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 method for smoothing a surface of a semiconductor portion is disclosed. In the method, an intentional oxide layer is formed on the surface of the semiconductor portion, a treated layer is formed in the semiconductor portion and inwardly of the intentional oxide layer, and then, the intentional oxide layer and the treated layer are removed to obtain a smoothed surface. The method may also be used for widening a recess in a manufacturing process for a semiconductor structure.

An etching method includes preparing a substrate having an etching target portion formed on a silicon-containing portion, plasma-etching the etching target portion of the substrate into a predetermined pattern by plasma of a processing gas containing a CF-based gas, and removing a damage layer formed due to implantation of C and F into the silicon-containing portion exposed at a bottom of the predetermined pattern by the plasma etching. The removing of the damage layer includes forming an oxide of the damage layer by supplying oxygen-containing radicals and fluorine-containing radicals and oxidizing the damage layer with the oxygen-containing radicals while etching the damage layer with the fluorine-containing radicals, and removing the oxide by a radical treatment or a chemical treatment with a gas.

The present disclosure provides semiconductor devices, fin field-effect transistors and fabrication methods thereof. An exemplary fin field-effect transistor includes a semiconductor substrate; an insulation layer configured for inhibiting a short channel effect and increasing a heat dissipation efficiency of the fin field-effect transistor formed over the semiconductor substrate; at least one fin formed over the insulation layer; a gate structure crossing over at least one fin and covering top and side surfaces of the fin formed over the semiconductor substrate; and a source formed in the fin at one side of the gate structure and a drain formed in the fin at the other side of the gate structure.

A method for forming a semiconductor structure comprising a silicon-on-insulator layer structure with crystalline silicon oxide SiO.sub.x as the insulator material comprises: providing a crystalline silicon substrate having a substantially clean deposition surface in a vacuum chamber; heating the silicon substrate to an oxidation temperature To in the range of 550 to 1200 ° C.; supplying, while keeping the silicon substrate in the oxidation temperature, with an oxidation pressure P.sub.o in the range of 1.Math.10.sup.−8 to 1.Math.10.sup.−4 mbar in the vacuum chamber, molecular oxygen O.sub.2 into the vacuum chamber with an oxygen dose D.sub.o in the range of 0.1 to 1000 Langmuir; whereby a crystalline silicon oxide layer with a thickness of at least two molecular layers is formed within the silicon substrate, between a crystalline silicon base layer and a crystalline silicon top layer. Related semiconductor structures are described.

A method for processing a workpiece, a plasma processing apparatus, and a semiconductor device which relate to the field of semiconductor manufacturing are provided. The method includes: placing the workpiece on a workpiece support in a chamber, the workpiece includes an substrate, a portion of the substrate is exposed; performing a flushing process on the workpiece by generating one or more species using a plasma from a process gas to create a mixture, the workpiece is exposed to the mixture; and applying a bias power during the flushing process to form an oxide layer with a preset thickness on the portion of the substrate. In this way, an oxide layer with a preset thickness is obtained after the flushing process.

A semiconductor device and a method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the device including a semiconductor substrate that includes a trench defining an active region; a buried dielectric pattern in the trench; a silicon oxide layer between the buried dielectric pattern and an inner wall of the trench; and a polycrystalline silicon layer between the silicon oxide layer and the inner wall of the trench, wherein the polycrystalline silicon layer has a first surface in contact with the semiconductor substrate and a second surface in contact with the silicon oxide layer, and wherein the second surface includes a plurality of silicon grains that are uniformly distributed.

A semiconductor structure and a method for manufacturing the semiconductor structure are provided. The method includes: providing a substrate including a core NMOS area, a core PMOS area and a peripheral NMOS area; performing oxidation treatment on the substrate in the core PMOS area to convert a thickness of a part of the substrate in the core PMOS area into an oxide layer; removing the oxide layer; forming a first semiconductor layer on the remaining substrate in the core PMOS area; forming a gate dielectric layer located on the first semiconductor layer and on the substrate in the core NMOS area and the peripheral NMOS area; and forming a gate on the gate dielectric layer.

A handle wafer used for a bonded wafer that is produced by bonding an active wafer and the handle wafer through an insulation film is provided. The handle wafer includes a handle wafer body and a polycrystalline silicon layer deposited on a side close to a bonding surface of the handle wafer body. The polycrystalline silicon layer has a polycrystalline silicon grain size of 0.419 μm or less.

A semiconductor device including an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) structure having a multi-layer charge storing layer and methods of forming the same are provided. Generally, the method involves: (i) forming a first oxide layer of the ONO structure; (ii) forming a multi-layer charge storing layer comprising nitride on a surface of the first oxide layer; and (iii) forming a second oxide layer of the ONO structure on a surface of the multi-layer charge storing layer. Preferably, the charge storing layer comprises at least two silicon oxynitride layers having differing stoichiometric compositions of Oxygen, Nitrogen and/or Silicon. More preferably, the ONO structure is part of a silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) structure and the semiconductor device is a SONOS memory transistor. Other embodiments are also disclosed.