Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising a dielectric insulating region

Claim 3

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 1 wherein the side faces of said groove (23) are made substantially vertical.

Claim 4

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 1 wherein the side faces of said groove (39) are sloped and said groove (39) has a V-shaped cross section.

Claim 5

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 3 wherein insulating material (41) deposited on said semiconductor substrate (21) has a thickness larger than (a·cotθ/2)/2 in which "a" represents the opening width of the groove (39) and 9 the angle formed by the side face of the groove (39) and a horizontal plane.

Claim 6

A semiconductor device manufacturing.method according to claim 1 further including a step of oxidizing or nitriding at least a part of the groove, after the step .(a) and before the step (b), to grow an oxide film or nitride film in such a way that the groove is not filled completely.

Claim 7

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 1 further including a step of doping the groove (23) with impurities of the same conductivity type as that of the substrate (21) after the step (a) and before the step (b).

Claim 8

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 1 further including a step of doping at least a part of surface portion of the insulating material layer (25) with low-melting-point material and a step of melting the doped layer by heat treatment after the step (b) and before the step (c).

Claim 9

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 1 further including a step of depositing a low-melting-point insulating film on at least a part of the insulating material layer (25) and a step of melting the low-melting-point insulating film after the step (b) and before the step (a).

Claim 10

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 1 further including a step of forming a mask layer at that portion of the insulating material layer (53a, 53b) covering a part of the groove (51b, 51c, 51d) where a field region is to be formed.

Claim 11

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 1 further including a step of forming a mask layer at that portion of the insulating material layer (53c) not covering the groove (51d) where a field region is to be formed.

Claim 12

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 1 further including a step of forming a mask layer (53a, 53b, 53c) at those portions of insulating material layer (52) covering a part of the groove (51b, 51c, 51d) and not covering the groove where field regions are to be formed.

Claim 13

A semiconductor device manufacturing method comprising: (a) a step of forming a plurality of first grooves (63a-63e) at predetermined portions of a semiconductor substrate (21) in such a way that at least two grooves (63b-63e) are arranged adjacent to one another; (b) a step of depositing insulating material (65) with a thickness larger than half the opening width of each of first grooves (63a-63e) on the whole surface of the semiconductor substrate (21) including the first grooves (63a-63e) to fill the first grooves (63a-63e) with insulating material (65); (c) a step of etching the insulating material layer (65) by the thickness thereof on the semiconductor substrate (21) excluding the first grooves (63a-63e) to leave the insulating material layer (66a-66e) in the first grooves (63a-63e); (d) a step of selectively etching those portions of the semiconductor substrate (21) which are between any two of the adjacent insulating material layers (66b-66e) left in the first grooves (63b-63e) to form second groove(s) (68a-68c); (e) a step of depositing insulating material (70) with a thickness larger than half the opening width of each of the second groove(s) (68a-68c) on the whole surface of the semiconductor substrate (21) including the second groove(s) (68a-68c) to fill the second groove(s) .(68a-68c) with insulating material (70); and (f), a step of etching the insulating material layer (70) by the thickness thereof on the. semiconductor substrate (21) excluding the second groove(s) (68a-68c) to form a wide field region (73) consisting integral of the insulating material layer (72a-72c) left in the second groove (68a-68c) and the insulating material layers (66b-66e) left in the first grooves' (63b-63e) on both sides of the second groove (68a-68c).

Claim 14

A semiconductor device manufacturing method comprising: (a) a step of forming a plurality of first grooves (63a-63e) at predetermined portions of a semiconductor substrate (21) in such a way that at least two grooves (63b-63e) are arranged adjacent to one another; (b) a step of depositing insulating material (65) with a thickness larger than half the opening width of each of first grooves (63a-63e) on the whole surface of the semiconductor substrate (21) including the first grooves (63a-63e) to fill the first grooves (63a-63e) with insulating material (65); (c) a step of etching the insulating material layer (65) by the thickness thereof on the semiconductor substrate (21) excluding the first grooves (63a-63e) to leave the insulating material layer (66a-66e) in the first grooves (63a-63e); (d) a step of selectively etching those portions of the semiconductor substrate (21) which are between any two of the adjacent insulating material layers (66b-66e) left in the first grooves (63b-63e) to form second groove(s) (68a-68c); (e) a step of depositing insulating material (70) with a thickness larger than half the opening width of each of the second groove(s) (68a-68c) on the whole surface of the semiconductor substrate (21) including the second groove(s) (68a-68c) to fill the second groove(s) .(68a-68c) with insulating material (70); and (f), a step of etching the insulating material layer (70) by the thickness thereof on the. semiconductor substrate (21) excluding the second groove(s) (68a-68c) to form a wide field region (73) consisting integral of the insulating material layer (72a-72c) left in the second groove (68a-68c) and the insulating material layers (66b-66e) left in the first grooves' (63b-63e) on both sides of the second groove (68a-68c).

Claim 15

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 12 further including a step of oxidizing or nitriding at least a part of first and second grooves to grow an oxide film or nitride film in such a way that first and second grooves are not filled completely after the step (d) and before the step (e), or after the step (a) and before the step (b).

Claim 16

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 12 further including a step of doping the inside of the first and second grooves (63a-63e, 68a-68c) with impurity of same conductivity type as that of the substrate (21) after the step (d) and before the step (e), or after the step (a) and before the step (b).

Claim 17

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 12 further including a step of doping at least a part of surface portion of the insulating material layer (65, 70) with low-melting-point material and a step of melting the doped layer by heat treatment after the step (e) and before the step (f) as well as after the step (b) and before the step (c).

Claim 18

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 12 further including a step of depositing a low-melting-point insulating film on at least a part of the insulating material (65, 70) and a step of melting the low-melting-point insulating film after the step (e) and before the step (f) as well as after the step (b) and before the step (a).

Claim 19

A semiconductor device manufacturing method comprising: (a) a step of forming a plurality of first grooves (83) at predetermined portions of a semiconductor substrate (21) in such a way that at least two grooves (83) are arranged adjacent to one another; (b) a step of depositing insulating material (85) with a thickness larger than half the opening width of each of the first grooves on the whole surface of the semiconductor substrate (21) including the first grooves (83) to fill the first grooves (83) with insulating material (85); (c) a step of etching the insulating material layer (85) by the thickness thereof on the semiconductor substrate (21) excluding the first grooves (83) to.leave the insulating material-layer (86a-86c) in the first grooves (83); (d) a step of selectively etching at least part of the semiconductor substrate (21) which are between any two of the adjacent insulating material layers left in the first grooves to form second groove(s) (90); and (e) a step of applying field oxidation to the second groove(s) using an oxidation-resistive film as a mask to fill the second groove(s) (90) with an oxide film (92) and forming a wide field region made integral by this oxide film and the insulating material layers (86a-86c) left in the first grooves (83) on both sides of the oxide film (92).

Claim 20

A semiconductor device manufacturing method comprising: (a) a step of forming a plurality of first grooves (83) at predetermined portions of a semiconductor substrate (21) in such a way that at least two grooves (83) are arranged adjacent to one another; (b) a step of depositing insulating material (85) with a thickness larger than half the opening width of each of the first grooves on the whole surface of the semiconductor substrate (21) including the first grooves (83) to fill the first grooves (83) with insulating material (85); (c) a step of etching the insulating material layer (85) by the thickness thereof on the semiconductor substrate (21) excluding the first grooves (83) to.leave the insulating material-layer (86a-86c) in the first grooves (83); (d) a step of selectively etching at least part of the semiconductor substrate (21) which are between any two of the adjacent insulating material layers left in the first grooves to form second groove(s) (90); and (e) a step of applying field oxidation to the second groove(s) using an oxidation-resistive film as a mask to fill the second groove(s) (90) with an oxide film (92) and forming a wide field region made integral by this oxide film and the insulating material layers (86a-86c) left in the first grooves (83) on both sides of the oxide film (92).

Claim 21

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 17 wherein after the etching according to the step (c), an oxidation-resistive film is deposited on the whole surface of the substrate (21) thus formed, and the oxidation-resistive film and those portions of the semiconductor substrate (21) which are between any two of the adjacent insulating material layers (86a-86c) left in the first grooves (83) are selectively etched according to the step (d).

Claim 22

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 17 further including a step of oxidizing or nitriding at least a part of the first grooves (83) to grow an oxide film or nitride film in such a way that the first grooves (83) are not filled completely after the step (a) and before the step (b).

Claim 23

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 17 further including a step of doping the inside of the first and second grooves (83, 90) with impurity of the same conductivity type as that of the substrate (21) after the step (d) and before the step (e) as well as after the step (a) and before the step (b).

Claim 24

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 17 further including a step of depositing a low-melting-point insulating film on at least a part of the insulating material layer (85) and a step of melting the low-melting-point insulating film after the step (b) and before the step (c).

Claim 25

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 17 wherein an oxidation-resistive film is deposited on the whole surface of the substrate (21) thus formed and the oxidation-resistive film (88) in the second groove(s) is selectively etched after the step (d).

Claim 26

A semiconductor device manufacturing method according to claim 17 further including a step of etching a part of the field oxide film (92) using the oxidation-resistive film (88) as the mask to make flat the structure of the substrate (21) thus formed after the step (e).