A semiconductor device and a forming method thereof are provided. The forming method includes forming an initial dummy gate structure on a substrate. The initial dummy gate structure extends along a first direction. The forming method also includes forming a source/drain doped layer in the substrate on two sides of the initial dummy gate structure, forming an initial conductive layer on the source/drain doped layer and covering a sidewall and a top surface of the source/drain doped layer, and after forming the initial conductive layer, removing the initial dummy gate structure.

The present disclosure describes a method for forming a hard mask on a transistor's gate structure that minimizes gate spacer loss and gate height loss during the formation of self-aligned contact openings. The method includes forming spacers on sidewalls of spaced apart gate structures and disposing a dielectric layer between the gate structures. The method also includes etching top surfaces of the gate structures and top surfaces of the spacers with respect to a top surface of the dielectric layer. Additionally, the method includes depositing a hard mask layer having a metal containing dielectric layer over the etched top surfaces of the gate structures and the spacers and etching the dielectric layer with an etching chemistry to form contact openings between the spacers, where the hard mask layer has a lower etch rate than the spacers when exposed to the etching chemistry.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards an integrated chip including a gate dielectric structure over a substrate. A metal layer overlies the gate dielectric structure. A conductive layer overlies the metal layer. A polysilicon layer contacts opposing sides of the conductive layer. A bottom surface of the polysilicon layer is aligned with a bottom surface of the conductive layer. A dielectric layer overlies the polysilicon layer. The dielectric layer continuously extends from sidewalls of the polysilicon layer to an upper surface of the conductive layer.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards an integrated chip including a gate dielectric structure over a substrate. A metal layer overlies the gate dielectric structure. A conductive layer overlies the metal layer. A polysilicon layer contacts opposing sides of the conductive layer. A bottom surface of the polysilicon layer is aligned with a bottom surface of the conductive layer. A dielectric layer overlies the polysilicon layer. The dielectric layer continuously extends from sidewalls of the polysilicon layer to an upper surface of the conductive layer.

In one aspect, a method of forming a semiconductor device, can comprise forming a first transistor structure and a second transistor structure separated by a trench. The first and the second transistor structures can comprise a plurality of stacked nanosheets forming a channel structure, and a source portion and a drain portion horizontally separated by the channel structure. A first and a second spacer can beformed in the trench at sidewalls of the transistor structures, both protruding above a top surface of the transistor structures. The method can comprise applying a first mask layer including an opening exposing the first spacer at a first source/drain portion of the first transistor structure and covering the second spacer, partially etching the exposed first spacer through the opening, exposing at least parts of a sidewall of the first source/drain portion of the first transistor structure, and removing the mask layer. The method can further comprise depositing a contact material over the transistor structures and the first and second spacer, filling the trench and contacting the first source/drain portion of the first transistor structure, and etching back the contact material layer below a top surface of the second spacer.

Described herein are fabrication processes and resulting transistor arrangements with trench contacts that have two parts—a first trench contact (TCN1) and a second trench contact (TCN2)—stacked over one another, and with gate contacts (VCGs). In such transistor arrangements, the TCN1 may be self-aligned to adjacent gates and may be used to make cell-level connections, the TCN2 may also make cell-level connections and may be provided after the self-aligned TCN1 formation and may have an inverse taper shape, the spacer around the TCN2 may be a higher dielectric constant dielectric material than conventional spacer materials, and the VCGs may be formed without the presence of any gate caps or after using only thin temporary gate caps. Fabrication processes and transistor arrangement described herein may provide several improvements in terms of increased edge placement error margin, cost-efficiency, and device performance.

A lateral DMOS transistor structure includes a substrate of a first dopant polarity, a body region of the first dopant polarity, a source region, a drift region of a second dopant polarity, a drain region, a channel region, a gate structure over the channel region, a hybrid contact implant, of the second dopant polarity, in the source region, and a respective metal contact on or within each of the source region, gate structure, and drain region. The hybrid contact implant and the metal contact together form a hybrid contact defining first, second, and third electrical junctions. The first junction is a Schottky junction formed vertically between the source metal contact and the body. The second junction is an ohmic junction formed laterally between the source metal contact and the hybrid contact implant. The third junction is a rectifying PN junction between the hybrid contact implant and the channel region.

A method of fabricating a static random-access memory (SRAM) device includes forming a sacrificial material and replacing the sacrificial material with a metal to form a cross-couple contact on a metal gate stack. A portion of the metal gate stack directly contacts each of a sidewall and an endwall of the cross-couple contact.

A method of forming a semiconductor device includes forming source/drain contact openings extending through at least one dielectric layer to expose source/drain contact regions of source/drain structures. The method further includes depositing a light blocking layer along sidewalls and bottom surfaces of the source/drain contact openings and a topmost surface of the at least one dielectric layer. The method further includes performing a laser annealing process to activate dopants in the source/drain contact region. The method further includes forming source/drain contact structures within source/drain contact openings.

The present disclosure provides a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor fin over a substrate, an epitaxial source/drain (S/D) feature disposed over the semiconductor fin, first and second dielectric layers over the substrate, and an S/D contact disposed on the epitaxial S/D feature. The first and second dielectric layers have different material compositions. A first sidewall of the epitaxial S/D feature is facing the first dielectric layer, a second sidewall of the epitaxial S/D feature is facing the second dielectric layer, and the S/D contact partially covers a top surface of the epitaxial S/D feature and extends continuously to cover the first sidewall of the epitaxial S/D feature.