Semiconductor device and the manufacturing method thereof are disclosed herein. An exemplary semiconductor device comprises a substrate, at least two gate structures disposed over the substrate, each of the at least two gate structures including a gate electrode and a spacer disposed along sidewalls of the gate electrode, wherein the spacer includes a refill portion and a bottom portion, the refill portion of the spacer has a funnel shape such that a top surface of the refill portion of the spacer is larger than a bottom surface of the refill portion of the spacer, and a source/drain contact disposed over the substrate and between the spacers of the at least two gate structures.

A fin field effect transistor (Fin FET) device includes a fin structure extending in a first direction and protruding from an isolation insulating layer disposed over a substrate. The fin structure includes a well layer, an oxide layer disposed over the well layer and a channel layer disposed over the oxide layer. The Fin FET device includes a gate structure covering a portion of the fin structure and extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The Fin FET device includes a source and a drain. Each of the source and drain includes a stressor layer disposed in recessed portions formed in the fin structure. The stressor layer extends above the recessed portions and applies a stress to a channel layer of the fin structure under the gate structure. The Fin FET device includes a dielectric layer formed in contact with the oxide layer and the stressor layer in the recessed portions.

Source and drain formation techniques disclosed herein provide FinFETs with reduced channel resistance and reduced drain-induced barrier lowering. An exemplary three-step etch method for forming a source/drain recess in a source/drain region of a fin includes a first anisotropic etch, an isotropic etch, and a second anisotropic etch. The first anisotropic etch and the isotropic etch are tuned to define a location of a source/drain tip. A depth of the source/drain recess after the first anisotropic etch and the isotropic etch is less than a target depth. The second anisotropic etch is tuned to extend the depth of the source/drain recess to the target depth. The source/drain tip is near a top of the fin to reduce channel resistance while a bottom portion of the source/drain recess is spaced a distance from a gate footing that can minimize DIBL. The source/drain recess is filled with an epitaxial semiconductor material.

The present disclosure describes a fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) standard cell with double self-aligned contacts. The FinFET standard cell with double self-aligned contacts includes a self-aligned gate contact spanning over a diffusion bonding hole and a self-aligned diffusion bonding hole contact spanning over a gate, and the FinFET device further includes a cap layer between the two self-aligned contacts so as to separate the two self-aligned contacts, thereby further reducing the size of the active fin or a dummy fin so as to further reduce the area of the FinFET standard cell, to prevent a bridge connection between adjacent M0 structures like the M0A and M0P, thereby improving yield of manufacturing.

A semiconductor device includes a first gate structure and a second gate structure over a fin, a dielectric cut pattern sandwiched by the first and second gate structures, and a liner layer surrounding the dielectric cut pattern. The dielectric cut pattern is spaced apart from the fin and extends further from the substrate than a first gate electrode of the first gate structure and a second gate electrode of the second gate structure. The semiconductor device further includes a conductive feature sandwiched by the first and second gate structures. The conductive feature is divided by the conductive feature into a first segment and a second segment. The first segment of the conductive feature is above a source/drain region of the fin.

Semiconductor devices and methods of manufacturing the semiconductor devices are described herein. A method includes forming a first etch stop layer from a portion of a gate mask, the gate mask extending between spacers adjacent a gate electrode, the gate electrode overlying a semiconductor fin. The method further includes forming a second etch stop layer adjacent the first etch stop layer, forming an opening through the second etch stop layer, and exposing the first etch stop layer by performing a first etching process. The method further includes extending the opening through the first etch stop layer and exposing the gate electrode by performing a second etching process. Once the gate electrode has been exposed, the method further includes forming a gate contact in the opening.

A transistor structure includes a semiconductor substrate, a gate structure, a channel region, and a first conductive region. The semiconductor substrate has a semiconductor surface. The gate structure is above the semiconductor surface, and a first concave is formed to reveal the gate structure. The channel region is under the semiconductor surface. The first conductive region is electrically coupled to the channel region, and a second concave is formed to reveal the first conductive region. A mask pattern in a photolithography process is used to define the first concave, and the mask pattern only defines one dimension length of the first concave.

A semiconductor device with different configurations of gate structures and a method of fabricating the same are disclosed. The method includes forming a fin structure on a substrate, forming a gate opening on the fin structure, forming an interfacial oxide layer on the fin structure, forming a first dielectric layer over the interfacial oxide layer, forming a dipole layer between the interfacial oxide layer and the first dielectric layer, forming a second dielectric layer on the first dielectric layer, forming a work function metal (WFM) layer on the second dielectric layer, and forming a gate metal fill layer on the WFM layer. The dipole layer includes ions of first and second metals that are different from each other. The first and second metals have electronegativity values greater than an electronegativity value of a metal or a semiconductor of the first dielectric layer.

A semiconductor device structure is provided. The semiconductor device structure includes a gate stack and a source/drain contact structure formed over a substrate. A first gate spacer is separated the gate stack from the source/drain contact structure and extends above top surfaces of the gate stack and the source/drain contact structure. An insulating capping layer covers the top surface of the gate stack and extends on the top surface of the first gate spacer. A conductive via structure partially covers the top surface of the insulating capping layer and the top surface of the source/drain contact structure. A first insulating layer surrounds the conductive via structure and partially covers the top surface of the source/drain contact structure.

A method of fabricating semiconductor fins, including, patterning a film stack to produce one or more sacrificial mandrels having sidewalls, exposing the sidewall on one side of the one or more sacrificial mandrels to an ion beam to make the exposed sidewall more susceptible to oxidation, oxidizing the opposite sidewalls of the one or more sacrificial mandrels to form a plurality of oxide pillars, removing the one or more sacrificial mandrels, forming spacers on opposite sides of each of the plurality of oxide pillars to produce a spacer pattern, removing the plurality of oxide pillars, and transferring the spacer pattern to the substrate to produce a plurality of fins.