Integrated circuit having chemically modified spacer surface
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsBrian K. Kirkpatrick, Amitabh Jain
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of fabricating an integrated circuit includes depositing a first dielectric material onto a semiconductor surface of a substrate having a gate stack thereon including a gate electrode on a gate dielectric. The first dielectric material is etched to form sidewall spacers on sidewalls of the gate stack. A top surface of the first dielectric material is chemically converted to a second dielectric material by adding at least one element to provide surface converted sidewall spacers. The second dielectric material is chemically bonded across a transition region to the first dielectric material.
Claims15
An integrated circuit (IC), comprising:
- sidewall spacers having a second dielectric material on a first dielectric material, wherein the second dielectric material comprises carbon and silicon and the first dielectric material comprises silicon and another element besides carbon, and wherein the second dielectric material is chemically bonded across a transition region to the first dielectric material,
- wherein the transition region has a composition that includes silicon, carbon and the another element besides carbon, and
- wherein at a widest point of the sidewall spacers, the transition region is thicker than the second dielectric material.
An integrated circuit (IC), comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate having a surface;
- and
- at least one metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor at the surface, the MOS transistor comprising:
- gate stack including a gate electrode on a gate dielectric;
- and
- sidewall spacers on sidewalls of the gate stack, the sidewall spacers comprising a second dielectric material, a first dielectric material, and a transition region between the second dielectric material and the first dielectric material, wherein the second dielectric material comprises carbon and silicon and the first dielectric material comprises silicon and another element besides carbon,
- wherein the transition region has a composition that includes silicon, carbon and the another element besides carbon, and
- wherein the second dielectric material is chemically bonded across the transition region to the first dielectric material, wherein at a widest point of the sidewall spacers, the transition region is in the range of 15-25 Angstroms thick.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.