Applied Materials, Inc.

Anup Kumar Singh

Bhaskar Kumar

Ganesh Balasubramanian

Vivek Bharat Shah

Sidharth Bhatia

Kaushik Comandoor Alayavalli

Vinayak Vishwanath Hassan

Rick Kustra

Pramit Manna

Prashanth Kothnur

Edward P Hammond

Krishna Nittala

Changgong Wang

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Bok Hoen Kim

Jay D Pinson, Ii

Canfeng Lai

Badri N Ramamurthi

Sathya Swaroop Ganta

Akshay Dhanakshirur

A lid for a process chamber includes a plate having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface. The first surface has a recess and a seal groove formed in the first surface and surrounding the recess. The lid further includes an array of holes extending from the recess to the second surface.

Showerhead design to control stray deposition

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods for cleaning a chamber comprising introducing a gas to a processing volume of the chamber, providing a first radiofrequency (RF) power having a first frequency of about 40 MHz or greater to a lid of the chamber, providing a second RF power having a second frequency to an electrode disposed in a substrate support within the processing volume, and removing at least a portion of a film disposed on a surface of a chamber component of the chamber. The second frequency is about 10 MHz to about 20 MHz.

Method of using dual frequency RF power in a process chamber

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to semiconductor processing. More specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods for seasoning one or more components of a process chamber. In at least one embodiment, a method for seasoning a process chamber includes depositing a seasoning film onto a component of the process chamber at a chamber pressure of about 4 mTorr to about 20 mTorr and a temperature below about 200° C. or about 200° C. to about 400° C. The method includes depositing a deposition film onto the seasoning film. In at least one embodiment, a method includes introducing a nitrogen-containing gas to the seasoning film to form a nitrogen-treated seasoning film. Introducing the nitrogen-containing gas to the seasoning film is performed before depositing the deposition film onto the seasoning film.

Methods of seasoning process chambers

Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to hardmask films and methods for depositing hardmask films. More particularly, implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to tungsten carbide hardmask films and processes for depositing tungsten carbide hardmask films. In one implementation, a method of forming a tungsten carbide film is provided. The method comprises forming a tungsten carbide initiation layer on a silicon-containing surface of a substrate at a first deposition rate. The method further comprises forming a tungsten carbide film on the tungsten carbide initiation layer at a second deposition rate, wherein the second deposition rate is greater than the first deposition rate.

Techniques to improve adhesion and defects for tungsten carbide film

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods of depositing carbon film layers greater than 3,000 &#x212b; in thickness over a substrate and surface of a lid of a chamber using dual frequency, top, sidewall and bottom sources. The method includes introducing a gas to a processing volume of a chamber. A first radiofrequency (RF) power is provided having a first frequency of about 40 MHz or greater to a lid of the chamber. A second RF power is provided having a second frequency to a bias electrode disposed in a substrate support within the processing volume. The second frequency is about 10 MHz to about 40 MHz. An additional third RF power is provided having lower frequency of about 400 kHz to about 2 MHz to the bias electrode.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method and an apparatus for monitoring plasma behavior inside a plasma processing chamber. In one example, a method for monitoring plasma behavior includes acquiring at least one image of a plasma, and determining a plasma parameter based on the at least one image.

Plasma parameters and skew characterization by high speed imaging

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to apparatuses for reducing particle contamination on substrates in a plasma processing chamber. In one or more embodiments, an edge ring is provided and includes a top surface, a bottom surface opposite the top surface and extending radially outward, an outer vertical wall extending between and connected to the top surface and the bottom surface, an inner vertical wall opposite the outer vertical wall, an inner lip extending radially inward from the inner vertical wall, and an inner step disposed between and connected to the inner wall and the bottom surface. During processing, the edge ring shifts the high plasma density zone away from the edge area of the substrate to avoid depositing particles on the substrate when the plasma is de-energized.

Plasma density control on substrate edge

A method and apparatus for operating a plasma processing chamber includes performing a plasma process at a process pressure and a pressure power to generate a plasma. A first ramping-down stage starts in which the process power and the process pressure are ramped down substantially simultaneously to an intermediate power level and an intermediate pressure level, respectively. The intermediate power level and intermediate pressure level are preselected so as to raise a plasma sheath boundary above a threshold height from a surface of a substrate. A purge gas is flowed from a showerhead assembly at a sufficiently high rate to sweep away contaminant particles trapped in the plasma such that one or more contaminant particles move outwardly of an edge of the substrate. A second ramping-down stage starts where the intermediate power level and the intermediate pressure level decline to a zero level and a base pressure, respectively.

Apparatus and methods for removing contaminant particles in a plasma process

Implementations of the present disclosure provide methods for treating a processing chamber. In one implementation, the method includes purging a 300 mm substrate processing chamber, without the presence of a substrate, by flowing a purging gas into the substrate processing chamber at a flow rate of about 0.14 sccm/mmto about 0.33 sccm/mmand a chamber pressure of about 1 Torr to about 30 Torr, with a throttle valve of a vacuum pump system of the substrate processing chamber in a fully opened position, wherein the purging gas is chemically reactive with deposition residue on exposed surfaces of the substrate processing chamber.

Technique to prevent aluminum fluoride build up on the heater

Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to an apparatus for reducing particle contamination on substrates in a plasma processing chamber. The apparatus for reduced particle contamination includes a chamber body, a lid coupled to the chamber body. The chamber body and the lid define a processing volume therebetween. The apparatus also includes a substrate support disposed in the processing volume and an edge ring. The edge ring includes an inner lip disposed over a substrate, a top surface connected to the inner lip, a bottom surface opposite the top surface and extending radially outward from the substrate support, and an inner step between the bottom surface and the inner lip. To avoid depositing the particles on the substrate being processed when the plasma is de-energized, the edge ring shifts the high plasma density zone away from the edge area of the substrate.

Implementations described herein generally relate to methods and apparatus for in-situ removal of unwanted deposition buildup from one or more interior surfaces of a semiconductor substrate-processing chamber. In one implementation, the method comprises forming a reactive fluorine species from a fluorine-containing cleaning gas mixture. The method further comprises delivering the reactive fluorine species into a processing volume of a substrate-processing chamber. The processing volume includes one or more aluminum-containing interior surfaces having unwanted deposits formed thereon. The method further comprises permitting the reactive fluorine species to react with the unwanted deposits and aluminum-containing interior surfaces of the substrate-processing chamber to form aluminum fluoride. The method further comprises exposing nitrogen-containing cleaning gas mixture to in-situ plasma to form reactive nitrogen species in the processing volume. The method further comprises permitting the reactive nitrogen species to react with the ammonium fluoride to convert the aluminum fluoride to aluminum nitride.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Anup Kumar Singh