Fabrication of a vertical transistor with self-aligned bottom source/drain

1. A method of forming a vertical fin field effect transistor (vertical finFET) with a self-aligned bottom source/drain, comprising:

forming a protective layer on two or more vertical fins and a doped layer on a substrate, wherein the protective layer has a thickness that covers the facing sidewalls of two adjacent vertical fins of the two or more vertical fins; and

forming an isolation trench by removing at least a portion of the protective layer and a portion of the doped layer that exposes the substrate between the facing sidewalls of the two adjacent vertical fins, wherein the isolation trench is laterally offset from each of the two adjacent vertical fins by the thickness of the protective layer;

forming a dielectric spacer in the isolation trench, wherein the isolation trench and dielectric spacer form two doped layer regions from the doped layer; and

removing the protective layer to expose the two adjacent vertical fins and two doped layer regions.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lateral offset defines a periphery of a doped region formed from the doped layer for a bottom source/drain.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the protective layer is formed on the one or more vertical fins by atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the protective layer has a thickness in the range of about 5 nm to about 50 nm.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the isolation trench extends through the doped layer into the substrate.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the dielectric spacer is silicon nitride (SiN) or silicon oxynitride (SiON).

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising forming a gate structure on at least the two adjacent vertical fins, and forming a contact gap through the gate structure to one of the two or more doped layer regions.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising forming a top source/drain on the two adjacent vertical fins.

9. A method of forming a vertical fin field effect transistor (vertical finFET) with a self-aligned bottom source/drain, comprising:

forming a protective layer on two or more vertical fins and a doped layer on a substrate, wherein the protective layer has a thickness that covers the facing sidewalls of two adjacent vertical fins of the two or more vertical fins, wherein the protective layer has a thickness in the range of about 5 nm to about 50 nm;

forming an isolation trench by removing at least a portion of the protective layer and a portion of the doped layer between the facing sidewalls of the two adjacent vertical fins, wherein the isolation trench is laterally offset from each of the two adjacent vertical fins by the thickness of the protective layer;

forming a dielectric spacer in the isolation trench; and

removing the protective layer to expose the two adjacent vertical fins and two doped layer regions.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the protective layer has a thickness in the range of about 5 nm to about 50 nm, and the thickness of the protective layer defines a lateral offset of the isolation trench from at least one of the one or more vertical fins.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the distance between the facing sidewalls of the two adjacent vertical fins is greater than two times ( 2 x ) the thickness of the protective layer.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising forming a gate structure on the two adjacent vertical fins.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising forming a separate bottom spacer adjacent to each of the two adjacent vertical fins.

14. A vertical fin field effect transistor (vertical finFET) having a self-aligned bottom source/drain, comprising;

two doped layer regions on a substrate;

one or more vertical fins on a first of the two doped layer regions, wherein the first doped layer region forms a bottom source drain for the one or more vertical fins;

one or more additional vertical fins on a second of the two doped layer regions, wherein the second doped layer region forms a bottom source drain for the one or more additional vertical fins;

a dielectric spacer in the substrate between the first doped layer region and the second doped layer region, wherein the dielectric spacer is offset from one of the one or more vertical fins on the first doped layer region and one of the one or more additional vertical fins on the second doped layer region by a width, W 1 ;

a first gate structure on the one or more vertical fins on the first doped layer region; and

a second gate structure on the one or more additional vertical fins on the second doped layer region, wherein the dielectric spacer extends above the first gate structure and second gate structure.

15. The vertical finFET of claim 14 , wherein the width, W 1 , is in the range of about 5 nm to about 50 nm.

16. The vertical finFET of claim 14 , wherein the first doped layer region is silicon germanium (SiGe) doped with boron to form a p-type FET.

17. The vertical finFET of claim 14 , further comprising a single top source/drain on all of the one or more vertical fins on the first doped layer region, wherein the one or more top source/drains are silicon germanium (SiGe) doped with boron to form a p-type FET.

18. The vertical finFET of claim 14 , wherein the dielectric spacer is silicon nitride (SiN) or silicon oxynitride (SiON).

19. The vertical finFET of claim 14 , wherein the first gate structure includes a gate dielectric layer on the sidewalls of the one or more vertical fins on the first doped layer region, a work function layer on the gate dielectric layer, and a gate metal fill on the work function layer.