Novellus Systems Incorporated

Vishal Gauri

Raashina Humayun

George D Papasouliotis

Vikram Singh

Michael S Barnes

Bart Jan Van Schravendijk

Chi-I Lang

Judy H Huang

Sunil Shanker

Md Sazzadur Rahman

Atiye Bayman

Weijie Zhang

Mayasari Lim

George D Papasoulitotis

Michal Danek

Wai-Fan Yau

Victor Y Lu

Nerissa Sue Draeger

Feng Wang

Adrianne K Tipton

David L Chen

Brian Lu

Raihan M Tarafdar

Wenxian Zhu

Patrick Christopher Joyce

Lakshminarayana Nittala

Waikit Fung

Robert A Shepherd, Jr

Siswanto Sutanto

Yong Ling

Edith Goldner

Provided are methods of filling gaps on a substrate by creating flowable silicon oxide-containing films. The methods involve introducing vapor-phase silicon-containing precursor and oxidant reactants into a reaction chamber containing the substrate under conditions such that a condensed flowable film is formed on the substrate. The flowable film at least partially fills gaps on the substrate. In certain embodiments, the methods involve using a catalyst in the formation of the film. The catalyst may be incorporated into one of the reactants and/or introduced as a separate reactant.

CVD flowable gap fill

Methods of this invention relate to filling gaps on substrates with a solid dielectric material by forming a flowable film in the gap. The flowable film provides consistent, void-free gap fill. The film is then converted to a solid dielectric material. In this manner gaps on the substrate are filled with a solid dielectric material. According to various embodiments, the methods involve reacting a dielectric precursor with an oxidant to form the dielectric material. In certain embodiments, the dielectric precursor condenses and subsequently reacts with the oxidant to form dielectric material. In certain embodiments, vapor phase reactants react to form a condensed flowable film.

Flowable film dielectric gap fill process

High density plasma chemical vapor deposition and etch back processes fill high aspect ratio gaps without liner erosion or further underlying structure attack. The characteristics of the deposition process are modulated such that the deposition component of the process initially dominates the sputter component of the process. For example, reactive gasses are introduced in a gradient fashion into the HDP reactor and introduction of bias power onto the substrate is delayed and gradually increased or reactor pressure is decreased. In the case of a multi-step etch enhanced gap fill process, the invention may involve gradually modulating deposition and etch components during transitions between process steps. By carefully controlling the transitions between process steps, including the introduction of reactive species into the HDP reactor and the application of source and bias power onto the substrate, structure erosion is prevented.

Process modulation to prevent structure erosion during gap fill

Disclosed are methods for modifying the topography of HDP CVD films by modifying the composition of the reactive mixture. The methods allow for deposition profile control independent of film deposition rate. They rely on changes in the process chemistry of the HDP CVD system, rather than hardware modifications, to modify the local deposition rates on the wafer. The invention provides methods of modifying the film profile by altering the composition of the reactive gas mixture, in particular the hydrogen content. In this manner, deposition profile and wiw uniformity are decoupled from deposition rate, and can be controlled without hardware modifications.

Deposition profile modification through process chemistry

Plasma etch processes incorporating etch chemistries which include hydrogen. In particular, high density plasma chemical vapor deposition-etch-deposition processes incorporating etch chemistries which include hydrogen that can effectively fill high aspect ratio (typically at least 3:1, for example 6:1, and up to 10:1 or higher), narrow width (typically sub 0.13 micron, for example 0.1 micron or less) gaps while reducing or eliminating chamber loading and redeposition and improving wafer-to-wafer uniformity relative to conventional deposition-etch-deposition processes which do not incorporate hydrogen in their etch chemistries.

Method for controlling etch process repeatability

Methods for selectively depositing a solid material on a substrate having gaps of dimension on the order of about 100 nm or less are disclosed. The methods involve exposing the substrate to a precursor of a solid material, such that the precursor forms liquid regions in at least some of the gaps, followed by exposing the substrate to conditions that evaporate the liquid precursor from regions outside the gaps but maintain at least some of the liquid regions in the gaps. The liquid precursor remaining in the gaps is then converted to solid material, thereby selectively filling the gaps with the material.

Selective gap-fill process

Chemical vapor deposition processes are employed to fill high aspect ratio (typically at least 3:1), narrow width (typically 1.5 microns or less and even sub 0.15 micron) gaps with significantly reduced incidence of voids or weak spots. This deposition process involves the use of hydrogen as a process gas in the reactive mixture of a plasma containing CVD reactor. The process gas also includes dielectric forming precursor molecules such as silicon and oxygen containing molecules.

Gap fill for high aspect ratio structures

High density plasma chemical vapor deposition and etch back processes that can fill high aspect ratio (typically at least 5:1, for example 6:1), narrow width (typically sub 0.13 micron, for example 0.1 micron or less) gaps with significantly reduced incidence of voids or weak spots are provided. This deposition part of the process may involve the use of any suitable high density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP CVD) chemistry. The etch back part of the process involves an integrated multi-step (for example, two-step) procedure including an anisotropic dry etch followed by an isotropic dry etch. The all dry deposition and etch back process in a single tool increases throughput and reduces handling of wafers resulting in more efficient and higher quality gap fill operations.

Multi-step deposition and etch back gap fill process

Chemical vapor deposition processes are employed to fill high aspect ratio (typically at least 3:1), narrow width (typically 1.5 microns or less and even sub 0.15 micron) gaps with significantly reduced incidence of voids or weak spots. This deposition process involves the use of both hydrogen and fluorine as process gases in the reactive mixture of a plasma-containing CVD reactor. The process gas also includes dielectric forming precursors such as silicon and oxygen-containing molecules.

High-density plasma process for filling high aspect ratio structures

A supercritical process vessel with an interior for holding a supercritical fluid is provided. A wafer support for supporting a wafer within the interior of a supercritical process vessel to expose the wafer to the supercritical fluid is provided. A lamp, which is able to operate at supercritical fluid pressures within the interior of the supercritical process vessel is provided.

Method and apparatus for radiation enhanced supercritical fluid processing

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Vishal Gauri