Hafnium nitride gate dielectric
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsGlen D. Wilk, Robert M. Wallace
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A field effect semiconductor device comprising a high permittivity hafnium (or hafnium-zirconium) nitride gate dielectric and a method of forming the same are disclosed herein. The device comprises a silicon substrate 20 having a semiconducting channel region 24 formed therein. A hafnium (or hafnium-zirconium) nitride gate dielectric layer 36 is formed over this substrate, followed by a conductive gate 38. Hafnium (or hafnium-zirconium) nitride gate dielectric layer 36 has a dielectric constant is significantly higher than the dielectric constant of silicon dioxide.
Claims14
An integrated circuit having a field effect device fabricated thereon, the field effect device comprising:
- a single-crystal silicon semiconducting channel region;
- a metal nitride gate dielectric overlying the channel region
- where the metal nitride is selected from the group of hafnium nitride and mixtures of hafnium nitride and zirconium nitride;
- and
- a conductive gate overlying the gate dielectric.
An MIS field-effect transistor, comprising:
- a source and a drain disposed in a silicon layer and near a first surface of the silicon layer;
- a hafnium nitride gate dielectric disposed on the first surface, wherein the hafnium nitride gate dielectric covers at least part of the space between the source and drain;
- a gate electrode disposed adjacent the hafnium nitride gate dielectric and opposite silicon layer.
An integrated circuit made by the method of providing a single-crystal silicon substrate;
- forming a gate dielectric layer on the substrate,
- where the gate dielectric layer is formed from a metal nitride selected from the group of hafnium nitride and hafnium-zirconium nitride;
- and
- forming a conductive gate overlying the gate dielectric layer.
An integrated circuit made by the method of providing a single-crystal silicon substrate;
- forming a gate dielectric layer on the substrate,
- where the gate dielectric layer is formed from a metal nitride selected from the group of hafnium nitride and hafnium-zirconium nitride;
- and
- forming a conductive gate overlying the gate dielectric layer;
- wherein the forming a metal nitride gate dielectric layer step comprises:
- depositing a metal on the substrate, where the metal is selected from the group of hafnium and mixtures of hafnium and zirconium;
- and
- exposing the metal to a non-oxidizing atmosphere including nitrogen during the deposition step, thereby forming a metal nitride layer on the substrate.
An integrated circuit made by the method of providing a single-crystal silicon substrate;
- forming a gate dielectric layer on the substrate,
- where the gate dielectric layer is formed from a metal nitride selected from the group of hafnium nitride and hafnium-zirconium nitride;
- and
- forming a conductive gate overlying the gate dielectric layer;
- wherein the forming a metal nitride gate dielectric layer step comprises:
- forming a metal on the substrate,
- where the metal is selected from the group of hafnium and mixtures of hafnium and zirconium;
- and
- annealing the formed metal in a non-oxidizing atmosphere including nitrogen, thereby forming a metal nitride layer on the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.