A method of forming a vertical fin field effect transistor having a consistent channel width, including forming one or more vertical fin(s) on the substrate, wherein the one or more vertical fin(s) have a tapered profile, oxidizing the one or more vertical fin(s) to form an oxide by consuming at least a portion of the vertical fin material, and removing the oxide from the one or more vertical fin(s), wherein the one or more vertical fin(s) include a tapered upper portion, a tapered lower portion and a straight channel portion there between.

Methods of forming semiconductor fins include forming first spacers on a first sidewall of each of a plurality of mandrels using an angled deposition process. A second sidewall of one or more of the plurality of mandrels is masked. Second spacers are formed on a second sidewall of all unmasked mandrels. The second sidewall of the one or more of the plurality of mandrels is unmasked. The mandrels are etched away. Fins are formed from a substrate using the first and second spacers as a mask.

A semiconductor structure including a bottom source drain region arranged on a substrate, a semiconductor channel region extending vertically upwards from a top surface of the bottom source drain region, a metal gate disposed around the semiconductor channel region, a top source drain region above the semiconductor channel region, an amorphous silicon layer directly on top of the metal gate, and an oxidation layer directly on top of the amorphous silicon layer, where the amorphous silicon layer and the oxidation layer together completely separate the metal gate from a surrounding interlevel dielectric layer.

A semiconductor device includes a stacked body including a plurality of electrode layers stacked with an insulator interposed; a columnar portion provided in the stacked body and extending in a stacking direction of the electrode layers; and a first separation region provided in the stacked body and extending in a first direction. The stacked body includes a memory cell array and a staircase portion arranged in the first direction, the memory cell array including memory cells provided along the columnar portion, and the staircase portion including a plurality of terraces arranged along the first direction. The first separation region includes a first portion and a second portion in the staircase portion, the first portion having a first width in a second direction crossing the first direction, and the second portion having a second width in the second direction. The second width is narrower than the first width.

A starting semiconductor structure includes a layer of filler material, a hard mask layer over the layer of filler material, and filler material lines over the hard mask layer. The starting semiconductor structure is placed in an etching chamber, and oxygen gas and high plasma power are inserted into the etching chamber and oxidizing, resulting in one or more of the filler material lines being oxidized, the filler material line(s) increasing in width from oxidizing, and etching the hard mask layer with a chemistry that is non-selective to the oxidized filler material lines and hard mask layer, and which has a stronger lateral etch selectivity to the oxidized filler material lines than the hard mask layer.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: preparing a substrate processing apparatus including a substrate process chamber having a plasma-generation space where a nitrogen-containing gas is plasma-exited and a process space where a substrate is mounted in communication with the plasma-generation space, an inductive coupling structure configured by a coil and an impedance matching circuit, wherein electric field combining the coil and the circuit has a length of an integer multiple of a wavelength of an high-frequency power, and a table to mount the substrate under a lower end of the coil; mounting the substrate on the table; supplying the nitrogen-containing gas into the chamber; starting a plasma excitation of the nitrogen-containing gas by applying the high-frequency power to the coil; and nitriding a surface of the substrate with active species containing a nitrogen element at an internal pressure of the chamber ranging from 1 to 100 Pa.

A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor layer, having an active region, in which a functional element is formed, a first impurity region of a first conductivity type, formed at a surface layer portion of the semiconductor layer, a second impurity region of a second conductivity type, formed at a surface layer portion of the first impurity region and defining the active region, and a well region of the second conductivity type, formed along a periphery of the second impurity region at the surface layer portion of the first impurity region and having an inner side edge portion positioned at the second impurity region side, and an outer side edge portion positioned at an opposite side with respect to the second impurity region and having a second conductivity type impurity concentration lower than a second conductivity type impurity concentration of the inner side edge portion.

An improvement is achieved in the performance of a semiconductor device. Over the main surface of a semiconductor substrate for the n-type base of an IGBT, an insulating layer is formed. In a trench of the insulating layer, an n-type semiconductor layer is formed over the semiconductor substrate and, on both sides of the semiconductor layer, gate electrodes are formed via gate insulating films. In an upper portion of the semiconductor layer, a p-type semiconductor region for a p-type base and an n.sup.+-type semiconductor region for an n-type emitter are formed. Under the gate electrodes, parts of the insulating layer are present. The side surfaces of the gate electrodes opposite to the side surfaces thereof facing the semiconductor layer via the gate insulating films are adjacent to the insulating layer.

A method of fabricating semiconductor fins, including, patterning a film stack to produce one or more sacrificial mandrels having sidewalls, exposing the sidewall on one side of the one or more sacrificial mandrels to an ion beam to make the exposed sidewall more susceptible to oxidation, oxidizing the opposite sidewalls of the one or more sacrificial mandrels to form a plurality of oxide pillars, removing the one or more sacrificial mandrels, forming spacers on opposite sides of each of the plurality of oxide pillars to produce a spacer pattern, removing the plurality of oxide pillars, and transferring the spacer pattern to the substrate to produce a plurality of fins.

A semiconductor device having a gate structure and a method of forming same are provided. The semiconductor device includes a substrate and a gate structure over the substrate. The substrate has a first region and a second region. The gate structure extends across an interface between the first region and the second region. The gate structure includes a first gate dielectric layer over the first region, a second gate dielectric layer over the second region, a first work function layer over the first gate dielectric layer, a barrier layer along a sidewall of the first work function layer and above the interface between the first region and the second region, and a second work function layer over the first work function layer, the barrier layer and the second gate dielectric layer. The second work function layer is in physical contact with a top surface of the first work function layer.