Patent Abstract:
A semiconductor device includes a transistor disposed on a substrate, a first insulation layer, a second insulation layer, an epitaxy and a conductive material. The first insulation layer is disposed on the substrate and protruding over the transistor. The first insulation layer has a recess to expose a top portion of the transistor. The second insulation layer is disposed on the first insulation layer and conforms to the recess and exposes the top portion of the transistor. The epitaxy is disposed in the recess of the first insulation layer and overlaps the top portion of the transistor. The epitaxy conforms to sidewalls of the recess of the first insulation layer. The conductive material is disposed in the recess of the first insulation layer. The conductive material is electrically connected to the top portion of the transistor through the epitaxy,

Full Description:
[0001]    This application is a divisional application of the application Ser. No. 14/048,008 field on Oct. 7, 2013, which is herein incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Technical Field 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an electronic device, more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. 
         [0004]    Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    Among semiconductor memory devices, dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) have been widely used. Generally, each cell of a DRAM has a MOS transistor which enables data charges in the storage capacitor to move in data read and write operations. 
         [0006]    To be highly integrated, the DRAM should have a capacitor with a sufficient storage capacity and a small unit cell size. In particular, a general approach to reduce a production cost of DRAM is to increase an integration level. To improve an integration density of the DRAM cell, a unit cell size of the DRAM cell needs to be reduced. However, as a semiconductor device is shrunk, characteristics of the transistor of the semiconductor device are degraded by a short channel effect. To solve this issue, on one hand, various structures of planar transistor have been suggested to extend the channel length; however, there are still various concerns to limit it from manufacturing. On the other hand, vertical transistors have been suggested to solve the issue. A vertical transistor has doped source and drain regions, which are formed in a vertical direction, and thus a channel region is vertically formed in a substrate: however, it is difficult to control a body voltage in the vertical transistor having a channel region formed of an undoped silicon (Si) in the related art. Therefore, the vertical transistor has a difficulty in effectively controlling phenomena such as a punch-through effect or a floating body effect. That is, while the vertical transistor is not in operation, a gate induced drain leakage (GIDL) effect is caused due to holes accumulated in a body. Thereby, a current loss in the transistor frequently occurs and charges stored in a capacitor are drained so that a loss of original data is caused. Given the above, improvements in structural design of a semiconductor device h both planar and vertical transistors, and a method for manufacturing thereof are studied aggressively in this field. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    The present disclosure is to provide a semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the same, which reduce the short channel effect while the dimension of the transistor of the semiconductor device is reduced. Furthermore, the risk of short circuit of adjacent transistors is also avoided. 
         [0008]    The present disclosure, in one aspect, relates to a method for fabricating a semiconductor device including the following steps. First, a substrate having at least one transistor is provided. A first insulation layer is formed to cover the transistor. The first insulation layer is patterned to form at least one opening, wherein a part of the transistor is exposed by the opening. At last, an epitaxy is formed in the opening to cover the part of the transistor. 
         [0009]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further comprises implanting the epitaxy to form a lightly doped epitaxy. 
         [0010]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further comprises fulfilling the opening with a conductive material. 
         [0011]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first insulation layer s formed by chemical vapor deposition. 
         [0012]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, before forming the epitaxy, the method further comprises forming a second insulating layer on the first insulation layer, and patterning the second insulation layer to form the opening, wherein the part of the transistor is exposed by the opening of the first and the second insulation layer. 
         [0013]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the second insulation layer is formed by chemical vapor deposition. 
         [0014]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the transistor is a vertical silicon pillar with a source electrode at the top of the vertical silicon pillar, a drain electrode at the bottom of the vertical silicon pillar, and a gate electrode substantially at the middle of the vertical silicon pillar, the source electrode is the part exposed by the opening and covered by the epitaxy. 
         [0015]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the transistor is a vertical silicon pillar with a drain electrode at the top of the vertical silicon pillar, a source electrode at the bottom of the vertical silicon pillar, and a gate electrode substantially at the middle of the vertical silicon pillar, the drain electrode is the part exposed by the opening and covered by the epitaxy. 
         [0016]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the transistor has a source, a drain and a gate electrode which are substantially coplanar, at least one of the source and drain electrode is the part exposed by the opening and covered by the epitaxy. 
         [0017]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the substrate is silicon and the epitaxy is epitaxial silicon. 
         [0018]    The present disclosure, in another aspect, relates to a semiconductor device comprises at least one transistor disposed on a substrate, a first insulation layer, a epitaxy, and a conductive material. The first insulation layer is disposed on the substrate and covers the transistor, wherein the first insulation layer has an opening to expose a part of the transistor. The epitaxy is disposed in the bottom of the opening to covering the part of the transistor. The conductive material is disposed in and fulfills the opening, wherein the conductive material is electrically connected to the part of the transistor through the epitaxy, wherein the boundary of the epitaxy is adjacent to side alts of the opening. 
         [0019]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the top surface of the epitaxy is substantially flat. 
         [0020]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the transistor is a vertical silicon pillar with a drain electrode at the top of the vertical silicon pillar, a source electrode at the bottom of the vertical silicon pillar, and a gate electrode substantially at the middle of the vertical silicon pillar, the drain electrode is the part exposed by the opening and covered by the epitaxy. 
         [0021]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the transistor is a vertical silicon pillar with a source electrode at the top of the vertical silicon pillar, a drain electrode at the bottom of the vertical silicon pillar, and a gate electrode substantially at the middle of the vertical silicon pillar, the source electrode is the part exposed by the opening and covered by the epitaxy. 
         [0022]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the transistor has a source, a drain and a gate electrode which are substantially coplanar, at least one of the source and drain electrode is the part exposed by the opening and covered by the epitaxy. 
         [0023]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first insulation layer comprises silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or combination thereof. 
         [0024]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the semiconductor device further comprises a second insulation layer disposed on the first insulation layer, wherein the second insulation layer has the opening to expose the part of the transistor. 
         [0025]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the second insulation layer comprises silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or a combination thereof. 
         [0026]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the conductive material comprises poly silicon, tungsten, titanium, titanium nitride, or a combination thereof. 
         [0027]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the substrate is silicon and the epitaxy is doped-epitaxial silicon. 
         [0028]    In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure comprehensible, a preferred embodiment accompanied with figures is described in detail below. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0029]    The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. 
           [0030]      FIGS. 1 to 4  are sectional views of fabrication process of a semiconductor device according to the one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0031]      FIGS. 5 to 7  are sectional views of fabrication process of a semiconductor device according to the another embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0032]      FIGS. 8 to 11  are sectional views of fabrication process of a semiconductor device according to the another embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0033]      FIGS. 12  is a sectional view of a semiconductor device according to the another embodiment of the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
       [0034]    The present disclosure is described by the following specific embodiments. Those with ordinary skill in the arts can readily understand the other advantages and functions of the present disclosure after reading the disclosure of t his specification. The present disclosure can also be implemented with different embodiments. Various details described in this specification can be modified based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. 
         [0035]    As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Therefore, reference to, for example, a data sequence includes aspects having two or more such sequences, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. 
         [0036]    Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
         [0037]      FIGS. 1 to 4  are sectional views illustrating the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to  FIG. 1 , a substrate  110  having at least one transistor  120  is provided. The substrate  110  may be a silicon substrate with a plurality of bit line, and each bit line is electrically connected to the transistors  120  arranged in the same line, as the transistors  120  illustrated in  FIG. 1 . However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the transistor  120  is a vertical silicon pillar  122 . For example, vertical silicon pillars  122  may be arranged periodically and respectively corresponding to different cells of a DRAM. As shown in  FIG. 1 , in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the vertical silicon pillar  122  has a source electrode  124  at the top of the vertical silicon pillar  122 , a drain electrode  126  at the bottom of the vertical silicon pillar  122 , and a gate electrode  128  substantially at the middle of the vertical silicon pillar  122 . However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The relative positions of the source electrode  124  and the drain electrode  126  are exchangeable. In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the vertical silicon pillar  122  has the source electrode  124  at the bottom of the vertical silicon pillar  122 , accordingly, the drain electrode  126  at the top of the vertical silicon pillar  122 , and the gate electrode  128  substantially at the middle of the vertical silicon pillar. In general, the source electrode  124  and the drain electrode  126  may be formed in the vertical silicon pillar  122  by applying appropriate implant process to the vertical silicon pillar  122 . The gate electrode  128  comprises metal or doped semiconductor, and are positioned on both sides of the, vertical silicon pillar  122 . In  FIG. 1 , the vertical silicon pillars  122  are vertical transistors  120  on the substrate  110 , each vertical silicon pillar  122  has the source electrode  124  and the drain electrode  126  to form a current channel which is perpendicular to the extending direction of the substrate  110 , and the gate electrode  128  to control the current flows or not. For example, in DRAM application, the gate electrodes  128  can be word lines which are crossed to the bit lines on the substrate  110 . 
         [0038]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , a first insulation layer  130  is formed to cover the transistor  120 . The first insulation  130  includes, for example, silicon oxide. In some embodiments of the present disclosure the first insulation  130  may be formed by chemical vapor deposition. 
         [0039]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , the first insulation layer  130  is patterned to form at least one opening  132  wherein a part of the transistor  120  is exposed by the opening  132 . The first insulation  130  may be patterned, for example, by litho-etching process to form the openings  132 . The part of the transistor  120  exposed by the opening  132  is the source electrode  124  and/or the drain electrode  126  of the transistor  130 . As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the source electrode  124  is at the top of the vertical silicon pillar  122 , and the source electrode  124  is exposed for the following epitaxy formation. In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the drain electrode  126  is at the top of the vertical silicon pillar  122 , and the drain electrode  126  is exposed for the following epitaxy formation. 
         [0040]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , an epitaxy  140  is formed in the opening  132  to cover the part of the transistor  130 . As illustrated in  FIG. 3 , in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the source electrode  124  is exposed and the epitaxy  140  is formed on the source electrode  124 . In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the drain electrode  126  is exposed and the epitaxy  140  is formed on the source electrode  124 . The epitaxy  140  includes epitaxial silicon or other appropriate materials. The epitaxy  140  may be formed by selective CVD process to control the positions of the epitaxy  140  formed. For example, the growth of the epitaxy  140  only starts from the top of the silicon pillars  122  (the source electrode  124  or the drain electrode  126 ). It should be noticed that, since the epitaxy  140  is formed in the opening  132 , the growth of the epitaxy  140  is, confined by the opening  132 . It eliminates the risk that one epitaxy  140  contacts to another adjacent epitaxy  140 , therefore, the interference or short circuit of one transistor  120  and another adjacent transistor  120  is avoided. Besides, the shape of the epitaxy  140  is also confined by the opening  132 , therefore, the boundary of the epitaxy  140  is adjacent to sidewalls of the opening. Accordingly, the growth of the epitaxy  140  can be well controlled and the better uniformity between each epitaxy  140  on different transistors  120  can be achieved. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the epitaxy  140  can be further implanted (as the arrows illustrated in  FIG. 3 ) to form a lightly doped epitaxy to reduce the electrical field between junction and gate, thus the risk of current leakage can be reduced or eliminated. Further, the top surface of the epitaxy  140  may be substantially flat since the growth of the epitaxy  140  is confined by the opening  132  and the growth of the epitaxy  140  can be well controlled. It brings larger process margin for the following process, for example, cleaning and removing the native oxide formed on the epitaxy  140  before fulfilling with a conductive material. 
         [0041]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the opening  132  can be fulfilling with a conductive material  150 . The conductive material  150  includes, for example, poly silicon, tungsten, titanium, titanium nitride, or a combination thereof. The conductive material  150  may be formed by, for example, chemical vapor deposition, sputtering or other appropriate thin-film processes. As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the conductive material  150  contacts to the epitaxy  140 , and the conductive material  150  is also electrically connected to the top of the silicon pillars  122  (the source electrode  124  or the drain electrode  126 ) via the epitaxy  140 . It should be noticed that the epitaxy  140  extends the channel length of the transistor  120 . To be more specific, the channel length of the transistor  120  starts from the top of the epitaxy  140 , which contacts with the conductive material  150 , to the bottom of the silicon pillars  122 . As aforementioned, when the dimension of the transistor is reduced, its channel length will also decrease with ease leading to problems such as short channel effect and decrease in turn-on current. The epitaxy  140  in the present disclosure can be the extension of the top of the silicon pillars  122  (as the source or the drain electrode), thus extends the channel length of the transistor  120 . Therefore, the issues such as short channel effect and decrease in turn-on current can be improved or eliminated. In addition, it can also reduce the electric field formed between the top of the silicon pillars  122  (as the source or the drain electrode) and the gate electrode  128 , so as the gate electrode  128  can be affected less and perform better controllability to the transistor  120 . 
         [0042]    Referring to  FIG. 5 , in other embodiments of the present disclosure, before forming the epitaxy  140 , a second insulating layer  160  is formed on the first insulation layer  160 , and the second insulation layer  160  is patterned to form the opening  132 , wherein the part of the transistor  120  is exposed by the opening  132  of the first and the second insulation layer. The second insulation  160  may also be composed of a single layer of material or stacked layers of different materials. The second insulation  160  includes, for example, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second insulation  160  may be formed by chemical vapor deposition. The second insulation  160  may be patterned, for example, by litho-etching process to form the openings  132 . The part of the transistor  20  exposed by the opening  132  is the source electrode  124  and/or the drain electrode  126  of the transistor  130 . The second insulating layer  160  can be a denser film than the first insulating film  130 . Therefore, the second insulating layer  160  provides better resistance in the following implanting or cleaning process, thus extends the process margin of these following processes. As illustrated in  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7 , the epitaxy  140  is formed in the opening  132  to cover the part of the transistor  120  which is exposed by the opening  132  of the first insulation layer  130  and the second insulation layer  160 , and the conductive material  150  can also fulfill the opening  132  with a conductive material. The details of  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7  are similar to aforementioned embodiments illustrated in  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 , and therefore are omitted here. 
         [0043]      FIGS. 8 to 10  are sectional views illustrating the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to  FIG. 8 , a substrate  210  having at least one transistor  220  is provided. The substrate  210  may be a silicon substrate with a plurality of bit line, and each bit line is electrically connected to the transistors  220  arranged in the same line, as the transistors  220  illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The transistor  220  is a planar transistor which has a source electrode  224 , a drain electrode  226  and a gate electrode  228  which are substantially coplanar. In general, the source electrode  224  and the drain electrode  226  may be formed by applying appropriate implant process. The gate electrode  228  may comprises metal or doped semiconductor, and are positioned in the middle of the source electrode  224  and the drain electrode  226 . In  FIG. 8 , the transistors  220  are planar transistors  220  on the substrate  210 , each transistor  220  has the source electrode  224  and the drain electrode  226  to form a current channel which is horizontal to the extending direction of the substrate  210  and the gate electrode  228  to control the current flows. Referring to  FIG. 8 , a first insulation layer  230  is formed to cover the transistor  220 . The first insulation  230  includes, for example, silicon oxide. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first insulation  230  may be formed by chemical vapor deposition. 
         [0044]    Referring to  FIG. 9 , the first insulation layer  230  is patterned to form at least one opening  232  wherein a part of the transistor  220  is exposed by the opening  232 . The first insulation  230  may be patterned, for example, by litho-etching process to form the openings  232 . The part of the transistor  220  exposed by the opening  232  is the source electrode  224  and/or the drain electrode  226  of the transistor  230 . As illustrated in  FIG. 9 , in some embodiments of the present disclosure, both of the source electrode  224  and the drain electrode  226  are exposed for the following epitaxy formation. In some other embodiments of the present disclosure, only one of the source electrode  224  or the drain electrode  226  is exposed for the following epitaxy formation. 
         [0045]    Referring to  FIG. 10 , an epitaxy  240  is formed in the opening  232  to cover the part of the transistor  230 . As illustrated in  FIG. 10 , in some embodiments of the present disclosure, both of the source electrode  224  and the drain electrode  226  are exposed and the epitaxy  240  is formed on both of the source electrode  224  and the drain electrode  226  of the transistor  230 . The epitaxy  240  may be formed by selective CVD process to control the positions of the epitaxy  240  formed. It should be noticed that, since the epitaxy  240  is formed in the opening the growth of the epitaxy  240  is confined by the opening  132 . It eliminates the risk that one epitaxy  240  contacts to another adjacent epitaxy  240 , therefore, the interference or short circuit of one transistor  220  and another adjacent transistor  220  is avoided. Besides, the shape of the epitaxy  240  is also confined by the opening  232 , therefore, the boundary of the epitaxy  240  is adjacent to sidewalls of the opening. Accordingly, the growth of the epitaxy  240  can be well controlled and the better uniformity between each epitaxy  240  on different transistors  220  can be achieved. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the epitaxy  240  can be further implanted (as the arrows illustrated in  FIG. 10 ) to form a lightly doped epitaxy to reduce the electrical field between junction and gate, thus the risk of current leakage can be reduced or eliminated. Further, the top surface of the epitaxy  240  may be substantially flat since the growth of the epitaxy  240  is confined by the opening  232  and the growth of the epitaxy  240  can be controlled well. It brings larger process margin for the following process, for example, cleaning and removing the native oxide formed on the epitaxy  240  before fulfilling with a conductive material. 
         [0046]    Referring to  FIG. 11 , in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the opening  232  can be fulfilling with a conductive material  250 . The conductive material  250  includes, for example, poly silicon, tungsten, titanium, titanium nitride, or a combination thereof. The conductive material  250  may be formed by, for example, chemical vapor deposition, sputtering or other appropriate thin-film processes As illustrated in  FIG. 11 , the conductive material  250  contacts to the epitaxy  240 , and the conductive material  250  is also electrically connected to both of the source electrode  224  and the drain electrode  226  of the transistor  220  via the epitaxy  240 . Referring to  FIG. 12 , in some other embodiments of the present disclosure, the conductive material  250  contacts to the epitaxy  240 , and the conductive material  250  is only electrically connected to the source electrode  224  of the transistor  220  via the epitaxy  240 . However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments of the present disclosure, the conductive material  250  is only electrically connected to the source electrode  224  of the transistor  220  via the epitaxy  240 . It should be noticed that the epitaxy  240  extends the channel length of the transistor  220 . To be more specific, the channel length of the transistor  220  is the distance between the source electrode  224  and the drain electrode  226  which are contacted to the conductive material  250 . As aforementioned, when the dimension of the transistor is reduced, its channel length will also decrease with ease leading to problems such as short channel effect and decrease in turn-on current. The epitaxy  240  in the present disclosure can be considered as the extension of the source electrode  224  and the drain electrode  226 , thus the channel length of the transistor  220  is extended. Therefore, the issues such as short channel effect and decrease ire turn-on current can be proved or eliminated. 
         [0047]    In summary, according to the present disclosure, the epitaxy is introduced on at least one of the gate electrode and the drain electrode of the transistor of the semiconductor device. Therefore, the channel length of the transistor can be extended so as to reduce the issues such as short channel while the dimension of the transistor is reduced. Further, since the growth of the epitaxy is confined by the openings which are respectively corresponding to one electrode (the source electrode or the drain electrode) of the transistor. The risk of short circuit by one epitaxy contacts to another adjacent epitaxy is eliminated. Therefore, the interference of one transistor and another adjacent transistor is avoided. Besides, since the shape of the epitaxy is confined by the opening, the growth of the epitaxy can be well controlled and the better uniformity between each epitaxy on different transistors can be achieved. 
         [0048]    The present disclosure has been disclosed above in the preferred embodiments, but is not limited to those. It is known to persons skilled in the art that some modifications and innovations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should be defined by the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7