Lam Research Corporation

Lam Research Ag

Andreas Fischer

Eric A Hudson

Rajinder Dhindsa

Thorsten B Lill

Alexei Marakhtanov

Peter K Loewenhardt

Andras Kuthi

Babak Kadkhodayan

Richard Janek

Mukund Srinivasan

Neil Martin Paul Benjamin

Jeremy Chang

Hudson Eric

Yunsang Kim

Ivan L Berry, Iii

William S Kennedy

Nerissa Sue Draeger

Dean Jay Larson

David Trussell

Tong Fang

John D Boniface

William Scott Bass

John Patrick Holland

Harmeet Singh

Akira Koshiishi

Douglas L Keil

Bradford J Lyndaker

Richard Alan Gottscho

David Charles Smith

Richard Howard Gould

Vahid Vahedi

Harald F Okorn-Schmidt

Henry Povolny

Kenji Takeshita

Albert R Ellingboe

Jason Augustino

David R Pirkle

Gregory A Tomasch

Philipp Engesser

Neungho Shin

Dave Trussell

Michael Myslovaty

Theodoros Panagopoulos

Maryam Moravej

Mark Wiepking

Dave Jacob

Chris Kimball

Rajindra Dhindsa

Fransisco Camargo

Anders Joel Bjork

Bill Kennedy

Andre W Desepte

Tienyu T Sheng

Dave Trussel

Bert Ellingboe

Andy Kuthi

Apparatuses and methods are provided. Some methods may include providing a substrate to a processing chamber, the substrate having a first material adjacent to and covering a surface of a second material, modifying a layer of the first material by flowing a first process gas onto the substrate and thereby creating a modified layer of the first material, removing the modified layer of the first material by flowing a second process gas onto the substrate, and converting, when the surface of the second material is uncovered via removal of the modified layer, the surface to a converted layer of the second material by flowing a third process gas onto the substrate, in which the first and second process gases are less reactive with the converted layer than with the first material and the second material.

Etch selectivity control in atomic layer etching

Disclosed are apparatuses and methods for performing atomic layer etching. A method may include modifying one or more surface layers of material on the substrate and exposing the one or more modified surface layers on the substrate to an electron source thereby removing, without using a plasma, the one or more modified surface layers on the substrate. An apparatus may include a processing chamber, a process gas unit, an electron source, and a controller with instructions configured to cause the process gas unit to flow a first process gas to a substrate in a chamber interior, the first process gas is configured to modify one or more layers of material on the substrate, and to cause the electron source to generate electrons and expose the one or more modified surface layers on the substrate to the electrons, the one or more modified surface layers being removed, without using a plasma.

Electron excitation atomic layer etch

Etch in a thermal etch reaction is predicted using a machine learning model. Chemical characteristics of an etch process and associated energies in one or more reaction pathways of a given thermal etch reaction are identified using a quantum mechanical simulation. Labels indicative of etch characteristics may be associated with the chemical characteristics and associated energies of the given thermal etch reaction. The machine learning model can be trained using chemical characteristics and associated energies as independent variables and labels as dependent variables across many different etch reactions of different types. When chemical characteristics and associated energies for a new thermal etch reaction are provided as inputs in the machine learning model, the machine learning model can accurately predict etch characteristics of the new thermal etch reaction as outputs.

Predicting etch characteristics in thermal etching and atomic layer etching

Disclosed are apparatuses and methods for performing atomic layer etching. A method may include supporting and thermally floating a substrate in a processing chamber, modifying one or more surface layers of material on the substrate by chemical adsorption, without using a plasma, while the substrate is maintained at a first temperature, and removing the one or more modified surface layers by desorption, without using a plasma, while the substrate is maintained at a second temperature, the first temperature being different than the second temperature. An apparatus may include a processing chamber and support features configured to support and thermally float a substrate in the chamber, a process gas unit configured to flow a first process gas onto the substrate, a substrate heating unit configured to heat the substrate, and a substrate cooling unit configured to actively cool the substrate.

Thermal atomic layer etch with rapid temperature cycling

A method for performing atomic layer etching (ALE) on a substrate, including the following method operations: performing a surface modification operation on a surface of the substrate, the surface modification operation configured to convert at least one monolayer of the substrate surface to a modified layer; performing a removal operation on the substrate surface, to remove the modified layer from the substrate surface, wherein removing the modified layer includes exposing the substrate surface to a metal complex, such that a ligand exchange reaction occurs between the metal complex and converted species of the modified layer; performing, following the removal operation, a plasma treatment on the substrate surface, the plasma treatment configured to remove residues formed from the exposure of the substrate surface to the metal complex, wherein the residues are volatilized by the plasma treatment; repeating the foregoing operations until a predefined thickness has been etched from the substrate surface.

Atomic layer etching using a combination of plasma and vapor treatments

A method for performing atomic layer etching of a surface of a substrate is provided, including: performing a surface conversion operation by exposing the surface of the substrate to a surface conversion reactant; performing a ligand exchange operation by exposing the surface of the substrate to a ligand containing reactant; performing a desorption operation that effects removal of surface species from the surface of the substrate; performing a purge operation; repeating the surface conversion operation, the ligand exchange operation, the desorption operation, and the purge operation, for a predefined number of cycles.

Atomic layer etching methods and apparatus

A method for performing atomic layer etching (ALE) on a substrate is provided, including the following operations: performing a surface modification operation on a substrate surface, the surface modification operation configured to convert at least one monolayer of the substrate surface to a modified layer, wherein a bias voltage is applied during the surface modification operation, the bias voltage configured to control a depth of the substrate surface that is converted by the surface modification operation; performing a removal operation on the substrate surface, the removal operation configured to remove at least a portion of the modified layer from the substrate surface, wherein removing the portion of the modified layer includes applying thermal energy to effect desorption of the portion of the modified layer. A plasma treatment can be performed to remove residues from the substrate surface following the removal operation.

Control of directionality in atomic layer etching

Apparatus for use with a vessel used to generate plasma are provided. One apparatus includes a first comb structure configured to partially wrap around a circumference of the vessel. The first comb structure has a first end and a second end, and a first separation is defined between the first end and the second end. The first comb structure defines a first plurality of fingers oriented perpendicular to the circumference of the vessel. The first comb structure is configured to be connected to a first end of a radio frequency (RF) coil. Also provided is a second comb structure configured to partially wrap around the circumference of the vessel. The second comb structure has a first end and a second end. A second separation is defined between the first end and the second end the second comb structure. The second comb structure defines a second plurality of fingers oriented perpendicular to the circumference of the vessel. The second comb structure is configured to be connected to a second end of the RF coil. Further, ends of the first plurality of fingers and ends of the second plurality of fingers are configured to face each other and maintain a third separation.

Plasma ignition and sustaining apparatus

A method for etching a metal oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate, comprising providing a plurality of cycles, is provided. Each cycle comprises exposing the metal oxide layer to a reactive hydrogen-containing gas or plasma to transform a part of the metal oxide layer into a layer of metal hydride, stopping the exposing the metal oxide layer to the reactive hydrogen-containing gas or plasma, heating the layer of metal hydride to at least a sublimation temperature to sublime the layer of metal hydride, and cooling the metal oxide layer to a temperature below the sublimation temperature.

Atomic layer etching of metal oxide

A method for performing atomic layer etching (ALE) on a substrate, including the following method operations: performing a surface modification operation on a surface of the substrate, the surface modification operation configured to convert at least one monolayer of the substrate surface to a modified layer; performing a removal operation on the substrate surface, the removal operation configured to remove the modified layer from the substrate surface, wherein removing the modified layer occurs via a ligand exchange reaction that is configured to volatilize the modified layer; performing, following the removal operation, a plasma treatment on the substrate surface, the plasma treatment configured to remove residues generated by the removal operation from the substrate surface, wherein the residues are volatilized by the plasma treatment; repeating the foregoing operations until a predefined thickness has been etched from the substrate surface.

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An apparatus for processing wafer-shaped articles comprises a vacuum transfer module and an atmospheric transfer module. A first airlock interconnects the vacuum transfer module and the atmospheric transfer module. An atmospheric process module is connected to the atmospheric transfer module. A gas supply system is configured to supply gas separately and at different controlled flows to each of the atmospheric transfer module, the first airlock and the atmospheric process module, so as to cause: (i) a flow of gas from the first airlock to the atmospheric transfer module when the first airlock and the atmospheric transfer module are open to one another, and (ii) a flow of gas from the atmospheric transfer module to the atmospheric process module when the atmospheric transfer module and the atmospheric process module are open to one another.

Wet-dry integrated wafer processing system

A method for performing atomic layer etching (ALE) on a substrate is provided, including the following operations: performing a surface modification operation on a substrate surface, the surface modification operation configured to convert at least one monolayer of the substrate surface to a modified layer, wherein a bias voltage is applied during the surface modification operation, the bias voltage configured to control a depth of the substrate surface that is converted by the surface modification operation; performing a removal operation on the substrate surface, the removal operation configured to remove at least a portion of the modified layer from the substrate surface, wherein removing the portion of the modified layer is effected via a ligand exchange reaction that is configured to volatilize the portion of the modified layer. A plasma treatment can be performed to remove residues from the substrate surface following the removal operation.

A method for configuring a plasma processing chamber for preventing a plasma un-confinement event during processing of a substrate from occurring outside of a confined plasma sustaining region is provided. The confined plasma sustaining region is defined by a set of confinement rings surrounding a bottom portion of an electrode is provided. The method includes determining a worst-case Debye length for a plasma generated in the plasma processing chamber during the processing. The method also includes performing at least one of adjusting gaps between any pair of adjacent confinement rings and adding at least one additional confinement ring to ensure that a gap between the any pair of adjacent confinement rings is less than the worst-case Debye length.

Methods for preventing plasma un-confinement events in a plasma processing chamber

A plasma processing system for processing at least a substrate with plasma. The plasma processing chamber is capable of controlling ion energy distribution. The plasma processing system may include a first electrode. The plasma processing system also includes a second electrode that is different from the first electrode and is configured for bearing the substrate. The plasma processing system may also include a signal source coupled with the first electrode. The signal source may provide a non-sinusoidal signal through the first electrode to control ion energy distribution at the substrate when the substrate is processed in the plasma processing system, wherein the non-sinusoidal signal is periodic.

Controlling ion energy distribution in plasma processing systems

A semiconductor substrate processing apparatus includes a cooled pin lifter paddle for raising and lowering a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus comprises a processing chamber in which the semiconductor substrate is processed, a heated pedestal for supporting the semiconductor substrate in the processing chamber, and the cooled pin lifter paddle located below the pedestal. The cooled pin lifter paddle includes a heat shield and at least one flow passage in an outer peripheral portion thereof through which a coolant can be circulated to remove heat absorbed by the heat shield of the cooled pin lifter paddle. The cooled pin lifter paddle is vertically movable such that lift pins on an upper surface of the heat shield travel through corresponding holes in the pedestal and a source of coolant is in flow communication with the at least one flow passage.

Cooled pin lifter paddle for semiconductor substrate processing apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Castro Valley, CA, United States of America

Andreas Fischer