Novellus Systems Incorporated

Lam Research Corporation

Lam Researh Corporation

Novelius Systems, Inc.

Jon Henri

Dennis Michael Hausmann

Pramod Subramonium

Bart Jan Van Schravendijk

Shankar Swaminathan

James Samuel Sims

Zhiyuan Fang

Mandyam Sriram

Seshasayee Varadarajan

Andrew John McKerrow

Ramesh Chandrasekharan

Hu Kang

Shane Tang

Adrien Lavoie

Easwar Srinivasan

Kapu Sirish Reddy

Vishwanathan Rangarajan

Kathryn Merced Kelchner

Kirthi Kattige

Karl Frederick Leeser

Ming Chu Li

David Charles Smith

Nagraj Shankar

Yongsik Yu

Arpan Pravin Mahorowala

Jason L Tian

Pengyi Zhang

Elham Mohimi

Bhavin Jariwala

Steven T Mayer

Jonathan David Reid

Bhadri N Varadarajan

Haiying Fu

Thomas W Mountsier

Sirish K Reddy

Adrien LaVoie

Qingguo Wu

Aaron R Fellis

Arul N Dhas

Xingyuan Tang

Bart K Van Schravendijk

Antonio Xavier

Shawn D Hancock

Paul C Lemaire

Thomas G Jewell

Kevin Gerber

Tom Dorsh

Elizabeth Apen

Dan Vitkavage

Mike Pierce

Bryan Schlief

Eric A Hudson

Michal Danek

Samantha SiamHwa Tan

Shih-Ked Lee

Keith Fox

Henner Meinhold

Sesha Varadarajan

John Floyd Ostrowski

Robert Anthony Sculac

Timothy Mark Archer

Jialing Yang

Dan M Doble

Karthik Subramanian Colinjivadi

Christopher M Bartlett

Marshall Stowell

Christopher Gage

Francis Sloan Roberts

Gishun Hsu

Scott Stoddard

Gerald B Feldewerth

Thomas Tan Vu

David Sauer

Anita Kang

Huifeng Zheng

Todd Shroeder

Sathish Babu S V Janjam

Mohammed Sabri

Aaron Bingham

Tim Thomas

Greg Farhner

N Arul Dhas

A tool and method for processing substrates by encapsulating a mask to protect from degradation during an etch-back to prevent a feature liner material from pinching off an opening during deposition-etch cycles used to fabricate high aspect ratio features with very tight critical dimension control.

Mask encapsulation to prevent degradation during fabrication of high aspect ratio features

Fabricating a semiconductor substrate by (a) vertical etching a feature having sidewalls and a depth into one or more layers formed on the semiconductor substrate and (b) depositing an amorphous carbon liner onto the sidewalls of the feature. Steps (a) and optionally (b) are iterated until the vertical etch feature has reached a desired depth. With each iteration of (a), the feature is vertical etched deeper into the one or more layers, while the amorphous carbon liner resists lateral etching of the sidewalls of the feature. With each optional iteration of (b), the deposited amorphous carbon liner on the sidewalls of the feature is replenished.

Carbon based depositions used for critical dimension control during high aspect ratio feature etches and for forming protective layers

Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for selective deposition of etch-stop layers for enhanced patterning during semiconductor manufacturing. One method includes an operation for adding a photo-resist material (M) on top of a base material (M) of a substrate, Mdefining a pattern for etching Min areas where Mis not present above M. The method further includes operations for conformally capping the substrate with an oxide material (M) after adding M, and for gap filling the substrate with filling material Mafter the conformally capping. Further, a stop-etch material (M) is selectively grown on exposed surfaces of Mand not on surfaces of Mafter the gap filling. Additionally, the method includes operations for removing Mfrom the substrate after selectively growing M, and for etching the substrate after removing Mto transfer the pattern into M. Madds etching protection to enable deeper etching into M

Selective deposition of etch-stop layer for enhanced patterning

Methods and apparatuses for selectively growing metal-containing hard masks are provided herein. Methods include providing a substrate having a pattern of spaced apart features, each feature having a top horizontal surface, filling spaces between the spaced apart features with carbon-containing material to form a planar surface having the top horizontal surfaces of the features and carbon-containing material, selectively depositing a metal-containing hard mask on the top horizontal surfaces of the features relative to the carbon-containing material, and selectively removing the carbon-containing material relative to the metal-containing hard mask and features.

Selective growth of metal-containing hardmask thin films

Disclosed are methods of and apparatuses and systems for depositing a film in a multi-station deposition apparatus. The methods may include: (a) providing a substrate to a first station of the apparatus, (b) adjusting the temperature of the substrate to a first temperature, (c) depositing a first portion of the material on the substrate while the substrate is at the first temperature in the first station, (d) transferring the substrate to the second station, (e) adjusting the temperature of the substrate to a second temperature, and (f) depositing a second portion of the material on the substrate while the substrate is at the second temperature, such that the first portion and the second portion exhibit different values of a property of the material. The apparatuses and systems may include a multi-station deposition apparatus and a controller having control logic for performing one or more of (a)-(f).

Suppressing interfacial reactions by varying the wafer temperature throughout deposition

Methods of selectively inhibiting deposition of silicon-containing films deposited by atomic layer deposition are provided. Selective inhibition involves exposure of an adsorbed layer of a silicon-containing precursor to a hydrogen-containing inhibitor, and in some instances, prior to exposure of the adsorbed layer to a second reactant. Exposure to a hydrogen-containing inhibitor may be performed with a plasma, and methods are suitable for selective inhibition in thermal or plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition of silicon-containing films.

Selective inhibition in atomic layer deposition of silicon-containing films

Methods and apparatus to form films on sensitive substrates while preventing damage to the sensitive substrate are provided herein. In certain embodiments, methods involve forming a bilayer film on a sensitive substrate that both protects the underlying substrate from damage and possesses desired electrical properties. Also provided are methods and apparatus for evaluating and optimizing the films, including methods to evaluate the amount of substrate damage resulting from a particular deposition process and methods to determine the minimum thickness of a protective layer. The methods and apparatus described herein may be used to deposit films on a variety of sensitive materials such as silicon, cobalt, germanium-antimony-tellerium, silicon-germanium, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, tungsten, titanium, tantalum, chromium, nickel, palladium, ruthenium, or silicon oxide.

Methods for depositing films on sensitive substrates

Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for selective deposition of etch-stop layers for enhanced patterning during semiconductor manufacturing. One method includes an operation for adding a photo-resist material (M) on top of a base material (M) of a substrate, Mdefining a pattern for etching Min areas where Mis not present above MThe method further includes operations for conformally capping the substrate with an oxide material (M) after adding Mand for gap filling the substrate with filling material Mafter the conformally capping. Further, a stop-etch material (M) is selectively grown on exposed surfaces of Mand not on surfaces of Mafter the gap filling. Additionally, the method includes operations for removing Mfrom the substrate after selectively growing Mand for etching the substrate after removing Mto transfer the pattern into MMadds etching protection to enable deeper etching into M

Methods of depositing a film on a substrate surface include surface mediated reactions in which a film is grown over one or more cycles of reactant adsorption and reaction. In one aspect, the method is characterized by intermittent delivery of dopant species to the film between the cycles of adsorption and reaction.

Plasma activated conformal dielectric film deposition

A method of depositing ALD films on semiconductor substrates processed in a micro-volume of a plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) reaction chamber wherein a single semiconductor substrate is supported on a ceramic surface of a pedestal and process gas is introduced through gas outlets in a ceramic surface of a showerhead into a reaction zone above the semiconductor substrate, includes (a) cleaning the ceramic surfaces of the pedestal and showerhead with a fluorine plasma such that aluminum-rich byproducts are formed on the ceramic surfaces, (b) depositing a conformal halide-free atomic layer deposition (ALD) oxide undercoating on the ceramic surfaces so as to cover the aluminum-rich byproducts, (c) depositing a pre-coating on the halide-free ALD oxide undercoating, and (d) processing a batch of semiconductor substrates by transferring each semiconductor substrate into the reaction chamber and depositing a film on the semiconductor substrate supported on the ceramic surface of the pedestal.

Method for depositing ALD films using halide-based precursors

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West Linn, OR, United States of America

Jon Henri