Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
438720000 | Electrically conductive material (e.g., metal, conductive oxide, etc.) | 25 |
20090004872 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - A semiconductor device is provided which is constituted by semiconductor devices including a thin film transistor with a GOLD structure, the GOLD structure thin film transistor being such that: a semiconductor layer, a gate insulating film, and a gate electrode are formed in lamination from the side closer to a substrate; the gate electrode is constituted of a first-layer gate electrode and a second-layer gate electrode shorter in the size than the first-layer gate electrode; the first-layer gate electrode corresponding to the region exposed from the second-layer gate electrode is formed into a tapered shape so as to be thinner toward the end portion; a first impurity region is formed in the semiconductor layer corresponding to the region with the tapered shape; and a second impurity region having the same conductivity as the first impurity region is formed in the semiconductor layer corresponding to the outside of the first-layer gate electrode, which is characterized in that a dry etching process consisting of one step or two steps is applied to the formation of the gate electrode. | 01-01-2009 |
20090017634 | USE OF A PLASMA SOURCE TO FORM A LAYER DURING THE FORMATION OF A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - A method used to form a semiconductor device having a capacitor comprises placing a semiconductor wafer assembly into a chamber of a plasma source, the wafer assembly comprising a layer of insulation having at least one contact therein and a surface, and further comprising a conductive layer over the surface and in the contact. Next, in the chamber, a layer of etch resistant material is formed within the contact over the conductive layer, the etch resistant material not forming over the surface. | 01-15-2009 |
20090098736 | DRY-ETCHING METHOD - A main etching step is effected in a state shown in | 04-16-2009 |
20100003828 | METHODS FOR ADJUSTING CRITICAL DIMENSION UNIFORMITY IN AN ETCH PROCESS WITH A HIGHLY CONCENTRATED UNSATURATED HYDROCARBON GAS - Methods for etching a metal material layer disposed on a substrate to form features with desired profile and uniform critical dimension (CD) of the features across the substrate. In one embodiment, a method for etching a material layer disposed on a substrate includes providing a substrate having a metal layer disposed on a substrate into an etch reactor, flowing a gas mixture containing at least a halogen containing gas and a passivation gas into the reactor, the passivation gas including a nitrogen containing gas and an unsaturated hydrocarbon gas, wherein the nitrogen gas and the unsaturated hydrocarbon gas and etching the metal layer using a plasma formed from the gas mixture. The CD uniformity could be conveniently, efficiently tuned by the gas ratio, if the concentration of the unsaturated hydrocarbon gas is high enough that the molecular ratio of the unsaturated hydrocarbon gas in the diluent gas times the reactor pressure in milliTorr is greater than 1.25. | 01-07-2010 |
20110237084 | Differential metal gate etching process - A method for etching a differential metal gate structure on a substrate is described. The differential metal gate structure includes a metal gate layer overlying a high dielectric constant (high-k) dielectric layer, wherein the metal gate layer comprises a different thickness at different regions on the substrate. The metal gate layer is patterned by using a plasma etching process, wherein at least one etch step includes forming plasma using a halogen-containing gas and at least one etch step includes forming plasma using an additive gas having as atomic constituents C, H, and F. | 09-29-2011 |
20110275220 | LOW TEMPERATURE METAL ETCHING AND PATTERNING - The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for etching various metals that may be used in semiconductor or integrated circuit processing through the use of non-halogen gases such as hydrogen, helium, or combinations of hydrogen and helium with other gases such as argon. In one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in a reaction chamber, a substrate having a metal interconnect layer deposited thereon is exposed to a plasma formed of non-halogen gas. The plasma generated is maintained for a certain period of time to provide for a desired or expected etching of the metal. In some embodiments, the metal interconnect layer may be copper, gold or silver. | 11-10-2011 |
20110281438 | PULSED BIAS PLASMA PROCESS TO CONTROL MICROLOADING - A method for etching a conductive layer through a mask with wider and narrower features is provided. A steady state etch gas is flowed. A steady state RF power is provided to form a plasma from the etch gas. A pulsed bias voltage is provided during the steady state etch gas flow, wherein the pulsed bias voltage has a frequency between 1 to 10,000 Hz. Wider and narrower features are etched into the conductive layer using the plasma formed from the etch gas. | 11-17-2011 |
20110306215 | METHODS OF PROCESSING SUBSTRATES HAVING METAL MATERIALS - Methods of processing substrates having metal layers are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of processing a substrate comprising a metal layer having a patterned mask layer disposed above the metal layer, the method may include etching the metal layer through the patterned mask layer; and removing the patterned mask layer using a first plasma formed from a first process gas comprising oxygen (O | 12-15-2011 |
20120164839 | SUBSTRATE PROCESSING METHOD - There is provided a substrate processing method capable of increasing an etching rate of a copper member without using a halogen gas. A Cu layer | 06-28-2012 |
20120238103 | METHODS FOR ETCH OF METAL AND METAL-OXIDE FILMS - A method of selectively etching a metal-containing film from a substrate comprising a metal-containing layer and a silicon oxide layer includes flowing a fluorine-containing gas into a plasma generation region of a substrate processing chamber, and applying energy to the fluorine-containing gas to generate a plasma in the plasma generation region. The plasma comprises fluorine radicals and fluorine ions. The method also includes filtering the plasma to provide a reactive gas having a higher concentration of fluorine radicals than fluorine ions, and flowing the reactive gas into a gas reaction region of the substrate processing chamber. The method also includes exposing the substrate to the reactive gas in the gas reaction region of the substrate processing chamber. The reactive gas etches the metal-containing layer at a higher etch rate than the reactive gas etches the silicon oxide layer. | 09-20-2012 |
20140154889 | DRY-ETCH FOR SELECTIVE TUNGSTEN REMOVAL - Methods of selectively etching tungsten relative to silicon-containing films (e.g. silicon oxide, silicon carbon nitride and (poly)silicon) as well as tungsten oxide are described. The methods include a remote plasma etch formed from a fluorine-containing precursor and/or hydrogen (H | 06-05-2014 |
20140179111 | SELECTIVE TITANIUM NITRIDE ETCHING - Methods of etching exposed titanium nitride with respect to other materials on patterned heterogeneous structures are described, and may include a remote plasma etch formed from a fluorine-containing precursor. Precursor combinations including plasma effluents from the remote plasma are flowed into a substrate processing region to etch the patterned structures with high titanium nitride selectivity under a variety of operating conditions. The methods may be used to remove titanium nitride at faster rates than a variety of metal, nitride, and oxide compounds. | 06-26-2014 |
20140199849 | POLYSILICON OVER-ETCH USING HYDROGEN DILUTED PLASMA FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL GATE ETCH - Methods of polysilicon over-etch using hydrogen diluted plasma for three-dimensional gate etch are described. In an example, a method of forming a three-dimensional gate structure includes performing a main plasma etch on a masked polysilicon layer formed over a semiconductor fin. The method also includes, subsequently, performing a plasma over etch on the masked polysilicon layer based on a plasma generated from gaseous composition including hydrogen gas (H | 07-17-2014 |
20140273492 | Methods Of Etching Films Comprising Transition Metals - Provided are methods for etching films comprising transition metals. Certain methods involve activating a substrate surface comprising at least one transition metal, wherein activation of the substrate surface comprises exposing the substrate surface to heat, a plasma, an oxidizing environment, or a halide transfer agent to provide an activated substrate surface; and exposing the activated substrate surface to a reagent comprising a Lewis base or pi acid to provide a vapor phase coordination complex comprising one or more atoms of the transition metal coordinated to one or more ligands from the reagent. Certain other methods provide selective etching from a multi-layer substrate comprising two or more of a layer of Co, a layer of Cu and a layer of Ni. | 09-18-2014 |
20150099369 | PROCESS FOR ETCHING METAL USING A COMBINATION OF PLASMA AND SOLID STATE SOURCES - An apparatus configured to remove metal etch byproducts from the surface of substrates and from the interior of a substrate processing chamber. A plasma is used in combination with a solid state light source, such as an LED, to desorb metal etch byproducts. The desorbed byproducts may then be removed from the chamber. | 04-09-2015 |
20150104951 | METHOD FOR ETCHING COPPER LAYER - Provided is a method of etching a copper layer. The method includes generating plasma of a processing gas within a processing container which accommodates an object to be processed that includes the copper layer and a metal mask formed on the copper layer. The metal mask contains titanium. In addition, the processing gas includes CH | 04-16-2015 |
20150118859 | PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD AND PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A metal-containing deposit can be efficiently removed. A plasma processing method includes removing a deposit, which adheres to a member within a processing vessel and contains at least one of a transition metal and a base metal, by plasma of a processing gas containing a CxFy gas, in which x is an integer equal to or less than 2 and y is an integer equal to or less than 6, and without containing a chlorine-based gas and a nitrogen-based gas. | 04-30-2015 |
20150132970 | SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND SUBSTRATE PROCESSING METHOD - An apparatus for processing reaction products that are deposited when an etching target film contained in a target object to be processed is etched is provided with: a processing chamber; a partition plate; a plasma source; a mounting table; a first processing gas supply unit; a second processing gas supply unit. The processing chamber defines a space, and the partition plate is arranged within the processing chamber and divides the space into a plasma generating space and a substrate processing space, while suppressing permeation of ions and vacuum ultraviolet rays. The plasma source generates a plasma in the plasma forming space. The mounting table is arranged in the substrate processing space to mount the target object thereon. | 05-14-2015 |
20150318186 | METHODS FOR ETCH OF METAL AND METAL-OXIDE FILMS - A method of selectively etching a metal-containing film from a substrate comprising a metal-containing layer and a silicon oxide layer includes flowing a fluorine-containing gas into a plasma generation region of a substrate processing chamber, and applying energy to the fluorine-containing gas to generate a plasma in the plasma generation region. The plasma comprises fluorine radicals and fluorine ions. The method also includes filtering the plasma to provide a reactive gas having a higher concentration of fluorine radicals than fluorine ions, and flowing the reactive gas into a gas reaction region of the substrate processing chamber. The method also includes exposing the substrate to the reactive gas in the gas reaction region of the substrate processing chamber. The reactive gas etches the metal-containing layer at a higher etch rate than the reactive gas etches the silicon oxide layer. | 11-05-2015 |
20150340245 | HIGH-TEMPERATURE ISOTROPIC PLASMA ETCHING PROCESS TO PREVENT ELECTRICAL SHORTS - A method includes placing a device having a titanium nitride layer into a chamber. The device also has a mask that includes a photoresist material and an aluminum copper hardmask. The method also includes performing an ashing process on the mask using the chamber. The method further includes, after the ashing process, performing an etching process using the chamber to etch through portions of the titanium nitride layer. Performing the etching process includes flowing a gas mixture containing tetrafluoromethane (CF | 11-26-2015 |
20150344826 | AQUEOUS CLEANING COMPOSITION CONTAINING COPPER-SPECIFIC CORROSION INHIBITOR FOR CLEANING INORGANIC RESIDUES ON SEMICONDUCTOR SUBSTRATE - A semiconductor wafer cleaning formulation, including 1-35% wt. fluoride source, 20-60% wt. organic amine(s), 0.1-40% wt. nitrogenous component, e.g., a nitrogen-containing carboxylic acid or an imine, 20-50% wt. water, and 0-21% wt. metal chelating agent(s). The formulations are useful to remove residue from wafers following a resist plasma ashing step, such as inorganic residue from semiconductor wafers containing delicate copper interconnecting structures. | 12-03-2015 |
20150357205 | SELECTIVE TITANIUM NITRIDE REMOVAL - Methods are described herein for selectively etching titanium nitride relative to dielectric films, which may include, for example, alternative metals and metal oxides lacking in titanium and/or silicon-containing films (e.g. silicon oxide, silicon carbon nitride and low-K dielectric films). The methods include a remote plasma etch formed from a chlorine-containing precursor. Plasma effluents from the remote plasma are flowed into a substrate processing region where the plasma effluents react with the titanium nitride. The plasma effluents react with exposed surfaces and selectively remove titanium nitride while very slowly removing the other exposed materials. The substrate processing region may also contain a plasma to facilitate breaking through any titanium oxide layer present on the titanium nitride. The plasma in the substrate processing region may be gently biased relative to the substrate to enhance removal rate of the titanium oxide layer. | 12-10-2015 |
20150380271 | NEUTRAL BEAM ETCHING OF CU-CONTAINING LAYERS IN AN ORGANIC COMPOUND GAS ENVIRONMENT - A method and apparatus for dry etching pure Cu and Cu-containing layers for manufacturing integrated circuits. The invention uses a directional beam of O-atoms with high kinetic energy to oxidize the Cu and Cu-containing layers, and organic compound etching reagents that react with the oxidized Cu to form volatile Cu-containing etch products. The invention allows for low-temperature, anisotropic etching of pure Cu and Cu-containing layers in accordance with a patterned hard mask or photoresist. | 12-31-2015 |
20160042975 | TECHNIQUES AND APPARATUS FOR ANISOTROPIC METAL ETCHING - In one embodiment, a method for etching a metal layer on a substrate may include providing a hydrogen-containing gas and an impurity gas to a plasma chamber; generating a plasma from the hydrogen-containing gas and the impurity gas in the plasma chamber, the plasma comprising hydrogen-containing ions; providing gaseous species from the plasma chamber to the substrate, wherein the providing the gaseous species comprises directing an ion beam comprising the hydrogen-containing ions formed from the plasma through an extraction aperture of an extraction plate disposed between the substrate and the plasma. | 02-11-2016 |
20160379834 | ETCHING METHOD - Disclosed is a method for etching an etching target layer which contains silicon and is provided with a metal-containing mask thereon. The method includes: generating plasma of a first processing gas containing a fluorocarbon gas in a processing container that accommodates the etching target layer and the mask to form a fluorocarbon-containing deposit on the mask and the etching target layer; and generating plasma of a second processing gas containing an inert gas in the processing container to etch the etching target layer by radicals of the fluorocarbon contained in the deposit. A plurality of sequences, each including the generating the plasma of the first processing gas and the generating the plasma of the second processing gas, are performed. | 12-29-2016 |