Samsung patents chip design using nitrogen-doped insulating spacers
This patent describes a specific layout for insulating materials in a transistor's gate and source/drain areas. The design uses a single film of silicon oxycarbide doped with a small amount of nitrogen to fill gaps and cover sidewalls. The shape of the spacer changes slightly to fit the corner spaces between the components.
In the filing’s own words
An integrated circuit device includes a gate line disposed on a fin-type active region, a source/drain region disposed on the fin-type active region, and an insulating spacer structure that covers the gate line and the source/drain region. The insulating spacer structure includes a first spacer portion that covers the sidewall of the gate line, a second spacer portion integrally connected to the first spacer portion, where the second spacer portion protrudes in a first lateral direction and covers a partial region of a sidewall of the source/drain region, and a spacer corner portion that fills a corner space defined by the gate line and the source/drain region between the first spacer portion and the second spacer portion. The insulating spacer structure has a single film structure that includes a SiOC film doped with about 0 at % to about 5 at % of nitrogen atoms.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An integrated circuit device, comprising: a fin-type active region that extends along a first lateral direction on a substrate; a pair of gate lines that extend along a second lateral direction on the fin-type active region, wherein the second lateral direction intersects the first lateral direction; a source/drain region disposed on the fin-type active region and interposed between the pair of gate lines; and a pair of insulating spacer structures that cover the pair of gate lines and the source/drain region, wherein each insulating spacer structure of the pair of insulating spacer structures comprises: a first spacer portion that covers a sidewall of one gate line of the pair of gate lines, wherein the first spacer portion extends along the second lateral direction; a second spacer portion integrally connected to the first spacer portion, wherein the second spacer portion protrudes in the first lateral direction and covers a partial region of a sidewall of the source/drain region; and a spacer corner portion that fills corner spaces defined by the one gate line and the source/drain region between the first spacer portion and the second spacer portion, wherein each insulating spacer structure of the pair of insulating spacer structures has a single film structure that includes a silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) film doped with about 0 at % to about 5 at % of nitrogen atoms, and wherein, in each insulating spacer structure of the pair of insulating spacer structures, the second spacer portion has a planar shape of which a width in the second lateral direction that gradually decreases with increasing distance in the first lateral direction from the one gate line.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
- Official title
- Integrated circuit device
- Patent number
- US12772539B2
- Application number
- 18471260
- Filed
- Sep 20, 2023
- Granted
- Oct 20, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 18
Classified under
H10D 64/671 Electricity & electronicsH10D 30/014 Electricity & electronicsH10D 30/43 Electricity & electronicsH10D 30/6729 Electricity & electronicsH10D 30/6735 Electricity & electronicsH10D 62/121 Electricity & electronicsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.