Applied Materials, Inc.

Texas Instruments Corporation

Novellus Systems Incorporated

Lam Research Corporation

Asml Netherlands B.v.

Girish Anant Dixit

Fusen E Chen

Srinivas Gandikota

Deenesh Padhi

Robert H Havemann

Zheng Xu

Jianming Fu

Praburam Gopalraja

Ashok K Sinha

Wei D Wang

Sivakami Ramanathan

Anthony J Konecni

Nader Shamma

Chris R McGuirk

Adrien Lavoie

Bart Jan Van Schravendijk

Shankar Swaminathan

Bo Zheng

Frank Loren Pasquale

Hui-Jung Wu

Somnath S Nag

Joseph Yahalom

Sankaram Athreya

Dmitry Lubomirsky

Robert T Rozbicki

Mehul B Naik

Joseph Yudovsky

Robin W Cheung

Hichem M'Saad

Alexandros T Demos

Lawrence C Lei

Qi-Zhong Hong

Salvador P Umotoy

Derek R Witty

Erich R Klawuhn

Gwo-Chuan Tzu

Hougong Wang

Yeuk-Fai Edwin Mok

Eden M Zielinski

Zhi-wen Sun

Stephen W Russell

Wen Wu

Muhammad Atif Malik

Tom Madar

Son Van Nguyen

Johannes Catharinus Hubertus Mulkens

Ellie Y Yieh

Michael Xiaoxuan Yang

Richard Stephan Wise

Amitava Chatterjee

Jeffrey Alan West

Raashina Humayun

Harald Herchen

Reza Arghavani

Tom K Cho

Samantha SiamHwa Tan

Wei-Yung Hsu

Suketu Arun Parikh

Zhenjiang Cui

Michael D Armacost

George Andrew Antonelli

Yang Pan

Kaihan Abidi Ashtiani

Jengyi Yu

Pramod Subramonium

Manoj K Jain

Donald J Olgado

Howard E Grunes

Patricia Beauregard Smith

Guoqiang Xing

Michael Kubis

Allen L D'Ambra

Daniel R Juliano

Vincent E Burkhart

Srikanth Krishnan

Marinus Jochemsen

Wenbing Yang

Akhil N Singhal

Joseph Stevens

Keith Fox

Gregory Boyd Shinn

Helen R Armer

Chentao Yu

Jennifer O'Loughlin

Nicolay Kovarsky

Kaushik Chattopadhyay

Ian A Pancham

Khaled A Elsheref

Tom Mountsier

Tamal Mukherjee

Abha Rani Singh

Rahul Surana

Yuri Trachuk

Josephine J Chang

John S Lewis

Gengwei Jiang

Ajoy Zutshi

Siva Krishnan Kanakasabapathy

Elizabeth Apen

Ekaterina Mikhailovna Viatkina

In some examples, a method of processing a substrate comprises applying a photoresist (PR) onto a surface of the substrate, pre-exposing the PR to ultra violet (UV) light before depositing or etching a metal oxide (MO) layer onto the PR, and depositing or etching a MO layer onto the PR subsequent to pre-exposing the PR to UV light.

Bubble defect reduction

A method for selectively etching a stack with respect to a mask is provided. An atomic layer etch is provided to at least partially etch the stack, wherein the atomic layer etch forms at least some residue. An ion beam is provided to etch the stack, wherein the ion beam etch removes at least some of the residue from the atomic layer etch.

Atomic layer etch and ion beam etch patterning

A method, and associated apparatus and computer program, to determine corrections for a parameter of interest, such as critical dimension, of a patterning process. The method includes determining an exposure control correction for an exposure control parameter and, optionally, determining a process control correction for a process control parameter, based upon a measurement of the parameter of interest of a structure, and an exposure control relationship and a process control relationship. The exposure control relationship describes the dependence of the parameter of interest on the exposure control parameter and the process control relationship describes the dependence of the parameter of interest on the process control parameter. The exposure control correction and process control correction may be co-optimized to minimize variation of the parameter of interest of subsequent exposed and processed structures relative to a target parameter of interest.

Method of controlling a patterning process, lithographic apparatus, metrology apparatus lithographic cell and associated computer program

Methods for depositing nanolaminate protective layers over a core layer to enable deposition of high quality conformal films over the core layer for use in advanced multiple patterning schemes are provided. In certain embodiments, the methods involve depositing a thin silicon oxide or titanium oxide film using plasma-based atomic layer deposition techniques with a low high frequency radio frequency (HFRF) plasma power, followed by depositing a conformal titanium oxide film or spacer with a high HFRF plasma power.

Soft landing nanolaminates for advanced patterning

Disclosed are apparatus and method embodiments for achieving etch and/or deposition selectivity in vias and trenches of a semiconductor wafer. That is, deposition coverage in the bottom of each via of a semiconductor wafer differs from the coverage in the bottom of each trench of such wafer. The selectivity may be configured so as to result in punch through in each via without damaging the dielectric material at the bottom of each trench or the like. In this configuration, the coverage amount deposited in each trench is greater than the coverage amount deposited in each via.

Apparatus and methods for deposition and/or etch selectivity

The invention provides a removable first edge ring configured for pin and recess/slot coupling with a second edge ring disposed on the substrate support. In one embodiment, a first edge ring includes a plurality of pins, and a second edge ring includes one or more alignment recesses and one or more alignment slots for mating engagement with the pins. Each of the alignment recesses and alignment slots are at least as wide as the corresponding pins, and each of the alignment slots extends in the radial direction a length that is sufficient to compensate for the difference in thermal expansion between the first edge ring and the second edge ring.

Self aligning non contact shadow ring process kit

Adhesive layers residing at an interface between metal lines and dielectric diffusion barrier (or etch stop) layers are used to improve electromigration performance of interconnects. Adhesion layers are formed by depositing a precursor layer of metal-containing material (e.g., material containing Al, Ti, Ca, Mg, etc.) over an exposed copper line, and converting the precursor layer to a passivated layer (e.g., nitridized layer). For example, a substrate containing exposed copper line having exposed Cu&#x2014;O bonds is contacted with trimethylaluminum to form a precursor layer having Al&#x2014;O bonds and Al&#x2014;C bonds on copper surface. The precursor layer is then treated to remove residual organic substituents and to form Al&#x2014;N, Al&#x2014;H bonds or both. The treatment can include direct plasma treatment, remote plasma treatment, UV-treatment, and thermal treatment with a gas such as NH, H, N, and mixtures thereof. A dielectric diffusion barrier layer is then deposited.

Interfacial capping layers for interconnects

Provided are methods of stabilizing an underlying dielectric diffusion barrier during deposition and ultraviolet (UV) processing of an overlying dielectric layer. Methods include modulating the optical properties reduces the effects of UV radiation on the dielectric diffusion barrier layer. The dielectric diffusion barrier can be made to absorb less UV radiation. A dielectric layer with UV absorbing properties may also be added on top of the diffusion barrier layer so less UV is transmitted. Both methods result in reduced interaction between UV radiation and the dielectric diffusion barrier.

Reducing UV and dielectric diffusion barrier interaction through the modulation of optical properties

Heater elements made of high resistivity ternary and quaternary thin films containing three or more of W, C, O, N and Si are provided. The thin films have resistivities at least about 1000 &#x3bc;&#x3a9;-cm at 50 to 60 Angstroms. The ternary and quaternary films have improved stability over binary films on anneal. Methods of depositing the thin films are also provided. The methods involve depositing the film from an organometallic tungsten precursor under conditions such that a highly resistive, continuous film is formed.

Ternary tungsten-containing resistive thin films

Improved methods of depositing copper seed layers in copper interconnect structure fabrication processes are provided. Also provided are the resulting structures, which have improved electromigration performance and reduced line resistance. According to various embodiments, the methods involve depositing a copper seed bilayer on a barrier layer in a recessed feature on a partially fabricated semiconductor substrate. The bilayer has a copper alloy seed layer and a pure copper seed layer, with the pure copper seed layer is deposited on the copper alloy seed layer. The copper seed bilayers have reduced line resistance increase and better electromigration performance than conventional doped copper seed layers. Precise line resistance control is achieved by tuning the bilayer thickness to meet the desired electromigration performance.

Deposition of doped copper seed layers having improved reliability

A system, method and medium of detecting a transition interface between a first dielectric material and an adjacent second dielectric material in a semiconductor wafer during a chemical-mechanical polishing process includes impinging an incident light of a predetermined wavelength on the semiconductor wafer at a first time, detecting at least one first intensity of at least one first reflected light, impinging the incident light of the predetermined wavelength on the semiconductor wafer at a second time, detecting at least one second intensity of at least one second reflected light, and determining a difference between the at least one first intensity and the at least one second intensity. If the difference between the at least one first intensity and the at least one second intensity is above a predetermined threshold, the chemical-mechanical polishing process is terminated.

System, method, and medium for an endpoint detection scheme for copper low-dielectric damascene structures for improved dielectric and copper loss

A diffusion barrier film includes a layer of compositionally graded titanium nitride, having a nitrogen-rich portion and a nitrogen-poor portion. The nitrogen-rich portion has a composition of at least about 40% (atomic) N, and resides closer to the dielectric than the nitrogen-poor portion. The nitrogen-poor portion has a composition of less than about 30% (atomic) N (e.g., between about 5-30% N) and resides in contact with the metal, e.g., copper. The diffusion barrier film can also include a layer of titanium residing between the layer of dielectric and the layer of compositionally graded titanium nitride. The layer of titanium is often partially or completely converted to titanium oxide upon contact with a dielectric layer. The barrier film having a compositionally graded titanium nitride layer provides excellent diffusion barrier properties, exhibits good adhesion to copper, and reduces uncontrolled diffusion of titanium into interconnects.

Compositionally graded titanium nitride film for diffusion barrier applications

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Girish Anant Dixit