High strain embedded-SiGe via low temperature reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition

Performance improvement of strained p-type metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (p-MOSFETs) via embedded SiGe (e-SiGe) is well established. Strain scaling of p-MOSFETs since 90 nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor node has been accomplished by increasing Ge content in e-SiGe from nominally < 20% in 90 nm p-MOSFETs to > 35% Ge in 32 nm p-MOSFETs. Further strain enhancement for 22 nm and beyond p-MOSFETs is required due to disproportionate reduction in device area per generation caused by non-scaled gate length. Relaxation of SiGe with > 35% Ge during epitaxial growth and subsequent processing is a major concern. Specifically low temperature growth is required to achieve meta-stable pseudomorphic SiGe film with high Ge%. Currently, selective SiGe epitaxial film in reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) epitaxy is grown with conventional Si gas precursors and co-flow etch using HCl at temperatures higher than 625 °C. At temperatures lower than 625 °C in RPCVD epitaxy, however, HCl has negligible etch capability making selectivity difficult to achieve during epitaxial growth. Hence, cyclic deposit and etch epitaxial growth in conjunction with a low temperature etching chemistry is desirable to achieve selectivity at temperatures lower than 625 °C. In this paper, we apply the above concept to achieve selective growth of high strain SiGe (> 35%) at 500 °C on test patterns corresponding to 65 nm node. SiGe is grown non-selectively first at 500 °C with high order of silane as Si source, and Germane as Ge source followed by an etching chemistry also at 500 °C to achieve selectivity. In addition, the growth rate of SiGe epitaxial film and the Ge concentration in the deposited epitaxial film were studied as a function of Si precursor flow; the effect of HCl introduction on Ge concentration and film growth rate was discussed.