Applied Materials, Inc.

Other

Nam-Hun Kim

Jeffrey D Chinn

Dragan Valentin Podlesnik

Gene S Lee

Taeho Shin

Wei Liu

David S Mui

Anisul Haque Khan

Jeff Chinn

Chong Hwan Chu

Bi Jang

Jinhan Choi

A substrate processing apparatus has a chamber having a substrate transport to transport a substrate onto a substrate support in the chamber, a gas supply to provide a gas in the chamber, a gas energizer to energize the gas, and an exhaust to exhaust the gas. A detector is adapted to detect a first intensity of a first wavelength of a radiation emission from an energized gas in the chamber and generate a first signal in relation to the first intensity and to detect a second intensity of a second wavelength of the radiation emission and generate a second signal in relation to the second intensity. A controller receives the first and second signals from the detector, performs a mathematical operation on the first and second signals to determine a value related to a condition of the chamber, and treats the chamber in relation to the value by providing instructions to operate one or more of the substrate transport, substrate support, gas supply, gas energizer and gas exhaust.

Treatment and evaluation of a substrate processing chamber

We have developed a method of selectively etching silicon nitride relative to oxides in a high density plasma chamber of the kind presently known in the art. We have obtained selectivities for silicon nitride:silicon oxide in the range of about 15:1 to about 24:1. We have employed the method in the etching of silicon nitride spacers for sub 0.25 &mgr;m devices, where the spacers are adjacent to exposed oxides during the etch process. We have obtained silicon nitride spacers having rounded top corners and an extended &ldquo;tail&rdquo; toward the bottom outer edge of the nitride spacer. The method employs a plasma source gas which typically includes SF , HBr, N and optionally, O . Typically, the pressure in the etch chamber during etching is at least 35 mTorr and the substrate temperature is about 20&deg; C. or less.

Method of etching silicon nitride spacers with high selectivity relative to oxide in a high density plasma chamber

The present invention pertains to a method for depositing built-up structures on the surface of patterned masking material used for semiconductor device fabrication. Such built-up structures are useful in achieving critical dimensions in the fabricated device. The composition of the built-up structure to be fabricated is dependant upon the plasma etchants used during etching of underlying substrates and on the composition of the substrate material directly underlying the masking material. One preferred method of the present invention for depositing built-up structures upon a patterned mask surface comprises the following steps: (a) providing a patterned mask surface, wherein said patterned mask rests on an underlying substrate; and (b) depositing a polymeric built-up structure over at least a portion of said patterned mask surface using a plasma formed from a source gas comprising Cl , a compound which comprises fluorine, and an inert gas which provides physical bombardment of surfaces contacted by said plasma.

Construction of built-up structures on the surface of patterned masking used for polysilicon etch

A method of etching silicon using a plasma generated from a gas comprising fluorine (F), oxygen (O), hydrogen (H) and carbon (C).

Plasma etching of silicon using fluorinated gas mixtures

The method of present invention etches a layer of polysilicon formed on a substrate disposed within a substrate processing chamber. The method flows an etchant gas including sulfur hexafluoride, an oxygen source and a nitrogen source into the processing chamber and ignites a plasma from the etchant gas to etch the polysilicon formed over the substrate. In a preferred embodiment, the etchant gas consists essentially of SF , molecular oxygen (O ) and molecular nitrogen (N ). In a more preferred embodiment the etchant gas includes a volume ratio of molecular oxygen to the sulfur hexafluoride of between 0.5:1 and 1:1 inclusive and a volume ratio of the sulfur hexafluoride to molecular nitrogen of between 1:1 and 4:1 inclusive. In an even more preferred embodiment, the volume ratio of O to sulfur hexafluoride is between 0.5:1 and 1:1 inclusive and the volume ratio of sulfur hexafluoride to N is between 1.5:1 and 2:1 inclusive.

Storage poly process without carbon contamination

A method of etching polysilicon using a fluorinated gas chemistry to provide an etch rate in excess of 10,000 &angst;/min and a photoresist selectivity of better than 3:1. The method is accomplished using a combination of a fluorinated gas and a fluorocarbon gas, e.g., 50-60 sccm of SF,, 1-40 sccm of CHF,, and 40-50 sccm of O,with a total chamber pressure of 4-60 mTorr. The power applied to the etch chemistry to produce an etching plasma is 400-1500 watts of inductive source power (at 13.56 MHz) via an inductively coupled antenna and 200-1500 watts (at 12.56 MHz) of cathode bias power applied via a cathode electrode within a wafer support pedestal. The pedestal supporting the wafer was maintained at 0-50 degrees C.

Plasma etching of polysilicon using fluorinated gas mixtures

The present invention provides straight forward methods for plasma etching a trench having rounded top corners, or rounded bottom corners, or both in a silicon substrate. A first method for creating a rounded top corner on the etched silicon trench comprises etching both an overlying silicon oxide layer and an upper portion of the silicon substrate during a &ldquo;break-through&rdquo; step which immediately precedes the step in which the silicon trench is etched. The plasma feed gas for the break-through step comprises carbon and fluorine. In this method, the photoresist layer used to pattern the etch stack is preferably not removed prior to the break-through etching step. Subsequent to the break-through step, a trench is etched to a desired depth in the silicon substrate using a different plasma feed gas composition. A second method for creating a rounded top corner on the etched silicon trench comprises formation of a built-up extension on the sidewall of an overlying patterned silicon nitride hard mask during etch (break-through) of a silicon oxide adhesion layer which lies between the hard mask and a silicone substrate. The built-up extension upon the silicon nitride sidewall acts as a sacrificial masking material during etch of the silicon trench, delaying etching of the silicon at the outer edges of the top of the trench. This permits completion of trench etching with delayed etching of the top corner of the trench and provides a more gentle rounding (increased radius) at the top corners of the trench. During the etching of the silicon trench to its final dimensions, it is desirable to round the bottom corners of the finished silicon trench. We have discovered that a more rounded bottom trench corner is obtained using a two-step silicon etch process where the second step of the process is carried out at a higher process chamber pressure than the first step.

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Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Nam-Hun Kim