Applied Materials, Inc.

Yihong Chen

Abhijit Basu Mallick

Srinivas Gandikota

Kelvin Chan

Ziqing Duan

Yong Wu

Susmit Singha Roy

Rui Cheng

Pramit Manna

Chia Cheng Chin

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Xinliang Lu

Jianhua Zhou

Shishi Jiang

Shaunak Mukherjee

Ningli Liu

David P Thompson

Joseph Yudovsky

Jeffrey W Anthis

Karthik Janakiraman

Mandyam Sriram

Kevin Griffin

Jared Ahmad Lee

Benjamin Schmiege

Oscar Lopez

Srinivas D Nemani

Mehul B Naik

Deenesh Padhi

Yi Yang

Alexandros T Demos

Mukund Srinivasan

Ren-Guan Duan

Kurtis Leschkies

Sudhir R Gondhalekar

Processing methods comprise forming a gap fill layer comprising tungsten or molybdenum by exposing a substrate surface having at least one feature thereon sequentially to a metal precursor and a reducing agent comprising hydrogen to form the gap fill layer in the feature, wherein there is not a nucleation layer between the substrate surface and the gap fill layer.

Nucleation-free gap fill ALD process

Methods for depositing film comprising cyclical exposure of a substrate surface to a precursor and a degas environment to remove gas evolved from the film. Some embodiments further comprise the incorporation poisoning the top of a feature to inhibit film growth at the top of the feature. Some embodiments further comprising etching a portion of the film deposited at the top of a feature between cycles to increase gap-fill uniformity.

Deposition of conformal and gap-fill amorphous silicon thin-films

Methods of depositing a film by atomic layer deposition are described. The methods comprise exposing a substrate surface to a first process condition comprising a first reactive gas and a second reactive gas and exposing the substrate surface to a second process condition comprising the second reactive gas. The first process condition comprises less than a full amount of the second reactive gas for a CVD process.

Enhanced spatial ALD of metals through controlled precursor mixing

Methods for forming a nucleation layer on a substrate. In some embodiments, the processing method comprises sequential exposure to a first reactive gas comprising a metal precursor and a second reactive gas comprising a halogenated silane to form a nucleation layer on the surface of the substrate.

Methods of forming nucleation layers with halogenated silanes

Methods for depositing a metal film on a doped amorphous silicon layer as a nucleation layer and/or a glue layer on a substrate. Some embodiments further comprise the incorporation of a glue layer to increase the ability of the doped amorphous silicon layer and metal layer to stick to the substrate.

Conformal doped amorphous silicon as nucleation layer for metal deposition

Methods for depositing tungsten on halosilane based metal silicide nucleation layers

Processing methods comprising selectively orthogonally growing a first material through a mask to provide an expanded first material are described. The mask can be removed leaving the expanded first material extending orthogonally from the surface of the first material. Further processing can create a self-aligned via.

Methods of forming self-aligned vias

Methods of selectively depositing ruthenium are described. The preferred deposition surface changes based on the substrate temperature during processing. At high temperatures, ruthenium is deposited on a first surface of a conductive material over a second surface of an insulating material. At lower temperatures, ruthenium is deposited on an insulating surface over a conducting surface.

Selective atomic layer deposition of ruthenium

In one embodiment, a method of forming a barrier layer is provided. The method includes positioning a substrate in a processing chamber, forming a barrier layer over the substrate and in contact with the underlayer, and annealing the substrate. The substrate comprises at least one underlayer having cobalt, tungsten, or copper. The barrier layer has a thickness of less than 70 angstroms.

Ultra-thin diffusion barriers

Methods of wordline separation in semiconductor devices (e.g., 3D-NAND) are described. A metal film is deposited in the wordlines and on the surface of a stack of spaced oxide layers. The metal film is removed by high temperature oxidation and etching of the oxide or low temperature atomic layer etching by oxidizing the surface and etching the oxide in a monolayer fashion. After removal of the metal overburden, the wordlines are filled with the metal film.

Methods for wordline separation in 3D-NAND devices

Methods for forming 3D-NAND devices comprising recessing a poly-Si layer to a depth below a spaced oxide layer. A liner is formed on the spaced oxide layer and not on the recessed poly-Si layer. A metal layer is deposited in the gaps on the liner to form wordlines.

Methods of lowering wordline resistance

Methods for depositing a metal film without the use of a barrier layer are disclosed. Some embodiments comprise forming an amorphous nucleation layer comprising one or more of silicon or boron and forming a metal layer on the nucleation layer.

Tungsten deposition without barrier layer

Methods for selectively depositing films by atomic layer deposition are disclosed. Substrate surfaces are passivated by hydrosilylation to prevent deposition and allow selective deposition on unpassivated surfaces.

Surface-selective atomic layer deposition using hydrosilylation passivation

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Yihong Chen