STI leakage reduction

Details STI leakage reduction STI leakage reduction

2001-11-13

2004-02-24

Eckert, George (Department: 2815)

Semiconductor device manufacturing: process

Formation of electrically isolated lateral semiconductive...

Grooved and refilled with deposited dielectric material

C438S431000, C438S432000, C438S437000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06696349

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Semiconductor devices are employed in many types of equipment to perform a wide variety of applications. One important type of semiconductor device for use in the memory field is known as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which is extensively used as memory components in computers. A basic DRAM cell may include a capacitor and a transistor. The capacitor stores a charge representing data. The transistor allows the data to be written to or read from the capacitor. By reducing the size of the transistor and capacitor, semiconductor manufacturers can fit more DRAM onto a chip. The increase in the amount of DRAM results in greater memory capacity for the chip.
An often-used transistor is the metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) field effect transistor, known as a MOSFET. The MOSFET has three regions, which are the source, gate and drain. Charge enters the MOSFET at the source, flows through a channel and exits at the drain. The gate controls operation of the transistor.
As DRAM chips are scaled down, the transistors are placed closer together. This makes it more difficult to prevent charge from leaking from one transistor into an adjacent transistor. For example, the undesirable leakage may occur between the drain of one transistor and the source of a neighboring transistor. The oxide isolation between the transistors creates a parasitic MOS device. The off current of the parasitic MOS device, known as subthreshold leakage, can be a problem. Subthreshold leakage can result in a discharge of the DRAM memory cell, effectively erasing the data that the cell is supposed to store.
Various methods have been developed to try and isolate neighboring transistors from each other in order to minimize subthreshold leakage. One widely used isolation method employs local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS). In LOCOS generally, a thick oxide is grown on the silicon substrate between two active devices. In attempting to reduce subthreshold leakage, the LOCOS oxide is grown between neighboring transistors. First, a protective mask is placed over areas that should remain unchanged. Next, the chip is heated. Areas of silicon not protected by the mask are oxidized when the chip is heated. The oxide acts to electrically isolate the adjacent transistors, thereby reducing subthreshold leakage. The LOCOS oxide is normally very thick, on the order of 500 nm.
One drawback to LOCOS isolation is the width of the oxide. LOCOS forms a “bird's beak” string on either side of the main oxide. The bird's beak encroaches on space where the transistors are formed. In order to avoid the bird's beak encroachment problem, transistors need to be spaced farther apart, which is undesirable for a high density DRAM chip.
A method that can be used as a substitute for LOCOS isolation in high-density DRAM chips is known as shallow trench isolation (STI). STI does not suffer from the scaling problem of LOCOS, which stems from the bird's beak encroachment problem.
In creating an STI region, a shallow trench is first etched into the silicon substrate between the transistors. A liner may be formed in the trench. The liner is typically an oxide or nitride. The liner provides a convenient interface between the substrate and the material added to fill the trench. Next, the trench is filled in with an oxide. It is possible to employ other materials instead of oxide to fill the trench. Finally, the oxide surface is polished so that the filled-in trench is in the same plane as the surface of the rest of the chip at that point in the fabrication process.
The present invention improves upon the isolation provided by previous STI techniques by providing improved subthreshold leakage reduction. Small amounts of charge can leak from one transistor to another through a region known as a parasitic region of a MOS device. This small amount of leakage may be enough to discharge the memory cell. The parasitic region has a threshold voltage. Subthreshold leakage occurs when the voltage in the parasitic region rises above the threshold voltage.
Normally, the threshold voltage of the parasitic region is kept well above the operating voltage of the transistors. For example, the supplied operating voltage of a densely packed DRAM chip is typically 3.3 volts. The threshold voltage of the parasitic region may be more than 15 volts. This threshold voltage still permits a leakage current on the order of 1 fA. In a densely packed DRAM chip, 1 fA is enough to discharge the memory cell. Therefore, there is a need for an improved isolation device that minimizes subthreshold leakage between transistors such that a memory cell is not discharged.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is one aspect of the present invention to improve upon conventional STI devices. In the present invention, the trench of the STI device is filled with a conducting material. The conducting material should be chosen such that a voltage bias can be applied to it. In one preferred embodiment, the conducting material is polysilicon. A dopant is added to the polysilicon such that the polysilicon-filled STI trench can sustain a voltage bias. This voltage bias changes the threshold voltage of the parasitic region of the MOS device (i.e., the region in which leakage occurs between adjacent transistors), further reducing the subthreshold leakage between adjacent transistors.
It is another aspect of the present invention to minimize latch-up. Latch-up occurs in a commonly used MOS technology known as complementary MOS (CMOS). In CMOS, pairs of MOS transistors are associated with each other. One transistor is n-type (NMOS), where electrons carry the current. The other transistor is p-type (PMOS), where the current is carried by positively charged holes. The NMOS and PMOS transistors are complementary because only one transistor is active at a time.
Applying a positive voltage to the gates of the NMOS and PMOS transistors will activate the NMOS transistor while shutting off the PMOS transistor. Applying a negative voltage (or zero volts) to the gates of the PMOS and NMOS transistors turns on the PMOS transistor, while shutting off the NMOS transistor. Operating one transistor while keeping the other one off conserves power on the chip.
Latch-up is an event in which current flows through the substrate between NMOS and PMOS portions of CMOS circuitry. The parasitic regions on the CMOS device for the NMOS and PMOS portions create a ‘latch’ through which the current flows. Latch-up degrades the CMOS circuitry performance by causing a heavy static current that can destroy the circuitry. The present invention minimizes latch-up by suppressing the leakage current in each parasitic region.
It is yet another aspect of the present invention to enhance electrostatic discharge (ESD) immunity of circuitry. Electrostatic discharge occurs when a high voltage is applied to a contact, creating excessive electric fields that cause a high current flow to an adjacent region. The high current can melt the chip, thereby destroying it. The present invention enhances ESD immunity by suppressing high current flow between adjacent regions.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor device is provided for minimizing subthreshold leakage. The semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor substrate, a plurality of transistors having a gate, a source and a drain formed in the semiconductor substrate, a shallow trench isolation (STI) region formed in the semiconductor substrate between two of the transistors, and an interconnect. The STI region includes a trench, a base layer arranged in a bottom portion of the trench, and conducting material arranged on top of the base layer in the trench. The interconnect provides a contact whereby a voltage bias can be applied to the conducting material such that the subthreshold leakage is minimized.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, the semiconductor device further includes a plurality of capacitors. The capacitors are electrically connected to the transistors, forming DRAM memory cells. The voltage bia

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