Oxygen controlled PVD AlN buffer for GaN-based optoelectronic and electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10546973-B2
Application number	US-201916265895-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 1, 2019
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Jan 28, 2020
Grant date	Jan 28, 2020

Abstract

Oxygen controlled PVD AlN buffers for GaN-based optoelectronic and electronic devices is described. Methods of forming a PVD AlN buffer for GaN-based optoelectronic and electronic devices in an oxygen controlled manner are also described. In an example, a method of forming an aluminum nitride (AlN) buffer layer for GaN-based optoelectronic or electronic devices involves reactive sputtering an AlN layer above a substrate, the reactive sputtering involving reacting an aluminum-containing target housed in a physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber with a nitrogen-containing gas or a plasma based on a nitrogen-containing gas. The method further involves incorporating oxygen into the AlN layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A chamber for forming an aluminum nitride (AlN) layer, the chamber comprising:
a chamber coupled to a pumping system, the chamber and pumping system chamber for providing a base vacuum of 1E-7 torr or less, and a vacuum rate-of-rise of 2,500 ntorr/min or less; and
a full face erosion magnetron cathode.

2. The chamber of claim 1 , further comprising:
a biasable electro-static chuck.

3. The chamber of claim 1 , further comprising:
an Al target doped with oxygen.

4. The chamber of claim 3 , further comprising:
a nitrogen source.

5. The chamber of claim 1 , wherein the vacuum rate-of-rise of 2,500 ntorr/min or less is provided at a temperature approximately or greater than 350 degrees Celsius.

6. A chamber for forming an aluminum nitride (AlN) layer, the chamber comprising:
a chamber coupled to a pumping system, the chamber and pumping system chamber for providing a vacuum rate-of-rise of 2,500 ntorr/min or less at a temperature approximately or greater than 350 degrees Celsius; and
a full face erosion magnetron cathode.

7. The chamber of claim 6 , further comprising:
a biasable electro-static chuck.

8. The chamber of claim 6 , further comprising:
an Al target doped with oxygen.

9. The chamber of claim 8 , further comprising:
a nitrogen source.

10. A chamber for forming an aluminum nitride (AlN) buffer layer for GaN-based optoelectronic or electronic devices, the chamber comprising:
a pumping system and chamber cooling design that enables high base vacuum of 1E-7 torr or less and a rate-of-rise of 2,500 ntorr/min or lower at high temperature; and
a full face erosion magnetron cathode configured to enable consistent target erosion and uniform deposition of AlN film across carriers, within and between wafers.

11. The chamber of claim 10 , further comprising:
a high temperature biasable electro-static chuck configured to enable fast and uniform heating up of wafers.

12. The chamber of claim 10 , further comprising:
an Al target doped with oxygen.

13. The chamber of claim 12 , further comprising:
a nitrogen source.

14. The chamber of claim 10 , wherein the high temperature is approximately or greater than 350 degrees Celsius.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Zhu Mingwei
• Patibandla Nag B
• Wang Rongjun
• Diehl Daniel Lee
• Agrawal Vivek
• Subramani Anantha

Classifications

• H01J37/32467

  Material · CPC title

• H01J37/32724

  Temperature · CPC title

• Y02E10/544

  Solar cells from Group III-V materials · CPC title

• H01J37/3405

  Magnetron sputtering · CPC title

• H01J37/347 Primary

  Thickness uniformity of coated layers or desired profile of target erosion · CPC title