Granted Patent B2

US 8,309,419 · App. 12/365,317 · Granted Nov 13, 2012

Abstract

Claims (69)

1. A method for forming a semiconductor structure, comprising:

providing a first semiconductor layer comprising a PMOS device area and an NMOS device area;

forming a high-k gate dielectric layer over the first semiconductor layer in the PMOS and NMOS device areas;

forming a first capping oxide layer on the high-k gate dielectric layer in at least the NMOS device area, where the first capping oxide layer comprises a first dopant species for doping the high-k gate dielectric layer in the NMOS device area;

forming a second capping oxide layer on the high-k gate dielectric layer in at least the PMOS device area, where the second capping oxide layer comprises a second dopant species for doping the high-k gate dielectric layer in the PMOS device area;

diffusing the first and second dopant species into the high-k gate dielectric layer in the PMOS and NMOS device areas, respectively, thereby forming a first fixed charge region in the PMOS device area of the high-k gate dielectric area and a second fixed charge region in the NMOS device area of the high-k gate dielectric area;

forming a metal-based gate layer over the high-k gate dielectric layer in the PMOS and NMOS device areas;

depositing a semiconductor gate layer over the first metal-based gate layer in the PMOS and NMOS device areas; and

selectively etching the semiconductor gate layer and the metal-based gate layer to form NMOS and PMOS gate electrodes for NMOS and PMOS devices in the NMOS and PMOS device areas.

2. The method of claim 1 where forming the high-k gate dielectric layer comprises depositing hafnium oxide on the first semiconductor layer.

3. The method of claim 1 where forming the first capping oxide layer comprises depositing Lanthanum oxide on the high-k gate dielectric layer.

4. The method of claim 1 where forming the first capping oxide layer comprises:

depositing a layer of Lanthanum oxide on the high-k gate dielectric layer in the PMOS and NMOS device areas;

depositing a first metal-based layer on the layer of Lanthanum oxide;

forming a patterned resist layer as an etch mask over the first metal-based layer to cover the NMOS device area; and

selectively etching the first metal-based layer and the layer of Lanthanum oxide in the PMOS device area using the patterned resist layer to expose the high-k gate dielectric layer in the PMOS device area.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising depositing a first layer of amorphous silicon on the first metal-based layer in the PMOS and NMOS device areas before forming the patterned resist layer.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising stripping the patterned resist layer from the first metal-based layer after selectively etching the first metal-based layer, the layer of Lanthanum oxide and the first capping oxide layer, thereby exposing a portion of the first metal-based layer in the NMOS device area.

7. The method of claim 6 , where stripping the patterned resist layer comprises performing a non-oxidizing ash chemistry or solvent-based wet removal process to remove the patterned resist layer from the NMOS device area without oxidizing the portion of the first metal-based layer in the NMOS device area.

8. The method of claim 6 , where forming the second capping oxide layer comprises:

depositing a layer of Aluminum oxide on the exposed high-k gate dielectric layer in the PMOS device and on the portion of the first metal-based layer in the NMOS device area;

depositing a second metal-based layer on the layer of Aluminum oxide in the PMOS and NMOS device areas; and

depositing a layer of amorphous silicon on the second metal-based layer in the PMOS and NMOS device areas.

9. The method of claim 1 , where diffusing the first and second dopant species comprises thermally annealing the first and second capping oxide layers to diffuse the first and second dopant species into the high-k gate dielectric layer in the PMOS and NMOS device areas.

10. The method of claim 1 , where diffusing the first and second dopant species comprises:

forming a capping layer of amorphous silicon to cover the first capping oxide layer in the NMOS device area and to cover the second capping oxide layer in the PMOS device area; and

thermally annealing the first and second capping oxide layers in a nitrogen-based environment to diffuse the first and second dopant species into the high-k gate dielectric layer in the PMOS and NMOS device areas.

11. The method of claim 1 , where forming the first capping oxide layer comprises depositing Lanthanum oxide on the high-k gate dielectric layer in at least the NMOS device area, and where forming the second capping oxide layer comprises depositing aluminum oxide on the high-k gate dielectric layer in at least the PMOS device area.

12. A method of forming PMOS and NMOS gate electrode structures, comprising:

selectively forming first and second capping oxide layers on a single gate dielectric layer formed over PMOS and NMOS device areas of a substrate along with one or more sacrificial layers formed over the first and second capping oxide layers, where the first capping oxide layer comprises a first dopant species and is formed over a NMOS device area, and where the second capping oxide layer comprises a second dopant species and is formed over an PMOS device area;

annealing the first and second capping oxide layers to diffuse the first and second dopant species into the gate dielectric layer in the NMOS and PMOS device areas, respectively, thereby forming a separately doped gate dielectric layer comprising a first fixed charge region in the NMOS device area of the gate dielectric area and a second fixed charge region in the PMOS device area of the gate dielectric area;

exposing the separately doped gate dielectric layer by removing at least the one or more sacrificial layers;

depositing one or more metal-based gate layers on both of the separately doped gate dielectric layers in the PMOS and NMOS device areas;

depositing a semiconductor gate layer over the one or more metal-based gate layers in the NMOS and PMOS device areas; and

selectively etching at least the semiconductor gate layer and the one or more metal-based gate layers to form one or more PMOS gate electrode structures for PMOS devices over the PMOS device area and one or more NMOS gate electrode structures for NMOS devices over the NMOS device area.

13. The method of claim 12 , where selectively forming first and second capping oxide layers comprises:

selectively forming a first capping oxide layer of Lanthanum oxide and a first sacrificial layer on the gate dielectric layer in the NMOS device area; and

selectively forming a second capping oxide layer of Aluminum oxide and a second sacrificial layer on the gate dielectric layer in the PMOS device area.

14. The method of claim 12 , where selectively forming first and second capping oxide layers comprises:

forming a first capping oxide layer on the gate dielectric layer in at least the NMOS device area;

forming a first sacrificial layer over the first capping oxide layer in at least the NMOS device area;

selectively removing the first sacrificial layer and first capping oxide layer from the PMOS device area;

forming a second capping oxide layer on the gate dielectric layer in at least the PMOS device area; and

forming a second sacrificial layer over the second capping oxide layer in at least the PMOS device area.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising depositing a capping layer of amorphous silicon on the first sacrificial layer prior to selectively removing the first sacrificial layer and first capping oxide layer.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising depositing a capping layer of amorphous silicon on the second sacrificial layer prior to annealing the first and second capping oxide layers.

17. The method of claim 12 , where selectively forming first and second capping oxide layers comprises:

forming a first capping oxide layer on the gate dielectric layer in at least the PMOS device area;

forming a first sacrificial layer over the first capping oxide layer in at least the PMOS device area;

selectively removing the first sacrificial layer and first capping oxide layer from the NMOS device area;

forming a second capping oxide layer on the gate dielectric layer in at least the NMOS device area; and

forming a second sacrificial layer over the second capping oxide layer in at least the NMOS device area.

18. The method of claim 12 , where selectively forming first and second capping oxide layers comprises depositing a first capping oxide layer on the gate dielectric layer in at least the NMOS device area, where the first capping oxide layer comprises a metal or rare earth oxide comprising La, Mg, Sr, Ba, Y, Gd, Dy or Er.

19. The method of claim 12 , where selectively forming first and second capping oxide layers comprises depositing a second capping oxide layer on the gate dielectric layer in at least the PMOS device area, where the second capping oxide layer comprises a metal oxide comprising Al.

20. The method of claim 12 , where annealing the first and second capping oxide layers comprises diffusing the first dopant species into a high-k dielectric layer to provide a negatively-shifted threshold voltage for the finally formed NMOS gate electrode structures, and diffusing the second dopant species into the high-k dielectric layer to provide a negatively-shifted threshold voltage for the finally formed NMOS gate electrode structures.

21. The method of claim 12 , where depositing the one or more metal-based gate layers comprises depositing a metal-based layer comprising Ti, Ta, Hf, Zr, Ir, Mo, Ru, W, Os, Nb, Ti, V, Ni, Re or Hf.

22. A method of forming PMOS and NMOS gate electrode structures on a semiconductor substrate structure, comprising:

providing a semiconductor substrate structure comprising a PMOS device area and an NMOS device area;

forming a high-k gate dielectric layer over the semiconductor substrate structure in the PMOS and NMOS device areas;

depositing a layer of lanthanum oxide on the high-k gate dielectric layer;

depositing a first sacrificial layer over the layer of lanthanum oxide;

selectively removing the first sacrificial layer and the layer of lanthanum oxide to expose the high-k gate dielectric layer in the PMOS device area, thereby leaving the first sacrificial layer and the layer of lanthanum oxide in the NMOS device area;

depositing a layer of aluminum oxide on the high-k gate dielectric in the PMOS device area and on the first sacrificial layer in the NMOS device area;

depositing a second sacrificial layer over the layer of aluminum oxide;

depositing a layer of amorphous silicon on the second sacrificial layer;

applying an anneal process to diffuse lanthanum from the layer of lanthanum oxide into the high-k gate dielectric layer in the NMOS device area and to diffuse aluminum from the layer of aluminum oxide into the high-k gate dielectric layer in the PMOS device area;

removing at least the layer of amorphous silicon and the first and second sacrificial layers to expose the high-k gate dielectric layer after the applying the anneal process;

forming a metal gate electrode stack comprising a first metallic layer on the high-k gate dielectric layer in the PMOS and NMOS device areas after exposing the high-k gate dielectric layer; and

selectively etching the single metal gate electrode stack to form NMOS and PMOS gate electrodes in the NMOS and PMOS device areas.

Assignments (17)