Method for depositing high deposition rate, thick tetraethyl orthosilicate film with low compressive stress, high film stability and low shrinkage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10358717-B2
Application number	US-201715493802-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2017
Priority date	Apr 21, 2017
Publication date	Jul 23, 2019
Grant date	Jul 23, 2019

Abstract

A method for reducing post-annealing shrinkage of silicon dioxide film includes arranging a substrate on a substrate support in a processing chamber; setting a pressure in the processing chamber to a predetermined pressure range; setting a temperature of the substrate support to a predetermined temperature range; supplying a process gas mixture to a gas distribution device. The process gas mixture includes TEOS gas, a gas including an oxygen species, and argon gas. The argon gas comprises greater than 20% of the process gas mixture by volume. The method further includes striking plasma and depositing the film on the substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for reducing shrinkage of silicon dioxide film, comprising:
arranging a substrate on a substrate support in a processing chamber;
setting a pressure in the processing chamber to a predetermined pressure range;
setting a temperature of the substrate support to a predetermined temperature range;
supplying a process gas mixture to a gas distribution device, wherein the process gas mixture includes tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) gas, a molecular oxygen gas, and argon gas, wherein the argon gas comprises greater than 20% of the process gas mixture by volume;
striking plasma while supplying the process gas mixture to deposit the silicon dioxide film on the substrate; and
annealing the silicon dioxide film,
wherein the TEOS gas is supplied at a first flow rate in a range from 40 sccm to 70 sccm, the molecular oxygen gas is supplied at a second flow rate in a range from 15 slm to 30 slm, and the argon gas is supplied at a third flow rate in a range from 7 slm to 20 slm to decrease post-annealing shrinkage of the silicon dioxide film as compared to using lower argon gas flow rates for the third flow rate.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
supplying the TEOS gas, the molecular oxygen gas, and the argon gas to a mixing manifold to create the process gas mixture; and
delivering the processing gas mixture to the gas distribution device arranged above the substrate support.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising supplying a secondary purge gas to the processing chamber.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the secondary purge gas includes argon.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined temperature range is from 400° C. to 600° C.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined pressure range is from 2 to 4 Torr.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined pressure range is from 3.2 to 3.8 Torr.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the striking plasma comprises supplying HF power to one of an upper electrode and a lower electrode in a range from 1000 to 5000 W and LF power to the one of the upper electrode and the lower electrode in a range from 500 to 5000 W.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the striking plasma comprises supplying HF power to one of an upper electrode and a lower electrode in a range from 2000 to 3000 W and LF power to the one of the upper electrode and the lower electrode in a range from 1000 to 3000 W.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the striking plasma comprises supplying HF power to one of an upper electrode and a lower electrode in a range from 2000 to 3000 W and LF power to the one of the upper electrode and the lower electrode in a range from 1500 to 2100 W.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the molecular oxygen gas is supplied at the second flow rate in a range from 20 slm to 25 slm.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the TEOS gas is supplied at the first flow rate in a range from 50 sccm to 60 sccm.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the argon gas is supplied at the third flow rate in a range from 7 slm to 15 slm.

14. The method of claim 4 , wherein the secondary purge gas is supplied at a fourth flow rate in a range from 7 slm to 10 slm.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising annealing the silicon dioxide film for a predetermined period in a range from 20 to 40 minutes at a temperature in a temperature range from 700° C. to 800° C.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the annealing is performed using molecular nitrogen (N 2 ) gas.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the silicon dioxide film has a thickness in a range from 3 micrometers to 12 micrometers.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the argon gas is in a range from 20% to 40% by volume of the process gas mixture.

Assignees

• Lam Res Corp

Inventors

• Fox Keith
• Church Jonathan

Classifications

• H10P14/69215

  the material being a silicon oxide, e.g. SiO2 · CPC title

• H10P14/6686

  the compound being a molecule comprising at least one silicon-oxygen bond and the compound having hydrogen or an organic group attached to the silicon or oxygen, e.g. a siloxane · CPC title

• H10P14/6336

  in the presence of a plasma [PECVD] · CPC title

• C23C16/505

  using radio frequency discharges · CPC title

• C23C16/52

  Controlling or regulating the coating process {(C23C16/45557, C23C16/279 take precedence)} · CPC title