A gate structure includes a first gate electrode including a metal, a gate barrier pattern on the first gate electrode and including a metal nitride, and a second gate electrode on the gate barrier pattern. The gate structure is buried in an upper portion of a substrate. The gate barrier pattern has a flat upper surface and an uneven lower surface.

The present invention relates generally to semiconductors, and more particularly, to a structure and method of minimizing shorting between epitaxial regions in small pitch fin field effect transistors (FinFETs). In an embodiment, a dielectric region may be formed in a middle portion of a gate structure. The gate structure be formed using a gate replacement process, and may cover a middle portion of a first fin group, a middle portion of a second fin group and an intermediate region of the substrate between the first fin group and the second fin group. The dielectric region may be surrounded by the gate structure in the intermediate region. The gate structure and the dielectric region may physically separate epitaxial regions formed on the first fin group and the second fin group from one another.

An integrated circuit includes a substrate, an interconnection part, and an isolating region located between the substrate and the interconnection part. A decoy structure is located within the isolating region and includes a silicided sector which is electrically isolated from the substrate.

Various embodiments of the present application are directed towards an integrated memory chip comprising a memory array with a strap-cell architecture that reduces the number of distinct strap-cell types and that reduces strap-line density. In some embodiments, the memory array is limited to three distinct types of strap cells: a source line/erase gate (SLEG) strap cell; a control gate/word line (CGWL) strap cell; and a word-line strap cell. The small number of distinct strap-cell types simplifies design of the memory array and further simplifies design of a corresponding interconnect structure. Further, in some embodiments, the three distinct strap-cell types electrically couple word lines, erase gates, and control gates to corresponding strap lines in different metallization layers of an interconnect structure. By spreading the strap lines amongst different metallization layers, strap-line density is reduced.

A device stack for an electronic memory or other device includes a substrate and first and second layers of insulating material. The first layer of insulating material is supported by the substrate. A semiconducting ferroelectric layer is positioned and electrically isolated between the first and second layers of insulating material. A stress layer capable of converting a ferroelectric or semiconductor material into a semiconducting ferroelectric material can be positioned in contact with the semiconducting ferroelectric layer. In some embodiments, the device is a Metal-Insulator-FeS-Insulator-Semiconductor (MIFIS) device that allows for controlled switching of the semiconducting ferroelectric (FeS) layer between various polarization states. Switching polarization states is enabled by application of an electric field by a semiconducting electrode.

FET designs that exhibit low leakage in the presence of the edge transistor phenomenon. Embodiments includes nFET designs in which the work function Φ.sub.MF of the gate structure overlying the edge transistors of the nFET is increased by forming extra P+ implant regions within at least a portion of the gate structure, thereby increasing the Vt of the edge transistors to a level that may exceed the Vt of the central conduction channel of the nFET. In some embodiments, the gate structure of the nFET is modified to increase or “flare” the effective channel length of the edge transistors relative to the length of the central conduction channel of the FET. Other methods of changing the work function Φ.sub.MF of the gate structure overlying the edge transistors are also disclosed. The methods may be adapted to fabricating pFETs by reversing or substituting material types.

A FinFET structure with a gate structure having two notch features therein and a method of forming the same is disclosed. The FinFET notch features ensure that sufficient spacing is provided between the gate structure and source/drain regions of the FinFET to avoid inadvertent shorting of the gate structure to the source/drain regions. Gate structures of different sizes (e.g., different gate widths) and of different pattern densities can be provided on a same substrate and avoid inadvertent of shorting the gate to the source/drain regions through application of the notched features.

The present disclosure provides a method for preparing a semiconductor structure. The method includes providing a substrate comprising a first top surface; forming an isolation region in the substrate to surround an active region; implanting a plurality of dopants into the substrate to form a first impurity region, a second impurity region and a third impurity region in the active region; forming a gate trench in the active region; forming a first barrier layer on a portion of a sidewall of the gate trench; forming a first gate material in the gate trench, wherein the first gate material comprises a first member surrounded by the first barrier layer; forming a second barrier layer on the first barrier layer and the first gate material; forming a second gate material on the second barrier layer; and forming a gate insulating material on the second gate material.

A method for forming a semiconductor structure includes receiving a substrate including a first gate structure; forming a first semiconductor layer over the first gate structure, forming a second semiconductor layer on the first semiconductor layer, performing an etching back operation to remove a portion of the second semiconductor layer and a portion of the first semiconductor layer with an etchant, the etching rate of the first semiconductor layer upon exposure to the etchant is greater than an etching rate of the second semiconductor layer upon exposure to the etchant; forming a hard mask spacer over the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, a portion of the second semiconductor layer is exposed through the hard mask spacer; removing the portions of the second semiconductor layer and the first semiconductor layer through the hard mask spacer to form a second gate structure and expose a portion of the substrate.

A method of scaling a nonvolatile trapped-charge memory device and the device made thereby is provided. In an embodiment, the method includes forming a channel region including polysilicon electrically connecting a source region and a drain region in a substrate. A tunneling layer is formed on the substrate over the channel region by oxidizing the substrate to form an oxide film and nitridizing the oxide film. A multi-layer charge trapping layer including an oxygen-rich first layer and an oxygen-lean second layer is formed on the tunneling layer, and a blocking layer deposited on the multi-layer charge trapping layer. In one embodiment, the method further includes a dilute wet oxidation to densify a deposited blocking oxide and to oxidize a portion of the oxygen-lean second layer.