Applied Materials, Inc.

Johanes F Swenberg

Christopher Sean Olsen

Wei Liu

Malcolm J Bevan

Benjamin Colombeau

Lara Hawrylchak

Steven C H Hung

Son Truong Nguyen

Udayan Ganguly

Patricia M Liu

Agus Sofian Tjandra

Theresa Kramer Guarini

Tze Wing Poon

Sairaju Tallavarjula

David K Carlson

Stephen Moffatt

Jian Li

Errol Antonio C Sanchez

Kartik Bhupendra Shah

Abhishek Dube

Vishwas Kumar Pandey

Eric Kihara Shono

Rene George

Shiyu Sun

Jacob Newman

Vedapuram S Achutharaman

Yoshitaka Yokota

Jing Tang

Hanh D Nguyen

Jose Antonio Marin

Steven C Hung

Sheng-Chin Kung

Sunderraj Thirupapuliyur

Roger Curtis

Byeong Chan Lee

Andy Lo

Kailash Pradhan

Philip A Bottini

David Chu

Vicky U Nguyen

Roisin L Doherty

Joseph Michael Ranish

Aaron Muir Hunter

Matthew S Rogers

Thai Cheng Chua

Zhijun Chen

Canfeng Lai

Swaminathan T Srinivasan

Jeffrey A Tobin

Shreyas Kher

Chang Seok Kang

Tatsuya E Sato

Bernard Lloyd Hwang

Lin Dong

Hansel Lo

Yuri S Uritsky

Taewan Kim

Linlin Wang

Fredrick Fishburn

H Peter Hey

Heng Pan

Yonah Cho

Erika Hansen

Hao Zhang

Chikuang Charles Wang

Tejal Goyani

Michael J Mark

Robert M Haney

Giuseppina Conti

Charles Chu

Raghuveer Satya Makala

Hoi-Sung Chung

Shih-Chung Chen

Kristopher Mikael Koskela

Swaminathar Srinivasan

Malcom J Bevan

Yoshita Yokota

Shankar Muthukrisnan

A method for forming an oxide layer includes forming a protective interlayer oxide on sidewalls of a trench formed on a substrate, forming a silicon nitride layer on the protective interlayer oxide, by a plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE ALD) process utilizing nitrogen-containing process gas, the silicon nitride layer having a concentration gradient of nitrogen varying from high concentration away from the protective interlayer oxide to low concentration near the protective interlayer oxide, and performing a conversion process to oxidize the formed silicon nitride layer to at least partially convert the formed silicon nitride layer to a silicon oxide layer.

Growth of thin oxide layer with silicon nitride and conversion

A method of forming a semiconductor structure includes annealing a surface of a substrate in an ambient of hydrogen to smooth the surface, pre-cleaning the surface of the substrate, depositing a high-κ dielectric layer on the pre-cleaned surface of the substrate, performing a re-oxidation process to thermally oxidize the surface of the substrate; performing a plasma nitridation process to insert nitrogen atoms in the deposited high-κ dielectric layer, and performing a post-nitridation anneal process to passivate chemical bonds in the plasma nitridated high-κ dielectric layer.

Treatments to improve device performance

Described is a method of manufacturing a gate-all-around electronic device. The method includes forming a thermal oxide layer though an enhanced in situ steam generation process in combination with atomic layer deposition of a low-κ layer. The thin thermal oxide layer passivates the interface between the silicon layer and the dielectric layer of the GAA. A passivation process after the deposition of the low-κ layer reduces the bulk trap and enhances the breakdown performance of the GAA transistor.

Gate all around I/O engineering

Gas injectors for providing uniform flow of fluid are provided herein. The gas injector includes a plenum body. The plenum body includes a recess, a protrusion adjacent to the recess and extending laterally away from the plenum body, and a plurality of nozzles extending laterally from an exterior surface of the plenum body. The plenum body has a plurality of holes in an exterior wall of the plenum body. Each nozzle is in fluid communication with an interior volume of the plenum body. By directing the flow of fluid, the gas injector provides for a uniform deposition.

Gas injector with baffle

Processing methods may be performed to produce semiconductor structures. The methods may include forming a silicon layer over a semiconductor substrate. The forming may include forming a silicon layer incorporating a dopant. The methods may include oxidizing a portion of the silicon layer while maintaining a portion of the silicon layer in contact with the semiconductor substrate. The oxidizing may drive a portion of the dopant through the silicon layer and into the semiconductor substrate.

Gate interface engineering with doped layer

Described is a method of manufacturing a gate-all-around electronic device. The method includes forming a thermal oxide layer though an enhanced in situ steam generation process in combination with atomic layer deposition of a low-&#x3ba; layer. The thin thermal oxide layer passivates the interface between the silicon layer and the dielectric layer of the GAA. A passivation process after the deposition of the low-&#x3ba; layer reduces the bulk trap and enhances the breakdown performance of the GAA transistor.

Embodiments described herein generally relate to conformal oxidation processes for flash memory devices. In conventional oxidation processes for gate structures, growth rates have become too fast, ultimately creating non-conformal films. To create a preferred growth rate for SiOon SiNfilms, embodiments in this disclosure use a thermal combustion of a ternary mixture of H+O+NO to gain SiOout of Si containing compounds. Using this mixture provides a lower growth in comparison with using only Hand O, resulting in a lower sticking coefficient. The lower sticking coefficient allows an optimal amount of atoms to reach the bottom of the gate, improving the conformality in 3D NAND SiOoxidation layers, specifically for ONO replacement tunneling gate formation.

Conformal oxidation processes for 3D NAND

Processing methods may be performed to produce semiconductor structures that may include a high-k dielectric material. The methods may include forming a silicon layer over a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate may include silicon germanium. The methods may include oxidizing a portion of the silicon layer to form a sacrificial oxide while maintaining a portion of the silicon layer in contact with the semiconductor substrate. The methods may include removing the sacrificial oxide. The methods may include oxidizing the portion of the silicon layer in contact with the semiconductor substrate to form an oxygen-containing material. The methods may include forming a high-k dielectric material overlying the oxygen-containing material.

Cap oxidation for FinFET formation

A method of forming an electronic device is disclosed. The method comprises forming a barrier layer on a silicon layer, and depositing a silicon oxide layer on the barrier layer. The formation of the barrier layer on the silicon layer minimizes parasitic oxidation of the underlying silicon layer and minimizes defects in the silicon layer.

Diffusion barrier layer

Processing methods may be performed to produce semiconductor structures that may include a high-k dielectric material. The methods may include delivering a nitrogen-containing precursor or an oxygen-containing precursor to a substrate contained in a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include forming reactive ligands on an exposed surface of the substrate with the nitrogen-containing precursor or the oxygen-containing precursor. The methods may also include forming a high-k dielectric material overlying the substrate.

Treatments to enhance material structures

Semiconductor devices suitable for narrow pitch applications and methods of fabrication thereof are described herein. In some embodiments, a semiconductor device may include a floating gate having a first width proximate a base of the floating gate that is greater than a second width proximate a top of the floating gate. In some embodiments, a method of shaping a material layer may include (a) oxidizing a surface of a material layer to form an oxide layer at an initial rate; (b) terminating formation of the oxide layer when the oxidation rate is about 90% or below of the initial rate; (c) removing at least some of the oxide layer by an etching process; and (d) repeating (a) through (c) until the material layer is formed to a desired shape. In some embodiments, the material layer may be a floating gate of a semiconductor device.

Semiconductor devices suitable for narrow pitch applications and methods of fabrication thereof

Methods and apparatus for improving selective oxidation against metals in a process chamber are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of oxidizing a first surface of a substrate disposed in a process chamber having a processing volume defined by one or more chamber walls may include exposing the substrate to an oxidizing gas to oxidize the first surface; and actively heating at least one of the one or more chamber walls to increase a temperature of the one or more chamber walls to a first temperature of at least the dew point of water while exposing the substrate to the oxidizing gas.

Methods and apparatus for selective oxidation of a substrate

Methods and apparatus for forming nitrogen-containing layers are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method includes exposing a first layer of a substrate to a plasma formed from a process gas comprising predominantly a mixture of ammonia (NH) and a noble gas, wherein ammonia is about 0.5 to about 15 percent of the process gas; and maintaining the process chamber at a pressure of about 10 mTorr to about 80 mTorr while exposing the first layer to the plasma to transform at least an upper portion of the first layer into a nitrogen-containing layer.

NH3 containing plasma nitridation of a layer on a substrate

Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate are provided. In some embodiments, a method of processing a substrate having a first layer may include disposing a substrate atop a substrate support in a lower processing volume of a process chamber beneath an ion shield having a bias power applied thereto, the ion shield comprising a substantially flat member supported parallel to the substrate support, and a plurality of apertures formed through the flat member, wherein the ratio of the aperture diameter to the thickness flat member ranges from about 10:1-1:10; flowing a process gas into an upper processing volume above the ion shield; forming a plasma from the process gas within the upper processing volume; treating the first layer with neutral radicals that pass through the ion shield; and heating the substrate to a temperature of up to about 550 degrees Celsius while treating the first layer.

Methods and apparatus for processing substrates using an ion shield

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Los Gatos, CA, United States of America

Johanes F Swenberg