US5817558A
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Method of forming a T-gate Lightly-Doped Drain semiconductor device
Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co TSMC Ltd
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Filing: 1997-12-10
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Granted: 1998-10-06
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Expires: 2017-12-10
Abstract
Abstract A semiconductor processing method for forming self-aligned T-gate Lightly-Doped Drain (LDD) device of recessed channel is presented. The method comprises the steps of covering a substrate with pad oxide, forming a lightly-doped layer by ion implantation, depositing a silicon nitride layer on the surface of the pad oxide, and etching the silicon nitride layer according to a predefined mask pattern to expose the silicon oxide layer and to form a gate region. A polysilicon spacer region is formed on the side-walls of the silicon nitride layer. Anisotropic etch is used to etch the polysilicon spacer region, and at the same time etch the exposed pad oxide and a portion of the substrate to form a T-shaped groove. An amorphous silicon layer is deposited in the T-shaped groove after forming a thin oxide layer, then the amorphous silicon deposited apart from the T-shaped groove region is removed. The silicon nitride layer is removed to form a T-gate. Ion implantation is used to form a heavily-doped source/drain, and finally metal contacts are formed on the polysilicon T-gate and the heavily-doped source/drain regions.
Inventors
- 👤 Shye Lin Wu
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 16:47
CPC Classifications
H; H10; H10D; H10D64/00; H10D64/01; H10D64/018; H10D30/00; H10D30/60; H10D30/601; H10D30/608; H10D62/00; H10D62/10; H10D62/17; H10D62/351; H10D62/357; H10D62/364; H10D62/371; H10D64/013; H10D64/01302; H10D64/01304; H10D64/01324; H10D64/025; H10D64/027; H10D64/20; H10D64/27; H10D64/311; H10D64/411; H10D64/511; H10D64/517; H10D64/518; H10D30/01; H10D30/021; H10D30/0217
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
228 words
A method for forming a self-aligned T-gate lightly-doped drain device with a recessed channel, comprising the steps of: (a) forming a pad oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate; (b) ion implanting a dopant into said substrate to form a lightly-doped layer adjacent to said pad oxide layer; (c) depositing a first insulation layer on said pad oxide layer; (d) forming an aperture having sidewalls in said first insulation layer; (e) forming side-wall spacers on the side walls of said aperture; (f) etching said substrate to form a groove by using said insulation layer and said side-wall spacers functioning as an etching mask and simultaneously etching said side-walls spacers; (g) forming a gate oxide layer on an area adjacent to and inside said groove which is not covered by said first insulation layer; (h) forming a gate-material layer over said first insulation layer, said gate-material layer filling into said aperture and said groove; (i) selectively etching said gate-material layer thereby removing said gate-material layer on said first insulation layer and retaining a portion of said gate-material layer in said aperture and said groove to form a T-gate having opposing sides; (j) removing said first insulation layer; and (k) forming a heavily-doped drain region in said lightly-doped layer on one side of said T-gate and a heavily-doped source region in said lightly-doped layer on the other side of said T-gate.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
228 words
A method for forming a self-aligned T-gate lightly-doped drain device with a recessed channel, comprising the steps of: (a) forming a pad oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate; (b) ion implanting a dopant into said substrate to form a lightly-doped layer adjacent to said pad oxide layer; (c) depositing a first insulation layer on said pad oxide layer; (d) forming an aperture having sidewalls in said first insulation layer; (e) forming side-wall spacers on the side walls of said aperture; (f) etching said substrate to form a groove by using said insulation layer and said side-wall spacers functioning as an etching mask and simultaneously etching said side-walls spacers; (g) forming a gate oxide layer on an area adjacent to and inside said groove which is not covered by said first insulation layer; (h) forming a gate-material layer over said first insulation layer, said gate-material layer filling into said aperture and said groove; (i) selectively etching said gate-material layer thereby removing said gate-material layer on said first insulation layer and retaining a portion of said gate-material layer in said aperture and said groove to form a T-gate having opposing sides; (j) removing said first insulation layer; and (k) forming a heavily-doped drain region in said lightly-doped layer on one side of said T-gate and a heavily-doped source region in said lightly-doped layer on the other side of said T-gate.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said gate layer is made of amorphous silicon.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising a step of a thermal annealing process after the process of etching said substrate to form a trench.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method as recited in claim 3 further comprising a step of removing silicon oxide formed by the thermal annealing process.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said first insulation layer is made of silicon nitride.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said spacers are made of material selected from the group consisting of silicon oxide, amorphous silicon and silicon nitride.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said process for forming said spacers comprises the steps of: (a) depositing a second insulation layer; and (b) anisotropic etching said second insulation layer.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said process for forming said heavily doped drain and source regions utilizes an ion implantation method.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising a step of a thermal annealing process after forming said heavily doped drain and source regions.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method as recited in claim 7 wherein said anisotropic etching method utilizes a reactive ion etching method or plasma etching method.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the dopant for forming said lightly doped layer is selected from the group consisting of phosphorus, arsenic, and boron difluoride.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the dopant for forming said heavily doped drain and source regions is selected from the group consisting of boron difluoride, arsenic and phosphorus.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising a step of forming an anti-punch through doped region under said groove.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method as recited in claim 13 wherein the dopant of said anti-punch through region is selected from the group consisting of boron, boron difluoride, phosphorus and arsenic.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
199 words
A method for forming a T-gate lightly-doped drain device, comprising the steps of: (a) forming a pad oxide layer on a substrate; (b) ion implanting a dopant into said substrate to form a lightly-doped layer adjacent to said pad oxide layer; (c) depositing a silicon nitride layer on said pad oxide layer; (d) forming an aperture having sidewalls exposing said pad oxide layer; (e) forming polysilicon spacers on the side walls of the aperture of said silicon nitride layer; (f) etching said pad oxide layer and said substrate to form a groove by using said silicon nitride layer and said polysilicon spacers functioning as an etching mask, and simultaneously etching said polysilicon spacers; (g) forming a gate oxide layer on an area adjacent to and inside said groove which is not covered by said silicon nitride layer; (h) filling amorphous silicon into said aperture and said groove and etching said amorphous silicon layer to form a T-gate having opposing sidewalls; (i) removing said silicon nitride layer; and (j) forming a heavily-doped drain region in said lightly-doped layer on one side of said T-gate and a heavily-doped source region in said lightly-doped layer on the other side of said T-gate.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
199 words
A method for forming a T-gate lightly-doped drain device, comprising the steps of: (a) forming a pad oxide layer on a substrate; (b) ion implanting a dopant into said substrate to form a lightly-doped layer adjacent to said pad oxide layer; (c) depositing a silicon nitride layer on said pad oxide layer; (d) forming an aperture having sidewalls exposing said pad oxide layer; (e) forming polysilicon spacers on the side walls of the aperture of said silicon nitride layer; (f) etching said pad oxide layer and said substrate to form a groove by using said silicon nitride layer and said polysilicon spacers functioning as an etching mask, and simultaneously etching said polysilicon spacers; (g) forming a gate oxide layer on an area adjacent to and inside said groove which is not covered by said silicon nitride layer; (h) filling amorphous silicon into said aperture and said groove and etching said amorphous silicon layer to form a T-gate having opposing sidewalls; (i) removing said silicon nitride layer; and (j) forming a heavily-doped drain region in said lightly-doped layer on one side of said T-gate and a heavily-doped source region in said lightly-doped layer on the other side of said T-gate.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method as recited in claim 15 further comprising a step of doping boron dopant into said groove to form an anti-punch through region after the process of forming said groove.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method as recited in claim 16 further comprising a step of thermal annealing after the step of etching said pad oxide layer and said substrate to form a groove.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method as recited in claim 17 further comprising a step of removing an oxide layer formed by said thermal annealing process.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method as recited in the claim 15 wherein said process for forming said polysilicon spacers comprises the steps of: (a) depositing a polysilicon layer; and (b) utilizing an anisotropic etching method to etch said polysilicon layer.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method as recited in the claim 15 wherein said process for forming heavily doped drain and source regions is performed by ion implanting.
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