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:
Nov. 06, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 07, 1999
Ingo Wilke, Unterschleissheim, DE;
Rochelle King, Redwood City, CA (US);
Hoa Kieu, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a method of forming an aluminum nitride layer on a substrate in a processing chamber comprising depositing a first aluminum nitride layer at a first chamber pressure on a substrate, and then depositing a second aluminum nitride layer at a second chamber pressure higher than the first chamber pressure on the aluminum nitride nucleating layer. The first aluminum nitride layer is deposited by sputtering an aluminum target in a nitrogen and inert gas plasma in a processing chamber at a chamber pressure of about 1.5 to about 3 milliTorr. The second aluminum nitride layer is deposited by sputtering an aluminum target in a nitrogen and inert gas plasma at a chamber pressure of about 5 to about 10 milliTorr. The process may be carried out in the same physical vapor deposition chamber with the substrate being maintained at a temperature of preferably between about 125° C. and about 500° C. The advantages provided by the invention include an improved deposition rate for aluminum nitride with a preferred crystal orientation and improved layer properties.