Electrostatic discharge protection devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10153270-B2
Application number	US-201514599593-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2015
Priority date	Jun 3, 2014
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

An ESD protection device includes a substrate having an active fin extending in a first direction, a plurality of gate structures extending in a second direction at a given angle with respect to the first direction and partially covering the active fin, an epitaxial layer in a recess on a portion of the active fin between the gate structures, an impurity region under the epitaxial layer, and a contact plug contacting the epitaxial layer. A central portion of the impurity region is thicker than an edge portion of the impurity region, in the first direction. The contact plug lies over the central portion of the impurity region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device, comprising:
a substrate having a top surface and the substrate including an active fin projecting upward from the top surface and extending lengthwise in a first direction;
a plurality of gate structures arranged in the first direction, each of the gate structures extending in a second direction subtending a given angle with the first direction and covering a respective part of the active fin;
a first discrete body of epitaxial material and a second discrete body of epitaxial material spaced from each other in the first direction and respectively disposed on portions of the active fin between neighboring ones of the gate structures in the first direction as viewed in a plan view;
a first impurity region at an upper portion of the active fin and extending in the first direction from the first discrete body of epitaxial material to the second discrete body of epitaxial material; and
a contact plug contacting a top of the first impurity region.

2. The ESD protection device of claim 1 , wherein the active fin has a lower portion on which the upper portion of the active fin is disposed, and
respective bottoms of the first and second discrete bodies of epitaxial material are disposed at a level beneath that of the top of the lower portion of the active fin; and
further comprising an isolation layer that covers a side surface of the lower portion of the active fin.

3. The ESD protection device of claim 1 , wherein the active fin has a lower portion on which the upper portion of the active fin is disposed, and
respective bottoms of the first and second discrete bodies of epitaxial material are disposed at a level above a bottom of the upper portion of the active fin; and
further comprising an isolation layer that covers a side surface of the lower portion of the active fin.

4. The ESD protection device of claim 1 , further comprising a second impurity region under the first impurity region, a bottom of the second impurity region disposed at a level beneath that of respective bottoms of the first and second discrete bodies of epitaxial material.

5. The ESD protection device of claim 4 , wherein the second impurity region includes n-type impurities.

6. The ESD protection device of claim 1 , wherein the first and second discrete bodies of epitaxial material and the first impurity region include p-type impurities.

7. The ESD protection device of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of the active fins are arranged in the second direction, and each of the first and second discrete bodies of epitaxial material extends contiguously in the second direction so as to cross the plurality of active fins.

8. The ESD protection device of claim 1 , wherein each of the gate structures includes a gate insulation layer pattern, a high-k dielectric layer pattern and a gate electrode stacked in the foregoing order on the active fin, and
the high-k dielectric layer pattern covers the bottom and sides of the gate electrode, and the gate electrode comprises a metal.

9. The ESD protection device of claim 1 , wherein the second direction is substantially perpendicular to the first direction.

10. The ESD protection device of claim 1 , wherein the first and second discrete bodies of epitaxial material are disposed adjacent the neighboring ones of the gate structures, respectively.

11. The ESD protection device of claim 10 , further comprising a second impurity region under the first impurity region, a bottom of the second impurity region being disposed at a level beneath that of respective bottoms of the first and second discrete bodies of epitaxial material.

12. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device, comprising:
a substrate including an active fin extending lengthwise in a first direction, the substrate having at least one recess therein extending in at least an upper portion of the active fin, and the substrate having at least one region of impurities;
a pair of gate structures disposed on the active fin, the pair of gate structures spaced from each other in the first direction, each said at least one recess located between the pair of gate structures in the first direction, and each said at least one region of impurities located in a portion of the active fin between the pair of gate structures in the first direction;
an epitaxial layer extending over lower portions of sides of the pair of gate structures that face each other in the first direction, and into said at least one recess;
a contact plug extending vertically between the pair of gate structures and contacting a top of the epitaxial layer or said at least one region of impurities; and
an isolation layer that covers opposite sides of a lower portion of the active fin situated beneath the upper portion of the active fin, and
wherein the substrate has a plurality of recesses therein extending in at least an upper portion of the active fin as spaced apart from each other and located between the pair of gate structures in the first direction,
whereby the epitaxial layer has portions disposed in the recesses, respectively, such that said portions of the epitaxial layer are also spaced from each other in the first direction,
the at least one region of impurities comprises an impurity region extending within an upper portion of the active fin located between said portions of the epitaxial layer, the impurity region has an uppermost surface, and an uppermost part of the epitaxial layer is disposed at a level above that of the uppermost surface of the impurity region, and
the contact plug contacts a top of the impurity region.

13. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device, comprising:
a substrate including an active fin extending lengthwise in a first direction, and the substrate having at least one region of impurities;
neighboring gate structures disposed on the active fin, the neighboring gate structures spaced from each other in the first direction,
wherein each said at least one region of impurities is located in a portion of the active fin between the neighboring gate structures in the first direction;
an epitaxial layer having discrete portions respectively extending in an upper portion of the active fin and over lower portions of sides of the neighboring gate structures that face each other in the first direction, the discrete portions of the epitaxial layer being spaced from each other in the first direction and not vertically overlapping any of the neighboring gate structures, and the at least one region of impurities being located in a portion of the substrate interposed in the first direction between the discrete portions of the epitaxial layer;
a contact plug extending vertically at a location halfway between the neighboring gate structures and contacting a top of the epitaxial layer or said at least one region of impurities; and
an isolation layer that covers opposite sides of a lower portion of the active fin situated beneath the upper portion of the active fin.

14. The ESD protection device of claim 13 , wherein a maximum width of each of the discrete portions of the epitaxial layer, as taken in the first direction, is less than a minimum distance in the first direction between the neighboring gate structures.

15. The ESD protection device of claim 13 , wherein the at least one region of impurities comprises an impurity region extending within an upper portion of the active fin interposed between the discrete portions of the epitaxial layer.

16. The ESD protection device of claim 15 , wherein the impurity region has an uppermost surface, and an uppermo

Assignees

• Kang Dae Lim
• Kim Hyun Jo
• Youn Jong Mil
• Hong Soo Hun
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kang Dae-Lim
• Kim Hyun-Jo
• Youn Jong-Mil
• Hong Soo-Hun

Classifications

• H10P14/6349

  Deposition of epitaxial materials · CPC title

• H01L27/0886

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/0266 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L29/0847

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L29/1608

  Electricity · mapped topic