Vertical fuse structures

1. A method for fabricating a semiconductor device, comprising:

forming a plurality of vertical semiconductor fins on a semiconductor substrate, the plurality of vertical semiconductor fins comprising a first vertical semiconductor fin and a second vertical semiconductor fin;

forming a vertical fuse device having a first dummy gate structure formed over a portion of the first vertical semiconductor fin;

forming a FINFET (Fin Field Effect Transistor) device having a second dummy gate structure formed over a portion of the second vertical semiconductor fin;

wherein the first dummy gate structure and the second dummy gate structure are formed after forming the plurality of vertical semiconductor fins; and

performing a RMG (replacement metal gate) process to remove the first and second dummy gate structures, and to replace the first dummy gate structure with a metal fuse element for the vertical fuse device and replace the second dummy gate structure with a metal gate electrode for the FINFET device, wherein the metal fuse element is formed on surfaces of the first vertical semiconductor fin.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

forming a first fuse contact in contact with the metal fuse element of the vertical fuse device; and

forming a second fuse contact in contact with a portion of the first vertical semiconductor fin adjacent to the vertical fuse device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the RMG process comprises:

removing the first dummy gate structure to form a first recess between insulating sidewall spacers of the vertical fuse device;

removing the second dummy gate structure to form a second recess between insulating sidewall spacers of the FINFET device;

forming a conformal gate dielectric layer on exposed surfaces of the second vertical semiconductor fin in the second recess;

forming a conformal layer of metallic material on exposed surfaces of the first vertical semiconductor fin in the first recess and on the conformal gate dielectric layer formed on the exposed surfaces of the second vertical semiconductor fin in the second recess, wherein the conformal layer of metallic material is formed with a thickness of about 5 nm or less; and

depositing a layer of metallic material in the first and second recesses to form a metallic fuse electrode in contact with the conformal layer of metallic material in the first recess and to form a metallic gate electrode in contact with the conformal layer of metallic material in the second recess.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the metallic fuse electrode and the conformal layer of metallic material in the first recess form the metal fuse element of the vertical fuse device; and

wherein the metallic gate electrode, the conformal layer of metallic material, and the conformal gate dielectric layer in the second recess form the metal gate electrode of the FINFET device.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising depositing a layer of insulating material to form a first capping layer over the metal fuse element of the vertical fuse device and to form a second capping layer over the metal gate electrode of the FINFET device.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the conformal layer of metallic material comprises at least one of TaN, TiN, and TiAlC.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the conformal gate dielectric layer comprises a high-k dielectric material having a dielectric constant k of about 3.0 or greater.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the layer of metallic material deposited in the first and second recesses comprises at least one of Al, W, Co and a metal silicide.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein forming a conformal gate dielectric layer on exposed surfaces of the second vertical semiconductor fin in the second recess comprises:

depositing a conformal layer of dielectric material in the first and second recesses;

depositing a conformal protective capping layer over the conformal layer of dielectric material;

forming an etch mask to cover portions of the conformal protective capping layer and the conformal layer of dielectric material in the second recess;

performing an etch process to remove exposed portions of the conformal protective capping layer and the conformal layer of dielectric material in the first recess;

removing the etch mask to expose remaining portions of the conformal protective capping layer and the conformal layer of dielectric material in the second recess; and

etching the remaining portion of the conformal protective capping layer after removing the etch mask.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second dummy gate structures each comprise a dummy gate oxide layer formed on the respective portions of the first and second vertical semiconductor fins, and a dummy gate polysilicon layer;

wherein performing the RMG process to remove the first and second dummy gate structures comprises:

etching the dummy gate polysilicon layer selective to the dummy gate oxide layer; and

etching the dummy gate oxide layer selective to first and second vertical semiconductor fins.

11. A method for fabricating a semiconductor device, comprising:

forming a plurality of vertical semiconductor fins on a semiconductor substrate, the plurality of vertical semiconductor fins comprising a first vertical semiconductor fin and a second vertical semiconductor fin;

forming a vertical fuse device comprising a metal fuse element over a portion of the first vertical semiconductor fin, wherein the metal fuse element comprises a first conformal metallic layer formed on the portion of the first vertical semiconductor fin, and a first metal electrode layer formed on the first conformal metallic layer; and

forming a FINFET (Fin Field Effect Transistor) device comprising a metal gate electrode formed over a portion of the second vertical semiconductor fin, wherein the metal gate electrode comprises a high-k metal gate stack structure conformally formed on the portion of the second vertical semiconductor fin and a second metal electrode layer formed on the high-k metal gate stack structure, wherein the high-k metal gate stack structure comprises a conformal layer of dielectric material formed on the portion of the second vertical semiconductor fin and a second conformal metallic layer formed on the conformal layer of dielectric material;

wherein the first conformal metallic layer and the second conformal metallic layer are patterned from a same conformal layer of metallic material; and

wherein the first metal electrode layer and the second metal electrode layer are patterned from a same layer of metallic material.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising concurrently forming the metal fuse element of the vertical fuse device and the metal gate electrode of the FINFET device as part of a RMG (replacement metal gate) process.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

forming a first fuse contact in contact with the metal fuse element of the vertical fuse device; and

forming a second fuse contact in contact with a portion of the first vertical semiconductor fin adjacent to the vertical fuse device.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the metal fuse element is formed between insulating sidewall spacers of the vertical fuse device, and wherein the metal gate electrode is formed between insulating sidewall spacers of the FINFET device.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the conformal layer of metallic material that is patterned to form the first conformal metallic layer and the second conformal metallic layer comprises a work function metal material that is utilized to obtain a target work function for the high-k metal gate stack structure of the metal gate electrode of the FINFET device.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the conformal layer of metallic material that is patterned to form the first conformal metallic layer and the second conformal metallic layer comprises at least one of TaN, TiN, and TiAlC.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the conformal layer of dielectric material comprises a high-k dielectric material having a dielectric constant k of about 3.0 or greater.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the layer of metallic material that is patterned to form the first metal electrode layer and the second metal electrode layer comprises at least one of Al, W, Co and a metal silicide.

19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising forming a first capping layer on the metal fuse element of the vertical fuse device and a forming second capping layer on the metal gate electrode of the FINFET device.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

forming a first vertical contact through the first capping layer in contact with the metal fuse element of the vertical fuse device; and

forming a second vertical contact through the second capping layer in contact with the metal gate electrode of the FINFET device.