Systems and methods for forming low resistivity metal contacts and interconnects by reducing and removing metallic oxide

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018114694-A1
Application number	US-201715729081-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 10, 2017
Priority date	Oct 21, 2016
Publication date	Apr 26, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for depositing a metal layer on a barrier layer includes a) arranging a substrate in a processing chamber. The substrate has been exposed to at least one of air and/or oxidizing chemistry and includes a barrier layer and one or more underlying layers, wherein the barrier layer includes a material selected from a group consisting of tantalum nitride, titanium nitride, tantalum and titanium. The method includes b) supplying a gas selected from a group consisting of hydrazine, a gas including fluorine species, a gas including chlorine species, derivatives of hydrazine, ammonia, carbon monoxide, a gas including amidinates, and/or a gas including metal organic ligands to the processing chamber for a predetermined period to remove oxidation from the barrier layer. The method includes c) depositing a metal layer on the barrier layer after b). The metal layer includes a metal selected from a group consisting of cobalt, copper, tungsten, ruthenium, rhodium, molybdenum, and nickel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for depositing a metal layer on a barrier layer, comprising:
a) arranging a substrate in a processing chamber, wherein the substrate has been exposed to at least one of air and/or oxidizing chemistry and includes a barrier layer and one or more underlying layers,
wherein the barrier layer includes a material selected from a group consisting of tantalum nitride, titanium nitride, tantalum and titanium;
b) supplying a gas selected from a group consisting of hydrazine, a gas including fluorine species, a gas including chlorine species, derivatives of hydrazine, ammonia, carbon monoxide, a gas including amidinates, and/or a gas including metal organic ligands to the processing chamber for a predetermined period to remove oxidation from the barrier layer; and c) depositing a metal layer on the barrier layer after b), wherein the metal layer includes a metal selected from a group consisting of cobalt, copper, tungsten, ruthenium, rhodium, molybdenum, and nickel.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising controlling a temperature of the substrate to a predetermine temperature in a range from 100° C. to 450° C. during b).

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein b) further comprises supplying a carrier gas selected from a group consisting of argon and helium.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined period is in a range from 2 seconds to 2 minutes.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising controlling a pressure in the processing chamber to a predetermined pressure in a range from 1 mT to 30 T during b).

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after b) and before c), depositing a barrier layer/adhesion layer.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the barrier layer/adhesion layer includes a material selected from a group consisting of tungsten, tungsten carbonitride, tungsten carbide.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising exposing the substrate to plasma at least one of before b) and/or after b).

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the plasma is generated using a plasma gas selected from a group consisting of molecular hydrogen, molecular nitrogen and nitrogen trifluoride.

10 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising controlling a temperature of the substrate to a predetermined temperature in a range from 100° C. to 450° C. while the plasma is generated.

11 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising controlling a pressure in the processing chamber to a predetermined pressure in a range between 10 mT and 10 T while the plasma is generated.

12 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising supplying RF power in a range from 500 W to 2.5 kW to generate the plasma.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein c) is performed using at least one of atomic layer deposition, chemical vapor deposition pulsed nucleation layer and pulsed deposition layer.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein c) is performed by:
depositing a metal seed layer using a first deposition method; and depositing the metal layer using a second deposition method.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the second deposition method is selected from a group consisting of electrochemical plating, electroless deposition, or chemical vapor deposition.

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising annealing the substrate.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the gas including chlorine species is selected from a group consisting of tungsten (V) chloride, tungsten hexachloride, molybdenum tetrachloride, and molybdenum (V) chloride.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the gas including fluorine species is selected from a group consisting of tungsten hexafluoride and molybdenum hexafluoride.

19 . A method for depositing a metal layer on a barrier layer, comprising:
a) arranging a substrate in a processing chamber,
wherein the substrate has been exposed to at least one of air and/or oxidizing chemistry and includes a metal contact layer and one or more underlying layers defining portions of a transistor, and
wherein the metal contact layer includes a metal selected from a group consisting of cobalt, tungsten, ruthenium, rhodium, molybdenum, and nickel;
b) supplying a gas selected from a group consisting of hydrazine, a gas including fluorine species, a gas including chlorine species, derivatives of hydrazine, ammonia, carbon monoxide, a gas including amidinates, and/or a gas including metal organic ligands to the processing chamber for a predetermined period to remove oxidation of the metal contact layer; and c) depositing a barrier layer on the metal contact layer after b), wherein the barrier layer includes a material selected from a group consisting of tantalum nitride, titanium nitride, tantalum, titanium and tungsten carbonitride.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising controlling a temperature of the substrate to a predetermine temperature in a range from 100° C. to 450° C. during b).

21 . The method of claim 19 , wherein b) further comprises supplying a carrier gas selected from a group consisting of argon and helium.

22 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the predetermined period is in a range from 2 seconds to 2 minutes.

23 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising controlling a pressure in the processing chamber to a predetermined pressure in a range from 1 mT to 30 T during b).

24 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising exposing the substrate to plasma at least one of before b) and/or after b).

25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the plasma is generated using a plasma gas selected from a group consisting of molecular hydrogen, molecular nitrogen and nitrogen trifluoride.

26 . The method of claim 24 , further comprising controlling a temperature of the substrate to a predetermined temperature in a range from 100° C. to 450° C. while the plasma is generated.

27 . The method of claim 24 , further comprising controlling a pressure in the processing chamber to a predetermined pressure in a range between 10 mT and 10 T while the plasma is generated.

28 . The method of claim 24 , further comprising supplying RF power in a range from 500 W to 2.5 kW to generate the plasma.

29 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the gas including chlorine species is selected from a group consisting of tungsten (V) chloride, tungsten hexachloride, molybdenum tetrachloride, and molybdenum (V) chloride.

30 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the gas including fluorine species is selected from a group consisting of tungsten hexafluoride and molybdenum hexafluoride.

Assignees

• Lam Res Corp

Inventors

• Tarafdar Raihan
• Thombare Shruti
• Na Jeong-Seok
• Humayun Raashina
• Lai Chiukin Steven

Classifications

• H10P72/0406

  for cleaning followed by drying, rinsing, stripping, blasting or the like · CPC title

• H10W20/4403

  based on metals, e.g. alloys, metal silicides (H10W20/4484 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H10W20/0526

  by thermal treatment thereof · CPC title

• H10W20/0523

  by irradiating with ultraviolet or particle radiation · CPC title

• H10W20/056

  by filling conductive material into holes, grooves or trenches · CPC title