Applied Materials, Inc.

Derek R Witty

Li-Qun Xia

Hichem M'Saad

Mihaela A Balseanu

Deenesh Padhi

Victor Nguyen

Bok Hoen Kim

Ganesh Balasubramanian

Alexandros T Demos

Amir Hamed Al-Bayati

Vladimir Zubkov

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan

Karthik Janakiraman

Reza Arghavani

Martin Jay Seamons

Mei-Yee Shek

Sudha S Rathi

Chiu Chan

Huiwen Xu

Atif Noori

Patrick Reilly

Sohyun Park

Shahid Shaikh

Isabelita Roflox

Tersem Summan

Sanjeev Baluja

Pramit Manna

Jianhua Zhou

Thomas E Nowak

Girish Anant Dixit

Zhenjiang Cui

Helen R Armer

Mandar Balasaheb Pandit

Heung Lak Park

Francimar Campana Schmitt

Sang H Ahn

Dustin Wenpin Ho

Khaled A Elsheref

Swayambhu Prasad Behera

Sungjin Kim

Lester A D'Cruz

Sung Hyun Hong

Jeong-Uk Huh

Yi Chen

Mei Yin Chang

Fred Conrad Redeker

Christopher Dennis Bencher

Shijian Li

Amit Kumar Bansal

Xinliang Lu

Tom K Cho

Chien-Teh Kao

Kang Sub Yim

Yi Zheng

Lin Zhang

Mohamad A Ayoub

Romuald Nowak

Turgut Sahin

Yaxin Wang

Scott A Hendrickson

Manoj Vellaikal

Timothy S Dyer

Eller Y Juco

Haichun Yang

Yongmei Chen

Yijun Liu

Prahallad Iyengar

Weifeng Ye

Li Yan Miao

Hyoung-Chan Ha

Anton Baryshnikov

Yuri Trachuk

Josephine J Chang

Yong-Won Lee

Shuang Liu

Hichem M'Sadd

Woong Jae Lee

Hyung-Joon Kim

A method of forming a nitrogen-doped amorphous carbon layer on a substrate in a processing chamber is provided. The method generally includes depositing a predetermined thickness of a sacrificial dielectric layer over a substrate, forming patterned features on the substrate by removing portions of the sacrificial dielectric layer to expose an upper surface of the substrate, depositing conformally a predetermined thickness of a nitrogen-doped amorphous carbon layer on the patterned features and the exposed upper surface of the substrate, selectively removing the nitrogen-doped amorphous carbon layer from an upper surface of the patterned features and the upper surface of the substrate using an anisotropic etching process to provide the patterned features filled within sidewall spacers formed from the nitrogen-doped amorphous carbon layer, and removing the patterned features from the substrate.

Conformal amorphous carbon for spacer and spacer protection applications

Embodiments of the disclosure relate to deposition of a conformal carbon-based material. In one embodiment, the method comprises depositing a sacrificial dielectric layer over a substrate, forming patterned features on the substrate by removing portions of the sacrificial dielectric layer to expose an upper surface of the substrate, introducing a hydrocarbon source, a plasma-initiating gas, and a dilution gas into the processing chamber, generating a plasma in the processing chamber at a deposition temperature of about 80&#xb0; C. to about 550&#xb0; C. to deposit a conformal amorphous carbon layer on the patterned features and the exposed upper surface of the substrate, selectively removing the amorphous carbon layer from an upper surface of the patterned features and the upper surface of the substrate using an anisotropic etching process to provide the patterned features filled within sidewall spacers, and removing the patterned features formed from the sacrificial dielectric layer.

Ultra-conformal carbon film deposition

Provided are methods of for deposition of SiN films via PEALD processes. Certain methods pertain to exposing a substrate surface to a silicon precursor to provide a silicon precursor at the substrate surface; purging excess silicon precursor; exposing the substrate surface to an ionized reducing agent; and purging excess ionized reducing agent to provide a film comprising SiN, wherein the substrate has a temperature of 23&#xb0; C. to about 550&#xb0; C.

PEALD of films comprising silicon nitride

Embodiments of the invention relate to deposition of a conformal carbon-based material. In one embodiment, the method comprises depositing a sacrificial dielectric layer with a predetermined thickness over a substrate, forming patterned features on the substrate by removing portions of the sacrificial dielectric layer to expose an upper surface of the substrate, introducing a hydrocarbon source, a plasma-initiating gas, and a dilution gas into the processing chamber, wherein a volumetric flow rate of hydrocarbon source:plasma-initiating gas:dilution gas is in a ratio of 1:0.5:20, generating a plasma at a deposition temperature of about 300 C to about 500 C to deposit a conformal amorphous carbon layer on the patterned features and the exposed upper surface of the substrate, selectively removing the amorphous carbon layer from an upper surface of the patterned features and the upper surface of the substrate, and removing the patterned features.

The present invention generally provides methods and apparatus for monitoring and maintaining flatness of a substrate in a plasma reactor. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a method for processing a substrate comprising positioning the substrate on an electrostatic chuck, applying an RF power between the an electrode in the electrostatic chuck and a counter electrode positioned parallel to the electrostatic chuck, applying a DC bias to the electrode in the electrostatic chuck to clamp the substrate on the electrostatic chuck, and measuring an imaginary impedance of the electrostatic chuck.

Apparatus and method for substrate clamping in a plasma chamber

A method for the removal of copper oxide from a copper and dielectric containing structure of a semiconductor chip is provided. The copper and dielectric containing structure may be planarized by chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) and treated by the method to remove copper oxide and CMP residues. Annealing in a hydrogen (H) gas and ultraviolet (UV) environment removes copper oxide, and a pulsed ammonia plasma removes CMP residues.

Copper oxide removal techniques

Embodiments described herein relate to a method for processing a substrate. In one embodiment, the method includes introducing a gas mixture comprising a hydrocarbon source and a diluent gas into a deposition chamber located within a processing system, generating a plasma from the gas mixture in the deposition chamber at a temperature between about 200&#xb0; C. and about 700&#xb0; C. to form a low-hydrogen content amorphous carbon layer on the substrate, transferring the substrate into a curing chamber located within the processing system without breaking vacuum, and exposing the substrate to UV radiation within the curing chamber at a curing temperature above about 200&#xb0; C.

Deposition of an amorphous carbon layer with high film density and high etch selectivity

In a method of depositing a crystalline germanium layer on a substrate, a substrate is placed in the process zone comprising a pair of process electrodes. In a deposition stage, a crystalline germanium layer is deposited on the substrate by introducing a deposition gas comprising a germanium-containing gas into the process zone, and forming a capacitively coupled plasma of the deposition gas by coupling energy to the process electrodes. In a subsequent treatment stage, the deposited crystalline germanium layer is treated by exposing the crystalline germanium layer to an energized treatment gas or by annealing the layer.

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of crystalline germanium

Methods and apparatus for forming conformal silicon nitride films at low temperatures on a substrate are provided. The methods of forming a silicon nitride layer include performing a deposition cycle including flowing a processing gas mixture into a processing chamber having a substrate therein, wherein the processing gas mixture comprises precursor gas molecules having labile silicon to nitrogen, silicon to carbon, or nitrogen to carbon bonds, activating the precursor gas at a temperature between about 20&#xb0; C. to about 480&#xb0; C. by preferentially breaking labile bonds to provide one or more reaction sites along a precursor gas molecule, forming a precursor material layer on the substrate, wherein the activated precursor gas molecules bond with a surface on the substrate at the one or more reaction sites, and performing a plasma treatment process on the precursor material layer to form a conformal silicon nitride layer.

Low temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of conformal silicon carbon nitride and silicon nitride films

Methods of depositing boron-containing liner layers on substrates involve the formation of a bilayer including an initiation layer which includes barrier material to inhibit the diffusion of boron from the bilayer into the underlying substrate.

Boron film interface engineering

A methods of forming a flash memory device are provided. The flash memory device comprises a silicon dioxide layer on a substrate and a silicon nitride layer that is formed on the silicon dioxide layer. The properties of the silicon nitride layer can be modified by any of: exposing the silicon nitride layer to ultraviolet radiation, exposing the silicon nitride layer to an electron beam, and by plasma treating the silicon nitride layer. A dielectric material is deposited on the silicon nitride layer and a conductive date is formed over the dielectric material. The flash memory device with modified silicon nitride layer provides an increase in charge holding capacity and charge retention time of the unit cell of a non-volatile memory device.

Method of forming flash memory with ultraviolet treatment

Methods of processing films on substrates are provided. In one aspect, the methods comprise treating a patterned low dielectric constant film after a photoresist is removed from the film by depositing a thin layer comprising silicon, carbon, and optionally oxygen and/or nitrogen on the film. The thin layer provides a carbon-rich, hydrophobic surface for the patterned low dielectric constant film. The thin layer also protects the low dielectric constant film from subsequent wet cleaning processes and penetration by precursors for layers that are subsequently deposited on the low dielectric constant film.

Method to minimize wet etch undercuts and provide pore sealing of extreme low k (k&#x3c;2.5) dielectrics

Methods are provided for forming a structure that includes an air gap. In one embodiment, a method is provided for forming a damascene structure including depositing a porous low dielectric constant layer by a method including reacting an organosilicon compound and a porogen-providing precursor, depositing a porogen-containing material, and removing at least a portion of the porogen-containing material, depositing an organic layer on the porous low dielectric constant layer by reacting the porogen-providing precursor, forming a feature definition in the organic layer and the porous low dielectric constant layer, filing the feature definition with a conductive material therein, depositing a mask layer on the organic layer and the conductive material disposed in the feature definition, forming apertures in the mask layer to expose the organic layer, removing a portion or all of the organic layer through the apertures, and forming an air gap adjacent the conductive material.

Air gap integration scheme

A silicon dioxide layer is deposited onto a substrate using a process gas comprising BDEAS and an oxygen-containing gas such as ozone. The silicon dioxide layer can be part of an etch-resistant stack that includes a resist layer. In another version, the silicon dioxide layer is deposited into through holes to form an oxide liner for through-silicon vias.

Silicon dioxide layer deposited with BDEAS

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Derek R Witty