A method of forming a three-dimensional memory device includes forming a vertically alternating sequence of insulating layers and spacer material layers over a substrate, such that the spacer material layers are formed as, or are subsequently replaced with, electrically conductive layers, iteratively performing a first set of non-offset layer patterning processing steps at least twice to form a first part of a terrace region including a set of stepped surfaces which extend in a first horizontal direction, and performing a second set of offset layer patterning processing steps to form a second part of the terrace region and to form a stepped vertical cross-sectional profile for patterned surfaces of the vertically alternating sequence along a second horizontal direction which is perpendicular to the first horizontal direction.

A method for forming a semiconductor structure is provided. The method includes forming a fin structure over a substrate and forming an isolation structure over the substrate. In addition, the fin structure is protruded from the isolation structure. The method further includes trimming the fin structure to a first width and forming a Ge-containing material covering the fin structure. The method further includes annealing the fin structure and the Ge-containing material to form a modified fin structure. The method also includes trimming the modified fin structure to a second width.

A method of forming a three-dimensional memory device includes forming a vertically alternating sequence of insulating layers and spacer material layers over a substrate, such that the spacer material layers are formed as, or are subsequently replaced with, electrically conductive layers, iteratively performing a first set of non-offset layer patterning processing steps at least twice to form a first part of a terrace region including a set of stepped surfaces which extend in a first horizontal direction, and performing a second set of offset layer patterning processing steps to form a second part of the terrace region and to form a stepped vertical cross-sectional profile for patterned surfaces of the vertically alternating sequence along a second horizontal direction which is perpendicular to the first horizontal direction.

Embodiment described herein provide a thermal treatment process following a high-pressure anneal process to keep hydrogen at an interface between a channel region and a gate dielectric layer in a field effect transistor while removing hydrogen from the bulk portion of the gate dielectric layer. The thermal treatment process can reduce the amount of threshold voltage shift caused by a high-pressure anneal. The high-pressure anneal and the thermal treatment process may be performed any time after formation of the gate dielectric layer, thus, causing no disruption to the existing process flow.

Methods of conformally doping three dimensional structures are discussed. Some embodiments utilize conformal silicon films deposited on the structures. The silicon films are doped after deposition to comprise halogen atoms. The structures are then annealed to dope the structures with halogen atoms from the doped silicon films.

The present disclosure provides a semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof, and an electronic device including the semiconductor device. The semiconductor device may include: a substrate; a first source/drain region, a channel region and a second source/drain region stacked sequentially on the substrate and adjacent to each other, and a gate stack formed around an outer periphery of the channel region; wherein the gate stack has a thickness varying in a direction perpendicular to a top surface of the substrate.

The present disclosure provides a semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof, and an electronic device including the semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes: a substrate; an active region including a first source/drain region, a channel region and a second source/drain region stacked sequentially on the substrate and adjacent to each other; a gate stack formed around an outer periphery of the channel region; and spacers formed around the outer periphery of the channel region, respectively between the gate stack and the first source/drain region and between the gate stack and the second source/drain region; wherein the spacers each have a thickness varying in a direction parallel to a top surface of the substrate.

A method of controlling an effective gate length in a vertical field effect transistor is provided. The method includes forming a vertical fin on a substrate, and forming a bottom spacer layer on the substrate adjacent to the vertical fin. The method further includes forming a dummy gate block adjacent to the vertical fin on the bottom spacer layer. The method further includes forming a top spacer adjacent to the vertical fin on the dummy gate block, and removing the dummy gate block to expose a portion of the vertical fin between the top spacer and bottom spacer layer. The method further includes forming an absorption layer on the exposed portion of the vertical fin. The method further includes heat treating the absorption layer and vertical fin to form a dopant modified absorption layer, and removing the dopant modified absorption layer.

A number of monolithic diode limiter semiconductor structures are described. The diode limiters can include a hybrid arrangement of diodes with different intrinsic regions, all formed over the same semiconductor substrate. In one example, two PIN diodes in a diode limiter semiconductor structure have different intrinsic region thicknesses. The first PIN diode has a thinner intrinsic region, and the second PIN diode has a thicker intrinsic region. This configuration allows for both the thin intrinsic region PIN diode and the thick intrinsic region PIN diode to be individually optimized. The thin intrinsic region PIN diode can be optimized for low level turn on and flat leakage, and the thick intrinsic region PIN diode can be optimized for low capacitance, good isolation, and high incident power levels. This configuration is not limited to two stage solutions, as additional stages can be used for higher incident power handling.

A diffusing agent composition that can form a coating film in which the unevenness thereof is lowered, which is uniform and which has excellent stability, and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor substrate in which an impurity diffusing component is diffused into the semiconductor substrate from the coating film formed of the diffusing agent composition. An aliphatic amine which satisfies predetermined conditions is contained as an aliphatic amine compound in a diffusing agent composition including an impurity diffusing component. When the number of primary amino groups included in the amine compound is NA, the number of secondary amino groups included in the compound is NB, and the number of tertiary amino groups included in the amine compound is NC, NA, NB and NC satisfy predetermined formulas.