Catalyst-assisted atomic layer deposition of silicon-containing films with integrated in-situ reactive treatment

Abstract

A method is provided for low temperature catalyst-assisted atomic layer deposition of silicon-containing films such as SiOand SiN. The method includes exposing a substrate surface containing X—H functional groups to a first R—X—Rcatalyst and a gas containing silicon and chlorine to form an X/silicon/chlorine complex on the surface, and forming a silicon-X layer terminated with the X—H functional groups by exposing the X/silicon/chlorine complex on the substrate surface to a second R—X—Rcatalyst and a X—H functional group precursor. The method further includes one or more integrated in-situ reactive treatments that reduce or eliminate the need for undesired high-temperature post-deposition processing. One reactive treatment includes hydrogenating unreacted X—H functional groups and removing carbon and chlorine impurities from the substrate surface. Another reactive treatment saturates the silicon-X layer with additional X—H functional groups.