A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device of an embodiment includes: forming a first film on a semiconductor layer containing silicon (Si), the first film containing a metal element and oxygen (O) and having a first thickness; and forming a second film between the semiconductor layer and the first film using radical oxidation, the second film containing silicon (Si) and oxygen (O) and having a second thickness larger than the first thickness.

A nano-crystalline high-k film and methods of forming the same in a semiconductor device are disclosed herein. The nano-crystalline high-k film may be initially deposited as an amorphous matrix layer of dielectric material and self-contained nano-crystallite regions may be formed within and suspended in the amorphous matrix layer. As such, the amorphous matrix layer material separates the self-contained nano-crystallite regions from one another preventing grain boundaries from forming as leakage and/or oxidant paths within the dielectric layer. Dopants may be implanted in the dielectric material and crystal phase of the self-contained nano-crystallite regions maybe modified to change one or more of the permittivity of the high-k dielectric material and/or a ferroelectric property of the dielectric material.

A method is provided for selective film deposition on a substrate. According to one embodiment, the method includes providing a substrate containing a first material having a first surface and second material having a second surface, where the first material includes a dielectric material and the second material contains a semiconductor material or a metal-containing material that excludes a metal oxide, reacting the first surface with a reactant gas containing a hydrophobic functional group to form a hydrophobic first surface, and depositing, by gas phase deposition, a metal oxide film on the second surface, where deposition of the metal oxide film is hindered on the hydrophobic first surface.

In a method of manufacturing a negative capacitance structure, a dielectric layer is formed over a substrate. A first metallic layer is formed over the dielectric layer. After the first metallic layer is formed, an annealing operation is performed, followed by a cooling operation. A second metallic layer is formed. After the cooling operation, the dielectric layer becomes a ferroelectric dielectric layer including an orthorhombic crystal phase. The first metallic film includes a oriented crystalline layer.

The present application discloses a method for fabricating the semiconductor device. The method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes providing a substrate having a first lattice constant and forming a first word line positioned in the substrate and a plurality of stress regions positioned adjacent to lower portions of sidewalls of the first word line. The plurality of stress regions have a second lattice constant, the second lattice constant of the plurality of stress regions is different from the first lattice constant of the substrate.

A method for depositing protective layers on a surface of a substrate includes conducting a plurality of ALD cycles in a first reaction chamber to deposit a first protective layer on the substrate. Each ALD cycle of the plurality of ALD cycles is conducted at a deposition temperature below about 100° C. and includes delivering a first precursor gas into the first reaction chamber containing the substrate. A reacting portion of the first precursor gas is absorbed onto a surface of the substrate to form a first sub-layer of the protective layer. A second precursor gas is delivered into the first reaction chamber containing the substrate, a reacting portion of the second precursor gas being absorbed onto the surface of the substrate to form a second sub-layer of the protective layer. Metrology analysis is performed on the substrate within a second reaction chamber.

A noble metal liner and a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor (MIMCAP) are described along with the methods of manufacture or fabrication. The MIM capacitor includes a liner formed of a thin layer or film of a noble metal, which is only a few nanometers thick, e.g., a thickness in the range of about 0.5 nm to about 5 nm or more. In a finished device such as a MIM capacitor, the noble metal liner is sandwiched between a thicker electrode and the insulator, e.g., a layer or thin film of high or ultra high-k material, thereby providing a cap for the electrode to limit leakage currents in the device.

Embodiments described and discussed herein provide methods for selectively depositing a metal oxides on a substrate. In one or more embodiments, methods for forming a metal oxide material includes positioning a substrate within a processing chamber, where the substrate has passivated and non-passivated surfaces, exposing the substrate to a first metal alkoxide precursor to selectively deposit a first metal oxide layer on or over the non-passivated surface, and exposing the substrate to a second metal alkoxide precursor to selectively deposit a second metal oxide layer on the first metal oxide layer. The method also includes sequentially repeating exposing the substrate to the first and second metal alkoxide precursors to produce a laminate film containing alternating layers of the first and second metal oxide layers. Each of the first and second metal alkoxide precursors contain different types of metals which are selected from titanium, zirconium, hafnium, aluminum, or lanthanum.

Provided are electronic devices and methods of manufacturing the same. An electronic device may include a substrate, a gate electrode on the substrate, a ferroelectric layer between the substrate and the gate electrode, and a carbon layer between the substrate and the ferroelectric layer. The carbon layer may have an sp.sup.2 bonding structure.

Provided is a technique including: a processing chamber that processes a substrate; a first gas supplier that supplies a metal-containing gas into the processing chamber; a second gas supplier that supplies a first oxygen-containing gas into the processing chamber; and an exhauster including a gas exhaust pipe and a trap that collects a component of the metal-containing gas contained in an exhaust gas using plasma, the exhauster discharging the exhaust gas from the processing chamber.