Applied Materials, Inc.

Subhash Deshmukh

Shahid Rauf

Kallol Bera

Kartik Ramaswamy

Kenneth S Collins

Jennifer Y Sun

Andrew Nguyen

Hiroji Hanawa

James D Carducci

Douglas A Buchberger, Jr

Steven C Shannon

James P Cruse

Matthew L Miller

Walter R Merry

Lawrence Wong

Troy S Detrick

Joseph R Johnson

John Patrick Holland

Christopher Dennis Bencher

He Ren

Leonid Dorf

Alexander Miller Paterson

Huixiong Dai

Stephan Wege

Kenny Linh Doan

Adam Brand

Xiaoping Zhou

Timothy B Michaelson

Jingjing Liu

Bhushan N Zope

Mathew Abraham

Peng Xie

Sharma V Pamarthy

Jim Zhongyi He

Aneesh Nainani

Jivko Dinev

Dennis Koosau

Jeffrey William Dietz

Farid Abooameri

Kelly A McDonough

Robert Scott Clark

Huutri Dao

Declan Scanlan

David E Gutierrez

An apparatus configured to remove metal etch byproducts from the surface of substrates and from the interior of a substrate processing chamber. A plasma is used in combination with a solid state light source, such as an LED, to desorb metal etch byproducts. The desorbed byproducts may then be removed from the chamber.

LED based optical source coupled with plasma source

Process for etching metal using a combination of plasma and solid state sources

In some embodiments, a method of forming an etch mask on a substrate is provided that includes (1) forming a resist layer on a substrate; (2) exposing one or more regions of the resist layer to an energy source so as to alter at least one of a physical property and a chemical property of the exposed regions; (3) performing a hardening process on the resist layer to increase the etch resistance of first regions of the resist layer relative to second regions of the resist layer, the hardening process including exposing the resist layer to one or more reactive species within an atomic layer deposition (ALD) chamber; and (4) dry etching the resist layer to remove the one or more second regions and to form a pattern in the resist layer. Other embodiments are provided.

Resist hardening and development processes for semiconductor device manufacturing

An electron beam plasma source is used in a soft plasma surface treatment of semiconductor surfaces containing Ge or group III-V compound semiconductor materials.

Interface treatment of semiconductor surfaces with high density low energy plasma

Embodiments of the invention provide a method and apparatus, such as a processing chamber, suitable for etching high aspect ratio features. Other embodiments include a showerhead assembly for use in the processing chamber. In one embodiment, a processing chamber includes a chamber body having a showerhead assembly and substrate support disposed therein. The showerhead assembly includes at least two fluidly isolated plenums, a region transmissive to an optical metrology signal, and a plurality of gas passages formed through the showerhead assembly fluidly coupling the plenums to the interior volume of the chamber body.

Apparatus for etching high aspect ratio features

A method of processing a workpiece in a plasma reactor chamber includes coupling RF power via an electrode to plasma in the chamber, the RF power being of a variable frequency in a frequency range that includes a fundamental frequency f. The method also includes coupling the electrode to a resonator having a resonant VHF frequency F which is a harmonic of the fundamental frequency f, so as to produce VHF power at the harmonic. The method controls the ratio of power near the fundamental f to power at harmonic F, by controlling the proportion of power from the generator that is up-converted from f to F, so as to control plasma ion density distribution.

Plasma process uniformity across a wafer by controlling a variable frequency coupled to a harmonic resonator

A method is provided for processing a workpiece in a plasma reactor chamber. The method includes coupling, to a plasma in the chamber, power of an RF frequency via a ceiling electrode and coupling, to the plasma, power of at least approximately the same RF frequency via a workpiece support electrode. The method also includes providing an edge ground return path. The method further includes adjusting the proportion between (a) current flow between said electrodes and (b) current flow to the edge ground return path from said electrodes, to control plasma ion density distribution uniformity over the workpiece.

Plasma process uniformity across a wafer by controlling RF phase between opposing electrodes

A method for processing a workpiece in a plasma reactor chamber includes coupling RF power at a first VHF frequency fto a plasma via one of the electrodes of the chamber, and providing a center ground return path for RF current passing directly between the ceiling electrode and the workpiece support electrode for the frequency f. The method further includes providing a variable height edge ground annular element and providing a ground return path through the edge ground annular element for the frequency f. The method controls the uniformity of plasma ion density distribution by controlling the distance between the variable height edge ground annular element and one of: (a) height of ceiling electrode or (b) height of workpiece support electrode.

Method of processing a workpiece in a plasma reactor with variable height ground return path to control plasma ion density uniformity

In a plasma reactor chamber a ceiling electrode and a workpiece support electrode, respective RF power sources of respective VHF frequencies fand fare coupled to either respective ones of the electrodes or to a common one of the electrodes, where fis sufficiently high to produce a center-high non-uniform plasma ion distribution and fis sufficiently low to produce a center-low non-uniform plasma ion distribution. Respective center ground return paths are provided for RF current passing directly between the ceiling electrode and the workpiece support electrode for the frequencies fand f, and an edge ground return path is provided for each of the frequencies fand f. The impedance of at least one of the ground return paths is adjusted so as to control the uniformity of the plasma ion density distribution.

Plasma process uniformity across a wafer by apportioning ground return path impedances among plural VHF sources

A method is provided for processing a workpiece in a plasma reactor chamber having electrodes including at least a ceiling electrode and a workpiece support electrode. The method includes coupling respective RF power sources of respective VHF frequencies fand fto either (a) respective ones of the electrodes or (b) a common one of the electrodes, where fis sufficiently high to produce a center-high non-uniform plasma ion distribution and fis sufficiently low to produce a center-low non-uniform plasma ion distribution. The method further includes adjusting a ratio of an RF parameter at the ffrequency to the RF parameter at the ffrequency so as to control plasma ion density distribution, the RF parameter being any one of RF power, RF voltage or RF current.

Improving plasma process uniformity across a wafer by apportioning power among plural VHF sources

High aspect ratio contact openings are etched while preventing bowing or bending of the etch profile by forming a highly conductive thin film on the side wall of each contact opening. The conductivity of the thin film on the side wall is enhanced by ion bombardment carried out periodically during the etch process.

Method of preventing etch profile bending and bowing in high aspect ratio openings by treating a polymer formed on the opening sidewalls

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Subhash Deshmukh