IP Library Granted Patent US 11,430,893
Granted Patent B2
US 11,430,893 · App. 16/926,521 · Granted Aug 30, 2022

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and a semiconductor device

Inventors: Yan-Ting Shen (Hsinchu, TW); Chia-Chi Yu (Hsinchu, TW); Chih-Teng Liao (Hsinchu, TW); Yu-Li Lin (Kaohsiung, TW); Chih Hsuan Cheng (Houlong Township, TW); Tzu-Chan Weng (Kaohsiung, TW)
Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
H01L29/785H01L21/823431H01L29/0649H01L29/41791H01L29/66795H01L2029/7858
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,430,893
App. No.
16/926,521
Granted
Aug 30, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

A semiconductor device includes a fin structure protruding from an isolation insulating layer disposed over a substrate and having a channel region, a source/drain region disposed over the substrate, a gate dielectric layer disposed on the channel region, and a gate electrode layer disposed on the gate dielectric layer. The gate electrode includes a lower portion below a level of a top of the channel region and above an upper surface of the isolation insulating layer, and a width of the lower portion is not constant.

Claims (82)

1. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:

forming a fin structure protruding from an isolation insulating layer disposed over a substrate;

forming a sacrificial gate dielectric layer over the fin structure;

forming a polysilicon layer over the sacrificial gate dielectric layer;

forming a mask pattern over the polysilicon layer; and

patterning the polysilicon layer into a sacrificial gate electrode using the mask pattern as an etching mask, wherein:

the patterning the polysilicon layer includes:

forming a coating material layer on an inner wall of an etching chamber;

loading the substrate with the polysilicon layer into the etching chamber;

etching the polysilicon layer by plasma dry etching;

unloading the substrate after the plasma dry etching from the etching chamber; and

removing residual coating material layer from the inner wall of the etching chamber,

during the etching the polysilicon layer, the coating material layer is partially removed and a part of the inner wall is exposed.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material layer includes Si x O y and is formed from a gas containing a silicon source gas and oxygen.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the silicon source gas is SiCl 4 .

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein:

the sacrificial gate electrode includes a lower portion below a level of a top of the fin structure and above an upper surface of the isolation insulating layer and an upper portion above the lower portion, and

the lower portion has a pincushion shape.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the forming the coating material comprises at least one condition of a pressure in a range from 5 mTorr to 10 mTorr or a flow ratio of SiCl 4 to oxygen in a range from 0.05 to 0.2.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein:

the sacrificial gate electrode includes a lower portion below a level of a top of the fin structure and above an upper surface of the isolation insulating layer and an upper portion above the lower portion, and

the lower portion has a tapered shape.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the forming the coating material comprises at least one condition of a pressure in a range from 30 mTorr to 60 mTorr or a flow ratio of SiCl 4 to oxygen in a range from 0.4 to 0.6.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein:

the sacrificial gate electrode includes a lower portion below a level of a top of the fin structure and above an upper surface of the isolation insulating layer and an upper portion above the lower portion, and

a variation in width of the lower portion is more than zero and less than 2% of a width of the fin structure at the level of the top of the fin structure.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the forming the coating material comprises at least one condition of a pressure in a range from 10 mTorr to 30 mTorr or a flow ratio of SiCl 4 to oxygen in a range from 0.2 to 0.4.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

forming gate sidewall spacers;

forming a source/drain structure including an epitaxial semiconductor layer;

forming an interlayer dielectric layer;

removing the sacrificial gate electrode and sacrificial gate dielectric layer; and

forming a gate dielectric layer and a gate electrode layer including one or more conductive material layers.

11. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:

forming a polysilicon layer over a substrate;

forming a hard mask pattern over the polysilicon layer; and

patterning the polysilicon layer using the hard mask pattern as an etching mask, wherein:

the patterning the polysilicon layer includes:

determining a profile of the patterned polysilicon layer according to a required device performance;

determining one or more conditions for forming a coating material layer based on the profile;

forming the coating material layer on an inner wall of an etching chamber;

loading the substrate with the polysilicon layer into the etching chamber;

etching the polysilicon layer by plasma dry etching to obtain the profile;

unloading the substrate after the plasma dry etching from the etching chamber; and

removing residual coating material layer from the inner wall of the etching chamber, and

during the etching the polysilicon layer, the coating material layer is partially removed and a part of the inner wall is exposed.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the coating material layer includes Si x O y and is formed from a gas mixture of SiCl 4 , O 2 and Ar.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

the patterned polysilicon layer includes a lower portion and an upper portion above the lower portion, and

when the determined profile is a pincushion shape in the lower portion, a pressure for forming the coating material layer is set lower than a pressure for forming the coating material for a rectangular profile in the lower portion.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

the patterned polysilicon layer includes a lower portion and an upper portion above the lower portion, and

when the determined profile is a pincushion shape in the lower portion, a gas ratio of SiCl 4 to O 2 is set lower than a gas ratio of SiCl 4 to O 2 for forming the coating material for a rectangular profile in the lower portion.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein:

the patterned polysilicon layer includes a lower portion and an upper portion above the lower portion, and

when the determined profile is a tapered shape in the lower portion, a pressure for forming the coating material layer is set higher than a pressure for forming the coating material for a rectangular profile in the lower portion.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein:

the patterned polysilicon layer includes a lower portion and an upper portion above the lower portion, and

when the determined profile is a tapered shape in the lower portion, a gas ratio of SiCl 4 to O 2 is set higher than a gas ratio of SiCl 4 to O 2 for forming the coating material for a rectangular profile in the lower portion.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein:

the forming the hard mask pattern includes:

forming a mask layer on the polysilicon layer, the mask layer including multiple dielectric layers;

forming a tri-layer resist including a bottom layer, a middle layer and a photo resist layer on the middle layer;

patterning the photo resist layer by EUV lithography to form a photo resist pattern;

patterning the middle layer and the bottom layer; and

patterning the mask layer to form the hard mask pattern, and

the photo resist pattern includes smaller patterns less than 20 nm in width and larger patterns more than 100 nm in width.

18. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:

forming a fin structure protruding from an isolation insulating layer disposed over a substrate;

forming a sacrificial gate dielectric layer over the fin structure;

forming a polysilicon layer over the sacrificial gate dielectric layer;

forming a mask pattern over the polysilicon layer; and

patterning the polysilicon layer into a sacrificial gate electrode using the mask pattern as an etching mask, wherein:

the patterning the polysilicon layer includes:

forming a coating material layer on an inner wall of an etching chamber;

loading the substrate with the polysilicon layer into the etching chamber;

etching the polysilicon layer by plasma dry etching;

unloading the substrate after the plasma dry etching from the etching chamber; and

removing residual coating material layer from the inner wall of the etching chamber, and

during the etching the polysilicon layer, the coating material layer is etched at an etching rate is in a range from 0.5 nm/s to 1.0 nm/s.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein during the etching the polysilicon layer, a part of the inner wall is exposed.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein a thickness of the coating material layer as formed is in a range from 10 nm to 50 nm.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 8, 2021
From: SHEN, YAN-TING; YU, CHIA-CHI; LIAO, CHIH-TENG; LIN, YU-LI; CHENG, CHIH HSUAN; WENG, TZU-CHAN
To: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 055861/0741 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20220013662A1 · Jan 13, 2022
Cited By (1)
US 12,660,260