Patent Abstract:
A trench device with collar oxide for isolation. A buried trench capacitor is formed in a lower portion of a deep trench in a substrate. A conductive layer, surrounded by a collar insulating layer and lower than the collar insulating layer, is deposited in an upper portion of the trench. The collar insulating layer lining the trench is partially removed to expose a portion of the surface of the substrate such that a portion of the conductive layer contacts the substrate. A buried strap is formed where the substrate contacts the conductive layer, as a single-side buried strap. The other portions of the conductive layer are isolated from the substrate by the collar insulating layer. Thus, conventional shallow trench isolation (STI) structure is omitted.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates in general to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly, to a deep trench capacitor structure of a volatile memory cell with an improved isolation structure, and method for forming the same. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   A typical dynamic random access memory cell (DRAM) is composed of a switching transistor and a coupled storage capacitor. 512 MB DRAM is now widely available. There has been still an increased interest in the electronic industry for higher density and higher speed memory cell devices. Research and development efforts are made on an ongoing basis to develop faster and, correspondingly, smaller DRAM devices. Currently, conventional 2D design is gradually being replaced by 3D vertical design in DRAM fabrication. Areas transistors and capacitors occupy on a DRAM cell is greatly reduced by fabricating the capacitor in a deep trench in a semiconductor substrate, thereby minimizing the size of memory cells and power consumption and also increasing operating speeds. 
     FIG. 1  shows a conventional deep trench structure of a DRAM cell. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a deep trench (DT)  11  is formed in a p-type semiconductor silicon substrate  10 . A deep trench capacitor  12  is then fabricated on the bottom portion of DT  11 , which includes a buried plate  14 ; a node dielectric layer  16  and a storage node  18 . The deep trench (DT)  11  can be conventionally formed in the p-type semiconductor substrate  10  by reactive ion etching (RIE). A high-temperature and short-term annealing process using a heavily-doped oxide material (such as arsenic silica glass (ASG)) is then performed. N +  ions are diffused into the silicon substrate  10  at the lower portion of the deep trench DT  11 , thus forming an n + -type diffusion region  14  to serve as the buried plate of the deep trench capacitor  12 . A silicon nitride liner  16  is then formed on the bottom and lower portion sidewall of the trench  11 , serving as a node dielectric layer. N-doped polysilicon is deposited into the deep trench  11  and recessed to a predetermined thickness, which serves as storage node  18  of the deep trench capacitor  12 . 
   After a deep trench capacitor  12  is formed in p-type semiconductor substrate  10 , a collar insulating layer  20  is formed, lining the sidewall of the deep trench  11  above the deep trench capacitor  12 , and recessed to a predetermined depth. Second and third n-doped polysilicon layers  22  and  24  are then deposited onto the deep trench capacitor  12  sequentially. One side of the third polysilicon layer and a portion of the second polysilicon are etched to form shallow trench isolation (STI) structure  26  to isolate two adjacent memory cells. Word lines WL 1  and WL 2 , source/drain regions  28 , a bit line contact plug (CB) and a bit line (BL) are fabricated subsequently on/in the p-type silicon substrate  10 . With a thermal process, the n-type dopants in the third polysilicon layer  24  diffuse into the contiguous silicon substrate  10  from the side without collar insulating layer  20  to form a buried strap  30  that fuses to source/drain region  28  as a node junction and connects the third and second polysilicon layers  22  and  24  and the deep trench capacitor  12  in the deep trench  11 . 
   However, seams or crystal lattice defects occur when shrinking shallow trench isolation structures, thereby reducing the reliability of memory cells. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   One object of the invention is to provide a deep trench structure with single-side buried strap and a method for fabricating the same, which utilizes collar insulating layer for isolation, thereby reducing memory cell size. 
   Another object of the invention is to provide a deep trench structure with single-side buried strap, which utilizes collar insulating layer to replace conventional STI structures, thereby simplifying the fabrication. 
   To achieve these objects, a deep trench device structure and a method for making the same are provided. A deep trench is formed in a semiconductor substrate, and a buried trench capacitor is formed in the lower portion of the deep trench. A collar insulating layer is then formed lining the upper sidewall of the deep trench. A first conductive layer is deposited overlying the buried trench capacitor in the trench and surrounded by and lower than the collar insulating layer. A first portion of the collar insulating layer on the sidewall of the deep trench is then removed to expose a first portion of the semiconductor substrate while a second portion of the collar insulating layer remains to isolate a second portion of the semiconductor substrate. A second conductive layer is subsequently formed overlying the first conductive layer in the trench, wherein the second conductive layer is lower than the surface of the semiconductor substrate and a portion of the second conductive layer is isolated from the semiconductor substrate by the second portion of the collar insulating layer. Finally, a buried strap region is formed by thermal treatment in the semiconductor substrate directly in contact with the second conductive layer without isolation by the collar insulating layer. 
   A deep trench structure with single-side buried strap is then formed by the above method. One side of the first and second conductive layers in the deep trench is isolated from the semiconductor substrate by the collar insulating layer. The other side of the first conductive layer in the deep trench is still isolated by the collar insulating layer, but a proton of the second conductive layer on the other side of the deep trench directly contacts the semiconductor substrate. Therefore, after a proper thermal treatment, dopants in the second conductive layer can diffuse out to the contiguous semiconductor substrate, thereby forming a single-side buried strap in the semiconductor substrate. A conventional STI structure is replaced by a collar insulating layer. 
   A detailed description is given in the following, with reference to the accompanying drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
       FIG. 1  shows a conventional deep trench structure of a DRAM cell; 
       FIG. 2  shows a partial layout of a DRAM array of the invention; 
       FIGS. 3 to 8  show fabrication of a deep trench device structure with a single-side buried strap along  1 — 1  direction in  FIG. 2  of the invention; and 
       FIG. 9  is a cross-section showing a DRAM cell with a deep trench device structure with a single-side buried strap along  1 — 1  direction in  FIG. 2 , formed as shown in  FIGS. 3 to 8 ; 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 2  shows a partial layout of a DRAM array of the invention.  FIGS. 3 to 8  show fabrication of a deep trench device structure with a single-side buried strap along  1 — 1  direction in  FIG. 2 . 
   In  FIG. 3 , a pad layer  43 , such as a silicon nitride layer, is formed on the surface of a semiconductor silicon substrate  40 . Deep trenches (DT hereinafter)  41 A and  41 B are formed in the silicon substrate  40 . Deep trench capacitors  42 A and  42 B are formed in the lower portion of the deep trenches  41 A and  41 B respectively by conventional process as described previously. A deep trench capacitor includes a buried plate  44  in the substrate  40  surrounding the deep trench, a node dielectric layer  46  and a storage node  48 . A p-type semiconductor silicon substrate  40  is exemplified hereinafter. Deep trenches (DT)  41 A and  41 B are formed in the substrate  40  by a patterned pad layer  41  and reactive ion etching (RIE). High-temperature and short-term annealing using a heavily-doped oxide material (such as arsenic silica glass (ASG)) is performed. N-type ions are out-diffused into the p-type semiconductor substrate  40  at the lower portion of the DT  41 A and  41 B to form n-doped diffusion areas  44  in the substrate  40 , serving as buried plates surrounding DT  41 A and  41 B respectively. Lining layers  46  are then formed on the bottom and sidewalls of DT  41 A and  41 B respectively. The preferred layer  46  is composed of silicon nitride, oxide-nitride (ON) dual-layers, or oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) tri-layers, and serves as a node dielectric layer. N-doped polysilicon layers  48  are deposited to fill DT  41 A and  41 B and then recessed to a predetermined thickness. The exposed dielectric layers  46  on the sidewalls of DT  41 A and  42 B are also removed, as shown in  FIG. 3 . The polysilicon layers  48 A and  48 B serve as storage nodes and the dielectric layers  46  interposed between the polysilicon layers  48 A and  48 B and the n-type diffusion areas  44  serve as node dielectric layers of the deep trench capacitor  42 A and  42 B respectively. 
   In  FIG. 4 , collar insulating layers  50 A and  50 B are formed on sidewall of DT  41 A and  41 B above the deep trench capacitors  42 A and  42 B respectively. The exposed sidewalls of DT  41 A and  41 B are oxidized to form silicon oxide layers. An oxide layer, such as tetra ethyle ortho silicate (TEOS), is deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), conformally on the surface of the pad layer  43  and the inner surface of DT  41 A and  41 B at a thickness of 200 to 300 Å. The oxide layer on the surface of pad layer  43  and on the top of the deep trench capacitors  42 A and  42 B are removed by anisotropic dry etching, thereby forming collar insulating layers  50 A and  50 B on the sidewalls of DT  41 A and  41 B above deep trench capacitors  42 A and  42 B respectively, as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
   An n-type doped second polysilicon layer is deposited on the substrate  40  and fills DT  41 A and  41 B. Excess n-type doped polysilicon layer on the pad layer  43  is removed by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). The n-type doped polysilicon in DT  41 A and  41 B are then recessed to a predetermined depth below the surface of the p-type substrate  40  as polysilicon layers  52 A and  52 B, as  FIG. 4  shows. 
   In  FIG. 5 , a lining layer  53  and an undoped polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer  55  are deposited conformally on the surface of the pad layer  43  and the DT  41 A and  41 B. Preferably, the lining layer  53  is a silicon nitride layer at a thickness of about 100 Å formed by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). An undoped polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer  55  is then deposited by LPCVD on the surface of the lining layer  53  at a thickness of about 50 to 100 Å. As  FIG. 5  shows, the lining layer  53  and the undoped polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer  55  conformally cover the collar insulating layers  50 A and  50 B and the underlying polysilicon conductive layers  52 A and  52 B. 
   As further shown in  FIG. 5 , tilt ion implantation is performed on the undoped polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer  55  at a preferred tilt implant angle of 7° to 15°, implantation energy from 5 to 20 KeV, and with implantation dosage of 1×10 14  to 1×10 15  ions/cm 2 . The preferred dopant is BF 2  or B. Due to the high aspect ratio of DT  41 A and  41 B, a portion of the undoped polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer  55  on the DT  41 A and  41 B and on the top surface of the polysilicon conductive layers  52 A and  52 B will be shielded and not implanted, as shown in  FIG. 5 . Meanwhile, the silicon nitride lining layer  53  can prevent the underlying collar insulating layers  50 A and  50 B from implantation and serve as a hard mask in the subsequent process. 
   In  FIG. 6 , the unimplanted undoped polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer  55  is removed by selective wet etching to expose the underlying lining layer  53 , with different etching rates for each. In a preferred embodiment, when BF 2  or B is utilized as dopant, low concentration ammonium solution is used as the selective wet etching solution. The etching rate of low concentration ammonium solution to the unimplanted n-doped polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer is much higher than that implanted. Thus, the unimplanted undoped polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer is etched to expose the underlying lining layer  53 . 
   The exposed lining layer  53  is then etched with the remaining implanted undoped polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer  55  as a mask to expose collar insulating layers  50 A and  50 B on one sidewall of DT  41 A and  41 B. The exposed collar insulating layers  50 A and  50 B are subsequently removed with the remaining implanted undoped polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer  55  and the lining layer  53  as a mask to form lower collar insulating layers  50 A′ and  50 B′ on one sidewall of DT  41 A and  41 B respectively, as  FIG. 7  shows. The remaining implanted undoped polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer  55  and the lining layer  53  are then removed, thereby forming DT  41 A and  41 B with high collar insulating layers  50 A and  50 B on one sidewall and lower collar insulating layers  50 A′ and  50 B′ of the opposite sidewall. As  FIG.7  shows, a first portion of the collar insulating layers  50 A and  50 B are removed from the deep trench to form lower collar insulating layers  50 A′ and  50 B′ exposing a portion of the substrate  40 . A second portion of the collar insulating layers  50 A and  50 B remain to form high collar insulating layers and isolate the substrate  40 . 
   In  FIG. 8 , a third n-type doped polysilicon layer is deposited on DT  41 A and  41 B. The excess polysilicon layer on the pad layer  43  is removed by CMP. The polysilicon layers  54 A and  54 B in DT  41 A and  41 B respectively are recessed to below a predetermined surface of the substrate  40 . As shown in  FIG. 8 , one side of polysilicon layers  54 A and  54 B is isolated by higher collar insulating layer  50 A and  50 B from the substrate  10 . However, since the collar insulating layers  50 A′ and  50 B′ are lower than the polysilicon layers  54 A and  54 B on the opposite side, a portion of the polysilicon layers  54 A and  54 B directly contact the substrate  40 . With an extra thermal treatment or in the subsequent thermal process, the n-type dopants in the polysilicon layers  54 A and  54 B will diffuse out to the p-type silicon substrate  40  without the barrier of the collar insulating layers  50 A′ and  50 B′, thereby forming single-side buried strap regions  60 A and  60 B in the substrate  40  adjacent to DT  41 A and  41 B respectively. The pad layer  43  is planarized after deep trench devices are formed. 
     FIG. 9  is a cross-section showing a DRAM cell with a deep trench device structure with a single-side buried strap along  1 — 1  direction in  FIG. 2 , formed by the above process. After deep trench device structures with single-side buried straps are formed, a gate electrode (GC), source/drain regions  58  and a bit line contact plug (BC) are formed on the surface of the semiconductor silicon substrate  40  by conventional process. As shown in  FIG. 9 , the single-side buried strap  60 B diffuses out to contact the source/drain region  58  of the transistor, serving as a node junction to connect the polysilicon layer  54 B,  52 B and the underlying deep trench capacitor  42 B in DT  41 B. The DT  41 B is isolated from the adjacent transistor by a higher collar insulating layer  50 B, thereby omitting a conventional STI structure. 
   While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7