Abstract: The present invention provides an improved amorphization/templated recrystallization (ATR) method for forming hybrid orientation substrates and semiconductor device structures. A direct-silicon-bonded (DSB) silicon layer having a (011) surface crystal orientation is bonded to a base silicon substrate having a (001) surface crystal orientation to form a DSB wafer in which the in-plane <110> direction of the (011) DSB layer is aligned with an in-plane <110> direction of the (001) base substrate. Selected regions of the DSB layer are amorphized down to the base substrate to form amorphized regions aligned with the mutually orthogonal in-plane <100> directions of the (001) base substrate, followed by recrystallization using the base substrate as a template.

Abstract: A stress liner for use within a semiconductor structure that includes a field effect device has a dielectric constant less than about 7 and a compressive stress greater than about 5 GPa. The stress liner may be formed of a carbon based material, preferably a tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) material including at least about 60 atomic percent carbon and no greater than C about 40 atomic percent hydrogen. The carbon based material may be either a dielectric material, or given appropriate additional dielectric isolation structures, a semiconductor material. In particular, a ta-C stress liner may be formed using a filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) physical vapor deposition (PVD) method.

Abstract: An in-place bonding method in which a metal template layer under a carbon layer is removed while the carbon layer is still attached to a substrate is described for forming a carbon-on-insulator substrate. In one embodiment of the in-place bonding method, at least one layered metal/carbon (M/C) region is formed on an insulating surface layer of an initial substrate structure. The at least one layered M/C region has edges that are bordered by exposed regions of the insulating surface layer. Some edges of the at least one layered M/C region are then secured to a base substrate of the initial structure via a securing structure, while other edges are left exposed. A selective metal etchant removes the metal layer under the carbon layer using the exposed edges for access. After metal etching, the now-unsupported carbon layer bonds to the underlying insulating surface layer by attraction.

Abstract: A lost cost method for fabricating SOI substrates is provided. The method includes forming a stack of p-type doped amorphous Si-containing layers on a semiconductor region of a substrate by utilizing an evaporation deposition process. A solid phase recrystallization step is then performed to convert the amorphous Si-containing layers within the stack into a stack of p-type doped single crystalline Si-containing layers. After recrystallization, the single crystalline Si-containing layers are subjected to anodization and at least an oxidation step to form an SOI substrate. Solar cells and/or other semiconductor devices can be formed on the upper surface of the inventive SOI substrate.

Abstract: Methods for electrodepositing germanium on various semiconductor substrates such as Si, Ge, SiGe, and GaAs are provided. The electrodeposited germanium can be formed as a blanket or patterned film, and may be crystallized by solid phase epitaxy to the orientation of the underlying semiconductor substrate by subsequent annealing. These plated germanium layers may be used as the channel regions of high-mobility channel field effect transistors (FETs) in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits.

Abstract: A method utilizing localized amorphization and recrystallization of stacked template layers is provided for making a planar substrate having semiconductor layers of different crystallographic orientations. Also provided are hybrid-orientation semiconductor substrate structures built with the methods of the invention, as well as such structures integrated with various CMOS circuits comprising at least two semiconductor devices disposed on different surface orientations for enhanced device performance.

Abstract: The present invention provides an improved amorphization/templated recrystallization (ATR) method for fabricating low-defect-density hybrid orientation substrates. ATR methods for hybrid orientation substrate fabrication generally start with a Si layer having a first orientation bonded to a second Si layer or substrate having a second orientation. Selected regions of the first Si layer are amorphized and then recrystallized into the orientation of the second Si layer by using the second Si layer as a template. The process flow of the present invention solves two major difficulties not disclosed by prior art ATR methods: the creation of “corner defects” at the edges of amorphized Si regions bounded by trenches, and undesired orientation changes during a high temperature post-recrystallization defect-removal annealing of non-ATR'd regions not bounded by trenches.

Abstract: The invention provides a high temperature (about 1150° C. or greater) annealing process for converting thick polycrystalline Si layers on the order of 1 ?m to 40 ?m on a single crystal seed layer into thick single crystal Si layers having the orientation of the seed layer, thus allowing production of thick Si films having the quality of single crystal silicon at high rates and low cost of processing. Methods of integrating such high temperature processing into solar cell fabrication are described, with particular attention to process flows in which the seed layer is disposed on a porous silicon release layer. Another aspect pertains to the use of similar high temperature anneals for poly-Si grain growth and grain boundary passivation. A further aspect relates to structures in which these thick single crystal Si films and passivated poly-Si films are incorporated.

Abstract: The present invention provides an improved amorphization/templated recrystallization (ATR) method for fabricating low-defect-density hybrid orientation substrates. ATR methods for hybrid orientation substrate fabrication generally start with a Si layer having a first orientation bonded to a second Si layer or substrate having a second orientation. Selected regions of the first Si layer are amorphized and then recrystallized into the orientation of the second Si layer by using the second Si layer as a template. The process flow of the present invention solves two major difficulties not disclosed by prior art ATR methods: the creation of “corner defects” at the edges of amorphized Si regions bounded by trenches, and undesired orientation changes during a high temperature post-recrystallization defect-removal annealing of non-ATR'd regions not bounded by trenches.

Abstract: The present invention provides an improved amorphization/templated recrystallization (ATR) method for fabricating low-defect-density hybrid orientation substrates. ATR methods for hybrid orientation substrate fabrication generally start with a Si layer having a first orientation bonded to a second Si layer or substrate having a second orientation. Selected regions of the first Si layer are amorphized and then recrystallized into the orientation of the second Si layer by using the second Si layer as a template. In particular, this invention provides a melt-recrystallization ATR method, for use alone or in combination with non-melt-recrystallization ATR methods, in which selected Si regions bounded by dielectric-filled trenches are induced to undergo an orientation change by the steps of preamorphization, laser-induced melting, and corner-defect-free templated recrystallization from the melt.

Abstract: An integrated circuit is fabricated with at least one p-FinFET device and at least one n-FinFET device situated parallel to each other. A first silicon layer having a first crystalline orientation is bonded to a second silicon layer having a second crystalline orientation. The first and second orientations are different from each other. A volume of material is formed that extends through the first layer from the second layer up to the surface of the first layer. The material has a crystalline orientation that substantially matches the orientation of the second layer. Areas of the surface of the first layer that are outside of the region are selectively etched to create a first plurality of fins and areas inside the region to create a second plurality of fins. The etching leaves the first and second pluralities of fins parallel to each other with different surface crystal orientations.

Abstract: A compound metal comprising TiC which is a p-type metal having a workfunction of about 4.75 to about 5.3, preferably about 5, eV that is thermally stable on a gate stack comprising a high k dielectric and an interfacial layer is provided as well as a method of fabricating the TiC compound metal. Furthermore, the TiC metal compound of the present invention is a very efficient oxygen diffusion barrier at 1000° C. allowing very aggressive equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) and inversion layer thickness scaling below 14 ? in a p-metal oxide semiconductor (pMOS) device.

Abstract: A semiconductor device such as a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) including at least one FET that includes a gate electrode including a metal carbide and method of fabrication are provided. The CMOS comprises dual work function metal gate electrodes whereby the dual work functions are provided by a metal and a carbide of a metal.

Abstract: A compound metal comprising TiC which is a p-type metal having a workfunction of about 4.75 to about 5.3, preferably about 5, eV that is thermally stable on a gate stack comprising a high k dielectric and an interfacial layer is provided as well as a method of fabricating the TiC compound metal. Furthermore, the TiC metal compound of the present invention is a very efficient oxygen diffusion barrier at 1000° C. allowing very aggressive equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) and inversion layer thickness scaling below 14 ? in a p-metal oxide semiconductor (pMOS) device.

Abstract: This invention provides structures and a fabrication process for incorporating thin film transistors in back end of the line (BEOL) interconnect structures. The structures and fabrication processes described are compatible with processing requirements for the BEOL interconnect structures. The structures and fabrication processes utilize existing processing steps and materials already incorporated in interconnect wiring levels in order to reduce added cost associated with incorporating thin film transistors in the these levels. The structures enable vertical (3D) integration of multiple levels with improved manufacturability and reliability as compared to prior art methods of 3D integration.

Abstract: Methods for electrodepositing germanium on various semiconductor substrates such as Si, Ge, SiGe, and GaAs are provided. The electrodeposited germanium can be formed as a blanket or patterned film, and may be crystallized by solid phase epitaxy to the orientation of the underlying semiconductor substrate by subsequent annealing. These plated germanium layers may be used as the channel regions of high-mobility channel field effect transistors (FETs) in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for removing or reducing the thickness of ultrathin interfacial oxides remaining at Si—Si interfaces after silicon wafer bonding. In particular, the invention provides a method for removing ultrathin interfacial oxides remaining after hydrophilic Si—Si wafer bonding to create bonded Si—Si interfaces having properties comparable to those achieved with hydrophobic bonding. Interfacial oxide layers of order of about 2 to about 3 nm are dissolved away by high temperature annealing, for example, an anneal at 1300°-1330° C. for 1-5 hours. The inventive method is used to best advantage when the Si surfaces at the bonded interface have different surface orientations, for example, when a Si surface having a (100) orientation is bonded to a Si surface having a (110) orientation. In a more general aspect of the invention, the similar annealing processes may be used to remove undesired material disposed at a bonded interface of two silicon-containing semiconductor materials.

Abstract: A semiconductor structure, such as a CMOS semiconductor structure, includes a field effect device that includes a plurality of source and drain regions that are asymmetric. Such a source region and drain region asymmetry is induced by fabricating the semiconductor structure using a semiconductor substrate that includes a horizontal plateau region contiguous with and adjoining a sloped incline region. Within the context of a CMOS semiconductor structure, such a semiconductor substrate allows for fabrication of a pFET and an nFET upon different crystallographic orientation semiconductor regions, while one of the pFET and the nFET (i.e., typically the pFET) has asymmetric source and drain regions.

Abstract: This invention provides a strained-channel field effect transistor (FET) in which the semiconductor of the channel of the FET is formed in a compliant substrate layer disposed over a twist-bonded semiconductor interface. This FET geometry increases the efficacy of local stress elements such as stress liners and embedded lattice-mismatched source/drain regions by mechanically decoupling the semiconductor of the channel region from the underlying rigid substrate. These strained-channel FETs may be incorporated into complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits in various combinations. In one embodiment of this invention, both pFETs and nFETs are in a twist-bonded (001) silicon layer on a (001) silicon base layer. In another embodiment, pFETs are in a twist-bonded (011) silicon layer on a (001) silicon base layer and nFETs are in a conventional, non-twist-bonded (001) silicon base layer.

Abstract: The present invention provides an improved amorphization/templated recrystallization (ATR) method for fabricating low-defect-density hybrid orientation substrates. ATR methods for hybrid orientation substrate fabrication generally start with a Si layer having a first orientation bonded to a second Si layer or substrate having a second orientation. Selected regions of the first Si layer are amorphized and then recrystallized into the orientation of the second Si layer by using the second Si layer as a template. In particular, this invention provides a melt-recrystallization ATR method, for use alone or in combination with non-melt-recrystallization ATR methods, in which selected Si regions bounded by dielectric-filled trenches are induced to undergo an orientation change by the steps of preamorphization, laser-induced melting, and corner-defect-free templated recrystallization from the melt.