Deterioration in reliability is prevented regarding a semiconductor device. The deterioration is caused when an insulating film for formation of a sidewall is embedded between gate electrodes at the time of forming sidewalls having two kinds of different widths on a substrate. A sidewall-shaped silicon oxide film is formed over each sidewall of a gate electrode of a low breakdown voltage MISFET and a pattern including a control gate electrode and a memory gate electrode. Then, a silicon oxide film beside the gate electrode is removed, and a silicon oxide film is formed on a semiconductor substrate, and then etchback is performed. Accordingly, a sidewall, formed of a silicon nitride film and the silicon oxide film, is formed beside the gate electrode, and a sidewall, formed of the silicon nitride film and the silicon oxide films, is formed beside the pattern.

A semiconductor device is provided, including: a substrate having a first area and a second area; several first gate structures formed at the first area, and at least one of the first gate structures including a first hardmask on a first gate, and the first gate structure having a first gate length; several second gate structures formed at the second area, and at least one of the second gate structures including a second hardmask on a second gate, and the second gate structure having a second gate length. The first gate length is smaller than the second gate length, and the first hardmask contains at least a portion of nitrogen (N.sub.2)-based silicon nitride (SiN) which is free of OH concentration.

A method of adjusting work-function metal thickness includes providing a structure having a substrate, the substrate including a longitudinally extending array of fins disposed thereon. Spacers are then formed on sidewalls of fins of the array. Pillars are formed between and adjacent the spacers. A gate having dummy gate material is formed over the structure, the gate extending laterally across the spacers and fins of the array. The dummy gate material and spacers are removed from the gate to form work-function (WF) metal trenches defined by the pillars and fins within the gate. The WF metal trenches have a first trench width. A thickness of the pillars is adjusted to provide a second trench width, different from the first trench width, for the WF metal trenches. A WF metal structure is disposed within the WF metal trenches.

Embodiments are directed to a method of forming portions of a fin-type field effect transistor (FinFET) device. The method includes forming at least one source region having multiple sides, forming at least one drain region having multiple sides, forming at least one channel region having multiple sides, forming at least one gate region around the multiple sides of the at least one channel region and forming the at least one gate region around the multiple sides of the at least one drain region.

Embodiments are directed to a method of forming portions of a fin-type field effect transistor (FinFET) device. The method includes forming at least one source region having multiple sides, forming at least one drain region having multiple sides, forming at least one channel region having multiple sides, forming at least one gate region around the multiple sides of the at least one channel region and forming the at least one gate region around the multiple sides of the at least one drain region.

A method for fabricating semiconductor device is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: providing a substrate having a fin-shaped structure thereon; forming a first shallow trench isolation (STI) around the fin-shaped structure; dividing the fin-shaped structure into a first portion and a second portion; and forming a second STI between the first portion and the second portion.

One method disclosed includes, among other things, forming a first plurality of gate cavities in a first dielectric layer. A work function material layer is formed in the first plurality of gate cavities. A first conductive material is formed in at least a subset of the first plurality of gate cavities above the work function material layer to define a first plurality of gate structures. A first contact recess is formed in the first dielectric layer between two of the first plurality of gate structures. A second conductive material is formed in the first contact recess. The work function material layer is recessed selectively to the first and second conductive materials to define a plurality of cap recesses. A cap layer is formed in the plurality of cap recesses.

A method for forming semiconductor devices includes forming a highly doped region. A stack of alternating layers is formed on the substrate. The stack is patterned to form nanosheet structures. A dummy gate structure is formed over and between the nanosheet structures. An interlevel dielectric layer is formed. The dummy gate structures are removed. SG regions are blocked, and top sheets are removed from the nanosheet structures along the dummy gate trench. A bottommost sheet is released and forms a channel for a field effect transistor device by etching away the highly doped region under the nanosheet structure and layers in contact with the bottommost sheet. A gate structure is formed in and over the dummy gate trench wherein the bottommost sheet forms a device channel for the EG device.

Methods for forming contacts to source/drain regions and gate electrodes in low- and high-voltage devices and devices formed by the same are disclosed. In an embodiment a device includes a first channel region in a substrate adjacent a first source/drain region; a first gate over the first channel region; a second channel region in the substrate adjacent a second source/drain region, a top surface of the second channel region being below a top surface of the first channel region; a second gate over the second channel region; an ILD over the first gate and the second gate; a first contact extending through the ILD and coupled to the first source/drain region; and a second contact extending through the ILD, coupled to the second source/drain region, and having a width greater a width of the first contact and a height greater than a height of the first contact.

A semiconductor device includes: a substrate, a gate structure on the substrate, and a spacer adjacent to the gate structure, in which the spacer extends to a top surface of the gate structure, a top surface of the spacer includes a planar surface, the spacer encloses an air gap, and the spacer is composed of a single material. The gate structure includes a high-k dielectric layer, a work function metal layer, and a low resistance metal layer, in which the high-k dielectric layer is U-shaped. The semiconductor device also includes an interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer around the gate structure and a hard mask on the spacer, in which the top surface of the hard mask is even with the top surface of the ILD layer.