A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes providing a substrate structure including a semiconductor fin on a substrate, and a trench isolation structure surrounding the fin and having an upper surface flush with an upper surface of the fin and including first and second trench isolation portions on opposite sides of the fin along the fin longitudinal direction, and third and fourth trench isolation portions on distal ends of the fin along a second direction intersecting the longitudinal direction; forming a patterned first hardmask layer having an opening exposing an upper surface of the third and fourth trench isolation portions; and forming a first insulator layer filling the opening to form an insulating portion including a portion of the first insulator layer in the opening and a portion of the trench isolation structure below the portion of the first insulator layer in the opening.

An integrated circuit structure includes a gate stack over a semiconductor substrate, and a silicon germanium region extending into the semiconductor substrate and adjacent to the gate stack. The silicon germanium region has a top surface, with a center portion of the top surface recessed from edge portions of the top surface to form a recess. The edge portions are on opposite sides of the center portion.

Semiconductor structures having a source contact and a drain contact that exhibit reduced contact resistance and methods of forming the same are disclosed. In one embodiment of the present application, the reduced contact resistance is provided by forming a layer of a dipole metal or metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) oxide between an epitaxial semiconductor material (providing the source region and the drain region of the device) and an overlying metal semiconductor alloy. In yet other embodiment, the reduced contact resistance is provided by increasing the area of the source region and drain region by patterning the epitaxial semiconductor material that constitutes at least an upper portion of the source region and drain region of the device.

Middle-of-line (MOL) interconnects that facilitate reduced capacitance and/or resistance and corresponding techniques for forming the MOL interconnects are disclosed herein. An exemplary MOL interconnect structure includes a device-level contact disposed in a first insulator layer and a ruthenium structure disposed in a second insulator layer disposed over the first insulator layer. The device-level contact physically contacts an integrated circuit feature, and the ruthenium structure physically contacts the device-level contact. An air gap separates sidewalls of the ruthenium structure from the second insulator layer. A top surface of the ruthenium structure is lower than a top surface of the second insulator layer. A via disposed in a third insulator layer extends below the top surface of the second insulator layer to physically contact the ruthenium structure. A remainder of a dummy contact spacer layer may separate the first insulator layer and the second insulator layer.

A semiconductor structure and a method for forming the semiconductor structure are provided. The semiconductor structure includes a substrate and a gate structure on the substrate. The substrate contains source-drain openings on both sides of the gate structure. The semiconductor structure also includes a first stress layer formed in a source-drain opening of the source-drain openings. The first stress layer is doped with first ions. In addition, the semiconductor structure includes a protection layer over the first stress layer, and an inversion layer between the first stress layer and the protection layer. The protection layer is doped with second ions, and the inversion layer is doped with third ions. A conductivity type of the third ions is opposite to a conductivity type of the second ions.

A semiconductor structure includes a substrate, first fins extending from the substrate with a first fin pitch, and second fins extending from the substrate with a second fin pitch smaller than the first fin pitch. The semiconductor structure also includes first gate structures engaging the first fins with a first gate pitch and second gate structures engaging the second fins with a second gate pitch smaller than the first gate pitch. The semiconductor structure also includes first epitaxial semiconductor features partially embedded in the first fins and adjacent the first gate structures and second epitaxial semiconductor features partially embedded in the second fins and adjacent the second gate structures. A bottom surface of the first epitaxial semiconductor features is lower than a bottom surface of the second epitaxial semiconductor features.

A method includes depositing a first dielectric layer over and along sidewalls of a first semiconductor fin and a second semiconductor fin, depositing a second dielectric layer over the first dielectric layer, recessing the first dielectric layer to define a dummy fin between the first semiconductor fin and the second semiconductor fin, forming a cap layer over top surfaces and sidewalls of the first semiconductor fin and the second semiconductor fin, wherein the forming the cap layer comprises depositing the cap layer in a furnace at process temperatures higher than a first temperature, and lowering the temperature of the furnace, wherein during the lowering the temperature of the furnace, the pressure in the furnace is raised to and maintained at 10 torr or higher until the temperature of the furnace drops below the first temperature.

A semiconductor device and a forming method thereof, the semiconductor device includes a first and a second wells, a source region, a drain region, two gate structures and at least one doping region. The first well with a first conductive type is disposed in a substrate, and the source region is disposed in the first well. The second well with a second conductive type is disposed adjacent to the first well in a substrate, and the drain region is disposed in the second well. Two gate structures are disposed on the substrate between the source region and the drain region. At least one doping region with the first conductive type is disposed in the second well between the two gate structures.

Methods of forming a strained channel device utilizing dislocations disposed in source/drain structures are described. Those methods and structures may include forming a thin silicon germanium material in a source/drain opening of a device comprising silicon, wherein multiple dislocations are formed in the silicon germanium material. A source/drain material may be formed on the thin silicon germanium material, wherein the dislocations induce a tensile strain in a channel region of the device.

An example includes a semiconductor structure including a semiconductor layer, front-side logic devices arranged in a front-side of the semiconductor layer, four epitaxial layers on a back-side of the semiconductor layer, where the four epitaxial layers include a first epitaxial layer of a first conductivity type, a second epitaxial layer of a second conductivity type, a third epitaxial layer of the second conductivity type, and a fourth epitaxial layer of the first conductivity type, a plurality of back-side contacts exposed at a back-side surface of the fourth epitaxial layer, where the plurality of back-side contacts include a set of first terminal contacts extending into and contacting the fourth epitaxial layer, a set of second terminal contacts extending into and contacting the second epitaxial layer, a set of first gate contacts extending into the third epitaxial layer, and a set of second gate contacts extending into the first epitaxial layer.