Applied Materials, Inc.

Other

Integrated Surface Technologies

Jeff Chinn

Wei Liu

Thorsten B Lill

Anisul Haque Khan

Dragan Valentin Podlesnik

Adam R Anderson

W Robert Ashurst

Ajay Kumar

Shaoher X Pan

Padmapani Nallan

David S Mui

Shashank C Deshmukh

Gene S Lee

Mohit Kumar Jain

Nam-Hun Kim

Maocheng Li

Yiqiong Wang

Jitske Trevor

Ganming Zhao

John Chao

Thalia Kong

A method of forming a film is provided. Nanoparticles are deposited on a surface of a substrate using a liquid deposition process. The nanoparticles are linked to each other and to the surface using linker molecules. A coating having a surface energy of less than 70 dyne/cm is deposited over the film to form a coated film. The coated film has an RMS surface roughness of 25 nm to 500 nm, a film coverage of 25% to 60%, a surface energy of less than 70 dyne/cm; and a durability of 10 to 5000 microNewtons. Depending on the particular environment in which the film is to be used, a durability of 10 to 500 microNewtons may be preferred. A film thickness 3 to 100 times the RMS surface roughness of the film is preferred.

Surface coating process

A composite is provided, comprising a substrate and a film on the substrate. The film has an RMS surface roughness of 25 nm to 500 nm, a film coverage of 25% to 60%, a surface energy of less than 70 dyne/cm; and a durability of 10 to 5000 microNewtons. Depending on the particular environment in which the film is to be used, a durability of 10 to 500 microNewtons may be preferred. A film thickness 3 to 100 times the RMS surface roughness of the film is preferred.

Surface coating

The present disclosure pertains to our discovery of a particularly efficient method for etching a multi-part cavity in a substrate. The method provides for first etching a shaped opening, depositing a protective layer over at least a portion of the inner surface of the shaped opening, and then etching a shaped cavity directly beneath and in continuous communication with the shaped opening. The protective layer protects the etch profile of the shaped opening during etching of the shaped cavity, so that the shaped opening and the shaped cavity can be etched to have different shapes, if desired. In particular embodiments of the method of the invention, lateral etch barrier layers and/or implanted etch stops are also used to direct the etching process. The method of the invention can be applied to any application where it is necessary or desirable to provide a shaped opening and an underlying shaped cavity having varying shapes. The method is also useful whenever it is necessary to maintain tight control over the dimensions of the shaped opening.

Method of micromachining a multi-part cavity

The present invention provides a method for the simultaneous removal of an oxygen and/or nitrogen-containing dielectric antireflective coating (&ldquo;DARC&rdquo;) during plasma etching of an underlying layer in a film stack. According to the method of the invention, the film stack is etched using a plasma containing reactive fluorine species. The concentration of reactive fluorine species within the plasma is controlled based on one or more of the following factors: the oxygen content of the antireflective coating, the nitrogen content of the antireflective coating, the thickness of the antireflection coating layer, and the thickness of the underlying film stack layer. The disclosure of the invention provides preferred combinations of plasma source gases which provide for the simultaneous removal of an oxygen and/or nitrogen-containing DARC layer during etching of an underlying etch stack layer, where the underlying stack layer comprises a metal silicide, polysilicon, or a metal. Also provided herein is a formula for determining the total amount of DARC removed using a given etch process recipe, based on the etch selectivity of the particular process recipe

Method for in situ removal of a dielectric antireflective coating during a gate etch process

The present disclosure provides a method for etching trenches, contact vias, or similar features to a depth of 100 &mgr;m and greater while permitting control of the etch profile (the shape of the sidewalls surrounding the etched opening). The method requires the use of a metal-comprising masking material in combination with a fluorine-comprising plasma etchant. The byproduct produced by a combination of the metal with reactive fluorine species must be essentially non-volatile under etch process conditions, and sufficiently non-corrosive to features on the substrate being etched, that the substrate remains unharmed by the etch process. Although aluminum is a preferred metal for the metal-comprising mask, other metals can be used for the masking material, so long as they produce an essentially non-volatile, non-corrosive etch byproduct under etch process conditions. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, metallic materials recommended for the mask include aluminum, cadmium, copper, chromium, gallium, indium, iron, magnesium, manganese, nickel, and combinations thereof. In particular, aluminum in combination with copper or magnesium is particularly useful, where the copper or magnesium content is less than about 8% by weight, and other constituents total less than about 2% by weight. The plasma feed gas includes at least one fluorine-containing compound such as nitrogen trifluoride (NF ), carbon tetrafluoride (CF ), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF ), by way of example and not by way of limitation. Oxygen (O ), or an oxygen-comprising compound, or hydrogen bromide (HBr), or a combination thereof may be added to the plasma feed gases to help provide a protective layer over etched sidewalls, assisting in profile control of the etched feature.

Metal mask etching of silicon

In accordance with the present invention, during a polysilicon etch back, a controlled amount of oxygen (O ) is added to the plasma generation feed gases, to reduce pitting of the etched back polysilicon surface. The plasma etchant is generated from a plasma source gas comprising: (i) at least one fluorine-containing gas, and (ii) oxygen. The invention may be practiced in any of a number of apparatus adapted to expose polysilicon to a plasma etchant. One preferred apparatus is a decoupled plasma source (DPS&trade;, Applied Materials, Santa Clara, Calif.) etching system. Another preferred apparatus is a magnetically enhanced plasma (MXP&trade;, Applied Materials, Santa Clara, Calif.) etching system. Preferably, the invention is practiced in an apparatus having a memory that stores instructions for carrying out the process of the invention, a processor adapted to communicate with the memory and to execute the instructions stored by the memory, an etch chamber adapted to expose the substrate to the etchant in accordance with instructions from the processor, and a port adapted to pass communications between the processor and the etch chamber.

Method for etching polysilicon to have a smooth surface

The present invention provides straight forward methods for plasma etching a trench having rounded top corners, or rounded bottom corners, or both in a silicon substrate. A first method for creating a rounded top corner on the etched silicon trench comprises etching both an overlying silicon oxide layer and an upper portion of the silicon substrate during a &ldquo;break-through&rdquo; step which immediately precedes the step in which the silicon trench is etched. The plasma feed gas for the break-through step comprises carbon and fluorine. In this method, the photoresist layer used to pattern the etch stack is preferably not removed prior to the break-through etching step. Subsequent to the break-through step, a trench is etched to a desired depth in the silicon substrate using a different plasma feed gas composition. A second method for creating a rounded top corner on the etched silicon trench comprises formation of a built-up extension on the sidewall of an overlying patterned silicon nitride hard mask during etch (break-through) of a silicon oxide adhesion layer which lies between the hard mask and a silicone substrate. The built-up extension upon the silicon nitride sidewall acts as a sacrificial masking material during etch of the silicon trench, delaying etching of the silicon at the outer edges of the top of the trench. This permits completion of trench etching with delayed etching of the top corner of the trench and provides a more gentle rounding (increased radius) at the top corners of the trench. During the etching of the silicon trench to its final dimensions, it is desirable to round the bottom corners of the finished silicon trench. We have discovered that a more rounded bottom trench corner is obtained using a two-step silicon etch process where the second step of the process is carried out at a higher process chamber pressure than the first step.

Method for etching a trench having rounded top and bottom corners in a silicon substrate

An etchant composition for etching straight walled, tapered trenches in silicon comprising chlorine, nitrogen and a mixture of helium and oxygen. The resultant trenches can be readily filled with a dielectric material without the formation of voids. The etchant of the invention is less corrosive, and thus provides increased chamber life and reduced costs over hydrogen bromide-containing etchants.

Non-HBr shallow trench isolation etch process

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Foster City, CA, United States of America

Jeff Chinn