Reverse tone STI formation and epitaxial growth of semiconductor between STI regions
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsKai-Tai Chang, Yi-Shan Chen, Hsin-Chih Chen, Chih-Hsin Ko, Clement Hsingjen Wann
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Abstract
A method includes forming a hard mask over a substrate, patterning the hard mask to form a first plurality of trenches, and filling a dielectric material into the first plurality of trenches to form a plurality of dielectric regions. The hard mask is removed from between the plurality of dielectric regions, wherein a second plurality of trenches is left by the removed hard mask. An epitaxy step is performed to grow a semiconductor material in the second plurality of trenches.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- forming dielectric patterns on a top surface of a semiconductor substrate, wherein portions of the semiconductor substrate are exposed through spaces between the dielectric patterns;
- performing an epitaxy to grow epitaxy regions in the spaces, wherein the epitaxy regions are grown from the semiconductor substrate, and wherein the epitaxy regions and the semiconductor substrate are formed of essentially a same semiconductor material, with the epitaxy regions having respective top surfaces no higher than top surfaces of the dielectic patterns;
- and
- forming a transistor at one of the top surfaces of the epitaxy regions.
A method comprising:
- forming a blanket dielectric layer on a top surface of a semiconductor substrate;
- etching the blanket dielectric layer to form a plurality of patterned dielectric regions;
- filling spaces between the patterned dielectric regions to form Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) regions, with the STI regions coplanar with the plurality of patterned dielectric regions;
- removing the plurality of patterned dielectric regions to reveal the top surface of the semiconductor substrate;
- and
- epitaxially growing a semiconductor material in spaces left by the removed plurality of patterned dielectric regions.
A method comprising:
- forming a pad oxide layer over a top surface of a semiconductor substrate;
- forming a hard mask layer over the pad oxide layer;
- etching the hard mask layer to form a plurality of hard mask patterns;
- filling spaces left by etched portions of the etched hard mask layer to form Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) regions;
- performing a planarization to level top surfaces of the STI regions with a top surface of the plurality of hard mask patterns;
- removing the hard mask patterns to expose the top surface of the semiconductor substrate;
- and
- epitaxially growing a semiconductor material from the exposed top surface of the semiconductor substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.