Tokyo Electron Limited

Kate Abel

Tamotsu Morimoto

Takeo Nakano

Dipak Aryal

The present disclosure provides a non-isothermal wet atomic layer etch (ALE) process for etching polycrystalline materials, such as metals, metal oxides and silicon-based materials, formed on a substrate. More specifically, the present disclosure provides various embodiments of methods that utilize thermal cycling in a wet ALE process to independently optimize the reaction temperatures utilized within individual processing steps of the wet ALE process. Like conventional wet ALE processes, the wet ALE process described herein is a cyclic process that includes multiple cycles of surface modification and dissolution steps. Unlike conventional wet ALE processes, however, the wet ALE process described herein is a non-isothermal process that performs the surface modification and dissolution steps at different temperatures. This allows independent optimization of the surface modification and dissolution reactions.

Methods for non-isothermal wet atomic layer etching

The present disclosure provides a new wet atomic layer etch (ALE) process for etching high-k dielectric materials. More specifically, the present disclosure provides various embodiments of methods that utilize new etch chemistries for etching transition metal oxide dielectric materials in a cyclic wet ALE process. In the example embodiments provided herein, new etch chemistries and methods are provided for etching zirconium dioxide (ZrO), hafnium dioxide (HfO) and HfZrOdielectrics in a cyclic wet ALE process. However, the wet ALE techniques described herein are not strictly limited to the example materials discussed herein and can be applied to other transition metals and transition metal oxides.

Methods for wet atomic layer etching of transition metal oxide dielectric materials

Embodiments of improved methods are provided to form ordered structures on a surface of a substrate using direct self-assembly (DSA) of ionic liquid crystals (ILCs). More specifically, various embodiments of methods are provided to control the pitch of a layered structure formed on a substrate surface via self-assembly of ILCs having cation head groups, alkyl tail groups and anions. In the embodiments disclosed herein, the pitch of the layered structure is controlled by: (a) controlling the cation/anion charge ratio of the cation head groups and anions included within the ILCs, and/or (b) adding an ionic liquid to a solution comprising the ILCs.

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Kate Abel