Abstract: A semiconductor device having a double-layer interconnection with contact portions between first and second metal films, each having a multi-layered structure, covered with at least a silicon nitride film is provided wherein an electromigration characteristic at the contact portions is improved. The improvement is achieved by defining a value obtained by multiplying a thickness of the silicon nitride film by a stress of the nitride film formed at the contact portions is not larger than 2/5 of a value obtained by multiplying a thickness of the silicon nitride film by a stress of the nitride film formed at non-contact portions. By this, the stress exerted on the second metal film is reduced to improve the electromigration life at the contact portions by about one order of magnitude. The first and second metal films, respectively, have a multi-layered structure including a sub-layer made of Al or Al alloys.

Abstract: A semiconductor device having a double-layer interconnection with contact portions between first and second metal films covered with at least a silicon nitride film is provided wherein an electromigration characteristic at the contact portions is improved. The improvement is achieved by defining a value obtained by multiplying a thickness of the silicon nitride film by a stress of the nitride film formed at the contact portions is not larger than 2/5 of a value obtained by multiplying a thickness of the silicon nitride film by a stress of the nitride film formed at non-contact portions. By this, the stress exerted on the second metal film is reduced to improve the electromigration life at the contact portions by about one order of magnitude. The first and second metal films are made of Al or Al-based alloys.

Abstract: A microwave plasma film deposition system using the microwave plasma in a state in which a magnetic field is applied to a plasma cavity for generating the plasma. The microwave plasma film deposition system can stably deposit a metal thin film by separating an insulating window for supplying the microwave to the plasma cavity from a region to which the magnetic field is applied, limiting the form and the size of a waveguide and regulating the process conditions (mainly, the pressure of gases in the system).

Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor region connected to a bit line for controlling signal charges; a second semiconductor region connected to the first semiconductor region and to a word line for controlling signal charges, wherein the second semiconductor region has a type of electrical conductivity which is different from that of the first semiconductor region; and a third semiconductor region connected to the second semiconductor region and to a data line for reading the signal charges, wherein the third semiconductor region has a type of electrical conductivity which is the same as that of the first semiconductor region, and wherein the third semiconductor region has a barrier at the interface with the data line, the barrier being able to be controlled by the bit line and the word line to store signal charges in the third semiconductor regions.

Abstract: A microwave plasma film deposition system comprises a waveguide for feeding microwaves through a microwave feeding window provided at one end of the waveguide, and a plasma cavity in communication with the other end of the waveguide and having a discharge gas inlet which is not in communication with the waveguide. The system further includes a specimen chamber which is in communication with the plasma cavity and which has a substrate setting rest therein and a material gas inlet, and a magnetic field applying device provided near the plasma cavity. Stable film deposition occurs because the plasma cavity is at the end of the waveguide which is remote from the microwave feeding window, whereby deposition on the microwave feeding window is prevented. Deposition on the microwave feeding window is further prevented by a ferromagnetic material which is placed around the waveguide and which reduces the strength of the magnetic field in the waveguide.

Abstract: An apparatus for dry etching, which comprises a stage for supporting a substrate, a rotor having a center shaft, the stage and an arm connecting the stage to the center shaft, and a driving means for turning the rotor at the center shaft as a turning center in the direction tangential to the circumference of a circle established by turning of the surface of the substrate at the center shaft as a turning center, the rotor being housed in a chamber, can make uniform perpendicular submicron etching with radicals or a reactive gas without using ions and without damages on the substrate.

Abstract: A method is provided for producing a semiconductor device characterized by filling hollows having a high aspect ratio with a semiconductor film doped with impurities as dopants and an undoped semiconductor film, given that the doped polycrystalline Si film produced by thermal decomposition of reactive gases mixed with impurity gases and the undoped polycrystalline Si film produced by thermal decomposition of reactive gases containing no impurity gas have different step coverage characteristics from each other. The method allows uniform distribution of dopants as well as improvement of processing throughput by forming sequentially the two types of semiconductor films in one reaction chamber.

Abstract: This invention discloses a high efficiency solid state imager combining a semiconductor substrate having a charge transfer function and a photoelectric conversion film, wherein a high frequency transfer pulse having a frequency higher than that of a vertical transfer pulse is applied for a prescribed time during the vertical blanking period; voltages with different values are applied to a transparent electrode provided on the above-mentioned photoelectric conversion film in the first and second period of the period with the presence of the above-mentioned high frequency transfer pulse; and a voltage differing with each field is applied to the above-mentioned transparent electrode during the vertical blanking period, whereby blooming, highlight lag and flicker due to an intense light are considerably suppressed.