Strained semiconductor device structures
First Claim
1. A semiconductor device structure comprising:
- a body of a semiconductor material including a channel region;
a conductive gate electrode;
a gate insulator separating said gate electrode from said channel region of said body;
first and second source/drain regions defined in the semiconductor material of said body, said first and second source/drain regions disposed on opposite sides of said gate electrode such that said channel region separates said first source/drain region from said second source/drain region; and
a plurality of plugs disposed in at least one of said first and second source/drain regions, said plurality of plugs being formed from a volume-expanded material that transfers compressive stress to said channel region.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Semiconductor fabrication methods and structures, devices and integrated circuits characterized by enhanced operating performance. The structures generally include first and second source/drain regions formed in a body of a semiconductor material and a channel region defined in the body between the first and second source/drain regions. Disposed in at least one of the first and second source/drain regions are a plurality of plugs each formed from a volume-expanded material that transfers compressive stress to the channel region. The compressively strained channel region may be useful, for example, for improving the operating performance of p-channel field effect transistors (PFET'"'"'s).
42 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A semiconductor device structure comprising:
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a body of a semiconductor material including a channel region; a conductive gate electrode; a gate insulator separating said gate electrode from said channel region of said body; first and second source/drain regions defined in the semiconductor material of said body, said first and second source/drain regions disposed on opposite sides of said gate electrode such that said channel region separates said first source/drain region from said second source/drain region; and a plurality of plugs disposed in at least one of said first and second source/drain regions, said plurality of plugs being formed from a volume-expanded material that transfers compressive stress to said channel region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A semiconductor device structure comprising:
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a body of a semiconductor material including a channel region; a conductive gate electrode; a gate insulator separating said gate electrode from said channel region of said body; first and second source/drain regions defined in the semiconductor material of said body, said first and second source/drain regions disposed on opposite sides of said gate electrode such that said channel region separates said first source/drain region from said second source/drain region; and a plurality of plugs disposed in at least one of said first and second source/drain regions, said plugs being formed from a volume-expanded material that transfers compressive stress to said channel region, and each of said plugs having a diameter of less than about 15 nanometers. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification