Applied Materials, Inc.

Other

Ziqing Duan

Abhijit Basu Mallick

Srinivas Gandikota

Prashant Kumar Kulshreshtha

Yihong Chen

Bok Hoen Kim

Kwangduk Douglas Lee

Kelvin Chan

Rui Cheng

Susmit Singha Roy

Praket Prakash Jha

Ganesh Balasubramanian

Pramit Manna

Martin Jay Seamons

Lei Jing

Karthik Thimmavajjula Narasimha

Ludovic Godet

David P Thompson

Amit Kumar Bansal

Jeffrey W Anthis

Abdul Aziz Khaja

Zheng John Ye

Sudha S Rathi

Benjamin Schmiege

Erica Chen

Yong Wu

Mandar Balasaheb Pandit

Saptarshi Basu

Deenesh Padhi

Praburam Gopalraja

Atashi Basu

Shishi Jiang

Milind Gadre

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Steven Verhaverbeke

Xinliang Lu

Kurtis Leschkies

Sungwon Ha

Shaunak Mukherjee

Chia Cheng Chin

Ndanka O Mukuti

Ngoc Le

Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to the fabrication of integrated circuits. More particularly, the implementations described herein provide techniques for deposition of boron-carbon films on a substrate. In one implementation, a method of processing a substrate is provided. The method comprises flowing a hydrocarbon-containing gas mixture into a processing volume of a processing chamber having a substrate positioned therein, wherein the substrate is heated to a substrate temperature from about 400 degrees Celsius to about 700 degrees Celsius, flowing a boron-containing gas mixture into the processing volume and generating an RF plasma in the processing volume to deposit a boron-carbon film on the heated substrate, wherein the boron-carbon film has an elastic modulus of from about 200 to about 400 GPa and a stress from about −100 MPa to about 100 MPa.

Ultra-high modulus and etch selectivity boron-carbon hardmask films

Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to the fabrication of integrated circuits. More particularly, the implementations described herein provide techniques for deposition of boron-carbon films on a substrate. In one implementation, a method of processing a substrate is provided. The method comprises flowing a hydrocarbon-containing gas mixture into a processing volume of a processing chamber having a substrate positioned therein, wherein the substrate is heated to a substrate temperature from about 400 degrees Celsius to about 700 degrees Celsius, flowing a boron-containing gas mixture into the processing volume and generating an RF plasma in the processing volume to deposit a boron-carbon film on the heated substrate, wherein the boron-carbon film has an elastic modulus of from about 200 to about 400 GPa and a stress from about &#x2212;100 MPa to about 100 MPa.

Methods for seam-less gapfill comprising sequentially depositing a film with a seam, reducing the height of the film to remove the seam and repeating until a seam-less film is formed. Some embodiments include optional film doping and film treatment (e.g., ion implantation and annealing).

Methods for gapfill in high aspect ratio structures

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

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to methods for forming memory devices, and more specifically to improved methods for forming a dielectric encapsulation layer over a memory material in a memory device. In one embodiment, the method includes thermally depositing a first material over a memory material at a temperature less than the temperature of the thermal budget of the memory material, exposing the first material to nitrogen plasma to incorporate nitrogen in the first material, and repeating the thermal deposition and nitrogen plasma operations to form a hermetic, conformal dielectric encapsulation layer over the memory material. Thus, a memory device having a hermetic, conformal dielectric encapsulation layer over the memory material is formed.

SiBN film for conformal hermetic dielectric encapsulation without direct RF exposure to underlying structure material

Ultra-high modulus and etch selectivity boron carbon hardmask films

Processing methods comprising selectively replacing a first pillar material with a second pillar material in a self-aligned process are described. The first pillar material may be grown orthogonally to the substrate surface and replaced with a second pillar material to leave a substantially similar shape and alignment as the first pillar material.

Geometric control of bottom-up pillars for patterning applications

The present disclosure generally relates to processing chamber seasoning layers having a graded composition. In one example, the seasoning layer is a boron-carbon-nitride (BCN) film. The BCN film may have a greater composition of boron at the base of the film. As the BCN film is deposited, the boron concentration may approach zero, while the relative carbon and nitrogen concentration increases. The BCN film may be deposited by initially co-flowing a boron precursor, a carbon precursor, and a nitrogen precursor. After a first period of time, the flow rate of the boron precursor may be reduced. As the flow rate of boron precursor is reduced, RF power may be applied to generate a plasma during deposition of the seasoning layer.

Graded in-situ charge trapping layers to enable electrostatic chucking and excellent particle performance for boron-doped carbon films

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

A first metallization layer comprises a set of first conductive lines that extend along a first direction on a first dielectric layer on a substrate. Pillars are formed on recessed first dielectric layers and a second dielectric layer covers the pillars. A dual damascene etch provides a contact hole through the second dielectric layer and an etch removes the pillars to form air gaps.

Methods of forming self-aligned vias and air gaps

Methods of forming self-aligned patterns are described. A film material is deposited on a patterned film to fill and cover features formed by the patterned film. The film material is recessed to a level below the top of the patterned film. The recessed film is converted to a metal film by exposure to a metal precursor followed by volumetric expansion of the metal film.

Methods of forming tungsten pillars

Processing methods to create self-aligned contacts are described. A conformal liner can be deposited in a feature in a substrate surface leaving a gap between the walls of the liner. A tungsten film can be deposited in the gap of the liner and volumetrically expanded. The expanded film can be removed and replaced with a contact material to a make a contact. In some embodiments, a conformal tungsten film can be formed in the feature leaving a gap between the walls. A dielectric can be deposited in the gap and the conformal tungsten film can be volumetrically expanded to grow two pillars. The pillars can be removed and replaced with a contact material to make two contacts.

Critical dimension control for self-aligned contact patterning

Methods comprising depositing a film material to form an initial film in a trench in a substrate surface are described. The film is treated to expand the film to grow beyond the substrate surface.

Deposition and treatment of films for patterning

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Ziqing Duan