Sidewall doping technique for SOI transistors

A process for fabricating a semiconductor-on-insulator integrated circuit structure, comprising the steps of:

• providing a substrate having at a surface thereof a monocrystalline semiconductor material layer overlying an insulator layer;
• depositing an oxide layer, covering said monocrystalline semiconductor layer;
• providing a pattered masking layer over said oxide layer, comprising a first and a second masking material layer, said masking layer being patterned to cover predetermined portions of said monocrystalline semiconductor layer where active devices are to be formed;
• depositing additional said second masking material, which forms sidewall spacers on said patterned masking layer, so that said patterned masking layer with said spacers covers a larger fraction of said semiconductor layer than was covered by said masking layer alone;
• etching away at least some portions of said monocrystalline semiconductor material layer, using said patterned masking layer and said spacers as a mask, forming a mesa;
• forming sidewall insulation filaments on said monocrystalline semiconductor material mesa, subsequent to said etching away at least some portions of said monocrystalline semiconductor material, so that said monocrystalline semiconductor layer mesa with said filaments covers a larger fraction of said semiconductor layer than was covered by said masking layer alone;
• removing all but said first masking material layer of the patterned masking layers,;
• implanting a dopant into at least some of the portions of said semiconductor material which are not covered by said first masking material layer to form doped mesa edges, subsequent to said forming of the sidewall insulation filaments and subsequent to said removing all but aid first masking layer step;
• removing said first masking material layer, and;
• fabricating active devices in said mesas.