Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100144140 | METHODS FOR DEPOSITING TUNGSTEN FILMS HAVING LOW RESISTIVITY FOR GAPFILL APPLICATIONS - Methods of filling gaps or recessed features on substrates are provided. According to various embodiments, the methods involve bulk deposition of tungsten to partially fill the feature followed by a removing a top portion of the deposited tungsten. In particular embodiments, the top portion is removed by exposing the substrate to activated fluorine species. By selectively removing sharp and protruding peaks of the deposited tungsten grains, the removal operation polishes the tungsten along the feature sidewall. Multiple deposition-removal cycles can be used to close the feature. The filled feature is less prone to coring during CMP. | 06-10-2010 |
20100267230 | METHOD FOR FORMING TUNGSTEN CONTACTS AND INTERCONNECTS WITH SMALL CRITICAL DIMENSIONS - Provided are methods of void-free tungsten fill of high aspect ratio features. According to various embodiments, the methods involve a reduced temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process to fill the features with tungsten. In certain embodiments, the process temperature is maintained at less than about 350° C. during the chemical vapor deposition to fill the feature. The reduced-temperature CVD tungsten fill provides improved tungsten fill in high aspect ratio features, provides improved barriers to fluorine migration into underlying layers, while achieving similar thin film resistivity as standard CVD fill. Also provided are methods of depositing thin tungsten films having low-resistivity. According to various embodiments, the methods involve performing a reduced temperature low resistivity treatment on a deposited nucleation layer prior to depositing a tungsten bulk layer and/or depositing a bulk layer via a reduced temperature CVD process followed by a high temperature CVD process. | 10-21-2010 |
20100267235 | METHODS FOR DEPOSITING ULTRA THIN LOW RESISTIVITY TUNGSTEN FILM FOR SMALL CRITICAL DIMENSION CONTACTS AND INTERCONNECTS - Provided are methods of void-free tungsten fill of high aspect ratio features. According to various embodiments, the methods involve a reduced temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process to fill the features with tungsten. In certain embodiments, the process temperature is maintained at less than about 350° C. during the chemical vapor deposition to fill the feature. The reduced-temperature CVD tungsten fill provides improved tungsten fill in high aspect ratio features, provides improved barriers to fluorine migration into underlying layers, while achieving similar thin film resistivity as standard CVD fill. Also provided are methods of depositing thin tungsten films having low-resistivity. According to various embodiments, the methods involve performing a reduced temperature low resistivity treatment on a deposited nucleation layer prior to depositing a tungsten bulk layer and/or depositing a bulk layer via a reduced temperature CVD process followed by a high temperature CVD process. | 10-21-2010 |
20110059608 | METHOD FOR IMPROVING ADHESION OF LOW RESISTIVITY TUNGSTEN/TUNGSTEN NITRIDE LAYERS - Methods of improving the adhesion of low resistivity tungsten/tungsten nitride layers are provided. Low resistivity tungsten/tungsten nitride layers with good adhesion are formed by treating a tungsten or tungsten nitride layer before depositing low resistivity tungsten. Treatments include a plasma treatment and a temperature treatment. According to various embodiments, the treatment methods involve different gaseous atmospheres and plasma conditions. | 03-10-2011 |
20110159690 | DEPOSITING TUNGSTEN INTO HIGH ASPECT RATIO FEATURES - Methods and apparatuses for filling high aspect ratio features with tungsten-containing materials in a substantially void-free manner are provided. In certain embodiments, the method involves depositing an initial layer of a tungsten-containing material followed by selectively removing a portion of the initial layer to form a remaining layer, which is differentially passivated along the depth of the high-aspect ration feature. In certain embodiments, the remaining layer is more passivated near the feature opening than inside the feature. The method may proceed with depositing an additional layer of the same or other material over the remaining layer. The deposition rate during this later deposition operation is slower near the feature opening than inside the features due to the differential passivation of the remaining layer. This deposition variation, in turn, may aid in preventing premature closing of the feature and facilitate filling of the feature in a substantially void free manner. | 06-30-2011 |
20110221044 | TUNGSTEN BARRIER AND SEED FOR COPPER FILLED TSV - Apparatus and methods for filling through silicon vias (TSV's) with copper having an intervening tungsten layer between the copper plug and the silicon are disclosed. Methods are useful for Damascene processing, with or without a TSV feature. The tungsten layer serves as a diffusion barrier, a seed layer for copper electrofill and a means of reducing CTE-induced stresses between copper and silicon. Adhesion of the tungsten layer to the silicon and of the copper layer to the tungsten is described. | 09-15-2011 |
20120009785 | Depositing Tungsten Into High Aspect Ratio Features - Methods and apparatuses for filling high aspect ratio features with tungsten-containing materials are provided. The method involves providing a partially fabricated semiconductor substrate and depositing a tungsten-containing layer on the substrate surface to partially fill one or more high aspect ratio features. The method continues with selective removal of a portion of the deposited layer such that more material is removed near the feature opening than inside the feature. In certain embodiments, removal may be performed at mass-transport limited conditions with less etchant available inside the feature than near its opening. Etchant species are activated before being introduced into the processing chamber and/or while inside the chamber. In specific embodiments, recombination of the activated species is substantially limited and/or controlled during removal, e.g., operation is performed at less than about 250° C. and/or less than about 5 Torr. | 01-12-2012 |
20120077342 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SELECTIVE TUNGSTEN DEPOSITION IN VIAS - A method for processing a substrate includes providing a substrate including a metal layer, a dielectric layer arranged on the metal layer, and at least one of a via and a trench formed in the dielectric layer; depositing a metal using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) during a first deposition period, wherein the first deposition period is longer than a first nucleation period that is required to deposit the metal on the metal layer; stopping the first deposition period prior to a second nucleation delay period, wherein the second nucleation period is required to deposit the metal on the dielectric layer; performing the depositing and the stopping N times, where N is an integer greater than or equal to one; and after the performing, depositing the metal using CVD during a second deposition period that is longer than the second nucleation delay period. | 03-29-2012 |
20120080793 | SUBTRACTIVE PATTERNING TO DEFINE CIRCUIT COMPONENTS - Certain embodiments pertain to local interconnects formed by subtractive patterning of blanket layer of tungsten or other conductive material. The grain sizes of tungsten or other deposited metal can be grown to relatively large dimensions, which results in increased electrical conductivity due to, e.g., reduced electron scattering at grain boundaries as electrons travel from one grain to the next during conduction. | 04-05-2012 |
20120115329 | DEPOSITING TUNGSTEN INTO HIGH ASPECT RATIO FEATURES - Methods and apparatuses for filling high aspect ratio features with tungsten-containing materials in a substantially void-free manner are provided. In certain embodiments, the method involves depositing an initial layer of a tungsten-containing material followed by selectively removing a portion of the initial layer to form a remaining layer, which is differentially passivated along the depth of the high-aspect ration feature. In certain embodiments, the remaining layer is more passivated near the feature opening than inside the feature. The method may proceed with depositing an additional layer of the same or other material over the remaining layer. The deposition rate during this later deposition operation is slower near the feature opening than inside the features due to the differential passivation of the remaining layer. This deposition variation, in turn, may aid in preventing premature closing of the feature and facilitate filling of the feature in a substantially void free manner. | 05-10-2012 |
20130005140 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING ETCH SELECTIVITY OF VARIOUS MATERIALS - A method for filling a recessed feature of a substrate includes a) at least partially filling a recessed feature of a substrate with tungsten-containing film using at least one of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD); b) at a predetermined temperature, using an etchant including activated fluorine species to selectively etch the tungsten-containing film more than an underlying material of the recessed feature without removing all of the tungsten-containing film at a bottom of the recessed feature; and c) filling the recessed feature using at least one of CVD and ALD. | 01-03-2013 |
20130171822 | TUNGSTEN FEATURE FILL WITH NUCLEATION INHIBITION - Described herein are methods of filling features with tungsten, and related systems and apparatus, involving inhibition of tungsten nucleation. In some embodiments, the methods involve selective inhibition along a feature profile. Methods of selectively inhibiting tungsten nucleation can include exposing the feature to a direct or remote plasma. In certain embodiments, the substrate can be biased during selective inhibition. Process parameters including bias power, exposure time, plasma power, process pressure and plasma chemistry can be used to tune the inhibition profile. The methods described herein can be used to fill vertical features, such as in tungsten vias, and horizontal features, such as vertical NAND (VNAND) wordlines. The methods may be used for both conformal fill and bottom-up/inside-out fill. Examples of applications include logic and memory contact fill, DRAM buried wordline fill, vertically integrated memory gate/wordline fill, and 3-D integration using through-silicon vias. | 07-04-2013 |
20130302980 | TUNGSTEN FEATURE FILL - Described herein are methods of filling features with tungsten and related systems and apparatus. The methods include inside-out fill techniques as well as conformal deposition in features. Inside-out fill techniques can include selective deposition on etched tungsten layers in features. Conformal and non-conformal etch techniques can be used according to various implementations. The methods described herein can be used to fill vertical features, such as in tungsten vias, and horizontal features, such as vertical NAND (VNAND) word lines. Examples of applications include logic and memory contact fill, DRAM buried word line fill, vertically integrated memory gate/word line fill, and 3-D integration with through-silicon vias (TSVs). | 11-14-2013 |
20130330926 | DEPOSITING TUNGSTEN INTO HIGH ASPECT RATIO FEATURES - Methods and apparatuses for filling high aspect ratio features with tungsten-containing materials in a substantially void-free manner are provided. In certain embodiments, the method involves depositing an initial layer of a tungsten-containing material followed by selectively removing a portion of the initial layer to form a remaining layer, which is differentially passivated along the depth of the high-aspect ration feature. In certain embodiments, the remaining layer is more passivated near the feature opening than inside the feature. The method may proceed with depositing an additional layer of the same or other material over the remaining layer. The deposition rate during this later deposition operation is slower near the feature opening than inside the features due to the differential passivation of the remaining layer. This deposition variation, in turn, may aid in preventing premature closing of the feature and facilitate filling of the feature in a substantially void free manner. | 12-12-2013 |
20140030889 | METHODS OF IMPROVING TUNGSTEN CONTACT RESISTANCE IN SMALL CRITICAL DIMENSION FEATURES - Methods of filling features with low-resistivity tungsten layers having good fill without use of a nucleation layer are provided. In certain embodiments, the methods involve an optional treatment process prior to chemical vapor deposition of tungsten in the presence of a high partial pressure of hydrogen. According to various embodiments, the treatment process can involve a soaking step or a plasma treatment step. The resulting tungsten layer reduces overall contact resistance in advanced tungsten technology due to elimination of the conventional tungsten nucleation layer. | 01-30-2014 |
20140134827 | CONFORMAL FILM DEPOSITION FOR GAPFILL - A method and apparatus for conformally depositing a dielectric oxide in high aspect ratio gaps in a substrate is disclosed. A substrate is provided with one or more gaps into a reaction chamber where each gap has a depth to width aspect ratio of greater than about 5:1. A first dielectric oxide layer is deposited in the one or more gaps by CFD. A portion of the first dielectric oxide layer is etched using a plasma etch, where etching the portion of the first dielectric oxide layer occurs at a faster rate near a top surface than near a bottom surface of each gap so that the first dielectric oxide layer has a tapered profile from the top surface to the bottom surface of each gap. A second dielectric oxide layer is deposited in the one or more gaps over the first dielectric oxide layer via CFD. | 05-15-2014 |
20140154883 | TUNGSTEN NUCLEATION PROCESS TO ENABLE LOW RESISTIVITY TUNGSTEN FEATURE FILL - Methods for depositing low resistivity tungsten in features of substrates in semiconductor processing are disclosed herein. Methods involve using a germanium-containing reducing agent during tungsten nucleation layer deposition to achieve thin, low resistivity nucleation layers. | 06-05-2014 |
20140162451 | METHODS FOR DEPOSITING ULTRA THIN LOW RESISTIVITY TUNGSTEN FILM FOR SMALL CRITICAL DIMENSION CONTACTS AND INTERCONNECTS - Provided are methods of void-free tungsten fill of high aspect ratio features. According to various embodiments, the methods involve a reduced temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process to fill the features with tungsten. In certain embodiments, the process temperature is maintained at less than about 350° C. during the chemical vapor deposition to fill the feature. The reduced-temperature CVD tungsten fill provides improved tungsten fill in high aspect ratio features, provides improved barriers to fluorine migration into underlying layers, while achieving similar thin film resistivity as standard CVD fill. Also provided are methods of depositing thin tungsten films having low-resistivity. According to various embodiments, the methods involve performing a reduced temperature low resistivity treatment on a deposited nucleation layer prior to depositing a tungsten bulk layer and/or depositing a bulk layer via a reduced temperature CVD process followed by a high temperature CVD process. | 06-12-2014 |
20150037972 | METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR ATOMIC LAYER CLEANING OF CONTACTS AND VIAS - Described are cleaning methods for removing contaminants from an electrical contact interface of a partially fabricated semiconductor substrate. The methods may include introducing a halogen-containing species into a processing chamber, and forming an adsorption-limited layer, which includes halogen from the halogen-containing species, atop the electrical contact interface and/or the contaminants thereon. The methods may further include thereafter removing un-adsorbed halogen-containing species from the processing chamber and activating a reaction between the halogen of the adsorption-limited layer and the contaminants present on the electrical contact interface. The reaction may then result in the removal of at least a portion of the contaminants from the electrical contact interface. In some embodiments, the halogen adsorbed onto the surface and reacted may be fluorine. Also described herein are apparatuses having controllers for implementing such electrical contact interface cleaning techniques. | 02-05-2015 |
20150056803 | TUNGSTEN FEATURE FILL - Described herein are methods of filling features with tungsten and related systems and apparatus. The methods include inside-out fill techniques as well as conformal deposition in features. Inside-out fill techniques can include selective deposition on etched tungsten layers in features. Conformal and non-conformal etch techniques can be used according to various implementations. The methods described herein can be used to fill vertical features, such as in tungsten vias, and horizontal features, such as vertical NAND (VNAND) word lines. Examples of applications include logic and memory contact fill, DRAM buried word line fill, vertically integrated memory gate/word line fill, and 3-D integration with through-silicon vias (TSVs). | 02-26-2015 |