Applied Materials, Inc.

Other

Hiroki Sasano

Wei Liu

David S L Mui

David S Mui

Shashank C Deshmukh

Meihua Shen

Anisul Haque Khan

Sunil Srinivasan

Nicolas Gani

Radhika C Mani

Daehee Weon

Methods for fabricating one or more shallow trench isolation (STI) structures are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method for fabricating one or more shallow trench isolation (STI) structures may include providing a substrate having a patterned mask layer disposed thereon to define one or more STI structures. The substrate may be etched using a plasma formed from a process gas mixture to form one or more STI structures on the substrate, wherein the process gas mixture comprises a fluorine-containing gas and either a fluorocarbon-containing gas or a hydrofluorocarbon-containing gas.

Shallow trench isolation etch process

A method for controlling etch processes during fabrication of semiconductor devices comprises tests and measurements performed on non-product and product substrates to define an N-parameter CD control graph that is used to calculate a process time for trimming a patterned mask to a pre-determined width. An apparatus for performing such a method.

Method and apparatus for controlling etch processes during fabrication of semiconductor devices

A method and apparatus for monitoring the stability of a substrate processing chamber and for adjusting the process recipe. Thickness and CD measurement data are collected before wafer processing and after wafer processing by an integrated or an in-situ metrology tool to monitor process chamber stability and to adjust the process recipe. The real time chamber stability monitoring enabled by the integrated metrology tool reduces the risk and cost of wafer mis-processing. The real time process recipe adjustment allows tightening of the process recipe. Process development cycle can also be reduced by the method and apparatus.

Chamber stability monitoring using an integrated metrology tool

A method and apparatus for controlling when a calibration cycle is started for a metrology tool. The method and apparatus exploits a correlation between a drift of a first parameter (e.g., film thickness measurement drift) and a drift of a second parameter (e.g., CD measurement drift). One embodiment of the method comprises measuring a film thickness on one or more reference substrates to determine when a drift component of these measurements exceeds a pre-determined range and thereafter calibrating the metrology tool when the drift component of the film thickness measurements exceeds the pre-determined range. Generally, the drift of the film thickness measurement will occur prior to substantial drift of the CD measurement occurring.

Method and apparatus for controlling a calibration cycle or a metrology tool

Embodiments of the invention generally relate to a method for etching in a processing platform (e.g. a cluster tool) wherein robust pre-etch and post-etch data may be obtained in-situ. The method includes the steps of obtaining pre-etched critical dimension (CD) measurements of a feature on a substrate, etching the feature; treating the etched substrate to reduce and/or remove sidewall polymers deposited on the feature during etching, and obtaining post-etched CD measurements. The CD measurements may be utilized to adjust the etch process to improved the accuracy and repeatability of device fabrication.

Method for controlling accuracy and repeatability of an etch process

A method and apparatus for processing a semiconductor wafer is provided for reducing CD microloading variation. OCD metrology is used to inspect a wafer to determine pre-etch CD microloading, by measuring the CD of dense and isolated photoresist lines. Other parameters can also be measured or otherwise determined, such as sidewall profile, photoresist layer thickness, underlying layer thickness, photoresist pattern density, open area, etc. The inspection results are fed forward to the etcher to determine process parameters, such as resist trim time and/or etch conditions, thereby achieving the desired post-etch CD microloading. In certain embodiments, the CD and profile measurements, trim, etch processing and post-etch cleaning are performed at a single module in a controlled environment. All of the transfer and processing steps performed by the module are performed in a clean environment, thereby increasing yield by avoiding exposing the wafer to the atmosphere and possible contamination between steps.

Method and system for realtime CD microloading control

A method and apparatus for processing a semiconductor wafer is provided for reducing dimensional variation by feeding forward information relating to photoresist mask CD and profile to adjust the next process the inspected wafer will undergo (e.g., a photoresist trim process). After the processing step, dimensions of a structure formed by the process, such as the CD of a gate formed by the process, are measured, and this information is fed back to the process tool to adjust the process for the next wafer to further reduce dimensional variation. By taking into account photoresist CD and profile variation when choosing a resist trim recipe, post-etch CD is decoupled from pre-etch CD and profile. With automatic compensation for pre-etch CD, a very tight distribution of post-etch CD is achieved. In certain embodiments, the CD and profile measurements, trim, etch processing and post-etch cleaning are performed at a single module in a controlled environment. All of the transfer and processing steps performed by the module are performed in a clean environment, thereby increasing yield by avoiding exposing the wafer to the atmosphere and possible contamination between steps.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Hiroki Sasano