A semiconductor device is provided. The semiconductor device includes a substrate including an active pattern, a gate electrode extending in a first direction and crossing the active pattern which extends in a second direction, a separation structure crossing the active pattern and extending in the first direction, a first gate dielectric pattern disposed on a side surface of the gate electrode, a second gate dielectric pattern disposed on a side surface of the separation structure, and a gate capping pattern covering a top surface of the gate electrode. A level of a top surface of the separation structure is higher than a level of a top surface of the gate capping pattern.

Integrated circuit structures might include a semiconductor material, a first active area in the semiconductor material, a second active area in the semiconductor material, and an isolation structure comprising a dielectric material deposited in a trench formed in the semiconductor material between the first active area and the second active area. The isolation structure might further include a first edge portion extending below a surface of the semiconductor material to a first depth, a second edge portion extending below the surface of the semiconductor material to the first depth, and an interior portion between the first edge portion and the second edge portion, and extending below the surface of the semiconductor material to a second depth, less than the first depth.

A method includes forming first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth channel patterns on a semiconductor substrate; forming a first isolation wall interposing the first and second channel patterns, a second isolation wall interposing the third and fourth channel patterns, wherein the first isolation wall further continuously extends to interpose the fifth and sixth channel patterns; forming a first gate pattern extending across the first, second, third, and fourth channel patterns and the first and second isolation walls, and a second gate pattern extending across the fifth and sixth channel patterns and the first isolation wall from the top view, wherein the first, second, third, fourth, and sixth channel patterns respectively have first, second, third, fourth, and sixth dimensions in a lengthwise direction of the first gate pattern, and the sixth dimension is greater than the first, second, third, and fourth dimensions.

Semiconductor devices and fabrication methods are provided. In one example, a semiconductor device includes: a substrate, a fin formed on the substrate, a gate structure formed on the fin, a metal contact formed on the fin and adjacent to the gate structure. The fin extends along a first horizontal direction, the gate structure and the metal contact extend along a second horizontal direction, and the second horizontal direction is perpendicular to the first horizontal direction. The gate structure further includes a gate electrode coupled to the fin and a dielectric gate isolation section separated from the gate electrode. The dielectric gate isolation section includes a dielectric material. A portion of the dielectric gate isolation section is aligned with a portion of the metal contact adjacent and proximate to the dielectric gate isolation section in the first horizontal direction.

Semiconductor structures and methods are provided. An exemplary method according to the present disclosure includes forming a first and a second fin-shaped active region over a substrate, the first and second fin-shaped active regions extending lengthwise along a first direction, forming a gate structure over channel regions of the first and second fin-shaped active regions, the gate structure extending lengthwise along a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, forming a trench to separate the gate structure into two segments, the trench extending lengthwise along the first direction and being disposed between the first and second fin-shaped active regions, performing an etching process to enlarge an upper portion of the trench, and forming a gate isolation structure in the trench, and, in a cross-sectional view cut through both the first and second fin-shaped active regions and the gate structure, the gate isolation structure is a T-shape structure.

An exemplary device includes a frontside power rail disposed over a frontside of a substrate, a backside power rail disposed over a backside of the substrate, an epitaxial source/drain structure disposed between the frontside power rail and the backside power rail. The epitaxial source/drain structure is connected to the frontside power rail by a frontside source/drain contact. The epitaxial source/drain structure is connected to the backside power rail by a backside source/drain via. The backside source/drain via is disposed in a substrate, and a dielectric layer is disposed between the substrate and the backside power rail. The backside source/drain via extends through the dielectric layer and the substrate. A frontside silicide layer may be between the frontside source/drain contact and the epitaxial source/drain structure, and a backside silicide layer may be between the backside source/drain contact and the epitaxial source/drain structure, such that the epitaxial source/drain structure between silicide layers.

A method for forming a semiconductor device includes: forming a gate structure over a fin, where the fin protrudes above a substrate; forming an opening in the gate structure; forming a first dielectric layer along sidewalls and a bottom of the opening, where the first dielectric layer is non-conformal, where the first dielectric layer has a first thickness proximate to an upper surface of the gate structure distal from the substrate, and has a second thickness proximate to the bottom of the opening, where the first thickness is larger than the second thickness; and forming a second dielectric layer over the first dielectric layer to fill the opening, where the first dielectric layer is formed of a first dielectric material, and the second dielectric layer is formed of a second dielectric material different from the first dielectric material.

The present disclosure is generally related to semiconductor devices, and more particularly to a dielectric material formed in semiconductor devices. The present disclosure provides methods for forming a dielectric material layer by a cyclic spin-on coating process. In an embodiment, a method of forming a dielectric material on a substrate includes spin-coating a first portion of a dielectric material on a substrate, curing the first portion of the dielectric material on the substrate, spin-coating a second portion of the dielectric material on the substrate, and thermal annealing the dielectric material to form an annealed dielectric material on the substrate.

A method of manufacturing a gate structure includes at least the following steps. A gate dielectric layer is formed. A work function layer is deposited on the gate dielectric layer. A barrier layer is formed on the work function layer. A metal layer is deposited on the barrier layer to introduce fluorine atoms into the barrier layer. The barrier layer is formed by at least the following steps. A first TiN layer is formed on the work function layer. A top portion of the first TiN layer is converted into a trapping layer, and the trapping layer includes silicon atoms or aluminum atoms. A second TiN layer is formed on the trapping layer.

Techniques are disclosed herein for creating metal bitlines (BLs) in stacked wafer memory. Using techniques described herein, metal BLs are created on a bottom surface of a wafer. The metal BLs can be created using different processes. In some configurations, a salicide process is utilized. In other configurations, a damascene process is utilized. Using metal reduces the resistance of the BLs as compared to using non-metal diffused BLs. In some configurations, wafers are stacked and bonded together to form three-dimensional memory structures.