A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a gate oxide layer on a substrate, where the substrate includes a high voltage region and a low voltage region. The gate oxide layer is disposed in the high voltage region. Wet etching is performed on the gate oxide layer to reduce a thickness of the gate oxide layer. Multiple trenches are formed around the high voltage region in the substrate, where forming the trenches includes removing an edge of the gate oxide layer to make the thickness of the gate oxide layer uniform. An insulating material is filled in the trenches to form multiple shallow trench isolation structures, where an upper surface of the shallow trench isolation structures close to the edge of the gate oxide layer is coplanar with an upper surface of the gate oxide layer.

The current disclosure describes techniques of protecting a metal interconnect structure from being damaged by subsequent chemical mechanical polishing processes used for forming other metal structures over the metal interconnect structure. The metal interconnect structure is receded to form a recess between the metal interconnect structure and the surrounding dielectric layer. A metal cap structure is formed within the recess. An upper portion of the dielectric layer is strained to include a tensile stress which expands the dielectric layer against the metal cap structure to reduce or eliminate a gap in the interface between the metal cap structure and the dielectric layer.

The present disclosure is a composition for a semiconductor process applied to a polishing process of a semiconductor wafer and, more specifically, to a semiconductor process involving a polishing process of a semiconductor wafer, wherein the composition includes abrasive particles, and the zeta potential of the abrasive particles is −50 mV to −10 mV at a pH of 6, and the zeta potential change rate represented by Equation 1 below is 6 mV to 30 mV: [Equation 1] Zeta potential change rate (mV/pH)=|(Z6−Z5)/(p6−p5)| where p6 denotes pH 6, p5 denotes pH 5, Z6 denotes a zeta potential at the pH 6, and Z5 denotes a zeta potential at the pH 5.

A superstrate for planarizing a substrate. The superstrate includes a body having a first side having a contact surface and a second side having a central portion and a peripheral portion surrounding the central portion. The peripheral portion includes a recessed region.

A composition for use in selective modification of a base material surface includes a polymer having, at an end of a main chain or a side chain thereof, a group including a first functional group capable of forming a bond with a metal, and a solvent.

A composition for use in selective modification of a base material surface includes a polymer having, at an end of a main chain or a side chain thereof, a group including a first functional group capable of forming a bond with a metal, and a solvent.

A method of forming a semiconductor device includes: forming a dummy gate over a fin, where the fin protrudes above a substrate; surrounding the dummy gate with a dielectric material; and replacing the dummy gate with a replacement gate structure, where replacing the dummy gate includes: forming a gate trench in the dielectric material, where forming the gate trench includes removing the dummy gate; forming a metal-gate stack in the gate trench, where forming the metal-gate stack includes forming a gate dielectric layer, a first work function layer, and a gap-filling material sequentially in the gate trench; and enlarging a volume of the gap-filling material in the gate trench.

An annealing system is provided that includes a chamber body that defines a chamber, a support to hold a workpiece and a robot to insert the workpiece into the chamber. The annealing system also includes a first gas supply to provide a hydrogen gas, a pressure source coupled to the chamber to raise a pressure in the chamber to at least 5 atmospheres, and a controller configured to cause the robot to transport a workpiece having a metal film thereon into the chamber, where the metal film contains fluorine on a surface or embedded within the metal film, to cause the first gas supply to supply the hydrogen gas to the chamber and form atomic hydrogen therein, and to cause the pressure source to raise a pressure in the chamber to at least 5 atmospheres while the workpiece is held on the support in the chamber.

A cavity may be formed in a dielectric material layer overlying a substrate. A layer stack including a metallic barrier liner, a metallic fill material layer, and a metallic capping material may be deposited in the cavity and over the dielectric material layer. Portions of the layer stack located above a horizontal plane including a top surface of the dielectric material layer may be removed. A contiguous set of remaining material portions of the layer stack includes a metal interconnect structure that is free of a pitted surface.

Embodiments provide a polishing composition for a semiconductor process facilitating the formation of a microcircuit pattern and minimizing the generation of defects and scratches and a method of preparing a polished article using the same.

Embodiments provide a polishing composition for a semiconductor process, in which the absorbance ratio of a group having a specific size of particle diameter compared to the overall average particle size (D.sub.50) is a predetermined ratio or less with respect to the absorbance of a group having a particle diameter more than 0.5 times and 2.5 times or less the overall average particle size.