System and method for gas-phase passivation of a semiconductor surface

{
  "publication_number": "US9905492B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "System and method for gas-phase passivation of a semiconductor surface",
  "abstract": "Improved methods and systems for passivating a surface of a high-mobility semiconductor and structures and devices formed using the methods are disclosed. The method includes providing a high-mobility semiconductor surface to a chamber of a reactor and exposing the high-mobility semiconductor surface to a gas-phase sulfur precursor to passivate the high-mobility semiconductor surface.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A system for passivating a surface of a semiconductor, the system comprising: a reactor; and a sulfur precursor source consisting of NH 4 HS fluidly coupled to the reactor, wherein the sulfur precursor source provides a gas-phase sulfur precursor to a reaction chamber of the reactor, and wherein a pressure within the reaction chamber is between 0.5 Torr and 750 Torr.",
    "2. The system for passivating a surface of a semiconductor of claim 1, further comprising a cleaning source fluidly coupled to the reactor.",
    "3. The system for passivating a surface of a semiconductor of claim 2, wherein the cleaning source is selected from the group consisting of HCl, HF, NH 4 OH, H 2, and hydrogen plasma.",
    "4. The system for passivating a surface of a semiconductor of claim 1, wherein the reactor comprises an atomic layer deposition reactor.",
    "5. The system for passivating a surface of a semiconductor of claim 1, further comprising a plasma apparatus.",
    "6. A structure formed using the method comprising the steps of: providing the surface of the semiconductor to a reaction chamber of a reactor; exposing the surface of the semiconductor to a gas-phase sulfur precursor consisting of NH 4 HS in the reaction chamber; and passivating the surface of the semiconductor in the reaction chamber using the gas-phase sulfur precursor to form a passivated semiconductor surface, wherein the structure comprises a dielectric layer overlying the surface of the semiconductor, and wherein a pressure within the reaction chamber during the step of passivating is between 0.5 Torr and 750 Torr.",
    "7. The structure of claim 6, wherein the structure exhibits a D it at midgap of less than about 1.8 e 12 (/cm 2 eV).",
    "8. The structure of claim 6, wherein the structure exhibits a D it near a band edge of less than about 1 e 12 (/cm 2 eV).",
    "9. The system for passivating a surface of a semiconductor of claim 2, wherein the cleaning source is selected from the group consisting of NH 4 OH, H 2 and hydrogen plasma.",
    "10. The system for passivating a surface of a semiconductor of claim 2, wherein the cleaning source is selected from the group consisting of H 2 and hydrogen plasma."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The disclosure generally relates to methods and systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and to devices formed using the systems and methods. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for gas-phase sulfur passivation of a semiconductor surface.\n\nHigh-mobility semiconductors, such as germanium and compound semiconductors (e.g., III-V compound semiconductors) may be desirable to use in the fabrication of semiconductor devices because of their relatively high electron and/or hole mobility. Devices formed with high-mobility semiconductor material may theoretically exhibit better performance, faster speeds, reduced power consumption, and have higher breakdown fields compared to similar devices formed with a lower-mobility semiconductor, such as silicon.\n\nHigh-mobility semiconductor materials may be used, for example, to fabricate metal oxide field effect (MOSFET) devices. A typical MOSFET device includes a source region, a drain region, and a channel region, each formed of semiconductor material. The MOSFET also includes a dielectric material (gate dielectric) and conductive material (e.g., metal) overlying the channel region. The dielectric material and conductive material are formed by depositing the respective materials using vacuum or gas-phase deposition techniques, such as chemical vapor deposition, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition, physical vapor deposition, or the like.",
  "cpc": [
    "H10W 74/137",
    "C23C 16/4405",
    "C23C 16/45544",
    "H01L 21/02178",
    "H01L 21/02205",
    "H01L 21/02274",
    "H01L 21/0228",
    "H01L 21/02301",
    "H01L 21/02312",
    "H01L 21/306",
    "H01L 21/67011",
    "H01L 23/02",
    "H01L 23/29",
    "H01L 23/293",
    "H01L 23/3171",
    "H01L 2924/00",
    "H01L 2924/0002",
    "H10P 14/60",
    "H10P 14/6336",
    "H10P 14/6339",
    "H10P 14/6504",
    "H10P 14/6512",
    "H10P 14/668",
    "H10P 14/69391",
    "H10P 50/00",
    "H10P 72/04",
    "H10W 74/40",
    "H10W 74/47",
    "H10W 76/10"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "C23C 16/44",
    "C23C 16/455",
    "H01L 23/31",
    "H10P 14/60",
    "H10P 72/00",
    "H01L 23/02",
    "H01L 23/29"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "ASM IP Holding BV"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Fu Tang",
    "Michael E. Givens",
    "Qi Xie",
    "Petri Raisanen"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2017-01-03",
  "publication_date": "2018-02-27",
  "grant_date": "2018-02-27",
  "priority_date": "2012-07-27",
  "application_number": "US-201715397319-A",
  "family_id": "49994080",
  "cited_by_count": 364,
  "citations": [
    "US5559046A",
    "US20050092247A1",
    "US20060099782A1",
    "US20110089469A1",
    "US20140027884A1"
  ]
}