Fin form improving methodTechnical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductors, in particular to a fin shape improving method.
Background
Along with the geometric reduction of the characteristic dimension of a semiconductor device according to the Law of Moire, the integration level of a chip is continuously improved, a plurality of negative effects are generated, so that the traditional planar MOS tube is subjected to bottleneck when the thickness of the traditional planar MOS tube is increased to 22nm, particularly the Short Channel Effect (SCE) is obviously increased, and the off-state current of the device is rapidly increased; from 16/14nm, the introduction of a FIN-shaped (FIN) structure increases the surface of a gate surrounding a channel, strengthens the control of the gate on the channel and effectively relieves the short-channel effect in a planar device.
During the FIN dry etching process, the high-energy plasma may damage the FIN surface, and the FIN surface roughness is too large and the FIN side is not flat, as shown in fig. 1 and 2. In a Fin-Field-Effect Transistor (FinFET), a driving current flows along a vertical sidewall of a Fin structure, and thus, the surface quality of the sidewall has a great influence on reliability and electrical performance of the device. Rough sidewalls can result in reduced carrier mobility and lifetime, reduced current drive, degraded subthreshold swing, increased leakage current and low frequency noise.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a new fin shape improvement method to solve the above problems in the prior art.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide a fin shape improving method which improves the flatness of the vertical side wall of a fin structure.
To achieve the above object, the fin shape improving method of the present invention includes the steps of:
s1: filling silicon nitride in the sunken part of the fin structure;
s2: growing silicon oxide on exposed surfaces of the fin structure;
s3: filling silicon oxide to completely wrap the fin structures and fill the grooves among the fin structures, and then carrying out annealing treatment;
s4: and etching the silicon oxide to expose part of the fin structure.
The fin form improving method has the beneficial effects that: filling silicon nitride in a depression of a fin structure, growing silicon oxide on the exposed surface of the fin structure, wherein the silicon nitride can protect the silicon in the depression of the fin structure, further avoiding the silicon in the depression of the fin structure from being oxidized, the silicon outside the depression of the fin structure can be oxidized, the silicon oxide is filled to completely wrap the fin structure and fill the grooves between the fin structures, and then annealing treatment is carried out, at the moment, the silicon nitride in the depression of the fin structure can play a role in protecting, avoiding the silicon in the depression of the fin structure from being oxidized, etching the silicon oxide to expose part of the fin structure, removing the protruding part of the side wall of the fin structure, and further improving the flatness of the vertical side wall of the fin structure.
Optionally, the filling silicon nitride in the recess of the fin structure includes:
forming silicon nitride on a surface of the fin structure;
and removing the silicon nitride outside the sunken part of the fin structure by adopting an anisotropic dry etching process. The beneficial effects are that: by adopting the anisotropic dry etching process, only the silicon nitride outside the fin structure recess can be removed, and the silicon nitride in the fin structure recess is remained.
Optionally, the forming silicon nitride on the surface of the fin structure includes: and forming silicon nitride on the surface of the fin structure by adopting an atomic layer deposition process.
Optionally, the growing silicon oxide on the exposed surface of the fin structure comprises: growing silicon oxide on the exposed surface of the fin structure using a water vapor oxidation or atomic layer deposition process.
Optionally, the filling of the silicon oxide to completely wrap the fin structures and fill the trenches between the fin structures, and then performing an annealing process, including:
filling silicon oxide by adopting a fluid chemical vapor deposition process to completely wrap the fin structures and fill the grooves between the fin structures;
and carrying out steam annealing treatment on the silicon oxide.
Optionally, the etching the silicon oxide to expose a portion of the fin structure includes: and etching the silicon oxide by adopting an isotropic etching process to expose part of the fin structure.
Optionally, when the top of the fin structure has a hard mask formed of silicon nitride and silicon oxide, the step S3 further includes: the filling silicon oxide completely wraps the hard mask.
Optionally, between executing the step S3 and the step S4, further comprising: and planarizing the silicon oxide on the upper side of the silicon nitride in the hard mask to expose the silicon nitride in the hard mask.
Optionally, after planarizing the silicon oxide on the upper side of the silicon nitride in the hard mask, the method further includes: and carrying out annealing treatment. The beneficial effects are that: the film quality of the silicon oxide can be improved after the annealing treatment.
Optionally, between executing the step S3 and the step S4, further comprising: and removing the silicon nitride in the hard mask by adopting a wet method.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art fin structure;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of yet another prior art fin structure;
FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for fin morphology improvement in some embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of FIG. 1 after forming silicon nitride on the surface thereof in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;
fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the fin structure of fig. 4 after removing silicon nitride from the fin structure except for the recess in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;
fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of fig. 5 after growing silicon oxide on exposed surfaces of the fin structure in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of FIG. 6 after filling with silicon oxide in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of FIG. 7 after a water vapor anneal process has been performed on the structure in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of FIG. 8 after chemical mechanical planarization in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of FIG. 9 after removing the silicon nitride from the hard mask in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;
fig. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of fig. 10 after etching silicon nitride in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
Detailed Description
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention. Unless defined otherwise, technical or scientific terms used herein shall have the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. As used herein, the word "comprising" and similar words are intended to mean that the element or item listed before the word covers the element or item listed after the word and its equivalents, but does not exclude other elements or items.
In view of the problems in the prior art, embodiments of the present invention provide a method for improving fin shape.
Referring to fig. 3, the fin morphology improving method includes the following steps:
s1: filling silicon nitride in the sunken part of the fin structure;
s2: growing silicon oxide on exposed surfaces of the fin structure;
s3: filling silicon oxide to completely wrap the fin structures and fill the grooves among the fin structures, and then carrying out annealing treatment;
s4: and etching the silicon oxide to expose part of the fin structure.
In some embodiments, the filling silicon nitride in the recess of the fin structure includes: forming silicon nitride on a surface of the fin structure; and removing the silicon nitride outside the sunken part of the fin structure by adopting an anisotropic dry etching process. Wherein silicon nitride is formed on a surface of the fin structure by an atomic layer deposition process.
In some embodiments, the forming silicon nitride on the surface of the fin structure comprises: and forming silicon nitride on the surface of the fin structure by adopting an atomic layer deposition process.
In some embodiments, the growing silicon oxide on the exposed surface of the fin structure comprises: growing silicon oxide on the exposed surface of the fin structure using a water vapor oxidation or atomic layer deposition process.
In some embodiments, the filling silicon oxide to completely wrap the fin structures and fill the trenches between the fin structures, and then performing an annealing process, including: filling silicon oxide by adopting a fluid chemical vapor deposition process to completely wrap the fin structures and fill the grooves between the fin structures; and carrying out steam annealing treatment on the silicon oxide.
In some embodiments, the etching the silicon oxide to expose a portion of the fin structure includes: and etching the silicon oxide by adopting an isotropic etching process to expose part of the fin structure.
In some embodiments, when the top of the fin structure has a hard mask formed of silicon nitride and silicon oxide, the step S1 further includes: silicon nitride is formed on the surface of the fin structure and on the hard mask.
In a preceding process of fin structure formation, a hard mask is used to mask etch the substrate to form the fin structure.
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a fin structure in the prior art. Referring to fig. 1, asubstrate 101 has twofin structures 102, and each of thefin structures 102 has arecess 1021 on both sides thereof, and each of thefin structures 102 has a hard mask on an upper side thereof, wherein the hard mask is made ofsilicon oxide 103,silicon nitride 104, andsilicon oxide 103 from top to bottom.
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another prior art fin structure. Referring to fig. 2, asubstrate 101 has twofin structures 102 with curved sidewalls, and an upper side of eachfin structure 102 has ahard mask 103, which is made ofsilicon oxide 103,silicon nitride 104, andsilicon oxide 103 from top to bottom. Wherein the inward curvature of thefin structure 102 sidewalls corresponds to the recess of fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of fig. 1 after silicon nitride is formed on the surface of the structure according to some embodiments of the present invention. A layer ofsilicon nitride 104 is deposited on thefin structure 102 and the surface of the hard mask by an atomic layer deposition process resulting in the structure shown in fig. 4.
Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the fin structure of fig. 4 after removing silicon nitride from the fin structure except for the recess in some embodiments of the present invention. Thesilicon nitride 104 outside thefin structure 102recess 1021 is removed by dry etching, and thesilicon nitride 104 in thefin structure 102recess 1021 is retained, so that thesilicon nitride 104 is filled in thefin structure 102recess 1021, and the structure shown in fig. 5 is obtained.
Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of fig. 5 after growing silicon oxide on the exposed surfaces of the fin structure in some embodiments of the present invention. The exposed silicon surface of thefin structure 102 is oxidized by a water vapor oxidation method or an atomic layer deposition process, and thensilicon oxide 103 is grown on the exposed surface of thefin structure 102, so as to obtain the structure shown in fig. 6. Wherein, since the silicon nitride at thefin structure 102 is generated by the atomic deposition process, the generated silicon nitride is unstable, and a portion of the silicon nitride at the recess of thefin structure 102 is oxidized during the process of generating thesilicon oxide 103.
In some embodiments, when the top of the fin structure has a hard mask formed of silicon nitride and silicon oxide, the step S3 further includes: the filling silicon oxide completely wraps the hard mask.
Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of fig. 6 after filling with silicon oxide in some embodiments of the invention. A fluid chemical vapor deposition process is used to fill thesilicon oxide 103 to completely wrap thefin structures 102, the hard mask, and fill the trenches between thefin structures 102, resulting in the structure shown in fig. 7.
Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of fig. 7 after a water vapor anneal process has been performed on the structure in some embodiments of the present invention. After thesilicon oxide 103 is subjected to the steam annealing treatment, thesilicon nitride 104 in the recess of thefin structure 102 is completely or partially oxidized to silicon oxide, so as to obtain the structure shown in fig. 8, where thesilicon nitride 104 in the recess of thefin structure 102 is completely oxidized to silicon oxide.
In some embodiments, when the top of the fin structure has a hard mask formed of silicon nitride and silicon oxide, performing between the step S3 and the step S4 further comprises: and chemically and mechanically planarizing the silicon oxide on the upper side of the silicon nitride in the hard mask to expose the silicon nitride in the hard mask.
Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of fig. 8 after chemical mechanical planarization, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. Thesilicon oxide 103 is subjected to chemical mechanical planarization to expose thesilicon nitride 104 in the hard mask, resulting in the structure shown in fig. 9.
In some embodiments, after the chemical mechanical planarization of the silicon oxide on the upper side of the silicon nitride in the hard mask, the method further includes: and annealing treatment is carried out to improve the film quality of the silicon oxide.
In some embodiments, performing between the step S3 and the step S4 further comprises: and removing the silicon nitride in the hard mask by adopting a wet method.
FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of the hard mask of FIG. 9 after removal of the silicon nitride in the hard mask in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. Thesilicon nitride 104 in the hard mask is removed by a wet process to obtain the structure shown in fig. 10.
Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of fig. 10 after etching silicon nitride in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. Thesilicon oxide 103 is etched using an isotropic etching process to expose a portion of thefin structure 102, resulting in the structure shown in fig. 11. If only a portion of the silicon nitride in the recess of thefin structure 102 is oxidized to silicon oxide, the silicon nitride in the recess of thefin structure 102 is etched away while thesilicon nitride 103 is etched by the isotropic etching process.
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail hereinabove, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to these embodiments. However, it is to be understood that such modifications and variations are within the scope and spirit of the present invention as set forth in the following claims. Moreover, the invention as described herein is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways.