Applied Materials, Inc.

International Business Machines Corporation

Applies Materials Inc.

Li-Qun Xia

Ellie Y Yieh

Mihaela A Balseanu

Hichem M'Saad

Srinivas D Nemani

Derek R Witty

Kang Sub Yim

Tzu-Fang Huang

Ning Li

Frederic Gaillard

Mei-Yee Shek

Ping Xu

Shankar Venkataraman

Dian Sugiarto

Mark Joseph Saly

Chi-I Lang

Alexandros T Demos

Vladimir Zubkov

Son Van Nguyen

Mehul B Naik

Yi Zheng

Bo Xie

Wai-Fan Yau

Farhad K Moghadam

Yung-Cheng Lu

Amir Hamed Al-Bayati

Kuowei Liu

David P Thompson

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Bok Hoen Kim

Reza Arghavani

Shin-Puu Jeng

David Wingto Cheung

Deenesh Padhi

Kelvin Chan

Bhaskar Jyoti Bhuyan

Tsutomu Tanaka

Chen-An Chen

Huiwen Xu

Michael S Barnes

Steven Verhaverbeke

Yan Ye

John C Forster

Christopher Dennis Bencher

Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan

Yunsang Kim

Thomas E Nowak

Roman Gouk

Gary Fong

Zhenjiang Cui

Seon-Mee Cho

Gerardo Delgadino

Nagarajan Rajagopalan

Atif Noori

Xiaoye Zhao

Alfred Grill

Anchuan Wang

Nag B Patibandla

Ganesh Balasubramanian

Jeonghoon Oh

Ashok K Sinha

Pravin K Narwankar

Michael Santiago Cox

Mandyam Sriram

Banqiu Wu

Ralf Hofmann

Stephan Alan Cohen

Peter I Porshnev

Martin A Hilkene

Annamalai Lakshmanan

Thomas J Haigh, Jr

Matthew D Scotney-Castle

Rongping Wang

Michael Wenyoung Tsiang

Tatsuya E Sato

Mei Yin Chang

Wei Liu

Sanjeev Baluja

Joseph Yudovsky

Dan Maydan

Xianmin Tang

Kallol Bera

Richard Anthony Conti

Timothy Weidman

Xinliang Lu

Jun Zhao

Chien-Teh Kao

Young Seen Lee

Kevin Griffin

Abdul Aziz Khaja

Dmitry A Dzilno

Himanshu Pokharna

Sean M Seutter

Mark Naoshi Kawaguchi

Kenji Takeshita

Dongqing Yang

Hang Yu

Scott A Hendrickson

Mario Dave Silvetti

Rick J Roberts

Provided are self-aligned double patterning methods including feature trimming. The SADP process is performed in a single batch processing chamber in which the substrate is laterally moved between sections of the processing chamber separated by gas curtains so that each section independently has a process condition.

Self-aligned double patterning with spatial atomic layer deposition

In some embodiments, a method includes positioning a substrate within a processing chamber. The substrate includes a first low-k film having a first water contact angle. The first low-k film is disposed over an interconnect structure. The method further includes cleaning the substrate within the processing chamber to form a cleaned substrate. The cleaned substrate includes a damaged low-k film having a second water contact angle. The method further includes exposing the cleaned substrate to a recovery precursor to form a recovered substrate. The recovered substrate includes a recovered low-k film. The method further includes exposing the recovered substrate to a UV light source to form a treated substrate. The treated substrate includes a treated low-k film having a third water contact angle. The method further includes depositing a liner layer over the treated substrate via atomic layer deposition (ALD).

Integrated low k recovery and ALD metal deposition process for advanced technology node

Processing methods for forming a silicon nitride film comprising exposing a metal surface to a silicon precursor, a nitrogen-containing reactant and a hydrogen-containing plasma at a temperature less than or equal to about 250° C. to form a silicon nitride film with a low etch rate without damaging the metal surface.

Methods and apparatus for low temperature silicon nitride films

Exemplary semiconductor processing methods may include providing a silicon-containing precursor to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. A substrate may be disposed within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include forming a plasma of the silicon-containing precursor in the processing region. The plasma may be at least partially formed by an RF power operating at between about 50 W and 1,000 W, at a pulsing frequency below about 100,000 Hz, and at a duty cycle between about 5% and 95%. The methods may include forming a layer of material on the substrate. The layer of material may include a silicon-containing material.

RF pulsing assisted low-k film deposition with high mechanical strength

Method of forming low-k films with reduced dielectric constant, reduced CHx content, and increased hardness are described. A siloxane film is on a substrate surface using a siloxane precursor comprising O—Si—O bonds and cured using ultraviolet light.

Single precursor low-k film deposition and UV cure for advanced technology node

Methods comprising forming a metal oxide film by atomic layer deposition using water as an oxidant are described. The metal oxide film is exposed to a decoupled plasma comprising one or more of He, H2 or O2 to lower the wetch etch rate of the metal oxide film.

Methods for metal oxide post-treatment

Methods and apparatus for forming a conformal SiCON film on a surface are described. A SiCN film is formed on a substrate surface and exposed to a low temperature steam annealing process to form a film resistant to damage by rapid thermal processing or ashing. The film is treated by rapid thermal processing and then subjected to a high temperature anneal to form a film with a low dielectric constant.

Methods and apparatus for deposition of low-k films

Exemplary methods of forming a silicon-and-carbon-containing material may include flowing a silicon-oxygen-and-carbon-containing precursor into a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. A substrate may be housed within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include forming a plasma within the processing region of the silicon-and-carbon-containing precursor. The plasma may be formed at a frequency less than 15 MHz (e.g., 13.56 MHz). The methods may include depositing a silicon-and-carbon-containing material on the substrate. The silicon-and-carbon-containing material as-deposited may be characterized by a dielectric constant below or about 3.5 and a hardness greater than about 3 Gpa.

Systems and methods for depositing low-k dielectric films

Apparatus and methods to control the phase of power sources for plasma process regions in a batch process chamber. A master exciter controls the phase of the power sources during the process sequence based on feedback from the match circuits of the respective plasma sources.

Methods and systems to modulate film stress

A method for dielectric filling of a feature on a substrate yields a seamless dielectric fill with high-k for narrow features. In some embodiments, the method may include depositing a metal material into the feature to fill the feature from a bottom of the feature wherein the feature has an opening ranging from less than 20 nm to approximately 150 nm at an upper surface of the substrate and wherein depositing the metal material is performed using a high ionization physical vapor deposition (PVD) process to form a seamless metal gap fill and treating the seamless metal gap fill by oxidizing/nitridizing the metal material of the seamless metal gap fill with an oxidation/nitridation process to form dielectric material wherein the seamless metal gap fill is converted into a seamless dielectric gap fill with high-k dielectric material.

Methods for seamless gap filling of dielectric material

Exemplary semiconductor processing methods may include flowing deposition gases that may include a nitrogen-containing precursor, a silicon-containing precursor, and a carrier gas, into a substrate processing region of a substrate processing chamber. The flow rate ratio of the nitrogen-containing precursor to the silicon-containing precursor may be greater than or about 1:1. The methods may further include generating a deposition plasma from the deposition gases to form a silicon-and-nitrogen containing layer on a substrate in the substrate processing chamber. The silicon-and-nitrogen-containing layer may be treated with a treatment plasma, where the treatment plasma is formed from the carrier gas without the silicon-containing precursor. The flow rate of the carrier gas in the treatment plasma may be greater than a flow rate of the carrier gas in the deposition plasma.

Tensile nitride deposition systems and methods

Semiconductor processing methods are described for forming UV-treated, low-&#x3ba; dielectric films. The methods may include flowing deposition precursors into a substrate processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The deposition precursors may include a silicon-and-carbon-containing precursor. The methods may further include generating a deposition plasma from the deposition precursors within the substrate processing region, and depositing a silicon-and-carbon-containing material on the substrate from plasma effluents of the deposition plasma. The as-deposited silicon-and-carbon-containing material may be characterized by greater than or about 5% hydrocarbon groups. The methods may still further include exposing the deposited silicon-and-carbon-containing material to ultraviolet light. The exposed silicon-and-carbon-containing material may be characterized by less than or about 2% hydrocarbon groups.

Systems and methods for forming UV-cured low-&#x3ba; dielectric films

Embodiments of the semiconductor processing methods to form low-&#x3ba; films on semiconductor substrates are described. The processing methods may include flowing deposition precursors into a substrate processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The deposition precursors may include a silicon-containing precursor that has at least one vinyl group. The methods may further include generating a deposition plasma in the substrate processing region from the deposition precursors. A silicon-and-carbon-containing material, characterized by a dielectric constant (&#x3ba; value) less than or about 3.0, may be deposited on the substrate from plasma effluents of the deposition plasma.

Systems and methods for depositing low-&#x3ba;dielectric films

Exemplary semiconductor processing methods to clean a substrate processing chamber are described. The methods may include depositing a dielectric film on a first substrate in a substrate processing chamber, where the dielectric film may include a silicon-carbon-oxide. The first substrate having the dielectric film may be removed from the substrate processing chamber, and the dielectric film may be deposited on at least one more substrate in the substrate processing chamber. The at least one more substrate may be removed from the substrate processing chamber after the dielectric film is deposited on the substrate. Etch plasma effluents may flow into the substrate processing chamber after the removal of a last substrate having the dielectric film. The etch plasma effluents may include greater than or about 500 sccm of NFplasma effluents, and greater than or about 1000 sccm of Oplasma effluents.

Systems and methods for cleaning low-k deposition chambers

Exemplary processing methods may include forming a plasma of a deposition precursor in a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include adjusting a variable capacitor within 20% of a resonance peak. The variable capacitor may be coupled with an electrode incorporated within a substrate support on which a substrate is seated. The methods may include depositing a material on the substrate.

Hardmask tuning by electrode adjustment

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Li-Qun Xia