Variable cycle and time RF activation method for film thickness matching in a multi-station deposition system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12077859-B2
Application number	US-202217587560-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2022
Priority date	Apr 29, 2016
Publication date	Sep 3, 2024
Grant date	Sep 3, 2024

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for depositing approximately equal thicknesses of a material on at least two substrates concurrently processed in separate stations of a multi-station deposition apparatus are provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of semiconductor deposition for creating approximately equal thicknesses of a material on at least two substrates concurrently processed in separate stations of a multi-station deposition apparatus, the method comprising:
(a) providing a first substrate in a first station and a second substrate in a second station of the deposition apparatus, the first station and the second station being contained within a common reaction chamber and sharing a power delivery system and a gas delivery system each coupled to the first and second stations;
(b) concurrently performing at least a portion of N1 deposition cycles at the first station and the second station, wherein each N1 deposition cycle includes operations performed according to instructions of a first process recipe, comprising:
(i) concurrently exposing the first substrate in the first station and the second substrate in the second station to a precursor from the gas delivery system, and
(ii) concurrently activating a first reaction of the precursor on the first substrate in the first station by exposing the first substrate to plasma and activating a second reaction of the precursor on the second substrate in the second station by exposing the second substrate to plasma, wherein:
performing the N1 deposition cycles creates a total deposition thickness T1 of the material on the first substrate,
performing the N1 deposition cycles creates a total deposition thickness T2A of the material on the second substrate, and
T1 is greater than T2A after completion of the N1 deposition cycles; and

(c) subsequent to or prior to the completion of the at least the portion of the N1 deposition cycles at the first station and the second station, performing at least a portion of N2 deposition cycles at the second station, wherein each N2 deposition cycle includes operations performed according to instructions of a second process recipe which differ from the instructions of the first process recipe, comprising:
(i) concurrently exposing the first substrate in the first station and the second substrate in the second station to the precursor from the gas delivery system, and
(ii) during the concurrent exposure of the first substrate and the second substrate to the precursor in (c)(i), activating a reaction of the precursor on the second substrate in the second station by exposing the second substrate to plasma while the first substrate is concurrently in the first station under adjusted conditions in which deposition of the material on the first substrate in the first station is not exposed to plasma, wherein:
performing the N2 deposition cycles creates a total deposition thickness T2B of the material on the second substrate,
performing the N1 and N2 deposition cycles creates a total deposition thickness T2 of the material on the second substrate that is substantially equal to T1, a quantity of the N1 deposition cycles varying from a quantity of the N2 deposition cycles;
the N1 deposition cycles comprise a first plurality of sets of deposition cycles, and the N2 deposition cycles comprise a second plurality of sets of deposition cycles; and
at least some of the first plurality of sets of deposition cycles and at least some of the second plurality of sets of deposition cycles are performed at different times in an alternating fashion.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
at least a portion of the instructions of the first process recipe specifies an amount of power delivered by the power delivery system to the first station; and
during each N2 cycle, the first station receives no power from the power delivery system in accordance with the second process recipe.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the instructions of the first process recipe specifies a duration of the plasma formed in the first station.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the activating in each N1 cycle comprises independently providing plasma to the first station and plasma to the second station, and
the activating in each N2 cycle comprises independently providing plasma to the second station while not providing plasma to the first station.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plasma exposed to the first substrate provided to the first station and the plasma provided to the second station are generated to have the same plasma power and/or the same plasma frequency.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plasma exposed to the first substrate in the first station and the plasma exposed to the second substrate in the second station comprises a high frequency plasma or a low frequency plasma.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
each of the N1 cycles comprises depositing a thin film of substantially equal thickness t1 of the material on the first substrate and a thin film of substantially equal thickness t2 of the material on the second substrate, and
each of the N2 cycles comprises depositing a thin film of substantially equal thickness t2 of the material on the second substrate while not depositing a thin film on the first substrate.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first substrate does not move from the first station during (b) and (c).

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first RF power is supplied to the first station during the N1 deposition cycles and a second RF power is supplied to the second station during the N1 deposition cycles, wherein the first RF power and the second RF power are within +/−5% of each other.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first pedestal in the first station is at a first temperature and a second pedestal in the second station is at a second temperature during the N1 deposition cycles, wherein the first temperature and second temperature are within +/−5% of each other.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing a further N2 deposition cycle, wherein the further N2 cycle includes, subsequent to stopping a flow of the precursor to the first substrate in the first station, activating the reaction of the precursor on the second substrate in the second station by exposing the second substrate to plasma while the first substrate is concurrently in the first station.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein a total number of the N1 deposition cycles is different from a total number of the N2 deposition cycles.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least the portion of the N1 deposition cycles comprises a first number of deposition cycles, the at least the portion of the N2 deposition cycles comprises a second number of deposition cycles, and the first number of deposition cycles is different from the second number of cycles.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the first plurality of sets of deposition cycles are different from one another, and at least some of the second plurality of sets of deposition cycles are different from one another.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the first plurality of sets of deposition cycles are different from at least some of the second plurality of sets of deposition cycles.

16. A multi-station deposition apparatus comprising:
a vacuum system;
a gas delivery system;
a processing chamber comprises at least two stations, wherein each station shares at least some features of the vacuum system and the gas delivery system;
a plasma system configured to independently ignite and maintain a plasma in each station; and
a controller for controlling the multi-station deposition apparatus to deposit, by an atomic layer deposition process, approximately equal thicknesses of material on at least two substrates conc

Assignees

• Lam Res Corp

Inventors

• Karim Ishtak
• Cho Kiyong
• Lavoie Adrien
• Guliani Jaswinder
• Kumar Purushottam
• Qian Jun

Classifications

• C23C16/45542

  Plasma being used non-continuously during the ALD reactions · CPC title

• C23C16/45527 Primary

  characterized by the ALD cycle, e.g. different flows or temperatures during half-reactions, unusual pulsing sequence, use of precursor mixtures or auxiliary reactants or activations · CPC title

• C23C16/54

  Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating · CPC title

• C23C16/52

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

• C23C16/45536 Primary

  Use of plasma, radiation or electromagnetic fields · CPC title