Etch selectivity modulation by fluorocarbon treatment
A method of fabricating a field effect transistor (FET) over a substrate that includes: growing a doped p-type semiconductor from a silicon nanosheet of the substrate, the substrate including a layer stack of alternating layers of the silicon nanosheet and a sacrificial layer, and a dummy gate formed over the layer stack, the layer stack including a trench exposing sidewalls of the layer stack, the doped p-type semiconductor and the sacrificial layer being separated by a dielectric inner spacer; removing the dummy gate; and etching the sacrificial layer selectively to the doped p-type semiconductor, the etching including exposing the substrate to a process gas including a fluorocarbon and a fluorine-containing etch gas in the absence of plasma.
1. A method of fabricating a field effect transistor (FET) over a substrate, the method comprising:
growing a doped p-type semiconductor from a silicon nanosheet of the substrate, the substrate comprising a layer stack of alternating layers of the silicon nanosheet and a sacrificial layer, and a dummy gate formed over the layer stack, the layer stack comprising a trench exposing sidewalls of the layer stack, the doped p-type semiconductor and the sacrificial layer being separated by a dielectric inner spacer;
removing the dummy gate; and
etching the sacrificial layer selectively to the doped p-type semiconductor, the etching comprising exposing the substrate to a process gas comprising a fluorocarbon and a fluorine-containing etch gas in the absence of plasma.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to the etching, performing an oxide removal process to remove surface oxide from the sacrificial layer.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the oxide removal process comprises:
exposing the substrate to a process gas comprising HF in the absence of plasma; and
heating the substrate to a temperature between 100° C. and 200° C. under an inert gas flow.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after the etching, heating the substrate to a temperature between 100° C. and 200° C. under an inert gas flow.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluorocarbon is C 2 F 6 , C 4 F 8 , or a hydrofluorocarbon.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluorine-containing etch gas comprises HF, F 2 , or ClF 3 .
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the doped p-type semiconductor comprises boron-doped silicon-germanium alloy (B-doped SiGe).
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sacrificial layer comprises silicon-germanium alloy (SiGe).
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric inner spacer comprises SiN, SiCN, SiOCN, or SiOC.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate further comprises another layer stack, the another layer stack comprising another silicon nanosheet and another sacrificial layer, the substrate further comprising a n-type semiconductor grown from the another silicon nanosheet, and wherein the etching also etching the another sacrificial layer.
11. A method of fabricating a field effect transistor (FET) over a substrate, the method comprising:
growing a doped p-type semiconductor from a silicon nanosheet of the substrate, the substrate comprising a layer stack of alternating layers of the silicon nanosheet and a sacrificial layer, and a dummy gate formed over the layer stack, the layer stack comprising a trench exposing sidewalls of the layer stack, the doped p-type semiconductor and the sacrificial layer being separated by an inner spacer, the sacrificial layer comprising a surface oxide;
removing the dummy gate;
removing the surface oxide;
exposing the substrate to a pretreatment gas comprising a fluorocarbon in the absence of plasma to passivate the doped p-type semiconductor, a portion of the pretreatment gas penetrating the inner spacer; and
exposing the substrate to an etch gas comprising fluorine in the absence of plasma to etch the sacrificial layer selectively to the doped p-type semiconductor.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising, after the exposing to the etch gas, heating the substrate to a temperature between 100° C. and 200° C. under an inert gas flow.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the exposing to the pretreatment gas is performed at a temperature between 0° C. and 50° C., and wherein the exposing to the etch gas is performed at a temperature between 35° C. and 80° C.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the exposing to the etch gas is performed without exposing the substrate to a fluorocarbon.
15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the fluorocarbon is C 2 F 6 , C 4 F 8 , or a hydrofluorocarbon, and wherein the etch gas comprises HF, F 2 , or ClF 3 .
16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the doped p-type semiconductor comprises boron-doped silicon-germanium alloy (B-doped SiGe), and wherein the sacrificial layer comprises silicon-germanium alloy (SiGe).
17. A method of processing a substrate, the method comprising:
etching un-doped silicon-germanium (SiGe) of the substrate selectively to doped SiGe of the substrate in the absence of plasma, the etching comprising,
exposing the substrate to a pretreatment gas comprising C 2 F 6 or C 4 F 8 , and
exposing the substrate to an etch gas comprising HF and F 2 .
18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising, after the etching, fabricating a p-channel field effect transistor (FET) using the doped SiGe of the substrate for a channel of the p-channel FET.
19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising, after the etching, fabricating a stack of a p-channel field effect transistor (FET) and a n-channel FET using the doped SiGe of the substrate for a channel of the p-channel FET, wherein the etching comprises channel release for the p-channel FET and the n-channel FET.
20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the etch gas further comprises ClF 3 .