# US RE48,367 E1 · Field effect transistor having fin base and at least one fin protruding from fin base

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- Number: US RE48,367 E1
- Document ID: USRE48367E1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: E1
- Application number: 15/374,339
- Filed: 2016-12-09
- Granted: 2020-12-22
- Earliest claimed: 2012-04-23
- Assignees: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Myeong-cheol Kim; Cheol Kim; Jaehun Seo; YooJung Lee; Kisoo Chang; Siyoung Choi
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/USRE48367E1

## CPC

- H01L 29/785
- H01L 29/7851
- H01L

## Abstract

Field effect transistors including a source region and a drain region on a substrate, a fin base protruding from a top surface of the substrate, a plurality of fin portions extending upward from the fin base and connecting the source region with the drain region, a gate electrode on the fin portions, and a gate dielectric between the fin portions and the gate electrode may be provided. A top surface of the substrate may include a plurality of grooves (e.g., a plurality of convex portions and a plurality of concave portions). Further, a device isolation layer may be provided to expose upper portions of the plurality of fin portions and to cover top surfaces of the plurality of grooves.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A field effect transistor, comprising:
a source region and a drain region on a substrate;
a fin base protruding from a top surface of the substrate; a plurality of fin portions extending upward from the fin base and connecting the source region with the drain region;
a gate electrode on the plurality of fin portions:
a gate dielectric between the plurality of fin portions and the gate electrode; and
a device isolation layer exposing upper portions of the plurality of fin portions and covering the top surface of the substrate adjacent to the fin base,
wherein the top surface of the substrate adjacent to the fin base includes a plurality of grooves, and each of the plurality of grooves includes a plurality of convex portions and a plurality of concave portions extending along an extending direction of the plurality of fin portions.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The field effect transistor of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the fin base is greater than half a depth of a first trench between the plurality of fin portions.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The field effect transistor of claim 1, further comprising:
at least one first trench between the plurality of fin portions,
wherein top surfaces of the plurality of convex portions are lower than a bottom surface of the at least one first trench.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The field effect transistor of claim 1, further comprising:
at least one first trench between the plurality of fin portions,
wherein top surfaces of the plurality of convex portions are higher than a bottom surface of the at least one first trench.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The field effect transistor of claim 1, further comprising:
at least one first trench between the plurality of fin portions,
wherein a top surface of the device isolation layer is higher than a bottom surface of the at least one first trench.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The field effect transistor of claim 1, wherein a distance between the plurality of convex portions is substantially equal to a distance between the plurality of fin portions.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The field effect transistor of claim 1, wherein the plurality of convex portions and the plurality of concave portions alternate each other assimilating a line-and-space pattern of the plurality of fin portions.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The field effect transistor of claim 1, wherein the plurality of fin portions include a first fin portion and second fin portions, the second fin portions being outside the first fin portion and adjacent to the plurality of grooves, and the first and second fin portions have a substantially same width.

### Claim 9

A field effect transistor, comprising:
at least one fin portion extending from a top surface of a substrate;
a device isolation layer exposing an upper portion of the at least one fin portion;
a gate electrode on and crossing the at least one fin portion; and
a gate dielectric between the at least one fin portion and the gate electrode,
wherein the top surface of the substrate includes a plurality of grooves, each of the plurality of grooves includes a plurality of convex portions and a plurality of concave portions, the plurality of convex portions extend parallel to the at least one fin portion, and the device isolation layer covers top surfaces of the plurality of convex portions.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The field effect transistor of claim 9, wherein the at least one fin portion includes a plurality of fin portions spaced apart from, each other by at least one first trench therebetween, and
further comprising:
a fin base extending from the top surface of the substrate and connected to bottom surfaces of the plurality of the fin portions.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The field effect transistor of claim 10, wherein a top surface of the fin base is defined by a bottom surface of the at least one first trench, and
the bottom surface of the at least one first trench is higher than top surfaces of the plurality of convex portions.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The field effect transistor of claim 10, wherein a top surface of the fin base is defined by a bottom surface of the at least one first trench, and
the bottom surface of the at least one first trench is lower than top surfaces of the plurality of convex portions.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The field effect transistor of claim 10, wherein the plurality of the fin portions connect a source region with a drain region, and
upper portions of the plurality of the fin portions have a substantially same width as each other.

### Claim 14 (depends on 9)

The field effect transistor of claim 9, wherein the substrate includes a first region and a second region, and
a number of the at least one fin portion in the first region is different than a number of the at least one fin portion in the second region.

### Claim 15

A field effect transistor, comprising:
a substrate having a substrate body, at least one fin portion extending away from a surface of the substrate body, and a fin base interposed between the substrate body and the at least one fin portion;
a source region and a drain region connected to each other via the at least one fin portion;
a gate electrode over the at least one fin portion;
a gate dielectric between the at least one fin portion and the gate electrode; and
a device isolation layer exposing an upper portion of the at least one fin portion and covering a top surface of the substrate body adjacent to the fin base,
wherein the top surface of the substrate body adjacent to the fin body includes a plurality of grooves, each of the plurality of grooves includes a plurality of convex portions and a plurality of concave portions, and the plurality of convex portions extend from the surface of the substrate body and are parallel to the at least one fin portion.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The field effect transistor of claim 15, wherein the at least one fin portion includes a plurality of fin portions having a same width and spaced apart from each other.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The field effect transistor of claim 16, wherein the plurality of fin portions are symmetrical.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

The field effect transistor of claim 16, wherein,
either the plurality of grooves extends above the fin base or the fin base extends above the plurality of grooves.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The field effect transistor of claim 18, wherein a thickness of the fin base is less than half a depth of a first trench between adjacent fin portions when the plurality of grooves extend above the fin base, or the thickness of the fin base is greater than half the depth of the first trench when the fin base extends above the plurality of grooves.

### Claim 20 (depends on 9)

The field effect transistor of claim 9, wherein at least one of the plurality of convex portions has a rounded top surface.

### Claim 21 (depends on 20)

The field effect transistor of claim 20, wherein the rounded top surface of at least one of the plurality of convex portions extends above a bottom of the at least one fin portion.

### Claim 22 (depends on 9)

The field effect transistor of claim 9, wherein at least one of the plurality of concave portions has a rounded bottom surface.

### Claim 23 (depends on 9)

The field effect transistor of claim 9, wherein the plurality of convex portions in each of the plurality of grooves are arranged to have substantially a same pitch.

### Claim 24 (depends on 9)

The field effect transistor of claim 9, wherein the gate dielectric includes a silicon oxide layer or a high-k dielectric material.

### Claim 25 (depends on 9)

The field effect transistor of claim 9, wherein the gate electrode includes one of a group consisting of a doped semiconductor material, a metal, a conductive metal nitride, or a metal semiconductor compound.

### Claim 26 (depends on 9)

The field effect transistor of claim 9, further comprising:
a plurality of fin portions extending from the top surface of the substrate,
wherein the plurality of fin portions are separated by at least one trench, and
a top surface of at least one of the plurality of convex portions is higher than a bottom surface of the at least one trench.

### Claim 27 (depends on 26)

The field effect transistor of claim 26, wherein the plurality of fin portions have substantially a same width.

### Claim 28 (depends on 26)

The field effect transistor of claim 26, wherein the plurality of fin portions are separated from one another by substantially a same spacing.

### Claim 29 (depends on 26)

The field effect transistor of claim 26, wherein the plurality of fin portions have substantially a same pitch.

### Claim 30 (depends on 26)

The field effect transistor of claim 26, wherein a height of the at least one trench is in a range of about 500 Å to about 1400 Å.

### Claim 31 (depends on 26)

The field effect transistor of claim 26, wherein the each of the plurality of grooves has a height of about 350 Å to about 900 Å.

### Claim 32 (depends on 26)

The field effect transistor of claim 26, wherein the plurality of fin portions includes at least one inner fin portion between two outer fin portions, and wherein the at least one inner fin portion and the two outer fin portions have substantially a same width.

### Claim 33 (depends on 26)

The field effect transistor of claim 26, wherein the plurality of convex portions are arranged to have substantially a same pitch.

### Claim 34

A semiconductor device, comprising:
a first region including a first number of fin portions on a substrate;
a first gate electrode on the first number of fin portions;
a second region including a second number of fin portions on the substrate;
a second gate electrode on the second number of fin portions,
a device isolation layer exposing upper portions of the first and second numbers of fin portions, wherein the top surface of the substrate includes a plurality of grooves, each of the plurality of grooves includes a plurality of convex portions and a plurality of concave portions, the plurality of convex portions extend parallel to the first and second numbers of fin portions, and the device isolation layer covers top surfaces of the plurality of convex portions, and wherein the first and second numbers of fin portions are different.

### Claim 35 (depends on 34)

The device of claim 34, wherein the plurality of grooves includes:
a first groove adjacent to the first number of fin portions, and
a second groove adjacent to the second number of fin portions.

### Claim 36 (depends on 34)

The device of claim 34, wherein at least one of the plurality of convex portions has a rounded top surface.

### Claim 37 (depends on 34)

The device as claimed in claim 34, wherein:
the first region is an input/output region or a logic region, and
the second region is a memory region.

### Claim 38 (depends on 37)

The device as claimed in claim 37, wherein the memory region is an SRAM region.

### Claim 39 (depends on 34)

The device as claimed in claim 34, wherein:
the first region includes a first transistor, and
the second region includes a second transistor.

### Claim 40 (depends on 39)

The device as claimed in claim 39, wherein the first and second transistors have different conductivity types.

### Claim 41 (depends on 39)

The device as claimed in claim 39, wherein the first and second transistors have different threshold voltages.

### Claim 42 (depends on 34)

The device as claimed in claim 34, wherein at least one of the first number of fin portions or the second number of fin portions is greater than one.

### Claim 43 (depends on 42)

The device as claimed in claim 42, wherein each of the first number of fin portions and the second number of fin portions is greater than one.

### Claim 44

A memory, comprising:
at least one fin portion extending from a top surface of a substrate;
a device isolation layer exposing an upper portion of the at least one fin portion;
a gate electrode on and crossing the at least one fin portion; and
a gate dielectric between the at least one fin portion and the gate electrode,
wherein the top surface of the substrate includes a plurality of grooves, each of the plurality of grooves includes a plurality of convex portions and a plurality of concave portions, the plurality of convex portions extend parallel to the at least one fin portion, and the device isolation layer covers top surfaces of the plurality of convex portions, and wherein at least one of the plurality of convex portions has a rounded top surface or at least one of the plurality of concave portions has a rounded bottom surface.

### Claim 45 (depends on 44)

The memory as claimed in claim 44, wherein at least one of the plurality of convex portions has a rounded top surface and at least one of the plurality of concave portions has a rounded bottom surface.

### Claim 46 (depends on 44)

The memory as claimed in claim 44, further comprising:
a transistor including the fin.

### Claim 47 (depends on 46)

The memory as claimed in claim 46, wherein the semiconductor device is a memory.

### Claim 48 (depends on 47)

The memory as claimed in claim 47, wherein the memory is an SRAM.