METHOD FOR FORMING BIT LINE CONTACT HOLE/CONTACT STRUCTURE
Disclosed is a method for forming a bit line contact hole/contact structure. The method of the present invention comprises steps of providing a substrate; forming a pluarality of word line structures on the substrate; forming a doped dielectric layer on the substrate having the word line structures formed thereon; defining a position for forming a bit line contact hole; removing the doped dielectric layer other than the portion at the position for forming the bit line contact hole; forming a non-doped dielectric layer on the substrate having the word line structures and residual doped dielectric layer formed thereon; removing the residual doped dielectric layer by using an etchant with a high selectivity for doped dielectric layer/non-doped dielectric layer to form a bit line contact hole; and filling the bit line contact hole with conductive material for form a bit line contact structure.
Latest Nanya Technology Corporation Patents:
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device process, more specifically, to a method for forming bit line contact hole/contact structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the manufacturing process for DRAM, forming a bit line contact structure between two word line structures is a common procedure.
Dry etch is used to remove the selected position of the TEOS layer and BPSG layer to form a bit line contact hole 18. Due to the property of the etchant, such an etching process will stop at the SiN layer, as shown in
However, as DRAM becomes more compact, the critical dimensions of various structures including the bit line contact structure is required to be compressed. In other words, the critical dimension of the contact hole becomes smaller and smaller. Under such circumstances, the chemical action in the etching process usually fails to clearly remove the predetermined portion of the dielectric layers (TEOS and BPSG), and therefore the assistance of the physical process (i.e. the ion bombard) is necessary. However, enhancing the ion bombard to remove the predetermined portion of the dielectric layers often damages shoulder portions 19 of the word line structure, as shown in
Therefore, there is a need for a solution to overcome the problem stated above. The present invention satisfies such a need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAn objective of the present invention is to provide a novel method for forming a bit line contact structure, which can eliminate the need for assistance of ion etch, so that a contact hole and accordingly the contact structure can be formed with a good profile, thereby preventing a protective layer of a word line structure from being damaged. Otherwise, an improper short circuit may occurr between the bit line and word line.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for forming a bit line contact structure comprises steps of providing a substrate; forming a plurality of word line structure on said substrate to form a first mediate structure; forming a doped dielectric layer on said mediate structure; defining a position on said doped dielectric layer where a bit line contact hole is to be formed; removing said doped dielectric layer except for the portion at the position where the bit line contact hole is to be formed to form a second mediate structure; forming a non-doped dielectric layer on said second mediate structure; removing the retained doped dielectric layer by using an etchant having a high selectivity to the doped dielectric layer with respect to the non-doped dielectric layer to form the bit line contact hole; and filling said bit line contact hole with conductive material to form a bit line contact structure.
According to another aspect of the present invention, in the method for forming a bit line contact structure, the material of said doped dielectric layer is an oxide doped with any element from group III/V, while the material of said non-doped dielectric layer is an oxide without being doped with any element from group III/V.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, in the method for forming a bit line contact structure, the material of said doped dielectric layer is BPSG (boron phosphorus silicon glass), while the material of said non-doped dielectric layer is HDP (high density plasma) oxide.
According to still a further aspect of the present invention, in the method for forming a bit line contact structure, said etchant is VHF (vapor HF).
According to still a further aspect of the present invention, in the method for forming a bit line contact structure, a liner nitride layer is formed on the periphery of the retained doped dielectric layer after removing said doped dielectric layer except for the portion at the position where the bit line contact hole is to be formed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe following drawings are only for illustrating the mutual relationships between the respective portions and are not drawn according to practical dimensions and ratios. In addition, the like reference numbers indicate the similar elements.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
A doped dielectric layer 24 is formed on the mediate structure. The dopant is preferably the element from group III/V. In this embodiment, the material of the doped dielectric layer is a doped silicon oxide, such as BPSG (boron phosphorus silicon glass). Then, planarization process is performed to the doped dielectric layer 24, as shown in
A position where a bit line contact hole is to be formed is defined by photoresist layer 25, as shown in
The portion of the BPSG layer which is not covered by the photoresist layer 25 is etched and removed, then the photoresist layer 25 is removed, and the resultant structure is shown in
Subsequently, a liner nitride layer 26 is formed at the periphery of the retained portion of the BPSG layer, then a non-doped dielectric layer 27 is formed on the whole structure, and planarization process is formed to expose the top surface of the portion of the BPSG layer at the position where the bit line contact hole is to be formed, as shown in
Then, the retained BPSG layer 24 is removed by VHF (vapor HF) etching to form a bit line contact hole, as shown in
The portion of the nitride layer at the bottom of the bit line contact hole is opened, so that the silicon substrate 20 below is exposed, as shown in
The bit line contact hole is filled with conductive material 28 to form a bit line contact structure, and then planarization process is applied thereto, as shown in
The subsequent steps for forming bit lines and other contact structures, such as a substrate contact structure, are the same as known conventional techniques, and therefore the descriptions thereof are omitted herein.
A dielectric layer 29, of which the material can be TEOS, is formed on the whole structure, as shown in
Then, a portion of the TEOS layer 29 is removed by using conventional photoresist-defining/etching process to form a recess, as shown in
Finally, the recess and contact hole are filled with conductive material such as metal to form a bit line 30 and substrate contact structure, as shown in
While the embodiment of the present invention is illustrated and described, various modifications and alterations can be made by persons skilled in this art. The embodiment of the present invention is therefore described in an illustrative but not restrictive sense. It is intended that the present invention may not be limited to the particular forms as illustrated, and that all modifications and alterations which maintain the spirit and realm of the present invention are within the scope as defined in the appended claims.
Claims
1. A method for forming a bit line contact hole comprising steps of:
- providing a substrate;
- forming a plurality of word line structures on said substrate;
- forming a nitride layer to cover said word line structures to form a first mediate structure;
- forming a doped dielectric layer on said first mediate structure;
- defining a position on said doped dielectric layer where the contact hole is to be formed;
- removing said doped dielectric layer except for the portion at the position where the contact hole is to be formed to form a second mediate structure;
- forming a liner nitride layer on the periphery of the retained doped dielectric layer:
- forming a non-doped dielectric layer on said second mediate structure; and
- removing the retained doped dielectric layer by using an etchant having a high selectivity to the doped dielectric layer with respect to the non-doped dielectric layer to form the contact hole.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the material of said doped dielectric layer is an oxide doped with any element from group III/V, while the material of said non-doped dielectric layer is an oxide without being doped with any element from group III/IV.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the material of said doped dielectric layer is BPSG (boron phosphorus silicon glass).
4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the material of said non-doped dielectric layer is low-K dielectric material, HDP (high density plasma) oxide or SOG (spin-on-glass).
5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said etchant is VHF (vapor HF).
6. (canceled)
7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the position where the contact hole is to be formed is defined by a photoresist layer, then the portion of the doped dielectric layer not covered with the photoresist layer is removed.
8. A method for forming a bit line contact structure comprising steps of:
- providing a substrate;
- forming a plurality of word line structures on said substrate;
- forming a nitride layer to cover said word line structures to form a first mediate structure;
- forming a doped dielectric layer on said first mediate structure;
- defining a position on said doped dielectric layer where a contact hole is to be formed;
- removing said doped dielectric layer except for the portion at the position where the contact hole is to be formed to form a second mediate structure;
- forming a liner nitride layer on the periphery of the retained doped dielectric layer:
- forming a non-doped dielectric layer on said second mediate structure;
- removing the retained doped dielectric layer by using an etchant having a high selectivity to the doped dielectric layer with respect to the non-doped dielectric layer to form a contact hole, and
- filling said contact hole with conductive material to form a contact structure.
9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the material of said doped dielectric layer is an oxide doped with any element from group III/V, while the material of said non-doped dielectric layer is an oxide without being doped with any element from group III/V.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the material of said doped dielectric layer is BPSG (boron phosphorus silicon glass).
11. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the material of said non-doped dielectric layer is low-K dielectric material, HDP (high density plasma) oxide or SOG (spin-on-glass).
12. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein said etchant is VHF (vapor HF).
13. (canceled)
14. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the position where the contact hole is to be formed is defined by a photoresist layer, then the portion of the doped dielectric layer not covered with the photoresist layer is removed.
15-21. (canceled)
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 8, 2004
Publication Date: Dec 8, 2005
Applicant: Nanya Technology Corporation (Taoyuan)
Inventors: Meng-Hung Chen (Taoyuan City), Chia-Sheng Yu (Banciao City)
Application Number: 10/862,570