Papers by Author: Rita Vos

Abstract: The introduction of metal gates and high-k dielectrics in FEOL and porous ULK dielectrics in BEOL presents severe issues [1] and leads to the requirement of new chemistries and processes. A major challenge in cleaning is the removal of photoresist (PR) in both FEOL and BEOL. In current semiconductor device fabrication flow, the photoresist strip process in FEOL is mostly achieved by applying a sequence of plasma ashing followed by a wet-clean step with sulfuric-peroxide mixture (SPM). But in general, ashing leads to strong oxidation or etching of silicon substrate. Hence, several approaches for ashless PR strip have been reported, such as hot SPM [2] and the combination of a pre-treatment using high velocity CO2 aerosol [3].

Abstract: High-k gate dielectrics (HK), such as HfO2 or HfSiON, are being considered as the gate dielectric option for the 45nm node and beyond. In order to alleviate the Fermi-level pinning issue and to enhance the CET (Capacitive Effective Thickness) by generating the depletion layer in poly-Silicon gate, metal gate electrodes with proper work functions (WF) have to be used on the high-k dielectrics.

Abstract: With the continuous down scaling features sizes, the need of speed increase and power consumption reduction start to be more and more critical. The classical integration scheme of poly silicon gate on CMOS devices does not meet the requirements of the 45 nm technology node and beyond. On this matter, new materials and different integration flows are being investigated in order to improve the device performance. High-k materials associated with metals are actively investigated as new gate materials in which different integration approaches like metal gate first or metal gate last are proposed [1].

Abstract: In this work the removal of different metallic and particulate contaminants relevant for high-k/metal gate processing is studied. Best cleaning efficiency of both silicon and nitride substrates is achieved using a HF/HNO3-based cleaning resulting in a particle removal efficiency higher than 90% and metal removal down to 1010 at/cm2.