`C.H. FA
`June 25, 1968 |
`SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING SAME
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`Filed June 30, 1965
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`IP Bridge Exhibit 2019
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`TSMCv. Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1
`IPR2017-01841
`IPR2017-01841
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`3,390,022
`C.H. FA
`June 25, 1968
`SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING SAME
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`Filed June 50, 1965
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`INVENTOR.
`CHARLES H. FA
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`BY
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`ATTORNEY
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`
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`3,390,022
`United States Patent Office
`Patented June 25, 1968
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`1
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`2
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`3,390,022
`SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND PROCESS
`FOR PRODUCING SAME
`Charles H. Fa, Costa Mesa, Calif., assignor to North
`American Rockwell Corporation, a corporation of
`Delaware
`Filed June 30, 1965, Ser. No. 468,202
`2 Claims. (Ci. 148—33)
`
`This invention relates to electrically isolated semicon-
`ductor devices on a common crystalline substrate and to
`a process for producing the devices.
`The composite of the invention provides semiconductor
`devices on a commoncrystalline substrate with relatively
`good electrical isolation and substantially reduced para-
`sitic capacitance between devices. In addition to these
`improved electrical characteristics, the structure allows a
`relatively inexpensive method for producing isolated semi-
`conductor devices such as diodes and transistors, includ-
`ing complementary transistors, in many combinations and
`arrangements. A distinct advantage of the structure is that
`it makes it possible to simultaneously ~produce most, and
`in many arrangements, all.semiconductor junctions with
`one diffusion process.
`The process of the invention comprises the steps of pro-
`ducing a layer of dielectric material on one side of a semi-
`conductive body, such as silicon dioxide on.a p-typesili-
`con wafer; producing a crystalline substrate on the dielec-
`tric material; and diffusing desired junctions from the sur-
`face on the other side of the semiconductive body down
`to the layer of dielectric material. For best results, the
`dielectric material should consist of substantially the same
`material as the semiconductive body, or a compound
`thereof, so that it will be thermally. compatible with the
`semiconductor body and crystalline substrate. By thermal
`compatibility it is meant that the composite will with-
`stand wide variations in processing and operating tem-
`peratures without producing stresses, strains, separations
`or fractures in the final structure or otherwise impairing
`its functional operation. An oxide or nitride of the semi-
`conductor itself is a dielectric material ideally suited for
`this purpose, but other dielectric materials may be em-
`ployed in some arrangements or structures.
`The desired junctions are subsequently so produced
`using conventional diffusion techniques that the diffusion
`front terminates at the layer of dielectric material. Thus
`areas having net acceptor impurities and net donor im-
`purities, or multiple p-n junctions having identical or
`symmetrical properties, are formed simultaneously within
`the semiconductive, body. Since the diffusion for all ver-
`tical junctions is completed in one operation, the impurity
`profiles of those junctions are the same. For example, if a
`p-type semiconductive body is used, selected areas will be
`diffused with a donor impurity from the surface of the
`semiconductive body to the layer of dielectric material,
`thereby simultaneously producing multiple p-n junctions.
`Conductors are then deposited to electrically interconnect
`selected areas of the semiconductive body for producing
`an integrated. circuit as desired.
`An object of this invention is to provide electrically
`isolated regions of a semiconductive body on a common
`crystalline substrate with low parasitic capacitance be-
`tween adjacent regions.
`Another object of this invention is to provide devices in
`electrically isolated regions of a semiconductive body on
`a common crystalline substrate with extremely low leak-
`age current between a given device and other devices on
`the substrate.
`Ancther object is to provide a process for electrically
`isolating regions of a semiconductive body on a common
`crystalline substrate with low parasitic capacity between
`adjacent regions.
`
`It is still another object of this invention to provide a
`process for producing electrically isolated regions of a
`semiconductive body on a common crystalline substrate
`and devices in those regions.
`It is a further object of this invention to provide an im-
`proved process for producing in a semiconductive body
`isolated devices requiring symmetrical or identical junc-
`tions.
`It is still a further object of this invention to produce
`a semiconductive body having a dielectric insulation layer
`thermally compatible with a polycrystalline substrate.
`These and other objects of the invention will become
`apparent. from the following description in connection
`with illustrative examples and drawings of which:
`FIGURES1a to 1f depict steps of a process. for pro-
`ducing electrically isolated semiconductive devices on a
`commoncrystalline substrate in accordance with the pres-
`ent invention;
`FIGURE2 showsa larger portion of the composite of
`FIGURE1f and illustrates a way of connecting isolated
`semiconductive devices to provide an integrated circuit;
`FIGURE3 is a schematic diagram of the integrated
`circuit of FIGURE2; and
`FIGURE4 is anillustration of a second embodiment of
`the present invention.
`Referring now to FIGURE 1a,.a wafer 10 of semicon-
`ductive material, such as n or p-type single crystal,
`is
`selected. The material may be selected from the various
`semiconductive materials such as silicon, germanium,gal-
`lium arsenside, gallium phosphide, indiumantimonide, in-
`dium arsenide, and silicon carbide. For purposes of de-
`scribing an illustrative embodiment of the invention,
`p-type silicon is chosen.
`An insulating layer 11 of dielectric material is pro-
`duced on one surface of the single crystal 10 by conven-
`tional means such as thermal oxidation or pyrolytic oxide
`decomposition of the silicon wafer 10, cr vacuum deposi-
`tion. Thus the dielectric material may be comprised of
`silicon dioxide or silicon nitride, or other dielectric mate-
`rials such as beryllium oxide or aluminum oxide, all of
`-which are thermally compatible with the material selected
`for the wafer 19 and the subsequently deposited substrate.
`In the next step depicted in FIGURE 1),a crystalline
`substrate 12 is vapor deposited on the dielectric layer 11
`such as polycrystalline silicon epitaxially grown.
`The composite structure is then inverted and the wafer
`10 is cleaned and reduced to a thickness suitable for
`production of electrically isolated regions and devices.
`For example, a thickness of approximately 6 microns
`might be suitable for producing a diode matrix in ac-
`cordance with the present invention. The cleaned surface
`of the wafer 10 is then oxidized to form a protective
`layer 13 which is selectively etched in areas 14 and 15
`to form a mask as illustrated in FIGURE 1c for the
`subsequent diffusion step illustrated in FIGURE. 1d.
`The geometry of the exposed areas 14 and 15 of thesingle
`crystal wafer 10 may be more clearly seen in FIG-
`URE 1d.
`The exposed. areas 14 and 15 of the semiconductor
`wafer 10 are diffused with a suitable donor impurity such
`as P,O;, P3Ns, or PH3. For an n-type wafer, suitable
`acceptor impurities are ByO3, BCl; and ByHg. The diffu-
`sion is allowed.
`to progress vertically into the single
`crystal wafer 10 until the insulating layer 11 is reached
`as shown in FIGURE 1d. Further diffusion thereafter
`will
`increase the lateral diffusion which will decrease
`the distance between adjacent junctions. However,
`the
`rate of lateral diffusion is much slower than that along
`the vertical direction. The separation of adjacent junc-
`tions can be controlled with mask spacing and diffusion
`scheduling for a proper separation dimension consistent
`with the requirement for the devices being produced.
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`The exposed areas 14 and 15 actually become reoxi-
`dized during the diffusion operation as shown in FIG-
`UREle due to the existence of oxygen at high tempera-
`ture.
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`3,390,022
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`4
`A second photolithographic process was performed to
`remove the surface oxide from the areas selected for
`making electrical contacts to the single crystal silicon.
`After the electrical contact areas were exposed, the sub-
`In the next step, the insulating layer 13 is re-etched. to
`Strate was inserted in a vacuum chamber at a pressure of
`expose selected areas which are coated with an electrical
`approximately 10-7 millimeters of mercury and alu-
`conducting material such as gold, nickel, silver, chrom-
`minum was deposited onto the entire wafer surface at
`ium, aluminum or molybdenum to form contacts 18, 19
`a
`relatively low temperature (about 300°). Another
`and 2@ as shown in FIGURE if. Contact 19 is so de-
`photolithographic process was used to etch off the ex-
`posited as to short a p-n junction and to connect
`two
`cessive aluminum and to form appropriate interconnec-
`diodes in series, one diode consisting of a p-n junction
`tions and contacts to the selected areas of the single
`between contact 18 and the contact 19 and the other
`crystal silicon surface. Other electrical conductive mate-
`diode consisting of a p-n junction between the contact 19
`rials such as gold, silver, nickel, chromium, molybdenum,
`and the contact 20.
`etc., could also have been used for the electrical con-
`In FIGURE2, there is shownastructure similar to
`tact and interconnections.
`that of FIGURE 1f except that it includes another pat-
`Although it was not a problem in the particular ex-
`tern of diffused regions. As before, all diffused regions
`ample just described, when aluminum is used, the con-
`are from the surface of the silicon wafcr 10’
`to the
`tact areas on n-type semiconductive materia] should be
`layer of dielectric material 11’ to form vertical p-n junc-
`highly diffused with donor impurities to avoid p-n junc-
`tions. Five contacts 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 are deposited
`tion formation between the aluminum material which is
`to provide two pair of series-connected diode junctions.
`in Group III and the single crystal silicon material. That
`The contacts are then so interconnected that the four
`also helps reduce contact resistance. However,
`in this
`diodes form a full wave rectifier as illustrated schemat-
`example, it was not necessary to take such a precaution
`ically in FIGURE 3 with input terminals 31 and 32, and
`since p-type semiconductive material was used.
`output terminals 33 and 34,
`The wafer was then diced into diode arrays which were
`The composite of the invention is more fully itus-
`tested before packaging. One diode array contained 280
`trated by the following examples.
`diode pairs and had an over-all size of 0.6 x 0.3 sq. inch.
`The full wave rectifier circuit illustrated in FIGURE 2
`may be formed from two diode pairs. If a higher cur-
`rent capacity is required, a plurality of diode pairs can
`be so connected together as to provide parallel diodes
`for each branch of the rectifier circuit.
`Example II
`A process substantially similar to the one described
`above was repeated using an n-type single crystal silicon
`as starting material and an acceptor impurity (boron)
`for diffusion to form the p-n junctions. After that diffu-
`sion, a shallow diffusion of a donor impurity was made
`in the areas requiring metal contacts in order to avoid
`p-n junction formation between the single crystal silicon
`and the aluminum which was deposited for the electrical
`contacts.
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`Example IIT
`Complementary PNP and NPN devices were produced
`in a single silicon crystal using the geometry shown in
`FIGURE 4 byselectively diffusing deceptor and donor
`impurities into the silicon crystal. Substantially the same
`process as described in the preceding examples was fol-
`lowed except that rectangular patterns were used.
`A p-type single crystal wafer was used as the starting
`material. Phosphorous was diffused to create the n-type
`areas shown as areas 42, 43, 51 and 52. Arsenic or
`antimony, a slower diffusant, was used to form another
`n-type area 41 for the base and boron was used to dif-
`fuse the p-type area 44 for the emitter of the PNP
`transistor. Thus the PNP transistor on the left was formed
`with a conventional double diffusion process. Metal con-
`tacts 45 and 46 were deposited as base contacts for the
`devices and metal contacts 47 and 48 were deposited
`as collector contacts
`for
`the devices. Other contacts
`were also added to the emitters 42 and 44. Areas 51
`and 52 were diffused to form isolation walls around the
`PNPand NPNtransistors.
`The base width of the NPN transistor on the right,
`ie.,
`the separation of areas 42 and 43 of FIGURE 4
`may be controlled by mask spacing and adjusting the
`diffusion sequence and schedules. For example, if a pro-
`longed diffusion is permitted after
`the diffusion bas
`reached the insulation layer, the junction fronts will tend
`to flange outwardly and reduce the area separating the
`two diffused areas and hence reduce the base width.
`In the prior art, monolithic integrated semiconductor
`devices were known to have undesirable parasitic ca-
`pacitance because they were isolated by p-n junctions
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`Example I
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`silicon wafer
`A high quality p-type single crystal
`having a thickness of 5 to 10 mils and smooth surface
`was oxidized to produce an insulating layer of approxi-
`mately 1 micron thick by a conventional thermal! oxida-
`tion technique such an exposure to steam at 1100° C,
`for approximately two hours, or dry oxygen at 1250° C.
`for approximately 16 hours.
`Subsequently, a polycrystalline silicon substrate of ap-
`proximately 6 mils was grown on the insulation layer by
`the well-known process of hydrogen reduction of trichlo-
`rosilane at 1100° to 1200° C.
`for approximately two
`hours.
`the single crystal
`After the growth was completed,
`silicon layer was lapped and polished to an approximate
`thickness of 6 microns and was reoxidized again to pro-
`duce a surface oxide layer of approximately 5000 A.
`thick.
`The surface oxide layer was selectively etched with the
`conventional photolithographic technique for an array of
`ring and dot patterns exposing the single crystal silicon
`surface for a diode matrix similar to that illustrated in
`FIGURE 2 but with a larger number of diode pairs.
`The center dot diameter was approximately 0.004 inch.
`The ring outer diameter was 0.010 inch and the inner
`diameter was 0.007 inch. For that particular embodi-
`ment, the ring and dot patterns were so arranged as to
`be able to deposit interconnections without any one con-
`nection crossing over another.
`Following the photolithographic process, foreign par-
`ticles were removed from the surface by means of etch-
`ing in sulfuric acid and rinsing in distilled water. The
`selectively etched silicon wafer was then placed in a
`diffusion furnace maintained at a temperature of 1000
`to 1100° C. for diffusing with a donor impurity (P2053)
`through the openings provided by the etched dots and
`rings down to the insulating layer of dielectric material.
`A single diffusion process was used. The wafer was first
`exposed to the donor impurity in an atmosphere of
`nitrogen and oxygen for a limited time. Other dopants
`such as P3Ns, PH3, POCI,, etc., could also have been
`used. The atmosphere was then replaced with pure oxy-
`gen at
`the same temperature to reoxidize the ring and
`dot areas and complete the diffusion process for
`the.
`formation of substantially vertical p-n junctions from the
`embedded dielectric insulating layer to the surface oxide
`layer.
`
`
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`across the bottom as well as on all sides, and the area
`across the bottom is very large as compared to the total
`area of the side walls since conventional transistors, di-
`odes and resistors are produced by shallow diffusion of
`large areas. For the structure of the present invention, the
`bottom component of parasitic capacitance is eliminated
`and the remaining sidewall component of the capacitance
`is substantially reduced because of its ability to use a
`very thin layer of active bulk material over a layer of
`dielectric. material.
`In addition,
`for the same size de-
`vices and sidewall areas, the sidewall capacitance is’ re-
`duced by a factor of 2 because double sidewalls are
`provided for isolation. The leakage between isolated re-
`gions is also reduced by the insulating layer of dielectric
`material along the bottom and the double sidewalls sur-
`rounding each region. Moreover, reverse biasing of the
`sidewall p-n junctions is not necessary for most appli-
`cations. Each region may be freely used for the produc-
`tion of one or more active and passive elements, or com-
`plete functional circuits.
`It should be noted that an additional advantage of
`the present invention is the symmetrical capability of the
`devices produced by vertical diffusion from the surface
`to the layer of dielectric material. For instance, in the
`NPNtransistor of FIGURE 4, the emitter and collector
`terminals are reversible. That feature is highly desirable
`for various switching applications which is not attainable
`with the prior art double. diffusion technique alone.
`Although the invention has been described and illus-
`trated in detail,
`it is to be understood that the sameis
`by way of illustration and example only, and is not to
`be taken by. way of limitation; the spirit and scope of this
`invention being limited only by the terms of the append-
`ed claims.
`I claim:
`1. The composite comprising
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`HYLANDBIZOT, Primary Exarniner.
`P. WEINSTEIN, Assistant Examiner.
`
`8,390,022
`
`6
`a crystalline body of a given conductivity type having
`two majorsides,
`a layer of dielectric material on a first major side,
`a crystalline substrate on the dielectric material, and
`selected zones diffused from the second major side of
`said crystalline body down to said layer of dielec-
`tric material with impurities selected to produce in
`said crystalline body zones of a conductivity type op-
`posite said given conductivity type, thereby provid-
`ing p-n junctions extending from the surface of said
`dielectric material to the surface of said crystalline
`body.
`2. The composite comprising
`a crystalline body of a given conductivity type having
`two major sides,
`a layer of dielectric material on a first major side,
`a polycrystalline substrate disposed on said dielectric
`material, and
`diffused zones of a conductivity type opposite said
`given. conductivity type, providing p-n junctions ex-
`tending from the surface of said dielectric material
`to the surface of said crystalline body.
`
`References Cited
`UNITED STATES PATENTS
`
`2,981,877
`3,015,762
`3,117,260
`3,150,299
`2,171,068
`3,349,299
`3,332,137
`
`4/1961 Noyce _--------- 148-187 XR
`1/1962 Shockley -..-----.__ 317-—234
`1/1964 Noyce ~-----_--__. 317—235
`9/1964 Noyce ~---.-___. 148—33 XR
`2/1965 Denkewalter et al. _ 148—33 XR
`10/1967 Herlet -.....--.-__ 317—235
`7/1967 Kenney —-...-__ 317—235 XR
`
`