Patent 11972982 was granted and assigned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on April, 2024 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a fin structure is formed by patterning a semiconductor layer, and an annealing operation is performed on the fin structure. In the patterning of the semiconductor layer, a damaged area is formed on a sidewall of the fin structure, and the annealing operation eliminates the damaged area.