Disclosure of Invention
The main object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor structure having high durability, high data retention and high switching characteristics.
In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present application provides a semiconductor structure comprising:
a semiconductor substrate;
a bottom electrode; the semiconductor substrate is formed with a plurality of grooves;
a resistance change layer;
a top electrode formed on the resistive layer;
a transition layer formed between the resistive layer and the top electrode;
the transition layer includes an element Si.
In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for manufacturing a semiconductor structure, comprising the steps of:
providing a semiconductor substrate;
forming a bottom electrode;
forming a resistance change layer on the bottom electrode;
forming a top electrode on the resistance change layer;
and carrying out Si ion implantation to the depth between the top electrode and the resistance change layer to form a transition layer containing Si element.
In addition, the semiconductor structure according to the present invention may have the following additional technical features:
according to one embodiment of the invention, the Si element is present in the transition layer in the form of free Si.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the material of the top electrode is any one of TaN, tiN, pt, ir, cu; the bottom electrode is made of any one of TaN, tiN, pt, ir and Cu.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the material of the resistance change layer is HfO x 、TaO x 、WO x Any one of the above.
According to one embodiment of the invention, said value of x is between 1.5 and 2.5.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the material of the transition layer is Ta-Si-O X -Ta。
According to an embodiment of the present invention, further comprising an interface layer formed between the bottom electrode and the resistance change layer, the interface layer not containing Si.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the material of the interfacial layer is Ta-O-N-Ta.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the angle of the Si ion implantation is: 10 to 30 degrees.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the step of forming the bottom electrode comprises: depositing a bottom electrode material on the semiconductor substrate, etching part of the bottom electrode material and exposing part of the semiconductor substrate; filling a barrier layer in the exposed area of the semiconductor substrate, and flattening;
the step of forming the top electrode further comprises: etching part of the top electrode and the resistance change layer, and reserving the top electrode and the resistance change layer above the bottom electrode; and the top electrode and the resistance change layer cover a part of the barrier layer;
and etching the barrier layer until the bottom electrode is exposed after Si ion implantation.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following technical effects:
when the materials of the bottom electrode and the top electrode can react with oxygen, the reliability of the traditional memory device is very unfavorable, the invention prevents the reaction with the oxygen by forming a transition layer containing Si between the top electrode and the resistance change layer, and due to the existence of free Si, the capture capacity of the transition layer to oxygen vacancies is stronger compared with an interface layer, more oxygen vacancies are concentrated at the transition layer and are not easily excited, and the data retention capacity and the switching characteristic of the device are further improved.
Detailed Description
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that these descriptions are illustrative only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the following description, descriptions of well-known structures and techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the concepts of the present disclosure.
Various structural schematics according to embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the figures. The figures are not drawn to scale, wherein certain details are exaggerated and possibly omitted for clarity of presentation. The shapes of various regions, layers, and relative sizes and positional relationships therebetween shown in the drawings are merely exemplary, and deviations may occur in practice due to manufacturing tolerances or technical limitations, and a person skilled in the art may additionally design regions/layers having different shapes, sizes, relative positions, as actually required.
In the context of the present disclosure, when a layer/element is referred to as being "on" another layer/element, it can be directly on the other layer/element or intervening layers/elements may be present. In addition, if a layer/element is "on" another layer/element in one orientation, then that layer/element may be "under" the other layer/element when the orientation is reversed.
Referring to fig. 6, a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor structure 100 is illustrated, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. Specifically, the semiconductor structure 100 of the present embodiment may be an RRAM memory device including:
a semiconductor substrate 1;
a bottom electrode 2; formed on a semiconductor substrate 1;
a resistance change layer 4;
a top electrode 5 formed on the resistance change layer 4;
a transition layer 6 formed between the resistive layer 4 and the top electrode 5; the transition layer includes an element Si. In particular, the Si in the transition layer may be present in the form of free Si.
Specifically, the material of the resistance change layer can be TaOx, and the value of x is 1.5-2.5;
growing a top electrode TaN on the resistance change layer by a PVD method;
in another embodiment, the bottom electrodes TaN and Ta are deposited first, and then the Ta is oxidized to form the resistance change layer TaOx.
Preferably, the bottom electrode material is prepared on the semiconductor substrate 1 by an industry-mature process, wherein the semiconductor substrate 1 is a silicon substrate or a glass substrate, such as Pyrex 7740, borofloat 33, and the like.
The bottom electrode 2 and the top electrode 5 may be selected from, but not limited to, one of metal materials of tantalum (Ta), ruthenium (Ru), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), platinum (Pt), copper nitride (CuN), and a combination thereof, and have a thickness ranging from 10 to 200nm. Typically, the memory device has a total thickness of between 100nm and 200nm after fabrication.
Preferably, the bottom and top electrodes are TaN.
In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for fabricating a semiconductor structure, comprising the steps of:
s1, as shown in FIG. 1, a semiconductor substrate 1 is provided, and a bottom electrode 2 (BE) is deposited and patterned on the semiconductor substrate 1. Specifically, the bottom electrode 2 (BE) is deposited on the upper surface of the silicon substrate by magnetron sputtering, ion beam sputtering, or electron beam evaporation, PVD or the like. Preferably, the bottom electrode 2 may have a thickness of 50 nm to 100nm, as deposited by PVD. The patterning process is to obtain a specific shape by photolithography and etching processes, deposit a bottom electrode material on the semiconductor substrate 1, and etch a part of the bottom electrode material to expose a part of the semiconductor substrate 1.
S2, as shown in fig. 2, filling the exposed region of the semiconductor substrate 1 with a barrier layer 3, and planarizing, wherein the barrier layer 3 may be selected from a low-k silicon dioxide material.
And S3, as shown in the figure 3, depositing a resistance change layer 4 on the upper surfaces of the bottom electrode 2 (BE) and the barrier layer 3. And depositing the resistance change layer 4 on the upper surface of the bottom electrode 2 (BE) by an atomic layer deposition method, magnetron sputtering, reactive sputtering, ion beam sputtering or other deposition modes. Preferably, the resistance-change layer 4 is a binary transition metal oxide type material layer by a reactive sputtering method, and may be a tantalum oxide material layer, a hafnium oxide material layer, a titanium dioxide material layer, a nickel oxide material layer, a zirconium dioxide material layer, or the like. Preferably, the resistance change layer is a tantalum oxide material layer, and further, the thickness of the resistance change layer is 5 nanometers to 20 nanometers.
S4, with continued reference to fig. 3, a top electrode 5 (TE) is deposited on the upper surface of the resistance change layer 4.
And depositing the top electrode 5 (TE) on the upper surface of the resistance change layer 4 by using an atomic layer deposition method, PVD (physical vapor deposition), magnetron sputtering, ion beam sputtering or other deposition modes. Preferably, PVD deposition is used. Further, the thickness of the top electrode 5 (TE) may be 5 nm to 10 nm.
S5, as shown in fig. 4, the resistance change layer 4 and the top electrode 5 (TE) are patterned.
Etching part of the top electrode 5 and the resistance change layer 4, and reserving the top electrode 5 and the resistance change layer 4 above the bottom electrode; and the top electrode 5 and the resistance change layer 4 cover a part of the barrier layer.
S6, as shown in FIG. 5, si ions are implanted to form the transition layer 6 so as to achieve the purpose of modification.
And controlling the implantation angle (10-30 degrees), implantation energy and implantation dose of silicon ions to enable the silicon ions to reach the interface of the resistive layer 4 and the top electrode 5, so that the interface of the resistive layer 4 and the top electrode 5 is changed, and etching the barrier layer 3 until the bottom electrode 2 is exposed after the Si ions are implanted.
S7, as shown in fig. 6, the barrier layer 3 is removed until the bottom electrode 2 is exposed, and specifically, the barrier layer 3 may be removed by using HF acid or BHF etching.
Wherein the material of the resistance change layer 3 is TaO x The top electrode 5 is made of TaN, the bottom electrode 2 is made of TaN, after ion implantation, the upper interface of the device is Ta-Si-O-X-Ta, the lower interface of the device is Ta-O-N-Ta, due to the existence of free Si, the capturing capability of the upper interface of the device to oxygen vacancies is stronger, more oxygen vacancies are concentrated at the resistance change layer and the upper interface and are not easy to be excited, and the data holding capability and the switching characteristic of the device are further improved.
While the invention has been described with reference to specific preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the appended claims.