Applied Materials, Inc.

University of California

Sang Wook Park

Sunil Srinivasan

Zhonghua Yao

Alvaro Garcia De Gorordo

Mei Yin Chang

Naomi Yoshida

Andrew C Kummel

Jessica Sevanne Kachian

Mary Edmonds

Hyunwoong Kim

Rajinder Dhindsa

Olivier Luere

Jonathan Sungehul Kim

Lin Yu

The present disclosure generally relates to substrate processing methods, such as etching methods with noble gases at low temperatures. In an aspect, the method includes exposing a substrate, a first layer comprising a gas, and a fluorine-containing layer to energy to form a passivation layer while maintaining the substrate at conditions encompassing a triple point temperature of the gas, the substrate positioned in a processing region of a processing chamber. The method further includes etching the substrate with ions.

Cryogenic atomic layer etch with noble gases

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and apparatus for forming a desired material layer on a substrate between, during, prior to or after a patterning process. In one embodiment, a method for forming a material layer on a substrate includes pulsing a first gas precursor onto a surface of a substrate, attaching a first element from the first gas precursor onto the surface of the substrate, maintaining a substrate temperature less than about 110 degrees Celsius, pulsing a second gas precursor onto the surface of the substrate, and attaching a second element from the second gas precursor to the first element on the surface of the substrate.

In-situ deposition process

A method for etching silicon at cryogenic temperatures is provided. The method includes forming an inert layer from condensation of a noble gas at cryogenic temperatures on exposed surfaces such as the sidewalls of a feature to passivate the sidewalls prior to the etching process. The method further includes flowing a fluorine-containing precursor gas into the chamber to form a fluorine-containing layer on the inert layer. The method further includes exposing the fluorine-containing layer and the inert layer to an energy source to form a passivation layer on the exposed portions of the substrate and exposing the substrate to ions to etch the substrate.

Embodiments described herein provide a self-limiting and saturating Si&#x2014;Obilayer process which does not require the use of a plasma or catalyst and that does not lead to undesirable substrate oxidation. Methods of the disclosure do not produce SiO, but instead produce a saturated Si&#x2014;Ofilm with &#x2014;OH termination to make substrate surfaces highly reactive towards metal ALD precursors to seed high nucleation and growth of gate oxide ALD materials.

Self-limiting and saturating chemical vapor deposition of a silicon bilayer and ALD

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Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Sang Wook Park