A device includes a substrate comprising a plurality of structures and a dielectric layer. A first structure of the plurality of structures is separated from a second structure of the plurality of structures by a first distance. Each structure of the plurality of structures has an aspect ratio of about 5:1 to about 15:1. The dielectric layer is disposed on an upper surface of the substrate, a first sidewall and a second sidewall of the plurality of structures, and an upper surface of the plurality of structures. The dielectric layer has a thickness of about 1 nm to about 5 nm on the sidewalls of the plurality of structures. A method of forming a device includes depositing the dielectric layer over the substrate. A portion of the dielectric layer is modified to form a modified dielectric layer. An atomic layer etch is performed to remove the modified dielectric layer.

A semiconductor device with a small variation in transistor characteristics is provided. The semiconductor device includes an oxide semiconductor film, a source electrode and a drain electrode over the oxide semiconductor film, an interlayer insulating film placed to cover the oxide semiconductor film, the source electrode, and the drain electrode, a first gate insulating film over the oxide semiconductor film, a second gate insulating film over the first gate insulating film, and a gate electrode over the second gate insulating film. The interlayer insulating film has an opening overlapping with a region between the source electrode and the drain electrode, the first gate insulating film, the second gate insulating film, and the gate electrode are placed in the opening of the interlayer insulating film, the first gate insulating film includes oxygen and aluminum, and the first gate insulating film includes a region thinner that is than the second gate insulating film.

A method of forming a semiconductor device includes forming a transistor comprising a gate stack on a semiconductor substrate by, at least, forming a first dielectric layer on the semiconductor substrate, forming a dipole layer on the dielectric layer; forming a second dielectric layer on the dipole layer, forming a conductive work function layer on the second dielectric layer, forming a gate electrode layer on the conductive work function layer. The method also includes varying a distance between dipole inducing elements in the dipole layer and a surface of the semiconductor substrate by tuning a thickness of the first dielectric layer to adjust a threshold voltage of the transistor.

There is provided a technique that includes: forming a nitride film on a substrate by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times, the cycle including: (a) supplying a precursor to the substrate; (b) supplying a nitriding agent to the substrate; and (c) supplying an active species X, which is generated by plasma-exciting an inert gas, to the substrate, wherein a stress of the nitride film is controlled to be between a tensile stress and a compressive stress or is controlled to be the compressive stress by controlling an amount of exposure of the active species X to a surface of the substrate in (c).

Provided are high quality metal-nitride, such as aluminum nitride (AlN), films for heat dissipation and heat spreading applications, methods of preparing the same, and deposition of high thermal conductivity heat spreading layers for use in RF devices such as power amplifiers, high electron mobility transistors, etc. Aspects of the inventive concept can be used to enable heterogeneously integrated compound semiconductor on silicon devices or can be used in in non-RF applications as the power densities of these highly scaled microelectronic devices continues to increase.

An in-chamber plasma source in a deposition reactor system includes an array of microcavity or microchannel plasma devices having a first electrode and a second electrode isolated from plasma in microcavities or microchannels. An inlet provides connection to deposition precursor. A region interacts deposition precursor with plasma. An outlet directs precursor dissociated with the plasma onto a substrate for deposition. A reactor system includes a substrate holder across from the outlet, a chamber enclosing the in-chamber plasma source and the substrate holder, an exhaust from the chamber, and conduit supplying precursors from sources or bubblers to the inlet. A reactor system can conduct plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition at high pressures and is capable of forming a complete layer in a single cycle.

An interconnect structure, which may be used for example in a semiconductor device, is disclosed. The interconnect structure includes a contact layer made of a metal; one or more dielectric layers on the contact layer, and a deposited layer made of an insulating material. The interconnect structure further includes a trench through the one or more dielectric layers so that a sidewall surface of the trench is formed by the one or more dielectric layers and a bottom surface of the trench is formed by a portion of the contact layer. The deposited layer is in the trench and a thickness of the insulating material on the sidewall surface of the trench is at least 2.1 times greater than a thickness of the insulating material on the bottom surface of the trench.

Methods and systems of forming treated silicon-carbon material are disclosed. Exemplary methods include depositing silicon-carbon material onto a surface of the substrate and treating the silicon-carbon material. The step of treating can include a first treatment step followed by a second treatment step, wherein the first treatment step includes providing first reductant gas activated species and the second treatment step includes providing one or more of a first oxidant gas activated species and a second reductant gas activated species.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes depositing a dielectric layer over a substrate, performing a first patterning to form an opening in the dielectric layer, and depositing an oxide film over and contacting the dielectric layer and within the opening in the dielectric layer. The oxide film is formed from multiple precursors that are free of O.sub.2, and depositing the oxide film includes forming a plasma of a first precursor of the multiple precursors.

The present application discloses a semiconductor device and a method for making the same. The semiconductor device includes a substrate, a word line, a word line dielectric layer, and first and second source/drain regions. The word line is buried in the substrate. The word line dielectric layer is disposed between the substrate and the word line, and the word line dielectric layer includes: a first oxide layer and a second oxide layer. The first oxide layer is in contact with the word line and is formed by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. The second oxide layer is in contact with the substrate and is formed by a thermal oxidation process. The first and the second source/drain regions are disposed in the substrate and above the word line, wherein the word line is disposed laterally between the first and the second source/drain regions.