Applied Materials, Inc.

Zihui Li

Nitin K Ingle

Anchuan Wang

Ching-Mei Hsu

Shankar Venkataraman

Zhijun Chen

Dmitry Lubomirsky

Jiayin Huang

Randhir P Thakur

Xinglong Chen

Hiroshi Hamana

Rui Cheng

Jingchun Zhang

Hanshen Zhang

Abhijit Basu Mallick

Robert Jan Visser

Mikhail Korolik

Saravjeet Singh

Xikun Wang

Prerna Sonthalia Goradia

Geetika Bajaj

Chia-Ling Kao

Alan Tso

Xing Zhong

Ludovic Godet

Ellie Y Yieh

Arvind A Kumar

Mahendra Pakala

Karthik Janakiraman

John Tolle

Fei C Wang

Takehito Koshizawa

Jun Xue

Krishna Nittala

Nitin Deepak

Russell Chin Yee Teo

Xiawan Yang

Thomas Kirschenheiter

Menghui Li

Ming-Yuan Chuang

Susumu Shinohara

Juan Guo

Qu Jin

Yi Jin

Exemplary semiconductor processing methods may include providing a pre-treatment precursor to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. A first layer of silicon-and-germanium-containing material and a second layer of silicon-and-germanium-containing material may be disposed on a substrate housed within the processing region. A native oxide may be present on the first layer and the second layer. The methods may include contacting the substrate with the pre-treatment precursor to remove the native oxide. The methods may include providing an oxygen-containing precursor to the processing region. The methods may include contacting the substrate with the oxygen-containing precursor to oxidize at least a portion of the second layer. The methods may include providing an etchant precursor to the processing region. The methods may include contacting the substrate with the etchant precursor to selectively etch the first layer of silicon-and-germanium-containing material.

Selective etching between silicon-and-germanium-containing materials with varying germanium concentrations

Exemplary semiconductor processing methods may include providing an oxygen-containing precursor to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. A substrate may be housed within the processing region. A first layer of silicon-and-germanium-containing material, a second layer of silicon-and-germanium-containing material, and a layer of silicon-containing material may be disposed on the substrate. The methods may include contacting the substrate with the oxygen-containing precursor. The contacting may oxidize at least a portion of the second layer of silicon-and-germanium-containing material. The methods may include providing a first etchant precursor to the processing region and contacting the substrate with the first etchant precursor. The contacting may selectively etch the first layer of silicon-and-germanium-containing material. The methods may include providing a second etchant precursor to the processing region. The methods may include contacting the substrate with the second etchant precursor. The contacting may etch a portion of the layer of silicon-containing material.

Selective etching of silicon-and-germanium-containing materials with increased surface purities

Exemplary processing methods may include depositing a boron-containing material or a silicon-and-boron-containing material on a substrate disposed within a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include etching portions of the boron-containing material or the silicon-and-boron-containing material with a chlorine-containing precursor to form one or more features in the substrate. The methods may also include removing remaining portions of the boron-containing material or the silicon-and-boron-containing material from the substrate with a fluorine-containing precursor.

Integration processes utilizing boron-doped silicon materials

Methods of reducing wafer bowing in 3D DRAM devices are described using a 3-color process. A plurality of film stacks are formed on a substrate surface, each of the film stacks comprises two doped SiGe layers having different dopant amounts and/or Si:Ge ratios and a doped silicon layer. 3D DRAM devices are also described.

Three-color 3D DRAM stack and methods of making

A semiconductor processing chamber may include a remote plasma region, and a processing region fluidly coupled with the remote plasma region. The processing region may be configured to house a substrate on a support pedestal. The support pedestal may include a first material at an interior region of the pedestal. The support pedestal may also include an annular member coupled with a distal portion of the pedestal or at an exterior region of the pedestal. The annular member may include a second material different from the first material.

Methods and systems to enhance process uniformity

Exemplary methods for selectively removing silicon (e.g. polysilicon) from a patterned substrate may include flowing a fluorine-containing precursor into a substrate processing chamber to form plasma effluents. The plasma effluents may remove silicon (e.g. polysilicon, amorphous silicon or single crystal silicon) at significantly higher etch rates compared to exposed silicon oxide, silicon nitride or other dielectrics on the substrate. The methods rely on the temperature of the substrate in combination with some conductivity of the surface to catalyze the etch reaction rather than relying on a gas phase source of energy such as a plasma.

Thermal silicon etch

Systems and methods of etching a semiconductor substrate may include flowing an oxygen-containing precursor into a substrate processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The substrate processing region may house the semiconductor substrate, and the semiconductor substrate may include an exposed metal-containing material. The methods may include flowing ammonia into the substrate processing region at a temperature above about 200&#xb0; C. The methods may further include removing an amount of the metal-containing material.

Gas-phase selective etching systems and methods

Precursors, such as interhalogens and/or compounds formed of noble gases and halogens, may be supplied in a gaseous form to a semiconductor processing chamber at a predetermined amount, flow rate, pressure, and/or temperature in a cyclic manner such that atomic layer etching of select semiconductor materials may be achieved in each cycle. In the etching process, the element of the precursor that has a relatively higher electronegativity may react with select semiconductor materials to form volatile etching byproducts. The element of the precursor that has a relatively lower electronegativity may form a gas that may be recycled to re-form an precursor with one or more halogen-containing materials using a plasma process.

Selective atomic layer etching of semiconductor materials

The present disclosure provides methods for etching features in a silicon material includes performing a remote plasma process formed from an etching gas mixture including chlorine containing gas to remove a silicon material disposed on a substrate.

Methods for selective etching of a silicon material

The present disclosure provides methods for etching a silicon material in a device structure in semiconductor applications. In one example, a method for etching features in a silicon material includes performing a remote plasma process formed from an etching gas mixture including HF gas without nitrogen etchants to remove a silicon material disposed on a substrate.

Methods for selective etching of a silicon material using HF gas without nitrogen etchants

Embodiments of the present technology may include a method of etching. The method may include flowing a gas through a plasma to form plasma effluents. The method may also include reacting plasma effluents with a first layer defining a first feature. The first feature may include a first sidewall, a second sidewall, and a bottom. The first sidewall, the second sidewall, and the bottom may include the first layer. The first layer may be characterized by a first thickness on the sidewall. The method may further include forming a second layer from the reaction of the plasma effluents with the first layer. The first layer may be replaced by the second layer. The second layer may be characterized by a second thickness. The second thickness may be greater than or equal to the first thickness. The method may also include removing the second layer to expose a third layer.

Methods for anisotropic control of selective silicon removal

Systems, chambers, and processes are provided for controlling process defects caused by moisture contamination. The systems may provide configurations for chambers to perform multiple operations in a vacuum or controlled environment. The chambers may include configurations to provide additional processing capabilities in combination chamber designs. The methods may provide for the limiting, prevention, and correction of aging defects that may be caused as a result of etching processes performed by system tools.

Processing systems and methods for halide scavenging

A method of etching exposed silicon on patterned heterogeneous structures is described and includes a gas phase etch using plasma effluents formed in a remote plasma. The remote plasma excites a fluorine-containing precursor. Plasma effluents within the remote plasma are flowed into a substrate processing region where the plasma effluents combine with a hydrogen-containing precursor. The combination react with the patterned heterogeneous structures to remove an exposed silicon portion faster than a second exposed portion. The silicon selectivity results from the presence of an ion suppressor positioned between the remote plasma and the substrate processing region. The methods may be used to selectively remove silicon faster than silicon oxide, silicon nitride and a variety of metal-containing materials. The methods may be used to remove small etch amounts in a controlled manner and may result in an extremely smooth silicon surface.

Silicon selective removal

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Zihui Li