Research Bits: April 4


Wet-like plasma etching Researchers from Nagoya University and Hitachi developed a new etch method called wet-like plasma etching that combines the selectivity of wet etching with the controllability of dry etching. The researchers say the technique will make it possible to etch complex structures such as metal carbides consisting of titanium (Ti) and aluminum (Al), such as TiC or TiAlC, wh... » read more

Inner Spacer Engineering to Improve Mechanical Stability in Channel-Release Process of Nanosheet FETs


  Abstract "Mechanical stress is demonstrated in the fabrication process of nanosheet FETs. In particular, unwanted mechanical instability stemming from gravity during channel-release is covered in detail by aid of 3-D simulations. The simulation results show the physical weakness of suspended nanosheets and the impact of nanosheet thickness. Inner spacer engineering based on geometr... » read more

Stacked Nanosheets And Forksheet FETs


What comes next after gate-all-around FETs is still being worked out, but it likely will involve some version of stacked nanosheets. The design of advanced transistors is a tradeoff. On one hand, it takes less gate capacitance to control a thin channel. On the other hand, thin channels can’t carry as much drive current. Stacked nanosheet designs seek to reconcile these two objectives by... » read more