Methods of fabricating isolation regions of semiconductor devices and structures thereof
First Claim
1. A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
- forming at least one trench in a semiconductor substrate having a top surface, the at least one trench comprising sidewalls and a bottom surface;
forming an oxide liner on the sidewalls and the bottom surface of the at least one trench, wherein the oxide liner is formed directly on the semiconductor substrate;
forming a nitride liner directly on the oxide liner and over the top surface of the semiconductor substrate using atomic layer deposition (ALD), the nitride liner having a thickness of about 3 Å
to about 25 Å
;
treating the nitride liner, wherein treating the nitride liner comprises treating the nitride liner with a plasma process, a heat process, a UV process, or combinations thereof, in order to alter a tensile or compressive stress; and
completely filling the at least one trench in a single process with an insulating material directly on the nitride liner.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods of fabricating isolation regions of semiconductor devices and structures thereof are disclosed. A preferred embodiment includes forming at least one trench in a workpiece, and forming a thin nitride liner over sidewalls and a bottom surface of the at least one trench and over a top surface of the workpiece using atomic layer deposition (ALD). An insulating material is deposited over the top surface of the workpiece, filling the at least one trench. At least a portion of the insulating material is removed from over the top surface of the workpiece. After removing the at least a portion of insulating material from over the top surface of the workpiece, the thin nitride liner in the at least one trench is at least coplanar with the top surface of the workpiece. The thin nitride liner and the insulating material form an isolation region of the semiconductor device.
89 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
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forming at least one trench in a semiconductor substrate having a top surface, the at least one trench comprising sidewalls and a bottom surface; forming an oxide liner on the sidewalls and the bottom surface of the at least one trench, wherein the oxide liner is formed directly on the semiconductor substrate; forming a nitride liner directly on the oxide liner and over the top surface of the semiconductor substrate using atomic layer deposition (ALD), the nitride liner having a thickness of about 3 Å
to about 25 Å
;treating the nitride liner, wherein treating the nitride liner comprises treating the nitride liner with a plasma process, a heat process, a UV process, or combinations thereof, in order to alter a tensile or compressive stress; and completely filling the at least one trench in a single process with an insulating material directly on the nitride liner. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
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forming at least one trench in a semiconductor substrate having a top surface, the at least one trench comprising sidewalls and a bottom surface; forming an oxide liner on the sidewalls and the bottom surface of the at least one trench, wherein the oxide liner is formed directly on the semiconductor substrate; forming a nitride liner directly on the oxide liner and over the top surface of the semiconductor substrate using atomic layer deposition (ALD), wherein forming the nitride liner comprises forming Si3N4, SixNy, or Si3N4 or SixNy combined with about 1% or less of hydrogen, and wherein the nitride liner comprises a thickness of about 3 Å
to about 25 Å
;treating the nitride liner, wherein treating the nitride liner comprises treating the nitride liner with a plasma process, a heat process, a UV process, or combinations thereof, in order to alter a tensile or compressive stress; and completely filling the at least one trench in a single process with an insulating material directly on the nitride liner. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of forming an isolation region of a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
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forming a pad oxide over a top surface of a semiconductor substrate; forming a pad nitride over the pad oxide; forming at least one trench in the pad nitride, the pad oxide, and the semiconductor substrate; forming an oxide liner over at least a portion of the at least one trench formed in the semiconductor substrate, wherein the oxide liner is formed directly on the semiconductor substrate; forming a nitride liner over the at least one trench and directly on the oxide liner using atomic layer deposition (ALD), the nitride liner having a thickness of about 25 Angstroms or less; treating the nitride liner with a process to increase a tensile stress of the nitride liner, wherein the process comprises a plasma process, a heat process, a UV process, or combinations thereof, after forming the nitride liner; after treating the nitride liner, completely filling the at least one trench in a single process with an oxide material, wherein the oxide material is directly disposed on the nitride liner; removing a first portion of the oxide material, the pad oxide and the pad nitride; and wherein after removing the first portion of the oxide material, the pad oxide and the pad nitride, the oxide liner, the nitride liner, and a second portion of the oxide material are coplanar with the top surface of the semiconductor substrate, and wherein the nitride liner, the oxide liner, and the second portion of the oxide material form the isolation region of the semiconductor device. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of forming an isolation region of a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
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forming a sacrificial material layer over a top surface of a semiconductor substrate; forming at least one trench in the sacrificial material layer and the semiconductor substrate, the at least one trench comprising sidewalls and a bottom surface; forming an oxide liner over at least the sidewalls and the bottom surface of the at least one trench in the semiconductor substrate, wherein the oxide liner is formed directly on the semiconductor substrate; forming an ultra thin nitride liner over at least the oxide liner using atomic layer deposition (ALD), the ultra thin nitride liner being continuous and having a thickness of about 25 Angstroms or less; treating the ultra thin nitride liner with a treatment to increase a stress of the ultra thin nitride liner, wherein the treatment comprises a UV treatment between about 400-550°
C.; andafter treating the ultra thin nitride liner, depositing an oxide material directly on the ultra thin nitride liner to completely fill the at least one trench in a single process. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification