Applied Materials, Inc.

Aykut Aydin

Karthik Janakiraman

Rui Cheng

Krishna Nittala

Diwakar N Kedlaya

Yi Yang

Zubin Huang

Bo Qi

Abhijit Basu Mallick

Takehito Koshizawa

Venkatanarayana Shankaramurthy

Dong H Lee

Anton Baryshnikov

Gautam K Hemani

Ruiyun Huang

Qinghua Zhao

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to processes for forming silicon- and boron-containing films for use in, e.g., spacer-defined patterning applications. In an embodiment, a spacer-defined patterning process is provided. The process includes disposing a substrate in a processing volume of a processing chamber, the substrate having patterned features formed thereon, and flowing a first process gas into the processing volume, the first process gas comprising a silicon-containing species, the silicon-containing species having a higher molecular weight than SiH. The process further includes flowing a second process gas into the processing volume, the second process gas comprising a boron-containing species, and depositing, under deposition conditions, a conformal film on the patterned features, the conformal film comprising silicon and boron.

Processes for depositing SiB films

Embodiments of the present technology include semiconductor processing methods to make boron-and-silicon-containing layers that have a changing atomic ratio of boron-to-silicon. The methods may include flowing a silicon-containing precursor into a substrate processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber, and also flowing a boron-containing precursor and molecular hydrogen (H) into the substrate processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The boron-containing precursor and the Hmay be flowed at a boron-to-hydrogen flow rate ratio. The flow rate of the boron-containing precursor and the Hmay be increased while the boron-to-hydrogen flow rate ratio remains constant during the flow rate increase. The boron-and-silicon-containing layer may be deposited on a substrate, and may be characterized by a continuously increasing ratio of boron-to-silicon from a first surface in contact with the substrate to a second surface of the boron-and-silicon-containing layer furthest from the substrate.

Boron concentration tunability in boron-silicon films

Exemplary methods of semiconductor processing may include providing a silicon-containing precursor to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. A substrate may be disposed within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include depositing a silicon-containing material on the substrate. The silicon-containing material may extend within the one or more recessed features along the substrate and a seam or void may be defined by the silicon-containing material within at least one of the one or more recessed features along the substrate. The methods may also include treating the silicon-containing material with a hydrogen-containing gas, such as plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing gas, which may cause a size of the seam or void to be reduced.

Seam removal in high aspect ratio gap-fill

Exemplary deposition methods may include delivering a boron-containing precursor to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include delivering a dopant-containing precursor with the boron-containing precursor. The dopant-containing precursor may include a metal. The methods may include forming a plasma of all precursors within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include depositing a doped-boron material on a substrate disposed within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The doped-boron material may include greater than or about 80 at. % of boron in the doped-boron material.

Metal-doped boron films

Processes for depositing sib films

Exemplary deposition methods may include delivering a silicon-containing precursor and a boron-containing precursor to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include providing a hydrogen-containing precursor with the silicon-containing precursor and the boron-containing precursor. A flow rate ratio of the hydrogen-containing precursor to either of the silicon-containing precursor or the boron-containing precursor is greater than or about 1:1. The methods may include forming a plasma of all precursors within the processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include depositing a silicon-and-boron material on a substrate disposed within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber.

Methods to reduce material surface roughness

Deposition methods may prevent or reduce crystallization of silicon in a deposited amorphous silicon film that may occur after annealing at high temperatures. The crystallization of silicon may be prevented by doping the silicon with an element. The element may be boron, carbon, or phosphorous. Doping above a certain concentration for the element prevents substantial crystallization at high temperatures and for durations at or greater than 30 minutes. Methods and devices are described.

Amorphous silicon-based films resistant to crystallization

Exemplary deposition methods may include delivering a silicon-containing precursor and a boron-containing precursor to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include delivering a dopant-containing precursor with the silicon-containing precursor and the boron-containing precursor. The dopant-containing precursor may include one or more of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur. The methods may include forming a plasma of all precursors within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include depositing a silicon-and-boron material on a substrate disposed within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The silicon-and-boron material may include greater than or about 1 at. % of a dopant from the dopant-containing precursor.

Doping semiconductor films

Exemplary deposition methods may include flowing a silicon-containing precursor into a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The method may include striking a plasma in the processing region between a faceplate and a pedestal of the semiconductor processing chamber. The pedestal may support a substrate including a patterned photoresist. The method may include maintaining a temperature of the substrate less than or about 200&#xb0; C. The method may also include depositing a silicon-containing film along the patterned photoresist.

Plasma enhanced deposition of silicon-containing films at low temperature

Exemplary deposition methods may include delivering a silicon-containing precursor and a boron-containing precursor to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include providing a hydrogen-containing precursor with the silicon-containing precursor and the boron-containing precursor. A flow rate ratio of the hydrogen-containing precursor to either of the silicon-containing precursor or the boron-containing precursor is greater than or about 2:1. The methods may include forming a plasma of all precursors within the processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include depositing a silicon-and-boron material on a substrate disposed within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber.

Methods and systems for controlling concentration profiles of deposited films using machine learning are provided. Data associated with a target concentration profile for a film to be deposited on a surface of a substrate during a deposition process for the substrate is provided as input to a trained machine learning model. One or more outputs of the trained machine learning model are obtained. Process recipe data identifying one or more sets of deposition process settings is determined from the one or more outputs. For each set of deposition process setting, an indication of a level of confidence that a respective set of deposition process settings corresponds to the target concentration profile for the film to be deposited on the substrate is also determined. In response to an identification of the respective set of deposition process settings with a level of confidence that satisfies a level of confidence criterion, one or more operations of the deposition process are performed in accordance with the respective set of deposition process settings.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Aykut Aydin