A method of forming a vertical fin field effect transistor (vertical finFET) with a self-aligned shallow trench isolation region, including forming a pinch-off layer on one or more vertical fin segments, wherein the pinch-off layer has a thickness on the sidewalls of the one or more vertical fin segments, forming a trench mask layer on predetermined portions of the pinch-off layer, removing portions of the pinch-off layer not covered by the trench mask layer, where the removed portions of the pinch-off layer exposes underlying portions of the substrate, and removing at least a portion of the substrate to form one or more isolation region trenches, where the distance of the sidewall of one of the one or more isolation region trenches to an adjacent vertical fin segment is determined by the thickness of the pinch-off layer.

A technique relates to forming a self-aligning field effect transistor. A starting punch through stopper comprising a substrate having a plurality of fins patterned thereon, an n-type field effect transistor (NFET) region, a p-type field effect transistor (PFET) region, and a center region having a boundary defect at the interface of the NFET region and the PFET region is first provided. The field effect transistor is then masked to mask the NFET region and the PFET region such that the center region is exposed. A center boundary region is then formed by etching the center region to remove the boundary defect.

A method for fabricating an integrated circuit is provided. The method includes depositing a first polish stop layer above a memory device, in which the first polish stop layer has a first portion over the memory device and a second portion that is not over the memory device; removing the second portion of the first polish stop layer; depositing an inter-layer dielectric layer over the first polish stop layer after removing the second portion of the first polish stop layer; and polishing the inter-layer dielectric layer until reaching the first portion of the first polish stop layer.

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a plurality of trenches in a dielectric layer, wherein the plurality of trenches each comprise a rounded surface, depositing a liner layer on the rounded surface of each of plurality of trenches, and depositing a conductive layer on the liner layer in each of the plurality of trenches, wherein the conductive layer and the liner layer form a plurality of interconnects, and each of the plurality of interconnects has a cylindrical shape.

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a plurality of trenches in a dielectric layer, wherein the plurality of trenches each comprise a rounded surface, depositing a liner layer on the rounded surface of each of plurality of trenches, and depositing a conductive layer on the liner layer in each of the plurality of trenches, wherein the conductive layer and the liner layer form a plurality of interconnects, and each of the plurality of interconnects has a cylindrical shape.

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a structure protruding from a substrate, forming a dielectric layer covering the structure, forming a dummy layer covering the dielectric layer, and performing a planarization process to completely remove the dummy layer. A material of the dummy layer has a slower removal rate to the planarization process than a material of the dielectric layer.

A compound semiconductor solar cell and a method of manufacturing the same are disclosed. The method for fabricating a compound semiconductor solar cell comprises forming a first mask layer on a front surface of a compound semiconductor layer of a second region which is a region other than a first region where the front electrode is to be formed; forming a seed metal layer on the front surface of the compound semiconductor layer of the first region and on the first mask layer of the second region; removing the seed metal layer over the first mask layer and the first mask layer; removing a part of the compound semiconductor layer of the second region from the front surface of the compound semiconductor layer by using the seed metal layer of the first region as a mask; forming a second mask layer on the compound semiconductor layer of the second region; forming an electrode metal layer on the seed metal layer not covered by the second mask layer; and removing the second mask layer.

A semiconductor process for improving loading effects in planarization is provided including steps of forming multiple first protruding patterns on a first region and a second region of a substrate, wherein the pattern density of the first protruding patterns in the first region is larger than the one in the second region, forming a first dielectric layer on the substrate and the first protruding patterns, wherein the first dielectric layer includes multiple second protruding patterns corresponding to the first protruding patterns below, forming a second dielectric layer on the first dielectric layer, performing a first planarization process to remove parts of the second dielectric layer, so that the top surface of the second protruding patterns are exposed, performing an etch process to remove the second protruding patterns of the first dielectric layer, removing the remaining second dielectric layer, and performing another planarization process to the first dielectric layer.

Semiconductor devices and methods are provided to fabricate fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) devices having uniform fin height profiles. For example, uniformity of fin height profiles for FinFET devices is obtained by implementing a gate oxide removal process which is designed to prevent etching of an isolation layer (e.g., a shallow trench isolation layer) formed of an oxide material during removal of, e.g., sacrificial gate oxide layers of dummy gate structures during a replacement metal gate process.

Techniques relate to forming a sorting device. A mesh is formed on top of a substrate. Metal assisted chemical etching is performed to remove substrate material of the substrate at locations of the mesh. Pillars are formed in the substrate by removal of the substrate material. The mesh is removed to leave the pillars in a nanopillar array. The pillars in the nanopillar array are designed with a spacing to sort particles of different sizes such that the particles at or above a predetermined dimension are sorted in a first direction and the particles below the predetermined dimension are sorted in a second direction.