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:
Feb. 25, 2014
Filed:
Feb. 04, 2013
Applicant:
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Inventors:
Tatsuya Sato, Cupertino, CA (US);
Patricia M. Liu, Saratoga, CA (US);
Fanos Christodoulou, Mountain View, CA (US);
Assignee:
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/26 (2006.01); H01L 21/42 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
In a first aspect, a first method is provided. The first method includes the steps of (1) preconditioning a process chamber with an aggressive plasma; (2) loading a substrate into the process chamber; and (3) performing plasma nitridation on the substrate within the process chamber. The process chamber is preconditioned using a plasma power that is at least 150% higher than a plasma power used during plasma nitridation of the substrate. Numerous other aspects are provided.