Applied Materials, Inc.

Jinrui Guo

Ludovic Godet

Jingmei Liang

Rutger Meyer Timmerman Thijssen

Praket Prakash Jha

Jung Chan Lee

Yongan Xu

Mukund Srinivasan

Tza-Jing Gung

Yong Sun

Wenhui Li

Li Zhang

Karthik Janakiraman

Rui Cheng

Rami Hourani

Daihua Zhang

Krishna Nittala

Kang Luo

Chien-An Chen

Jhenghan Yang

Nai-Wen Pi

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to processing an optical workpiece containing grating structures on a substrate by deposition processes, such as atomic layer deposition (ALD). In one or more embodiments, a method for processing an optical workpiece includes positioning a substrate containing a first layer within a processing chamber, where the first layer contains grating structures separated by trenches formed in the first layer, and each of the grating structures has an initial critical dimension, and depositing a second layer on at least the sidewalls of the grating structures by ALD to produce corrected grating structures separated by the trenches, where each of the corrected grating structures has a corrected critical dimension greater than the initial critical dimension.

Atomic layer deposition on optical structures

The present disclosure generally relates to a method and apparatus for forming a substrate having a graduated refractive index. A method of forming a waveguide structure includes expelling plasma from an applicator having a head toward a plurality of grating structures formed on a substrate. The plasma is formed in the head at atmospheric pressure. The method further includes changing a depth of the plurality of grating structures with the plasma by removing grating material from the plurality of grating structures.

Optical device having structural and refractive index gradation, and method of fabricating the same

A method of forming patterned features on a substrate is provided. The method includes positioning a plurality of masks arranged in a mask layout over a substrate. The substrate is positioned in a first plane and the plurality of masks are positioned in a second plane, the plurality of masks in the mask layout have edges that each extend parallel to the first plane and parallel or perpendicular to an alignment feature on the substrate, the substrate includes a plurality of areas configured to be patterned by energy directed through the masks arranged in the mask layout. The method further includes directing energy towards the plurality of areas through the plurality of masks arranged in the mask layout over the substrate to form a plurality of patterned features in each of the plurality of areas.

Mask orientation

A method of depositing a silicon-containing material is disclosed. Some embodiments of the disclosure provide films which fill narrow CD features without a seam or void. Some embodiments of the disclosure provide films which form conformally on features with wider CD. Embodiments of the disclosure also provide superior quality films with low roughness, low defects and advantageously low deposition rates.

CD dependent gap fill and conformal films

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to processing a workpiece containing a substrate during deposition, etching, and/or curing processes with a mask to have localized deposition on the workpiece. A mask is placed on a first layer of a workpiece, which protects a plurality of trenches from deposition of a second layer. In some embodiments, the mask is placed before deposition of the second layer. In other embodiments, the second layer is cured before the mask is deposited. In other embodiments, the second layer is etched after the mask is deposited. Methods disclosed herein allow the deposition of a second layer in some of the trenches present in the workpiece, while at least partially preventing deposition of the second layer in other trenches present in the workpiece.

Method of thin film deposition in trenches

Methods for forming a smooth ultra-thin flowable CVD film by using a surface treatment on a substrate surface before flowable CVD film deposition improves the uniformity and overall film smoothness. The flowable CVD film can be cured by any suitable curing process to form a smooth flowable CVD film.

Surface roughness for flowable CVD film

Aspects of the disclosure provide a method including depositing an underlayer comprising silicon oxide over a substrate, depositing a polysilicon liner on the underlayer, and depositing an amorphous silicon layer on the polysilicon liner. Aspects of the disclosure provide a device intermediate including a substrate, an underlayer comprising silicon oxide formed over the substrate, a polysilicon liner disposed on the underlayer, and an amorphous silicon layer disposed on the polysilicon liner.

Polysilicon liners

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to cluster tools for forming and filling trenches in a substrate with a flowable dielectric material. In one or more embodiments, a cluster tool for processing a substrate contains a load lock chamber, a first vacuum transfer chamber coupled to the load lock chamber, a second vacuum transfer chamber, a cooling station disposed between the first vacuum transfer chamber and the second vacuum transfer chamber, a factory interface coupled to the load lock chamber, a plurality of first processing chambers coupled to the first vacuum transfer chamber, wherein each of the first processing chambers is a deposition chamber capable of performing a flowable layer deposition, and a plurality of second processing chambers coupled to the second vacuum transfer chamber, wherein each of the second processing chambers is a plasma chamber capable of performing a plasma curing process.

Cyclic flowable deposition and high-density plasma treatment processes for high quality gap fill solutions

Implementations disclosed herein relate to methods for forming and filling trenches in a substrate with a flowable dielectric material. In one implementation, the method includes subjecting a substrate having at least one trench to a deposition process to form a flowable layer over a bottom surface and sidewall surfaces of the trench in a bottom-up fashion until the flowable layer reaches a predetermined deposition thickness, subjecting the flowable layer to a first curing process, the first curing process being a UV curing process, subjecting the UV cured flowable layer to a second curing process, the second curing process being a plasma or plasma-assisted process, and performing sequentially and repeatedly the deposition process, the first curing process, and the second curing process until the plasma cured flowable layer fills the trench and reaches a predetermined height over a top surface of the trench.

Methods are described for a cyclical deposition and curing process. More particularly, the implementations described herein provide a cyclic sequential deposition and curing process for filling features formed on a substrate. Features are filled to ensure electrical isolation of features in integrated circuits formed on a substrate. The processes described herein use flowable film deposition processes that have been effective in reducing voids or seams produced in features formed on a substrate. However, conventional gap-filling methods using flowable films typically contain dielectric materials that have undesirable physical and electrical properties. In particular, film density is not uniform, film dielectric constant varies across the film thickness, film stability is not ideal, film refractive index is inconsistent, and resistance to dilute hydrofluoric acid (DHF) is not ideal in conventional flowable films. The cyclic sequential deposition and curing processes address the issues described herein to create films with higher quality and increased lifetime.

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Jinrui Guo