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. 19, 2013
Filed:
Jan. 18, 2012
Victor Nguyen, Novato, CA (US);
Mihaela Balseanu, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Li-qun Xia, Cupertino, CA (US);
Derek R. Witty, Fremont, CA (US);
Victor Nguyen, Novato, CA (US);
Mihaela Balseanu, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Li-Qun Xia, Cupertino, CA (US);
Derek R. Witty, Fremont, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for forming conformal silicon nitride films at low temperatures on a substrate are provided. The methods of forming a silicon nitride layer include performing a deposition cycle including flowing a processing gas mixture into a processing chamber having a substrate therein, wherein the processing gas mixture comprises precursor gas molecules having labile silicon to nitrogen, silicon to carbon, or nitrogen to carbon bonds, activating the precursor gas at a temperature between about 20° C. to about 480° C. by preferentially breaking labile bonds to provide one or more reaction sites along a precursor gas molecule, forming a precursor material layer on the substrate, wherein the activated precursor gas molecules bond with a surface on the substrate at the one or more reaction sites, and performing a plasma treatment process on the precursor material layer to form a conformal silicon nitride layer.