Surface passivation for germanium-based semiconductor structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016190286-A1
Application number	US-201414586313-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 30, 2014
Priority date	Dec 30, 2014
Publication date	Jun 30, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method forming a semiconductor device in accordance with some embodiments. The method includes receiving a substrate having a fin protruding through the substrate, wherein the fin is formed of a first semiconductor material, exposing the substrate in an environment including hydrogen radicals, thereby passivating the protruded fin using the hydrogen radicals, and epitaxially growing a cap layer of a second semiconductor material to cover the protruded fin.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
receiving a substrate having a fin protruding through the substrate, wherein the fin is formed of a first semiconductor material; exposing the substrate in an environment including hydrogen radicals, thereby passivating the protruded fin using the hydrogen radicals; and epitaxially growing a cap layer of a second semiconductor material to cover the protruded fin.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first semiconductor material includes a material selected from the group consisting of germanium, germanium silicon, and germanium tin.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second semiconductor material is silicon.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the environment is a first compartment of a chamber.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the epitaxially growing of the cap layer is performed in a second compartment of the chamber.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is subjected to be processed neither at temperatures greater than 200° C. nor under pressures greater than 50 Torr.

7 . A method comprising:
forming a semiconductor material over a semiconductor substrate; performing a hydrogen radical treatment process to the semiconductor material; forming a capping layer over the treated semiconductor material; and forming a gate electrode over the capping layer.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein forming the semiconductor material over a semiconductor substrate includes forming a recess in the semiconductor substrate and forming the semiconductor material in the recess.

9 . The method of claim 7 , forming the semiconductor material over the semiconductor substrate includes:
forming a first semiconductor material layer over the semiconductor substrate; forming a second semiconductor material layer over the first semiconductor material layer; and forming a third semiconductor material layer over the second semiconductor material layer.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first semiconductor material layer is different than the second semiconductor material layer and the second semiconductor material layer is different than the third semiconductor material layer.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the capping layer is formed of another semiconductor material.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein performing the hydrogen radical treatment process to the semiconductor material results in a passivation layer being formed over the semiconductor material.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein forming the capping layer over the treated semiconductor material includes forming the capping layer over the passivation layer.

14 . The method of claim 7 , wherein forming the gate electrode over the capping layer includes forming the gate electrode along a sidewall surface and a top surface of the capping layer.

15 . A method, comprising:
placing a semiconductor structure in a chamber having a remote plasma source coupled thereto; generating a hydrogen plasma in the remote plasma source, the hydrogen plasma comprising hydrogen radicals; exposing a surface of the semiconductor structure to the hydrogen plasma; and epitaxially growing a cap layer on the exposed surface of the semiconductor structure.

16 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the surface of the semiconductor structure is formed of a first semiconductor material, and the cap layer is formed of a second semiconductor material.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the first semiconductor material includes germanium-based material and the second semiconductor material includes silicon.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein before exposing the surface of the semiconductor structure to the hydrogen plasma, the surface of the semiconductor structure includes dangling germanium bonds.

19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the semiconductor structure is a fin of a fin field-effect transistor (Fin FET).

20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the semiconductor structure is subject to neither temperatures greater than 200° C. nor pressures greater than 50 Torr.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg

Inventors

• Wang kuan-cheng
• Lin Chien-Feng
• Pan Jeng-Yang
• Lin Keng-Chu

Classifications

• H10P95/94

  Hydrogenation or deuterisation, e.g. using atomic hydrogen from a plasma · CPC title

• H10P14/3411

  Silicon, silicon germanium or germanium · CPC title

• H10P14/3251

  consisting of three or more layers · CPC title

• H10P14/3211

  Silicon, silicon germanium or germanium · CPC title

• H10P14/271

  characterised by the preparation of substrate for selective deposition · CPC title