Semiconductor Channel Structures with Ghost Patterns for High Aspect Ratio Etching
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing aspect ratio of channel holes in semiconductor devices complicates their formation, leading to process defects such as bending and non-opening, particularly at the edges of cell blocks, which hampers mass production efficiency and integration.
Innovation Solution
The semiconductor devices incorporate a stacked structure with alternating insulating and interconnection layers, featuring channel structures and ghost patterns that extend into isolation regions, with ghost holes and patterns positioned above the channel structures to assist in uniform mask formation and reduce defects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the aspect ratio of channel holes is increased to achieve higher integration, then the integration density is improved, but the difficulty of forming vertical channel holes increases and process defects such as bending and non-opening occur
Solution Approach 1:
Ghost holes are formed in advance in the isolation region before the main channel holes are etched. These pre-formed ghost holes serve as reference structures that guide the subsequent formation of vertical channel holes, ensuring proper alignment and reducing formation difficulties in high aspect ratio structures
Solution Approach 2:
The ghost holes act as intermediary reference structures between the mask layer and the channel hole formation process. By providing pre-formed alignment references in the isolation region, they mediate the complex high aspect ratio channel hole formation process, enabling better vertical alignment and reducing defects
2Manufacturing precision
If ghost patterns are added to assist in uniform mask formation, then the manufacturing precision is improved, but the device structure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Ghost patterns are placed only in specific isolation regions where they are most needed for alignment reference, rather than uniformly throughout the entire device. This localized approach provides the necessary manufacturing precision while minimizing the overall increase in device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The ghost patterns are simplified copies or replicas of the actual channel structures, placed in isolation regions to serve as reference models. These copies provide the necessary alignment information without requiring full functional complexity, thus improving mask formation uniformity while controlling device complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A semiconductor device may include a substrate and a stacked structure in which a plurality of insulating layers and a plurality of interconnection layers are alternately stacked on the substrate. An isolation region may cross the stacked structure in a first direction. A plurality of first structures may extend into the stacked structure in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. A plurality of first patterns may extend into the stacked structure in the second direction in the isolation region. Bottoms of the plurality of first patterns may be farther from an upper surface of the substrate than bottoms of the plurality of channel structures.