Applied Materials, Inc.

Appled Materials, Inc.

Mang-Mang Ling

Srinivas D Nemani

Sean S Kang

Chentsau Chris Ying

Jong Mun Kim

Tom K Choi

Nitin K Ingle

Mehul B Naik

Avgerinos V Gelatos

He Ren

Yu Lei

Hao Chen

Kai Wu

Yi Xu

David T Or

Kevin Kashefi

Lin Dong

Mandar Balasaheb Pandit

Jungmin Ko

Xi Cen

Jeremiah T Pender

Bradley J Howard

Yakuan Yao

Yiming Lai

Kartik Ramaswamy

Andrew Nguyen

Ellie Y Yieh

Mahendra Pakala

Chando Park

Jaesoo Ahn

Chi Hong Ching

Jisoo Kim

Thomas Jongwan Kwon

Sergey G Belostotskiy

Sumit Agarwal

Jeremiah T P Pender

Minrui Yu

Junghoon Kim

Khoi Doan

Methods for pre-cleaning substrates having metal and dielectric surfaces are described. The substrate is exposed to a strong reductant to remove contaminants from the metal surface and damage the dielectric surface. The substrate is then exposed to an oxidation process to repair the damage to the dielectric surface and oxidize the metal surface. The substrate is then exposed to a weak reductant to reduce the metal oxide to a pure metal surface without substantially affecting the dielectric surface. Processing tools and computer readable media for practicing the method are also described.

Multi-step pre-clean for selective metal gap fill

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a method for forming an opening using a mask. In one embodiment, a method includes forming a mask on a feature layer. The method includes forming a first opening in the mask to expose a portion of the feature layer. The method further includes forming a carbon layer on the mask and the exposed portion of the feature layer. The method also includes removing portions of the carbon layer and a portion of the exposed portion of the feature layer in order to form a second opening in the feature layer.

Carbon layer covered mask in 3D applications

Embodiments of the disclosure provide methods and apparatus for fabricating magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structures on a substrate for MRAM applications. In one embodiment, a method for forming a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device structure includes performing a patterning process by an ion beam etching process in a processing chamber to pattern a film stack disposed on a substrate, wherein the film stack comprises a reference layer, a tunneling barrier layer and a free layer disposed on the tunneling barrier, and determining an end point for the patterning process.

Methods for etching a structure for MRAM applications

Methods for dry plasma etching thin layers of material including Cu(In, Ga)Se, e.g., CIGS material on semiconductor substrates are provided. A method of etching a CIGS material layer such as copper indium gallium selenide film, includes: flowing an etching gas including a mixture of gases into a process chamber having a substrate disposed therein, the substrate including a copper indium gallium selenide layer having a patterned film stack disposed thereon, the patterned film stack covering a first portion of the copper indium gallium selenide layer and exposing a second portion of the copper indium gallium selenide layer; and contacting the copper indium gallium selenide layer with the etching gas to remove the second portion and form one or more copper indium gallium selenide edges of the first portion.

Method of etching copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) material

Methods may be performed to limit footing, pitch walking, and other alignment issues. The methods may include forming a treatment gas plasma within a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may further include directing effluents of the treatment gas plasma towards a semiconductor substrate within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber, and anisotropically modifying a surface of a first material on the semiconductor substrate with the effluents of the treatment gas plasma. The methods may also include passivating a surface of a second material on the semiconductor substrate with the effluents of the treatment gas plasma. The methods may further include forming a remote fluorine-containing plasma to produce fluorine-containing plasma effluents, and flowing the fluorine-containing plasma effluents to the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may also include selectively removing the modified surface of the first material from the semiconductor substrate.

Systems and methods for material breakthrough

Processing methods may be performed to remove unwanted materials from a substrate. The methods may include forming a remote plasma of an inert precursor in a remote plasma region of a processing chamber. The methods may include forming a bias plasma of the inert precursor within a processing region of the processing chamber. The methods may include modifying a surface of an exposed material on a semiconductor substrate within the processing region of the processing chamber with plasma effluents of the inert precursor. The methods may include extinguishing the bias plasma while maintaining the remote plasma. The methods may include adding an etchant precursor to the remote plasma region to produce etchant plasma effluents. The methods may include flowing the etchant plasma effluents to the processing region of the processing chamber. The methods may also include removing the modified surface of the exposed material from the semiconductor substrate.

Atomic layer etching processes

Processing methods may be performed to limit damage of features of a substrate, such as missing fin damage. The methods may include forming a plasma of an inert precursor within a processing region of a processing chamber. Effluents of the plasma of the inert precursor may be utilized to passivate an exposed region of an oxygen-containing material that extends about a feature formed on a semiconductor substrate. A plasma of a hydrogen-containing precursor may also be formed within the processing region. Effluents of the plasma of the hydrogen-containing precursor may be directed, with DC bias, towards an exposed silicon-containing material on the semiconductor substrate. The methods may also include anisotropically etching the exposed silicon-containing material with the plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing precursor, where the plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing precursor selectively etch silicon relative to silicon oxide.

Non-halogen etching of silicon-containing materials

Methods for etching a material layer disposed on the substrate using a combination of a main etching step and a cyclical etching process are provided. The method includes performing a main etching process in a processing chamber to an oxide layer, forming a feature with a first predetermined depth in the oxide layer, performing a treatment process on the substrate by supplying a treatment gas mixture into the processing chamber to treat the etched feature in the oxide layer, performing a chemical etching process on the substrate by supplying a chemical etching gas mixture into the processing chamber, wherein the chemical etching gas includes at least an ammonium gas and a nitrogen trifluoride, wherein the chemical etching process further etches the feature to a second predetermined depth, and performing a transition process on the etched substrate by supplying a transition gas mixture into the processing chamber.

Methods for forming features in a material layer utilizing a combination of a main etching and a cyclical etching process

Embodiments of the invention provide methods and apparatus for fabricating magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structures on a substrate in magnetoresistive random access memory applications. In one embodiment, a method of forming a MTJ structure on a substrate includes providing a substrate having a insulating tunneling layer disposed between a first and a second ferromagnetic layer disposed on the substrate, wherein the first ferromagnetic layer is disposed on the substrate followed by the insulating tunneling layer and the second ferromagnetic layer sequentially, supplying an ion implantation gas mixture to implant ions into the first ferromagnetic layer exposed by openings defined by the second ferromagnetic layer, and etching the implanted first ferromagnetic layer.

Methods for etching materials used in MRAM applications

Methods for etching an etching stop layer disposed on the substrate using a cyclical etching process are provided. In one embodiment, a method for etching an etching stop layer includes performing a treatment process on the substrate having a silicon nitride layer disposed thereon by supplying a treatment gas mixture into the processing chamber to treat the silicon nitride layer, and performing a chemical etching process on the substrate by supplying a chemical etching gas mixture into the processing chamber, wherein the chemical etching gas mixture includes at least an ammonium gas and a nitrogen trifluoride, wherein the chemical etching process etches the treated silicon nitride layer.

Methods for etching an etching stop layer utilizing a cyclical etching process

Etching of a thin film stack including a lower thin film layer containing an advanced memory material is carried out in an inductively coupled plasma reactor having a dielectric RF window without exposing the lower thin film layer, and then the etch process is completed in a toroidal source plasma reactor.

Method and system for etching plural layers on a workpiece including a lower layer containing an advanced memory material

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Mang-Mang Ling