Lam Research Corporation

Novellus Systems Incorporated

Bhadri N Varadarajan

Bo Gong

Zhe Gui

Bart Jan Van Schravendijk

Adrien Lavoie

Huatan Qiu

Rachel E Batzer

Geoffrey Hohn

Dennis Michael Hausmann

James Samuel Sims

Sirish K Reddy

Ananda K Banerji

George Andrew Antonelli

Patrick G Breiling

Akhil N Singhal

Guangbi Yuan

Taide Tan

Will Schlosser

Jeffrey S Marks

Artur Kolics

Richard Alan Gottscho

Kevin M McLaughlin

Thomas Joseph Knisley

Shankar Swaminathan

Reza Arghavani

Samantha SiamHwa Tan

Jun Qian

Nagraj Shankar

Fengyuan Lai

Matthew Scott Weimer

Casey Holder

Ieva Narkeviciute

Joseph Hung-chi Wei

Jon Henri

Yongsik Yu

Gengwei Jiang

Seshasayee Varadarajan

Kevin J Ilcisin

Hui-Jung Wu

Thomas W Mountsier

Sean C Chang

Adrien LaVoie

Andrew John McKerrow

David Mordo

William Crew

William T Lee

Michael Carris

Chen-Hua Hsu

Galbokka Hewage Layan Savithra

Kashish Sharma

Guangquan Lu

Mandar Pandit

Graphene is deposited on a metal surface of a semiconductor substrate at a deposition temperature compatible with back-end-of-line semiconductor processing. The graphene may be annealed at a temperature between the deposition temperature and a temperature sensitive limit of materials in the semiconductor substrate to improve film quality. Alternatively, the graphene may be treated by exposure to plasma with one or more oxidant species. The graphene may be encapsulated with an etch stop layer and hermetic barrier, where the etch stop layer includes a metal oxide deposited under conditions that do not change or that improve the film quality of the graphene. The graphene may be encapsulated with a hermetic barrier, where the hermetic barrier is deposited under conditions that do not damage the graphene.

Graphene integration

A doped or undoped silicon carbide film can be deposited using a remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. One or more silicon-containing precursors are provided to a reaction chamber. Radical species, such as hydrogen radical species, are provided in a substantially low energy state or ground state and interact with the one or more silicon-containing precursors to deposit the silicon carbide film. A co-reactant may be flowed with the one or more silicon-containing precursors, where the co-reactant can be a depositing additive or a non-depositing additive to increase step coverage of the silicon carbide film.

Conformal deposition of silicon carbide films using heterogeneous precursor interaction

A substrate processing system includes a first chamber including a substrate support. A showerhead is arranged above the first chamber and is configured to filter ions and deliver radicals from a plasma source to the first chamber. The showerhead includes a heat transfer fluid plenum, a secondary gas plenum including an inlet to receive secondary gas and a plurality of secondary gas injectors to inject the secondary gas into the first chamber, and a plurality of through holes passing through the showerhead. The through holes are not in fluid communication with the heat transfer fluid plenum or the secondary gas plenum.

Integrated showerhead with thermal control for delivering radical and precursor gas to a downstream chamber to enable remote plasma film deposition

A doped or undoped silicon carbide film can be deposited using a remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. One or more silicon-containing precursors are provided to a reaction chamber. Radical species, such as hydrogen radical species, are provided in a substantially low energy state or ground state and interact with the one or more silicon-containing precursors to deposit the silicon carbide film. A co-reactant may be flowed with the one or more silicon-containing precursors, where the co-reactant is a carbon-containing precursor and each silicon-containing precursor is a silane-based precursor with at least a silicon atom having two or more hydrogen atoms bonded to the silicon atom.

Remote plasma based deposition of silicon carbide films using silicon-containing and carbon-containing precursors

A doped or undoped silicon carbide (SiCON) film can be deposited in one or more features of a substrate for gapfill. After a first thickness of the doped or undoped silicon carbide film is deposited in the one or more features, the doped or undoped silicon carbide film is exposed to a remote hydrogen plasma under conditions that cause a size of an opening near a top surface of each of the one or more features to increase, where the conditions can be controlled by controlling treatment time, treatment frequency, treatment power, and/or remote plasma gas composition. Operations of depositing additional thicknesses of silicon carbide film and performing a remote hydrogen plasma treatment are repeated to at least substantially fill the one or more features. Various time intervals between deposition and plasma treatment may be added to modulate gapfill performance.

Doped or undoped silicon carbide deposition and remote hydrogen plasma exposure for gapfill

Disclosed are methods and systems for providing silicon carbide films. A layer of silicon carbide can be provided under process conditions that employ one or more silicon-containing precursors that have one or more silicon-hydrogen bonds and/or silicon-silicon bonds. The silicon-containing precursors may also have one or more silicon-oxygen bonds and/or silicon-carbon bonds. One or more radical species in a substantially low energy state can react with the silicon-containing precursors to form the silicon carbide film. The one or more radical species can be formed in a remote plasma source.

Conformal deposition of silicon carbide films

Certain embodiments herein relate to an apparatus used for remote plasma processing. In various embodiments, the apparatus includes a reaction chamber that is conditioned by forming a low recombination material coating on interior chamber surfaces. The low recombination material helps minimize the degree of radical recombination that occurs when the reaction chamber is used to process substrates. During processing on substrates, the low recombination material may become covered by relatively higher recombination material (e.g., as a byproduct of the substrate processing), which results in a decrease in the amount of radicals available to process the substrate over time. The low recombination material coating may be reconditioned through exposure to an oxidizing plasma, which acts to reform the low recombination material coating. The reconditioning process may occur periodically as additional processing occurs on substrates. The apparatus may be configured to cause formation and reconditioning of the low recombination material coating.

Minimizing radical recombination using ALD silicon oxide surface coating with intermittent restoration plasma

In some examples, a method for conditioning a wafer processing chamber comprises setting a pressure in the chamber to a predetermined pressure range, setting a temperature of the chamber to a predetermined temperature, and supplying a process gas mixture to a gas distribution device within the chamber. A plasma is struck within the chamber and a condition in the chamber is monitored. Based on a detection of the monitored condition meeting or transgressing a threshold value, a chamber conditioning operation is implemented. The chamber conditioning operation may include depositing a preconditioning film onto an internal surface of the chamber, depositing a silicon oxycarbide (SiCO) film onto the preconditioning film, and depositing a protective layer onto the SiCO film.

Oxidation resistant protective layer in chamber conditioning

Provided are methods and systems for providing silicon-containing films. The composition of the silicon-containing film can be controlled by the choice of the combination of precursors and the ratio of flow rates between the precursors. The silicon-containing films can be deposited on a substrate by flowing two different organo-silicon precursors to mix together in a reaction chamber. The organo-silicon precursors react with one or more radicals in a substantially low energy state to form the silicon-containing film. The one or more radicals can be formed in a remote plasma source.

Films of desired composition and film properties

Growing community of inventors

Beaverton, OR, United States of America

Bhadri N Varadarajan