A production method for a semiconductor device includes: forming a dielectric oxide film on a nitride semiconductor layer, where the dielectric oxide film has a higher relative permittivity than a relative permittivity of silicon dioxide; nitriding the dielectric oxide film to form a dielectric oxynitride film; forming a first silicon nitride film on the dielectric oxynitride film by a thermal film formation method; forming a second silicon nitride film on the first silicon nitride film; forming an opening in the second silicon nitride film and the first silicon nitride film, where the opening reaches the dielectric oxynitride film; and forming a gate electrode on the second silicon nitride film, where the gate electrode is in contact with the dielectric oxynitride film through the opening.

A memory is described. Generally, the memory includes a number of non-planar multigate transistors, each including a channel of semiconducting material overlying a surface of a substrate and electrically connecting a source and a drain, a tunnel dielectric layer overlying the channel on at least three sides thereof, and a multi-layer charge-trapping region overlying the tunnel dielectric layer. In one embodiment, the multi-layer charge-trapping region includes a first deuterated layer overlying the tunnel dielectric layer and a first nitride-containing layer overlying the first deuterated layer. Other embodiments are also described.

A substrate in which a high-dielectric-constant gate insulator is formed on a silicon substrate with an interface layer film sandwiched in between is housed in a chamber. The method of the invention including: (a) housing the substrate in a chamber; (b) supplying ammonia to the chamber to foam an ammonia atmosphere; and (c) applying flash light to a surface of the substrate housed in the chamber to heat the high dielectric constant film, wherein the flash light applied in said step (c) has a spectral distribution that has a peak in a wavelength range of 200 to 300 nm.

A high-k metal gate device and manufacturing method thereof are provided in the present invention. The method uses a silicon material layer as a battier layer for the lower silicon nitride layer in the NMOS region and then performs an annealing process to turn the silicon material layer into a TiSiN interlayer of the PMOS region and a TiSiN layer of the NMOS region, respectively. TiSiN material can prevent subsequent upper metal atoms from diffusing downward and improve the stability of the metal gate device. Additionally, the silicon material remained on the surface of the NMOS region is subsequently removed, thereby eliminating differences of the thickness of the residual silicon material layer and fluctuations of the threshold voltage of the NMOS region resulted from the differences thereof and further improving the stability of the NMOS device.

A semiconductor device includes a device region including a compound semiconductor material and a non-device region at least partially surrounding the device region. The semiconductor device further includes a dielectric material in the non-device region and at least one electrode in the device region. The semiconductor device further includes at least one pad electrically coupled to the at least one electrode, wherein the at least one pad is arranged on the dielectric material in the non-device region.

According to one embodiment, an inter-electrode insulating film interposed between a floating gate electrode and a control gate electrode includes a lower layer insulating film disposed on a side closer to the floating gate electrode, an upper layer insulating film disposed on a side closer to the control gate electrode, and an intermediate insulating film interposed between the lower layer insulating film and the upper layer insulating film, wherein the intermediate insulating film contains a first element, and the lower layer insulating film contains the first element and a second element, such that a ratio of the first element relative to the second element is larger on a side closer to the intermediate insulating film than on a side closer to the floating gate electrode.

A semiconductor device includes an interfacial layer on a substrate and agate structure on the interfacial layer. Preferably, the gate structure includes a patterned high-k dielectric layer, the patterned high-k dielectric layer comprises a metal oxide layer, and a horizontal direction width of the patterned high-k dielectric layer and a horizontal direction width of the interfacial layer are different. The semiconductor device also includes a first spacer adjacent to the gate structure and on part of the interfacial layer and contacting a top surface of the interfacial layer and a second spacer on the sidewalls of the first spacer and the interfacial layer. Preferably, a planar bottom surface of the second spacer is lower than a planar bottom surface of the first spacer and extending along a same direction as the planar bottom surface of the first spacer.

A semiconductor device according to an embodiment includes a first nitride semiconductor layer; a source electrode provided on the first nitride semiconductor layer; a drain electrode provided on the first nitride semiconductor layer; a gate electrode provided between the source electrode and the drain electrode; a first film provided between the source electrode and the gate electrode and between the gate electrode and the drain electrode; and a second film provided on the first film. The first film is provided on the first nitride semiconductor layer. The first film has a lower hydrogen diffusion coefficient than a hydrogen diffusion coefficient of a silicon oxide film.

A transistor that is to be provided has such a structure that a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer between which a channel formation region is sandwiched has regions projecting in a channel length direction at lower end portions, and an insulating layer is provided, in addition to a gate insulating layer, between the source and drain electrode layers and a gate electrode layer. In the transistor, the width of the source and drain electrode layers is smaller than that of an oxide semiconductor layer in the channel width direction, so that an area where the gate electrode layer overlaps with the source and drain electrode layers can be made small. Further, the source and drain electrode layers have regions projecting in the channel length direction at lower end portions.

A memory opening can be formed through an alternating stack of insulating layers and sacrificial material layers provided over a substrate. Annular etch stop material portions are provided at each level of the sacrificial material layers around the memory opening. The annular etch stop material portions can be formed by conversion of surface portions of the sacrificial material layers into dielectric material portion, or by recessing the sacrificial material layers around the memory opening and filling indentations around the memory opening. After formation of a memory stack structure, the sacrificial material layers are removed from the backside. The annular etch stop material portions are at least partially converted to form charge trapping material portions. Vertical isolation of the charge trapping material portions among one another around the memory stack structure minimizes leakage between the charge trapping material portions located at different word line levels.