IP Library Granted Patent US 51,009
Granted Patent E1
US 51,009 · App. 18/618,766 · Granted Aug 18, 2026

Fabrication of nano-sheet transistors with different threshold voltages

Inventors: Karthik Balakrishnan (White Plains, NY); Kangguo Cheng (Schenectady, NY); Pouya Hashemi (White Plains, NY); Alexander Reznicek (Troy, NY)
Assignee: Adeia Semiconductor Solutions LLC
H10D64/518H10D30/6735H10D30/6743H10D30/6757H10D62/118H10D62/121H10D64/01H10D64/017H10D64/671H10D84/0128H10D84/0158H10D84/0167H10D84/0193H10D84/038H10D84/83H10D86/01H10D86/011H10P14/3462H10D30/014H10D30/43
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 51,009
App. No.
18/618,766
Granted
Aug 18, 2026
Kind
E1
Abstract

A method of forming two or more nano-sheet devices with varying electrical gate lengths, including, forming at least two cut-stacks including a plurality of sacrificial release layers and at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer on a substrate, removing a portion of the plurality of sacrificial release layers to form indentations having an indentation depth in the plurality of sacrificial release layers, and removing a portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer to form a recess having a recess depth in the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layers, where the recess depth is greater than the indentation depth.

Claims (70)

1 . A method of forming two or more nano-sheet devices with varying channel lengths, comprising:

forming at least two cut-stacks including a plurality of sacrificial release layers and at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer on a substrate;

removing a portion of the plurality of sacrificial release layers to form indentations having an indentation depth in the plurality of sacrificial release layers;

removing a portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer in a first of the at least two cut-stacks to form a first recess having a first recess depth in the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer; and

removing a portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer in a second of the at least two cut-stacks to provide two different channel lengths.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming the plurality of sacrificial release layers and the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer on the substrate by an epitaxially growth process, patterning and etching the plurality of sacrificial release layers and the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer to form a channel stack, and forming a dummy gate on the channel stack.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least two cut-stacks are formed from the same channel stack.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a mask on at least one of the at least two cut-stacks after removing a portion of the plurality of sacrificial release layers, and removing an additional portion of the plurality of sacrificial release layers from the unmasked cut-stacks.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the additional portion of the plurality of sacrificial release layers is removed using an isotropic wet etch.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising foaming a mask on at least one of the at least two cut-stacks before removing a portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer to form a recess in the unmasked cut-stacks.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising removing the mask from the at least one of the at least two cut-stacks after removing a portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer, and removing a portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer to form a recess in the previously masked at least one of the at least two cut-stacks and an additional portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer from the unmasked at least one of the at least two cut-stacks.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a source/drain on each of the at least two cut-stacks.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the source/drains are epitaxially grown on the exposed surfaces of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer.

10 . A method of forming two or more nano-sheet devices with varying channel lengths, comprising:

forming a channel stack including a plurality of sacrificial release layers and at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer on a substrate;

forming at least two cut-stacks from the channel stack, where each of the at least two cut-stacks includes a plurality of sacrificial release layers and at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer;

removing a portion of the plurality of sacrificial release layers to form indentations having an indentation depth in the plurality of sacrificial release layers;

forming an indentation fill layer in the indentations;

forming a mask on at least one of the two or more cut-stacks; and

removing a portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer to form a recess in the unmasked cut-stacks.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising removing the mask from the at least one of the two or more cut-stacks after removing a portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer, and removing a portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer to form a recess in the previously masked at least one of the two or more cut-stacks and an additional portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer from the at least one unmasked of the two or more cut-stacks.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising forming a source/drain on each of the two or more cut-stacks.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising forming a gate structure on each of the two or more cut-stacks.

14 . A method of forming two or more nano-sheet devices with varying channel lengths, comprising:

forming at least two cut-stacks including a plurality of sacrificial release layers and at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer on a substrate;

removing a portion of the plurality of sacrificial release layers to form indentations having an indentation depth in the plurality of sacrificial release layers; and

removing a portion of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer to form a recess having a recess depth in the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer, wherein the one of the two or more nano-sheet devices has a different threshold voltage, V T , than the other of the two or more nano-sheet devices by altering the length of the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein an isotropic etch forms the indentations having a predetermined indentation depth in the range of about 2 nm to about 10 nm.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the sacrificial release layers have a thickness in the range of about 5 nm to about 20 nm.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the sacrificial release layers are silicon-germanium (SiGe).

18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer is epitaxially grown on a crystalline surface of the substrate.

19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the at least one alternating nano-sheet channel layer is a single crystal silicon layer on a crystalline sacrificial release layer.

20. A pair of nano-sheet devices on a substrate, comprising:

a first nano-sheet device comprising a plurality of nano-sheet channel layers contacted on opposite ends by first source/drain regions; and

a second nano-sheet device comprising a plurality of nano-sheet channel layers contacted on opposite ends by second source/drain regions, wherein:

the first and second nano-sheet devices have substantially the same physical gate length; and

a length of a topmost nano-sheet channel layer between opposing second source/drain regions of the second nano-sheet device is greater than a length of a topmost nano-sheet channel layer between opposing first source/drain regions of the first nano-sheet device.

21. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 20 , wherein the topmost nano-sheet channel layer of the second nano-sheet device has a length in a range of about 20 nm to about 25 nm, and the topmost nano-sheet channel layer of the first nano-sheet device has a length in a range of about 15 nm to about 19 nm.

22. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 20 , wherein the topmost nano-sheet channel layers of the first and second nano-sheet devices have a difference in length in a range of about 2 nm to about 10 nm.

23. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 20 , wherein the topmost nano-sheet channel layers of the first and second nano-sheet devices have a difference in length in a range of about 4 nm to about 10 nm.

24. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 20 , wherein the topmost nano-sheet channel layers of the first and second nano-sheet devices have a difference in length in a range of about 2 nm to about 5 nm.

25. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 20 , wherein:

the first nano-sheet device comprises a first pair of indentation fill regions aligned with and on opposite ends of a first gate electrode region;

the second nano-sheet device comprises a second pair of indentation fill regions aligned with and on opposite ends of a second gate electrode region; and

the first gate electrode region is directly adjacent to the topmost nano-sheet channel layer of the first nano-sheet device and the second gate electrode region is directly adjacent to the topmost nano-sheet channel layer of the second nano-sheet device.

26. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 25 , wherein a length of the first gate electrode region between opposing first indentation fill regions of the first nano-sheet device is greater than a length of the second gate electrode region between opposing second indentation fill regions of the second nano-sheet device.

27. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 25 , wherein:

the first and second gate electrode regions extend laterally in a first direction;

the indentation fill regions associated with the second gate electrode region of the second nano-sheet device have a length in the first direction that is greater than a length in the first direction of the indentation fill regions associated with the first gate electrode region of the first nano-sheet device.

28. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 25 , wherein the indentation fill regions of the first and second nano-sheet devices have a length in a range of about 2 nm to about 10 nm.

29. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 25 , wherein the indentation fill regions of the first and second nano-sheet devices have a length in a range of about 2 nm to about 5 nm.

30. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 25 , wherein the indentation fill regions of the first and second nano-sheet devices have a length in a range of about 5 nm to about 10 nm.

31. A pair of nano-sheet devices on a substrate, comprising:

a first nano-sheet device comprising:

a first pair of indentation fill regions aligned with and on opposite ends of a first gate electrode region; and

a first topmost nano-sheet channel layer; and

a second nano-sheet device comprising:

a second pair of indentation fill regions aligned with and on opposite ends of a second gate electrode region; and

a second topmost nano-sheet channel layer, wherein:

the first and second nano-sheet devices have substantially the same physical gate length:

the first gate electrode region is directly adjacent to the first topmost nano-sheet channel layer and the second gate electrode region is directly adjacent to the second topmost nano-sheet channel layer; and

a length of the first gate electrode region between opposing first indentation fill regions of the first nano-sheet device is greater than a length of the second gate electrode region between opposing second indentation fill regions of the second nano-sheet device.

32. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 31 , wherein the indentation fill regions of the first and second nano-sheet devices have a length in a range of about 2 nm to about 10 nm.

33. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 31 , wherein the indentation fill regions of the first and second nano-sheet devices have a length in a range of about 2 nm to about 5 nm.

34. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 31 , wherein the indentation fill regions of the first and second nano-sheet devices have a length in a range of about 5 nm to about 10 nm.

35. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 31 , wherein the indentation fill regions of the first and second nano-sheet devices comprise silicon nitride (SiN).

36. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 31 , wherein the indentation fill regions of the first and second nano-sheet devices comprise silicon oxynitride (SiON).

37. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 31 , wherein the indentation fill regions of the first and second nano-sheet devices comprise silicon oxycarbide (SiOC).

38. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 31 , wherein the indentation fill regions of the first and second nano-sheet devices comprise silicon boro carbonitride (SiBCN).

39. The pair of nano-sheet devices of claim 31 , wherein the indentation fill regions of the first and second nano-sheet devices comprise silicon oxy carbonitride (SiOCN).

Assignments (5)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 28, 2025
From: ADEIA INC. (F/K/A XPERI HOLDING CORPORATION); ADEIA HOLDINGS INC.; ADEIA MEDIA HOLDINGS INC.; ADEIA IMAGING LLC; ADEIA MEDIA LLC; ADEIA MEDIA SOLUTIONS INC.; ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR BONDING TECHNOLOGIES INC.; ADEIA TECHNOLOGIES INC.; ADEIA GUIDES INC.; ADEIA SOLUTIONS LLC; ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES INC.; ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS LLC; ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LLC; ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGIES LLC; ADEIA PUBLISHING INC.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 071454/0343 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Sep 27, 2024
From: TESSERA LLC
To: ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS LLC
Reel/Frame 069067/0454 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 18, 2024
From: BALAKRISHNAN, KARTHIK; CHENG, KANGGUO; HASHEMI, POUYA; REZNICEK, ALEXANDER
To: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 068623/0251 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 18, 2024
From: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
To: TESSERA, INC.
Reel/Frame 068623/0286 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Sep 18, 2024
From: TESSERA, INC.
To: TESSERA LLC
Reel/Frame 068982/0287 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 17338459 · Jun 3, 2021
Reissue 15462372 · Mar 17, 2017
Continuation 15268993 · Sep 19, 2016
Reissue 15462372 · Mar 17, 2017
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