 1440 to other external devices. For example, solder bonds may be formed on the one or more bond pads 1436 to mechanically and/or electrically couple a chip including the IC device 1400 with another component (e.g., a circuit board). The IC device 1400 may have other alternative configurations to route the electrical signals from the interconnect layers 1406-1410 than depicted in other embodiments. For example, the bond pads 1436 may be replaced by or may further include other analogous features (e.g., posts) that route the electrical signals to external components.
In some embodiments, the circuit board 1502 may be a PCB including multiple metal layers separated from one another by layers of dielectric material and interconnected by electrically conductive vias. Any one or more of the metal layers may be formed in a desired circuit pattern to route electrical signals (optionally in conjunction with other metal layers) between the components coupled to the circuit board 1502. In other embodiments, the circuit board 1502 may be a non-PCB substrate.
The IC device assembly 1500 illustrated in
The package-on-interposer structure 1536 may include an IC package 1520 coupled to an interposer 1504 by coupling components 1518. The coupling components 1518 may take any suitable form for the application, such as the forms discussed above with reference to the coupling components 1516. Although a single IC package 1520 is shown in
The interposer 1504 may be formed of an epoxy resin, a fiberglass-reinforced epoxy resin, a ceramic material, or a polymer material such as polyimide. In some implementations, the interposer 1504 may be formed of alternate rigid or flexible materials that may include the same materials described above for use in a semiconductor substrate, such as silicon, germanium, and other group III-V and group IV materials. The interposer 1504 may include metal interconnects 1508 and vias 1510, including but not limited to through-silicon vias (TSVs) 1506. The interposer 1504 may further include embedded devices 1514, including both passive and active devices. Such devices may include, but are not limited to, capacitors, decoupling capacitors, resistors, inductors, fuses, diodes, transformers, sensors, electrostatic discharge (ESD) devices, and memory devices. More complex devices such as radio frequency (RF) devices, power amplifiers, power management devices, antennas, arrays, sensors, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices may also be formed on the interposer 1504. The package-on-interposer structure 1536 may take the form of any of the package-on-interposer structures known in the art.
The IC device assembly 1500 may include an IC package 1524 coupled to the first face 1540 of the circuit board 1502 by coupling components 1522. The coupling components 1522 may take the form of any of the embodiments discussed above with reference to the coupling components 1516, and the IC package 1524 may take the form of any of the embodiments discussed above with reference to the IC package 1520.
The IC device assembly 1500 illustrated in
A number of components are illustrated in
Additionally, in various embodiments, the computing device 1600 may not include one or more of the components illustrated in
The computing device 1600 may include a processing device 1602 (e.g., one or more processing devices). As used herein, the term “processing device” or “processor” may refer to any device or portion of a device that processes electronic data from registers and/or memory to transform that electronic data into other electronic data that may be stored in registers and/or memory. The processing device 1602 may include one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), cryptoprocessors (specialized processors that execute cryptographic algorithms within hardware), server processors, or any other suitable processing devices. The computing device 1600 may include a memory 1604, which may itself include one or more memory devices such as volatile memory (e.g., dynamic random-access memory (DRAM)), nonvolatile memory (e.g., read-only memory (ROM)), flash memory, solid state memory, and/or a hard drive. In some embodiments, the memory 1604 may include memory that shares a die with the processing device 1602. This memory may be used as cache memory and may include embedded dynamic random-access memory (eDRAM) or spin transfer torque magnetic random-access memory (STT-MRAM).
In some embodiments, the computing device 1600 may include a communication chip 1606 (e.g., one or more communication chips). For example, the communication chip 1606 may be configured for managing wireless communications for the transfer of data to and from the computing device 1600. The term “wireless” and its derivatives may be used to describe circuits, devices, systems, methods, techniques, communications channels, etc., that may communicate data through the use of modulated electromagnetic radiation through a nonsolid medium. The term does not imply that the associated devices do not contain any wires, although in some embodiments they might not.
The communication chip 1606 may implement any of a number of wireless standards or protocols, including but not limited to Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) standards including Wi-Fi (IEEE 1402.11 family), IEEE 1402.16 standards (e.g., IEEE 1402.16-2005 Amendment), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) project along with any amendments, updates, and/or revisions (e.g., advanced LTE project, ultramobile broadband (UMB) project (also referred to as “3GPP2”), etc.). IEEE 1402.16 compatible Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) networks are generally referred to as WiMAX networks, an acronym that stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, which is a certification mark for products that pass conformity and interoperability tests for the IEEE 1402.16 standards. The communication chip 1606 may operate in accordance with a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Evolved HSPA (E-HSPA), or LTE network. The communication chip 1606 may operate in accordance with Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), or Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). The communication chip 1606 may operate in accordance with Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), and derivatives thereof, as well as any other wireless protocols that are designated as 3G, 4G, 5G, and beyond. The communication chip 1606 may operate in accordance with other wireless protocols in other embodiments. The computing device 1600 may include an antenna 1608 to facilitate wireless communications and/or to receive other wireless communications (such as AM or FM radio transmissions).
In some embodiments, the communication chip 1606 may manage wired communications, such as electrical, optical, or any other suitable communication protocols (e.g., the Ethernet). As noted above, the communication chip 1606 may include multiple communication chips. For instance, a first communication chip 1606 may be dedicated to shorter-range wireless communications such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and a second communication chip 1606 may be dedicated to longer-range wireless communications such as GPS, EDGE, GPRS, CDMA, WiMAX, LTE, EV-DO, or others. In some embodiments, a first communication chip 1606 may be dedicated to wireless communications, and a second communication chip 1606 may be dedicated to wired communications.
The computing device 1600 may include a battery/power circuitry 1610. The battery/power circuitry 1610 may include one or more energy storage devices (e.g., batteries or capacitors) and/or circuitry for coupling components of the computing device 1600 to an energy source separate from the computing device 1600 (e.g., AC line power).
The computing device 1600 may include a display device 1612 (or corresponding interface circuitry, as discussed above). The display device 1612 may include any visual indicators, such as a heads-up display, a computer monitor, a projector, a touchscreen display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light-emitting diode display, or a flat panel display, for example.
The computing device 1600 may include an audio output device 1614 (or corresponding interface circuitry, as discussed above). The audio output device 1614 may include any device that generates an audible indicator, such as speakers, headsets, or earbuds, for example.
The computing device 1600 may include an audio input device 1616 (or corresponding interface circuitry, as discussed above). The audio input device 1616 may include any device that generates a signal representative of a sound, such as microphones, microphone arrays, or digital instruments (e.g., instruments having a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) output).
The computing device 1600 may include an other output device 1618 (or corresponding interface circuitry, as discussed above). Examples of the other output device 1618 may include an audio codec, a video codec, a printer, a wired or wireless transmitter for providing information to other devices, or an additional storage device.
The computing device 1600 may include an other input device 1620 (or corresponding interface circuitry, as discussed above). Examples of the other input device 1620 may include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a compass, an image capture device, a keyboard, a cursor control device such as a mouse, a stylus, a touchpad, a bar code reader, a Quick Response (QR) code reader, any sensor, or a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader.
The computing device 1600 may include a global positioning system (GPS) device 1622 (or corresponding interface circuitry, as discussed above). The GPS device 1622 may be in communication with a satellite-based system and may receive a location of the computing device 1600, as known in the art.
The computing device 1600 may include a security interface device 1624. The security interface device 1624 may include any device that provides security features for the computing device 1600 or for any individual components therein (e.g., for the processing device 1602 or for the memory 1604). Examples of security features may include authorization, access to digital certificates, access to items in keychains, etc. Examples of the security interface device 1624 may include a software firewall, a hardware firewall, an antivirus, a content filtering device, or an intrusion detection device.
In some embodiments, the computing device 1600 may include a temperature detection device 1626 and a temperature regulation device 1628.
The temperature detection device 1626 may include any device capable of determining temperatures of the computing device 1600 or of any individual components therein (e.g., temperatures of the processing device 1602 or of the memory 1604). In various embodiments, the temperature detection device 1626 may be configured to determine temperatures of an object (e.g., the computing device 1600, components of the computing device 1600, devices coupled to the computing device, etc.), temperatures of an environment (e.g., a data center that includes, is controlled by, or otherwise associated with the computing device 1600), and so on. The temperature detection device 1626 may include one or more temperature sensors. Different temperature sensors of the temperature detection device 1626 may have different locations within and around the computing device 1600. A temperature sensor may generate data (e.g., digital data) representing detected temperatures and provide the data to another device, e.g., to the temperature regulation device 1628, the processing device 1602, the memory 1604, etc. In some embodiments, a temperature sensor of the temperature detection device 1626 may be turned on or off, e.g., by the processing device 1602 or an external system. The temperature sensor detects temperatures when it is on and does not detect temperatures when it is off. In other embodiments, a temperature sensor of the temperature detection device 1626 may detect temperatures continuously and automatically or detect temperatures at predefined times or at times triggered by an event associated with the computing device 1600 or any components therein.
The temperature regulation device 1628 may include any device configured to change (e.g., decrease) temperatures, e.g., based on one or more target temperatures and/or based on temperature measurements performed by the temperature detection device 1626. A target temperature may be a preferred temperature. A target temperature may depend on a setting in which the computing device 1600 operates. In some embodiments, the target temperature may be 200 Kelvin degrees or lower. In some embodiments, the target temperature may be 20 Kelvin degrees or lower, or 5 Kelvin degrees or lower. Target temperatures for different objects and different environments of, or associated with, the computing device 1600 can be different. In some embodiments, cooling provided by the temperature regulation device 1628 may be a multi-stage process with temperatures ranging from room temperature to 4K or lower.
In some embodiments, the temperature regulation device 1628 may include one or more cooling devices. Different cooling device may have different locations within and around the computing device 1600. A cooling device of the temperature regulation device 1628 may be associated with one or more temperature sensors of the temperature detection device 1626 and may be configured to operate based on temperatures detected the temperature sensors. For instance, a cooling device may be configured to determine whether a detected ambient temperature is above the target temperature or whether the detected ambient temperature is higher than the target temperature by a predetermined value or determine whether any other temperature-related condition associated with the temperature of the computing device 1600 is satisfied. In response to determining that one or more temperature-related condition associated with the temperature of the computing device 1600 are satisfied (e.g., in response to determining that the detected ambient temperature is above the target temperature), a cooling device may trigger its cooling mechanism and start to decrease the ambient temperature. Otherwise, the cooling device does not trigger any cooling. A cooling device of the temperature regulation device 1628 may operate with various cooling mechanisms, such as evaporation cooling, radiation cooling, conduction cooling, convection cooling, other cooling mechanisms, or any combination thereof. A cooling device of the temperature regulation device 1628 may include a cooling agent, such as a water, oil, liquid nitrogen, liquid helium, etc. In some embodiments, the temperature regulation device 1628 may be, for example, a dilution refrigerator, a helium-3 refrigerator, or a liquid helium refrigerator. In some embodiments, the temperature regulation device 1628 or any portions thereof (e.g., one or more of the individual cooling devices) may be connected to the computing device 1600 in close proximity (e.g., less than about 1 meter) or may be provided in a separate enclosure where a dedicated heat exchanger (e.g., a compressor, a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, liquid helium, liquid nitrogen, etc.) may reside.
By maintaining the target temperatures, the energy consumption of the computing device 1600 (or components thereof) can be reduced, while the computing efficiency may be improved. For example, when the computing device 1600 (or components thereof) operates at lower temperatures, energy dissipation (e.g., heat dissipation) may be reduced. Further, energy consumed by semiconductor components (e.g., energy needed for switching transistors of any of the components of the computing device 1600) can also be reduced. Various semiconductor materials may have lower resistivity and/or higher mobility at lower temperatures. That way, the electrical current per unit supply voltage may be increased by lowering temperatures. Conversely, for the same current that would be needed, the supply voltage may be lowered by lowering temperatures. As energy correlates to the supply voltage, the energy consumption of the semiconductor components may lower too. In some implementations, the energy savings due to reducing heat dissipation and reducing energy consumed by semiconductor components of the computing device or components thereof may outweigh (sometimes significantly outweigh) the costs associated with energy needed for cooling.
The computing device 1600 may have any desired form factor, such as a handheld or mobile computing device (e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone, a mobile internet device, a music player, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook computer, an ultrabook computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), an ultramobile personal computer, etc.), a desktop computing device, a server or other networked computing component, a printer, a scanner, a monitor, a set-top box, an entertainment control unit, a vehicle control unit, a digital camera, a digital video recorder, or a wearable computing device. In some embodiments, the computing device 1600 may be any other electronic device that processes data.
A number of components are illustrated in
Additionally, in various embodiments, the processing device 1700 may not include one or more of the components illustrated in
The processing device 1700 may include logic circuitry 1702 (e.g., one or more circuits configured to implement logic/compute functionality). Examples of such circuits include ICs implementing one or more of input/output (I/O) functions, arithmetic operations, pipelining of data, etc.
In some embodiments, the logic circuitry 1702 may include one or more circuits responsible for read/write operations with respect to the data stored in the memory 1704. To that end, the logic circuitry 1702 may include one or more I/O ICs configured to control access to data stored in the memory 1704.
In some embodiments, the logic circuitry 1702 may include one or more high-performance compute dies, configured to perform various operations with respect to data stored in the memory 1704 (e.g., arithmetic and logic operations, pipelining of data from one or more memory dies of the memory 1704, and possibly also data from external devices/chips). In some embodiments, the logic circuitry 1702 may be configured to only control I/O access to data but not perform any operations on the data. In some embodiments, the logic circuitry 1702 may implement ICs configured to implement I/O control of data stored in the memory 1704, assemble data from the memory 1704 for transport (e.g., transport over a central bus) to devices/chips that are either internal or external to the processing device 1700, etc. In some embodiments, the logic circuitry 1702 may not be configured to perform any operations on the data besides I/O and assembling for transport to the memory 1704.
The processing device 1700 may include a memory 1704, which may include one or more ICs configure to implement memory circuitry (e.g., ICs implementing one or more of memory devices, memory arrays, control logic configured to control the memory devices and arrays, etc.). In some embodiments, the memory 1704 may be implemented substantially as described above with reference to the memory 1604 (
In some embodiments, the memory 1704 may include a flat memory (also sometimes referred to as a “flat hierarchy memory” or a “linear memory”) and, therefore, may also be referred to as a “basin memory.” As known in the art, a flat memory or a linear memory refers to a memory addressing paradigm in which memory may appear to the program as a single contiguous address space, where a processor can directly and linearly address all of the available memory locations without having to resort to memory segmentation or paging schemes. Thus, the memory implemented in the memory 1704 may be a memory that is not divided into hierarchical layer or levels in terms of access of its data.
In some embodiments, the memory 1704 may include a hierarchical memory. In this context, hierarchical memory refers to the concept of computer architecture where computer storage is separated into a hierarchy based on features of memory such as response time, complexity, capacity, performance, and controlling technology. Designing for high performance may require considering the restrictions of the memory hierarchy, i.e., the size and capabilities of each component. With hierarchical memory, each of the various memory components can be viewed as part of a hierarchy of memories (m1, m2, . . . , min) in which each member mi is typically smaller and faster than the next highest member mi+1 of the hierarchy. To limit waiting by higher levels, a lower level of a hierarchical memory structure may respond by filling a buffer and then signaling for activating the transfer. For example, in some embodiments, the hierarchical memory implemented in the memory 1704 may be separated into four major storage levels: 1) internal storage (e.g., processor registers and cache), 2) main memory (e.g., the system RAM and controller cards), and 3) on-line mass storage (e.g., secondary storage), and 4) off-line bulk storage (e.g., tertiary, and off-line storage). However, as the number of levels in the memory hierarchy and the performance at each level has increased over time and is likely to continue to increase in the future, this example hierarchical division provides only one non-limiting example of how the memory 1704 may be arranged.
The processing device 1700 may include a communication device 1706, which may be implemented substantially as described above with reference to the communication chip 1606 (
The processing device 1700 may include interconnects 1708, which may include any element or device that includes an electrically conductive material for providing electrical connectivity to one or more components of, or associated with, a processing device 1700 or/and between various such components. Examples of the interconnects 1708 include conductive lines/wires (also sometimes referred to as “lines” or “metal lines” or “trenches”) and conductive vias (also sometimes referred to as “vias” or “metal vias”), metallization stacks, redistribution layers, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures, etc.
The processing device 1700 may include a temperature detection device 1710 which may be implemented substantially as described above with reference to the temperature detection device 1626 (
The processing device 1700 may include a temperature regulation device 1712 which may be implemented substantially as described above with reference to the temperature regulation device 1628 (
The processing device 1700 may include a battery/power circuitry 1714 which may be implemented substantially as described above with reference to the battery/power circuitry 1610 (
The processing device 1700 may include a hardware security device 1716 which may be implemented substantially as described above with reference to the security interface device 1624 (
The above description of illustrated implementations of the disclosure, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. For example, while the above descriptions of the drawings are provided with respect to the reference numeral “104” representing the dipole layer and the reference numeral “106” representing the high-k dielectric, in other embodiments, the designations of these reference numerals and the associated descriptions may be reversed. In such embodiments, the drawings may remain the same, but the reference numeral “104” may represent the high-k dielectric while the reference numeral “106” may represent the dipole layer. Thus, in such embodiments, the multilayer gate oxide 110 disposed between the gate electrode material 108 and the channel material 102 is such that the dipole layer is between the gate electrode material and the channel material, and the high-k dielectric is between the dipole layer and the channel material.
The following paragraphs provide various examples of the embodiments disclosed herein.
Example 1 provides an IC device that includes a transistor gate-channel arrangement that includes a channel material and a transistor gate stack, where the transistor gate stack includes a gate electrode material, a high-k dielectric between the gate electrode material and the channel material, and a dipole layer between the high-k dielectric material and the channel material, where the dipole layer is a layer of a material having pairs of equal and opposite electric charges which charges readily separate upon application of an electric field so that charges of opposite signs are separated by a small distance (e.g., a distance of about 0.1-1 nanometers). Including a dipole layer between a high-k dielectric and a channel material allows improving (e.g., increasing) the effective k-value of the high-k dielectric. In turn, this may allow implementing thinner layers of high-k dielectrics or high-k dielectric with suboptimal properties.
Example 2 provides the IC device according to example 1, where the high-k dielectric has a thickness below about 1.5 nanometers.
Example 3 provides the IC device according to examples 1 or 2, where the dipole layer has a thickness below about 1 nanometer.
Example 4 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-3, where a stack of the high-k dielectric and the dipole layer has a thickness below about 2 nanometers.
Example 5 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-4, where the dipole layer includes oxygen and one or more rare-earth elements (e.g., the dipole layer may include one or more rare-earth oxides such as yttrium oxide and/or lanthanum oxide).
Example 6 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-5, where the gate electrode material is in contact with the high-k dielectric.
Example 7 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-6, where the high-k dielectric is in contact with the dipole layer.
Example 8 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-7, where the dipole layer is in contact with the channel material.
Example 9 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-7, further including a passivation layer between the dipole layer and the channel material, where the dipole layer is in contact with the passivation layer and the passivation layer is in contact with the channel material.
Example 10 provides the IC device according to example 9, where the channel material is a non-oxide semiconductor and the passivation layer includes an oxide of the non-oxide semiconductor. Such a passivation layer may spontaneously form between the dipole layer and the channel material as an oxide of the native semiconductor of the channel material.
Example 11 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-9, where the channel material includes IGZO, tin oxide, antimony oxide, indium oxide, indium tin oxide, titanium oxide, zinc oxide, indium zinc oxide, gallium oxide, titanium oxynitride, ruthenium oxide, or tungsten oxide.
Example 12 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-9, where the channel material includes a semiconductor having an average grain size smaller than about 1 millimeter.
Example 13 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-9, where the channel material includes a semiconductor having an average grain size larger than about 1 millimeter.
Example 14 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-13, where the high-k dielectric includes hafnium oxide.
Example 15 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-14, where the high-k dielectric includes zirconium oxide, aluminum oxide, tantalum oxide, tantalum silicon oxide, hafnium silicon oxide, or lanthanum oxide.
Example 16 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 1-15, where the IC device includes a transistor and the transistor gate-channel arrangement is a part of the transistor.
Example 17 provides the IC device according to example 17, where the transistor further includes a source region and a drain region.
Example 18 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 16-17, where the transistor has a gate length between 3 and 30 nanometers.
Example 19 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 16-18, where the channel material is coplanar with the source region and the drain region.
Example 20 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 16-18, where the channel material is shaped as a fin, the dipole layer wraps around a top portion of the fin, and the high-k dielectric wraps around the dipole layer.
Example 21 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 16-18, where the channel material is shaped as a nanoribbon, the dipole layer wraps around the nanoribbon, and the high-k dielectric wraps around the dipole layer.
Example 22 provides the IC device according to example 21, where the dipole layer wraps entirely around the nanoribbon and the high-k dielectric wraps entirely around the dipole layer.
Example 23 provides an IC device that includes a transistor gate-channel arrangement that includes a channel material and a transistor gate stack, where the transistor gate stack includes a gate electrode material, a dipole layer between the gate electrode material and the channel material, and a high-k dielectric between the dipole layer and the channel material.
Example 24 provides the IC device according to example 23, where the high-k dielectric has a thickness below about 1.5 nanometers.
Example 25 provides the IC device according to examples 23 or 24, where the dipole layer has a thickness below about 1 nanometer.
Example 26 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 23-25, where a stack of the high-k dielectric and the dipole layer has a thickness below about 2 nanometers.
Example 27 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 23-26, where the dipole layer includes oxygen and one or more rare-earth elements (e.g., the dipole layer may include one or more rare-earth oxides such as yttrium oxide and/or lanthanum oxide).
Example 28 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 23-27, where the gate electrode material is in contact with the high-k dielectric.
Example 29 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 23-28, where the high-k dielectric is in contact with the dipole layer.
Example 30 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 23-29, where the dipole layer is in contact with the channel material.
Example 31 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 23-30, where the channel material includes IGZO, tin oxide, antimony oxide, indium oxide, indium tin oxide, titanium oxide, zinc oxide, indium zinc oxide, gallium oxide, titanium oxynitride, ruthenium oxide, or tungsten oxide.
Example 32 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 23-31, where the channel material includes a semiconductor having an average grain size smaller than about 1 millimeter.
Example 33 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 23-30, where the channel material includes a semiconductor having an average grain size larger than about 1 millimeter.
Example 34 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 23-33, where the high-k dielectric includes hafnium oxide.
Example 35 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 23-34, where the high-k dielectric includes zirconium oxide, aluminum oxide, tantalum oxide, tantalum silicon oxide, hafnium silicon oxide, or lanthanum oxide.
Example 36 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 23-35, where the IC device includes a transistor and the transistor gate-channel arrangement is a part of the transistor.
Example 37 provides the IC device according to example 36, where the transistor further includes a source region and a drain region.
Example 38 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 36-37, where the transistor has a gate length between 3 and 30 nanometers.
Example 39 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 36-38, where the channel material is coplanar with the source region and the drain region.
Example 40 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 36-38, where the channel material is shaped as a fin, the high-k dielectric wraps around a top portion of the fin, and the dipole layer wraps around the high-k dielectric.
Example 41 provides the IC device according to any one of examples 36-38, where the channel material is shaped as a nanoribbon, the high-k dielectric wraps around the nanoribbon, and the dipole layer wraps around the high-k dielectric.
Example 42 provides the IC device according to example 41, where the high-k dielectric wraps entirely around the nanoribbon and the dipole layer wraps entirely around the high-k dielectric.
Example 43 provides an IC package, including an IC die, including an IC device according to any one of the preceding examples (e.g., any one of examples 1-42); and a further component, coupled to the IC die.
Example 44 provides the IC package according to example 43, where the further component is one of a package substrate, an interposer, or a further IC die.
Example 45 provides the IC package according to any one of examples 43-44, where the further component is coupled to the IC die via one or more first level interconnects, and the one or more first level interconnects include one or more solder bumps, solder posts, or bond wires.
Example 46 provides an electronic device, including a carrier substrate; and one or more of the IC devices according to any one of the preceding examples and/or the IC package according to any one of the preceding examples, coupled to the carrier substrate.
Example 47 provides the electronic device according to example 46, where the carrier substrate is a motherboard.
Example 48 provides the electronic device according to example 46, where the carrier substrate is a PCB.
Example 49 provides the electronic device according to any one of examples 46-48, where the electronic device is a wearable electronic device (e.g., a smart watch) or handheld electronic device (e.g., a mobile phone).
Example 50 provides the electronic device according to any one of examples 46-49, where the electronic device further includes one or more communication chips and an antenna.
Example 51 provides the electronic device according to any one of examples 46-50, where the electronic device is memory device.
Example 52 provides the electronic device according to any one of examples 46-50, where the electronic device is one of an RF transceiver, a switch, a power amplifier, a low-noise amplifier, a filter, a filter bank, a duplexer, an upconverter, or a downconverter of an RF communications device, e.g., of an RF transceiver.
Example 53 provides the electronic device according to any one of examples 46-50, where the electronic device is a computing device.
Example 54 provides the electronic device according to any one of examples 46-53, where the electronic device is included in a base station of a wireless communication system.
Example 55 provides the electronic device according to any one of examples 46-53, where the electronic device is included in a user equipment device (i.e., a mobile device) of a wireless communication system.
Example 56 provides a method of manufacturing an IC device that includes a transistor, the method including providing a channel material; providing a dipole layer over a portion of the channel material; providing a high-k dielectric over at least a portion of the dipole layer; and providing a gate electrode material over at least a portion of the high-k dielectric.
Example 57 provides the method according to example 56, where providing the dipole layer includes performing ALD, PVD, or CVD of the dipole layer.
Example 58 provides the method according to any one of examples 56-57, where the gate electrode material, the high-k dielectric, and the dipole layer form a transistor gate stack of the transistor, and the method further includes providing a source region and a drain region in either side of the transistor gate stack.
Example 59 provides the method according to any one of examples 56-58, where the dipole layer at least partially wraps around the channel material.
Example 60 provides the method according to example 59, where the dipole layer encircles the channel material.
Example 61 provides a method of manufacturing an IC device that includes a transistor, the method including providing a channel material; providing a high-k dielectric over a portion of the channel material; providing a dipole layer over at least a portion of the high-k dielectric; and providing a gate electrode material over at least a portion of the dipole layer.
Example 62 provides the method according to claim 61, where providing the dipole layer comprises performing ALD, PVD, or CVD of the dipole layer.
Example 63 provides the method according to any one of claims 61-62, where the gate electrode material, the high-k dielectric, and the dipole layer form a transistor gate stack of the transistor, and the method further includes providing a source region and a drain region in either side of the transistor gate stack.
Example 64 provides the method according to any one of claims 61-63, where the dipole layer at least partially wraps around the channel material.
Example 65 provides the method according to claim 64, where the dipole layer encircles the channel material.
