Applied Materials, Inc.

Manuel Hernandez

Shankar Venkataraman

Zhong Qiang Hua

Kedar Sapre

Lei Luo

Nitin K Ingle

Scott Brad Herner

Rong Pan

Arulkumar P Shanmugasundram

Alexander T Schwarm

Hiroshi Hamana

Tushar Mandrekar

Paul Edward Gee

Amna Mohammad

Methods of forming a dielectric liner layer on a semiconductor substrate are described. The method may include flowing a phosphorus-containing precursor with a silicon-containing precursor and an oxygen-containing precursor over the substrate to deposit a dielectric material. The dielectric material may be deposited along a field region and within at least one via on the substrate having a depth of at least 1 &#x3bc;m. The method may also include forming a liner layer within the via with the dielectric material. The liner may include a silicon oxide doped with phosphorus, and the thickness of the liner layer at an upper portion of the via sidewall may be less than about 5 times the thickness of the liner layer at a lower portion of the via sidewall.

Liner property improvement

A method for improving conformality of oxide layers along sidewalls of vias in semiconductor substrates includes forming a nitride layer over an upper surface of a semiconductor substrate and forming a via extending through the nitride layer and into the semiconductor substrate. The via may have a depth of at least about 50 &#x3bc;m from a top surface of the nitride layer and an opening of less than about 10 &#x3bc;m at the top surface of the nitride layer. The method also includes forming an oxide layer over the nitride layer and along sidewalls and bottom of the via. The oxide layer may be formed using a thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process at a temperature of less than about 450&#xb0; C., where a thickness of the oxide layer at the bottom of the via is at least about 50% of a thickness of the oxide layer at the top surface of the nitride layer.

Conformality of oxide layers along sidewalls of deep vias

Methods for doping a non-planar structure by forming a conformal doped silicon glass layer on the non-planar structure are disclosed. A substrate having the non-planar structure formed thereon is positioned in chemical vapor deposition process chamber to deposit a conformal SACVD layer of doped glass (e.g. BSG or PSG). The substrate is then exposed to RTP or laser anneal step to diffuse the dopant into the non-planar structure and the doped glass layer is then removed by etching.

Method for doping non-planar transistors

Methods of depositing silicon oxide layers on substrates involve flowing a silicon-containing precursor, an oxidizing gas, water and an additive precursor into a processing chamber such that a uniform silicon oxide growth rate is achieved across the substrate surface. The surface of silicon oxide layers grown according to embodiments may have a reduced roughness when grown with the additive precursor. In other aspects of the disclosure, silicon oxide layers are deposited on a patterned substrate with trenches on the surface by flowing a silicon-containing precursor, an oxidizing gas, water and an additive precursor into a processing chamber such that the trenches are filled with a reduced quantity and/or size of voids within the silicon oxide filler material.

Precursor addition to silicon oxide CVD for improved low temperature gapfill

A method of film deposition in a sub-atmospheric chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process includes (a) providing a model for sub-atmospheric CVD deposition of a film that identifies one or more film properties of the film and at least one deposition model variable that correlates with the one or more film properties; (b) depositing a film onto a wafer using a first deposition recipe comprising at least one deposition recipe parameter that corresponds to the at least one deposition variable; (c) measuring a film property of at least one of said one or more film properties for the deposited film of step (b); (d) calculating an updated deposition model based upon the measured film property of step (c) and the model of step (a); and (e) calculating an updated deposition recipe based upon the updated model of step (d) to maintain a target film property. The method can be used to provide feedback to a plurality of deposition chambers or to control a film property other than film thickness.

Method of feedback control of sub-atmospheric chemical vapor deposition processes

A method of decreasing the growth rate of silicon dioxide films on a silicon nitride pad on a silicon wafer wherein the decrease in growth rate of the silicon dioxide results in a self-planarized film on the wafer is provided. Also provided is a method of pretreating said silicon wafer wherein said wafer is contacted with a chemical, such as hydrogen peroxide, isopropyl alcohol or acetone and air-dried prior to silicon dioxide deposition. Additionally, selective oxidation sub-atmospheric chemical vapor deposition (SELOX SACVD) uses an ozone-activated tetraethylorthosilicate process to deposit said silicon dioxide on said wafer.

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Manuel Hernandez