Pitcher-shaped active area for field effect transistor and method of forming same

• US 6,746,933 B1
• Filed: 10/26/2001
• Issued: 06/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG, International Business Machines Corporation, Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Faltermeier, Johnathan, Kim, Byeong, Divakaruni, Rama, Heenan, Carol J., Flaitz, Philip L., Jammy, Rajarao, Gluschenkov, Oleg, Beintner, Jochen, Takegawa, Yoichi, Seitz, Mihel, Sudo, Akira
• Primary Examiner(s): FOURSON III, GEORGE R
• Application Number:
  US09/999,803
• Time in Patent Office: 956 Days
• Field of Search: 438/221, 438/296, 438/437, 438/FOR.227, 438/424, 438/795, 148/DIG.50
• US Class Current: 438/424
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/76224 using trench refilling with dielectric materials trench filling with polycristalline silicon H01L21/763; together with vertical isolation, e.g. trench refilling in a SOI substrate H01L21/76264

Abstract

An improved pitcher-shaped active area for a field effect transistor that, for a given gate length, achieves an increase in transistor on-current, a decrease in transistor serial resistance, and a decrease in contact resistance. The pitcher-shaped active area structure includes at least two shallow trench insulator (STI) structures formed into a substrate that defines an active area structure, which includes a widened top portion with a larger width than a bottom portion. An improved fabrication method for forming the improved pitcher-shaped active area is also described that implements a step to form STI structure divots followed by a step to migrate substrate material into at least portions of the divots, thereby forming a widened top portion of the active area structure. The fabrication method of present invention forms the pitcher-shaped active area without the use of lithography, and therefore, is not limited by the smallest ground rules of lithography tooling.

Claims

1. A method of forming a pitcher-shaped active area structure for a field effect transistor (FET), the method comprising the steps of:

forming divots into top portions of side walls of at least two shallow trench insulator (STI) structures formed into a substrate, wherein the STI structures comprise insulation and isolate a FET and define an active area structure, wherein the divots define recesses below a top surface of the substrate and below a top surface of the insulation, and wherein the recesses have boundaries formed by the top portions of the side walls and by exterior surfaces of the insulation; and

migrating substrate material into at least portions of the divots, thereby forming a widened top portion of the active area structure with a larger width than a bottom portion of the active area structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming divots into top portions of side walls of at least two STI structures comprises the step of implementing a wet etch to remove the top portions of the sidewalls of the at least two STI structures, thereby forming divots in the top portions of the sidewalls of the at least two STI structures.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of migrating substrate material into at least portions of the divots comprises the step of implementing a hydrogen annealing technique to migrate substrate material into at least portions of the divots, thereby forming a widened top portion of the active area structure with a larger width than a bottom portion of the active area structure.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of implementing a hydrogen annealing technique to migrate substrate material into at least portions of the divots further comprises the step of rounding top corners of the widened top portion of the active area structure.

5. A method of forming a pitcher-shaped active area structure for a field effect transistor (FET), the method comprising:

implementing an etch to remove a pad oxide layer formed on a substrate and portions of an STI oxide fill and STI liner oxide that form top portions of sidewalls of at least two shallow trench insulator (STI) structures that isolate a FET and define an active area structure, thereby forming divots in the top portions of the sidewalls of the at least two STI structures, wherein the etch is selected from the group consisting of a wet etch and a plasma etch, wherein the STI structures comprise insulation, wherein the divots define recesses below a top surface of the substrate and below a top surface of the insulation, and wherein the recesses have boundaries formed by the top portions of the side walls and by exterior surfaces of the insulation; and

implementing a hydrogen annealing technique to migrate substrate material into at least portions of the divots, thereby forming a widened top portion of the active area structure with a larger width than a bottom portion of the active area structure.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of implementing an etch comprises the step of implementing a buffered hydrogen fluoride acid (BHF) etch to remove the pad oxide layer and portions of the STI oxide fill and the STI liner oxide that form the top portions of the sidewalls of the at least two STI structures, thereby forming divots in the top portions of the sidewalls of the at least two STI structures.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of implementing an etch comprises the step of implementing the plasma etch to remove the pad oxide layer and portions of the STI oxide fill and the STI liner oxide that form the top portions of the sidewalls of the at least two STI structures, thereby forming divots in the top portions of the sidewalls of the at least two STI structures.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of implementing an etch is performed with a wet etch chemistry.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of implementing an etch forms divots with a depth of approximately 500 Å

or less.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of implementing a hydrogen annealing technique to migrate substrate material into at least portions of the divots further comprises the step of rounding top corners of the widened top portion of the active area structure.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of implementing a hydrogen anneal is performed at a temperature of 700°

C. or higher.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of implementing a hydrogen anneal is performed under a pressure of 10⁻

3 Torr or higher.