Nitride removal while protecting semiconductor surfaces for forming shallow junctions

A method of removing silicon nitride over silicon for forming shallow junctions, comprising:

• forming a gate stack on a substrate having a semiconductor surface, wherein a surface oxide layer is on said semiconductor surface;
• forming sidewall spacers along sidewalls of said gate stack that together define lightly doped drain (LDD) regions or source/drain (S/D) regions within active areas of said semiconductor surface, wherein at least one of said sidewall spacers, said LDD regions and said S/D regions include an exposed silicon nitride layer, wherein a residual portion of said surface oxide layer remains after said forming said sidewall spacers;
• removing said residual portion of said surface oxide layer;
• forming a protective oxide layer directly on said LDD regions or said S/D regions that is 0.8 nm to 8 nm;
• ion implanting said LDD regions to form lightly doped sources/drains or said S/D regions to form sources/drains using said sidewall spacers as implant masks, and
• selectively removing said exposed silicon nitride layer, wherein said protective oxide layer protects said LDD regions or said S/D regions from dopant loss due to etching during said selectively removing,
• wherein said protective oxide layer is formed by a process comprising a solution-based chemical oxidization.