Various aspects relate to a functional layer and the formation thereof. A method for manufacturing a functional layer of an electronic device may include: forming a plurality of sublayers of the functional layer by a plurality of consecutive sublayer processes, each sublayer process of the plurality of consecutive sublayer processes comprising: forming a sublayer of the plurality of sublayers by vapor deposition, the sublayer comprising one or more materials, and, subsequently, crystallizing the one or more materials comprised in the sublayer.

A transistor device that includes a single semiconductor structure having an outer perimeter and a vertical height, wherein the single semiconductor structure is at least partially defined by a trench formed in a semiconductor substrate and a first layer of material positioned on the bottom surface of the trench and around the outer perimeter of the single semiconductor structure. The device also includes a second layer of material positioned on the first layer of material and around the outer perimeter of the single semiconductor structure, a gap between the outer perimeter of the single semiconductor structure and both the first and second layers of material (when considered collectively) and an insulating sidewall spacer positioned in the gap, wherein the insulating sidewall spacer has a vertical height that is less than the vertical height of the single semiconductor structure.

A transistor is provided that comprises a source region overlying a base structure, a drain region overlying the base structure, and a block of semiconducting material overlying the base structure and being disposed between the source region and the drain region. The block of semiconducting material comprises a gate controlled region adjacent the source region, and a drain access region disposed between the gate controlled region and the drain region. The drain access region is formed of a plurality of semiconducting material ridges spaced apart from one another by non-channel trench openings, wherein at least a portion of the non-channel trench openings being filled with a doped material to provide a depletion region to improve breakdown voltage of the transistor.

Disclosed are semiconductor memory devices and methods of fabricating the same. The semiconductor memory devices may include a capacitor including first and second electrodes and a dielectric layer. The dielectric layer may include a zirconium aluminum oxide layer including a first zirconium region adjacent to the first electrode, a first aluminum region, a second aluminum region adjacent to the second electrode, and a second zirconium region between the first and second aluminum regions. The first and second zirconium regions may include zirconium and oxygen and may be devoid of aluminum. The first and second aluminum regions may include aluminum and oxygen and may be devoid of zirconium. The first aluminum region and the first zirconium region may be spaced apart by a first distance, and the first aluminum region and the second zirconium region may be spaced apart by a second distance shorter than the first distance.

A FeFET and a method of its manufacture are provided, the FeFET having a ferroelectric whose film thickness (dr) is made small and so nanofine as to range in: 59 nm<dr<150 nm, without impairing the data retention property of not less than 10.sup.5 seconds and the data rewrite endurance property of not less than 10.sup.8 times, of those that have hitherto been developed, and the FeFET allowing a memory window of 0.40 V or more when a sweep amplitude of the gate voltage is not more than 3.3 V.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present disclosure includes forming a stack by alternately stacking insulating films and sacrificial films on a substrate; forming, in the stack, a through-hole extending in a thickness direction of the stack; forming a block insulating film, a charge trapping film, a tunnel insulating film, and a channel film on an inner surface of the through-hole in this order; forming, in the stack, a slit extending in the thickness direction of the stack separately from the through-hole; removing the sacrificial films through the slit so as to form a recess between adjacent insulating films; forming a first metal oxide film on an inner surface of the recess; forming, on the first metal oxide film, a second metal oxide film having a crystallization temperature lower than that of the first metal oxide film; and filling the recess with an electrode layer.

Negative capacitance field-effect transistor (NCFET) and ferroelectric field-effect transistor (FE-FET) devices and methods of forming are provided. The gate dielectric stack of the NCFET and FE-FET devices includes a non-ferroelectric interfacial layer formed over the semiconductor channel, and a ferroelectric gate dielectric layer formed over the interfacial layer. The ferroelectric gate dielectric layer is formed by inserting dopant-source layers in between amorphous high-k dielectric layers and then converting the alternating sequence of dielectric layers to a ferroelectric gate dielectric layer by a post-deposition anneal (PDA). The ferroelectric gate dielectric layer has adjustable ferroelectric properties that may be varied by altering the precisely-controlled locations of the dopant-source layers using ALD/PEALD techniques. Accordingly, the methods described herein enable fabrication of stable NCFET and FE-FET FinFET devices that exhibit steep subthreshold slopes.

A method for depositing a hafnium lanthanum oxide film on a substrate by a cyclical deposition in a reaction chamber is disclosed. The method may include: depositing a hafnium oxide film on the substrate utilizing a first sub-cycle of the cyclical deposition process and depositing a lanthanum oxide film utilizing a second sub-cycle of the cyclical deposition process.

A treatment method is provided that includes an embedding step of embedding an organic film in an undercoat film in which a depression is formed; and an etching step of performing etching, after the embedding step, until at least a portion of a top of the undercoat film is exposed.

A method includes forming a semiconductor layer over a substrate; etching a portion of the semiconductor layer to form a first recess and a second recess; forming a first masking layer over the semiconductor layer; performing a first thermal treatment on the first masking layer, the first thermal treatment densifying the first masking layer; etching the first masking layer to expose the first recess; forming a first semiconductor material in the first recess; and removing the first masking layer.