Applied Materials, Inc.

Yong Wu

Srinivas Gandikota

Abhijit Basu Mallick

Yihong Chen

Yixiong Yang

Chia Cheng Chin

Wei V Tang

Kelvin Chan

Xinliang Lu

Mandyam Sriram

Susmit Singha Roy

Ziqing Duan

Jacqueline S Wrench

Wenyi Liu

Jianqiu Guo

Srinivas D Nemani

Rui Cheng

Shih Chung Chen

Shishi Jiang

Arkaprava Dan

Yongjing Lin

Karla M Bernal Ramos

Pramit Manna

Kurtis Leschkies

Yumin He

Wei Tang

A method for forming a metal nitride layer on a substrate includes exposing a substrate having features formed therein to a first deposition gas mixture including metal source material in a processing chamber to deposit metal source material in the features, supplying a first purge gas mixture into the processing chamber to remove excess metal source material and reaction byproducts from the processing chamber, exposing the substrate to a second deposition gas mixture including a nitride source compound in the processing chamber to form no more than one monolayer of metal nitride, supplying a second purge gas mixture into the processing chamber to remove excess nitride source compound and reaction byproducts from the processing chamber, and exposing the substrate to plasma using a microwave plasma source.

Method of tuning film properties of metal nitride using plasma

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 of forming memory structures are discussed. Specifically, methods of forming 3D NAND devices are discussed. Some embodiments form memory structures with a metal nitride barrier layer, an α-tungsten layer, and a bulk metal material. The barrier layer comprises a TiXN or TaXN material, where X comprises a metal selected from one or more of aluminum (Al), silicon (Si), tungsten (W), lanthanum (La), yttrium (Yt), strontium (Sr), or magnesium (Mg).

Liner for V-NAND word line stack

A graphene barrier layer is disclosed. Some embodiments relate to a graphene barrier layer capable of preventing diffusion from a fill layer into a substrate surface and/or vice versa. Some embodiments relate to a graphene barrier layer that prevents diffusion of fluorine from a tungsten layer into the underlying substrate. Additional embodiments relate to electronic devices which contain a graphene barrier layer.

Graphene diffusion barrier

Methods of forming memory structures are discussed. Specifically, methods of forming 3D NAND devices are discussed. Some embodiments form memory structures with a metal nitride barrier layer, an &#x3b1;-tungsten layer, and a bulk metal material. The barrier layer comprises a TiXN or TaXN material, where X comprises a metal selected from one or more of aluminum (Al), silicon (Si), tungsten (W), lanthanum (La), yttrium (Yt), strontium (Sr), or magnesium (Mg).

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 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-situ 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. These processes are performed without an air break between processes.

In-situ tungsten deposition without barrier layer

Embodiments described herein generally relate to methods of depositing thin films and, more particularly, to depositing metal thin films. The methods herein provide a nucleation free conversion (NFC) approach which involves forming an amorphous silicon layer over the dielectric layer, and performing an NFC process which acts to convert the amorphous silicon layer into a thin metal film. In some embodiments, the NFC process is performed multiple times until the resulting thin metal film is continuous. A bulk metal is formed over the thin metal film.

Linerless continuous amorphous metal films

A method of forming conformal amorphous metal films is disclosed. A method of forming crystalline metal films with a predetermined orientation is also disclosed. An amorphous nucleation layer is formed on a substrate surface. An amorphous metal layer is formed from the nucleation layer by atomic substitution. A crystalline metal layer is deposited on the amorphous metal layer by atomic layer deposition.

Metal deposition methods

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.

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Yong Wu