A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: providing a semiconductor substrate; epitaxially growing a first semiconductor layer coupled to the semiconductor substrate; epitaxially growing a second semiconductor layer coupled to the first semiconductor layer, wherein the second semiconductor layer comprises a contact region and a terminal region surrounding the contact region; forming a mask layer on the second semiconductor layer, wherein the mask layer is patterned with a tapered region aligned with the terminal region of the second semiconductor layer; implanting ions into the terminal region of the second semiconductor layer using the mask layer to form a tapered junction termination element in the terminal region of the second semiconductor layer; and forming a contact structure in the contact region of the second semiconductor layer.

A method for preparing a crystalline semiconductor layer in order for the layer to be provided with a specific lattice parameter involves a relaxation procedure that is applied for a first time to a first start donor substrate in order to obtain a second donor substrate. Using the second donor substrate as the start donor substrate, the relaxation procedure is repeated for a number of times that is sufficient for the lattice parameter of the relaxed layer to be provided with the specific lattice parameter. A set of substrates may be obtained by the method.

A method of forming a device includes providing a substrate containing an exposed semiconductor region, forming a metal oxide film over the exposed semiconductor region, and forming an oxygen-scavenging metal film over the metal oxide film. The method includes chemically reducing the metal oxide film to an elemental metal film by scavenging oxygen from the metal oxide film into the oxygen-scavenging metal film; and reacting the elemental metal film with the semiconductor region to form a metal-semiconductor layer, the metal-semiconductor layer forming a source/drain contact region of a transistor.

Provided is a crystal laminate including: a crystal substrate formed from a monocrystal of group III nitride expressed by a compositional formula In.sub.xAl.sub.yGa.sub.1-x-yN (where 0≤x≤1, 0≤y≤1, 0≤x+y≤1), the crystal substrate containing at least any one of n-type impurity selected from the group consisting of Si, Ge, and O; and a crystal layer formed by a group III nitride crystal epitaxially grown on a main surface of the crystal substrate, at least any one of p-type impurity selected from the group consisting of C, Mg, Fe, Be, Zn, V, and Sb being ion-implanted in the crystal layer. The crystal laminate is configured in a manner such that an absorption coefficient of the crystal substrate for light with a wavelength of 2000 nm when the crystal substrate is irradiated with the light falls within a range of 1.8 cm.sup.−1 or more and 4.6 cm.sup.−1 or less under a temperature condition of normal temperature.

A method for activating implanted dopants and repairing damage to dopant-implanted GaN to form n-type or p-type GaN. A GaN substrate is implanted with n- or p-type ions and is subjected to a high-temperature anneal to activate the implanted dopants and to produce planar n- or p-type doped areas within the GaN having an activated dopant concentration of about 10.sup.18-10.sup.22 cm.sup.−3. An initial annealing at a temperature at which the GaN is stable at a predetermined process temperature for a predetermined time can be conducted before the high-temperature anneal. A thermally stable cap can be applied to the GaN substrate to suppress nitrogen evolution from the GaN surface during the high-temperature annealing step. The high-temperature annealing can be conducted under N.sub.2 pressure to increase the stability of the GaN. The annealing can be conducted using laser annealing or rapid thermal annealing (RTA).

Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to capping processes and structures formed thereby. In an embodiment, a conductive feature, formed in a dielectric layer, has a metallic surface, and the dielectric layer has a dielectric surface. The dielectric surface is modified to be hydrophobic by performing a surface modification treatment. After modifying the dielectric surface, a capping layer is formed on the metallic surface by performing a selective deposition process. In another embodiment, a surface of a gate structure is exposed through a dielectric layer. A capping layer is formed on the surface of the gate structure by performing a selective deposition process.

A method for activating implanted dopants and repairing damage to dopant-implanted GaN to form n-type or p-type GaN. A GaN substrate is implanted with n- or p-type ions and is subjected to a high-temperature anneal to activate the implanted dopants and to produce planar n- or p-type doped areas within the GaN having an activated dopant concentration of about 10.sup.18-10.sup.22 cm.sup.−3. An initial annealing at a temperature at which the GaN is stable at a predetermined process temperature for a predetermined time can be conducted before the high-temperature anneal. A thermally stable cap can be applied to the GaN substrate to suppress nitrogen evolution from the GaN surface during the high-temperature annealing step. The high-temperature annealing can be conducted under N.sub.2 pressure to increase the stability of the GaN. The annealing can be conducted using laser annealing or rapid thermal annealing (RTA).

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a first electrode, a second electrode, a third electrode, a first semiconductor layer, a second semiconductor layer, and a first insulating layer. A position of the third electrode in a first direction is between a position of the first electrode in the first direction and a position of the second electrode in the first direction. The first semiconductor layer includes Al.sub.x1Ga.sub.1-x1N and includes a first partial region, a second partial region, and a third partial region. The second semiconductor layer includes Al.sub.x2Ga.sub.1-x2N. A portion of the second semiconductor layer is between the third partial region and the third electrode in the second direction. The first insulating layer includes a first insulating region. The first insulating region is between the third electrode and the portion of the second semiconductor layer in the second direction.

Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to capping processes and structures formed thereby. In an embodiment, a conductive feature, formed in a dielectric layer, has a metallic surface, and the dielectric layer has a dielectric surface. The dielectric surface is modified to be hydrophobic by performing a surface modification treatment. After modifying the dielectric surface, a capping layer is formed on the metallic surface by performing a selective deposition process. In another embodiment, a surface of a gate structure is exposed through a dielectric layer. A capping layer is formed on the surface of the gate structure by performing a selective deposition process.

A vertical MOSFET having a compound semiconductor layer is provided, the vertical MOSFET comprising a gate electrode, a gate insulating film provided between the gate electrode and the compound semiconductor layer, a drift region provided directly in contact with at least a part of the gate insulating film and being a part of the compound semiconductor layer, and a high resistance region provided at least in the drift region, is positioned below at least a part of the gate insulating film, and has a higher resistance value per unit length than that of the drift region.