According to one embodiment, the stacked body includes a plurality of stacked units and a first intermediate layer. Each of the stacked units includes a plurality of electrode layers and a plurality of insulating layers. Each of the insulating layers is provided between the electrode layers. The first intermediate layer is provided between the stacked units. The first intermediate layer is made of a material different from the electrode layers and the insulating layers. The plurality of columnar portions includes a channel body extending in a stacking direction of the stacked body to pierce the stacked body, and a charge storage film provided between the channel body and the electrode layers.

Disclosed herein are integrated circuit (IC) interconnects, as well as related devices and methods. For example, in some embodiments, an interconnect may include a first material and a second material distributed in the first material. A concentration of the second material may be greater proximate to the top surface than proximate to the bottom surface.

A semiconductor structure includes a metal gate structure disposed over a semiconductor substrate, an interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer disposed over the metal gate structure, and a gate contact disposed in the ILD layer and over the metal gate structure, where a bottom surface of the gate contact is defined by a barrier layer disposed over the metal gate structure, where sidewall surfaces of the gate contact are defined by and directly in contact with the ILD layer, and where the barrier layer is free of nitrogen.

A semiconductor device and method of formation are provided. The semiconductor device comprises a metal plug in a first opening over a substrate, the metal plug is over a silicide layer, and the silicide layer is over a metal oxide layer. The metal oxide layer has an oxygen gradient, such that a percentage of oxygen increases from a top surface of the metal oxide layer to a bottom surface of the metal oxide layer. The metal oxide layer unpins the Fermi level of the interface between the metal plug and the substrate, which is exhibited by a lowered Schottky barrier height (SBH) and increased oxygen vacancy states between the V.B. and the C.B. of the metal oxide layer, which decreases the intrinsic resistivity between the metal plug and the substrate as compared to a semiconductor device that lacks such a metal oxide layer.

According to an embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a semiconductor layer, a first electrode, and a first insulating film. The first electrode extends in a first direction and is provided inside the semiconductor layer. The first insulating film is provided between the semiconductor layer and the first electrode, a thickness of the first insulating film in a direction from the first electrode toward the semiconductor layer increasing in stages along the first direction. The first insulating film has three or more mutually-different thicknesses.

A method of forming a semiconductor structure includes, in a radio frequency (RF) deposition chamber, depositing a titanium film using physical vapor deposition and forming a graded hard mask film by reactive sputtering the titanium film with nitrogen in the RF deposition chamber. The graded hard mask film is a titanium nitride film with a graded vertical concentration of nitrogen. The method may further include, during deposition of the titanium film and during formation of the graded hard mask film, modulating one or more parameters of the RF deposition chamber, such as modulating an auto capacitance tuner (ACT) current, modulating the RF power, and modulating the pressure of the RF deposition chamber.

There is provided a terminal that includes a first conductive layer; a wiring layer on the first conductive layer; a second conductive layer on the wiring layer; and a conductive bonding layer which is in contact with a bottom surface and a side surface of the first conductive layer, a side surface of the wiring layer, a portion of a side surface of the second conductive layer, and a portion of a bottom surface of the second conductive layer, wherein an end portion of the second conductive layer protrudes from an end portion of the first conductive layer and an end portion of the wiring layer, and wherein the conductive bonding layer is in contact with a bottom surface of the end portion of the second conductive layer.

Semiconductor device packages include a redistribution layer (RDL) with carbon-based conductive elements. The carbon-based material of the RDL may have low electrical resistivity and may be thin (e.g., less than about 0.2 m). Adjacent passivation material may also be thin (e.g., less than about 0.2 m). Methods for forming the semiconductor device packages include forming the carbon-based material (e.g., at high temperatures (e.g., at least about 550 C.)) on an initial support wafer with a sacrificial substrate. Later or separately, components of a device region of the package may be formed and then joined to the initial support wafer before the sacrificial substrate is removed to leave the carbon-based material joined to the device region.

Semiconductor device packages include a redistribution layer (RDL) with carbon-based conductive elements. The carbon-based material of the RDL may have low electrical resistivity and may be thin (e.g., less than about 0.2 m). Adjacent passivation material may also be thin (e.g., less than about 0.2 m). Methods for forming the semiconductor device packages include forming the carbon-based material (e.g., at high temperatures (e.g., at least about 550 C.)) on an initial support wafer with a sacrificial substrate. Later or separately, components of a device region of the package may be formed and then joined to the initial support wafer before the sacrificial substrate is removed to leave the carbon-based material joined to the device region.

A semiconductor device according to an embodiment includes: a barrier metal layer provided on a surface of an insulating layer; and a conductive layer having a first metal layer provided on a surface of the barrier metal layer, and a second metal layer provided on a surface of the first metal layer. The second metal layer includes an identical metal to metal of the first metal layer, and an impurity configured to remove fluorine bonded to the metal.