Applied Materials, Inc.

Surfx Technologies LLC

Siu Fai Cheng

Deenesh Padhi

Hang Yu

Robert F Hicks

Thomas Scott Williams

Toby Desmond Oste

Sarkis Minas Keshishian

Ganesh Balasubramanian

Bok Hoen Kim

Amit Kumar Bansal

Naomi Yoshida

Mohamad A Ayoub

Mark A Fodor

Juan Carlos Rocha

Sohyun Park

Chiu Chan

Heung Lak Park

Shahid Shaikh

Robert Kim

Li Yan Miao

Binh Nguyen

Man-Ping Cai

Karthik Janakiraman

Jianhua Zhou

Dale Robert Du Bois

Tersem Summan

Mikhail M Grigoriev

Dale Du Bois

Yoganand Saripalli

Plasma applications are disclosed that operate with argon or helium at atmospheric pressure, and at low temperatures, and with high concentrations of reactive species in the effluent stream. Laminar gas flow is developed prior to forming the plasma and at least one of the electrodes can be heated which enables operation at conditions where the argon or helium plasma would otherwise be unstable and either extinguish, or transition into an arc. The techniques can be employed to clean and activate a metal substrate, including removal of oxidation, thereby enhancing the bonding of at least one other material to the metal.

Low temperature atmospheric pressure plasma for cleaning and activating metals

Embodiments of the invention contemplate a shadow ring that provides increased or decreased and more uniform deposition on the edge of a wafer. By removing material from the top and/or bottom surfaces of the shadow ring, increased edge deposition and bevel coverage can be realized. In one embodiment, the material on the bottom surface is reduced by providing a recessed slot on the bottom surface. By increasing the amount of material of the shadow ring, the edge deposition and bevel coverage is reduced. Another approach to adjusting the deposition at the edge of the wafer includes increasing or decreasing the inner diameter of the shadow ring. The material forming the shadow ring may also be varied to change the amount of deposition at the edge of the wafer.

Shadow ring for modifying wafer edge and bevel deposition

Techniques for producing composites outside of an autoclave that have smooth surface finishes are disclosed. The smooth composite surface, free of porosity, can be fabricated by curing the prepreg in a tool that includes a novel microstructure. In conventional composite manufacturing, some degree of porosity appears to originate from trapped gas bubbles that form during curing. The microstructure can provide a mechanism for the gas bubbles to escape from the tooling, thereby eliminating porosity and yielding a smooth surface finish on the out-of-autoclave composite. The microstructure can be applied to the tool surface using an inkjet process applying an acrylic resin curable with ultraviolet light.

Preparing tool surfaces for composites

Plasma applications are disclosed that operate with helium or argon at atmospheric pressure, and at low temperatures, and with high concentrations of reactive species in the effluent stream. Laminar gas flow is developed prior to forming the plasma and at least one of the electrodes is heated which enables operation at conditions where the helium plasma would otherwise be unstable and either extinguish, or transition into an arc. The techniques can be employed to remove organic materials from a substrate, thereby cleaning the substrate; activate the surfaces of materials thereby enhancing adhesion between the material and an adhesive; kill microorganisms on a surface, thereby sterilizing the substrate; etches thin films of materials from a substrate, and deposit thin films and coatings onto a substrate.

Low temperature atmospheric pressure plasma applications

An argon and helium plasma apparatus and method are disclosed that operate with argon or helium at atmospheric pressure, and at low temperatures, and with high concentrations of reactive species in the effluent stream. Laminar gas flow is developed prior to forming the plasma and at least one of the electrodes is heated which enables operation at conditions where the argon or helium plasma would otherwise be unstable and either extinguish, or transition into an arc. The apparatus and method can be employed to remove organic materials from a substrate, thereby cleaning the substrate; activate the surfaces of materials thereby enhancing adhesion between the material and an adhesive; kill microorganisms on a surface, thereby sterilizing the substrate; etches thin films of materials from a substrate, and deposit thin films and coatings onto a substrate.

Argon and helium plasma apparatus and methods

A method and apparatus is provided for forming a resistive memory device having good adhesion among the components thereof. A first conductive layer is formed on a substrate, and the surface of the first conductive layer is treated to add adhesion promoting materials to the surface. The adhesion promoting materials may form a layer on the surface, or they may incorporate into the surface or merely passivate the surface of the first conductive layer. A variable resistance layer is formed on the treated surface, and a second conductive layer is formed on the variable resistance layer. Adhesion promoting materials may also be included at the interface between the variable resistance layer and the second conductive layer.

Passivating glue layer to improve amorphous carbon to metal adhesion

Embodiments described herein relate to materials and processes for patterning and etching features in a semiconductor substrate. In one embodiment, a method of forming a composite amorphous carbon layer is provided. The method comprises positioning a substrate in a process chamber, introducing a hydrocarbon source gas into the process chamber, introducing a diluent source gas into the process chamber, introducing a plasma-initiating gas into the process chamber, generating a plasma in the process chamber, forming an amorphous carbon initiation layer on the substrate, wherein the hydrocarbon source gas has a volumetric flow rate to diluent source gas flow rate ratio of 1:12 or less, and forming a bulk amorphous carbon layer on the amorphous carbon initiation layer, wherein a hydrocarbon source gas used to form the bulk amorphous carbon layer has a volumetric flow rate to a diluent source gas flow rate of 1:6 or greater.

Amorphous carbon deposition method for improved stack defectivity

Embodiments described herein relate to materials and processes for patterning and etching features in a semiconductor substrate. In one embodiment, a method of forming a composite amorphous carbon layer for improved stack defectivity on a substrate is provided. The method comprises positioning a substrate in a process chamber, introducing a hydrocarbon source gas into the process chamber, introducing a diluent source gas into the process chamber, introducing a plasma-initiating gas into the process chamber, generating a plasma in the process chamber, forming an amorphous carbon initiation layer on the substrate, wherein the hydrocarbon source gas has a volumetric flow rate to diluent source gas flow rate ratio of 1:12 or less; and forming a bulk amorphous carbon layer on the amorphous carbon initiation layer, wherein a hydrocarbon source gas used to form the bulk amorphous carbon layer has a volumetric flow rate to a diluent source gas flow rate of 1:6 or greater to form the composite amorphous carbon layer.

A method and apparatus for adjust local plasma density during a plasma process. One embodiment provides an electrode assembly comprising a conductive faceplate having a nonplanar surface. The nonplanar surface is configured to face a substrate during processing and the conductive faceplate is disposed so that the nonplanar surface is opposing a substrate support having an electrode. The conductive faceplate and the substrate support form a plasma volume. The nonplanar surface is configured to adjust electric field between the conductive plate and the electrode by varying a distance between the conductive plate and the electrode.

Nonplanar faceplate for a plasma processing chamber

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Culver City, CA, United States of America

Siu Fai Cheng