Elemental semiconductor material contact for high electron mobility transistor

• US 9,231,094 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2013
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alsephina Innovations Inc. (Quarterhill Inc. (f/k/a Wi-LAN Inc.))
• Original Assignee: GlobalFoundries, Inc.
• Inventors: Basu, Anirban, Hekmatshoartabari, Bahman, Shahrjerdi, Davood
• Primary Examiner(s): Sarkar, Asok K
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yemelyanov, Dmitriy
• Application Number:
  US13/898,585
• Publication Number:
  US 20140346567A1
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: 257/194, 438/172
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0272 for lift-off processes
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/283 Deposition of conductive or insulating materials for electrodes conducting electric current
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31144 using masks
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/0843 Source or drain regions of field-effect devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/207 further characterised by the doping material H01L29/2006 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/267 in different semiconductor regions , e.g. heterojunctions H01L29/263 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/401 Multistep manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/42316 for field-effect transistors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/456 on silicon
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/475 on AIII-BV compounds
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/66431 with a heterojunction interface channel or gate, e.g. HFET, HIGFET, SISFET, HJFET, HEMT with an active layer made of a group 13/15 material H01L29/66462
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/66462 with a heterojunction interface channel or gate, e.g. HFET, HIGFET, SISFET, HJFET, HEMT
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/7786 with direct single heterostructure, i.e. with wide bandgap layer formed on top of active layer, e.g. direct single heterostructure MIS-like HEMT

Abstract

Portions of a top compound semiconductor layer are recessed employing a gate electrode as an etch mask to form a source trench and a drain trench. A low temperature epitaxy process is employed to deposit a semiconductor material including at least one elemental semiconductor material in the source trench and the drain trench. Metallization is performed on physically exposed surfaces of the elemental semiconductor material portions in the source trench and the drain trench by depositing a metal and inducing interaction with the metal and the at least one elemental semiconductor material. A metal semiconductor alloy of the metal and the at least one elemental semiconductor material can be performed at a temperature lower than 600° C. to provide a high electron mobility transistor with a well-defined device profile and reliable metallization contacts.

Claims

1. A semiconductor structure comprising a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), wherein said HEMT comprises:

a substrate comprising a stack, from bottom to top, of a substrate compound semiconductor layer and a top compound semiconductor layer;

a gate electrode comprising a lower vertical portion having a bottommost surface contacting a topmost surface of said top compound semiconductor layer and an upper horizontal portion overlying said lower vertical portion and extending beyond sidewalls of said lower vertical portion;

a source region embedded in a first portion of said substrate;

a drain region embedded in a second portion of said substrate and laterally spaced from said source region, wherein said first portion is laterally spaced from said second portion by a width of said upper horizontal portion of said gate electrode, and wherein each of said source region and said drain region comprises at least one elemental semiconductor material; and

a dielectric material layer laterally contacting said lower vertical portion of said gate electrode, wherein a first sidewall of said dielectric material layer is vertically coincident with a first sidewall of said upper horizontal portion of said gate electrode, and a second sidewall of said dielectric material layer is vertically coincident with a second sidewall of said upper horizontal portion of said gate electrode.

2. The semiconductor structure of claim 1, wherein said substrate compound semiconductor layer comprises a first single crystalline compound semiconductor material, and said top compound semiconductor layer comprises a second single crystalline compound semiconductor material having a greater charge carrier mobility than said first single crystalline compound semiconductor material.

3. The semiconductor structure of claim 2, wherein said source region and said drain region are single crystalline, and are epitaxially aligned to said second single crystalline compound semiconductor material and said first single crystalline compound semiconductor material.

4. The semiconductor structure of claim 2, wherein a bottom surface of said source region and a bottom surface of said drain region are in contact with said first single crystalline compound semiconductor material.

5. The semiconductor structure of claim 1, wherein each of said source region and said drain region consist essentially of said at least one semiconductor material, hydrogen atoms, and electrical dopant atoms.

6. The semiconductor structure of claim 1, wherein each of said source region and said drain region comprises a single crystalline or polycrystalline silicon material, a single crystalline or polycrystalline germanium material, or a single crystalline or polycrystalline alloy of silicon and germanium.

7. The semiconductor structure of claim 1, further comprising:

a source-side metal-semiconductor alloy portion in contact with a top surface of said source region; and

a drain-side metal-semiconductor alloy portion in contact with a top surface of said drain region.

8. The semiconductor structure of claim 7, wherein said gate electrode is a T-shaped gate electrode.

9. The semiconductor structure of claim 8, wherein a sidewall of said source region is vertically coincident with said first sidewall of said upper horizontal portion of said gate electrode, and a sidewall of said drain region is vertically coincident with said second sidewall of said upper horizontal portion of said gate electrode.

10. The semiconductor structure of claim 1, further comprising a fluorine-doped region located within said top compound semiconductor layer and underneath said gate electrode.

11. The semiconductor structure of claim 1, wherein said substrate compound semiconductor layer comprises gallium nitride and said top compound semiconductor layer comprises aluminum gallium nitride.

12. The semiconductor structure of claim 1, wherein a topmost surface of said substrate compound semiconductor layer is in direct contact with a bottommost surface of said top compound semiconductor layer.

13. The semiconductor structure of claim 7, wherein said source-side metal-semiconductor alloy portion is in direct contact with an entire top surface of said source region, and said drain-side metal-semiconductor alloy portion is in direct contact with an entire top surface of said drain region.