Trends in advanced process technology—Submicrometer CMOS device design and process requirements

Abstract

Some of the trends in integrated circuit process development are described. The motivations or technical reasons for this activity are discussed. This effort will continue to develop the downsizing that increases functional density and performance. Limiting factors are examined and new technical developments that could enable CMOS density to be comparable with NMOS density are explored. Various isolation techniques are described and the influence on performance of well profiles and doping concentrations are examined. These trends have a beating on the choice of gate electrode materials. Reliability factors governing the gate dielectric thickness are discussed briefly. MOSFET diode capacitance is shown to be the predominant limiting factor at the device level. Methodologies that could be used to reduce device parasitics are considered in detail. Device scaling below 1-µm calls for changes in contact metallization techniques. Trends in metallization technology and the various methods of fabricating multilevel interconnections when the via sizes become very small are described. The processing methods being investigated to overcome device limitations are examined and compared. In some cases, the present technical difficulties of these methods are discussed. The general conclusion of this work is that "downsizing" will continue, but advances will be more dependent upon innovative processes and device research, whereas in the past, scaling rules were adequate and progress was evolutionary.