Applied Materials, Inc.

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.

Zhong Qiang Hua

Ellie Y Yieh

Srinivas D Nemani

Muhammad M Rasheed

Adolph Miller Allen

Padmanabhan Krishnaraj

Bhargav S Citla

Jingjing Liu

Chentsau Chris Ying

Zhengquan Tan

Viachslav Babayan

Hemant P Mungekar

Sudhir R Gondhalekar

Zhuang Li

Dmitry Lubomirsky

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Michael Wayne Stowell, Jr

Douglas A Buchberger, Jr

Kirankumar Neelasandra Savandaiah

Qiwei Liang

Tom K Cho

Young Seen Lee

Xinglong Chen

Canfeng Lai

Thanh Ngoc Pham

Siqing Lu

Dong Li

Michael C Kwan

Sanjay G Kamath

Bruno Geoffrion

Jethro Tannos

Rupankar Choudhury

Manuel Hernandez

Vanessa Faune

Danny D Wang

Robert Chen

Vaibhav Soni

Jun Tae Choi

Weiyi Luo

Jason Michael Lamb

Jingyi Li

Philip Allan Kraus

Shankar Venkataraman

Matthew S Rogers

Anantha K Subramani

Christopher Sean Olsen

Peter K Loewenhardt

Tza-Jing Gung

Michael D Welch

Kasra Khazeni

Siamak Salimian

Paul E Luscher

William R Johanson

Lei Zhou

Kent Rossman

Rajesh Prasad

Jie Zhou

Kyu-Ha Shim

Rolf A Guenther

Hien-Minh Huu Le

Tushar Mandrekar

Anjana M Patel

Kishor Kumar Kalathiparambil

Kedar Sapre

Nobuyuki Sasaki

Halbert Chong

Walter Zygmunt

Tom Ho Wing Yu

Son M Phi

Carl R Johnson

Tzu-Yu Liu

Andrej Halabica

Lei Luo

Viabhav Soni

Ravi Rajagopalan

Agnieszka Jakubowicz

Rionard Purnawan

Sundarapandian Ramalinga Vijayalaks Reddy

Methods for depositing a dielectric material using RF bias pulses along with remote plasma source deposition for manufacturing semiconductor devices, particularly for filling openings with high aspect ratios in semiconductor applications are provided. For example, a method of depositing a dielectric material includes providing a gas mixture into a processing chamber having a substrate disposed therein, forming a remote plasma in a remote plasma source and delivering the remote plasma to an interior processing region defined in the processing chamber, applying a RF bias power to the processing chamber in pulsed mode, and forming a dielectric material in an opening defined in a material layer disposed on the substrate in the presence of the gas mixture and the remote plasma.

Methods for depositing dielectric material

Embodiments of process kit shields and process chambers incorporating same are provided herein. In some embodiments a process kit configured for use in a process chamber for processing a substrate includes a shield having a cylindrical body having an upper portion and a lower portion; an adapter section configured to be supported on walls of the process chamber and having a resting surface to support the shield; and a heater coupled to the adapter section and configured to be electrically coupled to at least one power source of the processes chamber to heat the shield.

Physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber with in situ chamber cleaning capability

Embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus and methods for depositing a dielectric material using RF bias pulses along with remote plasma source deposition for manufacturing semiconductor devices, particularly for filling openings with high aspect ratios in semiconductor applications. In one embodiment, a method of depositing a dielectric material includes providing a gas mixture into a processing chamber having a substrate disposed therein, forming a remote plasma in a remote plasma source and delivering the remote plasma to an interior processing region defined in the processing chamber, applying a RF bias power to the processing chamber in pulsed mode, and forming a dielectric material in an opening defined in a material layer disposed on the substrate in the presence of the gas mixture and the remote plasma.

Apparatus and methods for reducing and eliminating accumulation of excessive charged particles from substrate processing systems are provided herein. In some embodiments a process kit for a substrate process chamber includes: a cover ring having a body and a lip extending radially inward from the body, wherein the body has a bottom, a first wall, and a second wall, and wherein a first channel is formed between the second wall and the lip; a grounded shield having a lower inwardly extending ledge that terminates in an upwardly extending portion configured to interface with the first channel of the cover ring; and a bias power receiver coupled to the body and extending through an opening in the grounded shield.

Biased cover ring for a substrate processing system

Alignment systems employing actuators provide relative displacement between lid assemblies of process chambers and substrates, and related methods are disclosed. A process chamber includes chamber walls defining a process volume in which a substrate may be placed and the walls support a lid assembly of the process chamber. The lid assembly contains at least one of an energy source and a process gas dispenser. Moreover, an alignment system may include at least one each of a bracket, an interface member, and an actuator. By attaching the bracket to the chamber wall and securing the interface member to the lid assembly, the actuator may communicate with the bracket and the interface member to provide relative displacement between the chamber wall and the lid assembly. In this manner, the lid assembly may be positioned relative to the substrate to improve process uniformity across the substrate within the process chamber.

Alignment systems employing actuators providing relative displacement between lid assemblies of process chambers and substrates, and related methods

A deposited amorphous carbon film includes at least 95% carbon. A percentage of sp3 carbon-carbon bonds present in the amorphous carbon film exceeds 30%, and a hydrogen content of the amorphous carbon film is less than 5%. A process of depositing amorphous carbon on a workpiece includes positioning the workpiece within a process chamber and positioning a magnetron assembly adjacent to the process chamber. The magnetron assembly projects a magnetic field into the process chamber. The method further includes providing a carbon target such that the magnetic field extends through the carbon target toward the workpiece. The method further includes providing a source gas to the process chamber, and providing pulses of DC power to a plasma formed from the source gas within the process chamber. The pulses of DC power are supplied in pulses of 40 microseconds or less, that repeat at a frequency of at least 4 kHz.

High density, low stress amorphous carbon film, and process and equipment for its deposition

A method may include depositing a carbon layer on a substrate using physical vapor deposition, wherein the carbon layer exhibits compressive stress, and is characterized by a first stress value; and directing a dose of low-mass species into the carbon layer, wherein, after the directing, the carbon layer exhibits a second stress value, less compressive than the first stress value.

Techniques for forming low stress etch-resistant mask using implantation

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally describe methods for depositing an amorphous carbon layer onto a substrate, including over previously formed layers on the substrate, using a high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) process, and in particular, biasing of the substrate during the deposition process and flowing a nitrogen source gas and/or a hydrogen source gas into the processing chamber in addition to an inert gas to improve the morphology and film stress of the deposited amorphous carbon layer.

Method to improve film quality for PVD carbon with reactive gas and bias power

Embodiments presented herein relate to a pulse control system for a substrate processing system. The pulse control system includes a power source, a system controller, and a pulse shape controller. The pulse shape controller is coupled to the power source and in communication with the system controller. The pulse shape controller includes a first switch assembly and a second switch assembly. The first switch assembly includes a first switch having a first end and a second end. The first switch is configurable between an open state and a closed state. The second switch assembly includes a second switch having a first end and a second end. The first switch is in the closed state and the second switch is in the open state. The first switch in the closed state is configured to allow a pulse supplied by the power source to transfer through the pulse shape controller.

Pulse shape controller for sputter sources

Methods for forming fin structures with desired profile and dimensions for three dimensional (3D) stacking of fin field effect transistor (FinFET) for semiconductor chips are provided. The methods include a structure reshaping process to reshape a shaped structure, such as a diamond like structure formed on a fin structure. In one embodiment, a method for forming a structure on a substrate includes performing an epitaxial deposition process to form a shaped structure on a fin structure disposed on a substrate, performing a mask layer deposition process to form a mask layer having a first width on the shaped structure, and performing a mask trimming process to trim the mask layer from the first width from a second width.

Methods for forming fin structures with desired profile for 3D structure semiconductor applications

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for plasma processing a substrate to form a film on the substrate and devices disposed thereon by controlling the ratio of ions to radicals in the plasma at a given pressure. A given pressure may be maintained to promote ion production using one plasma source, and a second plasma source may be used to provide additional radicals. In one embodiment, a low pressure plasma is generated in a processing region having the substrate positioned therein, and a high pressure plasma is generated in separate region. Radicals from the high pressure plasma are injected into the processing region having the low pressure plasma, thus, altering the natural distribution of radicals to ions at a given operating pressure. The resulting process and apparatus enables tailoring of the ion to radical ratio to allow better control of forming films on high aspect ratio features, and thus improve corner rounding, conformality of sidewall to bottom trench growth, and selective growth.

Method and apparatus for multizone plasma generation

A method for improving conformality of oxide layers along sidewalls of vias in semiconductor substrates includes forming a nitride layer over an upper surface of a semiconductor substrate and forming a via extending through the nitride layer and into the semiconductor substrate. The via may have a depth of at least about 50 &#x3bc;m from a top surface of the nitride layer and an opening of less than about 10 &#x3bc;m at the top surface of the nitride layer. The method also includes forming an oxide layer over the nitride layer and along sidewalls and bottom of the via. The oxide layer may be formed using a thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process at a temperature of less than about 450&#xb0; C., where a thickness of the oxide layer at the bottom of the via is at least about 50% of a thickness of the oxide layer at the top surface of the nitride layer.

Conformality of oxide layers along sidewalls of deep vias

Methods for doping a non-planar structure by forming a conformal doped silicon glass layer on the non-planar structure are disclosed. A substrate having the non-planar structure formed thereon is positioned in chemical vapor deposition process chamber to deposit a conformal SACVD layer of doped glass (e.g. BSG or PSG). The substrate is then exposed to RTP or laser anneal step to diffuse the dopant into the non-planar structure and the doped glass layer is then removed by etching.

Method for doping non-planar transistors

A remote plasma process for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of a substrate processing chamber after processing a substrate disposed in the substrate processing chamber. In one embodiment, the substrate is transferred out of the substrate processing chamber and a flow of a fluorine-containing etchant gas is introduced into a remote plasma source where reactive species are formed. A continuous flow of the reactive species from the remote plasmas source to the substrate processing chamber is generated while a cycle of high and low pressure clean steps is repeated. During the high pressure clean step, reactive species are flown into the substrate processing chamber while pressure within the substrate processing chamber is maintained between 4-15 Torr. During the low pressure clean step, reactive species are flown into the substrate processing chamber while reducing the pressure of the substrate processing chamber by at least 50 percent of a high pressure reached in the high pressure clean step.

Remote plasma clean process with cycled high and low pressure clean steps

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Saratoga, CA, United States of America

Zhong Qiang Hua