Multi-Gate Active Pattern Layout for Short-Channel Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current multi-gate transistors face challenges in scaling and electrical isolation, particularly in maintaining effective current control and suppressing short channel effects without increasing gate length, while also managing parasitic capacitances and electrical characteristics across different element separation structures.
Innovation Solution
The semiconductor device incorporates a specific arrangement of active patterns and gate electrodes with varying widths and orientations, utilizing element separation structures to enhance electrical isolation and control, with first and second active patterns having different widths and orientations to compensate for electrical deterioration and parasitic capacitances between conductive regions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multi-gate transistors are used to improve current control capability and suppress short channel effects, then device density and current control are improved, but parasitic capacitances increase and electrical isolation becomes more difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The active pattern is divided into multiple segments with different widths in different regions. The first active pattern has a first width, while the second active pattern has a second width that is different from the first width. This segmentation allows different regions to have optimized electrical characteristics, reducing parasitic capacitances while maintaining current control capability.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the active pattern are assigned different local properties (widths). The first active pattern region has a first width optimized for current control, while the second active pattern region has a second width optimized for reducing parasitic capacitances. This local quality variation resolves the contradiction by allowing each region to optimize for its specific function.
2Reliability
If gate length is increased to suppress short channel effects, then short channel effects are reduced, but device scaling is hindered
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing gate length (one-dimensional solution), the invention uses multi-gate structures that wrap around the active pattern, utilizing three-dimensional geometry. The gate electrodes are positioned on multiple sides of the active pattern, providing enhanced control over the channel without increasing the linear gate length, thus enabling continued scaling while suppressing short channel effects.
Solution Approach 2:
The gate control is segmented into multiple gate electrodes positioned at different locations around the active pattern. This segmentation allows each gate electrode to control a specific portion of the channel, providing distributed control that suppresses short channel effects more effectively than a single long gate would, while maintaining compact device dimensions for scaling.
3Reliability
If element separation structures are added to improve electrical isolation, then electrical isolation is enhanced, but device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The element separation structures are merged with the active pattern formation process. The same fabrication steps that create the active patterns with varying widths also create the element separation structures between them. This merging reduces overall device complexity by combining multiple functions into a unified structure formed through integrated processing steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The active pattern structure serves multiple functions: it provides the conductive region for transistor operation, defines the channel geometry for current control, and creates element separation structures for electrical isolation. This multi-functionality reduces device complexity by eliminating the need for separate dedicated isolation structures.
Data Source
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AI summary
A semiconductor device includes a first element separation structure (165), a second element separation structure (265), and a third element separation structure (365) sequentially disposed along a first direction (D1) and extending in a second direction (D2) intersecting the first direction; a first active pattern (110) extending in the first direction between the first element separation structure and the second element separation structure; a second active pattern (120) extending in the first direction between the second element separation structure and the third element separation structure and separated from the first active pattern by the second element separation structure; a first gate electrode (120) extending in the second direction on the first active pattern; and a plurality of second gate electrodes (221, 222, 223) extending in the second direction on the second active pattern, wherein a width (W1) of the first active pattern in the second direction is greater than a width (W2) of the second active pattern in the second direction.