The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 03, 2018
Filed:
Mar. 01, 2017
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Liqi Wu, San Jose, CA (US);
Wenyu Zhang, San Jose, CA (US);
Shih Chung Chen, Cupertino, CA (US);
Wei V. Tang, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Leung Kway Lee, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Xinming Zhang, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Paul F. Ma, Santa Clara, CA (US);
APPLIED MATERIALS, INC., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Processing methods comprising oxidizing a metal nitride film to form a metal oxynitride layer and etching the metal oxynitride layer with a metal halide etchant. The metal halide etchant can be, for example, WCl, WOClor TaCl. Methods of filling a trench with a seam-free gapfill are also described. A metal nitride film is deposited in the trench to form a seam and pinch-off an opening of the trench. The pinched-off opening is subjected to a directional oxidizing plasma and a metal halide etchant to open the pinched-off top and allow access to the seam.