A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: a first insulating film forming step of forming a first insulating film in a transistor having a structure in which a source and a drain raised in a fin shape are covered with a gate; a sacrifice film forming step of forming a sacrifice film; a hard mask pattern forming step of forming a hard mask film having a desired pattern; a first opening forming step of forming a first opening; a second insulating film forming step of forming a second insulating film made of a material different from the first insulating film, in the first opening; a second opening forming step of forming a second opening by removing the sacrifice film, after the second insulating film forming step; and a contact plug forming step of forming a contact plug in the second opening.

Methods and systems disclosed herein can measure thin film stacks, such as film on grating and bandgap on grating in semiconductors. For example, the thin film stack may be a 1D film stack, a 2D film on grating, or a 3D film on grating. One or more effective medium dispersion models are created for the film stack. Each effective medium dispersion model can substitute for one or more layers. A thickness of one or more layers can be determined using the effective medium dispersion based scatterometry model. In an instance, three effective medium dispersion based scatterometry models are developed and used to determine thickness of three layers in a film stack.

Disclosed are semiconductor devices and methods of manufacturing the same. The semiconductor device comprises a gate electrode on a substrate, an upper capping pattern on the gate electrode, and a lower capping pattern between the gate electrode and the upper capping pattern. The lower capping pattern comprises a first portion between the gate electrode and the upper capping pattern, and a plurality of second portions extending from the first portion onto corresponding side surfaces of the upper capping pattern. The upper capping pattern covers a topmost surface of each of the second portions.

A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a gate trench in the substrate, a gate insulating film in the gate trench, a titanium nitride (TiN)-lower gate electrode film on the gate insulating film, the titanium nitride (TiN)-lower gate electrode film including a top surface, a first side surface, and a second side surface opposite the first side surface, a polysilicon-upper gate electrode film on the titanium nitride (TiN)-lower gate electrode film, and a gate capping film on the polysilicon-upper gate electrode film. A center portion of the top surface of the titanium nitride (TiN)-lower gate electrode film overlaps a center portion of the polysilicon-upper gate electrode film in a direction that is perpendicular to a top surface of the substrate, and each of the first side surface and the second side surface of the titanium nitride (TiN)-lower gate electrode film is connected to the gate insulating film.

A transistor is disclosed. The transistor includes a first part of a gate above a substrate that has a first width and a second part of the gate above the first part of the gate that is centered with respect to the first part of the gate and that has a second width that is greater than the first width. The first part of the gate and the second part of the gate form a single monolithic T-gate structure.

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.

A device includes a substrate, a first semiconductor channel over the substrate, a second semiconductor channel over the substrate and laterally offset from the first semiconductor channel, and a third semiconductor channel over the substrate and laterally offset from the second semiconductor channel. A first gate structure, a second gate structure, and a third gate structure are over and lateral surround the first, second, and third semiconductor channels, respectively. A first inactive fin is between the first gate structure and the second gate structure, and a second inactive fin is between the second gate structure and the third gate structure. A bridge conductor layer is over the first, second, and third gate structures, and the first and second inactive fins. A dielectric plug extends from an upper surface of the second inactive fin, through the bridge conductor layer, to at least an upper surface of the bridge conductor layer.

A semiconductor device includes a substrate and a gate structure disposed over the substrate. The gate structure includes gate electrode layers and interlayer insulation structures that are alternately stacked with each other. The semiconductor device includes a dielectric structure disposed over the substrate to contact a sidewall surface of the gate structure, and a channel layer disposed on a sidewall surface of the dielectric structure over the substrate. Each of the interlayer insulation structure includes an insulation layer and a metal-organic framework layer that are disposed on the same plane.

A process of forming a gate insulating film in a silicon carbide semiconductor device. The process includes performing a first stage of a nitriding heat treatment by a gas containing oxygen and nitrogen, followed by depositing an oxide film, and then performing a second stage of the nitriding heat treatment by a gas containing nitric oxide and nitrogen. The amount of nitrogen at the treatment starting point of the first stage of the nitriding heat treatment is greater than the amount of nitrogen at the treatment starting point of the second stage of the nitriding heat treatment. The amount of nitrogen at the treatment ending point of the second stage of the nitriding heat treatment is greater than the amount of nitrogen at the treatment ending point of the first stage of the nitriding heat treatment.

A semiconductor device includes a PMOS region and a NMOS region on a substrate, a first fin-shaped structure on the PMOS region, a first single diffusion break (SDB) structure in the first fin-shaped structure, a first gate structure on the first SDB structure, and a second gate structure on the first fin-shaped structure. Preferably, the first gate structure and the second gate structure are of different materials and the first gate structure disposed directly on top of the first SDB structure is a polysilicon gate while the second gate structure disposed on the first fin-shaped structure is a metal gate in the PMOS region.