Method and apparatus to prevent lateral oxidation in a transistor utilizing an ultra thin oxygen-diffusion barrier
First Claim
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1. A method, comprising:
- forming a gate structure on a silicon substrate, the gate structure comprising an electrically conductive gate electrode on an oxygen-permeable gate dielectric, the gate structure having sidewalls; and
forming a thin oxygen-diffusion barrier on an entire sidewall length of the gate structure, the thin oxygen-diffusion barrier to prevent oxygen from diffusing laterally into the oxygen-permeable gate dielectric.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus of preventing lateral oxidation through gate dielectrics that are highly permeable to oxygen diffusion, such as high-k gate dielectrics. According to one embodiment of the invention, a gate structure is formed on a substrate, the gate structure having an oxygen-permeable gate dielectric. An oxygen diffusion barrier is then formed on the sidewalls of the gate structure to prevent oxygen from diffusing laterally into the oxygen-permeable gate dielectric, thus preventing oxidation to the substrate underneath the gate dielectric or to the electrically conductive gate electrode overlying the gate dielectric.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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forming a gate structure on a silicon substrate, the gate structure comprising an electrically conductive gate electrode on an oxygen-permeable gate dielectric, the gate structure having sidewalls; and
forming a thin oxygen-diffusion barrier on an entire sidewall length of the gate structure, the thin oxygen-diffusion barrier to prevent oxygen from diffusing laterally into the oxygen-permeable gate dielectric. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method comprising
depositing a high-k dielectric layer on a substrate, the high-k dielectric layer being highly permeable to oxygen diffusion; -
depositing an electrically conductive layer on the high-k dielectric layer;
patterning the electrically conductive layer and high-k dielectric layer to form a gate structure on the substrate, the gate structure having an electrically conductive gate electrode and a high-k gate dielectric, the electrically conductive gate electrode and high-k gate dielectric having vertically aligned sidewalls;
blanket depositing a thin oxygen-resistant layer over the gate structure and on the vertically aligned sidewalls of the electrically conductive gate electrode and high-k gate dielectric, the thin oxygen-resistant layer deposited to a thickness between approximately 2 Å
to 300 Å
; and
anisotropically etching the thin oxygen-resistant layer to form a thin oxygen-diffusion barrier layer on the vertically aligned sidewalls of the gate electrode and the high-k gate dielectric. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus, comprising:
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an oxygen-permeable gate dielectric overlying a substrate;
an electrically conductive gate electrode over the oxygen-permeable gate dielectric; and
a thin oxygen-diffusion barrier covering the entire sidewall length of the gate dielectric, the thin oxygen diffusion barrier to prevent oxygen from diffusing laterally into the gate dielectric. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An integrated circuit, comprising:
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a silicon substrate;
a high-k gate dielectric overlying the silicon substrate, the high-k gate dielectric having sidewalls;
an electrically conductive gate electrode overlying the high-k gate dielectric; and
a thin oxygen-diffusion barrier covering the entire sidewall length of the high-k gate dielectric, the thin oxygen-diffusion barrier to prevent oxygen from diffusing laterally into the gate dielectric. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification