Asm International N.v.

Asm America, Inc.

Soitec

Marinus J De Blank

Jan Willem Maes

Michael A Todd

Keith Doran Weeks

Nicolas Daval

Konstantin Bourdelle

Christophe F Pomarede

Albert Hasper

Cornelius A Van Der Jeugd

Gert-Jan Snijders

Radko Gerard Bankras

Yuet Mei Wan

Jacobus Johannes Beulens

Lieve Vandezande

Ruben Haverkort

Hilde De Witte

Johan Swerts

Christian J Werkhoven

Titanium nitride (TiN) films are formed in a batch reactor using titanium chloride (TiCl) and ammonia (NH) as precursors. The TiClis flowed into the reactor in temporally separated pulses. The NHcan also be flowed into the reactor in temporally spaced pulses which alternate with the TiClpulses, or the NHcan be flowed continuously into the reactor while the TiClis introduced in pulses. The resulting TiN films exhibit low resistivity and good uniformity.

Deposition of TiN films in a batch reactor

Chemical vapor deposition of TiN films in a batch reactor

A nitrogen precursor that has been activated by exposure to a remotely excited species is used as a reactant to form nitrogen-containing layers. The remotely excited species can be, e.g., N, Ar, and/or He, which has been excited in a microwave radical generator. Downstream of the microwave radical generator and upstream of the substrate, the flow of excited species is mixed with a flow of NH. The excited species activates the NH. The substrate is exposed to both the activated NHand the excited species. The substrate can also be exposed to a precursor of another species to form a compound layer in a chemical vapor deposition. In addition, already-deposited layers can be nitrided by exposure to the activated NHand to the excited species, which results in higher levels of nitrogen incorporation than plasma nitridation using excited Nalone, or thermal nitridation using NHalone, with the same process temperatures and nitridation durations.

Remote plasma activated nitridation

Sequential processes are conducted in a batch reaction chamber to form ultra high quality silicon-containing compound layers, e.g., silicon nitride layers, at low temperatures. Under reaction rate limited conditions, a silicon layer is deposited on a substrate using trisilane as the silicon precursor. Trisilane flow is interrupted. A silicon nitride layer is then formed by nitriding the silicon layer with nitrogen radicals, such as by pulsing the plasma power (remote or in situ) on after a trisilane step. The nitrogen radical supply is stopped. Optionally non-activated ammonia is also supplied, continuously or intermittently. If desired, the process is repeated for greater thickness, purging the reactor after each trisilane and silicon compounding step to avoid gas phase reactions, with each cycle producing about 5-7 angstroms of silicon nitride.

Low temperature silicon compound deposition

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Marinus J De Blank