Semiconductor Structures Having T-Shaped Electrodes

Abstract

A semiconductor structure having a T-shaped electrode. The electrode has a top portion and a narrower stem portion extending from the top portion to a surface of a substrate. A solid dielectric layer has side portions juxtaposed and abutting sidewalls of a lower portion of the stem of electrode. A bottom surface of the top portion is spaced from an upper surface portion by a non-solid dielectric, such as air.

Claims

1. A method for forming a T-shaped electrode for a semiconductors structure, comprising: photolithographically forming a first window through a stack of at least a pair of dielectric layers to expose an underlying surface portion of a substrate, an upper one of the layers having an etch rate higher than an etch rate of a lower one of the layers to a predetermined etchant; forming a photoresist layer over the dielectric layers and through window onto the exposed surface portion of the substrate; forming a second window, the second window being in a portion of the photoresist layer in registry with the first window to again expose the surface portion of the substrate with another portion of the photoresist layer being on portions of the upper one of the dielectric layers adjacent to the second window; depositing a metal through the first window and through the second window onto the exposed portion surface portion of the substrate, portions of the metal being deposited on the said another portion of the photoresist layer, a bottom portion of the metal being juxtaposed sidewalls of the lower one of the dielectric layers forming a portion of the second window; lifting off the photoresist layer from the upper one of the dielectric layers along with the portions of the metal deposited on the said another portion of the photoresist layer; exposing the upper one of the dielectric layers to a first etchant to selectively remove the upper one of the dielectric layers, the etchant stopping at the lower one of the dielectric layers.

2. The method recited in claim 1 including: exposing a middle one of the dielectric layers to an etchant different from the first-mentioned etchant to remove the middle one of the dielectric layers, the different etchant stopping at, or in, the lower one of three dielectric layers.

3. A method for forming a T-shaped electrode for a semiconductors structure, comprising: photolithographically forming a first window through a stack of three dielectric layers to expose an underlying surface portion of a substrate, a middle one of the three layers having an etch rate higher than an etch rate of an upper one of the three layers to a predetermined etchant; forming a photoresist layer on an upper one of the dielectric layers and onto the exposed surface portion of the substrate; forming a second window, the second window being in a portion of the photoresist layer in registry with the first window to again expose the surface portion of the substrate with another portion of the photoresist layer being on portions of the upper one of the dielectric layer adjacent to the second window; depositing a metal through the first window and through the second window onto the exposed portion surface portion of the substrate, portions of the metal being deposited on the said another portion of the photoresist layer, a bottom portion of the metal being juxtaposed sidewalls of the lower dielectric layer forming a portion of the second window; lifting off the photoresist layer from the upper one of the three dielectric layers along with the with the portions of the metal deposited on the said another portion of the photoresist layer; exposing the upper one of the dielectric layers to a first etchant to selectively remove the upper one of the three dielectric layers, the etchant stopping at, or in the middle one of the three dielectric layers.

4. The method recited in claim 3 including: exposing the middle one of the three dielectric layers to an etchant different from the first-mentioned etchant to remove the middle one of the dielectric layers, the different etchant stopping at, or in, the lower one of three dielectric layers.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0011] FIGS. 1A-1F are simplified cross sectional views of the steps of processing a semiconductor structure to form a T-gate electrode in accordance with the PRIOR ART; and

[0012] FIGS. 2A-2I are simplified cross sectional views of the steps of processing a semiconductor structure to form a T-gate electrode in accordance with the disclosure.

[0013] Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] Referring now to FIG. 2A, a semiconductor substrate 12, here for example I-V compounds (GaAs, InP), Si, III-N compounds (GaN, InN, AlN) is shown, having a first dielectric layer 14, here for example silicon oxide or silicon nitride, for example, disposed on the upper surface of the substrate 12, a second dielectric layer 16, here for example, aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride, disposed on the upper surface of layer 14, and a third dielectric layer 18, disposed on the upper surface of the second dielectric layer 16, here layer 18 is for example silicon oxide or silicon nitride. It is noted that there is significant (two orders of magnitude differences; 1:100) in etch rate selectivity between the aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride layers 16 and the silicon nitride or silicon dioxide layers 14 and 18.

[0015] Next, a photoresist layer 20 is deposited over the upper surface of the layer 18 and patterned into a mask, using conventional photolithography, having a window 22 with inwardly slopping sidewalls, the window exposing an underlying portion 24 of the upper surface of layer 18, as shown.

[0016] Next, referring to FIG. 2B, the upper surface of the mask formed in layer 20 is subjected a sequence of etching away exposed portions of the layers 18, 16 and 14.

[0017] More particularly, the exposed portion of the silicon nitride or silicon oxide layer 18 is etched with etch chemistry. here a dry or gaseous chemistry, such as reactive ion etching (RIE) or plasma etching, for example, having high etch selectivity between silicon nitride or silicon oxide layer 18 and aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride layer 16, such as Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), using photoresist as a mask. The etching stops at the aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride layer 16 because the etch chemistry slows down the etching process in etching of aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride layer 16 due to high etch selectivity between aluminum oxide or nitride and silicon nitride or oxide; the chemistry etches the silicon nitride or silicon oxide layer 18 almost 100 times faster than to etch the aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride layer 16. Next, a different chemistry is used, such as boron trichloride (BCl.sub.3) to etch the exposed portion of the aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride layer 16. This etch chemistry has much low selectivity between aluminum oxide or nitride layer 16 and the silicon nitride or oxide layer 14. Using both the photoresist layer 20 and layer 18 as etch masks, layer 16 is etched off from layer 14. The exposed portion of the bottom silicon dioxide or silicon nitride layer 14 is etched with the same etch chemistry used to etch layer 18, such as SF6 using aluminum oxide or nitride layer 16 as a mask. By utilizing this etch selectivity and etching chemistry, three dielectric layer 14, 16 and 18 are formed, as shown in FIG. 2B.

[0018] Next, the photoresist mask 20 is stripped from the structure in FIG. 2B leaving the structure shown in FIG. 2C.

[0019] Next, a photoresist layer 26, here for example, PMMA, PMAA, ZEP or Shipley, or AZ photoresist in order to form negative slope, image reversal photolithography technology is spread over the upper surface of the structure shown in FIG. 2C, as shown in FIG. 2D. Next, a mask 27 is formed over the photoresist layer 20, as shown, and a window 29 is formed in layer 26 using the mask 27 and conventional reverse image lithography, here forming a window 29 aligned, or in registry with, sidewalls that slope outwardly in a dove-tail shape exposing the upper surface of layer 18, as shown for a subsequent metal lift off step to be described in connection with FIG. 2F using conventional image reversal photolithography and electron beam exposure for PMMA, PMAA, or ZEP photoresist. It is noted that the window 29 is formed so that the developer of the photoresist layer 27 just removes the portion of the photoresist material of layer 20 exposed by the mask 28, patterning layer 26 into layer 26 as shown in FIG. 2E.

[0020] Next, referring to FIG. 2F, a gate electrode metal 30, here, aluminum, gold, or titanium, platinum, molybdenum, for example, is deposited, such as by evaporation, over the upper surface of the structure shown in FIG. 2E, as shown in FIG. 2F; it being noted that the portions of the deposited metal become deposited on layer 26 and other portions pass through window 28 onto exposed portions of layer 18, as shown. It is noted that the walls of the top of the gate spread outwardly because of the spreading of the light as it passes through the window 28. Next, referring to FIG. 2G, the photoresist layer 26 (FIG. 2F) is lifted off from the upper surface of layer 18, along with the portions of the metal layer 30 on the photoresist layer 26, leaving the structure shown in FIG. 2G having a T-shaped gate 30.

[0021] Next, referring to FIG. 2H, the silicon oxide or silicon nitride layer 18 is removed using a gas chemistry, such as SF6, that etches silicon dioxide or silicon nitride dielectric films 100 times faster than aluminum oxide and aluminum nitride. So the process etches off the silicon nitride or silicon oxide layer 18 on top of aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride layer 16. The etch chemistry slows down at aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride layer 16 because the gas chemistry, such as SF6, can hardly etch aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride layer 16 due to high etch selectivity between aluminum oxide or nitride and silicon nitride or oxide. Thus, the aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride in layer 16 serves as an etch stop layer. With removal of layer 18, parasitic capacitance, which is a critical parameter adversely affecting the transistor performance for microwave and millimeter-wave application, is eliminated. The T-gate structure as shown in FIG. 2H can be a final product with both layers 16 and 14 supporting the bottom of T-gate for mechanical stability. If it is necessary to remove layer 16, it can be done with the following method by using different gas chemistry.

[0022] The aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride in layer 16 is removed using a different chemistry, such as BCl.sub.3. to etch the exposed portion of the aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride layer 16 on top layer 14, which is silicon oxide or silicon nitride. This etch chemistry has much low selectivity between aluminum oxide or nitride layer 16 and the silicon nitride or oxide layer 14. The etch rate of the silicon oxide or silicon nitride layer 18 using the gas chemistry, such as BCl.sub.3, is 3 times slower than the etch rate of the aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride in layer 16 leaving the structure shown in FIG. 2I. It is noted that the layer 14 has sidewalls 32 that abut the bottom stem portion 34 of the T-gate 30. This abutment by the sidewalls 32 provides a stable high yield sub-100 nm T-gate process using dielectrics having different etch rate among the dielectric layer layers 14, 16 and 18. The dielectric layer 14 also serves as a passivation layer for the substrate 10 and at the same time it gives a strong mechanical support to the small foot print Schottky contact region of the T-gate 30. In addition, the dielectric layer 14 protects the semiconductor surface from any potential damage caused by the following process steps, such as formation of the source and drain electrodes, not shown, as well as for electrical interconnection to other passive and active, not shown, in an MMIC application, for example.

[0023] It is noted that thickness of each of the layers 14, 16 and 18 can be varied and optimized for each transistor or device technology and applications. It is also noted that layer 16; (FIG. 2H) need not be removed. The formed T-gate 30 can be used as a final product by using the bottom layer 14; or the bottom two dielectric layers 16 and 14 as passivation layer and mechanical supporting layer.

[0024] This T-gate formation process has several advantages: it is highly compatible for manufacturing small sub-100 nm T-gate without worrying about gate damage; the semiconductor substrate surface is not exposed during T-gate formation, so a subsequent process doesn't damage or alter the semiconductor surface; the bottom one or two layers 14 16 provide mechanical support by surrounding the gate; and photoresist residues generated on top of dielectric films during the gate process can be easily removed; and, unlike conventional T-gate process using photoresist, here, in accordance with the disclosure, the dielectric films make direct contact to the substrate removing problems associated with poor adhesion of photoresist to the substrate.

[0025] A number of embodiments of the disclosure have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. For example, while the process has been described in forming a gate for a field effect transistor the process may be used for other devices. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.