Buried signal transmission line
A buried conductive layer is formed underneath a buried insulator layer of a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. A deep isolation trench laterally surrounding a portion of the buried conductive layer is formed, and is filled with at least a dielectric liner to form a deep capacitor trench isolation structure. Contact via structures are formed through the buried insulator layer and a top semiconductor layer and onto the portion of the buried conductive layer, which constitutes a buried conductive conduit. The deep capacitor trench isolation structure may be formed concurrently with at least one deep trench capacitor. A patterned portion of the top semiconductor layer may be employed as an additional conductive conduit for signal transmission. Further, the deep capacitor trench isolation structure may include a conductive portion, which can be electrically biased to control the impedance of the signal path including the buried conductive conduit.
1. A semiconductor structure comprising: a deep trench isolation structure embedded within a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate and laterally surrounding a vertical stack including, from bottom to top, an upper portion of a semiconductor material layer, a buried conductive portion comprising a doped semiconductor material, and a portion of a buried insulator layer;
a top semiconductor portion overlying said portion of said buried insulator layer; a shallow trench isolation layer laterally surrounding said top semiconductor portion;
a via dielectric layer located on a topmost surface of said shallow trench isolation layer and a topmost surface of said top semiconductor portion; and
a pair of contact via structures laterally spaced from each other by a portion of said via dielectric layer and extending below a topmost surface of said buried conductive portion, wherein a topmost source of each contact structure of said pair of contact structures is coplanar with a topmost surface of said via dielectric layer.
2. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein said deep trench isolation structure comprises:
a dielectric liner in contact with said semiconductor material layer, said buried conductive portion, and said buried insulator layer; and
a conductive fill material portion embedded within said dielectric liner.
3. The semiconductor structure of claim 2 , further comprising:
an additional contact via structure in contact with said conductive fill material portion; and
a semiconductor device and a metal interconnect structure that are configured to apply a non-zero electrical bias voltage to said conductive fill material portion with respect to said semiconductor material layer.
4. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , further comprising a deep trench capacitor that includes a buried plate having a same composition and a same thickness as said buried conductive portion.
5. The semiconductor structure of claim 4 , wherein said deep trench isolation structure comprises a dielectric liner in contact with said semiconductor material layer, said buried conductive portion, and said buried insulator layer, and said deep trench capacitor comprises a node dielectric having a same composition and a same thickness as said dielectric liner.
6. The semiconductor structure of claim 4 , wherein a bottom surface of said deep trench isolation structure is located below a horizontal plane including a bottom surface of said buried conductive portion, and a bottom surface of said deep capacitor trench is located above said horizontal plane.
7. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein said pair of conductive via structures is laterally spaced from, and electrically isolated from, said top semiconductor portion by a portion of said shallow trench isolation layer.
8. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein said top semiconductor portion is electrically shorted to said pair of conductive via structures.
9. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , wherein said shallow trench isolation layer overlies said deep trench isolation structure and laterally surrounds said top semiconductor portion.
10. The semiconductor structure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first semiconductor device located on said substrate and including an output node that is electrically shorted to one of said pair of conductive via structures through a first set of metal interconnect structures; and
a second semiconductor device located on said substrate and including an input node that is electrically shorted to another of said pair of conductive via structures through a second set of metal interconnect structures.