Method for controlling stress in a substrate during laser deposition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12403547-B2
Application number	US-202117331735-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2021
Priority date	May 28, 2020
Publication date	Sep 2, 2025
Grant date	Sep 2, 2025

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling stress in a substrate during laser deposition. The method includes the steps of: providing a laser deposition device including a chamber with a target holder with a target, a substrate holder with a substrate facing the target and a window, the laser deposition device further including a laser beam directed through the window of the chamber onto a spot at the target for generating a plasma plume of target material and depositing the target material onto a surface portion of the substrate in order to form a thin film of target material, wherein the target spot is movable relative to the substrate in order to deposit target material onto a plurality of surface portions of the substrate; defining a plurality of discrete surface portions on the substrate; aligning the target spot one after the other with each of the plurality of discrete surface portions and generating a plasma plume to deposit target material on each of the plurality of discrete surface portions; and adjusting at least one of the parameters of the deposition process depending on the discrete surface portion with which the target spot is aligned, which parameters include temperature, pressure, laser beam pulse duration, laser beam power, distance of target to substrate.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for performing a laser deposition process, the method comprising:
defining a plurality of discrete surface portions on a substrate in a chamber of a deposition device, the deposition device being configured to direct a laser beam through a window of the chamber onto a target spot at a target positioned in the chamber to generate a plasma plume of target material to form a thin film of target material on the substrate;
aligning the target spot with a first discrete surface portion of the plurality of discrete surface portions and generating the plasma plume to deposit target material on the first discrete surface portion of the plurality of discrete surface portions; and
for each additional discrete surface portion of one or more additional discrete surface portions on the substrate, aligning the target spot with the additional discrete surface portion and adjusting at least one parameter of a plurality of parameters of the laser deposition process depending on the additional discrete surface portion of the plurality of discrete surface portions with which the target spot is aligned to deposit the target material on the additional discrete surface portion, such that, by adjusting the at least one parameter during the laser deposition process, a specific deposition pattern is obtained over a surface of the substrate to control a uniformity of stress of the thin film across the substrate and thereby control a bending of the substrate from stress,
the plurality of parameters comprising temperature, pressure, laser beam pulse duration, laser beam power, distance of target to substrate, spotsize and RF ionization energy.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein defining the plurality of discrete surface portions of the substrate comprises defining the plurality of discrete surface portions as a two-dimensional grid in longitudinal and transverse direction or in radial and tangential directions.

3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising:
measuring the stress in the thin film on the substrate;
performing a comparison of the stress measured with a desired stress profile for the thin film; and
taking into account the comparison while adjusting at least one of the parameters of the laser deposition process.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein measuring the stress in the thin film comprises measuring the stress in the thin film in situ with a wafer bow meter, and wherein adjusting the at least one parameter of the plurality of parameters of the laser deposition process comprises adjusting the at least one parameter based at least upon the measuring of the stress in situ with the wafer bow meter.

5. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising controlling the temperature of the substrate at the additional discrete surface portion by laser heating.

6. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising supplying a controlled gas flow to a nozzle directed towards the additional discrete surface portion in order to adjust the pressure for the laser deposition process.

7. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising supplying a controlled gas flow to a nozzle directed towards the additional discrete surface portion to adjust the pressure for the laser deposition process.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
measuring the stress in the thin film deposited on the substrate;
performing a comparison of the stress measured with a desired stress profile for the thin film; and
taking into account the comparison while adjusting at least one of the parameters of the laser deposition process.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein measuring the stress in the thin film comprises measuring the stress in the thin film in situ with a stress measuring device.

10. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising supplying a controlled gas flow to a nozzle directed towards the additional discrete surface portion to adjust the pressure for the laser deposition process.

11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising adjusting the temperature at the additional discrete surface portion by laser heating.

12. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising supplying a controlled gas flow to a nozzle directed towards the additional discrete surface portion with which the target spot is aligned to adjust the pressure for the laser deposition process.

13. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising adjusting the temperature of the substrate at the additional discrete surface portion by laser heating.

14. A method for performing a laser deposition process, the method comprising:
directing a laser beam onto a target spot at a target positioned in a chamber to generate a plasma plume of target material in order to form a thin film of target material on a first substrate positioned on a substrate holder in the chamber, wherein the target spot is movable relative to the substrate holder;
measuring film stress in the thin film on the first substrate;
defining, on the first substrate, a first plurality of discrete surface portions;
calculating adjustments for a parameter of the laser deposition process per discrete surface portion of the first plurality of discrete surface portions based on the stress measured;
defining, on a second substrate, a second plurality of discrete surface portions;
aligning the target spot with a first discrete surface portion of the second plurality of discrete surface portions and generating the plasma plume to deposit the target material on the second substrate at the first discrete surface portion of the second plurality of discrete surface portions; and
aligning the target spot with a second discrete surface portion of the second plurality of discrete surface portions, adjusting the parameter depending on the adjustments for the second discrete surface portion, and generating the plasma plume to deposit the target material on the second substrate at the second discrete surface portion of the second plurality of discrete surface portions such that, by adjusting the parameter during the laser deposition process, a specific deposition pattern is obtained over a surface of the second substrate to control a uniformity of a second thin film across the second substrate and thereby control a bending of the second substrate from stress, the parameter comprising temperature, pressure, laser beam pulse duration, laser beam power, distance of target to substrate, spotsize, or RF ionization energy.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising adjusting the temperature of the second substrate at the second discrete surface portion by laser hearting.

16. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising supplying a controlled gas flow to a nozzle directed towards the second discrete surface portion to adjust the pressure for the laser deposition process.

17. A laser deposition device, comprising:
a chamber;
a target holder configured to hold a target material;
a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate; and
a laser configured to direct a laser beam toward a target spot of the target material positioned on the target holder to generate a plasma plume of target material, wherein the target spot is movable relative to the substrate holder in order to deposit target material onto a plurality of discrete surface portions of the substrate,
wherein the laser deposition device is configured to, during a laser deposition process:
align the target spot with a first discrete surface portion of the plurality of discrete surface portions and genera

Assignees

• Lam Res Corp
• Lam Researh Corp

Inventors

• Vergeer Kurt Hein
• Heuver Jeroen Aaldert
• Hopman Willem Cornelis Lambert
• Böhm Kristiaan Hendrikus Aloysius
• Dekkers Jan Matthijn
• Janssens Jan Arnaud

Classifications

• H10P14/00

  Formation of materials, e.g. in the shape of layers or pillars · CPC title

• C23C14/228

  Gas flow assisted PVD deposition · CPC title

• H03H2003/028

  for obtaining desired values of other parameters · CPC title

• B81C1/00365

  having low tensile stress between layers · CPC title

• B23K26/034

  Observing the temperature of the workpiece · CPC title