Applied Materials, Inc.

Other

Yan Ye

Diana Xiaobing Ma

Daniel John Hoffman

Hiroji Hanawa

Xiaoye Zhao

Kartik Ramaswamy

Andrew Nguyen

Douglas A Buchberger, Jr

Gerald Z Yin

Allen Richard Zhao

Kenneth S Collins

Matthew L Miller

Tsutomu Tanaka

Chun Yan

Anand Gupta

Jie Yuan

Gerardo Delgadino

Kang-Lie Chiang

Robert B Hagen

Kallol Bera

Peter K Loewenhardt

Dan Katz

Tetsuya Ishikawa

Steven C Shannon

Gerald Zheyao Yin

Charles S Rhoades

Peter Chang-Lin Hsieh

John M White

Shiang-Bau Wang

Chang-Lin Hsieh

Li-Qun Xia

Michael S Barnes

James D Carducci

Avi Tepman

Yunsang Kim

Hui W Chen

Brian C Lue

Donald J Olgado

Dong-Kil Yim

Jeng H Hwang

Semyon L Kats

Wing Lau Cheng

Kwok Manus Wong

Steve S Mak

Pavel Ionov

Neungho Shin

Ellie Y Yieh

Soo Young Choi

Hong Shih

Ananda H Kumar

James S Papanu

Hamid Noorbakhsh

Arthur H Sato

Douglas Buchberger

Li Xu

Jrjyan Jerry Chen

Michael C Kutney

Tzu-Fang Huang

Richard W Plavidal

Yuri S Uritsky

Yeuk-Fai Edwin Mok

Jang Gyoo Yang

Jeremiah T P Pender

Danny Chien Lu

Steve S Y Mak

Wen H Zhu

Chunshi Cui

James E Sammons, Iii

Jennifer Y Sun

Zheng Xu

Steven Verhaverbeke

Dan Maydan

Robert Jan Visser

Shaoher X Pan

Ashok K Sinha

Roderick Craig Mosely

Michael N Grimbergen

Akihiro Hosokawa

Kurtis Leschkies

Wen-Chiang Tu

Senh Thach

Hamid Tavassoli

Dragan Valentin Podlesnik

Xue-Yu Qian

Daniel A Carl

Theodoros Panagopoulos

David J Eaglesham

Valentin N Todorov

Nianci Han

Huong Thanh Nguyen

Harvey You

Chii Guang Lee

Mahmoud Dahimene

Songlin Xu

Lihua Li

Keshav B Prasad

John M Yamartino

Hoiman Raymond Hung

Eugene Tzou

Arthur Y Chen

The present invention generally comprises a semiconductor film and the reactive sputtering process used to deposit the semiconductor film. The sputtering target may comprise pure zinc (i.e., 99.995 atomic percent or greater), which may be doped with aluminum (about 1 atomic percent to about 20 atomic percent) or other doping metals. The zinc target may be reactively sputtered by introducing nitrogen and oxygen to the chamber. The amount of nitrogen may be significantly greater than the amount of oxygen and argon gas. The amount of oxygen may be based upon a turning point of the film structure, the film transmittance, a DC voltage change, or the film conductivity based upon measurements obtained from deposition without the nitrogen containing gas. The reactive sputtering may occur at temperatures from about room temperature up to several hundred degrees Celsius. After deposition, the semiconductor film may be annealed to further improve the film mobility.

Thin film semiconductor material produced through reactive sputtering of zinc target using nitrogen gases

The present invention generally relates to a method of manufacturing a TFT. The TFT has an active channel that comprises IGZO or zinc oxide. After the source and drain electrodes are formed, but before the passivation layers or etch stop layers are deposited thereover, the active channel is exposed to an NO or Oplasma. The interface between the active channel and the passivation layers or etch stop layers are either altered or damaged during formation of the source and drain electrodes. The NO or Oplasma alters and repairs the interface between the active channel and the passivation or etch stop layers.

[object Object]

Methods and apparatuses for delaminating workpieces are provided. In one or more aspects, a method can include processing or otherwise delaminating the workpiece by separating a delamination stack and a support substrate disposed thereon. The workpiece that can include a sacrificial layer disposed between the delamination stack and the support substrate. The method can include exposing at least a portion of the workpiece to an electrolyte solution, applying an electrical current through the sacrificial layer and the electrolyte solution, selectively removing the electrically conductive or semiconductive material from the sacrificial layer during an etching process, and separating the delamination stack and the support substrate one from the other. The delamination stack can include a process piece that can be one or more wafers or devices (e.g., thin-film devices) or one or more portions of the one or more wafers or devices.

Methods and apparatuses for delaminating process pieces

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to a TFT and methods for manufacture thereof. Specifically, the embodiments herein relate to methods for forming a semiconductor layer at a low temperature for use in a TFT. The semiconductor layer may be formed by depositing a nitride or oxynitride layer, such as zinc nitride or oxynitride, and then converting the nitride layer into an oxynitride layer with a different oxygen content. The oxynitride layer is formed by exposing the deposited nitride layer to a wet atmosphere at a temperature between about 85 degrees Celsius and about 150 degrees Celsius. The exposure temperature is lower than the typical deposition temperature used for forming the oxynitride layer directly or annealing, which may be performed at temperatures of about 400 degrees Celsius.

Thin film semiconductors made through low temperature process

The present invention generally relates to a thin film semiconductor device having a buffer layer formed between the semiconductor layer and one or more layers. In one embodiment, a thin film semiconductor device includes a semiconductor layer having a first work function and a first electron affinity level, a buffer layer having a second work function greater than the first work function and a second electron affinity level that is less than the first electron affinity level; and a gate dielectric layer having a third work function less than the second work function and a third electron affinity level that is greater than the second electron affinity level.

Buffer layers for metal oxide semiconductors for TFT

The present invention generally relates to a semiconductor film and a method of depositing the semiconductor film. The semiconductor film comprises oxygen, nitrogen, and one or more elements selected from the group consisting of zinc, cadmium, gallium, indium, and tin. Additionally, the semiconductor film may be doped. The semiconductor film may be deposited by applying an electrical bias to a sputtering target comprising the one or more elements selected from the group consisting of zinc, cadmium, gallium, indium, and tin, and introducing a nitrogen containing gas and an oxygen containing gas. The sputtering target may optionally be doped. The semiconductor film has a mobility greater than amorphous silicon. After annealing, the semiconductor film has a mobility greater than polysilicon.

Thin film metal oxynitride  semiconductors

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to thin film transistors with one or more trenches to control the threshold voltage and off-current and methods of making the same. In one embodiment, a semiconductor device can include a substrate comprising a surface with a thin film transistor formed thereon, a first passivation layer formed over the thin film transistor, a trench formed within the first passivation layer and a second passivation layer formed over the first passivation layer and within the trench.

TFT with insert in passivation layer or etch stop layer

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to a method for seasoning a sputtering target in-situ with a substrate to be processed. New semiconductor compounds containing oxygen, nitrogen, and an element such as zinc, cadmium, tin, indium, and gallium are beginning to replace silicon as the material for active channels in TFTs. The new semiconductor compounds may be deposited by a reactive sputtering process. During the sputtering process, reactive gas reacts with the metal from the sputtering target and deposits on the substrate. Some of the reactive gas may react at the surface and lead to a buildup of a compound at the target surface. Because oxygen and nitrogen are quite reactive, an oxide or nitride compound may develop at the target surface. The oxide or nitride may be removed by seasoning the sputtering target. The seasoning may occur while the substrate is within the processing chamber.

Methods for stable process in a reactive sputtering process using zinc or doped zinc target

A capping layer may be deposited over the active channel of a thin film transistor (TFT) in order to protect the active channel from contamination. The capping layer may affect the performance of the TFT. If the capping layer contains too much hydrogen, nitrogen, or oxygen, the threshold voltage, sub threshold slope, and mobility of the TFT may be negatively impacted. By controlling the ratio of the flow rates of the nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen containing gases, the performance of the TFT may be optimized. Additionally, the power density, capping layer deposition pressure, and the temperature may also be controlled to optimize the TFT performance.

Capping layers for metal oxynitride TFTs

The present invention generally relates to an offset electrode TFT and a method of its manufacture. The offset electrode TFT is a TFT in which one electrode, either the source or the drain, surrounds the other electrode. The gate electrode continues to be below both the source and the drain electrodes. By redesigning the TFT, less voltage is necessary to transfer the voltage from the source to the drain electrode as compared to traditional bottom gate TFTs or top gate TFTs. The offset electrode TFT structure is applicable not only to silicon based TFTs, but also to transparent TFTs that include metal oxides such as zinc oxide or IGZO and metal oxynitrides such as ZnON.

Offset electrode TFT structure

A sputtering apparatus for processing large area substrates is provided. By introducing gas across the entire target surface, a uniform composition film may be formed on the substrate. When the gas is introduced merely at the perimeter, the gas distribution is not uniform. By providing a gas introduction tube across the processing area, the reactive gas will uniformly distribute to the whole target. Also, providing the gas tube with multiple inner tubes provides a quick, effective gas dispersion capability.

Reactive sputtering chamber with gas distribution tubes

Embodiments of the present invention generally include TFTs and methods for their manufacture. The gate dielectric layer in the TFT may affect the threshold voltage of the TFT. By treating the gate dielectric layer prior to depositing the active channel material, the threshold voltage may be improved. One method of treating the gate dielectric involves exposing the gate dielectric layer to NO gas. Another method of treating the gate dielectric involves exposing the gate dielectric layer to NO plasma. Silicon oxide, while not practical as a gate dielectric for silicon based TFTs, may also improve the threshold voltage when used in metal oxide TFTs. By treating the gate dielectric and/or using silicon oxide, the threshold voltage of TFTs may be improved.

Treatment of gate dielectric for making high performance metal oxide and metal oxynitride thin film transistors

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Saratoga, CA, United States of America

Yan Ye