Applied Materials, Inc.

Bikram Kapoor

Anchuan Wang

M Ziaul Karim

Manoj Vellaikal

Hemant P Mungekar

Michael Santiago Cox

Young Seen Lee

Zhenjiang Cui

Lin Zhang

Padmanabhan Krishnaraj

Kent Rossman

Dong Li

Zhuang Li

Bruno Geoffrion

Anjana M Patel

Alok Jain

Farhan Ahmad

Karen Greig

Katsunari Ozeki

Michael Awdshiew

A film is deposited on a substrate disposed in a substrate processing chamber. The substrate has a trench formed between adjacent raised surfaces. A first portion of the film is deposited over the substrate from a first gaseous mixture flowed into the process chamber by chemical-vapor deposition. Thereafter, the first portion is etched by flowing an etchant gas having a halogen precursor, a hydrogen precursor, and an oxygen precursor into the process chamber. Thereafter, a second portion of the film is deposited over the substrate from a second gaseous mixture flowed into the processing chamber by chemical-vapor deposition.

Reactive ion etching for semiconductor device feature topography modification

A method of depositing a silicon oxide layer over a substrate having a trench formed between adjacent raised surfaces. In one embodiment the silicon oxide layer is formed in a multistep process that includes depositing a first portion of layer over the substrate and within the trench by forming a high density plasma process that has simultaneous deposition and sputtering components from a first process gas comprising a silicon source, an oxygen source and helium and/or molecular hydrogen with highD/S ratio, for example, 10-20 and, thereafter, depositing a second portion of the silicon oxide layer over the substrate and within the trench by forming a high density plasma process that has simultaneous deposition and sputtering components from a second process gas comprising a silicon source, an oxygen source and molecular hydrogen with a lowerD/S ratio of, for example, 3-10.

Hydrogen assisted HDP-CVD deposition process for aggressive gap-fill technology

Methods are provided for depositing a silicon oxide film on a substrate disposed in a substrate processing chamber. The substrate has a gap formed between adjacent raised surfaces. A process gas having a silicon-containing gas, an oxygen-containing gas, and a fluent gas is flowed into the substrate processing chamber. The fluent gas is introduced into the substrate processing chamber at a flow rate of at least 500 sccm. A plasma is formed having an ion density of at least 10ions/cmfrom the process gas to deposit a first portion of the silicon oxide film over the substrate and into the gap. Thereafter, the deposited first portion is exposed to an oxygen plasma having at least 10ions/cm. Thereafter, a second portion of the silicon oxide film is deposited over the substrate and into the gap.

Oxygen plasma treatment for enhanced HDP-CVD gapfill

A gapfill process is provided using cycling of HDP-CVD deposition, etching, and deposition step. The fluent gas during the first deposition step includes an inert gas such as He, but includes Hduring the remainder deposition step. The higher average molecular weight of the fluent gas during the first deposition step provides some cusping over structures that define the gap to protect them during the etching step. The lower average molecular weight of the fluent gas during the remainder deposition step has reduced sputtering characteristics and is effective at filling the remainder of the gap.

HDP-CVD multistep gapfill process

A combination of deposition and polishing steps are used to permit improved uniformity of a film after the combination of steps. Both the deposition and polishing are performed with processes that vary across the substrate. The combination of the varying deposition and etching rates results in a film that is substantially planar after the film has been polished. In some instances, it may be easier to control the variation of one of the two processes than the other so that the more controllable process is tailored to accommodate nonuniformities introduced by the less controllable process.

HDP-CVD uniformity control

A method of depositing a silicon oxide layer over a substrate having a trench formed between adjacent raised surfaces. In one embodiment the silicon oxide layer is formed in a multistep process that includes depositing a first portion of layer over the substrate and within the trench by forming a high density plasma process that has simultaneous deposition and sputtering components from a first process gas comprising a silicon source, an oxygen source and helium and/or molecular hydrogen with high D/S ratio, for example, 10-20 and, thereafter, depositing a second portion of the silicon oxide layer over the substrate and within the trench by forming a high density plasma process that has simultaneous deposition and sputtering components from a second process gas comprising a silicon source, an oxygen source and molecular hydrogen with a lower D/S ratio of, for example, 3-10.

A method of depositing a film on a substrate. In one embodiment, the method includes depositing a first portion of the film using a high density plasma to partially fill a gap formed between adjacent features formed on the substrate. The film deposition process is then stopped before or shortly after the entry of the gap pinches off and the film is etched to widen entry to the gap using a two step etching process that includes a first physical etch step that forms a plasma from a sputtering agent introduced into the processing chamber and biases the plasma towards the substrate and a subsequent chemical etch step that forms a plasma from a reactive etchant gas introduced into the processing chamber. After the etching sequence is complete, a second portion of the film is deposited over the first portion using a high density plasma to further fill the gap.

High density plasma CVD process for gapfill into high aspect ratio features

A method and system for forming a layer on a substrate in a process chamber are provided. Deposition gases are provided to the process chamber and permitted to mix in the desired relative concentrations prior to the deposition step, resulting in improved composition uniformity of the layer. This may be accomplished by generating a heating plasma from a first gaseous mixture. The plasma is then terminated and a second gaseous mixture is provided to the process chamber such that the second gaseous mixture is substantially uniformly mixed. A second plasma is then generated from the second gaseous mixture to deposit the layer on the substrate.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Bikram Kapoor