Atomic layer deposition of selected molecular clusters
First Claim
1. A transistor formed on a substrate, the transistor comprising:
- a source region;
a drain region;
a channel region extending between the source region and the drain region;
a metal gate region including a metal gate that includes a conductive metal portion;
contacts that couple the source region, the drain region, and the metal gate to a multi-layer metal interconnect structure; and
a molecular cluster thin film contacting the conductive metal portion of the metal gate, the molecular cluster thin film comprising nanoscale molecular clusters including at least two bonded atoms that are different, the nanoscale molecular clusters having a selected atomic structure that determines an electrical characteristic of the transistor, the molecular cluster thin film being between the conductive metal portion of the metal gate and the channel region.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Energy bands of a thin film containing molecular clusters are tuned by controlling the size and the charge of the clusters during thin film deposition. Using atomic layer deposition, an ionic cluster film is formed in the gate region of a nanometer-scale transistor to adjust the threshold voltage, and a neutral cluster film is formed in the source and drain regions to adjust contact resistance. A work function semiconductor material such as a silver bromide or a lanthanum oxide is deposited so as to include clusters of different sizes such as dimers, trimers, and tetramers, formed from isolated monomers. A type of Atomic Layer Deposition system is used to deposit on semiconductor wafers molecular clusters to form thin film junctions having selected energy gaps. A beam of ions contains different ionic clusters which are then selected for deposition by passing the beam through a filter in which different apertures select clusters based on size and orientation.
86 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A transistor formed on a substrate, the transistor comprising:
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a source region; a drain region; a channel region extending between the source region and the drain region; a metal gate region including a metal gate that includes a conductive metal portion; contacts that couple the source region, the drain region, and the metal gate to a multi-layer metal interconnect structure; and a molecular cluster thin film contacting the conductive metal portion of the metal gate, the molecular cluster thin film comprising nanoscale molecular clusters including at least two bonded atoms that are different, the nanoscale molecular clusters having a selected atomic structure that determines an electrical characteristic of the transistor, the molecular cluster thin film being between the conductive metal portion of the metal gate and the channel region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An n-type semiconductor device, comprising:
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a silicon substrate having an oxide layer buried therein; a negatively-doped source region; a negatively-doped drain region; a channel through which current flows between the negatively-doped source region and the negatively-doped drain region; a neutral molecular cluster thin film in the negatively-doped source region and the negatively-doped drain region, the neutral molecular cluster thin film comprising neutral molecular clusters; a metal gate region comprising a metal gate capacitively coupled to the channel so as to control the current, the metal gate including a conductive metal portion; an ionic molecular cluster thin film contacting the conductive metal portion of the metal gate, the ionic molecular cluster thin film comprising ionic molecular clusters, the molecular cluster thin film being between the conductive metal portion of the metal gate and the channel; and metal-insulator-semiconductor contacts to the source region and the drain region. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A p-type semiconductor device, comprising:
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a silicon substrate having an oxide layer buried therein; a positively-doped source region; a positively-doped drain region; a channel through which current flows between the positively-doped source region and the positively-doped drain region, the channel having a strained silicon interface; a metal gate region comprising a metal gate capacitively coupled to the channel so as to control the current, the metal gate including a conductive metal portion and a dielectric portion; a molecular cluster thin film contacting the conductive metal portion of the metal gate region, the molecular cluster thin film being between the conductive metal portion and the dielectric portion of the first metal gate structure, the molecular cluster thin film comprising ionic clusters; and contacts to the positively-doped source region and the positively-doped drain region. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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19. A device, comprising:
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a metal thin film, including a plurality of ionic clusters having a selected spatial orientation; a semiconductor substrate; a transistor on the semiconductor substrate, the transistor having a channel and a metal gate above the channel, the metal gate including a conductive metal material, the metal thin film being in contact with the conductive metal material of the metal gate of the transistor, the metal thin film being between the conductive metal material of the metal gate and the channel. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A device, comprising:
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a substrate; and a first transistor on the substrate, the first transistor including; a first source; a first drain; a first metal gate structure that includes a conductive metal portion and a dielectric portion; and a first molecular cluster thin film in contact with the conductive metal portion of the first metal gate structure, the first molecular cluster thin film being between the conductive metal portion and the dielectric portion of the first metal gate structure. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification