High-K Film Apparatus and Method
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsChe-Cheng Chang, Yi-Ren Chen, Chang-Yin Chen, Yi-Jen Chen, Ming Zhu, Yung-Jung Chang, Harry-Hak-Lay Chuang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device may include: a high-k layer disposed on a substrate and over a channel region in the substrate. The high-k layer may include a high-k dielectric material having one or more impurities therein, and the one or more impurities may include at least one of C, Cl, or N. The one or more impurities may have a molecular concentration of less than about 50%. The device may further include a cap layer over the high-k layer over the channel region, the high-k layer separating the cap layer and the substrate.
Claims11
A method, comprising:
- forming a source region and a drain region in a substrate;
- and
- forming a gate stack disposed between the source region and the drain region, the gate stack comprising a high-k dielectric layer disposed over the substrate, a conductive cap layer disposed over the high-k dielectric layer, and a gate electrode disposed over the conductive cap layer, wherein the high-k dielectric layer comprises one or more impurities selected from C, Cl, or N, the one or more impurities further comprising F, wherein a molecular concentration of the one or more impurities is below about 50%, and wherein an atomic concentration of the F in a topmost 1 to 10 nm of the high-k layer is greater than an atomic concentration of one of the C, the Cl, and the N in the topmost 1 to 10 nm of the high-k layer.
A method of forming a device, the method comprising:
- depositing a hafnium-containing layer over a channel region of a substrate;
- forming a conductive cap layer over the hafnium-containing layer, wherein each of the hafnium-containing layer and the conductive cap layer comprise one or more impurities;
- exposing the conductive cap layer to a reactive plasma treatment process, the reactive plasma treatment process reducing a concentration of the one or more impurities in the conductive cap layer and the hafnium-containing layer;
- and
- plasma oxygen etching the conductive cap layer, wherein the plasma oxygen etching is performed separately from the reactive plasma treatment process.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.