Patent Abstract:
A method for forming a gate for a FinFET uses a series of selectively deposited sidewalls along with other sacrificial layers to create a cavity in which a gate can be accurately and reliably formed. This technique avoids long directional etching steps to form critical dimensions of the gate that have contributed to the difficulty of forming FinFETs using conventional techniques. In particular, a sacrificial seed layer, from which sidewalls can be accurately grown, is first deposited over a silicon fin. Once the sacrificial seed layer is etched away, the sidewalls can be surrounded by another disposable layer. Etching away the sidewalls will result in cavities being formed that straddle the fin, and gate conductor material can then be deposited within these cavities. Thus, the height and thickness of the resulting FinFET gate can be accurately controlled by avoiding a long direction etch down the entire height of the fin.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to dual-gated transistors and, more particularly, to FinFETs.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     A field-effect transistor (FET) is a type of transistor commonly used in Ultra Large Scale Integration (ULSI). In the FET, current flows along a semiconductor path called the channel. At one end of the channel, there is an electrode called the source. At the other end of the channel, there is an electrode called the drain. The physical dimensions of the channel are fixed, but its number of electrical carriers can be varied by the application of a voltage to a control electrode called the gate. The conductivity of the FET depends, at any given instant in time, on the number of electrical carriers of the channel. A small change in gate voltage can cause a large variation in the current from the source to the drain. This is how the FET amplifies signals. In one popular type of FET, known as a MOSFET, the channel can be either N-type or P-type semiconductor. The gate electrode is a piece of metal whose surface is insulated from the channel by a dielectric layer between the gate electrode and the channel and there is little current between the gate and the channel during any part of the signal cycle. This gives the MOSFET an extremely large input impedance.  
         [0003]     One recent technique for improving the performance of field-effect transistors involves using dual-gates. In a dual-gated transistor, a top gate and a bottom gate are formed around an active region. Specifically, the advantages for dual gate devices over their single gate counterparts include: a higher transconductance and improved short-channel effects. As a result, higher device on-current is achieved for a given off-current.  
         [0004]     Within a dual gate device, the bottom gate must be aligned with the top gate, as well as the source and drain junctions, in order to avoid highly penalizing parasitic capacitance. Furthermore, the top and bottom gates must be connected by a low resistance path having low parasitic capacitances with the other elements present (e.g., substrate, drain, etc.). This alignment has proven very difficult with conventional fabrication techniques and a structure known as FinFET has been proposed as showing promise as a dual-gated device.  
         [0005]     A FinFET turns the silicon channel on its side thereby yielding access to a front gate and back gate from the top of the wafer during processing. This makes self-alignment of the source and drain regions and both gates relatively straightforward using conventional lithographic techniques. In a FinFET, the width of the device is determined by the height of the fin.  
         [0006]     When fabricating a FinFET using sidewall imaging transfer techniques, the spacer used to define the gate dimension wraps up and down the fin sidewalls. While a taller fin provides a device with more performance, it also results in a longer vertical distance over which the spacer runs. Thus, when etching the gate conductor material along the spacer&#39;s edges, the gate conductor must be etched down the entire height of the fin while maintaining a straight vertical profile and while not punching through other layers like the mask, or a protective cap. As a result, as the fins of FinFETs reach larger heights, techniques are needed that allow fabricating gate structures without requiring very long directional etching when forming dimension-critical features of the FinFET such as channel or gate length.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for forming a gate for a FinFET using a series of selectively deposited sidewalls along with other sacrificial layers to create a cavity in which a gate can be accurately and reliably formed. This technique avoids long directional etching steps to form critical dimensions of the gate that have contributed to the difficulty of forming FinFETs using conventional techniques. In particular, a sacrificial seed layer, from which sidewalls can be accurately grown, is first deposited over a silicon fin. Once the sacrificial seed layer is etched away, the sidewalls can be surrounded by another disposable layer. Etching away the sidewalls will result in cavities being formed that straddle the fin, and gate conductor material can then be formed within these cavities. Thus, the height and thickness of the resulting FinFET gate can be accurately controlled by avoiding a long direction etch down the entire height of the fin.  
         [0008]     One aspect of the present invention relates to a method of forming a gate for a FinFET. In accordance with this aspect, a first mandrel is formed over a substrate and a gate shape substantially perpendicular to the fin, wherein the mandrel includes a first and second vertical sidewall. The fin may be a silicon fin or be formed of other semiconductor material. A first sidewall spacer is formed on the first sidewall and a second sidewall spacer is formed on the second sidewall. The first mandrel is then removed and a second mandrel, or sacrificial film, is deposited over the sidewall spacers, the fin, and the substrate. A first and a second cavity are created by removing the first and second sidewall spacers from within the second mandrel and a respective gate is formed within each of the first and second cavities. Another aspect of the present invention relates to a FinFET gate structure fabricated using the method described above.  
         [0009]     Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to an intermediate structure formed while constructing a FinFET gate. In accordance with this aspect of the invention, the intermediate structure includes a planarized mandrel layer that covers a silicon fin formed on a substrate. This planarized mandrel layer includes a cavity that extends through the mandrel layer thereby exposing a portion of the silicon fin and substrate. More precisely, the cavity has a width that determines a channel length of a first gate portion of the FinFET. Within this cavity, a gate conductor is deposited so as to form the first gate portion over the fin. In accordance with this aspect of the invention, a second cavity can also be formed in the mandrel and filled with gate conductor so as to form a second gate portion of the FinFET.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  illustrates a conventionally formed capped semiconductor fin on a wafer.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  illustrates a first mandrel formed over the fin of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  illustrates a resist layer deposited over the ends of the mandrel of  FIG. 2 .  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  illustrates sidewalls grown on each side of the mandrel of  FIG. 2 .  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  illustrates the sidewalls of  FIG. 4  after the first mandrel is removed.  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  illustrates a planarized mandrel formed over the sidewalls on the wafer.  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  illustrates the device of  FIG. 6  after the sidewalls have been etched away leaving two cavities within the planarized mandrel.  
         [0017]      FIG. 8  illustrates the device of  FIG. 7  after the cavities have been filled with a gate material.  
         [0018]      FIG. 9  illustrates the device of  FIG. 8  after the planarized mandrel has been removed.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0019]      FIG. 1  depicts an initial structure in forming the FinFET. Using conventional photolithography techniques, a capped semiconductor fin  100 , such as silicon, is formed on an insulating substrate  102 . The capped semiconductor fin  100  includes protective nitride film  106  that is formed along the top of the semiconductor material  104 . Next, referring to  FIG. 2 , a mandrel  202  is formed across the fin  100 . Mandrel  202  is an organic material, the surface of which is then modified by exposure to a sililating agent such as hexamethyl-cyclotrisilazane or hexamethyl-disilazane. This exposure converts the surface of the mandrel  202  to a silicon containing organic polymer. This surface layer is subsequently oxidized in a dry oxygen containing plasma, such as RIE, downstream ozone, or such. As a result, the mandrel  202  is formed so as to facilitate selective oxide growth in liquid phase oxide deposition, but can be selectively stripped with respect to the growth oxide.  
         [0020]     The mandrel material is deposited substantially over the entire wafer  102  and fin  100  of  FIG. 1  and then planarized and patterned using conventional techniques. If the mandrel material is deposited in a non-conformal manner (e.g., spun on), then no planarization is required. If conformally applied, however, chemical-mechanical polishing is used to planarize the mandrel  202  and RIE or directional etching is used to selectively remove unwanted portions of the mandrel material. Although a variety of feature dimensions can be selected within the scope of the present invention, the exemplary embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , utilizes a fin having a thickness between approximately 5 to 100 nm, a height between approximately 30 to 150 nm, and a length of approximately 100 to 150 nm. The dimensions of the mandrel can vary widely but will typically be about twice as tall as the fin  100 .  
         [0021]     One advantageous method of forming the mandrel  202  is described below although one of ordinary skill would recognize other functionally-equivalent methods are contemplated as well.  
         [0022]     The first mandrel  202  is formed of a material that can be used as the underlying substrate for a later step of selectively depositing silicon oxide. The silicon oxide spacers will be formed on the mandrel  202  by selectively growing on the side surfaces of the mandrel  202  without growing on the silicon (or other semiconductor) surfaces of the capped fin  100 .  
         [0023]     In particular, for oxide deposition to occur, the surfaces of the mandrel  202  should include hydroxy silicon functionalities such as would be provided if the surfaces incorporated therein some hydroxy silicon species. In general, the mandrel  202  is formed from any of a variety of organosilicon polymer materials after which the resulting organosilicon surface is treated with an oxygen plasma to create the hydroxy silicon functionality.  
         [0024]     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , one specific embodiment of the present invention includes spin applying a film  206  of organosiloxane bottom anti-reflective coating. In particular, the film  206  is spun-on to a thickness of approximately twice that of the capped fin  100 . This intermediate structure (now shown) is soft baked to remove the solvents of the film. An exemplary soft bake is one ramped from 150° C. to 250° C. for about 2 minutes.  
         [0025]     After the soft bake, a resist layer  204  is spun over the organosiloxane. The resist layer  204  is exposed and developed to create the mandrel pattern. The organosiloxane is then etched to form the mandrel  202  shown in  FIG. 2 .  
         [0026]     After the mandrel  202  is etched, a brief oxygen RIE step is used to create hydroxy silicon species on the exposed vertical surfaces of the organosiloxane  206 . The hydroxy silicon species serve to act as nucleation sites for the selective growth of silicon dioxide. The resist layer  204  remains to act as a mask during the silicon oxide deposition process.  
         [0027]     Additional resist areas  301  and  303  are formed over the etched mandrel  202  as shown in  FIG. 3 . This figure shows a resist layer at each “end” of the substrate  102  although alternative embodiments of the present invention contemplate omitting one of these structures. To prevent intermixing between resist layers  301  and  303  with the resist layer  204 , an intermediate UV-harden process can be performed. The resist areas  301  and  303  are conventionally patterned so as to be formed in areas where it is not desired to have a sidewall spacer formed.  
         [0028]     Once the substrate resembles that of  FIG. 3 , the silicon surface of the capped fin  100  is cleaned to remove any silicon dioxide. This cleaning is typically performed by using dilute HF, or similar material, to clean the silicon substrate prior to oxide growth.  
         [0029]     As is conventionally known, liquid phase deposition of silicon dioxide is then performed to deposit oxide on the side surfaces of the mandrel  202 . Such as, for example, by immersing the structure in an aqueous bath saturated with silicon oxide at 25-35° C. As a result, the sidewall spacers, or oxide regions,  402  and  404  are formed as shown in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0030]     The thickness of the regions  402  and  404  will determine the desired channel length or gate conductor width, of the resulting transistor and can be controlled with great accuracy. In an advantageous embodiment, each region  402  and  404  are approximately 15-100 nm thick.  
         [0031]     After the oxide deposition is complete, the organosiloxane  206  is removed with a solvent process such as NE-98 (by ATMI) or CC-1 (by Air Products-ACT). The resist layers  204 ,  301  and  303  are removed prior to this wet strip process such as by a downstream ozone stripper or other, similar process. The resulting structure is shown in  FIG. 5 . As shown, the remaining sidewall spacers  402 ,  404  are no longer supported by the surrounding mandrels and resist layer. Accordingly, as an intermediate step before removing the mandrel  202 , TEOS may be deposited so that it is formed between the bottom of each sidewall spacer  402 ,  404  and the substrate  102 . The formation of TEOS, approximately 10-20 Å thick, in this area will adhere the sidewall spacers  402 ,  404  to the substrate  102  and help stabilize the structure of  FIG. 5  during subsequent steps. In the exemplary embodiment depicted in  FIG. 5 , each sidewall spacer  402 ,  404  extends on each side of the fin  100  for a distance of approximately 25-100 nm giving the sidewall spacers  402 , 404  a total length of between 200-350 nm.  
         [0032]     This resulting structure is covered with a disposable layer  502  or a second mandrel that is planarized, as shown in  FIG. 6 , such as by a CMP step. For example, the disposable layer  502  can be an organic fill material that offers etch selectivity with respect to the sidewall spacers  402 ,  404  and withstands oxidation and high temperatures. One example of such a material is known as “Black Diamond” and is available from Applied Materials. Depending on the subsequent process steps and the temperatures likely to be encountered, disposable layer  502  may be other than an organic fill material. For example, in one alternative, the disposable layer  502  may be Germanium, if the gate process allows it. Furthermore, as  FIG. 6  depicts, the planarization of the layer  502  is accomplished until the tops of the sidewall spacers  402 , 404  are exposed. Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) or other planarizing techniques are used to finish the disposable layer  502  to the desired height.  
         [0033]     Referring now to  FIG. 7 , with the tops of the sidewall spacers  402 ,  404  exposed, a selective etch is performed which removes the sidewall spacers  404 ,  402  to create respective holes  602 , 604  through the disposable layer  502 . This etch step removes the sidewall spacers  402 ,  404  without disturbing the fin  100  and substrate  102  that are underneath each portion  402 ,  404 . Thus, with these holes  602 ,  604  opened, parts of the substrate  102 , semiconductor fin  104  and nitride film  106  are exposed.  
         [0034]     Optionally, the nitride film  106  that is exposed in each of the holes  602 ,  604  is etched away allowing for a three-sided gate. This exposes the top of the semiconductor fin  104  in each of the holes  602 ,  604  and permits the depositing or growth of a gate dielectric on the exposed surfaces (i.e., top and sides) of the fin  104 . Once a gate dielectric layer has been formed, the holes  602 ,  604  are filled with gate material  702 ,  704 , such as polysilicon, as shown in  FIG. 8  to form gates on three sides of the fin  104 . In one embodiment, the holes  602 ,  604  are overfilled with gate material  702 ,  704  and then planarized to the top surface of the disposable layer  502 . The disposable layer  502  can now be removed selective to the semiconductor fin  104  and cap  106 , as well as to the gate dielectric material (not shown). For example, if the disposable layer  502  is organic material then it can be dry-stripped with oxygen plasma; while if it is Germanium, then hydrogen-peroxide may be used to etch it.  
         [0035]     The completed gate structure  800  is depicted in  FIG. 9 . In particular, the semiconductor fin  104  is straddled by two vertical gate structures  702  and  704  formed atop the substrate  102 . Once the structure of  FIG. 9  is complete, source and drain areas can be formed, using conventional techniques, on each side of the fin along with contacts and other features if desired. Thus, a method has been described that results in a FinFET gate structure but avoids long directional etches when forming dimension-critical features such as gate or channel length.  
         [0036]     Various modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the invention lies in the claims hereinafter appended. For example, the step of trimming the sidewall spacers can be performed so as to completely remove the sidewall on one side of the fin thereby leaving only one sidewall spacer over the fin. With this structure in place, only one cavity would be formed when the sidewall spacer is etched away, resulting in a single gate over the semiconductor fin.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7