FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices and more particularly to methods for making the same. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Field effect transistors (FETs) are widely used in the electronics industry for switching, amplification, filtering, and other tasks related to both analog and digital electrical signals. Most common among these are polysilicon-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (FETs), wherein a gate contact or electrode is energized to create an electric field in a channel region of a semiconductor body, by which electrons are allowed to travel through the channel between a source region and a drain region of the semiconductor body. The source and drain regions are typically formed by adding dopants to targeted regions on either side of the channel. A gate dielectric or gate oxide is formed over the channel, and a gate electrode or gate contact is formed over the gate dielectric. The gate electrode is often made from polysilicon rather than metal in manufacturing. The gate dielectric and gate electrode layers are then patterned to form a gate structure overlying the channel region of the substrate. 
         [0003]    Continuing trends in semiconductor product manufacturing include reduction in electrical device feature sizes (scaling), as well as improvements in device performance in terms of device switching speed and power consumption. Transistor performance may be improved by reducing the distance between the source and the drain regions under the gate electrode of the device, known as the gate or channel length, and by reducing the thickness of the layer of gate oxide that is formed over the semiconductor surface. Critical dimension (CD) or gate length continues to be reduced in successive technology generations. 
         [0004]    FETs are typically made by first defining active areas in a substrate  10  by forming isolation regions  15  consisting of insulating material like silicon dioxide as shown in  FIG. 1   a.  Isolation regions can be generated by local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) or by a shallow trench isolation (STI) technique. A thin gate oxide layer  20  is grown over the substrate between the isolation regions  15  and then a gate electrode material  25  such as polysilicon is deposited on the gate oxide. Next, a hardmask  30  is deposited on gate electrode layer  25 . Optionally, an antireflective coating (ARC)  35  is coated on the hardmask  30 , or an inorganic film, such as silicon oxynitride, will be deposited on the hardmask in order to improve process latitude during a subsequent photoresist patterning step. A photoresist is spin coated to provide a photoresist layer  40  and is patterned using conventional methods to form a line having a width L 1  in  FIG. 1   a.  Photoresist  40  then serves as an etch mask for etching the pattern through ARC  35 . 
         [0005]    Frequently, L 1  is not narrow enough to meet the requirements for a fast transistor speed. Therefore, fabrication methods usually include a resist trimming step in which a plasma etch is used to laterally shrink dimension L 1  to a smaller size L 2  shown in  FIG. 1   b.  The height H 1  of photoresist layer  40  decreases to a thickness H 2  in the etched photoresist film. Linewidth L 2  is transferred into hardmask  30  to give an etched hardmask layer shown  FIG. 1   c.    
         [0006]    Referring to  FIG. 1   d,  photoresist  40  and ARC  35  are stripped and linewidth L 2  in hardmask  30  is etch transferred through polysilicon  25  and oxide layer  20 . Additional processing (not shown) to fabricate the MOSFET can include forming spacers on the sides of etched polysilicon layer  25 , forming source/drain regions and source/drain extensions to define a channel and forming silicide contact regions. 
         [0007]    Problems exist which are associated with the lithography process used to form photoresist lines. One of the shortcomings in state of the art lithography processes is that they are incapable of printing the desired feature size with enough process window. Many semiconductor manufacturers have overcome this problem using a trimming process which laterally shrinks the photoresist line with an etch step. 
         [0008]    However, there are also problems associated with trimming photoresist which can degrade gate pattern fidelity and decrease device performance, as well as reliability. Such gate problems include, among others, line notching, line top erosion, and poor step-height induced from STI (shallow trench isolation) CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) coverage, which are strongly correlated to an accumulation of resist stress after the trimming process. 
         [0009]    Accordingly, there is a need for improved CMOS transistor gate designs and fabrication techniques by which the benefits of scaling can be achieved while avoiding or reducing the poly gate defects associated with accumulating resist stress induced by the resist trim and etch process. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    In one embodiment, the invention is directed to a method of reducing polysilicon gate defects in a semiconductor device, the method comprising forming a gate dielectric layer above a semiconductor body substrate; coating the gate dielectric layer with a resist coating; exposing and developing the resist coating; performing a resist annealing; and trimming and etching the photoresist coating. 
         [0011]    In another embodiment, the invention is directed to a semiconductor device having reduced gate defects associated with accumulating resist stress, wherein the gate defects are reduced by annealing a resist coating applied to a substrate body of the semiconductor device. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIGS. 1   a - 1   d  depict a prior art process for trimming a photoresist line to provide a small CD in a MOSFET device. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a simplified flow diagram illustrating a method of fabricating a gate structure of a field effect transistor in accordance with the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a SEM photograph of a portion of a patterned semiconductor device. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  are SEM photographs of a portion of  FIG. 2  following with and without resist annealing in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0016]    One or more implementations of the present invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout, and wherein the illustrated structures are not necessarily drawn to scale. The invention relates to polysilicon gate CMOS devices and fabrication methods. The invention may be employed to enhance the device yield and the device reliability, by mitigating or eliminating the defects associated with resist stress from resist trimming and etching. 
         [0017]    Referring initially to  FIG. 2 , together with  FIGS. 3   a - 3   d,  an exemplary method  200  is illustrated in  FIG. 2  for fabricating a gate electrode in accordance with the present invention. The sequence  100  comprises process steps that are performed upon a gate electrode film-stack during fabrication of a field effect transistor. While the exemplary method  100  is illustrated and described below as a series of acts or events, it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited by the illustrated ordering of such acts or events. For example, some acts may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other acts or events apart from those illustrated and/or described herein, in accordance with the invention. In addition, not all illustrated steps may be required to implement a methodology in accordance with the present invention. Further, the methods according to the present invention may be implemented in association with the formation and/or processing of structures illustrated and described herein as well as in association with other structures and devices not illustrated. 
         [0018]    The methods and devices of the invention may be implemented using any type of semiconductor substrate body, including but not limited to bulk semiconductor wafers (e.g., silicon), epitaxial layers formed over a bulk semiconductor, SOI wafers, etc. The substrate  210  has an active area  212  located between two isolation regions  214 . Isolation regions may be formed by shallow trench isolation (STI). The STI regions  214  are filled with an insulating material such as silicon dioxide or a low k dielectric material. A gate dielectric layer  216  is formed  102  on substrate  210  using any suitable materials, material thicknesses, and processing steps, including thermal oxidation or deposition or combinations thereof to form a gate dielectric above the semiconductor substrate. For instance, the gate dielectric layer  216  may be formed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and may comprise silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or silicon carbide. When gate dielectric layer  216  is silicon oxide, it may also be formed by placing substrate  210  in a thermal oxidation furnace with a dry oxygen ambient at approximately 600° C. to 800° C. Other methods such as RTO (rapid thermal oxidation) may also be used to grow an oxide layer. A polysilicon layer  218  is deposited on dielectric layer  216  by a CVD method. Polysilicon layer  218  may be doped or undoped. 
         [0019]    The process sequence  100  continues with the optional step of depositing  104  a hardmask  220  over polysilicon layer  218 . The hardmask  220  may comprise silicon rich nitride covered by silicon oxynitride (SiON), silicon dioxide (Si) 2 ), or other material. The optional hardmask  120  functions to protect the polisilicon from etch and minimize reflection of light during patterning steps. In one embodiment, an optional ARC  221  can be applied directly over the polysilicon layer  218  without hardmask  220 . In another embodiment, ARC  221  can be deposited over hardmask  220  to improve the process latitude further within a subsequent photoresist patterning process. 
         [0020]    Following deposition  104  of the optional hardmask  220  and ARC  221  layers, a photoresist layer  222  is formed and deposited  106 . The photoresist layer  222  may be formed using any conventional technique. The photoresist layer  222  is patterned by forming a patterned mask (e.g., photoresist mask) on the underlying layer (polysilicon layer  218  or optional hardmask layer  220 ) beneath the mask and then etching the layer using the patterned mask as an etch mask. Those skilled in the art understand the process for forming and patterning the photoresist layer  222 , and thus no further detail is warranted. 
         [0021]    A post-exposure bake  108  of the photoresist  222  is then performed. Bake temperatures will generally be around 130° C. and are dependent on the type of resist. Bake time will vary, and will generally be from about 30 seconds to about 90 seconds. Exposed portions of the photoresist  222  are removed by a developer, while the remaining photoresist  222  retains a pattern. 
         [0022]    In the implementation of the invention, a resist anneal or thermal bake process  110  is then performed following post-exposure bake and development  108 . The temperature range at which the anneal  110  is performed will be dependent upon the type of photoresist  222  applied. Within this temperature range, the critical dimensions are constant and not sensitive to temperature. Generally, it has been found that the temperature range T 1  to T 2  will be near but lower than a reflow temperature of the photoresist  222 . Reflow temperature is defined as the temperature at which the resist gate length will be increased. The temperature range from T 1  to T 2  will be dependent on different resist designs, but within a range of 5° C.-7° C. below the reflow temperature. Further operational settings of the annealing process  110  (e.g., time, etc.) may be selected to depend on post-etch results. Generally, the annealing time will be varied from about 30 seconds to about 90 seconds. 
         [0023]    Not wishing to be bound by theory, it is thought that a reduction in gate defects may be obtained as the resist trim time is reduced due to post-pattern critical dimension shrinkage after resist annealing and the stiffness of the resist pattern is enhanced by the removal of more solvent from the resist after applying the resist anneal  110  according to the invention. Following the anneal process  110 , it has been observed that the resist pattern has a smaller critical dimension, better LER and LWR, higher resist stiffness and a more uniform resist profile. Such improvements have not been observed for traditional hard bake processes, which are performed at temperatures less than 150° C. or less than the glass transition temperature of the photoresist coating after development. 
         [0024]    The device then continues through a conventional dry trimming and etch process as is know in the art. 
         [0025]    Although the invention has been illustrated and described with respect to one or more implementations, alterations and/or modifications may be made to the illustrated examples without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described components or structures (assemblies, devices, circuits, systems, etc.), the terms (including a reference to a “means”) used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component or structure which performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary implementations of the invention. In addition, while a particular feature of the invention may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “including”, “includes”, “having”, “has”, “with”, or variants thereof are used in either the detailed description and the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a, manner similar to the term “comprising”.
Semiconductor devices and fabrication methods are provided, in which gate defects associated with photoresist stress after plasma trim/etch are substantially reduced. The method comprises forming a gate dielectric layer above a semiconductor body substrate; coating the gate dielectric layer with a photoresist coating; exposing and developing the photoresist coating; performing a resist annealing; and trimming and etching the photoresist coating.