International Business Machines Corporation

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Jin J Wu

William A Cavaliere

Wayne Thomas McDermott

David C Linnell

Richard Carl Ockovic

Tibor L Bauer

Alexander Schwarz

Chienfan Yu

John W Golz

Teresa Jacqueline Wu

Douglas W Cooper

Charles R Dart, Ii

James M Miller

Henry L Wolfe

Timothy H Freebern

Charles W Koburger, Iii

Bomy A Chen

Christopher Joseph Waskiewicz

Wesley Charles Natzle

Paul Christian Parries

Soichi Nadahara

Stefan Schmitz

Rebecca D Mih

Kris V Srikrishnan

Joyce C Liu

Russell Herbert Arndt

Susan L Cohen

Robert P Kuder, Ii

James Patrick Norum

George G Gifford

Jeffrey J Brown

George A Kaplita

Senthil K Srinivasan

Yeong-Jyh T Lii

James C Brighten

A method for fabricating a dual gate structure, comprising providing a semiconductor substrate having a first device area and a second device area covered by a gate oxide layer and a polysilicon layer, forming a first hard mask over the polysilicon layer, said first hard mask being a material that is resistant to a first etching, but susceptible to a second etching forming a second hard mask over the first hard mask and the polysilicon layer, said second hard mask being a material that is resistant to a second etching, but susceptible to a first etching, patterning and etching said second hard mask with a first etch to form a gate pattern on a first device area, and patterning and etching said first hard mask with a second etch to transfer gate patterns on the first and second device areas.

Dual mask process for semiconductor devices

A pair of transistors sharing a common electrodes e.g. a bitline in a DRAM array, has a self-aligned contact to the bitline in which the transistor gate stack has only a poly layer with a nitride cover; the aperture for the bitline contact is time-etched to penetrate only between the gates and not reach the silicon substrate; exposed nitride shoulders of the gate are etched to expose the poly; the remainder of the interlayer dielectric is removed by a selective etch; the exposed poly is re-oxidized to protect the gates; and the aperture bottom is cleaned; so that the thick gate stack of a DRAM is dispensed with in order to improve uniformity of line width across the chip beyond what the DRAM technique can deliver.

Self-aligned contact for closely spaced transistors

A vapor drying system includes a tank for holding a drying liquid and a heater for boiling the drying liquid in the tank to produce a vapor. A manifold is arranged in the tank for bubbling gas into the drying liquid. A controller is configured to cause the manifold to bubble gas into the drying liquid at a time when substrates to be dried are first introduced into the tank in order to quench the boiling of the drying liquid and generate a saturated vapor at a rate sufficient to achieve condensation of the drying liquid over substantially the entire surface of each of the substrates to be dried. In this way, staining of the substrates is reduced and process yield is improved.

Vapor drying system and method

A film layer not susceptible to aerosol cleaning is removed from a surface by converting the film layer into a film susceptible to aerosol cleaning, and aerosol jet cleaning the converted film and any contaminants. The aerosol jet can be moved in relation to the surface to provide thorough cleaning.

Film removal by chemical transformation and aerosol clean

A cryogenic aerosol separator/classifier for separating and selectively removing particles from a stream of aerosol. The aerosol stream is produced by a cryogenic aerosol generator comprising a reservoir containing a cryogenic gas-liquid mixture at a first pressure, a delivery line coupled to the reservoir, and a nozzle. The nozzle has at least one exit opening which allows the cryogenic gas-liquid mixture to expand from the first pressure to a lower pressure and, thus, to produce cryogenic aerosol. A separator is coupled to the nozzle, such that the light particles having high mobility are removed from the stream, thereby producing a stream of cryogenic flow with particles having a controlled size to clean a contaminated surface. The apparatus is enhanced by utilizing a magnetic field and/or specially designed flow fields to fully take advantage of the enhanced mobilities of light particles.

Cryogenic aerosol separator

An apparatus for mounting to a tool having a surface to be cleaned for producing aerosol from a substance for cleaning the surface, includes a flange for mounting to the tool having the surface to be cleaned. A nozzle is mounted to the flange for receiving the substance. The nozzle has at least one exit opening which allows passing of the substance therethrough for expanding the substance from a first pressure to a second pressure which is lower than the first pressure for solidifying at least a substantial portion of the substance and producing aerosol for cleaning the surface. Condensation preventing means is provided for preventing condensation from forming on surfaces of the apparatus and the surface to be cleaned, and contamination preventing means is provided for preventing contaminants from re-contaminating the surface subsequent to removal therefrom.

Mounting apparatus for cryogenic aerosol cleaning

A heat exchanger includes a housing, a reservoir comprising a solid material mounted within the housing, temperature control means for controlling the temperature of the reservoir, and energy exchange means for allowing thermal contact between the reservoir and a substance for effectuating transfer of energy from the reservoir to the substance for regulating the temperature of the substance.

Heat exchanger

An apparatus for producing aerosol from a substance includes a heat exchanger for receiving and cooling a substance. The heat exchanger includes a housing; a cryogenic reservoir comprising a solid material mounted within the housing; temperature control means for controllably cooling the reservoir; and energy exchange means for allowing thermal contact between the reservoir and the substance for effectuating transfer of cooling energy from the cryogenic reservoir to the substance for controllably cooling the substance. A delivery line has an inlet for receiving the substance from the heat exchanger at a first pressure. A nozzle is connected to the delivery line for receiving the substance from the delivery line. The nozzle has at least one exit opening which allows passing of the substance therethrough for expanding the substance from the first pressure to a second pressure which is lower than the first pressure for solidifying the substance and producing aerosol. Condensation preventing means is provided for preventing condensation from forming on the delivery line and/or on the nozzle.

Apparatus for producing cryogenic aerosol

A method of fabricating a semiconductor structure includes the steps of providing a semiconductor substrate having a material disposed thereon, masking the material with a mask having an appropriate pattern for forming a semiconductor structure, etching unmasked portions of the material so as to form the semiconductor structure, wherein the etching produces a film which attaches onto the semiconductor structure and/or on the semiconductor substrate, and removing the film from the semiconductor structure according to the steps of producing a cryogenic jet stream having cryogenic particles therein, and directing the cryogenic jet stream at the film such that the crogenic jet stream impinges on and causes the film to decrease in temperature so that a high temperature gradient develops between the film and the semiconductor structure, the film detaching from the semiconductor structure and fracturing due to contraction caused by the decrease in temperature and high temperature gradient.

Process for fabricating a semiconductor structure having sidewalls

An aerosol cleaning apparatus for cleaning a substrate includes an aerosol producing means having a nozzle head. The nozzle head is positioned at a selected proximity and orientation to the substrate which is held by a rotatable holder. The aerosol spray dislodges particles from the substrate and the rotation of the substrate further assists in the removal of the loosened particles. A method of aerosol cleaning includes rotating a substrate at a preselected speed and spraying an aerosol jet in conjunction with the rotation to help in the removal of particles from the substrate.

Aerosol cleaning method

A nozzle apparatus for producing aerosol from a substance includes a delivery line having an inlet for receiving the substance at a first pressure. A nozzle is connected to the delivery line for receiving the substance from the delivery line. The nozzle has at least one exit opening which allows passing of the substance therethrough for expanding the substance from the first pressure to a second pressure which is lower than the first pressure for solidifying the substance and producing aerosol. Condensation preventing means is provided for preventing condensation from forming on the delivery line and/or on the nozzle.

Nozzle apparatus for producing aerosol

A method is disclosed for cleaning microelectronic surfaces using an aerosol of at least substantially solid argon or nitrogen particles which impinge upon the surface to be cleaned and then evaporate and the resulting gas is removed by venting along with the contaminants dislodged by the cleaning method.

Surface cleaning using an argon or nitrogen aerosol

The present invention is an apparatus for cleaning semi-conductor solid surfaces using a spray of frozen cryogen, such as argon, to impinge on the solid surface to remove contaminant particles. The apparatus includes an appropriate nozzle positioned in a housing designed for ultra clean conditions including sweep gas supply and evacuation conduits and a support table movably positioned within the housing to controllably convey the semi-conductor solid surface on a track under the spray of frozen cryogen emanating from the nozzle.

Apparatus to clean solid surfaces using a cryogenic aerosol

A method is disclosed for cleaning microelectronics surfaces using an aerosol of at least substantially solid argon particles which impinge upon the surface to be cleaned and then evaporate and the resulting gas is removed by venting along with the contaminants dislodged by the cleaning method.

Growing community of inventors

Ossining, NY, United States of America

Jin J Wu