Semiconductor structure formed without requiring thermal oxidation
Briefly, in accordance with one or more embodiments, a semiconductor device is manufactured by forming at least two or more cavities below a surface of a semiconductor substrate wherein the at least two or more cavities are spaced apart from each other by a selected distance, filling at least a portion of the at least two or more cavities with a dielectric material to form at least two or more dielectric structures, removing a portion of the substrate between the at least two or more dielectric structures to form at least one additional cavity, and covering the at least one additional cavity.
1. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
forming at least two or more cavities below a surface of a semiconductor substrate wherein the at least two or more cavities are spaced apart from each other by a selected distance;
filling at least a portion of the at least two or more cavities with a dielectric material to form at least two or more dielectric structures;
removing a portion of the substrate between the at least two or more dielectric structures to form an additional cavity;
depositing a capping material on the at least two or more dielectric structures; and
covering the additional cavity and the capping material to form a sealed cavity.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said removing a portion of the substrate comprises creating an opening to the additional cavity, and wherein said depositing a capping material comprises decreasing a size of the opening to the additional cavity.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the capping material comprises an additional dielectric material.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the additional dielectric material comprises silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or combinations thereof.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising using a non-conformal deposition process to form the silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or combinations thereof.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric material comprises silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or combinations thereof.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising using a conformal deposition process to form the silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or combinations thereof.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least two or more cavities are formed using a wet chemical etch, a dry etch, a reactive ion etch, or combinations thereof.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least two or more cavities are formed using an anisotropic etch.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the additional cavity is formed using a wet chemical etch, a dry etch, a reactive ion etch, or combinations thereof.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the additional cavity is formed using an anisotropic etch.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said covering the additional cavity comprises forming an additional material over the additional cavity and the at least two or more dielectric structures.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the additional material comprises an additional dielectric material.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the additional dielectric material comprises silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or combinations thereof.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or combinations thereof, is formed using a conformal or non-conformal deposition process.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the additional material comprises polysilicon, and wherein the polysilicon is at least partially oxidized such that the additional cavity is sealed by silicon oxide.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein said filling at least a portion of the at least two or more cavities with a dielectric material comprises:
overfilling the at least two or more cavities with the dielectric material; and
removing a portion of the dielectric material above the surface of the substrate.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein said removing comprises wet chemical etching, dry etching, reactive ion etching, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), or combinations thereof.
19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming an additional dielectric material over the dielectric material.
20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the additional dielectric material comprises silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or combinations thereof.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or combinations thereof is formed using a conformal or non-conformal deposition process.