Novellus Systems Incorporated

Lam Research Corporation

Adrien LaVoie

Hu Kang

Shankar Swaminathan

Mandyam Sriram

Bart Jan Van Schravendijk

Jun Qian

Ming Chu Li

Dennis Michael Hausmann

David Charles Smith

Karl Frederick Leeser

Deenesh Padhi

Jon Henri

Ramesh Chandrasekharan

Wei Tang

Bhadri N Varadarajan

Purushottam Kumar

Frank Loren Pasquale

Easwar Srinivasan

Pramod Subramonium

Chloe Baldasseroni

Thomas W Mountsier

Mohamed Sabri

Rajesh Odedra

Andrew Duvall

Bart K Van Schravendijk

Antonio Xavier

Thomas G Jewell

Wanki Kim

Daniel Moser

Jeongseok Ha

Jeremiah Baldwin

Tom Dorsh

Eashwar Ranganathan

Mark Saly

Bryan Schlief

Heather Landis

Ingi Bae

Ravi Konjolia

A vapor delivery system includes an ampoule to store liquid precursor and a heater to partially vaporize the liquid precursor. A first valve communicates with a push gas source and the ampoule. A second valve supplies vaporized precursor to a heated injection manifold. A valve manifold includes a first node in fluid communication with an outlet of the heated injection manifold, a third valve having an inlet in fluid communication with the first node and an outlet in fluid communication with vacuum, a fourth valve having an inlet in fluid communication with the first node and an outlet in fluid communication with a second node, a fifth valve having an outlet in fluid communication with the second node, and a sixth valve having an outlet in fluid communication with the second node. A gas distribution device is in fluid communication with the second node.

Systems and methods for vapor delivery in a substrate processing system

Systems and methods for depositing film in a substrate processing system includes performing a first atomic layer deposition (ALD) cycle in a processing chamber to deposit film on a substrate including a feature; after the first ALD cycle, exposing the substrate to an inhibitor plasma in the processing chamber for a predetermined period to create a varying passivated surface in the feature; and after the predetermined period, performing a second ALD cycle in the processing chamber to deposit film on the substrate.

Inhibitor plasma mediated atomic layer deposition for seamless feature fill

Systems and methods for operating a substrate processing system include processing a substrate arranged on a substrate support in a processing chamber. At least one of precursor gas and/or reactive gas is supplied during the processing. The substrate is removed from the processing chamber. Carrier gas and purge gas are selectively supplied to the processing chamber. RF plasma is generated in the processing chamber during N cycles, where N is an integer greater than one. The RF plasma is on for a first period and off for a second period during each of the N cycles. The purge gas is supplied during at least part of each of the N cycles.

Systems and methods for removing particles from a substrate processing chamber using RF plasma cycling and purging

Methods of depositing a film on a substrate surface include surface mediated reactions in which a film is grown over one or more cycles of reactant adsorption and reaction. In one aspect, the method is characterized by intermittent delivery of dopant species to the film between the cycles of adsorption and reaction.

Plasma activated conformal dielectric film deposition

Provided herein are methods and apparatus for filling one or more gaps on a semiconductor substrate. The disclosed embodiments are especially useful for forming seam-free, void-free fill in both narrow and wide features. The methods may be performed without any intervening etching operations to achieve a single step deposition. In various implementations, a first operation is performed using a novel PEALD fill mechanism to fill narrow gaps and line wide gaps. A second operation may be performed using PECVD methods to continue filling the wide gaps.

Gapfill of variable aspect ratio features with a composite PEALD and PECVD method

A method includes flowing reactant gases into a process chamber. Plasma having a first power level is supplied using a plasma source. The process chamber is dosed with the precursor. The first power level is sufficient to enhance adsorption of the precursor on a surface of the substrate and is insufficient to decompose the precursor that is adsorbed. After a first predetermined period, the method includes removing a portion of the precursor that does not adsorb onto the substrate. The precursor that is adsorbed is activated using plasma having a second power level using the plasma source. The second power level is greater than the first power level and is sufficient to decompose the precursor.

Tandem source activation for cyclical deposition of films

Disclosed herein are methods of forming SiC/SiCN film layers on surfaces of semiconductor substrates. The methods may include introducing a silicon-containing film-precursor and an organometallic ligand transfer reagent into a processing chamber, adsorbing the silicon-containing film-precursor, the organometallic ligand transfer reagent, or both onto a surface of a semiconductor substrate under conditions whereby either or both form an adsorption-limited layer, and reacting the silicon-containing film-precursor with the organometallic ligand transfer reagent, after either or both have formed the adsorption-limited layer. The reaction results in the forming of the film layer. In some embodiments, a byproduct is also formed which contains substantially all of the metal of the organometallic ligand transfer reagent, and the methods may further include removing the byproduct from the processing chamber. Also disclosed herein are semiconductor processing apparatuses for forming SiC/SiCN film layers.

Apparatuses and methods for depositing SiC/SiCN films via cross-metathesis reactions with organometallic co-reactants

Disclosed herein are methods of doping a patterned substrate in a reaction chamber. The methods may include forming a first conformal film layer which has a dopant source including a dopant, and driving some of the dopant into the substrate to form a conformal doping profile. In some embodiments, forming the first film layer may include introducing a dopant precursor into the reaction chamber, adsorbing the dopant precursor under conditions whereby it forms an adsorption-limited layer, and reacting the adsorbed dopant precursor to form the dopant source. Also disclosed herein are apparatuses for doping a substrate which may include a reaction chamber, a gas inlet, and a controller having machine readable code including instructions for operating the gas inlet to introduce dopant precursor into the reaction chamber so that it is adsorbed, and instructions for reacting the adsorbed dopant precursor to form a film layer containing a dopant source.

Conformal doping via plasma activated atomic layer deposition and conformal film deposition

Methods for processing a substrate include a) arranging a substrate on a pedestal in a processing chamber; b) supplying precursor to the processing chamber; c) purging the processing chamber; d) performing radio frequency (RF) plasma activation; e) purging the processing chamber; and f) prior to purging the processing chamber in at least one of (c) or (e), setting a vacuum pressure of the processing chamber to a first predetermined pressure that is less than a vacuum pressure during at least one of (b) or (d) for a first predetermined period.

Methods for modulating step coverage during conformal film deposition

A method of depositing a film on a substrate surface includes providing a substrate in a reaction chamber; selecting a silicon-containing reactant from a precursor group consisting of di-tert-butyl diazidosilane, bis(ethylmethylamido)silane, bis(diisopropylamino)silane, bis(tert-butylhydrazido)diethylsilane, tris(dimethylamido)silylazide, tris(dimethylamido)silylamide, ethylsilicon triazide, diisopropylaminosilane, and hexakis(dimethylamido)disilazane; introducing the silicon-containing reactant in vapor phase into the reaction chamber under conditions allowing the silicon-containing reactant to adsorb onto the substrate surface; introducing a second reactant in vapor phase into the reaction chamber while the silicon-containing reactant is adsorbed on the substrate surface, and wherein the second reactant is introduced without first sweeping the silicon-containing reactant out of the reaction chamber; and exposing the substrate surface to plasma to drive a reaction between the silicon-containing reactant and the second reactant on the substrate surface to form the film.

Method of plasma activated deposition of a conformal film on a substrate surface

Methods of depositing a film on a substrate surface include surface mediated reactions in which a film is grown over one or more cycles of reactant adsorption and reaction. In one aspect, the method is characterized by the following operations: (a) exposing the substrate surface to a first reactant in vapor phase under conditions allowing the first reactant to adsorb onto the substrate surface; (b) exposing the substrate surface to a second reactant in vapor phase while the first reactant is adsorbed on the substrate surface; and (c) exposing the substrate surface to plasma to drive a reaction between the first and second reactants adsorbed on the substrate surface to form the film.

Plasma activated conformal film deposition

Described are methods of making silicon nitride (SiN) materials and other silicon-containing films, including carbon-containing and/or oxygen-containing films such as SiCN (also referred to as SiNC), SiON and SiONC films, on substrates. According to various embodiments, the methods involve electromagnetic radiation-assisted activation of one or more reactants. In certain embodiments, for example, the methods involve ultraviolet (UV) activation of vapor phase amine coreactants. The methods can be used to deposit silicon-containing films, including SiN and SiCN films, at temperatures below about 400&#xb0; C.

Methods for UV-assisted conformal film deposition

Embodiments related to depositing thin conformal films using plasma-activated conformal film deposition (CFD) processes are described herein. In one example, a method of processing a substrate includes, applying photoresist to the substrate, exposing the photoresist to light via a stepper, patterning the resist with a pattern and transferring the pattern to the substrate, selectively removing photoresist from the substrate, placing the substrate into a process station, and, in the process station, in a first phase, generating radicals off of the substrate and adsorbing the radicals to the substrate to form active species, in a first purge phase, purging the process station, in a second phase, supplying a reactive plasma to the surface, the reactive plasma configured to react with the active species and generate the film, and in a second purge phase, purging the process station.

Plasma-activated deposition of conformal films

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Portland, OR, United States of America

Adrien LaVoie