Applied Materials, Inc.

Xianyuan Zhao

Yu Lei

Yi Xu

Aixi Zhang

Zhimin Qi

Rongjun Wang

Dien-Yeh Wu

Tao Huang

Wei Lei

Shirish A Pethe

Geraldine M Vasquez

Xingyao Gao

Xiang Chang

Patrick Po-Chun Li

Embodiments of the disclosure are directed to methods of removing metal oxide from a substrate surface by exposing the substrate surface to a hydrogen (H) plasma and pulses of RF. In some embodiments, the substrate surface has at least one feature thereon, the at least one feature defining a trench having a top surface, a bottom surface, and two opposed sidewalls. The hydrogen (H) plasma and pulses of RF remove substantially all of the metal oxide, e.g., tungsten oxide (WOx), molybdenum oxide (MoOx), or ruthenium oxide (RuOx), from the substrate surface, without damaging the dielectric and/or critical dimension (CD)/profile of the structure. A metal fill can then be selectively deposited in the trench.

Selective metal selectivity improvement with RF pulsing

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

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Xianyuan Zhao