Suspended Fin Semiconductor Device for High-Mobility Epitaxy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manufacturing high-performance semiconductor devices with semiconductor materials of higher mobility than silicon is challenging due to difficulties in forming high-quality semiconductor materials.
Innovation Solution
A semiconductor device with a suspended fin-shaped structure is created, where a first fin-shaped semiconductor layer is supported by a substrate through a supporting portion and surrounded by a second semiconductor layer, allowing for stress relaxation and defect suppression during growth, enabling the use of high-mobility materials like Ge or III-V compounds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If high-mobility semiconductor materials (Ge, III-V compounds) are used to improve device performance, then mobility is enhanced, but manufacturing difficulty increases due to challenges in forming high-quality semiconductor materials
Solution Approach 1:
A sacrificial layer is introduced as an intermediary component between the substrate and the high-mobility semiconductor layer. This sacrificial layer facilitates the growth of high-quality semiconductor materials by providing a controlled interface, and is subsequently removed to release the semiconductor layer in a suspended state, thereby enabling the use of difficult-to-manufacture high-mobility materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical state and structural configuration of the semiconductor layer are changed by transitioning from a supported to a suspended state. This parameter change enables the formation of high-quality epitaxial layers with reduced defects, making it feasible to manufacture high-mobility semiconductor materials that would otherwise be difficult to produce with acceptable quality.
2Reliability
If conventional supported semiconductor structures are used, then manufacturing is easier, but stress relaxation is insufficient leading to increased defects in high-mobility semiconductor layers
Solution Approach 1:
The sacrificial layer is extracted or removed from the structure after serving its purpose during growth. This removal creates a suspended configuration for the semiconductor layer, enabling effective stress relaxation and significant reduction in defect density, while the temporary presence of the sacrificial layer maintains manufacturing feasibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The sacrificial layer is preliminarily placed to provide a supported structure during the growth process, making manufacturing easier at this stage. Subsequently, it is removed to achieve the desired stress-relaxed suspended state, thereby resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and defect reduction.
3Reliability
If a suspended fin-shaped structure is formed to enable stress relaxation, then defect density is reduced, but device structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The sacrificial layer is temporarily used to enable the formation of the suspended structure, then discarded. This approach allows the complex suspended fin-shaped structure to be formed with controlled defect density, as the sacrificial layer provides necessary support during manufacturing but is subsequently removed to achieve the final low-defect configuration.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the growth of high-mobility semiconductor layers with reduced defects, improving the performance of semiconductor devices by enhancing mobility and reducing off-state leakage current or increasing on-state current.
Implementation Method 1
growing a second semiconductor layer with the first semiconductor layer as a seed layer
Implementation Method 2
Such a suspended and curved thin seed layer can enable relaxation of stresses in the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, thereby contributing to suppress defects in the first semiconductor layer or the second semiconductor layer
Data Source
AI summary
A semiconductor device having a high-quality epitaxial layer and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. According to an embodiment, the semiconductor device may include: a substrate; a first fin-shaped semiconductor layer spaced apart from the substrate, wherein the first semiconductor layer extends along a curved longitudinal extending direction; and a second semiconductor layer at least partially surrounding a periphery of the first semiconductor layer.