Strain engineering

Strain engineering refers to a general strategy employed in semiconductor manufacturing to enhance device performance. Performance benefits are achieved by modulating strain in the transistor channel, which enhances electron mobility (or hole mobility) and thereby conductivity through the channel.

Strain Engineering in CMOS Manufacturing

The use of various strain engineering techniques has been reported by many prominent microprocessor manufacturers, including AMD, IBM, and Intel, primarily with regards to sub-130 nm technologies. One key consideration in using strain engineering in CMOS technologies is that PMOS and NMOS respond differently to different types of strain. Specifically, PMOS performance is best served by applying compressive strain to the channel, whereas NMOS receives benefit from tensile strain. Many approaches to strain engineering induce strain locally, allowing both n-channel and p-channel strain to be modulated independently.

One prominent approach involves the use of a strain-inducing capping layer. CVD silicon nitride is a common choice for a strained capping layer, in that the magnitude and type of strain (e.g. tensile vs compressive) may be adjusted by modulating the deposition conditions, especially temperature.[1] Standard lithography patterning techniques can be used to selectively deposit strain-inducing capping layers, to deposit a compressive film over only the PMOS, for example.

Capping layers are key to the Dual Stress Liner (DSL) approach reported by IBM-AMD. In the DSL process, standard patterning and lithography techniques are used to selectively deposit a tensile silicon nitride film over the NMOS and a compressive silicon nitride film over the PMOS.

A second prominent approach involves the use of a silicon-rich solid solution, especially silicon-germanium, to modulate channel strain. One manufacturing method involves epitaxial growth of silicon on top of a relaxed silicon-germanium underlayer. Tensile strain is induced in the silicon as the lattice of the silicon layer is stretched to mimic the larger lattice constant of the underlying silicon-germanium. Conversely, compressive strain could be induced by using a solid solution with a smaller lattice constant, such as silicon-carbon. See, e.g., U.S. Patent No. 7,023,018. Another closely related method involves replacing the source and drain region of a MOSFET with silicon-germanium.

Strain Engineering in Thin Films

Epitaxial strain is a critical factor in determining physical properties of thin films. The strain is usually stemmed from the lattice mismatch between film and substrate during epitaxial growth. Epitaxial strain in complex oxide has been widely studied to control functional properties when the film is within the “critical thickness”. In films beyond critical thickness, the strain is relaxed and functionality tuning by strain is not accessible. Researchers recently achieved very large strain in thick oxide films by incorporating nanowires/nanopillars in film matrix [2] . Tuning functional via strain is achieved beyond conventional “critical thickness”, which is usually few tens of nanometers.

See also

Strained silicon

References

  1. ↑ Martyniuk, M, Antoszewski, J. Musca, C.A., Dell, J.M., Faraone, L. Smart Mater. Struct. 15 (2006) S29-S38)
  2. ↑ Chen, Aiping; Hu, Jia-Mian; Lu, Ping; Yang, Tiannan; Zhang, Wenrui; Li, Leigang; Ahmed, Towfiq; Enriquez, Erik; Weigand, Marcus; Su, Qing; Wang, Haiyan; Zhu, Jian-Xin; MacManus-Driscoll, Judith L.; Chen, Long-Qing; Yarotski, Dmitry; Jia, Quanxi (2016-06-10). "Role of scaffold network in controlling strain and functionalities of nanocomposite films". Science Advances. 2 (6): e1600245. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1600245. ISSN 2375-2548.


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