摘要 |
The present disclosure is directed to various methods of forming metal silicide regions on an integrated circuit device. In one example, the method includes forming a PMOS transistor and an NMOS transistor, each of the transistors having a gate electrode and at least one source/drain region formed in a semiconducting substrate, forming a first sidewall spacer adjacent the gate electrodes and forming a second sidewall spacer adjacent the first sidewall spacer. The method further includes forming a layer of material above and between the gate electrodes, wherein the layer of material has an upper surface that is positioned higher than an upper surface of each of the gate electrodes, performing a first etching process on the layer of material to reduce a thickness thereof such that the upper surface of the layer of material is positioned at a desired level that is at least below the upper surface of each of the gate electrodes, and after performing the first etching process, performing a second etching process to insure that a desired amount of the gate electrodes for the PMOS transistor and the NMOS transistor are exposed for a subsequent metal silicide formation process. The method concludes with the step of forming metal silicide regions on the gate electrode structures and on the source/drain regions.
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