Plasma enhanced epitaxial chemical vapor deposition system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024331984-A1
Application number	US-202418620464-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 28, 2024
Priority date	Mar 31, 2023
Publication date	Oct 3, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for a material layer deposition method in a semiconductor manufacturing system. A controller may seat a substrate on a substrate support. A silicon-containing material layer precursor may be provided to a remote plasma unit, which may decompose at least a portion of the silicon-containing material layer precursor. An epitaxial material layer comprising silicon may be deposited onto the substrate using a decomposition product. The deposition rate and/or growth rate may be increased at a given deposition temperature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A semiconductor processing system, comprising:
a chamber body formed from a quartz material; a substrate support configured to support a substrate and arranged within an interior of the chamber body and supported for rotation about a rotation axis within the interior of the chamber body, the substrate support formed from a bulk graphite material with a silicon carbide coating; a heater element array supported outside of the chamber body and optically coupled to the substrate support by the quartz material; and a remote plasma unit with a precursor inlet coupled to the chamber body and configured to decompose a silicon-containing material layer precursor provided to the remote plasma unit during deposition of an epitaxial material layer comprising silicon onto the substrate using a decomposition product generated from the silicon-containing material layer precursor.

2 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a precursor source including the silicon-containing material layer precursor connected to the precursor inlet of the remote plasma unit and therethrough to the chamber body.

3 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 2 , wherein the silicon-containing material layer precursor comprises a high-order silicon-containing material layer precursor.

4 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 3 , wherein the high-order silicon-containing material layer precursor includes a non-halogenated high-order silicon-containing material layer precursor.

5 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 3 , wherein the high-order silicon-containing material layer precursor includes a halogenated high-order silicon-containing material layer precursor.

6 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 3 , wherein the silicon-containing material layer precursor further comprises silane (SiH 4 ) and one or more of monochlorosilane, dichlorosilane, and trichlorosilane.

7 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a vacuum pump coupled to the chamber body and therethrough to the remote plasma unit.

8 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 1 , wherein the chamber body has an injection end and a longitudinally opposite exhaust end, the chamber body further comprising:
an injection flange connected to the injection end of the chamber body and coupling the remote plasma unit to the chamber body; and an exhaust flange connected to the longitudinally opposite exhaust end of the chamber body and fluidly coupled to the remote plasma unit by the interior of the chamber body and the injection flange.

9 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 8 , wherein the chamber body has a plurality of external ribs extending laterally about an exterior of the chamber body and longitudinally spaced apart from one another between the injection end and the longitudinally opposite exhaust end of the chamber body.

10 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 1 , wherein the heater element array comprises:
a plurality of lower linear lamps supported below the chamber body and optically coupled to the substrate support by the quartz material forming the chamber body; and a plurality of upper linear lamps supported above the chamber body and optically coupled to the substrate support by the quartz material forming the chamber body.

11 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 1 , wherein the remote plasma unit comprises an inductively coupled plasma source or a microwave plasma source.

12 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 1 , wherein the remote plasma unit comprises:
a precursor conduit connected to the precursor inlet; a coil extending about the precursor conduit; and a voltage source electrically connected to the coil and configured to flow a decomposition current through the coil, wherein the coil is spaced apart from the chamber body to minimize disruption to the chamber body.

13 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller including a processor and memory having instructions recorded on the memory that, when read by the processor, cause the processor to:
seat the substrate on the substrate support; provide the silicon-containing material layer precursor to the remote plasma unit; decompose at least a portion of the silicon-containing material layer precursor using the remote plasma unit; and deposit the epitaxial material layer comprising the silicon onto the substrate using the decomposition product generated from the silicon-containing material layer precursor, whereby heating of the substrate during deposition of the silicon-containing material layer precursor by the heater element array is limited by the decomposition product generated from the silicon-containing material layer precursor to limit heating of the substrate seated on the substrate support by the heater element array.

14 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 13 , wherein the instructions, when read by the processor, further cause the processor to cause the remote plasma unit to decompose the at least the portion of the silicon-containing material layer precursor provided to the remote plasma unit.

15 . The semiconductor processing system of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when read by the processor, further cause the processor to cause the remote plasma unit to decompose between about 0.001% and about 90% of the silicon-containing material layer precursor provided to the remote plasma unit.

16 . A material layer deposition method, comprising:
at a semiconductor processing system including:
a chamber body formed from a quartz material,
a substrate support formed from a bulk graphite material with a silicon carbide coating arranged within an interior of the chamber body and supported for rotation about a rotation axis within the interior of the chamber body,
a heater element array supported outside of the chamber body and optically coupled to the substrate support by the quartz material of the chamber body, and
a remote plasma unit coupled to the chamber body,
seating a substrate on the substrate support; providing a silicon-containing material layer precursor to the remote plasma unit; decomposing at least a portion of the silicon-containing material layer precursor using the remote plasma unit; and depositing an epitaxial material layer comprising silicon onto the substrate using a decomposition product generated from the silicon-containing material layer precursor.

17 . The material layer deposition method of claim 16 , wherein depositing the epitaxial material layer including heating of the substrate during deposition of the silicon-containing material layer precursor by the heater element array is limited by the decomposition product generated from the silicon-containing material layer precursor.

18 . The material layer deposition method of claim 16 , wherein seating the substrate on the substrate support comprises seating one and only one substrate within the chamber body, wherein decomposing at least a portion of silicon-containing material layer precursor comprises decomposing between about 0.001% and about 90% of the silicon-containing material layer precursor provided to the remote plasma unit, and wherein depositing the epitaxial material layer comprises rotating the substrate about the rotation axis and flowing the decomposition product longitudinally through the chamber body and across the substrate.

19 . The material layer deposition method of claim 16 , wherein

Assignees

• Asm Ip Holding Bv

Inventors

• Lu Yanfu
• Demos Alexandros

Classifications

• H10P14/3411

  Silicon, silicon germanium or germanium · CPC title

• H10P14/24

  using chemical vapour deposition [CVD] · CPC title

• C23C16/44

  characterised by the method of coating (C23C16/04 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C23C16/46

  characterised by the method used for heating the substrate (C23C16/48, C23C16/50 take precedence) · CPC title

• C23C16/513 Primary

  using plasma jets · CPC title