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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.:

US 10566213 B1

PDFFull Text
Date of Patent:
Feb. 18, 2020

Filed:

Jul. 30, 2018

Atomic layer etching of tantalum

Applicant:

Lam Research Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);

Inventors:

Keren Jacobs Kanarik, Los Altos, CA (US);

Taeseung Kim, Fremont, CA (US);

Assignee:

LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION, Fremont, CA (US);

Attorney:

Weaver Austin Villeneuve & Sampson LLP

Primary Examiner:

Duy Vu N Deo

Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/321 (2006.01); H01L 21/3213 (2006.01); H01L 21/02 (2006.01); H01L 21/311 (2006.01); H01L 21/3065 (2006.01); H01L 21/67 (2006.01); H01L 21/306 (2006.01); H01J 37/32 (2006.01); H01L 21/683 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/32136 (2013.01); H01J 37/32715 (2013.01); H01J 37/32724 (2013.01); H01L 21/0228 (2013.01); H01L 21/02274 (2013.01); H01L 21/3065 (2013.01); H01L 21/30621 (2013.01); H01L 21/31116 (2013.01); H01L 21/31122 (2013.01); H01L 21/32138 (2013.01); H01L 21/67063 (2013.01); H01L 21/67069 (2013.01); H01L 21/67103 (2013.01); H01L 21/67207 (2013.01); H01L 21/67259 (2013.01); H01L 21/6831 (2013.01); H01J 2237/2001 (2013.01); H01J 2237/3341 (2013.01);
Abstract

Methods for evaluating synergy of modification and removal operations for a wide variety of materials to determine process conditions for self-limiting etching by atomic layer etching are provided herein. Methods include determining the surface binding energy of the material, selecting a modification gas for the material where process conditions for modifying a surface of the material generate energy less than the modification energy and greater than the desorption energy, selecting a removal gas where process conditions for removing the modified surface generate energy greater than the desorption energy to remove the modified surface but less than the surface binding energy of the material to prevent sputtering, and calculating synergy to maximize the process window for atomic layer etching.

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