Novellus Systems Incorporated

Lam Research Corporation

Other

Yongsik Yu

William Crew

Michael Carris

Karen Billington

Mandyam Sriram

Kaushik Chattopadhyay

Bart Jan Van Schravendijk

Jon Henri

Roey Shaviv

Hui-Jung Wu

Pramod Subramonium

Haiying Fu

Thomas W Mountsier

Zhiyuan Fang

Xingyuan Tang

Atul Gupta

Bhadri N Varadarajan

Samantha SiamHwa Tan

Nagraj Shankar

Karthik Subramanian Colinjivadi

Robert Hepburn

Elizabeth Apen

Dan Vitkavage

George Matamis

David Wingto Cheung

Raashina Humayun

Patrick A Van Cleemput

Shih-Ked Lee

Yang Pan

Juwen Gao

Mark Naoshi Kawaguchi

Akhil N Singhal

Kirk J Ostrowski

Nathan Musselwhite

Nikkon Ghosh

Various embodiments herein relate to methods, apparatus, and systems for etching a feature in a substrate. Typically the feature is etched in a dielectric-containing stack. The etching process involves cyclically etching the feature and depositing a protective film on sidewalls of the partially etched feature. These stages are repeated until the feature reaches its final depth. The protective film may have a particular composition, for example including at least one of a tungsten carbonitride, a tungsten sulfide, tin, a tin-containing compound, molybdenum, a molybdenum-containing compound, a ruthenium carbonitride, a ruthenium sulfide, an aluminum carbonitride, an aluminum sulfide, zirconium, and a zirconium-containing compound. A number of optional steps may be taken including, for example, doping the mask layer, pre-treating the substrate prior to deposition, removing the protective film from the sidewalls, and oxidizing any remaining protective film.

Metal-containing passivation for high aspect ratio etch

Methods and apparatuses for etching metal-doped carbon-containing materials are provided herein. Etching methods include using a mixture of an etching gas suitable for etching the carbon component of the metal-doped carbon-containing material and an additive gas suitable for etching the metal component of the metal-doped carbon-containing material and igniting a plasma to selectively remove metal-doped carbon-containing materials relative to underlayers such as silicon oxide, silicon nitride, and silicon, at high temperatures. Apparatuses suitable for etching metal-doped carbon-containing materials are equipped with a high temperature movable pedestal, a plasma source, and a showerhead between a plasma generating region and the substrate.

Metal doped carbon based hard mask removal in semiconductor fabrication

Methods and apparatuses for depositing an encapsulation layer over a staircase structure during fabrication of a 3D NAND structure to prevent degradation of an oxide-oxide interface and to prevent punchthrough of a wordline are provided. The encapsulation layer is a carbon-containing conformal film deposited over a staircase structure of alternating oxide and nitride layers prior to depositing oxide over the staircase structure.

Staircase encapsulation in 3D NAND fabrication

Films having high hermeticity and a low dielectric constant can be used as copper diffusion barrier films, etch stop films, CMP stop films and other hardmasks during IC fabrication. Hermetic films can protect the underlying layers, such as layers of metal and dielectric, from exposure to atmospheric moisture and oxygen, thereby preventing undesirable oxidation of metal surfaces and absorption of moisture by a dielectric. Specifically, a bi-layer film having a hermetic bottom layer composed of hydrogen doped carbon and a low dielectric constant (low-k) top layer composed of low-k silicon carbide (e.g., high carbon content hydrogen doped silicon carbide) can be employed. Such bi-layer film can be deposited by PECVD methods on a partially fabricated semiconductor substrate having exposed layers of dielectric and metal.

Diffusion barrier and etch stop films

Protective self aligned buffer (PSAB) layers are layers of material that are selectively formed at the surface of metal layers in a partially fabricated semiconductor device. In a Damascene interconnect, PSAB layer typically resides at an interface between the metal layer and a dielectric diffusion barrier layer. PSAB layers promote improved adhesion between a metal layer and an adjacent dielectric diffusion barrier layer. Further, PSAB layers can protect metal surfaces from inadvertent oxidation during fabrication process. A PSAB layer may be formed entirely within the top portion of a metal layer, by, for example, chemically converting metal surface to a thin layer of metal silicide. Thickness of PSAB layers, and, consequently resistance of interconnects can be controlled by partially passivating metal surface prior to formation of PSAB layer. Such passivation can be accomplished by controllably treating metal surface with a nitrogen-containing compound to convert metal to metal nitride.

Protective self-aligned buffer layers for damascene interconnects

Capping protective self aligned buffer (PSAB) layers are layers of material that are selectively formed at the surface of metal layers in a partially fabricated semiconductor device. Encapsulating PSAB layers are formed not only at the surface of the metal layers, but also within the unexposed portions of the metal lines. Encapsulating PSAB layer, for example, can surround the metal line with the PSAB material, thereby protecting interfaces between the metal line and diffusion barriers. Encapsulating PSAB layers can be formed by treating the exposed surfaces of metal lines with GeH. Capping PSAB layers can be formed by treating the exposed surfaces of metal lines with SiH. Interconnects having both a silicon-containing capping PSAB layer and a germanium-containing encapsulating PSAB layer provide good performance in terms of adhesion, resistance shift, and electromigration characteristics.

The present invention provides PECVD methods for forming stable and hermetic ashable hard masks (AHMs). The methods involve depositing AHMs using dilute hydrocarbon precursor gas flows and/or high LFRF/HFRF ratios. In certain embodiments, the AHMs are transparent and have high etch selectivities. Single and dual layer hermetic AHM stacks are also provided. According to various embodiments, the dual layer stack includes an underlying AHM layer having tunable optical properties and a hermetic cap layer.

Methods of depositing stable and hermetic ashable hardmask films

Copper diffusion barrier films having low dielectric constants are suitable for a variety of copper/inter-metal dielectric integration schemes. Copper diffusion barrier films in accordance with the invention are composed of one or more layers of silicon carbide, at least one of the silicon carbide layers having a composition of at least 40% carbon (C), for example, between about 45 and 60% carbon (C). The films' high carbon-content layer will have a composition wherein the ratio of C to Si is greater than 2:1; or &#x3e;3:1; or &#x3e;4:1; or &#x3e;5.1. The high carbon-content copper diffusion barrier films have a reduced effective k relative to conventional barrier materials.

Low-K SiC copper diffusion barrier films

The present invention provides a low dielectric constant copper diffusion barrier film composed, at least in part, of boron-doped silicon carbide suitable for use in a semiconductor device and methods for fabricating such a film. The copper diffusion barrier maintains a stable dielectric constant of less than 4.5 in the presence of atmospheric moisture.

Low-k b-doped SiC copper diffusion barrier films

Low-k SiC copper diffusion barrier films

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Lake Oswego, OR, United States of America

Yongsik Yu