This invention relates in general to transistors with current terminal regions and a channel region in a layer over dielectric material
Some transistors such as field effect transistors (FETs) include a source and drain regions (current terminal regions for a FET) and a gate (a control terminal for a FET) for controlling the conductivity of a channel region between the source region and drain region.
The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features, and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates identical items unless otherwise noted. The Figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.
The following sets forth a detailed description of at least one mode for carrying out the invention. The description is intended to be illustrative of the invention and should not be taken to be limiting.
As disclosed herein, a method includes making a semiconductor die that includes a transistor with a control terminal, and two current terminals. The two current terminals include portions located in a semiconductor layer formed by an epitaxial process on a substrate with semiconductor material and dielectric material. At least some of the portions of the current terminals located in the semiconductor layer are characterized as monocrystalline and are located directly over dielectric material of the substrate. The channel region is located in a monocrystalline portion of the semiconductor layer as well.
FETs can be used as switches for high-frequency (RF) signals. Ideally, a switch has very low (near zero) impedance in the on-state and a very high (towards infinity) impedance in the off-state. For some FETs, these two states are characterized by the on-state resistance (RON), and the off-state capacitance, (COFF) respectively. RON can be made smaller by increasing the total width of the transistor, but at a cost of increasing the COFF, leading to a lower impedance, and hence greater losses, in the off-state. Some FETs for switching applications can be implemented in SOI (semiconductor on insulator) substrates, significantly reducing the bottom contribution of the source-to-body and drain-to-body junction capacitance. However, SOI substrates can be more expensive than bulk wafers and may offer limited integration possibilities with other devices, e.g., like vertical SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT).
Accordingly, with some embodiments shown herein, the current terminals and channel region of a transistor can be formed in an epitaxially grown semiconductor layer that is formed on dielectric material and exposed semiconductor material defined by an opening in the dielectric material. Portions of the material of the layer directly over the dielectric portion can be converted from a non monocrystalline to a monocrystalline material. Thus, such transistors may be able to be fabricated on non SOI based wafers and still obtain the same reduction in source-to-body and drain-to-body junction capacitance as available with SOI technology. Accordingly, in some embodiments, a similar performance may be achieved while maintaining the advantages of ease of integration with other device types in a standard bulk technology. Furthermore, converting portions of the semiconductor layer from a non monocrystalline structure to a monocrystalline structure, may in some embodiments advantageously provide for a monocrystalline to gate dielectric interface that may reduce defects in the gate dielectric and/or improve leakage current. Furthermore, forming the current terminal regions and the channel region in an epitaxially grown layer including portions formed on the dielectric material may provide for a simplified process that can more easily be integrated with processes for forming other device types.
STI 105 can be formed on the upper surface of substrate 101 by selectively etching the upper surface to form openings and filing those openings with a dielectric material. However, STI 105 can be formed by other methods such as by a selective oxidation process.
In the view of
After the formation of the layer of structure 201, the layer is patterned by a photolithographic process where a patterned photo resist mask (not shown) is formed on the semiconductor layer and the semiconductor layer is then patterned to the shape of structure 201 as shown in
In one embodiment structure 201 is doped with conductivity dopants (e.g., either N-type or P-type depending on the type of transistor (either P-type or N-type) that will be subsequently formed in structure 201). In one embodiment, the conductivity dopants are formed in-situ with the semiconductor layer of structure 201. In other embodiments, the layer may be subsequently implanted with conductivity dopants after formation.
In some embodiments, prior to the stage of
In one embodiment where portion 203 has a polycrystalline structure, a blanket amorphizing implant into structure 201 may be performed prior to the epitaxial regrowth process. In one embodiment, germanium dopants are implanted into structure 201 at a dosage of 1015 and at an energy of 20 KeV. However, other implantation operations may be performed at other dosages, other energies, and/or with other types of dopants (e.g., silicon, xenon). In still other embodiments, other portions of wafer 100 may be masked for a selective amorphizing implant so as to avoid implant damage to the masked portions.
As shown in
In the embodiment of
In one embodiment, gate structure 403 is formed by forming a blanket layer of gate material (e.g., poly silicon) over wafer 100 and patterning the layer of gate material to the shape of structure 403 shown in
As shown in cross section 104 of
As shown in
Also, because gate structure 403 is located directly over the monocrystalline portion 205 of structure 201 and not directly over the non monocrystalline portions of structure 201, the subsequently formed transistor may exhibit less leakage current during operation in that current would not leak through grain boundaries in a non monocrystalline portion of structure 201 to the gate structure 402 as it would with a polysilicon portion of structure 201. Accordingly, providing a semiconductor structure (201) with monocrystalline portions (205) located directly over dielectric material (STI 105) may provide for a transistor with less leakage current.
Source region 503 and drain region 505 are then formed by the selective implantation of conductivity dopants into structure 201 where gate structure 403 and spacer 501 serve as an implantation mask. Either N-type dopants or P-type dopants are implanted into selective regions of structure 201 depending upon whether the transistor to be formed is an N-type transistor or a P-type transistor.
As shown in
After the formation of source region 503 and drain region 505, wafer 100 is subject to a silicidation process where a metal (e.g., titanium, cobalt, or nickel) is deposited on wafer 100 and heated such that a silicide forms on exposed silicon surfaces. The unreacted metal is subsequently removed. As a result of the silicidation process, silicide structure 512 is formed on source region 503, silicide structure 514 is formed on gate structure 403, and silicide structure 516 is formed on drain region 505.
In some embodiments where portions 303 and 305 initially have an amorphous structure, the heating processes occurring during fabrication, e.g., during dopant activation or silicidation, may convert portions 303 and 305 to polysilicon.
In the embodiment shown, source contact 603 contacts an area of silicide structure 512 that is located directly over the monocrystalline portion of source 305 and drain contact 605 contacts an area of silicide structure 516 that is located directly over the monocrystalline portion of drain region 505. In one embodiment, having the source and drain contacts located directly over monocrystalline portions of the source and drain regions respectively, provides for a monocrystalline path from source region to drain region through structure 201. Such a monocrystalline path may provide for a lower on resistance for a transistor.
Accordingly, cross section 102 of
After the stage of manufacture shown in
The transistors describe herein may have other configurations, have other structures, be made of other materials, and/or be made by other processes. For example, in some embodiments, the source region may surround or partially surround the drain region. Also in other embodiments, the ratio of the length or width of the gate structure 403 versus the width of the opening of STI 105 as shown in cross section 102 or in cross section 104 of
In one embodiment, other devices may be formed on wafer 100. For example, other types of transistors such as planar FETs, FinFETs, and bipolar transistors may be formed with at least some terminals located in the semiconductor material 107 of substrate 101.
In the embodiment shown, semiconductor structure 201 can be formed without a mechanical planarization of its surface. In some embodiments, this may allow for a higher quality gate oxide (405) to be formed on structure 201 due to its top surface not being mechanically planarized.
In some embodiments, the current terminal regions and channel region can each be formed in a layer (e.g., the layer of structure 201) that's formed on dielectric material (e.g., STI 105 in the embodiment shown). In some embodiments, this may simplify the process for forming a transistor in reducing the steps from examples where portions of the transistor are formed in differently constructed layers of a wafer. Furthermore, it may aid in the integration of the formed transistor with the formation of other types of transistors (e.g., bipolar, planar CMOS in bulk) on other parts of the wafer. For example, forming the current terminal and channel regions in an epitaxially grown layer of the wafer may minimize the processing on other parts of the wafer where other types of transistors are formed.
As disclosed herein, a first structure is “directly over” a second structure if the first structure is located over the second structure in a line having a direction that is perpendicular with a generally planar major side of the wafer or substrate. For example, in
In one embodiment of a method for forming a semiconductor die including a transistor, the method includes on a wafer including a substrate with semiconductor material and dielectric material wherein the dielectric material of the substrate defines an opening on a surface of the substrate with exposed semiconductor material, forming an epitaxially grown semiconductor layer on the substrate. The epitaxially grown semiconductor layer includes a monocrystalline portion located directly over the opening and extending laterally across the opening to locations located directly over the dielectric material. The method includes forming a control terminal for a transistor including a portion located directly over the monocrystalline portion of the epitaxially grown semiconductor layer and forming a first current terminal region of the transistor in the epitaxially grown semiconductor layer. At least a portion of the first current terminal region is located in the monocrystalline portion located directly over the dielectric material. The method includes forming a second current terminal region of the transistor in the epitaxially grown semiconductor layer. At least a portion of the second current terminal region is located in the monocrystalline portion located directly over the dielectric material. The monocrystalline portion of the epitaxially grown semiconductor layer includes a channel region extending between the first current terminal region and the second current terminal region and directly beneath the control terminal. The method includes separating the wafer into a plurality of die including a first die, wherein the first die includes the transistor.
In another embodiment of a method for forming a semiconductor die including a transistor, the method includes forming a layer of semiconductor material by an epitaxial process on a substrate of a wafer where semiconductor material of the layer formed on a monocrystalline portion of the substrate has a monocrystalline structure and semiconductor material of the layer formed on dielectric material of the substrate has a non monocrystalline structure. The method includes after the forming the layer, converting portions of the layer having a non monocrystalline structure to having a monocrystalline structure. The method includes forming a control terminal of a transistor directly over the layer, forming a first current terminal region of the transistor in the layer including in a portion of the layer that was converted from having a non monocrystalline structure to having mono crystalline structure, and forming a second current terminal region of the transistor in the layer including in a portion of the layer that was converted from having a non monocrystalline structure to having monocrystalline structure. A portion of the layer having a monocrystalline structure includes a channel region that extends in the layer from the first current terminal region to the second current terminal region. The method includes separating the wafer into a plurality of die including a first die, wherein the first die includes the transistor.
In another embodiment of a method for forming a semiconductor die including a transistor, the method includes on a wafer including a substrate with semiconductor material and dielectric material, wherein the dielectric material of the substrate defines an opening on a surface of the substrate with exposed semiconductor material, forming a semiconductor structure over the substrate. The semiconductor structure includes a monocrystalline portion located directly over the opening. The monocrystalline portion extends to at least a portion of a first patterned lateral edge of the semiconductor structure located over the dielectric material and to at least a portion of a second patterned lateral edge of the semiconductor structure located over the dielectric material. The first patterned lateral edge being an opposite lateral edge to the second patterned lateral edge of the semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure is formed by patterning an epitaxially grown semiconductor layer on the substrate. The method includes forming a control terminal for a transistor over the semiconductor structure. The control terminal located directly over the portion of the first patterned lateral edge and the portion of the second patterned lateral edge. The method includes forming a first current terminal region of the transistor in the semiconductor structure. The forming the first current terminal region includes implanting conductivity dopants into a third portion of the semiconductor structure not covered by the control terminal. The method includes forming a second current terminal region of the transistor in the semiconductor structure. The forming the second current terminal region includes implanting conductivity dopants into a fourth portion of the semiconductor structure not covered by the control terminal. The monocrystalline portion of the semiconductor structure includes a channel region extending between the first current terminal region and the second current terminal region in the monocrystalline portion and directly beneath the control terminal. The method includes separating the wafer into a plurality of die including a first die, wherein the first die includes the transistor.
Features specifically shown or described with respect to one embodiment set forth herein may be implemented in other embodiments set forth herein.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be recognized to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, further changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention and its broader aspects, and thus, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of this invention.