A method includes forming a first low-dimensional layer over an isolation layer, forming a first insulator over the first low-dimensional layer, forming a second low-dimensional layer over the first insulator, forming a second insulator over the second low-dimensional layer, and patterning the first low-dimensional layer, the first insulator, the second low-dimensional layer, and the second insulator into a protruding fin. Remaining portions of the first low-dimensional layer, the first insulator, the second low-dimensional layer, and the second insulator form a first low-dimensional strip, a first insulator strip, a second low-dimensional strip, and a second insulator strip, respectively. A transistor is then formed based on the protruding fin.

The present disclosure relates to a nanowire structure, which includes a substrate with a substrate body and an ion implantation region, a patterned mask with an opening over the substrate, and a nanowire. Herein, the substrate body is formed of a conducting material, and the ion implantation region that extends from a top surface of the substrate body into the substrate body is electrically insulating. A surface portion of the substrate body is exposed through the opening of the patterned mask, while the ion implantation region is fully covered by the patterned mask. The nanowire is directly formed over the exposed surface portion of the substrate body and is not in contact with the ion implantation region. Furthermore, the nanowire is confined within the ion implantation region, such that the ion implantation region is configured to provide a conductivity barrier of the nanowire in the substrate.

Semiconductor devices, FinFET devices and methods of forming the same are disclosed. One of the semiconductor devices includes a substrate and a gate strip disposed over the substrate. The gate strip includes a high-k layer disposed over the substrate, an N-type work function metal layer disposed over the high-k layer, and a barrier layer disposed over the N-type work function metal layer. The barrier layer includes at least one first film containing TiAlN, TaAlN or AlN.

Integrated circuit structures having a dielectric gate wall and a dielectric gate plug, and methods of fabricating integrated circuit structures having a dielectric gate wall and a dielectric gate plug, are described. For example, an integrated circuit structure includes a sub-fin having a portion protruding above a shallow trench isolation (STI) structure. A plurality of horizontally stacked nanowires is over the sub-fin. A gate dielectric material layer is over the protruding portion of the sub-fin, over the STI structure, and surrounding the horizontally stacked nanowires. A conductive gate layer is over the gate dielectric material layer. A conductive gate fill material is over the conductive gate layer. A dielectric gate wall is laterally spaced apart from the sub-fin and the plurality of horizontally stacked nanowires, the dielectric gate wall on the STI structure. A dielectric gate plug is on the dielectric gate wall.

Methods and systems for depositing vanadium and/or indium layers onto a surface of a substrate and structures and devices formed using the methods are disclosed. An exemplary method includes using a cyclical deposition process, depositing a vanadium and/or indium layer onto the surface of the substrate. The cyclical deposition process can include providing a vanadium and/or indium precursor to the reaction chamber and separately providing a reactant to the reaction chamber. The cyclical deposition process may desirably be a thermal cyclical deposition process. Exemplary structures can include field effect transistor structures, such as gate all around structures. The vanadium and/or indium layers can be used, for example, as barrier layers or liners, as work function layers, as dipole shifter layers, or the like.

Techniques are described for forming strained fins for co-integrated n-MOS and p-MOS devices that include one or more defect trapping layers that prevent defects from migrating into channel regions of the various co-integrated n-MOS and p-MOS devices. A defect trapping layer can include one or more patterned dielectric layers that define aspect ratio trapping trenches. An alternative defect trapping layer can include a superlattice structure of alternating, epitaxially mismatched materials that provides an energetic barrier to the migration of defect. Regardless, the defect trapping layer can prevent dislocations, stacking faults, and other crystallographic defects present in a relaxed silicon germanium layer from migrating into strained n-MOS and p-MOS channel regions grown thereon.

Embodiments include transistor devices and a method of forming the transistor devices. A transistor device includes a first dielectric over a substrate, and vias on a first metal layer, where the first metal layer is on an etch stop layer that is on the first dielectric. The transistor device also includes a second dielectric over the first metal layer, vias, and etch stop layer, where the vias include sidewalls, top surfaces, and bottom surfaces, and stacked transistors on the second dielectric and the top surfaces of the vias, where the sidewalls and top surfaces of the vias are positioned within a footprint of the stacked transistors. The stacked transistors include gate electrodes and first and second transistor layers. The first metal layer includes conductive materials including tungsten or cobalt. The footprint may include a bottom surface of the first transistor layer and a bottom surface of the gate electrodes.

Techniques are provided herein to form semiconductor devices having thinned semiconductor regions (e.g., thinner nanoribbons) compared to other semiconductor devices on the same substrate and at a comparable height (e.g., within same layer or adjacent layers). In an example, neighboring semiconductor devices of a given memory cell include a p-channel device and an n-channel device. The p-channel device may be a GAA transistor with a semiconductor nanoribbon having a first width while the n-channel device may be a GAA transistor with a semiconductor nanoribbon having a second width that is larger than the first width (e.g., first width is half the second width). The p-channel device may have a thinner width than the corresponding n-channel device in order to structurally lower the operating current through the p-channel devices by decreasing the width of the active semiconductor channel.

A method includes providing a first channel layer and a second channel layer over a substrate; forming a first patterned hard mask covering the first channel layer and exposing the second channel layer; selectively depositing a cladding layer on the second channel layer and not on the first patterned hard mask; performing a first thermal drive-in process; removing the first patterned hard mask; after removing the first patterned hard mask, forming an interfacial dielectric layer on the cladding layer and the first channel layer; and forming a high-k dielectric layer on the interfacial dielectric layer.

Techniques are provided herein to form a forksheet transistor device with a dielectric overhang structure. The dielectric overhang structure includes a dielectric layer that at least partially hangs over the nanoribbons of each semiconductor device in the forksheet transistor and is directly coupled to, or is an integral part of, the dielectric spine between the semiconductor devices. The overhang structure allows for a higher alignment tolerance when forming different work function metals over each of the different semiconductor devices, which in turn allows for narrower dielectric spines to be used. A first gate structure that includes a first work function metal may be formed around the nanoribbons of the n-channel device and a second gate structure that includes a second work function metal may be formed around the nanoribbons of the p-channel device in the forksheet arrangement.