The formation of shallow low-resistance source—Drain regions for VLSI CMOS technologies

As a result of MOS device scaling, very shallow source-drain structures are needed to minimize short-channel effects in 1-µm transistors. This can be readily achieved with highly doped arsenic regions for NMOS devices but is more difficult using boron for PMOS devices. In addition, shallow junctions suffer from inherently high sheet resistances due to dopant solid solubility limitations. This paper proposes an improved CMOS source-drain technology to overcome both these problems. The technique employs amorphizing silicon implants prior to dopant implantation to eliminate ion channeling and platinum silicidation to substantially reduce sheet resistance. Counterdoping of the p⁺regions by high-concentration arsenic implantation is used to enable both NMOS and PMOS devices to be manufactured with only one photolithographic masking operation. Using this technique, n⁺and p⁺junction depths are 0.22 µm and of 8 Ω/sq. sheet resistance. By creating oxide sidewalls on gate conductors, polysilicon can be silicided simultaneously with diffusions. Results of extensive materials analysis are discussed in detail. The technique has been incorporated into a VLSI CMOS process schedule at our laboratories.     

Application of silicon-germanium in the fabrication of ultra-shallow extension junctions for sub-100 nm PMOSFETs

This work summarizes the results of several experiments to investigate the potential applications of Silicon-Germanium alloy in the fabrication of shallow source/drain (S/D) extension Junctions for deep submicron PMOS transistors. Two approaches were used for the fabrication of p/sup +/-Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x//n-Si heterojunctions. In the first approach, high dose Ge ion implantation followed by boron implantation into Si was used to form very shallow p/sup +/-Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x//n-Si junctions (x/spl les/0.2). In the second approach, thin Ge films were deposited onto Si substrates by conventional low pressure chemical vapor deposition. This was followed by boron implantation into the Ge and thermal annealing to co-diffuse Ge and B atoms into Si and form p/sup +//n heterojunctions. The electrical characteristics of the heterojunction diodes were comparable to those of conventional Si (homo) junctions. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) concentration-depth profiles indicate that dopant segregation in the Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/ regions resulted in the formation of ultra-shallow and abrupt junctions that could be used as S/D extensions for sub-100 nm CMOS generations. PMOS transistors fabricated using these techniques exhibit superior short-channel performance compared to control devices, for physical gate lengths down to 60 nm.     

1.5-V single work-function W/WN/n/sup +/-poly gate CMOS device design with 110-nm buried-channel PMOS for 90-nm vertical-cell DRAM

This letter reports on 1.5-V single work-function W/WN/n/sup +/-poly gate CMOS transistors for high-performance stand-alone dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and low-cost low-leakage embedded DRAM applications. At V/sub dd/ Of 1.5-V and 25/spl deg/C, drive currents of 634 /spl mu/A//spl mu/m for 90-nm L/sub gate/ NMOS and 208 /spl mu/A-/spl mu/m for 110-nm L/sub gate/ buried-channel PMOS are achieved at 25 pA//spl mu/m off-state leakage. Device performance of this single work function technology is comparable to published low leakage 1.5-V dual work-function technologies and 25% better than previously reported 1.8-V single work-function technology. Data illustrating hot-carrier immunity of these devices under high electric fields is also presented. Scalability of single work-function CMOS device design for the 90-nm DRAM generation is demonstrated.     

Damascene W/TiN gate MOSFETs with improved performance for 0.1-/spl mu/m regime

W/TiN gate CMOS technologies with improved performance were investigated using a damascene metal gate process. 0.1-/spl mu/m W/TiN stacked gate CMOS devices with high performance and good driving ability were fabricated successfully by optimizing the W/TiN stacked gate structure, improving the W/TiN gate electrode sputtering technology, and reducing W/TiN stacked gate MOSFET surface states and threshold voltages. A super steep retrograde (SSR) channel doping with heavy ion implantation, /sup 115/In/sup +/ for NMOS and /sup 121/Sb/sup +/ for PMOS, was applied here to obtain a reasonably lower threshold voltage and to suppress short-channel effects (SCEs). Non-CMP technology, used to replace CMP during the damascene metal gate process, was also explored. The propagation delay time of 57 stage W/TiN gate CMOS ring oscillators was 13 ps/stage at 3 V and 25 ps/stage at 1.5 V, respectively. Better performance would be achieved by using Co/Ti salicide source/drain (S/D) and thinner gate dielectrics.     

A Self-Aliglned 1-/spl mu/m-Channel CMOS Technology with Retrograde n-Well and Thin Epitaxy

A six-mask 1-/spl mu/m CMOS process with many self-aligned features is described. It uses a thin p-type epitaxial layer on a p/sup +/ substrate and a retrograde n-well. Self-aligned TiSi/sub 2/ is formed on n/sup +/ and p/sup +/ diffusions to reduce the sheet resistance and to make butted source contacts. It is shown that n/sup +/ poly-gated p-channel devices can be properly designed with low threshold magnitudes and good turn-off characteristics. With a 5-V supply, the minimum gate delay of unloaded CMOS ring oscillators is 150 ps/stage. Furthermore, it is dernonstrated that this CMOS technology is Iatchup free since the holding voltage for Iatchup is higher than 5 V.     

Improving the activation of the P/sup +/ region of low-temperature polycrystalline Si TFTs by using solid-phase Crystallization

We have developed a low-temperature fabrication process for making thin-film transistors (TFTs) with highly activated source and drain regions by utilizing pre-amorphization by Ge-ion implantation followed by solid-phase crystallization. The sheet resistances of the p/sup +/ polysilicon layers formed by B-ion implantation with and without Ge-ion implantation were, respectively, 200 and 1500 /spl Omega//sq. We confirmed reducing the sheet resistance of p/sup +/ polysilicon increases the on-current of TFTs on glass substrates. This process is promising for making high-performance CMOS peripheral circuits for liquid crystal display panels.     

Characterization of 1.9- and 1.4-nm ultrathin gate oxynitride by oxidation of nitrogen-implanted silicon substrate

For gate oxide thinned down to 1.9 and 1.4 nm, conventional methods of incorporating nitrogen (N) in the gate oxide might become insufficient in stopping boron penetration and obtaining lower tunneling leakage. In this paper, oxynitride gate dielectric grown by oxidation of N-implanted silicon substrate has been studied. The characteristics of ultrathin gate oxynitride with equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) of 1.9 and 1.4 nm grown by this method were analyzed with MOS capacitors under the accumulation conditions and compared with pure gate oxide and gate oxide nitrided by N/sub 2/O annealing. EOT of 1.9- and 1.4-nm oxynitride gate dielectrics grown by this method have strong boron penetration resistance, and reduce gate tunneling leakage current remarkably. High-performance 36-nm gate length CMOS devices and CMOS 32 frequency dividers embedded with 57-stage/201-stage CMOS ring oscillator, respectively, have been fabricated successfully, where the EOT of gate oxynitride grown by this method is 1.4 nm. At power supply voltage V/sub DD/ of 1.5 V drive current Ion of 802 /spl mu/A//spl mu/m for NMOS and -487 /spl mu/A//spl mu/m for PMOS are achieved at off-state leakage I/sub off/ of 3.5 nA//spl mu/m for NMOS and -3.0 nA//spl mu/m for PMOS.     

Process and Device Performance of Submicrometer-Channel CMOS Devices Using Deep-Trench Isolation and Self-Aligned TiSi/sub 2/ Technologies

According to our scaling study, a deeper n-well allows for a lower n-well surface concentration with improved short-channel effects in submicrometer-channel PMOS-FET's. The deep n-well, however, requires a large space between n- and p-channel devices. This large space limits the integration density in scaled bulk CMOS VLSI's. The deep-trench isolation combined with an epitaxial layer resolves this drawback with significantly improved device-to-device isolation and latchup susceptibility. The 6-/spl mu/m-deep with 2-/spl mu/m-wide deep trench is etched in the epitaxial layer and is refilled with 1500 /spl Aring/ of thermal silicon-dioxide film and 2/spl mu/m of polysilicon film. The sheet resistances of N/sup +/ and P/sup +/ diffusion and N/sup +/ -doped polysilicon layers were reduced to 3 to 4 /spl Omega//spl square/ by using the self-aligned TiSi/sub 2/ layer with an oxide sidewall spacer. As a result of this low sheet resistance, the saturation drain current of submicrometer n- and p-channel MOSFET's was improved approximately 33 to 37 percent compared with conventional MOSFET's without the self-aligned TiSi/sub 2/ layer. The 0.5-/spl mu/m-channel CMOS devices using the deep-trench isolation with an epitaxial layer and the self-aligned TiSi/sub 2/ layer operated at a propagation delay time of 140 ps with a power dissipation of 1.1 mW per inverter and attained a maximum clock frequency of 400 MHz in a static /spl divide/ 4 counter without suffering from Iatchup even at the Iatchup trigger current of 200 mA.     

The impact of device type and sizing on phase noise mechanisms

Phase noise mechanisms in integrated LC voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) using MOS transistors are investigated. The degradation in phase noise due to low-frequency bias noise is shown to be a function of AM-PM conversion in the MOS switching transistors. By exploiting this dependence, bias noise contributions to phase noise are minimized through MOS device sizing rather than through filtering. NMOS and PMOS VCO designs are compared in terms of thermal noise. Short-channel MOS considerations explain why 0.18-/spl mu/m PMOS devices can attain better phase noise than 0.18-/spl mu/m NMOS devices in the 1/f/sup 2/ region. Phase noise in the 1/f/sup 3/ region is primarily dependent upon the upconversion of flicker noise from the MOS switching transistors rather than from the bias circuit, and can be improved by decreasing MOS switching device size. Measured results on an experimental set of VCOs confirm the dependencies predicted by analysis. A 5.3-GHz all-PMOS VCO topology demonstrates measured phase noise of -124 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset and -100dBc/Hz at 100-kHz offset while dissipating 13.5 mW from a 1.8-V supply using a 0.18-/spl mu/m SiGe BiCMOS process.     

Forming of Very Shallow Junction for S/D Extension in Deep Sub-Micron CMOS Devices

Very shallow junctions for S/D extension in deep sub-micron CMOS devices are required to suppress the short channel effect as devices scaling down, and the surface concentrations (N,) of these junctions need to be kept in a higher value to reduce the series resistance of the lightly doped drain structure. But it is very difficult for the conventional ion implantation to meet the requirement above. This article presents the results of forming very shallow and ultrashallow junctions used in 0.25 micron and 0.10 micron CMOS devices respectively with low energy implantation (LEI) and pre-amorphization implantation plus low energy implantation (PAI+LEI). The LEI was performed on the modified normal ion-imptantor (IM-200M). Using LEI only the minimum junction depth,is 61nm for NMOS and 57nm for PMOS (Nsub=1×1018cm-3) respectively after 1000℃ RTA and both Ns are above 3×1019cm-3 While using Ge PAI+LEI,under the optimized processing condition,the junction depth of 58nm for NMOS and 42nm for PMOS are obtained,with the leakage current density being 4nA/cm2.     

Disposable polysilicon LDD spacer technology

An advanced 0.5-μm CMOS disposable lightly doped drain (LDD) spacer technology has been developed. This 0.5-μm CMOS technology features surface-channel LDD NMOS and PMOS devices, n⁺/p⁺ poly gates, 125-A-thick gate oxide, and Ti-salicided source/drain/gate regions. Using only two masking steps, the NMOS and PMOS LDD spacers are defined separately to provide deep arsenic n⁺ regions for lower salicided junction leakage, while simultaneously providing shallow phosphorus n^- and boron p^- regions for improved device short-channel effects. Additionally, the process allows independent adjustment of the LDD and salicide spacers to optimize the LDD design while avoiding salicide bridging of source/drain to gate regions. The results indicate extrapolated DC hot-carrier lifetimes in excess of 10 years for a 0.3-μm electrical channel-length NMOS device operated at a power-supply voltage of 3.3 V     

A self-aligned elevated source/drain MOSFET

An advanced elevated source/drain CMOS process which features self-aligned lightly-doped drain (LDD) and channel implantation is described. Unlike conventional elevated source/drain structures which employ separate polysilicon deposition steps to define the source/drain and gate electrodes, this new structure provides self-alignment of the LDD regions with the heavily doped channel regions to avoid dopant compensation effects. This process employs a single selective silicon deposition step to define both the epitaxial source/drain and polycrystalline gate regions. A single sidewall spacer is used for both LDD and salicide definition. Unlike conventional elevated source/drain CMOS processes, the final MOSFET structure provides self-alignment of the LDD regions with the heavily doped channel regions. Salicidation is performed after selective silicon deposition to provide low sheet resistances for the source/drain and gate regions. Small-geometry NMOS and PMOS devices have been fabricated which display excellent short channel behavior     

An Advanced Bipolar-MOS-I/sub 2/L Technology with a Thin Epitaxial Layer for Analog-Digital VLSI

A novel Bi-MOS technology, Advanced Bipolar CMOS (ABC), is proposed. Bipolar transistors (n-p-n, p-n-p, I/sup 2/L)and MOS transistors (both n- and p-channel) have been successfully fabricated on the same chip with no decrease in performance by using a 3-/spl mu/m design rule. Thin epitaxial layer (<= 2 /spl mu/m) is used in order to obtain small-size high-performance (3-GHz) bipolar devices. Device size is reduced by using a shallow junction and self-aligning technique. n-channel MOS transistors are formed in p-well regions designed to reach p-type substrate, and p-channel MOS transistors are formed in epitaxial layer with an n/sup +/ buried layer. This technology has the potential for monolithic multifunctional analog-digital VLSI.     

1.0-/spl mu/m n-Well CMOS/Bipolar Technology

High-performance 1.0-/spl mu/m n-well CMOS/bipolar on-chip technology was developed. For process simplicity, an n-well and a collector of bipolar transistors were formed simultaneously, and base and NMOS channel regions were also made simultaneously resulting in collector-isolated vertical n-p-n bipolar transistor fabrication without any additional process step to CMOS process. On the other hand, 1.0-/spl mu/m CMOS with a new "hot carrier resistant" seIf-defined Polysilicon sidewall spacer (SEPOS) LDD NMOS was developed. It can operate safely under supply voltage over 5 V without performance degradation of CMOS circuits. By evaluating ring oscillators and differential amplifiers constructed by both CMOS and bipolar transistors. it can be concluded that in a digital and in an analog combined system, CMOS has sufficiently high-speed performance for digital parts, while bipolar is superior for analog parts. In addition, bipolar transistors with an n/sup +/-buried layer were also fabricated to reduce collector resistance. Concerning the bipolar input/output buffers, the patterned n/sup +/-buried layer improves the drivability and high-frequency response. As a result, the applications of n-well CMOS/bipolar technology become clear. This technology was successfully applied to a high-speed 64-kbit CMOS static RAM, and improvement in access time was observed.     

High drive current NMOS with Si-SiGe heterostructure low electric field channel

A drive-current enhancement in NMOS with a compressively strained SiGe structure, which had been a difficult challenge for CMOS integration with strained SiGe high-hole-mobility PMOS, was successfully achieved using a Si-SiGe heterostructure low electric field channel of optimum thickness. A 4-nm-thick Si low-field-channel NMOS with a 4-nm-thick Si/sub 0.8/Ge/sub 0.2/ layer improved drive current by 10% with a 20% reduction in gate leakage current compared with Si-control, while suppressing threshold-voltage rolloff characteristic degradation, and demonstrated excellent I/sub on/--I/sub off/ characteristics of I/sub on/ = 1 mA//spl mu/m for I/sub off/ = 100 nA//spl mu/m. These results are the best in ever reported NMOS with a compressively strained SiGe structure and indicate that a Si-SiGe heterostructure low-field-channel NMOS integrated with a compressively strained SiGe channel PMOS is a promising candidate for high-speed CMOS in 65-nm node logic technology.     

Rapid isothermal processing with electron beams of small-geometry CMOS devices

Small-geometry CMOS devices with shallow n⁺and p⁺source-drain regions formed by arsenic and boron difluoride ion implantation, respectively, have been studied. Activation of implants was produced by a single rapid isothermal anneal using the multiple-scan electron-beam approach. Transistor and circuit simulations were used to determine a requirement for the source-drain region of a sheet resistance of < 100 Ω/square with a junction depth of less than 0.2 µm in 1-µm channel length devices. These values cannot be obtained by conventional furnace annealing at 950°C, but can be achieved by a single heat treatment With an e-beam. E-beam-annealed devices have a reverse-bias junction leakage similar to furnace-annealed control samples, and show improvements in short-channel effects such as short-channel threshold voltage shifts and punchthrough, without introducing other deleterious effects.     

A novel dual p-/p+ poly gate CMOS VLSItechnology

A CMOS VLSI technology using p^- and p⁺ poly gates for NMOS and PMOS devices is presented. Due to the midgap work function of the p^- poly gate, the NMOS native threshold voltage is 0.7 V and, therefore, no additional threshold adjust implantation is required. The NMOS transistor is a surface-channel device with improved field-effect mobility and lower body effect due to the reduction in the channel doping concentration. In addition, the p ^- poly gate is shown to be compatible with p⁺ poly-gated surface-channel PMOS devices     

A novel double offset-implanted source/drain technology for reduction of gate-induced drain-leakage with 0.12-/spl mu/m single-gate low-power SRAM device

A new double offset-implanted (DOI) technology, which can effectively suppress the gate-induced drain-leakage (GIDL) current of buried-channel PMOS transistor in small-size CMOS devices, is proposed and developed with a 0.12-/spl mu/m single-gate low-power SRAM device. The DOI scheme is characterized by the usage of the silicon nitride etch-stopper for the formation of borderless W-contact as offset spacer without supplementing auxiliary processes at p+ source/drain (S/D) implantation process after the n+ S/D one. It is assured that the DOI technology makes the gate-to-S/D overlap controllable, so that the GIDL current of PMOS transistor can remarkably be reduced. Furthermore, the enhancement of CMOS transistor performance was possible by reducing the sidewall reoxidation thickness of the gate-poly Si and optimizing the implantation conditions with this technology.     

An efficient noise isolation technique for SOC application

A highly efficient CMOS process technique of suppressing the transmission of high-frequency noise induced by spiral inductors, ultrafast-switching MOS gates, or supply ringing through silicon substrate has been attained. The isolated n/sup +/-pocket structure formed by a promising process technique designed in this work has proven to be most effective in guarding vulnerable devices from remnant high-frequency noise roaming in the substrate among the structures we have used in the experiment: p/sup +/ guard ring, proton implant, and pocket structures. Excellent noise suppression efficiency of -75 dB with source and sense separated by only 21 /spl mu/m at 1 GHz has been achieved for the test keys with n/sup +/-pocket structure in contrast to -38 dB at 1GHz of unprotected devices. The isolated n/sup +/-pocket structure has manifested itself to possess the potential of becoming a key technology for mixed-mode circuits in future success of Si-based wireless communication system-on-chip (SOC) applications.     

Design and Characteristics of the Lightly Doped Drain-Source (LDD) Insulated Gate Field-Effect Transistor

The LDD structure, where narrow, self-aligned n/sup -/ regions are introduced between the channel and the n/sup +/ source-drain diffusions of an IGFET to spread the high field at the drain pinchoff region and thus reduce the maximum field intensity, is analyzed. The design is shown, including optimization of then- dimensions and concentrations and the boron channel doping profile and an evaluation of the effect of the series resistance of the n- regions on device transconductance. Characteristics of experimental devices are presented and compared to those of conventional IGFET's. It is shown that significant improvements in breakdown voltages, hot-electron effects, and short-channel threshold effects can be achieved allowing operation at higher voltage, e.g., 8.5 versus 5 V, with shorter source-drain spacings, e.g., 1.2 versus 1.5 /spl mu/m. Alternatively, a shorter channel length could be used for a given supply voltage. Performance projections are shown which predict 1.7 X basic device/circuit speed enhancement over conventional structures. Due to the higher voltages and higher frequency operation, the higher performance results in an increase in power which must be considered in a practical design.