US-12628415-B2 - Post-replacement metal gate (RMG) gate cut for performance enhanced FinFET

US12628415B2US 12628415 B2US12628415 B2US 12628415B2US-12628415-B2

Abstract

A fin field effect transistor (FinFET) is described. The FinFET includes a substrate and a shallow trench isolation (STI) region on the substrate. The FinFET also includes a first fin structure on the substrate and extending through the STI region. The FinFET further includes a second fin structure on the substrate and extending through the STI region. The FinFET also includes a metal gate on the STI region, on the first fin structure, and on the second fin structure. The metal gate is composed of a first sub-metal gate cut line filled with a first stressor material, and a second sub-metal gate cut line filled with a second stressor material different from the first stressor material.

Inventors

Ming-Huei Lin
Haining Yang
Junjing Bao

Assignees

QUALCOMM INCORPORATED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230118

Claims (8)

1 . A fin field effect transistor (FinFET), comprising: a substrate; a shallow trench isolation (STI) region on the substrate; a first fin structure on the substrate and extending through the STI region; a second fin structure on the substrate and extending through the STI region; and a metal gate on the STI region, on the first fin structure, and on the second fin structure; a first sub-metal gate cut line filled with a first stressor material; and a second sub-metal gate cut line filled with a second stressor material different from the first stressor material, in which the first sub-metal gate cut line and the second sub-metal gate cut line extend through the metal gate, through the STI region, and into the substrate beyond a base of the first fin structure and the second fin structure on the substrate.
2 . The FinFET of claim 1 , in which the first stressor material comprises a compressive strain and the second stressor material comprises a tensile strain.
3 . The FinFET of claim 2 , in which the first fin structure comprises a P-type metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS) region, and the second fin structure comprises an N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) region.
4 . The FinFET of claim 1 , in which the metal gate comprises a high-K metal gate.
5 . The FinFET of claim 1 , in which the first fin structure comprises: a first P-type metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS) region; and a second PMOS region, in which the first sub-metal gate cut line is coupled between the first PMOS region and the second PMOS region.
6 . The FinFET of claim 1 , in which the second fin structure comprises: a first N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) region; and a second NMOS region, in which the second sub-metal gate cut line is coupled between the first NMOS region and the second NMOS region.
7 . The FinFET of claim 1 , in which the first and second stressor materials comprise silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ,) silicon dioxide fluorine (SiO 2 :F), silicon dioxide nitrogen (SiO 2 :N), silicon dioxide germanium (SiO 2 :Ge), silicon oxynitride (SiON), silicon oxynitride fluorine (SiON:F), silicon oxynitride germanium (SiON:Ge), silicon nitride (SiN), silicon nitride germanium (SiN:Ge), hafnium oxide (HfO 2 ), hafnium zirconium oxide (HfZrO 2 ), zirconium oxide (ZrO 2 ), hafnium lanthanum oxide (HfLaO), lanthanum oxide (LaO 2 ), germanium oxide (GeOx), and/or silicon germanium oxide (SiGeOx).
8 . The FinFET of claim 1 , in which the second stressor material comprises ion implantation species, comprising fluorine (F), nitrogen (N), silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), and argon (Ar).

Description

BACKGROUND Field Aspects of the present disclosure relate to semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to an N/P-independently strained post-replacement metal gate (RMG) gate cut for performance enhanced fin-based field effect transistor (FinFET) technologies. Background As integrated circuit (IC) technology advances, device geometries are reduced. Technological advances in IC materials and design produced generations of ICs in which each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. In the course of IC evolution, functional density has generally increased while geometry size has decreased. This scaling down process provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs. Such scaling down also increases the complexity of processing and manufacturing ICs. Moreover, realizing these advancements involves similar developments in IC processing and manufacturing. One advancement implemented as technology nodes shrink, in some IC designs, is the replacement of the polysilicon gate electrode with a metal gate electrode to improve device performance with the decreased feature sizes. Although existing methods of fabricating IC devices are generally adequate for their intended purposes, they are not entirely satisfactory in all respects. For example, fin-based devices are three-dimensional structures on the surface of a semiconductor substrate. A fin-based field effect transistor (FET) may be referred to as a FinFET. Advanced logic complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) scaling for FinFET technologies achieves a performance-power-area (PPA) boost over past process nodes. Unfortunately, further FinFET transistor mobility in sub-seven nanometer (nm) process nodes is difficult because conventional strain boosters are reaching their limit. Therefore, a new strain booster for continuous FinFET device performance improvement is desired. SUMMARY A fin field effect transistor (FinFET) is described. The FinFET includes a substrate and a shallow trench isolation (STI) region on the substrate. The FinFET also includes a first fin structure on the substrate and extending through the STI region. The FinFET further includes a second fin structure on the substrate and extending through the STI region. The FinFET also includes a metal gate on the STI region, on the first fin structure, and on the second fin structure. The metal gate is composed of a first sub-metal gate cut line filled with a first stressor material, and a second sub-metal gate cut line filled with a second stressor material different from the first stressor material. A method is described. The method includes replacing a dummy gate to form a metal gate on a shallow trench isolation (STI) region on a substrate, and on a first fin structure and a second fin structure on the substrate. The method also includes applying a line-cut to separate the metal gate to form a first sub-metal gate cut line and a second sub-metal gate cut line. The method further includes filling the first sub-metal gate cut line with a first stressor material. The method also includes filling the second sub-metal gate cut line with a second stressor material different from the first stressor material. A method is described. The method includes replacing a dummy gate to form a metal gate on a shallow trench isolation (STI) region on a substrate and on a first fin structure and a second fin structure on the substrate. The method also includes applying a line-cut to separate the metal gate to form a first sub-metal gate cut line and a second sub-metal gate cut line. The method further includes filling the first sub-metal gate cut line and the second sub-metal gate cut line with a first stressor material. The method also includes implanting ions in the first stressor material in the second sub-metal gate cut line to convert the first stressor material to a second stressor material that is different from the first stressor material. This has outlined, rather broadly, the features and technical advantages of the present disclosure in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be described below. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that this disclosure may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the teachings of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims. The novel features, which are believed to be characteristic of the disclosure, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages, will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is