Applied Materials, Inc.

Novellus Systems Incorporated

Lam Research Corporation

Wei Lei

Yu Lei

Yi Xu

Rongjun Wang

Tae Hong Ha

Shirish A Pethe

Aixi Zhang

Shiyu Yue

Xingyao Gao

Juwen Gao

Raymond Hoiman Hung

Zhimin Qi

Xianmin Tang

Michal Danek

Avgerinos V Gelatos

Dien-Yeh Wu

Yixiong Yang

Sang Ho Yu

Kai Wu

Joung Joo Lee

Sahil Patel

Takashi Kuratomi

Xuesong Lu

Xi Cen

Byunghoon Yoon

Mark Hyun Lee

Geraldine M Vasquez

Ju Hyun Oh

Szuheng Ho

Seshadri Ganguli

Martin Lee Riker

Zhebo Chen

Adolph Miller Allen

Erich R Klawuhn

Fuhong Zhang

Xiangjin Xie

Prashanth Kothnur

Tao Huang

Liqi Wu

Goichi Yoshidome

Sean C Chang

Xiaodong Wang

Kevin Kashefi

Tsung-Han Yang

Cong Trinh

Kishor Kumar Kalathiparambil

Aravind Kamath

Anthony Chih-Tung Chan

Mukund Sundararajan

Chih-Hsun Hsu

Chunming Zhou

Feihu Wang

Rajkumar Jakkaraju

Ron Powell

Suhas Bangalore Umesh

Jiajie Cen

Da He

Kie Jin Park

Andrew Tomko

Xianyuan Zhao

Zhibo Yuan

Abulaiti Hairisha

Borui Xia

Sushil Arun Samant

Xiang Chang

Patrick Po-Chun Li

Embodiments of methods and associated apparatus for filling a feature in a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of depositing tungsten in features of a substrate includes: depositing a seed layer consisting essentially of tungsten in the features via a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process; and depositing a bulk layer consisting essentially of tungsten in the features via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process to fill the features such that the deposition of the bulk layer is selective to within the features as compared to a field region of the substrate, wherein the CVD process is performed by flowing hydrogen gas (H) at a first flow rate and a tungsten precursor at a second flow rate, and wherein the first flow rate is less than the second flow rate.

Self field-suppression CVD tungsten (W) fill on PVD W liner

A method of pre-cleaning in a semiconductor structure includes performing a plasma pre-treatment process to remove impurities from a surface of a semiconductor structure comprising a metal layer and a dielectric layer, performing a selective etch process to remove molybdenum oxide from a surface of the metal layer, the selective etch process comprising soaking the semiconductor structure in a precursor including molybdenum chloride (MoCl, MoCl) at a temperature of between 250° C. and 350° C., and performing a post-treatment process to remove chlorine residues and by-products of the selective etch process on the surface of the semiconductor structure.

Metal oxide preclean for bottom-up gapfill in MEOL and BEOL

A method of selective metal removal via gradient oxidation for a gap-fill includes performing process cycles, each process cycle including placing a wafer having a semiconductor structure thereon into a first processing station, the semiconductor structure including a dielectric layer patterned with a feature formed therein and a seed layer formed on sidewalls and a bottom surface of the feature and a top surface of the dielectric layer, performing a reduction process on the wafer in the first processing station, performing a gradient oxidation process on the wafer in the second processing station, performing a gradient etch process on the wafer in the third processing station, and performing the gradient etch process on the wafer in the fourth processing station, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth processing stations are located in an interior volume of a processing chamber.

One chamber multi-station selective metal removal

Methods of depositing a metal film are discussed. A metal film is formed on the bottom of feature having a metal bottom and dielectric sidewalls. Formation of the metal film comprises exposure to a metal precursor and an alkyl halide catalyst while the substrate is maintained at a deposition temperature. The metal precursor has a decomposition temperature above the deposition temperature. The alkyl halide comprises carbon and halogen, and the halogen comprises bromine or iodine.

Gap fill methods using catalyzed deposition

Methods for producing a reduced contact resistance for cobalt-titanium structures. In some embodiments, a method comprises depositing a titanium layer using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, depositing a first cobalt layer on the titanium nitride layer using a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process, and depositing a second cobalt layer on the first cobalt layer using a CVD process.

Methods for controlling contact resistance in cobalt-titanium structures

Methods for reducing resistivity of metal gapfill include depositing a conformal layer in an opening of a feature and on a field of a substrate with a first thickness of the conformal layer of approximately 10 microns or less, depositing a non-conformal metal layer directly on the conformal layer at a bottom of the opening and directly on the field using an anisotropic deposition process. A second thickness of the non-conformal metal layer on the field and on the bottom of the feature is approximately 30 microns or greater. And depositing a metal gapfill material in the opening of the feature and on the field where the metal gapfill material completely fills the opening without any voids.

Methods for forming metal gapfill with low resistivity

Methods of processing a substrate in a PVD chamber are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of processing a substrate in a PVD chamber, includes: sputtering material from a target disposed in the PVD chamber and onto a substrate, wherein at least some of the material sputtered from the target is guided to the substrate through a magnetic field provided by one or more upper magnets disposed about a processing volume of the PVD chamber above a support pedestal for the substrate in the PVD chamber, one or more first magnets disposed about the support pedestal and providing an increased magnetic field strength at an edge region of the substrate, and one or more second magnets disposed below the support pedestal that increase a magnetic field strength at a central region of the substrate.

Methods for shaping magnetic fields during semiconductor processing

Apparatus and methods to provide electronic devices comprising tungsten film stacks are provided. A tungsten liner formed by physical vapor deposition is filled with a tungsten film formed by chemical vapor deposition directly over the tungsten liner.

Low resistivity tungsten film and method of manufacture

Magnet assemblies comprising a housing with a top plate each comprising aligned openings are described. The housing has a bottom ring and an annular wall with a plurality of openings formed in the bottom ring. The top plate is on the housing and has a plurality of openings aligned with the plurality of openings in the bottom ring of the housing. The magnet assembly may also include a non-conducting base plate and/or a conductive cover plate. Methods for using the magnet assembly and magnetic field tuning are also described.

Top magnets for decreased non-uniformity in PVD

Methods and apparatus for producing a reduced contact resistance for cobalt-titanium structures. In some embodiments, a method comprises depositing a titanium layer using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, depositing a titanium nitride layer on the titanium layer using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, depositing a first cobalt layer on the titanium nitride layer using a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process, and depositing a second cobalt layer on the first cobalt layer using a CVD process.

Methods and apparatus for controlling contact resistance in cobalt-titanium structures

Methods and apparatus for selectively depositing a tungsten layer atop a dielectric surface. In embodiments the method includes: depositing a tungsten layer via a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process atop a substrate field and atop a sidewall and a dielectric bottom surface of a feature disposed in a substrate to form a first tungsten portion having a first thickness atop the substrate field, a second tungsten portion having a second thickness atop the sidewall, and a third tungsten portion having a third thickness atop the dielectric bottom surface, wherein the second thickness is less than the first thickness and third thickness; oxidizing a top surface of the tungsten layer to form a first oxidized tungsten portion atop the substrate field, a second oxidized tungsten portion atop the side wall, and a third oxidized tungsten portion atop the dielectric bottom surface; removing the first oxidized tungsten portion, the second oxidized tungsten portion and the third oxidized tungsten portion, wherein the second tungsten portion is completely removed from the sidewall; and passivating or completely removing the first tungsten portion from the substrate field.

Methods for selective deposition of tungsten atop a dielectric layer for bottom up gapfill

Methods for selectively depositing on surfaces are disclosed. Some embodiments of the disclosure utilize an organometallic precursor that is substantially free of halogen and substantially free of oxygen. Deposition is performed to selectively deposit a metal film on a non-metallic surface over a metallic surface. Some embodiments of the disclosure relate to methods of gap filling.

Selective deposition of titanium films

Ternary tungsten boride nitride (WBN) thin films and related methods of formation are provided. The films are have excellent thermal stability, tunable resistivity and good adhesion to oxides. Methods of forming the films can involve thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes in which boron-containing, nitrogen-containing and tungsten-containing reactants are sequentially pulsed into a reaction chamber to deposit the WBN films. In some embodiments, the processes include multiple cycles of boron-containing, nitrogen-containing and tungsten-containing reactant pulses, with each cycle including multiple boron-containing pulses.

Ternary tungsten boride nitride films and methods for forming same

Methods for forming a liner layer are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of forming a liner layer on a substrate disposed in a process chamber, the substrate having an opening formed in a first surface of the substrate, the opening having a sidewall and a bottom surface, the method includes exposing the substrate to a cobalt precursor gas and to a ruthenium precursor gas to form a cobalt-ruthenium liner layer on the first surface of the substrate and on the sidewall and bottom surface of the opening.

Methods for forming a cobalt-ruthenium liner layer for interconnect structures

A method for processing a substrate includes providing a substrate including a metal layer, a dielectric layer arranged on the metal layer, and at least one of a via and a trench formed in the dielectric layer; depositing a metal using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) during a first deposition period, wherein the first deposition period is longer than a first nucleation period that is required to deposit the metal on the metal layer; stopping the first deposition period prior to a second nucleation delay period, wherein the second nucleation period is required to deposit the metal on the dielectric layer; performing the depositing and the stopping N times, where N is an integer greater than or equal to one; and after the performing, depositing the metal using CVD during a second deposition period that is longer than the second nucleation delay period.

Systems and methods for selective tungsten deposition in vias

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Wei Lei