Formation of a partial air-gap spacer
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsChoonghyun Lee, Kangguo Cheng, Heng Wu, Peng Xu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method is presented for reducing parasitic capacitance. The method includes forming multi-layer spacers between source/drain regions, forming a dielectric liner over the multi-layer spacers and the source/drain regions, forming gate structures adjacent the multi-layer spacers, forming a self-aligned contact cap over the gate structures, and removing a sacrificial layer of each of the multi-layer spacers to form air-gaps between the gate structures and the source/drain regions.
Claims20
A method for reducing parasitic capacitance, the method comprising:
- forming a three-layer spacer in direct contact with sidewalls of a sacrificial layer;
- forming a source/drain region within a substrate;
- forming a dielectric liner over the sacrificial layer and the source/drain region;
- forming an inter-layer dielectric (ILD) over the source/drain region;
- replacing the sacrificial layer with a gate structure;
- replacing the ILD with a conducting material;
- and
- removing a middle layer of the three-layer spacer to form air-gaps between the gate structure and the source/drain region.
A method for reducing parasitic capacitance, the method comprising:
- forming multi-layer spacers between source/drain regions;
- forming a dielectric liner over the multi-layer spacers and the source/drain regions;
- forming gate structures adjacent the multi-layer spacers;
- forming a self-aligned contact cap over the gate structures;
- and
- removing a sacrificial layer of each of the multi-layer spacers to form air-gaps between the gate structures and the source/drain regions, the air-gaps having a substantially L-shaped configuration.
A semiconductor structure for reducing parasitic capacitance, the semiconductor structure comprising:
- multi-layer spacers formed between source/drain regions;
- gate structures formed adjacent the multi-layer spacers;
- a self-aligned contact cap layer formed over the gate structures;
- and
- air-gaps formed between the gate structures and the source/drain regions, the air-gaps defined within the multi-layer spacers to have an L-shaped configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.