Applied Materials, Inc.

International Business Machines Corporation

Advanced Micro Devices Corporation

Ritwik Bhatia

Li-Qun Xia

Hichem M'Saad

Chad Peterson

Son Van Nguyen

Alfred Grill

Hosadurga K Shobha

Griselda Bonilla

Mei-Yee Shek

E Todd Ryan

Joshua L Herman

Troy Kim

Vladamir Zubkov

Methods for forming silicon nitride hard masks are provided. The silicon nitride hard masks include carbon-doped silicon nitride layers and undoped silicon nitride layers. Carbon-doped silicon nitride layers that are deposited from a mixture comprising a carbon source compound, a silicon source compound, and a nitrogen source in the presence of RF power are provided. Also provided are methods of UV post-treating silicon nitride layers to provide silicon nitride hard masks. The carbon-doped silicon nitride layers and UV post-treated silicon nitride layers have desirable wet etch rates and dry etch rates for hard mask layers.

Decreasing the etch rate of silicon nitride by carbon addition

A dielectric cap, interconnect structure containing the same and related methods are disclosed. The inventive dielectric cap includes a multilayered dielectric material stack wherein at least one layer of the stack has good oxidation resistance, Cu diffusion and/or substantially higher mechanical stability during a post-deposition curing treatment, and including Si&#x2014;N bonds at the interface of a conductive material such as, for example, Cu. The dielectric cap exhibits a high compressive stress and high modulus and is still remain compressive stress under post-deposition curing treatments for, for example: copper low k back-end-of-line (BEOL) nanoelectronic devices, leading to less film and device cracking and improved reliability.

Advanced multilayer dielectric cap with improved mechanical and electrical properties

A method of forming a sidewall spacer on a gate electrode is described. The method includes generating a first plasma from a silicon containing precursor and oxide precursor, and forming a silicon oxy-nitride layer on the sidewall of the gate electrode. The method also includes generating a second plasma from the silicon containing precursor and a nitrogen precursor, and forming a nitride layer on the silicon oxy-nitride layer. The silicon containing precursor can flow continuously between the generation of the first and the second plasmas. Also, a method of forming a sidewall spacer on the side of a gate electrode on a substrate. The method includes forming an oxy-nitride layer on the sidewall, and forming a nitride layer on the oxy-nitride layer, where the substrate wafer is not exposed to air between the formation of the layers.

Boron diffusion barrier by nitrogen incorporation in spacer dielectrics

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Albany, NY, United States of America

Ritwik Bhatia