Method of forming nitrogen enriched gate dielectric with low effective oxide thickness

[0002] The present invention relates to methods of forming gate dielectric structures, and more particularly to methods of forming nitrogen enriched gate dielectric structures.

[0003] As circuit designs become more complex and increased processing speeds are demanded, it is becoming increasingly more important and necessary to be able to provide larger numbers of transistors on an integrated circuit (IC) chip without increasing the overall size of the IC chip. One technique for increasing circuit density is to scale down the size of each individual MOSFET device on the IC chip. The performance of the MOSFET is inversely proportional to the gate oxide thickness. Efforts to enhance performance, therefore, have driven gate oxide thicknesses down below 14 Angstroms (Å). Scaling of the gate oxides to such thicknesses, however, leads to high tunneling current and boron penetration.

[0004] An alternative approach to extreme scaling of oxide thicknesses that improves device performance is the incorporation of nitrogen in the gate oxide. Gate oxide nitridation increases the dielectric constant of the gate dielectric over conventional silicon oxide, thereby reducing the effective oxide thickness while reducing gate leakage current and increasing boron penetration immunity. Several prior art nitridation processes are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,218 to Soleimani et al., the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein, including nitridation using NH₃, N₂O oxidation and N₂implantation.

[0005] One method of incorporating nitrogen into the gate oxide layer is through direct implantation of nitrogen in a plasma treatment process. This process can yield high doses of nitrogen at a desired, controlled depth in the silicon oxide layer, but the process tends to damage the silicon oxide layer, resulting in low carrier mobility and low driving current. Therefore, there remains a need for a new method of incorporating nitrogen into a gate oxide without adversely affecting device performance. Still further, there remains a need for a new method of implanting nitrogen into a gate oxide while reducing or eliminating damage to the oxide layer.

[0006] A method of forming a gate dielectric includes the steps of forming a gate oxide layer on a substrate, forming a buffer layer over the gate oxide layer and incorporating nitrogen into the gate oxide layer through the buffer layer. A semiconductor device having a gate structure is also provided. The gate structure includes a nitrogen enriched gate oxide layer formed on a substrate, a silicon nitride or poly-silicon buffer layer formed on the gate oxide layer and a gate electrode formed over the buffer layer.

[0007] The method provides a nitrogen enriched gate dielectric structure without directly subjecting the gate oxide to damage associated with nitridation treatment. Low leakage current and high driving current devices can thereby be fabricated including gate dielectrics having a low effective oxide thickness. The fabrication method and semiconductor structure are particularly suited for 0.15 μm and smaller technology modes.

[0008] The above and other features of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention that is provided in connection with the accompanying drawings.

[0009] The accompanying drawings illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, as well as other information pertinent to the disclosure, in which:

[0010] FIGS. 1-3 are cross sections illustrating process steps for forming a nitrogen enriched gate dielectric; and

[0011] FIG. 4 is an illustration of an exemplary MOSFET device having a nitrogen enriched gate dielectric.

[0012] FIGS. 1-3 are cross sections illustrating an exemplary process for forming a nitrogen enriched gate dielectric and gate structure including a nitrogen enriched gate dielectric. Referring first to FIG. 1, a gate oxide layer 12 is formed on a substrate 10, such as a silicon, germanium or silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate. The gate oxide layer 12 may include a thin SiO₂, SiON or SiON₂layer grown on the substrate 10. The gate oxide layer 12 preferably has a thickness of less than approximately 20 Å, and more preferably 17 Å. For purposes of this description, “effective oxide thickness” is defined as the thickness silicon oxide would have to be in order to have the same capacitance per unit area as the nitrided oxide. For the same effective oxide thickness, the physical thickness of a nitrided silicon oxide is thicker than the pure oxide without nitridation, due to the higher dielectric constant.

[0013] A buffer layer 14 is deposited over the gate oxide layer 12, such as by chemical vapor deposition. The buffer layer 14 may be a silicon nitride (Si₃N₄(also referred to herein as SiN)) or polysilicon (poly-Si) layer, or even a silicon germanium or silicon carbon layer, having a thickness between approximately 20-1000 Å, and more preferably between about 50-500 Å. The buffer layer 14 serves as a protective layer for the gate oxide 12 during nitrogen implantation (describe below and shown in FIG. 1 by arrows) because the gate oxide 12 is not directly exposed to the nitridation process and, therefore, does not suffer nitridation related damage.

[0014] One exemplary implantation process is a remote plasma nitridation process, at a temperature between about 20-600° C. in ambient of N₂, N₂O or NO, at a power between approximately 100-3000 Watts and a pressure between about 5 mTorr-760 Torr between about 5-300 seconds at a flow rate of between about 10-1000 sccm with an N₂precursor and a substrate bias of between about 0.0-1.0 kilovolt. Other nitridation processes may also be utilized, such high density plasma nitridation, decouple plasma nitridation (DPN), or thermal nitridation using NH₃, N₂O or NO oxidation.

[0015] Initially, the nitrogen ions are mostly implanted into the oxide layer through the buffer layer 14, but an amount of nitrogen remains in the buffer layer 14. After this step, the relative concentrations in atoms/cm²of the implanted nitrogen in the buffer and oxide layers, respectively, are 1×10¹⁶and less than 5×10¹⁵atoms/cm². The interface of the substrate 10 and the gate oxide layer 12 has almost no concentration of nitrogen.

[0016] After the nitrogen is implanted into the gate oxide layer 12, a thermal annealing process is performed to further drive the nitrogen from the buffer layer 14 and fix the nitrogen into the gate oxide layer 12. A rapid thermal anneal process is preferred at a temperature between approximately 900-1200° C., for a duration between approximately 5-120 seconds in a N₂, He, O₂, N₂O or NO ambient.

[0017] During the annealing process and as shown in FIG. 2, a SiO₂layer 16 grows on the SiN or poly-Si buffer layer 14. This oxide layer 16 is then etched from the gate dielectric structure using, for example, a HF etch process, in which diluted HF with concentration range from about 100:1 to 20:1 DI:HF at around 25° C. to 80° C. for about 5 to 90 seconds can be used, with the buffer layer 14 serving as an etch stop layer. For a SiN buffer layer, the final target thickness is preferably less than 10 Å. For a polysilicon buffer layer, the target thickness is preferably less than 20 Å.

[0018] After the etch process, which removes the native oxide 16 grown on the buffer layer 14, a gate 18 is formed on the exposed buffer layer 14. Before this formation step, a thermal treatment may be employed to further cure dielectric damage in order to improve dielectric quality. An exemplary gate 18 is formed from poly-Si by, for example, chemical vapor deposition techniques familiar to those of ordinary skill. If the buffer 14 is formed from poly-Si, it effectively becomes part of the gate in the final gate structure. If the buffer 14 is formed from SiN, it effectively becomes part of the gate dielectric of the final gate structure.

[0019] Both dielectric constant and EOT depend on nitrogen concentration. If the buffer layer is Si₃N₄, EOT is a factor of the total thickness of the base oxide and the silicon nitride buffer layer.

[0020] The above-described method of forming a gate structure with nitrogen enriched gate oxide may be utilized in forming several structures having nitrogen enriched gate dielectrics, such as MOSFETs, CMOS and bi-CMOS devices, and embedded DRAM structures. Configurations and methods of forming these structures are well known to those in the art and need not be described in detail. One exemplary structure is shown in FIG. 4. MOSFET 100 is shown formed on substrate 10 and is isolated from other devices by shallow trench isolation (STI) 26. The gate structure includes nitrogen enriched gate oxide 12, SiN or poly-Si buffer layer 14, and poly-Si gate electrode 18, formed, for example, as described above in connection with FIGS. 1-3. The device 100 also includes lightly doped regions 22 and more heavily doped source/drain regions 24. Spacers 20, usually of silicon oxide, are also provided. The gate and source/drain contact regions may also include metal silicide layers (not shown), such as titanium, tungsten, cobalt or nickel silicide regions. An interlayer dielectric layer is generally formed over the structure and contacts are formed to the device.

[0021] The method described above produces a nitrogen enriched gate dielectric structure without directly subjecting the gate oxide to nitrogen plasma treatment, thereby eliminating damage to the gate oxide normally resulting from nitridation treatment, particularly with direct plasma treatment of a gate oxide. Low leakage current and high driving current devices can thereby be fabricated including gate dielectrics having a low effective oxide thickness formed according to the above-described method. The methods and structure described herein are particularly suited for 0.15 μm and smaller processes. This process should apply as well to ultra thin gate dielectric applications having an EOT of less than 10 Å.

[0022] Although the invention has been described in terms of exemplary embodiments, it is not limited thereto. Rather, the appended claims should be construed broadly to include other variants and embodiments of the invention that may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and range of equivalents of the invention.