Applied Materials, Inc.

Taewan Kim

Christopher Sean Olsen

Eric Kihara Shono

Hansel Lo

Vishwas Kumar Pandey

Agus Sofian Tjandra

Tobin Kaufman-Osborn

Alexandros T Demos

Kang Sub Yim

Erika Hansen

Lara Hawrylchak

Johanes S Swenberg

Kartik Bhupendra Shah

Johanes F Swenberg

Bo Xie

Cheng Pan

Sure Ngo

Chamber inlet

A substrate oxidation assembly includes: a chamber body defining a processing volume; a substrate support disposed in the processing volume; a plasma source coupled to the processing volume; a steam source fluidly coupled to the processing volume; and a substrate heater. A method of processing a semiconductor substrate includes: initiating conformal radical oxidation of high aspect ratio structures of the substrate comprising: heating the substrate; and exposing the substrate to steam; and conformally oxidizing the substrate. A semiconductor device includes a silicon and nitrogen containing layer; a feature formed in the silicon and nitrogen containing layer having an aspect ratio of at least 40:1; and an oxide layer on the face of the feature having a thickness in a bottom region of the silicon and nitrogen containing layer that is at least 95% of a thickness of the oxide layer in a top region.

Steam oxidation initiation for high aspect ratio conformal radical oxidation

The present disclosure generally provides methods of providing at least metastable radical molecular species and/or radical atomic species to a processing volume of a process chamber during an electronic device fabrication process, and apparatus related thereto. In one embodiment, the apparatus is a gas injection assembly disposed between a remote plasma source and a process chamber. The gas injection assembly includes a body, a dielectric liner disposed in the body that defines a gas mixing volume, a first flange to couple the gas injection assembly to a process chamber, and a second flange to couple the gas injection assembly to the remote plasma source. The gas injection assembly further includes one or more gas injection ports formed through the body and the liner.

Method and apparatus for supplying improved gas flow to a processing volume of a processing chamber

In one example, a chamber inlet assembly includes a chamber inlet, an outer coupling for a delivery line, and an inner coupling for a processing region of a processing chamber. The inner coupling and the outer coupling are on inner and outer ends, respectively, of the chamber inlet, wherein a cross-sectional area of the inner coupling is larger than a cross-sectional area of the outer coupling. The chamber inlet assembly also includes a longitudinal profile including the inner and outer ends and a first side and a second side, the first and second sides being on opposite sides of the chamber inlet, wherein a shape of the longitudinal profile comprises at least one of triangular, modified triangular, trapezoidal, modified trapezoidal, rectangular, modified rectangular, rhomboidal, and modified rhomboidal. The chamber inlet assembly also includes cassette including the chamber inlet and configured to set into a side wall of the processing chamber.

Side inject designs for improved radical concentrations

Embodiments described herein generally relate to conformal oxidation processes for flash memory devices. In conventional oxidation processes for gate structures, growth rates have become too fast, ultimately creating non-conformal films. To create a preferred growth rate for SiOon SiNfilms, embodiments in this disclosure use a thermal combustion of a ternary mixture of H+O+NO to gain SiOout of Si containing compounds. Using this mixture provides a lower growth in comparison with using only Hand O, resulting in a lower sticking coefficient. The lower sticking coefficient allows an optimal amount of atoms to reach the bottom of the gate, improving the conformality in 3D NAND SiOoxidation layers, specifically for ONO replacement tunneling gate formation.

Conformal oxidation processes for 3D NAND

Methods for conformal radical oxidation of structures are provided. The method comprises positioning a substrate in a processing region of a processing chamber. The method further comprises flowing hydrogen gas into a precursor activator at a first flow rate, wherein the precursor activator is fluidly coupled with the processing region. The method further comprises flowing oxygen gas into the precursor activator at a second flow rate. The method further comprises flowing argon gas into the precursor activator at a third flow rate. The method further comprises generating a plasma in the precursor activator from the hydrogen gas, oxygen gas, and argon gas. The method further comprises flowing the plasma into the processing region. The method further comprises exposing the substrate to the plasma to form an oxide film on the substrate, wherein a growth rate of the oxide film is controlled by adjusting the third flow rate.

Argon addition to remote plasma oxidation

Methods for conformal radical oxidation of structures are provided. In one implementation, the method comprises flowing hydrogen into a processing chamber at a first flow rate, wherein the processing chamber has a substrate positioned therein. The method further comprises flowing oxygen into a precursor activator at a second flow rate. The method further comprises flowing argon into the precursor activator at a third flow rate. The method further comprises generating a plasma in the precursor activator from the oxygen and argon. The method further comprises flowing the plasma into the processing chamber, wherein the plasma mixes with the hydrogen gas to create an activated processing gas. The method further comprises exposing the substrate to the activated gas to form an oxide film on the substrate. A growth rate of the oxide film is controlled by adjusting the third flow rate.

A low-k dielectric porous silicon oxycarbon layer is formed within an integrated circuit. In one embodiment, a porogen and bulk layer containing silicon oxycarbon layer is deposited, the porogens are selectively removed from the formed layer without simultaneously cross-linking the bulk layer, and then the bulk layer material is cross-linked. In other embodiments, multiple silicon oxycarbon sublayers are deposited, porogens from each sub-layer are selectively removed without simultaneously cross-linking the bulk material of the sub-layer, and the sub-layers are cross-linked separately.

Forming a low-k dielectric layer with reduced dielectric constant and strengthened mechanical properties

Embodiments of the disclosure generally provide multi-layer dielectric stack configurations that are resistant to plasma damage. Methods are disclosed for the deposition of thin protective low dielectric constant layers upon bulk low dielectric constant layers to create the layer stack. As a result, the dielectric constant of the multi-layer stack is unchanged during and after plasma processing.

Multi-layer dielectric stack for plasma damage protection

Methods for reducing the k value of a layer using air gaps and devices produced by said methods are disclosed herein. Methods disclosed herein can include depositing a carbon containing stack over one or more features in a substrate, depositing a porous dielectric layer over the carbon containing stack, and curing the substrate to volatilize the carbon containing stack. The resulting device includes a substrate with one or more features formed therein, a porous dielectric layer formed over the features with an air gap formed in the features.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Taewan Kim