A semiconductor structure, including: a base substrate; an insulating layer on the base substrate, the insulating layer having a thickness between about 5 nm and about 100 nm; and an active layer comprising at least two pluralities of different volumes of semiconductor material comprising silicon, germanium, and/or silicon germanium, the active layer disposed over the insulating layer, the at least two pluralities of different volumes of semiconductor material comprising: a first plurality of volumes of semiconductor material having a tensile strain of at least about 0.6%; and a second plurality of volumes of semiconductor material having a compressive strain of at least about −0.6%. Also described is a method of preparing a semiconductor structure and a segmented strained silicon on insulator device.

A method includes etching a semiconductor substrate to form a trench, with the semiconductor substrate having a sidewall facing the trench, and depositing a first semiconductor layer extending into the trench. The first semiconductor layer includes a first bottom portion at a bottom of the trench, and a first sidewall portion on the sidewall of the semiconductor substrate. The first sidewall portion is removed to reveal the sidewall of the semiconductor substrate. The method further includes depositing a second semiconductor layer extending into the trench, with the second semiconductor layer having a second bottom portion over the first bottom portion, and a second sidewall portion contacting the sidewall of the semiconductor substrate. The second sidewall portion is removed to reveal the sidewall of the semiconductor substrate.

Provided is a surface processing apparatus and a surface processing method for a SiC substrate using anodization. The surface processing apparatus for the SiC substrate includes a surface processing pad and a power supply device. The surface processing pad includes a grinding wheel layer. The grinding wheel layer is disposed facing a workpiece surface of the SiC substrate. The power supply device passes a pulsed current having a period greater than 0.01 seconds and less than or equal to 20 seconds for anodizing the workpiece surface to be processed by the grinding wheel layer through the SiC substrate as an anode in the presence of an electrolyte.

A surface processing method for a SiC substrate includes the following processes or steps: anodizing a workpiece surface of the SiC substrate by passing a current having a current density of 15 mA/cm.sup.2 or more through the SiC substrate as an anode in the presence of an electrolyte; disposing a grinding wheel layer of a surface processing pad to the workpiece surface and selectively removing, with the grinding wheel layer, an oxide formed on the workpiece surface through anodization; and performing, simultaneously or sequentially, the anodization of the workpiece surface and the selective removal of the oxide formed on the workpiece surface with the grinding wheel layer.

Embodiments of a three-dimensional (3D) memory device with a corrosion-resistant composite spacer and method for forming the same are disclosed. In an example, a method for forming a 3D memory device is disclosed. A dielectric stack including a plurality of dielectric/sacrificial layer pairs is formed on a substrate. A memory string extending vertically through the dielectric stack is formed. A slit extending vertically through the dielectric stack is formed. A memory stack is formed on the substrate including a plurality of conductor/dielectric layer pairs by replacing, with a plurality of conductor layers, the sacrificial layers in the dielectric/sacrificial layer pairs through the slit. A composite spacer is formed along a sidewall of the slit. The composite spacer includes a first silicon oxide film, a second silicon oxide film, and a dielectric film formed laterally between the first silicon oxide film and the second silicon oxide film. A slit contact extending vertically in the slit is formed.

Structures for a laterally-diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor device and methods of forming a structure for a laterally-diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor device. The structure includes a drift well in a semiconductor substrate, source and drain regions in the semiconductor substrate, a gate dielectric layer on the semiconductor substrate, and a buffer dielectric layer on the semiconductor substrate over the drift well. The buffer dielectric layer includes a first side edge adjacent to the drain region, a second side edge adjacent to the gate dielectric layer, a first section extending from the second side edge to the first side edge, and a plurality of second sections extending from the second side edge toward the first side edge. The first section has a first thickness, and the second sections have a second thickness less than the first thickness. A gate electrode includes respective portions that overlap with the buffer dielectric layer and with the gate dielectric layer.

Semiconductor device and the manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. An exemplary method comprises forming a first stack structure and a second stack structure in a first area over a substrate, wherein each of the stack structures includes semiconductor layers separated and stacked up; depositing a first interfacial layer around each of the semiconductor layers of the stack structures; depositing a gate dielectric layer around the first interfacial layer; forming a dipole oxide layer around the gate dielectric layer; removing the dipole oxide layer around the gate dielectric layer of the second stack structure; performing an annealing process to form a dipole gate dielectric layer for the first stack structure and a non-dipole gate dielectric layer for the second stack structure; and depositing a first gate electrode around the dipole gate dielectric layer of the first stack structure and the non-dipole gate dielectric layer of the second stack structure.

A method includes forming a semiconductor substrate having an oxide layer embedded therein, forming a multi-layer (ML) stack including alternating channel layers and non-channel layers over the semiconductor substrate, forming a dummy gate stack over the ML, forming an S/D recess in the ML to expose the oxide layer, forming an epitaxial S/D feature in the S/D recess, removing the non-channel layers from the ML to form openings between the channel layers, where the openings are formed adjacent to the epitaxial S/D feature, and forming a high-k metal gate stack (HKMG) in the openings between the channel layers and in place of the dummy gate stack.

The present disclosure is directed to gate-all-around (GAA) transistor structures with a low level of leakage current and low power consumption. For example, the GAA transistor includes a semiconductor layer with a first source/drain (S/D) epitaxial structure and a second S/D epitaxial structure disposed thereon, where the first and second S/D epitaxial structures are spaced apart by semiconductor nano-sheet layers. The semiconductor structure further includes isolation structures interposed between the semiconductor layer and each of the first and second S/D epitaxial structures. The GAA transistor further includes a gate stack surrounding the semiconductor nano-sheet layers.

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for processing channel structures of substrates that include positioning the substrate in a first processing chamber having a first processing volume being in fluid communication with a plasma source. The substrate can include a channel structure with high aspect ratio features having aspect ratios greater than about 20:1. The method can also include forming an oxide cap layer over a silicon-containing layer of the channel structure and exposing the oxide cap layer to a hydrogen-or-deuterium radical to nucleate the silicon-containing layer of the channel structures of the substrate. Forming the oxide cap layer and exposing the channel structure with the hydrogen radical occurs in the first processing chamber to form a nucleated substrate. The method can also include positioning the nucleated substrate in a second processing chamber with a second processing volume and heating the nucleated substrate in the second processing chamber.