A semiconductor device having favorable electrical characteristics is provided. The semiconductor device includes a first oxide; a first conductor and a second conductor over the first oxide; a first insulator over the first conductor; a second insulator over the second conductor; a third insulator over the first insulator and the second insulator; a second oxide positioned over the first oxide and between the first conductor and the second conductor; a fourth insulator over the second oxide; a third conductor over the fourth insulator; a fifth insulator in contact with a top surface of the third insulator, a top surface of the second oxide, a top surface of the fourth insulator, and a top surface of the third conductor; a fourth conductor embedded in an opening formed in the first insulator, the third insulator, and the fifth insulator and in contact with the first conductor; and a fifth conductor embedded in an opening formed in the second insulator, the third insulator, and the fifth insulator and in contact with the second conductor. The third insulator includes, in the vicinity of an interface with the fourth conductor and in the vicinity of an interface with the fifth conductor, a region having a higher nitrogen concentration than a different region of the third insulator.

There is included (a) loading a substrate where a conductive metal-element-containing film is exposed on a surface of the substrate into a process chamber under a first temperature; (b) supplying a reducing gas to the substrate while raising a temperature of the substrate to a second temperature higher than the first temperature in the process chamber; (c) forming a first film on the metal-element-containing film, by supplying a first process gas, which does not include an oxidizing gas, to the substrate under the second temperature in the process chamber; and (d) forming a second film on the first film such that the second film is thicker than the first film, by supplying a second process gas, which includes an oxidizing gas, to the substrate under a third temperature higher than the first temperature in the process chamber.

A method of fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming a channel member suspended above a substrate, depositing a dielectric material layer wrapping around the channel member, performing an oxidation treatment to a surface portion of the dielectric material layer, selectively etching the surface portion of the dielectric material layer to expose sidewalls of the channel member, performing a nitridation treatment to remaining portions of the dielectric material layer and the exposed sidewalls of the channel member, thereby forming a nitride passivation layer partially wrapping around the channel member. The method also includes repeating the steps of performing the oxidation treatment and selectively etching until top and bottom surfaces of the channel member are exposed, removing the nitride passivation layer from the channel member, and forming a gate structure wrapping around the channel member.

An object is to provide favorable interface characteristics of a thin film transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer without mixing of an impurity such as moisture. Another object is to provide a semiconductor device including a thin film transistor having excellent electric characteristics and high reliability, and a method by which a semiconductor device can be manufactured with high productivity. A main point is to perform oxygen radical treatment on a surface of a gate insulating layer. Accordingly, there is a peak of the oxygen concentration at an interface between the gate insulating layer and a semiconductor layer, and the oxygen concentration of the gate insulating layer has a concentration gradient. The oxygen concentration is increased toward the interface between the gate insulating layer and the semiconductor layer.

A wafer suitable for epitaxial growth of gallium nitride (GaN) in a Metal Oxide Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) process. The wafer includes a silicon substrate having a front side and a back side and an edge extending between the front side and the back side, the edge including a front bevel surface connected to the front side and a back bevel surface connected to the back side, wherein the silicon substrate comprises an oxygen denuded silicon layer surrounding a core. The wafer further includes a protection layer being a thermally grown silicon oxide (SiO.sub.2) layer substantially covering the front bevel surface and the back bevel surface of the edge, while leaving at least a central region of the front side of the silicon substrate exposed, for preventing meltback during the MOCVD process.

A semiconductor device that can be miniaturized or highly integrated is provided. The semiconductor device includes a first oxide, an insulator over the first oxide, a first conductor over the insulator, a second conductor electrically connected to the first oxide, and a second oxide provided between the first oxide and the second conductor, and the contact area between the second oxide and the second conductor is larger than the contact area between the second oxide and the first oxide.

A semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same are provided. In one embodiment, method includes forming a first oxide layer over a substrate, forming a silicon-rich, oxygen-rich, oxynitride layer on the first oxide layer, forming a silicon-rich, nitrogen-rich, and oxygen-lean nitride layer over the oxynitride layer, and forming a second oxide layer on the nitride layer. Generally, the nitride layer includes a majority of charge traps distributed in the oxynitride layer and the nitride layer. Optionally, the method further includes forming a middle oxide layer between the oxynitride layer and the nitride layer. Other embodiments are also described.

A semiconductor includes a gate stack over a substrate. The semiconductor device further includes an interlayer dielectric (ILD) at least partially enclosing the gate stack. The ILD includes a portion doped with a large species material, wherein the portion includes a first sidewall substantially perpendicular to a top-most surface of the ILD, and the portion includes a second sidewall having a positive angle with respect to the first sidewall.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method of forming a densified fill layer is provided. The method includes forming a pair of adjacent vertical fins on a substrate, forming an inner liner on the sidewalls of the adjacent vertical fins, and forming a sacrificial layer on the inner liner. The method further includes forming a fill layer between the pair of adjacent vertical fins, wherein the fill layer is in contact with at least a portion of the sacrificial layer, removing at least a portion of the sacrificial layer in contact with the fill layer to form sidewall channels adjacent to the fill layer, and subjecting the fill layer to a densification process to form the densified fill layer.

A method includes forming a semiconductor capping layer over a first fin in a first region of a substrate, forming a dielectric layer over the semiconductor capping layer, and forming an insulation material over the dielectric layer, an upper surface of the insulation material extending further away from the substrate than an upper surface of the first fin. The method further incudes recessing the insulation material to expose a top portion of the first fin, and forming a gate structure over the top portion of the first fin.