A composite substrate includes a substrate, a high-resistance layer located on the substrate, the high-resistance layer comprising a first low-temperature aluminum nitride (AlN) layer, a high-temperature AlN layer and a second low-temperature AlN layer which are stacked in sequence, and a growth substrate located on a side, away from the substrate, of the high-resistance layer. Under the action of the first low-temperature AlN layer, a tensile stress on the high-temperature AlN layer may be reduced, to reduce a dislocation, and further improve a crystal quality of the high-temperature AlN layer and ensure resistivity of the high-temperature AlN layer; and an element of Al in the high-temperature AlN layer is prevented from diffusing into the growth substrate, to protect the crystal quality of the high-temperature AlN layer and improve a bonding effect between the high-resistance layer and the growth substrate. Thus, stability and reliability of the composite substrate are greatly improved.

A fin field effect transistor (FinFET) having a tunable tensile strain and an embodiment method of tuning tensile strain in an integrated circuit are provided. The method includes forming a source/drain region on opposing sides of a gate region in a fin, forming spacers over the fin, the spacers adjacent to the source/drain regions, depositing a dielectric between the spacers; and performing an annealing process to contract the dielectric, the dielectric contraction deforming the spacers, the spacer deformation enlarging the gate region in the fin.

A method for producing a ferroelectric layer or antiferroelectric layer in which a layer of a paraelectric material already deposited on a surface of a substrate with a layer thickness of at least two crystallographic unit cells is introduced into an alternating electric field. The alternating electric field is repeatedly cycled between a positive electric field strength and a negative electric field strength of amplitude greater than the coercivity field strength of the material such that the layer of paraelectric material forms a polarization.

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.

The present application discloses semiconductor device, including a gate structure arranged on a substrate; a plurality of word lines arranged apart from the gate structure; two porous spacers arranged on two sides of the gate structure; and a first insulating layer arranged on the substrate laterally surrounding the gate structure and the porous spacers; and a second insulating layer arranged over the first insulating layer, wherein a top surface of the gate structure, top surfaces of the plurality of word lines and a top surface of the second insulating layer are level with each other, and wherein a porosity of the porous spacers is between about 25% and about 100%.

A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a channel region, a source/drain feature, a gate structure, a dielectric structure, a first crystalline hard mask layer, and a first amorphous hard mask layer. The channel region is disposed over a substrate. The isolation feature is disposed over the substrate and alongside the channel region. The source/drain feature interfaces a sidewall of the channel region, wherein the source/drain feature and the channel region are disposed along a first direction, and along a second direction different from the first direction. The gate structure is disposed over the channel region. The dielectric structure is disposed over the isolation feature and interfaces the source/drain feature. The first crystalline hard mask layer is disposed over the dielectric structure. The first amorphous hard mask layer is disposed in the first crystalline hard mask layer.

A semiconductor device structure and a formation method are provided. The method includes forming a sacrificial base layer over a substrate and forming a semiconductor stack over the sacrificial base layer. The semiconductor stack has multiple sacrificial layers and multiple semiconductor layers laid out alternately. The method also includes forming a gate stack to partially cover the sacrificial base layer, the semiconductor layers, and the sacrificial layers. The method further includes removing the sacrificial base layer to form a recess between the substrate and the semiconductor stack. In addition, the method includes forming a metal-containing dielectric structure to partially or completely fill the recess. The metal-containing dielectric structure has multiple sub-layers.

A method includes forming a semiconductor layer over a substrate; etching a portion of the semiconductor layer to form a first recess and a second recess; forming a first masking layer over the semiconductor layer; performing a first thermal treatment on the first masking layer, the first thermal treatment densifying the first masking layer; etching the first masking layer to expose the first recess; forming a first semiconductor material in the first recess; and removing the first masking layer.

An amorphous silicon layer or amorphous boron layer can be deposited on a substrate using one or more silicon or boron-containing precursors, respectively. Radical species are provided from a plasma source or from a controlled reaction chamber atmosphere to convert the amorphous silicon layer to a doped silicon layer with composition tunability. An initiation layer is deposited on one or more semiconductor device structures having a dielectric layer over an electrically conductive layer. The initiation layer may be conformally deposited by a CVD-based process and may comprises amorphous silicon, doped silicon, amorphous boron, or doped boron.