4910 results about "Deposition process" patented technology

Embodiments provide a method for depositing or forming titanium aluminum nitride materials during a vapor deposition process, such as atomic layer deposition (ALD) or plasma-enhanced ALD (PE-ALD). In some embodiments, a titanium aluminum nitride material is formed by sequentially exposing a substrate to a titanium precursor and a nitrogen plasma to form a titanium nitride layer, exposing the titanium nitride layer to a plasma treatment process, and exposing the titanium nitride layer to an aluminum precursor while depositing an aluminum layer thereon. The process may be repeated multiple times to deposit a plurality of titanium nitride and aluminum layers. Subsequently, the substrate may be annealed to form the titanium aluminum nitride material from the plurality of layers. In other embodiments, the titanium aluminum nitride material may be formed by sequentially exposing the substrate to the nitrogen plasma and a deposition gas which contains the titanium and aluminum precursors.

Embodiments of the invention provide treatment processes to reduce substrate contamination during a fabrication process within a vapor deposition chamber. A treatment process may be conducted before, during or after a vapor deposition process, such as an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. In one example of an ALD process, a process cycle, containing an intermediate treatment step and a predetermined number of ALD cycles, is repeated until the deposited material has a desired thickness. The chamber and substrates may be exposed to an inert gas, an oxidizing gas, a nitriding gas, a reducing gas or plasmas thereof during the treatment processes. In some examples, the treatment gas contains ozone, water, ammonia, nitrogen, argon or hydrogen. In one example, a process for depositing a hafnium oxide material within a batch process chamber includes a pretreatment step, an intermediate step during an ALD process and a post-treatment step.

Embodiments of the invention generally provide a method for depositing films or layers using a UV source during a photoexcitation process. The films are deposited on a substrate and usually contain a material, such as silicon (e.g., epitaxy, crystalline, microcrystalline, polysilicon, or amorphous), silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, or other silicon-containing materials. The photoexcitation process may expose the substrate and/or gases to an energy beam or flux prior to, during, or subsequent a deposition process. Therefore, the photoexcitation process may be used to pre-treat or post-treat the substrate or material, to deposit the silicon-containing material, and to enhance chamber cleaning processes. Attributes of the method that are enhanced by the UV photoexcitation process include removing native oxides prior to deposition, removing volatiles from deposited films, increasing surface energy of the deposited films, increasing the excitation energy of precursors, reducing deposition time, and reducing deposition temperature.

We have discovered methods of controlling a combination of PECVD deposition process parameters during deposition of thin films which provides improved control over surface standing wave effects which affect deposited film thickness uniformity and physical property uniformity. By minimizing surface standing wave effects, the uniformity of film properties across a substrate surface onto which the films have been deposited is improved. In addition, we have developed a gas diffusion plate design which assists in the control of plasma density to be symmetrical or asymmetrical over a substrate surface during film deposition, which also provides improved control over uniformity of deposited film thickness.

Methods of seasoning a remote plasma system are described. The methods include the steps of flowing a silicon-containing precursor into a remote plasma region to deposit a silicon containing film on an interior surface of the remote plasma system. The methods reduce reactions with the seasoned walls during deposition processes, resulting in improved deposition rate, improved deposition uniformity and reduced defectivity during subsequent deposition.

Thin films are formed by formed by atomic layer deposition, whereby the composition of the film can be varied from monolayer to monolayer during cycles including alternating pulses of self-limiting chemistries. In the illustrated embodiments, varying amounts of impurity sources are introduced during the cyclical process. A graded gate dielectric is thereby provided, even for extremely thin layers. The gate dielectric as thin as 2 nm can be varied from pure silicon oxide to oxynitride to silicon nitride. Similarly, the gate dielectric can be varied from aluminum oxide to mixtures of aluminum oxide and a higher dielectric material (e.g., ZrO₂) to pure high k material and back to aluminum oxide. In another embodiment, metal nitride (e.g., WN) is first formed as a barrier for lining dual damascene trenches and vias. During the alternating deposition process, copper can be introduced, e.g., in separate pulses, and the copper source pulses can gradually increase in frequency, forming a transition region, until pure copper is formed at the upper surface. Advantageously, graded compositions in these and a variety of other contexts help to avoid such problems as etch rate control, electromigration and non-ohmic electrical contact that can occur at sharp material interfaces. In some embodiments additional seed layers or additional transition layers are provided.

A batch of wafer substrates is provided with each wafer substrate having a surface. Each surface is coated with a layer of material applied simultaneously to the surface of each of the batch of wafer substrates. The layer of material is applied to a thickness that varies less than four thickness percent across the surface and exclusive of an edge boundary and having a wafer-to-wafer thickness variation of less than three percent. The layer of material so applied is a silicon oxide, silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride with the layer of material being devoid of carbon and chlorine. Formation of silicon oxide or a silicon oxynitride requires the inclusion of a co-reactant. Silicon nitride is also formed with the inclusion of a nitrification co-reactant. A process for forming such a batch of wafer substrates involves feeding the precursor into a reactor containing a batch of wafer substrates and reacting the precursor at a wafer substrate temperature, total pressure, and precursor flow rate sufficient to create such a layer of material. The delivery of a precursor and co-reactant as needed through vertical tube injectors having multiple orifices with at least one orifice in registry with each of the batch of wafer substrates and exit slits within the reactor to create flow across the surface of each of the wafer substrates in the batch provides the within-wafer and wafer-to-wafer uniformity.

Methods and apparatus for depositing an amorphous carbon layer on a substrate are provided. In one embodiment, a deposition process includes positioning a substrate in a substrate processing chamber, introducing a hydrocarbon source having a carbon to hydrogen atom ratio of greater than 1:2 into the processing chamber, introducing a plasma initiating gas selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, helium, argon, nitrogen, and combinations thereof into the processing chamber, with the hydrocarbon source having a volumetric flow rate to plasma initiating gas volumetric flow rate ratio of 1:2 or greater, generating a plasma in the processing chamber, and forming a conformal amorphous carbon layer on the substrate.

Embodiments of the invention provide processes to selectively form a cobalt layer on a copper surface over exposed dielectric surfaces. In one embodiment, a method for capping a copper surface on a substrate is provided which includes positioning a substrate within a processing chamber, wherein the substrate contains a contaminated copper surface and a dielectric surface, exposing the contaminated copper surface to a reducing agent while forming a copper surface during a pre-treatment process, exposing the substrate to a cobalt precursor gas to selectively form a cobalt capping layer over the copper surface while leaving exposed the dielectric surface during a vapor deposition process, and depositing a dielectric barrier layer over the cobalt capping layer and the dielectric surface. In another embodiment, a deposition-treatment cycle includes performing the vapor deposition process and subsequently a post-treatment process, which deposition-treatment cycle may be repeated to form multiple cobalt capping layers.

A high k dielectric film and methods for forming the same are disclosed. The high k material includes two peaks of impurity concentration, particularly nitrogen, such as at a lower interface and upper interface, making the layer particularly suitable for transistor gate dielectric applications. The methods of formation include low temperature processes, particularly CVD using a remote plasma generator and atomic layer deposition using selective incorporation of nitrogen in the cyclic process. Advantageously, nitrogen levels are tailored during the deposition process and temperatures are low enough to avoid interdiffusion and allow maintenance of the desired impurity profile.

This invention is directed to an improved method for preventing deposition residue buildup on the internal surfaces of an ALD reactor chamber. In an ALD deposition process, the surfaces of a substrate are treated with an initiating precursor generating a labile atom reactive with a deposition precursor. Excess initiating precursor is removed from the reactor and the substrate surface then is exposed to a deposition precursor reactive with the labile atom under conditions for generating a fugitive reaction product containing the labile atom and leaving a deposition product. The process is repeated generating alternate layers of initiation and deposition precursor reaction products. The improvement in the ALD process resides in passivating the internal surfaces of the reactor by removing labile atoms reactable with either the initiating or deposition precursors prior to effecting ALD deposition.

In one aspect, methods of silicidation and germanidation are provided. In some embodiments, methods for forming metal silicide can include forming a non-oxide interface, such as germanium or solid antimony, over exposed silicon regions of a substrate. Metal oxide is formed over the interface layer. Annealing and reducing causes metal from the metal oxide to react with the underlying silicon and form metal silicide. Additionally, metal germanide can be formed by reduction of metal oxide over germanium, whether or not any underlying silicon is also silicided. In other embodiments, nickel is deposited directly and an interface layer is not used. In another aspect, methods of depositing nickel thin films by vapor phase deposition processes are provided. In some embodiments, nickel thin films are deposited by ALD. Nickel thin films can be used directly in silicidation and germanidation processes.

A method of depositing a carbon layer on a workpiece includes placing the workpiece in a reactor chamber, introducing a carbon-containing process gas into the chamber, generating a reentrant toroidal RF plasma current in a reentrant path that includes a process zone overlying the workpiece by coupling plasma RF source power to an external portion of the reentrant path, and coupling RF plasma bias power or bias voltage to the workpiece.

In one aspect, methods of silicidation and germanidation are provided. In some embodiments, methods for forming metal silicide can include forming a non-oxide interface, such as germanium or solid antimony, over exposed silicon regions of a substrate. Metal oxide is formed over the interface layer. Annealing and reducing causes metal from the metal oxide to react with the underlying silicon and form metal silicide. Additionally, metal germanide can be formed by reduction of metal oxide over germanium, whether or not any underlying silicon is also silicided. In other embodiments, nickel is deposited directly and an interface layer is not used. In another aspect, methods of depositing nickel thin films by vapor phase deposition processes are provided. In some embodiments, nickel thin films are deposited by ALD.

A gas distribution structure for supplying reactant gases and purge gases to independent process cells to deposit thin films on separate regions of a substrate is described. Each process cell has an associated ring purge and exhaust manifold to prevent reactive gases from forming deposits on the surface of the wafer between the isolated regions. Each process cell has an associated showerhead for conveying the reactive gases to the substrate. The showerheads can be independently rotated to simulate the rotation parameter for the deposition process.