Thin L-shaped spacers for CMOS devices

This work presents the use of ultimately thin (15 nm) L-shaped spacers to open the process window for deposition-related steps. Whereas conventional spacers prevent the correct active area silicidation between two closely located transistors, these thin L-shaped spacers allow the formation of a low resistive active interconnect between transistors as close as 40 nm apart. With respect to conventional spacers, thin L-shaped spacers show equally good silicide bridging immunity, device characteristics and electrostatic discharge performance.