Gas Cluster Ion Beam Deflection for High Aspect Ratio Trenches
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) systems face challenges in processing semiconductor substrates due to the incompatibility of certain gas mixtures and the difficulty in precisely controlling the effect of GCIB on high aspect ratio structures like trenches, leading to rounded features instead of controlled or squared-off results.
Innovation Solution
A GCIB system with multiple nozzles and a substrate scanning device that uses deflection plates to control the GCIB's direction and angle, allowing for precise irradiation of substrates while scanning, and a controller to manage operating parameters such as deflection angle, voltage differential, frequency, and gas flow rate to achieve targeted processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If conventional GCIB systems use wide beam angles to process substrates, then processing coverage is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to inability to control effect on high aspect ratio structures
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the deflection angle of the GCIB beam during substrate processing. By making the beam angle adjustable rather than fixed, the system can optimize for both wide coverage and precise control depending on the specific processing requirements and structure geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the beam deflection angle parameter to a variable that can be controlled within a specific range. This parameter adjustment allows the system to transition between different processing modes, achieving both broad coverage and precise control over high aspect ratio structures by optimizing the angle for each specific feature.
2Adaptability or versatility
If GCIB systems use certain gas mixtures for processing, then processing versatility is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to gas mixture incompatibility
Solution Approach 1:
The gas delivery system is segmented into separate channels that allow independent control and mixing of different gases. This segmentation enables the system to handle incompatible gas mixtures by controlling their introduction separately, avoiding direct incompatibility issues while maintaining processing versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses an intermediary mixing chamber or buffer zone where incompatible gases can be mixed under controlled conditions before reaching the processing region. This intermediary space allows gases that would normally be incompatible to coexist safely, enabling versatile processing without compromising reliability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables precise control over the GCIB's effect on substrates, allowing for controlled processing of high aspect ratio structures like trenches, improving the accuracy and effectiveness of doping, growing, depositing, or modifying layers with a narrow range of deflection angles.
Implementation Method 1
A GCIB system with multiple nozzles and a substrate scanning device that uses deflection plates to control the GCIB's direction and angle
Implementation Method 2
The gas clusters can be ionized by electron bombardment, which permits the gas clusters to be formed into directed beams of controllable energy
Implementation Method 3
Clusters of atoms can be formed by the condensation of individual gas atoms (or molecules) during the adiabatic expansion of high pressure gas from a nozzle into a vacuum
Implementation Method 4
Clusters of atoms can be formed by the condensation of individual gas atoms (or molecules) during the adiabatic expansion of high pressure gas from a nozzle into a vacuum
Implementation Method 5
Neutral clusters of various sizes are produced and held together by weak inter-atomic forces known as Van der Waals forces
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a method of controlling a gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) system for processing structures on a substrate. A GCIB system comprises deflection plates for directing a GCIB towards a substrate, the GCIB system coupled to a substrate scanning device configured to move a substrate in three dimensions. The substrate is exposed to the GCIB while the substrate is being moved by the substrate scanning device. A controller is used to control a set of deflection operating parameters comprising a deflection angle φ, voltage differential of the deflection plates, frequency of the deflection plate power, beam current, substrate distance, pressure in the nozzle, gas flow rate in the process chamber, separation of beam burns, duration of the bean burn, and/or duty cycle of the beam deflector output.