US Patent 7314802 Structure and method for manufacturing strained FINFET

A part of the gate of a FINFET is replaced with a stress material to apply stress to the channel of the FINFET to enhance electron and hole mobility and improve performance. The FINFET has a SiGe/Si stacked gate, and before silicidation the SiGe part of the gate is selectively etched to form a gate gap that makes the gate thin enough to be fully silicidated. After silicidation, the gate-gap is filled with a stress nitride film to create stress in the channel and enhance the performance of the FINFET.