A semiconductor device employs surrounding gate transistors (SGTs) which are vertical transistors to constitute a CMOS NAND circuit. The NAND circuit is formed by using a plurality of MOS transistors arranged in m rows and n columns. The MOS transistors constituting the NAND circuit are formed on a planar silicon layer disposed on a substrate, and each have a structure in which a drain, a gate, and a source are arranged in a vertical direction, the gate surrounding a silicon pillar. The planar silicon layer includes a first active region having a first conductivity type and a second active region having a second conductivity type. The first active region and the second active region are connected to one another via a silicon layer formed on a surface of the planar silicon layer. This provides for a semiconductor device that constitutes a NAND circuit.

Techniques are disclosed for forming a compacted array of functional cells using next-generation lithography (NGL) processes, such as electron-beam direct write (EBDW) and extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL), to form the boundaries of the cells in the array. The compacted array of cells may be used for field-programmable gate array (FPGA) structures configured with logic cells, static random-access memory (SRAM) structures configured with bit cells, or other memory or logic devices having cell-based structures. The techniques can be used to gain a reduction in area of 10 to 50 percent, for example, for the array of functional cells, because the NGL processes allow for higher precision and closer cuts for the cell boundaries, as compared to conventional 193 nm photolithography. In addition, the use of NGL processes to form the boundaries for the cells may also reduce lithography induced variations that would otherwise be present with conventional 193 nm photolithography.

A method is provided, and including operations as below: forming multiple active areas extending in a first direction; forming multiple conductive patterns extending in a second direction different from the first direction and arranged in a first layer above the active areas; forming multiple gates extending parallel to the conductive patterns; and forming a first set of conductive lines extending in the first direction and arranged in three first metal tracks that are in a second layer above the first layer, wherein one of the first set of conductive lines is arranged in a middle track of the three first metal tracks, coupled to one of the gates and overlap a first shallow trench region between two of the active areas.

A method includes fabricating a first-voltage underlayer power rail conductively connecting to the source region of a first-type transistor and fabricating a second-voltage underlayer power rail conductively connecting to the source region of a second-type transistor. Each of the first-voltage and second-voltage underlayer power rails extends in a first direction. The method also includes patterning a first connection layer to form a first-voltage power rail and a second-voltage power rail extending in the second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction. The first-voltage power rail is directly connected with the first-voltage underlayer power rail through a first via-connector and the second-voltage power rail is directly connected with the second-voltage underlayer power rail through a second via-connector.

An integrated circuit device includes a device layer having devices spaced in accordance with a predetermined device pitch, a first metal interconnection layer disposed above the device layer and coupled to the device layer, and a second metal interconnection layer disposed above the first metal interconnection layer and coupled to the first metal interconnection layer through a first via layer. The second metal interconnection layer has metal lines spaced in accordance with a predetermined metal line pitch, and a ratio of the predetermined metal line pitch to predetermined device pitch is less than 1.

An integrated circuit includes a set of transistors including a set of active regions, a set of power rails, a first set of conductors and a first conductor. The set of active regions extends in a first direction, and is on a first level. The set of power rails extends in the first direction and is on a second level. The set of power rails has a first width. The first set of conductors extends in the first direction, is on the second level, and overlaps the set of active regions. The first set of conductors has a second width. The first conductor extends in the first direction, is on the second level and is between the first set of conductors. The first conductor has the first width, electrically couples a first transistor of the set of transistors to a second transistor of the set of transistors.

A method is provided, and including operations as below: forming multiple active areas extending in a first direction; forming multiple conductive patterns extending in a second direction different from the first direction and arranged in a first layer above the active areas; forming multiple gates extending parallel to the conductive patterns; and forming a first set of conductive lines extending in the first direction and arranged in three first metal tracks that are in a second layer above the first layer, wherein one of the first set of conductive lines is arranged in a middle track of the three first metal tracks, coupled to one of the gates and overlap a first shallow trench region between two of the active areas.

An integrated circuit includes a first-voltage underlayer power rail and a second-voltage underlayer power rail extending in a first direction below a first connection layer. A first-type transistor and a second-type transistor are underneath the first connection layer. The source region of the first-type transistor is connected to the first-voltage underlayer power rail, and the source region of the second-type transistor is connected to the second-voltage underlayer power rail. The integrated circuit also includes a first-voltage power rail, a second-voltage power rail, and a signal conducting line, each of which extends in a second direction in the first connection layer. The first-voltage power rail is connected to the first-voltage underlayer power rail, and the second-voltage power rail is connected to the second-voltage underlayer power rail. The signal conducting line is conductively connected to either a terminal-conductor or a gate-conductor.

Provided is a semiconductor integrated circuit device including a nanowire field effect transistor (FET) and having a layout configuration effective for making manufacturing the device easy. A standard cell having no logical function is disposed adjacent to a standard cell having a logical function. The standard cell includes nanowire FETs having nanowires and pads. The standard cell further includes dummy pads, which have no contribution to a logical function of a circuit.

An integrated circuit includes plural standard cells performing a same function. The standard cells include a first standard cell and a second standard cell, and the first standard cell and the second standard cell are to the same as each other in terms of an arrangement of internal conductive patterns and are different from each other in terms of a position of a via formed over a gate line through which an input signal is input.