Patent ID: 11923201
Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 14:
15. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
depositing a first work function tuning layer over a high-k dielectric layer, the high-k dielectric layer being at least partially located within an interlayer dielectric layer;
removing a first portion of the first work function tuning layer; and
forming a protective layer on the high-k dielectric layer, wherein the high-k dielectric layer comprises a first metal and the protective layer comprises the first metal, the protective layer being located where the first portion of the first work function tuning layer was previously located, the forming the protective layer being performed under same process conditions as the removing the first portion of the first work function tuning layer, wherein the first metal is hafnium.