Lam Research Corporation

Novellus Systems Incorporated

Applied Materials, Inc.

Joshua Collins

Hanna Bamnolker

Michal Danek

Kaihan Abidi Ashtiani

Sang-Hyeob Lee

Lawrence Schloss

Juwen Gao

Panya Wongsenakhum

Lana Hiului Chan

Mei Yin Chang

Raashina Humayun

Patrick A Van Cleemput

Kai Wu

David T Or

Siew Neo

Karl B Levy

Junghwan Sung

Griffin John Kennedy

Avgerinos V Gelatos

Seshasayee Varadarajan

Sanjay Gopinath

Shruti Vivek Thombare

Sema Ermez

Gorun Butail

Adam Jandl

Sang Ho Yu

Murali K Narasimhan

James A Fair

Chiukin Steven Lai

Jingjing Liu

Aaron R Fellis

Xiaolan Ba

Kapil Umesh Sawlani

Xinye Liu

Kiejin Park

Benjamin C Wang

Tomas Sadilek

Hyeong Seop Shin

Eric H Lenz

Kazuya Daito

Glen T Mori

Michael Sterling Jackson

Amit Khandelwal

Gary B Lind

Harald Te Nijenhuis

Kie Jin Park

Zhongbo Yan

Provided herein are methods and apparatuses for reducing line bending when depositing a metal such as tungsten, molybdenum, ruthenium, or cobalt into features on substrates by periodically exposing the feature to nitrogen, oxygen, or ammonia during atomic layer deposition, chemical vapor deposition, or sequential chemical vapor deposition to reduce interactions between metal deposited onto sidewalls of a feature. Methods are suitable for deposition into V-shaped features.

Method for preventing line bending during metal fill process

Provided herein are low resistance metallization stack structures for logic and memory applications and related methods of fabrication. In some embodiments, thin metal oxynitride or metal nitride nucleation layers are deposited followed by deposition of a pure metal conductor. The nucleation layer is amorphous, which templates large pure metal film grain growth and reduced resistivity. Further, certain embodiments of the methods described below convert most or all of the metal oxynitride nucleation layer to a pure metal layer, further lowering the resistivity.

Deposition of films using molybdenum precursors

Embodiments of methods of filling features with molybdenum (Mo) include depositing a first layer of Mo in a feature including an opening and an interior and non-conformally treating the first layer such that regions near the opening preferentially treated over regions in the interior. In some embodiments, a second Mo layer is deposited on the treated first layer. Embodiments of methods of filling features with Mo include controlling Mo precursor flux to transition between conformal and non-conformal fill.

Molybdenum fill

Vapor accumulator reservoirs for semiconductor processing operations, such as atomic layer deposition operations, are provided. Such vapor accumulator reservoirs may include a perimeter plenum volume filled with an inert gas, which may reduce or prevent the leakage of external contaminants into a process gas. In some implementations, the reservoir may be constructed from corrosion-resistant materials to reduce internal contaminants into the process gas.

Vapor accumulator for corrosive gases with purging

Atomic layer deposition of metal films

Provided herein are methods and apparatuses for filling features metal-containing materials. One aspect of the disclosure relates to a method for filling structures with a metal-containing material, the method including: providing a structure to be filled with a metal-containing material, exposing the structure to multiple deposition cycles, with each deposition cycle including exposure to one or more alternating reducing agent (e.g. hydrogen (H2)) dose/inert gas purge pulses pulse followed by exposure to one or more alternating metal precursor dose pulses and inert gas purge pulses. The metal may be tungsten (W) or molybdenum (Mo) in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the structure is a partially fabricated (3-D) NAND structure. Apparatuses to perform the methods are also provided.

Method of depositing tungsten and other metals in 3D NAND structures

A method for depositing tungsten includes arranging a substrate including a titanium nitride layer in a substrate processing chamber and performing multi-stage atomic layer deposition of tungsten on the substrate using a precursor gas includes tungsten chloride (WCIx) gas, wherein x is an integer. The performing includes depositing the tungsten during a first ALD stage using a first dose intensity of the precursor gas, and depositing the tungsten during a second ALD stage using a second dose intensity of the precursor gas. The first dose intensity is based on a first dose concentration and a first dose period. The second dose intensity is based on a second dose concentration and a second dose period. The second dose intensity is 1.5 to 10 times the first dose intensity.

Atomic layer deposition of tungsten for enhanced fill and reduced substrate attack

Provided herein are low resistance metallization stack structures for logic and memory applications and related methods of fabrication. In some implementations, the methods involve providing a tungsten (W)-containing layer on a substrate; and depositing a molybdenum (Mo)-containing layer on the W-containing layer. In some implementations, the methods involve depositing a Mo-containing layer directly on a dielectric or titanium nitride (TiN) substrate without an intervening W-containing layer.

Low resistivity films containing molybdenum

Methods of depositing fluorine-free tungsten by sequential CVD pulses, such as by alternately pulsing a fluorine-free tungsten precursor and hydrogen in cycles of temporally separated pulses, are provided. Some methods involve depositing fluorine-free tungsten by sequential CVD without depositing a tungsten nucleation layer. Methods also include depositing tungsten directly on a substrate surface using alternating pulses of a chlorine-containing tungsten precursor and hydrogen without treating the substrate surface. Methods also include depositing a tungsten layer using a reducing agent and fluorine-free tungsten-containing precursor and depositing bulk tungsten in sequential CVD cycles of alternating pulses of hydrogen and a tungsten-containing precursor.

Forming low resistivity fluorine free tungsten film without nucleation

A method for depositing tungsten includes arranging a substrate including a titanium nitride layer in a substrate processing chamber and performing multi-stage atomic layer deposition of tungsten on the substrate using a precursor gas includes tungsten chloride (WClx) gas, wherein x is an integer. The performing includes depositing the tungsten during a first ALD stage using a first dose intensity of the precursor gas, and depositing the tungsten during a second ALD stage using a second dose intensity of the precursor gas. The first dose intensity is based on a first dose concentration and a first dose period. The second dose intensity is based on a second dose concentration and a second dose period. The second dose intensity is 1.5 to 10 times the first dose intensity.

A vaporizer system is provided that allows for rapid shifts in the flow rate of a vaporized reactant while maintaining a constant overall flow rate of vaporized reactant and carrier gas.

Vapor delivery method and apparatus for solid and liquid precursors

Provided herein are methods of depositing fluorine-free tungsten by sequential CVD pulses, such as by alternately pulsing a chlorine-containing tungsten precursor and hydrogen in cycles of temporally separated pulses, without depositing a tungsten nucleation layer. Methods also include depositing tungsten directly on a substrate surface using alternating pulses of a chlorine-containing tungsten precursor and hydrogen without treating the substrate surface.

Method of forming low resistivity fluorine free tungsten film without nucleation

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Joshua Collins