An embodiment is a method including forming a first gate over a substrate, the first gate having first gate spacers on opposing sidewalls, forming a first hard mask layer over the first gate, forming a second hard mask layer over the first hard mask layer, the second hard mask layer having a different material composition than the first hard mask layer, forming a first dielectric layer adjacent and over the first gate, etching a first opening through the first dielectric layer to expose a portion of the substrate, at least a portion of the second hard mask layer being exposed in the first opening, filling the first opening with a conductive material, and removing the second hard mask layer and the portions of the conductive material and first dielectric layer above the first hard mask layer to form a first conductive contact in the remaining first dielectric layer.

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming gate structures spaced apart from each other on a substrate, gate spacers covering sidewalls of the gate structures, and an interlayer insulating layer covering the gate spacers, forming a contact hole that penetrates the interlayer insulating layer to expose a sidewall of at least one of the gate spacers, forming a sacrificial gap-fill pattern filling a lower portion of the contact hole, forming a contact spacer on a sidewall of the contact hole having the sacrificial gap-fill pattern, and forming a contact filling the contact hole after removing the sacrificial gap-fill pattern.

In a non-insulated DC-DC converter having a circuit in which a power MOSFET high-side switch and a power MOSFET low-side switch are connected in series, the power MOSFET low-side switch and a Schottky barrier diode to be connected in parallel with the power MOSFET low-side switch are formed within one semiconductor chip. The formation region SDR of the Schottky barrier diode is disposed in the center in the shorter direction of the semiconductor chip, and on both sides thereof, the formation regions of the power MOSFET low-side switch are disposed. From the gate finger in the vicinity of both long sides on the main surface of the semiconductor chip toward the formation region SDR of the Schottky barrier diode, a plurality of gate fingers are disposed so as to interpose the formation region SDR between them.

A trench type power semiconductor device with improved breakdown voltage and UIS performance and a method for preparation the device are disclosed. The trench type power semiconductor device includes a first contact hole formed in a mesa in the active area and a second contact hole formed in a mesa in an active to termination intermediate area, where the first contact hole is deeper and wider than the second contact hole. The method comprises the steps of providing a semiconductor substrate, etching an epitaxial layer, depositing a conductive material, depositing an insulation passivation layer and etching through the insulation passivation layer.

A device, structure, and method are provided whereby an insert layer is utilized to provide additional support for surrounding dielectric layers. The insert layer may be applied between two dielectric layers. Once formed, trenches and vias are formed within the composite layers, and the insert layer will help to provide support that will limit or eliminate undesired bending or other structural motions that could hamper subsequent process steps, such as filling the trenches and vias with conductive material.

Disclosed are methods of forming integrated circuit (IC) structures with hybrid metallization interconnects. A dual damascene process is performed to form trenches in an upper portion of a dielectric layer and contact holes that extend from the trenches to a gate electrode and to contact plugs on source/drain regions. A first metal is deposited into the contact holes by electroless deposition and a second metal is then deposited. Alternatively, a single damascene process is performed to form a first contact hole through a dielectric layer to a gate electrode and a first metal is deposited therein by electroless deposition. Next, a dual damascene process is performed to form trenches in an upper portion of the dielectric layer, including a trench that traverses the first contact hole, and to form second contact holes that extend from the trenches to contact plugs on source/drain regions. A second metal is then deposited.

An electrical device that in some embodiments includes a substrate including a lateral device region and a vertical device region. A lateral diffusion metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) device may be present in the lateral device region, wherein a drift region of the LDMOS device has a length that is parallel to an upper surface of the substrate in which the LDMOS device is formed. A vertical field effect transistor (VFET) device may be present in the vertical device region, wherein a vertical channel of the VFET has a length that is perpendicular to said upper surface of the substrate, the VFET including a gate structure that is positioned around the vertical channel.

Transistors can be used for a variety of electronic-based applications. Therefore, transistor efficiency and performance is of importance. An apparatus is presented herein to increase the locking range of transistors by leveraging cross-coupled injection transistors in conjunction with symmetry injection transistors. The transistor efficiency can also be increase by reducing a parasitic capacitance associated with the components of the transistor.

A semiconductor device includes a first gate pattern and a second gate pattern on a substrate, the first gate pattern having a first height and the second gate pattern having a second height, an insulating pattern on the substrate covering the first and second gate patterns, the insulating pattern including a trench exposing the substrate between the first and second gate patterns, a spacer contacting at least a portion of a sidewall of the insulating pattern within the trench, the spacer spaced apart from the first and second gate patterns and having a third height larger than the first and second heights, and a contact structure filling the trench.

Integrated circuits and methods of producing the same are provided. In an exemplary embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a substrate with an active layer overlying a buried insulator layer that in turn overlies a handle layer, where the active layer includes a first active well. A first source, a first drain, and a first channel are defined within the first active well, where the first channel is between the first source and the first drain. A first gate dielectric directly overlies the first channel, and a first gate directly overlies the first gate dielectric, where a first capacitor includes the first source, the first drain, the first channel, the first gate dielectric, and the first gate. A first handle well is defined within the handle layer directly underlying the first channel and the buried insulator layer.