Semiconductor Fin Bridge for Mechanical Robustness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Fin structures in transistors are fragile and difficult to manufacture, leading to reduced area and performance advantages compared to planar devices, and making them more challenging to produce robustly.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a bridge between semiconductor fins that contacts them along only a portion of their lengths, providing additional mechanical support and reducing the likelihood of failure, while allowing for longer fin structures without thickening them.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If fin structures are made wider to improve physical robustness, then manufacturing difficulty is reduced, but area and performance advantages are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a bridge structure that extends in a lateral dimension between fins, providing mechanical support without increasing the vertical fin width. This dimensional approach allows robustness enhancement while preserving the compact footprint of narrow fins, resolving the contradiction between strength and area.
Solution Approach 2:
The bridge acts as an intermediary structural element that connects adjacent fins, distributing mechanical stresses and providing support without requiring the fins themselves to be thicker. This mediator structure enables robustness improvement while maintaining the original fin dimensions and device area.
2Strength
If fin structures are made wider to improve physical robustness, then manufacturing difficulty is reduced, but performance advantages are lost
Solution Approach 1:
By adding the bridge structure in a lateral dimension rather than increasing fin width vertically, the patent maintains the performance characteristics of narrow fins while improving robustness. This dimensional differentiation allows performance and strength to be optimized independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The bridge serves as a mediator that enhances mechanical robustness without interfering with the electrical performance of the fins. It provides structural support while allowing the fin structures to maintain their optimized dimensions for performance.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional planar transistors are used, then manufacturing is easier, but area and performance are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the gate structure into multiple gates that wrap around individual fins, allowing each fin to be manufactured and controlled independently. This segmentation maintains the manufacturing simplicity of planar processes while achieving the performance benefits of three-dimensional fin structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The bridge structure serves multiple functions: it provides mechanical support to prevent fin collapse, acts as a spacer to maintain gate alignment, and enables the formation of wrap-around gates. This multi-functionality achieves fin structure performance while using conventional manufacturing approaches.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device can include a first semiconductor fin and a second semiconductor fin, each spaced-apart from the other. The electronic device can also include a bridge lying between and contacting each of the first semiconductor fin and the second semiconductor fin along only a portion of length of each of the first semiconductor fin and the second semiconductor fin, respectively. In another aspect, a process for forming an electronic device can include forming a first semiconductor fin and a second semiconductor fin from a semiconductor layer, each of the first semiconductor fin and the second semiconductor fin spaced-apart from the other. The process can also include forming a bridge that contacts the first semiconductor fin and second semiconductor fin. The process can further include forming a conductive member, including a gate electrode, lying between the first semiconductor fin and second semiconductor fin.