Applied Materials, Inc.

Other

Maocheng Li

Shaoher X Pan

Yiqiong Wang

Anisul Haque Khan

Dragan Valentin Podlesnik

Wei Liu

John Patrick Holland

Thorsten B Lill

Arthur H Sato

Xue-Yu Qian

Valentin N Todorov

Jeff Chinn

Zhi-wen Sun

Patrick Leahey

Robert E Ryan

The present disclosure pertains to our discovery of a particularly efficient method for etching a multi-part cavity in a substrate. The method provides for first etching a shaped opening, depositing a protective layer over at least a portion of the inner surface of the shaped opening, and then etching a shaped cavity directly beneath and in continuous communication with the shaped opening. The protective layer protects the etch profile of the shaped opening during etching of the shaped cavity, so that the shaped opening and the shaped cavity can be etched to have different shapes, if desired. In particular embodiments of the method of the invention, lateral etch barrier layers and/or implanted etch stops are also used to direct the etching process. The method of the invention can be applied to any application where it is necessary or desirable to provide a shaped opening and an underlying shaped cavity having varying shapes. The method is also useful whenever it is necessary to maintain tight control over the dimensions of the shaped opening.

Method of micromachining a multi-part cavity

The invention provides a system and a method for dynamic RF inductive and capacitive coupling control to improve plasma substrate processing, as well as for achieving contamination and defect reduction. A plasma reactor includes a substrate support disposed in a chamber. An RF coil is disposed adjacent the chamber for inductively coupling RF energy into the chamber. An electrode is disposed adjacent the chamber and has a voltage for capacitively coupling energy into the chamber. The electrode is spaced from the substrate support and the RF coil. An electrode adjusting member is coupled with the electrode for dynamically adjusting the voltage in the electrode to vary the capacitive coupling for improved plasma ignition and plasma stability. A Faraday shield may be placed between the RF coil and the plasma process region in the chamber to suppress capacitive coupling of the RF coil. Sensors may be provided to monitor the amounts of inductive coupling and capacitive coupling to provide feedback to a controller which is used to adjust the inductive coupling and capacitive coupling in real time to stabilize the plasma and achieve improved processing.

Plasma reactor with dynamic RF inductive and capacitive coupling control

The present invention pertains to an etch chemistry and method useful for the etching of silicon surfaces. The method is particularly useful in the deep trench etching of silicon where profile control is important. In the case of deep trench etching, at least a portion of the substrate toward the bottom of the trench is etched using a combination of reactive gases including a fluorine-containing compound which does not contain silicon (FC); a silicon-containing compound (SC) which does not contain fluorine; and oxygen (O ).

Silicon trench etch using silicon-containing precursors to reduce or avoid mask erosion

A multistep etch process for forming high aspect ratio trenches in silicon having a silicon oxide and/or silicon nitride hardmask. In a first step, an etch composition of HBr and oxygen is used, depositing a passivation layer on the sidewalls and producing slightly tapered openings. In the second step, an etch composition of a fluorine-containing gas such as SF.sub.6, HBr and oxygen is used, producing more vertical openings at a high etch rate. The taper of the openings during the second step can be controlled by adjusting the relative amount of HBr or SF.sub.6 employed. This process is a clean process that does not require cleaning of the etch chamber between etch steps.

Etch process for forming high aspect ratio trenched in silicon

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Maocheng Li