Selective deposition with atomic layer etch reset

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10998187-B2
Application number	US-201916713557-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 13, 2019
Priority date	Apr 19, 2017
Publication date	May 4, 2021
Grant date	May 4, 2021

Abstract

Methods are provided for conducting a deposition on a semiconductor substrate by selectively depositing a material on the substrate. The substrate has a plurality of substrate materials, each with a different nucleation delay corresponding to the material deposited thereon. Specifically, the nucleation delay associated with a first substrate material on which deposition is intended is less than the nucleation delay associated with a second substrate material on which deposition is not intended according to a nucleation delay differential, which degrades as deposition proceeds. A portion of the deposited material is etched to reestablish the nucleation delay differential between the first and the second substrate materials. The material is further selectively deposited on the substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for processing substrates, the apparatus comprising:
a process chamber having a substrate-supporting chuck;
one or more gas inlets into the process chamber and associated flow-control hardware; and
a controller having a processor and a memory, wherein
the processor and the memory are communicatively connected with one another,
the processor is at least operatively connected with the flow-control hardware, and
the memory stores computer-executable instructions for controlling the processor to at least control the flow-control hardware by:
(a) exposing a substrate housed in the process chamber to alternating pulses of a first reactant and a second reactant to deposit a film over the substrate, the substrate having a first substrate material on which deposition of the film is intended and a second substrate material on which deposition of the film is not intended, the second substrate material being different from the first substrate material, and a nucleation delay for the first substrate material being less than a nucleation delay for the second substrate material according to a nucleation delay differential, which degrades upon proceeding with the film deposition; and
(b) exposing the substrate housed in the chamber to alternating pulses of an etching gas and a removal gas to etch a portion of the film deposited in (a) to reset the nucleation delay differential between the first and second substrate materials;

wherein (a) and (b) result in net deposition of the film on the first substrate material.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions for controlling the processor to at least control the flow-control hardware by repeating (a) and (b) in the same chamber.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions for controlling the processor to at least control the flow-control hardware so that (a) and (b) are performed without breaking vacuum.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions for controlling the processor to at least control the flow-control hardware so that (a) and (b) are performed without breaking vacuum.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions for controlling the processor to at least control the flow-control hardware so that the first reactant is a deposition precursor to modify a surface of the substrate, and the second reactant is a reducing agent to deposit the material.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions for controlling the processor to at least control the flow-control hardware so that the material to be deposited is aluminum nitride (AlN).

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions for controlling the processor to at least control the flow-control hardware so that trimethylaluminum provides aluminum for the aluminum nitride to be deposited.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions for controlling the processor to at least control the flow-control hardware so that the trimethylaluminum is deposited in a temperature range from 250° C. to 350° C.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions for controlling the processor to at least control the flow-control hardware so that the removal gas is a carrier gas selected from the group consisting of N 2 , Ar, He, and Ne.

Assignees

• Lam Res Corp

Inventors

• Reddy Kapu Sirish
• Rainville Meliha Gozde
• Shankar Nagraj
• Hausmann Dennis M
• Smith David Charles
• Sivaramakrishnan Karthik
• Porter David W

Classifications

• H10P72/0466

  characterised by the construction of the load-lock chamber · CPC title

• H10P72/0454

  surrounding a central transfer chamber · CPC title

• H10P50/285

  of materials not containing Si, e.g. PZT or Al2O3 · CPC title

• H10P14/69391

  the material containing aluminium, e.g. Al2O3 · CPC title

• H10P14/6339 Primary

  deposition by cyclic CVD, e.g. ALD, ALE or pulsed CVD · CPC title