Semiconductor Device and Method for Producing a Doped Semiconductor Layer

Abstract

A semiconductor device includes a device region. The device region includes at least one device region section including dopant atoms of a first doping type and with a first doping concentration of at least 1E16 cm −3 and dopant atoms of a second doping type and with a second doping concentration of at least 1E16 cm −3 .

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A semiconductor device comprising a device region, the device region comprising at least one device region section comprising dopant atoms of a first doping type and with a first doping concentration of at least 1E16 cm −3  and dopant atoms of a second doping type and with a second doping concentration of at least 1E16 cm −3 . 
     
     
         2 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one device region section has an effective doping concentration of one of the first and second doping types. 
     
     
         3 . The semiconductor device of  claim 2 , wherein the effective doping concentration is between 1E13 cm −3  and 1E16 cm −3 , or between 5E13 cm −3  and 5E15 cm −3 . 
     
     
         4 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the first doping concentration is at least 1E17 cm −3 , and   wherein the second doping concentration is at least 1E17 cm −3 .   
     
     
         5 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 , wherein the dopant atoms of the first doping type comprise at least one of phosphorous, nitrogen, silicon, arsenic, or antimony. 
     
     
         6 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 , wherein the dopant atoms of the second doping type comprise at least one of boron, gallium, indium, calcium, zinc, beryllium, magnesium and aluminum. 
     
     
         7 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the dopant atoms of the first doping type comprise phosphorous atoms, and   wherein the dopant atoms of the second doping type comprise boron atoms.   
     
     
         8 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one stress inducing semiconductor layer in the device region. 
     
     
         9 . The semiconductor device of  claim 8 , wherein the device region includes silicon (Si) and wherein the stress inducing layer includes silicon-germanium (SiGe) 
     
     
         10 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor device is implemented as an MOS transistor, and wherein the device region is a drift region. 
     
     
         11 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor device is implemented as a bipolar diode, and wherein the device region is a base region. 
     
     
         12 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor device is implemented as a Schottky diode, and wherein the device region is a drift region. 
     
     
         13 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 , wherein the device region includes a pn-junction. 
     
     
         14 . The semiconductor device of  claim 13 , wherein the pn-junction is a pn-junction between a body region and a drift region of an MOS transistor. 
     
     
         15 . The semiconductor device of  claim 13 , wherein the pn-junction is a pn-junction between an emitter region and a base region of a diode. 
     
     
         16 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 , wherein the device region adjoins a dielectric layer. 
     
     
         17 . The semiconductor device of  claim 16 , wherein the dielectric layer is a gate dielectric or a field electrode dielectric in an MOS transistor. 
     
     
         18 . The semiconductor device of  claim 1 , wherein the device region is implemented in a p-type base region of a thyristor between two amplifying gates of an amplifying gate structure. 
     
     
         19 . A method of producing a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
 i. providing a semiconductor substrate;   ii. forming an epitaxial layer on the semiconductor substrate; and   iii. introducing dopant atoms of a first doping type and dopant atoms of a second doping type into the epitaxial layer.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 iv. repeating the method steps i. to iii. at least once, so as to form at least two epitaxial layers, wherein in each repetition of method steps i. to iii. the epitaxial layer in step ii. is formed on the epitaxial that has been produced in the preceding method step ii.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein in method step iii. molecules are introduced that include dopant atoms of the first doping type and dopant atoms of the second doping type in a predefined ratio. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the predefined ratio is 1:1. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein in method step iii. the dopant atoms are introduced at least one of during a crystal growth of the epitaxial layer, and after a crystal growth of the epitaxial layer. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the introduction of dopant atoms into the epitaxial layer after the epitaxial crystal growth comprises at least one of an implantation process and a diffusion process. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the epitaxial layer is produced with a basic doping of one of the first and second doping types. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 v. forming at least one trench in at least one of the epitaxial layers;   vi. filling the at least one trench with a monocrystalline semiconductor material; and   vii. diffusing dopant atoms into the material filling the at least one trench from the surrounding semiconductor material.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the dopant atoms of one of the first and second doping type are selected to have a higher diffusion rate than the dopant atoms of the other of the first and second doping type. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 viii. forming a diffusion barrier at least on sidewalls of the at least one trench.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the diffusion barrier includes one of SiGe and SiGeC. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the dopant atoms of the first and of the second doping type each have a diffusion constant, wherein a smaller one of the diffusion constants is between 50% and 100% or between 80% and 100% of the other diffusion constant.