Semiconductor trench capacitor

Details Semiconductor trench capacitor Semiconductor trench capacitor

2002-03-15

2003-12-23

Wilson, Allan R. (Department: 2815)

Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode

Field effect device

Having insulated electrode

C257S303000, C257S304000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06667503

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same and, more particularly, to a semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same, by which high-speed operations and high integration can be realized in a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or in an embedded device having both a DRAM and a logic circuit.
A trench capacitor and a stacked capacitor are currently most popular as a storage node of a DRAM. In particular, a trench capacitor is often used as a capacitor suited to an embedded device for the following reasons. That is, since the capacitor can be formed before the formation of a logic circuit, the logic process is less influenced. In addition, the capacitor is buried in a silicon substrate, so no such deep contact formation as for a stacked capacitor is necessary in an interconnection step.
The structure of a trench capacitor relevant to the present invention will be described below with reference to its fabrication method.
FIGS. 19A
to
20
C are sectional views showing the steps of the method of fabricating the trench capacitor related to the present invention.
First, as shown in
FIG. 19A
, a 5-nm thick silicon oxide film
102
and a 150-nm thick silicon nitride film
103
are deposited on a silicon substrate
101
. A photoresist
104
is removed by photolithography from a region where a trench is to be formed. The silicon oxide film
102
and the silicon nitride film
103
are etched away by RIE (Reactive Ion Etching).
As shown in
FIG. 19B
, RIE is again used to etch the silicon substrate
101
, forming a trench
105
about 5 &mgr;m deep from the silicon surface. After that, the photoresist
104
is removed.
As shown in
FIG. 19C
, a silicon nitride film
106
about 5 nm thick is formed on the inner walls of the trench
105
. Additionally, first polysilicon
107
doped with an n-type impurity such as arsenic (As) is deposited to have a thickness of about 500 nm, thereby completely filling the trench
105
.
As shown in
FIG. 19D
, an etch back process using CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) and RIE, is performed to etch the surface of the polysilicon
107
to a depth of about 0.5 &mgr;m from the surface of the silicon substrate
101
. Furthermore, the silicon nitride film
106
exposed to the inner walls of the trench is etched away, and a collar silicon oxide film
108
about 100 nm thick is deposited.
As shown in
FIG. 20A
, second polysilicon
109
is buried. More specifically, the collar silicon oxide film
108
on the substrate
101
is etched by RIE so as to remain only on the side walls of the trench. In addition, second polysilicon
109
doped with an n-type impurity such as arsenic is deposited by about 300 nm, thereby completely filling the trench
105
.
Next, as shown in
FIG. 20B
, third polysilicon
110
is buried. More specifically, an etch back process using CMP and RIE is performed to etch the polysilicon
109
to a depth of 0.25 &mgr;m from the silicon surface. The exposed collar silicon oxide film
108
is etched away, and third polysilicon
110
doped with an n-type impurity such as arsenic is deposited by about 200 nm, thereby completely filling the trench
105
.
Finally, as shown in
FIG. 20C
, an etch back process using CMP and RIE is performed to etch the polysilicon
110
to a depth of 0.05 &mgr;m from the surface of the silicon substrate
101
. After that, the upper surface of the trench
105
is covered with a silicon oxide film
111
, and the silicon nitride film
103
is removed to complete a trench capacitor buried in the silicon substrate.
As an electrical connection terminal to this trench capacitor, an n-type diffusion layer
112
formed by an n-type impurity such as arsenic oozing out from the third polysilicon
110
is used.
Unfortunately, this trench capacitor relevant to the present invention has the problem that read and write operations are difficult to perform at high speed. That is, This trench capacitor is formed by filling the 5-&mgr;m deep trench with the polysilicon portions
107
,
109
, and
110
. Although each of these polysilicon portions is doped with an n-type impurity such as arsenic, the electrical sheet resistance is very high, about a few k&OHgr;. This prolongs the time of signal propagation by CR delay, so the read/write time cannot be shortened.
Meanwhile, with the advance of information communication technologies, demands for high-speed, large-capacity DRAMs are more and more increasing. The latest 256-M versatile DRAM and a DRAM-embedded logic device formed by the 0.18-&mgr;m rule use the above-mentioned trench capacitor structure. However, the operating speed is limited for the above reason.
Also, these devices must be improved in many respects from the viewpoint of integration density. That is, these devices relevant to the present invention use a “folded bit line system” in order to reduce the cell area. To further advance micropatterning and high integration, it is necessary to, e.g., {circle around (1)} shorten the gate length of a cell transistor, {circle around (2)} use a self-aligned contact structure as a bit line contact, and {circle around (3)} use a newly designed cell.
Furthermore, in present DRAM/logic embedded devices, salicide is adhered to the gate in order to improve the data transfer rate of the DRAM. To further improve this data transfer rate, it is necessary to develop a novel capacitor structure having a lower resistance and to also develop a gate electrode structure matching well with this novel capacitor structure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device having a trench capacitor, wherein the trench capacitor comprises a trench formed in a semiconductor substrate, an insulating layer formed on the inner wall surfaces of the trench, and an electrode portion formed inside the trench having the insulating layer, and the electrode portion has a metal portion.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device wherein four memory capacitors are arranged into a substantially cross shape around a bit line contact, and each of the four memory capacitors can be connected to the bit line contact.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising a bit line contact, four memory capacitors formed around the bit line contact, and four gate electrodes formed between the four memory capacitors and the bit line contact.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising a bit line contact, a plurality of gate electrodes formed around the bit line contact, and a plurality of memory capacitors formed around the bit line contact, wherein each of the plurality of memory capacitors and the bit line contact can be connected or disconnected by changing a voltage to be applied to a corresponding one of the plurality of gate electrodes, and at least one of the plurality of gate electrodes is formed on a predetermined surface, and the other of the plurality of gate electrodes is formed below the predetermined surface.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of fabricating a semiconductor device in which a plurality of trench capacitors are formed around a bit line contact, and each of the plurality of trench capacitors can be connected to or disconnected from the bit line contact, comprising the steps of forming the plurality of trench capacitors on a semiconductor substrate, forming some of a plurality of gate electrodes each for performing switching for a corresponding one of the plurality of trench capacitors, such that the some gate electrodes are buried in the surface of the substrate, forming the remaining ones of the plurality of gate electrodes on the surface of the substrate so as to be substantially perpendicular to the some gate electrodes, covering the side surfaces of the remaining gate electrodes with an insulating layer, and forming the bit line

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