A high-performance 0.25- mu m CMOS technology. II. Technology

For Pt. I, see ibid., vol.39, no.4, pp.959-966 (1992). The key technology elements and their integration into a high-performance, selectively scaled, 0.25- mu m CMOS technology are presented. Dual poly gates are fabricated using a process where the poly and source/drain (S/D) are doped simultaneously. The critical issues related to the dual poly gate are addressed. A reduced operating voltage of 2.5 V is used which allows the application of shallow junctions with abrupt profiles (no LDD) to minimize the device series resistance as well as gate to source/drain overlap capacitance. The poly gate and the S/D sheet resistances are lowered, using a thin salicide (TiSi/sub 2/) process. The TiSi/sub 2/ thickness is reduced to maintain low leakage and low contact resistance for the shallow S/D junctions. The gate level with 0.4- mu m physical length is defined using optical lithography with a contrast enhanced layer (CEL) resist system. >