Applied Materials, Inc.

John Chao

Ajay Kumar

Wei Liu

Jeffrey D Chinn

Anisul Haque Khan

Jeff Chinn

Mohit Kumar Jain

A method for processing a substrate disposed in a substrate processing chamber to modify the contour of a trench formed on the substrate. The substrate processing chamber is the type that has a coil and a plasma generation system including a source power system operatively coupled to the coil and a bias power system operatively coupled to the substrate process chamber. The method includes transferring the substrate into the substrate process chamber. Thereafter, the substrate is exposed to a plasma formed from a first process gas consisting essentially of a sputtering agent by applying RF energy from the source power system to the coil. The plasma is biased toward the substrate by applying bias power to the substrate process chamber. Thereafter, the substrate is exposed to a plasma formed from a second process gas without applying bias power or applying minimal bias power to the substrate process chamber.

Method for rounding corners and removing damaged outer surfaces of a trench

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

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John Chao