An image sensor device includes a transistor disposed in a pixel region; a salicide block layer covering the pixel region; a first ILD layer covering the salicide block layer; a second ILD layer on the first ILD layer; a source contacts extending through the second and first ILD layers and the salicide block layer, and including first polysilicon plug in the first ILD layer, first self-aligned silicide layer on the polysilicon plug and first conductive metal layer on the first self-aligned silicide layer; and a drain contact extending through the second and first ILD layers and the salicide block, and including second polysilicon plug in first ILD layer, second self-aligned silicide layer on the second polysilicon plug, and second conductive metal layer on the second self-aligned silicide layer.

A substrate processing method is provided. In the method, a substrate is provided. A monomer that is chemically bonded to the substrate is supplied onto the substrate. An initiator for polymerizing the monomer is supplied to the substrate having the supplied monomer thereon, thereby forming a polymer film.

A method of forming a semiconductor structure includes following steps. A first isolation is formed between a pair of active regions. A gate structure is formed on the first isolation structure. The active regions are etched to form recesses with curved top surfaces. The active regions are etched again to change each of the curved top surfaces to be a top surface and a sidewall substantially perpendicular to the top surface. A pair of contacts is formed respectively on the active regions, such that each of the contacts has a bottom surface and a sidewall substantially perpendicular to the bottom surface.

A method of manufacturing a memory structure including the following steps is provided. A spacer layer is formed on sidewalls of gate stack structures. A protective material layer covering the spacer layer and the gate stack structures is formed. A mask material layer is formed on the protective material layer. There is a void located in the mask material layer between two adjacent gate stack structures. A first distance is between a top of the protective material layer and a top of the mask material layer. A second distance is between a top of the void and a top of the mask material layer above the void. A third distance is between a bottom of the void and a bottom of the mask material layer below the void. The first distance is greater than a sum of the second and third distances.

A method for fabricating a static random access memory (SRAM) includes the steps of: forming a gate structure on a substrate; forming an epitaxial layer adjacent to the gate structure; forming a first interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer around the gate structure; transforming the gate structure into a metal gate; forming a contact hole exposing the epitaxial layer, forming a barrier layer in the contact hole, forming a metal layer on the barrier layer, and then planarizing the metal layer and the barrier layer to form a contact plug. Preferably, a bottom portion of the barrier layer includes a titanium rich portion and a top portion of the barrier layer includes a nitrogen rich portion.

Integrated circuit structures having backside self-aligned conductive pass-through contacts, and methods of fabricating integrated circuit structures having backside self-aligned conductive pass-through contacts, are described. For example, an integrated circuit structure includes a first sub-fin structure over a first stack of nanowires. A second sub-fin structure is over a second stack of nanowires. A dummy gate electrode is laterally between the first stack of nanowires and the second stack of nanowires. A conductive pass-through contact is laterally between the first stack of nanowires and the second stack of nanowires. The conductive pass-through contact is on and in contact with the dummy gate electrode.

A device includes a substrate, a gate structure, a source/drain region, a first silicide layer, a second silicide layer and a contact. The gate structure wraps around at least one vertical stack of nanostructure channels. The source/drain region abuts the gate structure. The first silicide layer includes a first metal component on the source/drain region. The second silicide layer includes a second metal component different than the first metal component, and is on the first silicide layer. The contact is on the second silicide layer.

In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, underlying structures comprising gate electrodes and source/drain epitaxial layers are formed, one or more layers are formed over the underlying structures, a hard mask layer is formed over the one or more layers, a groove pattern is formed in the hard mask layer, one or more first resist layers are formed over the hard mask layer having the groove pattern, a first photo resist pattern is formed over the one or more first resist layers, the one or more first resist layers are patterned by using the first photo resist pattern as an etching mask, thereby forming a first hard mask pattern, and the hard mask layer with the groove pattern are patterned by using the first hard mask pattern, thereby forming a second hard mask pattern.

Present invention is related to a semiconductor device with an improved reliability and a method for the same. A method for fabricating a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention may comprise: forming a plurality of bit line structures over a substrate; forming line-shaped openings between the bit line structures; forming a stopper structure on edges of the line-shaped openings; filling a line pattern in each of the line-shaped openings; forming a plurality of contact plugs and a plurality of isolation grooves by etching the line patterns; and filling a plug isolation layer in the isolation grooves.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is provided. The method includes forming a plurality of metal lines on substrate, forming a sacrificial dielectric material layer between the metal lines, forming a hardmask over at least one of the metal lines, etching at least one of the metal lines that is not covered by the hardmask, treating the sacrificial dielectric material layer to soften the layer. The method also includes removing the treated sacrificial dielectric material layer.