Patent ID: 7446015
Filing Date: 2008-11-04
Classification: H01L

Abstract:
1. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of: (a) forming a circuit formation region including a plurality of element formation regions surrounded by isolation regions, respectively, in a main surface of a semiconductor substrate; (b) forming a stress effect control region of a predetermined width around the circuit formation region in the main surface of the semiconductor substrate to control a stress effect of the isolation regions on the operation characteristics of elements formed in the element formation regions; and (c) forming a plurality of dummy features in the stress effect control region and other part of the circuit formation region than the element formation regions at predetermined distances, the dummy features having the same composition as the element formation regions and predetermined planar dimensions; wherein the step (c) comprises the steps of: determining the predetermined planar dimensions of the dummy features as the longitudinal and transverse dimensions most frequently found in the plurality of element formation regions formed in the circuit formation region or defining the predetermined planar dimensions of the dummy features as selected dimensions of the element formation regions; obtaining the dependence of the stress from the isolation regions to the dummy features on the width of the isolation regions; and specifying the predetermined distances between the dummy features as such longitudinal and transverse dimensions that certain stresses are caused by the isolation regions to the circuit formation region in the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction, respectively, based on the dependence on the width of the isolation regions, and wherein the dependence on the isolation region width is a relationship in which the stress caused on the dummy feature by the isolation region decreases with an increase in planar dimensions of the dummy feature when the width of the isolation region is fixed, and the stress caused on the dummy feature by the isolation region decreases with a decrease in width of the isolation region when the width of the dummy feature is fixed.