ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 29 -- United States Patent no. 12,211,936, issued on Jan. 28, was assigned to STMICROELECTRONICS INC. (Coppell, Texas).
"Strained-channel fin FETs" was invented by Nicolas Loubet (Guilderland, N.Y.) and Pierre Morin (Kessel-Lo, Belgium).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Methods and structures for forming strained-channel finFETs are described. Fin structures for finFETs may be formed in two epitaxial layers that are grown over a bulk substrate. A first thin epitaxial layer may be cut and used to impart strain to an adjacent channel region of the finFET via elastic relaxation. The structures exhibit a preferred design range for increasing induced strain and uniformity of the ...