Applied Materials, Inc.

Nagarajan Rajagopalan

Bok Hoen Kim

Xinhai Han

Thomas E Nowak

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Heung Lak Park

Ganesh Balasubramanian

Michael Wenyoung Tsiang

Masaki Ogata

Amit Kumar Bansal

Todd J Egan

Jianhua Zhou

Jian J Chen

Ramprakash Sankarakrishnan

Mohamad A Ayoub

Edward W Budiarto

Terrance Y Lee

Zhijun Jiang

Jeongmin Lee

Patrick Reilly

Shahid Shaikh

Sergey Starik

Dmitriy Panasyuk

Ji Ae Park

Li-Qun Xia

Mehul B Naik

Kelvin Chan

Alexandros T Demos

Meiyee Shek

Ryan Yamase

Shamik Patel

Ran Ding

Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan

Hichem M'Saad

Mukund Srinivasan

Kegang Huang

Dustin Wenpin Ho

Sung Hyun Hong

Sesh Ramaswami

Tsutomu Kiyohara

Jim Baldino

Deenesh Padhi

Suketu Arun Parikh

Zhenjiang Cui

Kang Sub Yim

Abdul Aziz Khaja

Jingmei Liang

Yi Zheng

Christopher S Ngai

Praket Prakash Jha

Bencherki Mebarki

Sudha S Rathi

Annamalai Lakshmanan

Hang Yu

Sohyun Park

Sang H Ahn

Jessica Sevanne Kachian

Joe Feng

Albert Sanghyup Lee

Kiran V Thadani

Wenjiao Wang

Kristopher R Enslow

Vu Ngoc Tran Nguyen

Chuanxi Yang

Chuan Ying Wang

Sang In Yi

Alok Jain

Joshua Maher

Kesong Hu

Linh Thanh

Meiyee (Maggie Le) Shek

SeoYoung Lee

Subbalakshmi Sreekala

Prashanthi Para

Hiral D Tailor

Phaik Lynn Leong

Grace Qi En Teong

Zhengjiang “David” Cui

Josephine Ju-Hwei Chang Liu

Exemplary methods of forming semiconductor structures may include forming a silicon oxide layer from a silicon-containing precursor and an oxygen-containing precursor. The methods may include forming a silicon nitride layer from a silicon-containing precursor, a nitrogen-containing precursor, and an oxygen-containing precursor. The silicon nitride layer may be characterized by an oxygen concentration greater than or about 5 at. %. The methods may also include repeating the forming a silicon oxide layer and the forming a silicon nitride layer to produce a stack of alternating layers of silicon oxide and silicon nitride.

Modified stacks for 3D NAND

A method of processing a substrate according to a PECVD process is described. Temperature profile of the substrate is adjusted to change deposition rate profile across the substrate. Plasma density profile is adjusted to change deposition rate profile across the substrate. Chamber surfaces exposed to the plasma are heated to improve plasma density uniformity and reduce formation of low quality deposits on chamber surfaces. In situ metrology may be used to monitor progress of a deposition process and trigger control actions involving substrate temperature profile, plasma density profile, pressure, temperature, and flow of reactants.

PECVD process

Exemplary methods of semiconductor processing may include forming a plasma of a carbon-containing precursor in a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include depositing a carbon-containing material on a substrate housed in the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include halting a flow of the carbon-containing precursor into the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include contacting the carbon-containing material with plasma effluents of an oxidizing material. The methods may include forming volatile materials from a surface of the carbon-containing material.

Treatments for controlling deposition defects

A method is provided for forming a stack of film layers for use in 3D memory devices. The method starts with providing a substrate in a processing chamber of a deposition reactor. Then one or more process gases suitable for forming a dielectric layer are supplied into the processing chamber of the deposition reactor forming a dielectric layer on the substrate. Then one or more process gases suitable for forming a metallic layer are supplied into the processing chamber of the deposition reactor forming a metallic layer on the dielectric layer. Then one or more process gases suitable for forming a metallic nitride adhesion layer are supplied into the processing chamber of the deposition reactor forming a metallic nitride adhesion layer on the metallic layer. The sequence is then repeated to form a desired number of layers.

Dielectric-metal stack for 3D flash memory application

Apparatus and method of processing a substrate according to a PECVD process is described. Temperature profile of the substrate is adjusted to change deposition rate profile across the substrate. Plasma density profile is adjusted to change deposition rate profile across the substrate. Chamber surfaces exposed to the plasma are heated to improve plasma density uniformity and reduce formation of low quality deposits on chamber surfaces. In situ metrology may be used to monitor progress of a deposition process and trigger control actions involving substrate temperature profile, plasma density profile, pressure, temperature, and flow of reactants.

PECVD apparatus and process

A method of reducing line bending and surface roughness of a substrate with pillars includes forming a treated surface by treating a pillar-containing substrate with a radical. The radical may be silicon-based, nitrogen-based or oxygen-based. The method may include forming a dielectric film over the treated surface by reacting an organosilicon precursor and an oxygen precursor. The method may include curing the dielectric film at a temperature of about 150&#xb0; C. or less. A method of reducing line bending and surface roughness of a substrate with pillars includes forming a dielectric film over a pillar-containing substrate by reacting an organosilicon precursor, an oxygen precursor, and a radical precursor. The method may include curing the dielectric film at a temperature of about 150&#xb0; C. or less. The radical precursor may be selected from the group consisting of nitrogen-based radical precursor, oxygen-based radical precursor, and silicon-based radical precursor.

FCVD line bending resolution by deposition modulation

Embodiments of the disclosure provide methods and system for manufacturing film layers with minimum lithographic overlay errors on a semiconductor substrate. In one embodiment, a method for forming a film layer on a substrate includes supplying a deposition gas mixture including a silicon containing gas and a reacting gas onto a substrate disposed on a substrate support in a processing chamber, forming a plasma in the presence of the depositing gas mixture in the processing chamber, applying current to a plasma profile modulator disposed in the processing chamber while supplying the depositing gas mixture into the processing chamber, and rotating the substrate while depositing a film layer on the substrate.

Gate stack materials for semiconductor applications for lithographic overlay improvement

A method of forming a passivation layer comprising silicon nitride on features of a substrate is described. In a first stage of the deposition method, a dielectric deposition gas, comprising a silicon-containing gas and a nitrogen-containing gas, is introduced into the process zone and energized to deposit a silicon nitride layer. In a second stage, a treatment gas, having a different composition than that of the dielectric deposition gas, is introduced into the process zone and energized to treat the silicon nitride layer. The first and second stages can be performed a plurality of times.

Silicon nitride passivation layer for covering high aspect ratio features

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Nagarajan Rajagopalan