IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,439,621
Granted Patent B2
US 12,439,621 · App. 17/730,895 · Granted Oct 7, 2025

Method of making a charge coupled field effect rectifier diode

Inventors: Shin Phay Lee (Singapore, SG); Voon Cheng Ngwan (Singapore, SG); Frederic Lanois (Tours, FR); Fadhillawati Tahir (Singapore, SG); Ditto Adnan (Singapore, SG)
Assignees: STMicroelectronics PTE LTD; STMicroelectronics (Tours) SAS
H10D12/211H10D12/021H10D64/117
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,439,621
App. No.
17/730,895
Granted
Oct 7, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A trench in a semiconductor substrate is lined with a first insulation layer. A hard mask layer deposited on the first insulation layer is used to control performance of an etch that selectively removes a first portion of the first insulating layer from an upper trench portion while leaving a second portion of first insulating layer in a lower trench portion. After removing the hard mask layer, an upper portion of the trench is lined with a second insulation layer. An opening in the trench that includes a lower open portion delimited by the second portion of first insulating layer in the lower trench portion and an upper open portion delimited by the second insulation layer at the upper trench portion, is then filled by a single deposition of polysilicon material forming a unitary gate/field plate conductor of a field effect rectifier diode.

Claims (64)

1. A method, comprising:

forming a trench in a semiconductor substrate which provides a cathode region of a field effect rectifier diode (FERD);

lining the trench with a first insulation layer;

depositing a hard mask layer on the first insulation layer;

performing an etch controlled by the hard mask layer to selectively remove a first portion of the first insulating layer from an upper portion of the trench while leaving a second portion of first insulating layer in a lower portion of the trench;

removing the hard mask layer from the trench;

lining an upper portion of the trench with a second insulation layer that extends from the second portion of first insulating layer;

wherein an opening in the trench includes a lower open portion delimited by the second portion of first insulating layer in the lower portion of the trench and an upper open portion delimited by the second insulation layer at the upper portion of the trench;

making a single deposition of polysilicon material in the trench to fill said opening in the trench;

wherein said polysilicon material filling the opening forms a unitary conductive structure in the trench comprising: a field plate of the FERD insulated from the semiconductor substrate by the second portion of first insulating layer and a gate of the FERD insulated from the semiconductor substrate by the second insulating layer;

implanting and activating a first type dopant in the semiconductor substrate to form a body region of the FERD; and

implanting and activating a second type dopant in the semiconductor substrate to form a source region of the FERD.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

forming a cathode metal layer over a back side of the semiconductor substrate, said cathode metal layer in electrical connection with the cathode region; and

forming an anode metal layer over a front side of the semiconductor substrate, said anode metal layer in electrical connection with both the polysilicon material and the source region.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising electrically connecting the anode metal layer to the body region.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein electrically connecting comprises implanting and activating the first type dopant to form a body contact region at the body region.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein depositing the hard mask layer comprises conformally depositing a layer of nitride in the trench on a surface of the first insulation layer.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after depositing the hard mask layer and before performing the etch, filling an open portion of the trench with a resist material, said open portion being left in the trench after depositing of the hard mask layer.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein removing the hard mask layer from the trench further comprises removing the resist material from the trench.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after depositing the hard mask layer on the first insulation layer, removing a portion of the hard mask layer to expose an upper end of the first insulation layer, and wherein performing the etch comprises recessing, from the exposed upper end, the first insulation layer in the upper portion of the trench.

9. A FERD device made using the method as recited in claim 1 .

10. A method, comprising:

forming a trench in a semiconductor substrate;

lining the trench with a first insulation layer;

depositing a hard mask layer on a surface of the first insulation layer in the trench;

performing an etch controlled by the hard mask layer to selectively remove a first portion of the first insulating layer from an upper portion of the trench while leaving a second portion of first insulating layer in a lower portion of the trench;

removing the hard mask layer from the trench;

lining the upper portion of the trench with a second insulation layer extending from the second portion of first insulating layer; and

making a single deposition of polysilicon material in the trench to fill an opening in the trench, said opening having a lower open portion delimited by the second portion of first insulating layer in the lower portion of the trench and an upper open portion delimited by the second insulation layer at the upper portion of the trench.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein depositing the hard mask layer comprises conformally depositing a layer of nitride in the trench on the surface of the first insulation layer.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising, after depositing the hard mask layer and before performing the etch, filling an open portion of the trench which is left after depositing of the hard mask layer with a resist material.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein removing the hard mask layer from the trench further comprises removing the resist material from the trench.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising, after depositing the hard mask layer on the first insulation layer, removing a portion of the hard mask layer to expose an upper end of the first insulation layer, and wherein performing the etch comprises recessing, from the exposed upper end, the first insulation layer in the upper portion of the trench.

15. An integrated circuit device made using the method as recited in claim 10 .

16. A method, comprising:

forming a trench in a semiconductor substrate which provides a cathode region of a field effect rectifier diode (FERD);

lining the trench with a first insulation layer;

selectively removing a first portion of the first insulating layer from an upper portion of the trench while leaving a second portion of first insulating layer in a lower portion of the trench;

lining the upper portion of the trench with a second insulation layer that extends from the second portion of first insulating layer;

making a single deposition of polysilicon material in the trench to fill an opening in the trench;

wherein said opening has a lower open portion delimited by the second portion of first insulating layer in the lower portion of the trench and an upper open portion delimited by the second insulation layer at the upper portion of the trench.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein said polysilicon material filling the opening forms a unitary conductive structure in the trench comprising: a first conductive portion providing a field plate of the FERD insulated from the semiconductor substrate by the second portion of first insulating layer and a second conductive portion providing a gate of the FERD insulated from the semiconductor substrate by the second insulating layer.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

implanting and activating a first type dopant in the semiconductor substrate to form a body region of the FERD; and

implanting and activating a second type dopant in the semiconductor substrate to form a source region of the FERD.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

forming a cathode metal layer over a back side of the semiconductor substrate, said cathode metal layer in electrical connection with the cathode region; and

forming an anode metal layer over a front side of the semiconductor substrate, said anode metal layer in electrical connection with both the polysilicon material and the source region.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising electrically connecting the anode metal layer to the body region.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein electrically connecting comprises implanting and activating the first type dopant to form a body contact region at the body region.

22. The method of claim 16 , further comprising depositing a hard mask layer made of a conformal nitride later in the trench on a surface of the first insulation layer.

23. A method, comprising:

forming a trench in a semiconductor substrate;

lining the trench with a first insulation layer;

depositing a hard mask layer made of a conformal nitride later in the trench on a surface of the first insulation layer;

after depositing the hard mask layer, filling an open portion of the trench with a resist material;

selectively removing a first portion of the first insulating layer from an upper portion of the trench while leaving a second portion of first insulating layer in a lower portion of the trench;

lining the upper portion of the trench with a second insulation layer that extends from the second portion of first insulating layer;

making a single deposition of polysilicon material in the trench to fill an opening in the trench;

wherein said opening has a lower open portion delimited by the second portion of first insulating layer in the lower portion of the trench and an upper open portion delimited by the second insulation layer at the upper portion of the trench.

24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising removing a portion of the hard mask layer to expose an upper end of the first insulation layer, and wherein selectively removing comprises performing the etch to recess, from the exposed upper end, the first insulation layer in the upper portion of the trench.

25. The method of claim 23 , wherein the semiconductor substrate provides a cathode region of a field effect rectifier diode (FERD).

26. The method of claim 22 , further comprising removing a portion of the hard mask layer to expose an upper end of the first insulation layer, and wherein selectively removing comprises performing the etch to recess, from the exposed upper end, the first insulation layer in the upper portion of the trench.

Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63197599 · Jun 7, 2021
Related Publication 20220393022A1 · Dec 8, 2022
References Cited (38)
US 5637898A · Baliga · 1997 [cited by applicant]
US 8432000B2 · Grebs · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8450794B2 · Bhalla et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8558315B2 · Chen et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8564024B2 · Yedinak et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8581336B2 · Long et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8597998B2 · Bhalla et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8673700B2 · Yedinak et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 8686493B2 · Thorup et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 8936985B2 · Challa et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9099554B2 · Kang · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 9190478B2 · Calafut · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 9368587B2 · Kocon et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9761695B1 · Fan · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 9793391B2 · Haeberlen · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 10291108B2 · Ahlers et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10854759B2 · Blair et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20040150038A1 · Hshieh · 2004 [cited by examiner]
US 20050127464A1 · Wu · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 20100059816A1 · Shimada et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20100264488A1 · Hsieh · 2010 [cited by examiner]
US 20110089527A1 · Blank · 2011 [cited by examiner]
US 20120241854A1 · Ohta et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 20140087539A1 · Lizio · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140159197A1 · Weng · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20160027900A1 · Ng · 2016 [cited by examiner]
US 20170033213A1 · Hsu · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20200105946A1 · Lanois · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200328084A1 · Lai et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
CN 101114674A · 2008 [cited by applicant]
CN 102694009A · 2012 [cited by applicant]
CN 104282550A · 2015 [cited by applicant]
CN 110970490A · 2020 [cited by applicant]
CN 218602431U · 2023 [cited by applicant]
WO 2005031877A1 · 2005 [cited by applicant]
First Office Action and Search Report for counterpart EP Appl. No. 22305770.4, report dated Oct. 28, 2022, 10 pgs. [cited by applicant]
Wu, et al: “Split-gate LDMOS with double vertical field plates,” Micro & Nano Letters 13, No. 11: 1580-1584, Nov. 1, 2018. [cited by applicant]
CN First Office Action and Search Report for counterpart CN Appl. No. 202210633599.7, report dated Apr. 23, 2025, 9 pgs. [cited by applicant]