A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes providing a substrate including a cell region and a core/peripheral region around the cell region, forming a gate insulating film on the substrate of the core/peripheral region, forming a first conductive film of a first conductive type on the gate insulating film, forming a diffusion blocking film within the first conductive film, the diffusion blocking film being spaced apart from the gate insulating film in a vertical direction, after forming the diffusion blocking film, forming an impurity pattern including impurities within the first conductive film, diffusing the impurities through a heat treatment process to form a second conductive film of a second conductive type and forming a metal gate electrode on the second conductive film, wherein the diffusion blocking film includes helium (He) and/or argon (Ar).

A substrate processing method includes: providing a substrate having a pattern formed on a surface layer thereof; setting a temperature of the substrate such that a change in the pattern becomes a predetermined change amount; forming a reaction layer having a thickness corresponding to the temperature set in the setting on the surface layer of the substrate; and applying energy to the substrate formed with the reaction layer thereby removing the reaction layer from the surface layer of the substrate.

In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a gate dielectric layer is formed over a channel region, a first conductive layer is formed over the gate dielectric layer, a shield layer is formed over the first conductive layer forming a bilayer structure, a capping layer is formed over the shield layer, a first annealing operation is performed after the capping layer is formed, the capping layer is removed after the first annealing operation, and a gate electrode layer is formed after the capping layer is removed.

The present disclosure is directed to method for the fabrication of spacer structures between source/drain epitaxial structures and metal gate structures in nanostructure transistors. The method includes forming a fin structure with alternating first and second nanostructure elements on a substrate. The method also includes etching edge portions of the first nanostructure elements in the fin structure to form spacer cavities, and depositing a spacer layer on the fin structure to fill the spacer cavities. Further, treating the spacer layer with a microwave-generated plasma to form an oxygen concentration gradient within the spacer layer outside the spacer cavities and removing, with an etching process, the treated portion of the spacer layer. During the etching process, a removal rate of the etching process for the treated portion of the spacer layer is based on an oxygen concentration within the oxygen concentration gradient.

The present disclosure provides semiconductor devices, fin field-effect transistors and fabrication methods thereof. An exemplary fin field-effect transistor includes a semiconductor substrate; an insulation layer configured for inhibiting a short channel effect and increasing a heat dissipation efficiency of the fin field-effect transistor formed over the semiconductor substrate; at least one fin formed over the insulation layer; a gate structure crossing over at least one fin and covering top and side surfaces of the fin formed over the semiconductor substrate; and a source formed in the fin at one side of the gate structure and a drain formed in the fin at the other side of the gate structure.

A semiconductor structure is provided that includes a first metal resistor structure located on a portion of a dielectric-containing substrate. The first metal resistor structure includes, from bottom to top, a first nitridized dielectric surface layer portion having a first nitrogen content, a first metal portion, and a first dielectric capping layer portion. The semiconductor structure of the present application further includes a second metal resistor structure located on a second portion of the dielectric-containing substrate and spaced apart from the first metal resistor structure. The second metal resistor structure includes, from bottom to top, a second nitridized dielectric surface layer portion having a second nitrogen content that differs from the first nitrogen content, a second metal portion, and a second dielectric capping layer portion.

A semiconductor structure containing at least two metal resistor structures having different resistivities is provided and includes a first metal resistor structure located on a portion of a dielectric-containing substrate. The first metal resistor structure includes, from bottom to top, a first nitridized dielectric surface layer portion having a first nitrogen content, a first metal layer portion and a first nitridized metal surface layer. A second metal resistor structure is located on a second portion of the dielectric-containing substrate and spaced apart from the first metal resistor structure. The second metal resistor structure includes, from bottom to top, a second nitridized dielectric surface layer portion having a second nitrogen content, a second metal layer portion and a second nitridized metal surface layer. The second nitrogen content of the second nitridized dielectric surface layer portion differs from the first nitrogen content of the first nitridized dielectric surface layer portion.

A method for manufacturing a bit line structure includes the following operations. A bit line conductive layer is formed on a surface of a semiconductor substrate, and the bit line conductive layer is partially located in a groove in the surface of the semiconductor substrate. A first protective layer is formed on surfaces of the bit line conductive layer and the semiconductor substrate. A first barrier layer is formed on a surface of the first protective layer. The surface of the first barrier layer is subjected with passivating treatment. A sacrificial layer is formed on the surface of the first barrier layer, and is provided with a filling part filled in the groove. A part, other than the filling part, of the sacrificial layer is cleaned and stripped.

Semiconductor device structures having dielectric features and methods of forming dielectric features are described herein. In some examples, the dielectric features are formed by an ALD process followed by a varying temperature anneal process. The dielectric features can have high density, low carbon concentration, and lower k-value. The dielectric features formed according to the present disclosure has improved resistance against etching chemistry, plasma damage, and physical bombardment in subsequent processes while maintaining a lower k-value for target capacitance efficiency.

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes providing a semiconductor structure having a substrate structure, multiple fins having a germanium layer, a dummy gate structure including sequentially a hardmask, a dummy gate, a dummy gate insulating material on the germanium layer, and spacers on opposite sides of the dummy gate structure and on a portion of the germanium layer. The method also includes forming an interlayer dielectric layer on the substrate structure covering the dummy gate structure, planarizing the interlayer dielectric layer to expose a surface of the dummy gate, removing the dummy gate and the dummy gate insulating material to expose a surface of the germanium layer, performing a silane impregnation process on the exposed surface of the germanium layer to introduce silicon to the germanium layer, and performing an oxidation process on the germanium layer to form an oxide layer comprising silicon and germanium.