Tokyo Electron Limited

Alok Ranjan

Peter Ventzek

Sergey Alexandrovich Voronin

Sonam D Sherpa

Yun Han

Mitsunori Ohata

Vinayak Rastogi

Zhiying Chen

Christopher Talone

Peter Lowell George Ventzek

Shyam Sridhar

Yusuke Yoshida

Mingmei Wang

Andrew Nolan

Jason Marion

Akiteru Ko

Peter L G Ventzek

Barton Lane

Merritt Funk

Kaushik Arun Kumar

Joel Blakeney

Erdinc Karakas

Kazuya Nagaseki

Yohei Yamazawa

Angelique Denise Raley

Andrew W Metz

Hiroto Ohtake

Shinya Morikita

Jun Shinagawa

Chelsea Dubose

Justin Moses

Yoshio Ishikawa

Takashi Enomoto

Michael Hummel

Keigo Toyoda

Takehisa Saito

Toshiki Nakajima

Mayo Uda

Ya-Ming Chen

Christopher Catano

Caitlin Philippi

Li Wang

Megan Carruth

Blake Parkinson

Hiroaki Niimi

Nicholas Joy

Peter E Biolsi

David Coumou

Ken Kobayashi

Tomoyuki Oishi

Shuhei Ogawa

Kensuke Taniguchi

Sang Cheol Han

Chungjong Lee

Toshihiro Kitao

Cedric Thomas

Megan Wooley

Masaki Kitsunezuka

Roberto C Longo Pazos

Nasim Eibagi

Atsushi Suzuki

Scott W LeFevre

Scott E White

Nayoung Bae

A plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma processing chamber, a source power coupling element configured to generate plasma in an interior of the plasma processing chamber by coupling source power to the plasma processing chamber, a DC pulse generator configured to generate a DC pulse train at a DC pulse frequency, a substrate holder disposed in the interior of the plasma processing chamber, a DC coupling element coupled to the DC pulse generator, a DC current path including the DC coupling element, the plasma, and a reference potential node in a series configuration, the DC coupling element being configured to bias the substrate holder relative to the reference potential node using the DC pulse train, and a capacitive pre-coat layer disposed between the DC coupling element and the plasma. The capacitive pre-coat layer increases the RC time constant of the DC current path according to the DC pulse frequency.

Plasma processing apparatus with tunable electrical characteristic

A method of plasma processing includes cyclically performing a cycle including the steps of performing a glow phase and performing an afterglow phase. The glow phase includes providing a first SP pulse comprising a first SP power level for a first duration to an SP electrode to generate a capacitively coupled plasma in a plasma processing chamber. The first SP pulse terminates at the end of the glow phase. The afterglow phase is performed after the glow phase and includes providing a BP pulse train to a BP electrode coupled to a target substrate within the plasma processing chamber in an afterglow of the capacitively coupled plasma for a second duration between about 10 μs and about 100 μs. The BP pulse train includes a plurality of BP spikes. Each of the plurality of BP spikes is a DC pulse that has a first BP power level.

Pulsed capacitively coupled plasma processes

A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber, a source power coupling element configured to generate plasma in the processing chamber, and a source power supply node coupled to the source power coupling element and configured to supply radio frequency power to the source power coupling element. The plasma processing apparatus further includes a substrate holder disposed in the processing chamber, a first bias power supply node coupled to the substrate holder and configured to supply first direct current biased power to the substrate holder, and a second bias power supply node coupled to the substrate holder and configured to supply second direct current biased power to the substrate holder. The first direct current biased power includes a first bias power frequency less than about 800 kHz and the second direct current biased power includes a second bias power frequency greater than 800 kHz.

Plasma processing methods using low frequency bias pulses

A method of operating a plasma tool includes executing a plasma process on a wafer. Data associated with the plasma process are measured using a plurality of sensors while the plasma process is executed on the wafer. The plasma process is terminated at an endpoint time. A post-process fault detection is executed by determining whether a post-process wafer state is within a target range. When the post-process wafer state is outside the target range so that a fault is detected, the fault is corrected using the data associated with the plasma process.

Autonomous operation of plasma processing tool

A method of processing a substrate that includes: performing a cyclic plasma etch process including a plurality of cycles, each of the plurality of cycles including: etching a patterning layer including a polycrystalline semiconductor material to form or extend a recess by exposing the substrate to a first plasma, the substrate including an oxide layer, the patterning layer formed over the oxide layer, exposing the substrate to a second plasma, the second plasma including dihydrogen, and extending the recess by exposing the substrate to a third plasma, the second plasma being different from the first plasma and the third plasma.

Etching of polycrystalline semiconductors

A method of processing a substrate that includes: loading the substrate in a plasma processing chamber, the substrate including an underlying layer; maintaining a steady state flow of a process gas into the plasma processing chamber in the plasma processing chamber; generating a plasma in the plasma processing chamber; exposing the substrate to the plasma to etch the underlying layer; and pulsing a first additional gas, using a first effusive gas injector, towards a first region of the substrate to disrupt the steady state flow of the process gas over the first region, the pulsing locally changing a composition of the plasma near the first region.

Method of uniformity control

A method for manufacturing a FET semiconductor structure includes providing a substrate comprising at least one source/drain contact of at least one FET, the at least one source/drain contact formed adjacent to a dummy gate of the at least one FET. A TiSifilm with C54 structure is selectively deposited directly on and fully covering the at least one source/drain contact relative to a vertical sidewall of a gate spacer between the at least one source/drain contact and the dummy gate. The dummy gate is replaced with a replacement metal gate.

Method of forming a FET structure by selective deposition of film on source/drain contact

In one exemplary embodiment described herein are innovative plasma processing methods and system that utilize direct measurement of direct current (DC) field or self-bias voltage (Vdc) in a plasma processing chamber. In one embodiment, a non-plasma contact measurement using the electric field effect from Vdc is provided. The Vdc sensing method may be robust to a variety of process conditions. In one embodiment, the sensor is integrated with any focus ring material (for example, quartz or doped-undoped silicon). Robust extraction of the Vdc measurement signal may be used for process control. In one embodiment, the sensor may be integrated, at least in part, with the substrate being processed in the chamber.

Process control enabled VDC sensor for plasma process

A plasma processing system includes a vacuum chamber, a first coupling electrode, a substrate holder disposed in the vacuum chamber, a second coupling electrode, and a controller. The substrate holder is configured to support a substrate. The first coupling electrode is configured to provide power for generation of a plasma in the vacuum chamber. The first coupling electrode is further configured to couple source power pulses to the plasma. The second coupling electrode is configured to couple bias power pulses to the substrate. The controller is configured to control a first offset duration between the source power pulses the bias power pulses.

Systems and methods of control for plasma processing

A method of processing a substrate that includes: flowing a gas including a fluorocarbon to a plasma processing chamber; sustaining a plasma generated from the gas; depositing a carbonaceous layer over the substrate by exposing the substrate to the plasma, the substrate having a recess having an aspect ratio between 10:1 and 100:1, the depositing including a pulsed plasma process including: during a first time duration, setting a source power (SP) at a first SP level and a bias power (BP) at a first BP level, where the plasma includes fluorocarbon ions polymerizing on a bottom surface to form the carbonaceous layer, and during a second time duration, setting the SP at a second SP level higher than the first SP level and the BP at a second BP level lower than the first BP level, where the plasma includes fluorine radicals trimming the carbonaceous layer.

Topographic selective deposition

A plasma processing method includes generating a plasma within a processing chamber using source power to ignite a glow phase of the plasma, generating low-energy ions at a substrate supported by a substrate holder in the processing chamber from the plasma using lower-frequency radio frequency bias power applied during the glow phase, and generating high-energy ions at the substrate using higher-frequency radio frequency bias power applied during an afterglow phase of the plasma. The frequency of the higher-frequency radio frequency bias power is greater than the frequency of the lower-frequency radio frequency bias power.

Plasma processing methods using multiphase multifrequency bias pulses

Methods are provided herein for patterning extreme ultraviolet (EUV) (or lower wavelength) photoresists, such metal-oxide photoresists. A patterning layer comprising a metal-oxide photoresist is formed on one or more underlying layers provided on a substrate, and portions of the patterning layer not covered by a mask overlying the patterning layer are exposed to EUV or lower wavelengths light. A cyclic dry process is subsequently performed to remove portions of the patterning layer exposed to the EUV or lower wavelength light (i.e., the exposed portions) and develop the metal-oxide photoresist pattern. The cyclic dry process generally includes a plurality of deposition and etch steps, wherein the deposition step selectively deposits a protective layer onto unexposed portions of the patterning layer by exposing the substrate to a first plasma, and the etch step selectively etches the exposed portions of the patterning layer by exposing the substrate to a second plasma.

Methods for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) resist patterning development

A method of etching a substrate that includes: generating a first plasma from a first gas flowing into a first chamber by applying a first power pulse to a first electrode located in the first chamber over a first time duration; and forming a recess in a substrate located in a second chamber, the forming including: providing radicals from the first chamber into the second chamber; applying a plurality of second power pulses to a second electrode located in the second chamber during a second time duration to generate a second plasma in the second chamber from a second gas flowing into the second chamber, the first chamber being pressurized higher than the second chamber; and applying a plurality of third power pulses to a third electrode located in the second chamber during a third time duration to accelerate ions of the second plasma.

Remote source pulsing with advanced pulse control

A method for processing a substrate includes forming a patterned layer over the substrate, the layer including an opening, where a surface of the opening includes a sidewall and a bottom wall. The method includes processing the patterned layer with an anisotropic process by generating a flux of gas clusters over the substrate in a first process chamber, where the gas clusters include radical precursors; exposing the substrate to the flux of gas clusters. The method includes sustaining plasma including ions in a second process chamber; and exposing the substrate to the ions by directing the ions toward the bottom wall of the opening.

Gas cluster assisted plasma processing

Various embodiments of systems and methods are described herein for controlling a pulsed plasma. Pulse timing parameters (e.g., the pulse on-time and/or the pulse-off time) of the plasma generation source may be controlled based on the measurement data received from measurement device(s), to control the plasma exposure of the substrate during a sequence of dynamically controlled pulses within the plasma process chamber. In addition or alternatively, pulse timing parameters (e.g., the pulse on-time and/or the pulse-off time) can be applied to the source power, bias power, and/or both based on the measurement data received from measurement device(s), to control a plasma exposure of the substrate. The pulse timing changes may be made in a feedforward or feedback manner.

Methods for real-time pulse measurement and pulse timing adjustment to control plasma process performance

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Alok Ranjan