Patent ID: 7632727

Claim:
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprising: forming a gate structure overlying a layer of semiconductor material; forming spacers adjacent sidewalls of the gate structure; implanting ions of an amorphizing species at a tilted angle toward the gate structure and into the semiconductor material, using the gate structure and the spacers as an implantation mask, to form amorphized regions in the semiconductor material; selectively removing the amorphized regions while the spacers remain intact and without forming additional spacers, resulting in corresponding recesses in the semiconductor material; deepening the recesses while the spacers remain intact and without forming additional spacers, to form deepened recesses in the semiconductor material; and at least partially filling the deepened recesses with stress inducing semiconductor material by epitaxially growing in situ doped semiconductor material in the deepened recesses, wherein a non-uniform doping profile is used as the in situ doped semiconductor material is being epitaxially grown, resulting in relatively high doping in deeper regions of the stress inducing semiconductor material, and relatively low doping in shallower regions of the stress inducing semiconductor material.