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. 19, 2011
Filed:
Dec. 22, 2008
Bart Van Schravendijk, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Harald Te Nijenhuis, San Jose, CA (US);
Bart van Schravendijk, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Harald te Nijenhuis, San Jose, CA (US);
Novellus Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods of filling high aspect ratio, narrow width (e.g., sub-50 nm) gaps on a substrate are provided. The methods provide gap fill with little or no incidence of voids, seams or weak spots. According to various embodiments, the methods depositing dielectric material in the gaps to partially fill the gaps, then performing multi-step atomic layer removal process to selectively etch unwanted material deposited on the sidewalls of the gaps. The multi-step atomic layer removal process involves a performing one or more initial atomic layer removal operations to remove unwanted material deposited at the top of the gap, followed by one or more subsequent atomic layer removal operations to remove unwanted material deposited on the sidewalls of the gap. Each atomic layer removal operation involves selectively chemically reacting a portion of the fill material with one or more reactants to form a solid reaction product, which is then removed.