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. 28, 2020
Filed:
May. 07, 2018
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Xikun Wang, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Naomi Yoshida, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Soumendra N. Barman, San Jose, CA (US);
Nitin K. Ingle, San Jose, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods are described herein for etching tantalum-containing films with various potential additives while still retaining other desirable patterned substrate portions. The methods include exposing a tantalum-containing film to a chlorine-containing precursor (e.g. Cl) with a concurrent plasma. The plasma-excited chlorine-containing precursor selectively etches the tantalum-containing film and other industrially-desirable additives. Chlorine is then removed from the substrate processing region. A hydrogen-containing precursor (e.g. H) is delivered to the substrate processing region (also with plasma excitation) to produce a relatively even and residue-free tantalum-containing surface. The methods presented remove tantalum while retaining materials elsewhere on the patterned substrate.