SILICON GERMANIUM FILM FORMATION METHOD AND STRUCTURE

Abstract

Epitaxial deposition of silicon germanium in a semiconductor device is achieved without using masks. Nucleation delays induced by interactions with dopants present before deposition of the silicon germanium are used to determine a period over which an exposed substrate surface may be subjected to epitaxial deposition to form a layer of SiGe on desired parts with substantially no deposition on other parts. Dopant concentration may be changed to achieve desired thicknesses within preferred deposition times. Resulting deposited SiGe is substantially devoid of growth edge effects.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/025,474, filed on Feb. 11, 2011, currently pending and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to semiconductor manufacture and, more specifically, to a method of integrating channel silicon germanium (SiGe) films in CMOS technology to improve CMOS device manufacture.

During semiconductor device manufacture, nucleation of one deposited material can occur at a different point than another, and different materials often exhibit different film growth rates over a given period of time. Interaction with dopants contributes to nucleation delay, different growth rates, and other effects, so that masks are used to cover one device region while material is deposited on another. The masks in some instances are then removed and material is deposited on other regions of the device, sometimes using additional masks. As a result of the presence of a mask during deposition, edge effects are typically observed in components formed from the deposited material. For example, in the manufacture of field effect transistors (FETs) employing layers or films of SiGe, epitaxial deposition of silicon germanium is delayed over NFET P well implant regions as compared to PFET N well implant regions. As a result, a hard mask of silicon nitride or silicon oxide is used to cover the NFET region during SiGe deposition on the PFET region, which results in edge effects in the deposited SiGe.

It may therefore be advantageous to deposit SiGe without the edge effects that result from the use of masks. Additionally, it may be advantageous to use the delay in nucleation induced by dopants in the manufacture of semiconductor devices as opposed to finding ways to overcome the delay.

BRIEF SUMMARY

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor device structure comprises a first FET having a plug formed from an epitaxially deposited first material in a channel of the first FET and a second FET having a channel formed from the epitaxially deposited first material. The first material is deposited epitaxially devoid of growth edge effects.

In addition, an embodiment includes a semiconductor device structure with a substrate having a first region and a second region, the first region being doped with a first dopant. A layer of silicon germanium (SiGe) may be on substantially only one of the first region or the second region and substantially free of edge effects by exposing the first and second regions to a deposition stream of SiGe for at least a predetermined period without coating the second region prior to deposition.

In embodiments, a semiconductor structure may be formed by a process including providing a substrate and defining first and second regions of the substrate. The first region may be doped with a first dopant in a first concentration, and a surface of the substrate of the first and second regions may be exposed to a deposition stream of silicon germanium (SiGe) for at least a predetermined period determined responsive to at least the first concentration. Responsive to the first dopant being a P-type dopant, a layer of SiGe may form on the first region during the predetermined period with substantially no deposition of SiGe on the second region. However, responsive to the first dopant being a N-type dopant, a layer of SiGe may form on the second region with substantially no deposition on the first region.

Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed invention. For a better understanding of the invention with the advantages and the features, refer to the description and to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The forgoing and other features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a semiconductor structure formed using a method of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another semiconductor structure formed using a method of an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow diagram of a method of an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing germanium signal as a function of time over a first period for a P-typed doped region with which an embodiment is applied compared to prior art results.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing germanium signal as a function of time over a second period for a P-typed doped region with which an embodiment is applied compared to prior art results.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing germanium signal as a function of time over a first period for an N-type doped region with which an embodiment is applied compared to prior art results.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing germanium signal as a function of time over a second period for an N-type doped region with which an embodiment is applied compared to prior art results.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference now to FIG. 1, a semiconductor device 100 is shown and in embodiments is made with a manufacturing method starting with providing a substrate 102. A first region 110 of substrate 102 may be doped with a first dopant 112 in a first concentration, and a second region 120 of substrate 102 may be doped with a second dopant 122 in a second concentration. In an embodiment, second region 120 is left undoped or is considered to have a zero concentration of second dopant 122. Doping may be performed using ion implantation or any other suitable technique now known or later discovered within the scope of the invention.

The first and second regions 110, 120 are exposed to another material, such as silicon germanium (SiGe), for a predetermined period of time to form a layer 114 of the material over desired portions of substrate 102, such as first region 110 doped with first dopant 112. The exposure to the material may be achieved by exposing substrate 102 to a stream of material, such as by using epitaxial deposition, or any other suitable technique now known or later discovered within the scope of the invention.

The period of exposure is determined responsive to the property(ies) of the dopant(s), the concentration(s) of the dopant(s), and/or interactions between substrate 102, the another material, such as SiGe as indicated above, and/or the dopant(s). With an appropriate predetermined period, a layer of, for example, SiGe forms on one of first and second regions 110, 120 during the predetermined period with substantially no deposition of SiGe on the other of first and second regions 110, 120. By tuning the concentration(s) of the dopant(s), desired thicknesses of up to about 100 Angstroms can be achieved over one region with substantially no deposition on other portions of substrate 102, particularly second region 120, all without the use of a mask. For example, if substrate 102 is silicon and first dopant 112 is boron in first region 110, a layer 114 of SiGe forms on the boron-doped region 110 during the predetermined period with substantially no deposition of SiGe on other regions, including second region 120. Similarly, for example, if substrate 102 is silicon, such as undoped mono- or poly-crystalline silicon, and one of the dopants is arsenic, substantially no SiGe is deposited on the arsenic-doped region during the predetermined period while a layer of SiGe forms on other regions.

This technique can be applied recursively, such that first and second regions 110, 120 may be parts of one or more larger devices formed on substrate 102. For example, as seen in FIG. 2, a semiconductor device 200 according to an embodiment of the invention disclosed herein may include first and second devices, such as first and second field effect transistors (FETs) 210, 220, formed on a substrate 202. First FET 210 includes first source and drain regions 212, 214, a first channel region 215, and a first gate region 216. Similarly, second FET 220 includes second source and drain regions 222, 224, a second channel region 225, and a second gate region 226. In an embodiment, one or both of the source and drain regions 212, 214 of first FET 210 may be construed as a first region doped with a first dopant, which may also be construed as including channel region 225 of second FET 220. Second region doped with a second dopant may be specific regions of the first and second FETs 210, 220 and similarly doped areas of the remainder of the exposed surfaces of the semiconductor device 200. Alternatively, the second region may be construed as including everything exposed of the semiconductor device 200 other than the first region, including areas doped with a second dopant, areas doped with additional dopants, and undoped areas. For example, first FET 210 may be a PFET with a first dopant being a P-type dopant, such as boron, in first source and drain regions 212, 214, while second FET 220 may be an NFET with a second dopant being an N-type dopant, such as arsenic, in second source and drain regions 222, 224. The deposited material, such as SiGe, in embodiments is used to form components of the FETs and/or sacrificial material for later processing. In the example above, SiGe forms a layer 218 on the P-doped, such as heavily P-doped, first source and drain regions 212, 214, but does not accumulate on other areas of the device 200. In addition, SiGe may form a plug 228 in second FET 220. An isolation region 230, such as a trench isolation region, may be formed to electrically separate first FET 210 from second FET 220.

As described above, an example of an embodiment has SiGe being deposited, such as via epitaxy, onto exposed surfaces of silicon substrate based semiconductor device 200, a P-type dopant, such as boron, as one dopant, and an N-type dopant, such as arsenic, as the other dopant. In this example, an appropriate predetermined period should be from about 15 seconds to about 30 seconds, or, more particularly, from about 20 seconds to about 25 seconds, such as about 22 seconds. The resulting layer of SiGe in such a case should be from about 5 Angstroms to about 25 Angstroms thick, or, more particularly, the layer of SiGe may be from about 10 Angstroms to about 20 Angstroms thick. Other predetermined times will be appropriate for other materials and/or desired thicknesses.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a method according to an embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is showed schematically. After the method 300 starts (block 302), a substrate is provided (block 304), having an exposed surface, and first and second regions are defined with at least a first doped area of the first region being doped (block 306). For example, the first and second regions can be first and second FET regions formed in the substrate and the first doped area can be source and drain regions of the first FET region. The exposed surfaces on substrate 102 are then subjected or exposed to a material, such as a deposition stream of SiGe, for a predetermined period responsive to at least the concentration of the first dopant (block 308). The material accumulates in a layer on one region while substantially none of the material accumulates on other areas of substrate 102, such as the second region. Because no mask is used, no edge effects are produced during deposition of the material, yielding improved operation and reduced loading of the deposited film in the finished semiconductor device.

FIGS. 4-7 show comparisons of the results of application of embodiments of the instant invention for P-type and N-type dopants, respectively, using detected SiGe as a function of time for illustrative purposes. FIGS. 4-7 display representations of micro X-ray diffraction spectra for SiGe films grown on different types of substrates as a function of time according to embodiments. These data, typically referred to as rocking curves, may be used to calculate the thickness of the deposited epitaxial film, as well as concentration of the components of the material, as is known in the art. The position of the peak to the left of the origin in such curves may be used to calculate component concentration, which in this case is concentration of germanium as a percentage of the material of the film. The intensity of the peak and its width may be used to calculate thickness of the deposited epitaxial film in Angtroms (Å) using known techniques. FIGS. 4 and 5 show the spectra for SiGe deposition on a silicon substrate lightly doped, such as with less than about 1·10¹⁸ dopant species/cm³, with Boron (B) after 22 and 44 seconds of deposition, respectively. As derived from the curves seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, there is almost no deposition of SiGe after 22 seconds and less than about 20 Å of SiGe after 44 seconds. FIGS. 6 and 7 show the spectra for SiGe deposition on a silicon substrate lightly doped, such as with less than about 1·10¹⁸ dopant species/cm³,with Arsenic (As) after 22 and 44 seconds of deposition respectively. As derived from the curves shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, there is about 86 Å of SiGe deposited after 22 seconds and about 160 Å of SiGe deposited after 44 seconds. As can be seen, application of embodiments results in no to very thin deposition of SiGe for N-type doped substrates, such as lightly N-type doped substrates (FIGS. 4 and 5), and much thicker deposition of SiGe for P-type doped substrates, such as lightly P-type doped substrates (FIGS. 6 and 7).

While the examples above have identified silicon as a substrate material, boron and arsenic as dopants, SiGe as a deposited material, trench isolation as a technique for electrical isolation of devices on substrate, and epitaxial deposition as a method for depositing the deposited material, other materials and techniques now known or later discovered may be employed where suitable and/or desirable within the scope of the invention disclosed and claimed herein.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one ore more other features, integers, steps, operations, element components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

The flow diagrams depicted herein are just one example. There may be many variations to this diagram or the steps (or operations) described therein without departing from the spirit of the invention. For instance, the steps may be performed in a differing order or steps may be added, deleted or modified. All of these variations are considered a part of the claimed invention.

While the preferred embodiment to the invention has been described, it will be understood that those skilled in the art, both now and in the future, may make various improvements and enhancements which fall within the scope of the claims which follow. These claims should be construed to maintain the proper protection for the invention first described.

Claims

1. A semiconductor device structure comprising:

a first FET having a plug formed from an epitaxially deposited first material in a channel of the first FET;

a second FET having a channel formed from the epitaxially deposited first material; and

wherein, during a predetermined period, the first material is deposited epitaxially substantially devoid of growth edge effects.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein the epitaxially deposited first material includes silicon germanium (SiGe), the first FET is a PFET, the second FET is an NFET, the structure further comprises a trench isolation between the NFET and the PFET, and the epitaxially deposited SiGe is substantially free of epitaxial growth edge effects.

3. The structure of claim 2, wherein the substrate includes silicon and the PFET includes a first region doped with a N-type dopant such that the SiGe accumulates on the first region during the predetermined period.

4. The structure of claim 1, wherein one of the first and second FETs includes a first dopant in a first concentration and the predetermined period of epitaxial deposition of the first material is dependent on the first concentration.

5. A semiconductor structure comprising:

a substrate with a first region and a second region, the first region being doped with a first dopant; and

a layer of silicon germanium (SiGe) on substantially only one of the first region or the second region and substantially free of edge effects, the layer being formed by exposing the first and second regions to a deposition stream of SiGe for at least a predetermined period without coating the second region prior to deposition.

6. The semiconductor structure of claim 5, wherein the first dopant is an N-type dopant and the SiGe layer is on substantially only the second region.

7. The semiconductor structure of claim 6, wherein the first dopant includes arsenic.

8. The semiconductor structure of claim 6, wherein the second region is doped with a P-type dopant.

9. The semiconductor structure of claim 8, wherein the P-type dopant includes boron.

10. The semiconductor structure of claim 5, wherein the first dopant is a P-type dopant and the SiGe layer is on substantially only the first region.

11. The semiconductor structure of claim 10, wherein the first dopant includes boron.

12. The semiconductor structure of claim 10, wherein the second region is doped with an N-type dopant.

13. The semiconductor structure of claim 12, wherein the N-type dopant includes arsenic.

14. A semiconductor structure formed according to a process including:

providing a substrate;

defining a first region of the substrate and a second region of the substrate;

doping the first region of the substrate with a first dopant in a first concentration; and

exposing a surface of the substrate of the first and second regions to a deposition stream of silicon germanium (SiGe) for at least a predetermined period dependent on at least the first concentration so that: responsive to the first dopant being a P-type dopant, a layer of SiGe forms on the first region during the predetermined period with substantially no deposition of SiGe on the second region; and responsive to the first dopant being an N-type dopant, a layer of SiGe forms on the second region with substantially no deposition on the first region.

15. The semiconductor structure of claim 14, wherein the process further comprises doping the second region with a second dopant in a second concentration so that:

responsive to the second dopant being a P-type dopant, a layer of SiGe forms on the second region during the predetermined period; and

responsive to the second dopant being an N-type dopant, substantially no SiGe deposition occurs on the first region.

16. The semiconductor structure of claim 15, wherein the first dopant is a P-type dopant and the second dopant is an N-type dopant.

17. The semiconductor structure of claim 14, wherein the second region is substantially dopant free during deposition of the SiGe.