Applied Materials, Inc.

Christopher Sean Olsen

Lara Hawrylchak

Eric Kihara Shono

Agus Sofian Tjandra

Johanes F Swenberg

Hansel Lo

Vishwas Kumar Pandey

Matthew S Rogers

Tobin Kaufman-Osborn

Yoshitaka Yokota

Taewan Kim

Kartik Bhupendra Shah

Erika Hansen

Khaled Ahmed

Peter Stone

Philip Allan Kraus

Jeffrey A Tobin

Rene George

Udayan Ganguly

Cory M Czarnik

Heng Pan

Wei Liu

Abhilash J Mayur

Yi Ma

Thai Cheng Chua

Theresa Kramer Guarini

Malcolm J Bevan

Tsung-Han Yang

Ping Han Hsieh

Teng-fang Kuo

Mehran Behdjat

Sundar Ramamurthy

Vedapuram S Achutharaman

Manoj Vellaikal

Bernard Lloyd Hwang

Saurabh Chopra

Tze Wing Poon

Johanes S Swenberg

Sairaju Tallavarjula

Roger Curtis

Sunderraj Thirupapuliyur

Hemantha Raju

Chi Wei Lo

Peter G Borden

Stephen Moffatt

Majeed Foad

Mark Yam

Haifan Liang

Canfeng Lai

Sean M Seutter

Shulin Wang

Shiyu Sun

Jacob Newman

Shreyas Kher

Jing Tang

Kai Ma

Gary Eugene Miner

Kevin Laughton Cunningham

Yonah Cho

Toi Yue Becky Leung

Kailash Pradhan

Robert C McIntosh

Naman Apurva

Lucien Date

Chaitanya Anjaneyalu Prasad

Daniel C Glover

Vicky U Nguyen

Randhir P Thakur

John Patrick Holland

Alex Paterson

Pravin K Narwankar

Valentin Nikolov Todorow

Andreas G Hegedus

Zhijun Chen

Patricia M Liu

Li Xu

Swaminathan T Srinivasan

Ming Li

Umesh M Kelkar

Kalyanjit Ghosh

Zhong Qiang Hua

Ken Kaung Lai

Michael P Stewart

Chang Seok Kang

Hemant P Mungekar

Tatsuya E Sato

David Knapp

Faran Nouri

Steven C Hung

Fredrick Fishburn

Zhenwen Ding

Hao Zhang

Shankar Muthukrishnan

Chaitanya A Prasad

David Chu

Emre Cuvalci

Tejal Goyani

Phillip Kraus

Swaminathar Srinivasan

Malcom J Bevan

A method for forming an oxide layer includes forming a protective interlayer oxide on sidewalls of a trench formed on a substrate, forming a silicon nitride layer on the protective interlayer oxide, by a plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE ALD) process utilizing nitrogen-containing process gas, the silicon nitride layer having a concentration gradient of nitrogen varying from high concentration away from the protective interlayer oxide to low concentration near the protective interlayer oxide, and performing a conversion process to oxidize the formed silicon nitride layer to at least partially convert the formed silicon nitride layer to a silicon oxide layer.

Growth of thin oxide layer with silicon nitride and conversion

Embodiments of methods of performing a selective oxidation process on non-metal surfaces are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of performing a selective oxidation process on non-metal surfaces includes: forming a first mixture of a carrier gas and a liquid in a mixer having a mixing block coupled to one or more control valves with a mixing line disposed therebetween; flowing the first mixture from the mixer to a vaporizer to vaporize the first mixture outside of an RTP chamber; and delivering the vaporized first mixture to the RTP chamber via a gas delivery line to expose a substrate disposed in the RTP chamber with the vaporized first mixture to perform a selective oxidation process on the substrate at a temperature of about 500 to about 1100 degrees Celsius.

Methods of selective oxidation on rapid thermal processing (RTP) chamber with active steam generation

A method and apparatus for growing an oxide layer within a feature of a substrate is described herein. The method is suitable for use in semiconductor manufacturing. The oxide layer is formed by exposing a substrate to both a high pressure oxidant exposure and a lower pressure oxygen containing plasma exposure. The high pressure oxidant exposure is performed at a pressure of greater than 10 Torr, while the lower pressure oxygen containing plasma exposure is performed at a pressure of less than about 10 Torr. The features are high-aspect ratio trenches or holes within a stack of silicon oxide and silicon nitride layers.

Dual pressure oxidation method for forming an oxide layer in a feature

Methods of forming an oxide layer over a semiconductor substrate are provided. The method includes forming a first oxide containing portion of the oxide layer over a semiconductor substrate at a first growth rate by exposing the substrate to a first gas mixture having a first oxygen percentage at a first temperature. A second oxide containing portion is formed over the substrate at a second growth rate by exposing the substrate to a second gas mixture having a second oxygen percentage at a second temperature. A third oxide containing portion is formed over the substrate at a third growth rate by exposing the substrate to a third gas mixture having a third oxygen percentage at a third temperature. The first growth rate is slower than each subsequent growth rate and each growth rate subsequent to the second growth rate is within 50% of each other.

Method of linearized film oxidation growth

Embodiments described herein generally relate to a processing system and a method of delivering a reactant gas. The processing system includes a substrate support system, an injection cone, and an intake. The injection cone includes a linear rudder. The linear rudder is disposed such that the flow of reactant gas through the injection cone results in film growth on a specific portion of a substrate. The method includes flowing the gas through the injection cone and delivering the gas onto the substrate below. The localization of the reactant gas, allows for film growth on a specific portion of the substrate.

Processing system and method of delivering a reactant gas

Embodiments of gas distribution modules for use with rapid thermal processing (RTP) systems and methods of use thereof are provided herein. In some embodiments, a gas distribution module for use with a RTP chamber includes: a first carrier gas line and a first liquid line fluidly coupled to a mixer, the mixer having one or more control valves configured to mix a carrier gas from the first carrier gas line and a liquid from the first liquid line in a desired ratio to form a first mixture; a vaporizer coupled to the mixer and configured to receive the first mixture in a hollow internal volume, the vaporizer having a heater configured to vaporize the first mixture; and a first gas delivery line disposed between the vaporizer and the RTP chamber to deliver the vaporized first mixture to the RTP chamber.

Selective oxidation on rapid thermal processing (RTP) chamber with active steam generation

Chamber inlet

A gas injector for processing a substrate includes a body having an inlet connectable to a gas source that is configured to provide a gas flow in a first direction into the inlet when processing a substrate on a substrate support disposed within a processing volume of a processing chamber, and an a gas injection channel formed in the body. The gas injection channel is in fluid communication with the inlet and configured to deliver the gas flow to an inlet of the processing chamber. The gas injection channel has a first interior surface and a second interior surface that are parallel to a second direction and a third direction. The second and third directions are misaligned with a center of the substrate, and are at an angle to the first direction towards a first edge of the substrate support.

Asymmetric injection for better wafer uniformity

A substrate oxidation assembly includes: a chamber body defining a processing volume; a substrate support disposed in the processing volume; a plasma source coupled to the processing volume; a steam source fluidly coupled to the processing volume; and a substrate heater. A method of processing a semiconductor substrate includes: initiating conformal radical oxidation of high aspect ratio structures of the substrate comprising: heating the substrate; and exposing the substrate to steam; and conformally oxidizing the substrate. A semiconductor device includes a silicon and nitrogen containing layer; a feature formed in the silicon and nitrogen containing layer having an aspect ratio of at least 40:1; and an oxide layer on the face of the feature having a thickness in a bottom region of the silicon and nitrogen containing layer that is at least 95% of a thickness of the oxide layer in a top region.

Steam oxidation initiation for high aspect ratio conformal radical oxidation

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to oscillating a boundary layer of a flow of process gas in methods and systems for processing substrates. In one aspect, one or more of a pressure, a gas flow rate, and/or a height of a substrate are oscillated during processing. In one implementation, a method of processing a substrate includes conducting a processing operation on the substrate in an interior volume of a processing chamber. The conducting the processing operation on the substrate includes moving a flow of one or more process gases over a surface of the substrate. The method also includes oscillating a boundary layer of the flow of one or more process gases while the flow of one or more process gases moves over the surface of the substrate.

Method for processing a substrate by oscillating a boundary layer of the flow of one or more process gases over a surface of a substrate and systems for processing a substrate using the method

The present disclosure generally provides methods of providing at least metastable radical molecular species and/or radical atomic species to a processing volume of a process chamber during an electronic device fabrication process, and apparatus related thereto. In one embodiment, the apparatus is a gas injection assembly disposed between a remote plasma source and a process chamber. The gas injection assembly includes a body, a dielectric liner disposed in the body that defines a gas mixing volume, a first flange to couple the gas injection assembly to a process chamber, and a second flange to couple the gas injection assembly to the remote plasma source. The gas injection assembly further includes one or more gas injection ports formed through the body and the liner.

Method and apparatus for supplying improved gas flow to a processing volume of a processing chamber

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a process chamber for conformal oxidation of high aspect ratio structures. The process chamber includes a liner assembly located in a first side of a chamber body and two pumping ports located in a substrate support portion adjacent a second side of the chamber body opposite the first side. The liner assembly includes a flow divider to direct fluid flow away from a center of a substrate disposed in a processing region of the process chamber. The liner assembly may be fabricated from quartz minimize interaction with process gases, such as radicals. The liner assembly is designed to reduce flow constriction of the radicals, leading to increased radical concentration and flux. The two pumping ports can be individually controlled to tune the flow of the radicals through the processing region of the process chamber.

Remote plasma oxidation chamber

Embodiments of the disclosure provide an improved apparatus and methods for nitridation of stacks of materials. In one embodiment, a method for processing a substrate in a processing region of a process chamber is provided. The method includes generating and flowing plasma species from a remote plasma source to a delivery member having a longitudinal passageway, flowing plasma species from the longitudinal passageway to an inlet port formed in a sidewall of the process chamber, wherein the plasma species are flowed at an angle into the inlet port to promote collision of ions or reaction of ions with electrons or charged particles in the plasma species such that ions are substantially eliminated from the plasma species before entering the processing region of the process chamber, and selectively incorporating atomic radicals from the plasma species in silicon or polysilicon regions of the substrate.

Method and apparatus for selective nitridation process

A method for forming an oxide layer includes forming an interfacial layer on a substrate, forming an amorphous silicon layer on the interfacial layer, performing a direct oxidation process to selectively oxidize the formed amorphous silicon layer, and performing a thermal oxidation process to oxidize the formed amorphous silicon layer.

Growth of thin oxide layer with amorphous silicon and oxidation

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Christopher Sean Olsen