Applied Materials, Inc.

Mattson Technology, Inc

Other

Songlin Xu

Xueyu Qian

John Patrick Holland

Yan Ye

Thorsten B Lill

Shaoher X Pan

Stephen E Savas

Gerald Z Yin

Peter K Loewenhardt

Chun Yan

Diana Xiaobing Ma

Arthur H Sato

Michael N Grimbergen

Dragan Valentin Podlesnik

Rene George

Chii Guang Lee

Li Hou

John M Yamartino

Arthur Y Chen

Andreas Kadavanich

Li Diao

Wade Zawalski

Zhiwen Sun

Hong Ching Shan

Takakazu Kusuki

Xueyan Qian

Arnold Kolandenko

David Dutton

Stephen Hyatt

Removing photoresist from a workpiece is described when a region of tungsten is exposed. A plasma is generated from a gas input consisting essentially of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas in a predetermined ratio. The plasma causes the photoresist to be removed from the workpiece while the region of tungsten is left substantially unmodified. The ratio of the hydrogen to oxygen can be adjusted to a particular value which causes the photoresist to be removed at about a maximum removal rate that corresponds to a minimum tungsten loss rate of about zero. Polysilicon oxidation in the presence of tungsten is described with little or no tungsten loss.

Advanced processing technique and system for preserving tungsten in a device structure

In a technique for fabricating an integrated circuit to include an active device structure which supports an electrical interconnect structure, a photoresist layer is used prior to forming an electrical interconnect structure on the active device structure. The photoresist and related residues are removed by exposing the photoresist and exposed regions of the active device structure to one or more reactive species that are generated using a gas mixture including hydrogen gas, as a predominant source of the reactive species, in a plasma source such that the photoresist and residues are continuously exposed to hydrogen-based reactive species. An associated system architecture is described which provides for a substantial flow of hydrogen gas in the process chamber.

System and method for removal of photoresist in transistor fabrication for integrated circuit manufacturing

An exemplary embodiment providing one or more improvements includes a wafer tilt detection apparatus for use with a wafer processing or manufacturing device that applies a process to the wafer and which utilizes an endpoint signal for determining control of the process applied to the wafer. The wafer tilt apparatus uses the endpoint signal in establishing when the wafer was in a tilted orientation during processing.

Wafer tilt detection apparatus and method

A new methodology of monitoring process drift and chamber seasoning is presented based on the discovery of the strong correlation between chamber surface condition and free radical density in a plasma. Lower free radical density indicates either there is a significant process drift in the case of production wafer etching or that the chamber needs more seasoning before resuming production wafer etching. Free radical density in the plasma is monitored through measuring the emission intensities of free radicals in the plasma by an optical spectrometer. A timely detection of the extent of process drift and chamber seasoning can help to minimize the chamber downtime and improve its throughput significantly. Such method can also be implemented in existing production wafer etching or chamber seasoning practices in an in-situ, real-time, and non-intrusive manner.

Methodology for in-situ and real-time chamber condition monitoring and process recovery during plasma processing

A method and apparatus for reducing the sensitivity of semiconductor processing to chamber conditions is provided. Process repeatability of common processes are affected by changing surface conditions which alter the recombination rates of processing chemicals to the chamber surfaces. In one aspect of the invention, a composition of one or more etchants is selected to optimize the etch performance and reduce deposition on chamber surfaces. The one or more etchants are selected to minimize buildup on the chamber surfaces, thereby controlling the chamber surface condition to minimize changes in etch rates due to differing recombination rates of free radicals with different surface conditions and achieve etch repeatability. In another embodiment, the etchant chemistry is adjusted to reduce the change to internal surface conditions after a cleaning cycle. In another embodiment, a process recipe is selected to reduce the sensitivity of the etch process to the chamber conditions. In another embodiment, chamber surface materials are selected to minimize the differences in recombination rates of free radicals on the surface materials and the byproduct depositions formed on the materials during processing.

Methodologies to reduce process sensitivity to the chamber condition

A method for operating a plasma reactor having a secondary chamber that is a neutral species source for the main chamber. The method in one embodiment of the invention consists of determining the desired increase in main chamber neutral particle density to be contributed by the secondary chamber for a given main chamber ion density range, and then to maintain the main chamber source power below a level beneath which the secondary chamber is capable of supplying the desired main chamber neutral density contribution.

Method of operating a dual chamber reactor with neutral density decoupled from ion density

Conventional methods of etching TiSi use Cl or HBr as the plasma etchant. However, these methods can lead to undesirable residues, due to the presence of silicon nodules in the TiSi The present invention overcomes the residue problem by adding a fluorine containing gas to the plasma etchant, which is then able to effectively etch the Si nodules at an etch rate which is approximately the same as the etch rate of the TiSi , so that the undesirable residue is not formed. A method of etching TiSi is provided, wherein the surface of the TiSi is exposed, typically through a patterned mask, to a plasma etchant. The plasma etchant comprises (i) at least one fluorine containing gas, such as SF , NF , C F , and compatible mixtures of such gases; and (ii) a gas selected from the group consisting of HBr, Cl , and combinations thereof.

Method for enhancing etching of TiSix

The present invention provides an apparatus and method, for plasma assisted processing of a workpiece, which provides for separate control of species density within a processing plasma. The present invention has a processing chamber and at least one collateral chamber. The collateral chamber is capable of generating a collateral plasma and delivering it to the processing chamber. To control the densities of the particle species within the processing chamber the present invention may have: a filter interposed between the collateral chamber and the processing chamber, primary chamber source power, several collateral chambers providing separate inputs to the processing chamber, or combinations thereof. Collateral plasma may be: filtered, combined with primary chamber generated plasma, combined with another collateral plasma, or combinations thereof to separately control the densities of the species comprising the processing plasma.

Plasma assisted processing chamber with separate control of species density

A method for etching metal silicide layers 22a, 22b and polysilicon layers 24a, 24b on a substrate 20 with high etching selectivity, and anisotropic etching properties, is described. In the method, the substrate 20 is placed in a plasma zone 55, and process gas comprising chlorine, oxygen and optionally helium gas, is introduced into the plasma zone. A plasma is formed from the process gas to etch the metal silicide layer 22 at high etching selectivity relative to etching of the polysilicon layer 24, while providing substantially anisotropic etching of the metal silicide and polysilicon layers. Preferably, the plasma is formed using combined inductive and capacitive plasma sources.

Method of etching polycide structures

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Songlin Xu