Selective metal capping processes for a junction silicide

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025054767-A1
Application number	US-202418646055-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 25, 2024
Priority date	Aug 10, 2023
Publication date	Feb 13, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments include a method of forming a contact structure on a semiconductor substrate. The method including selectively depositing a metal silicide layer over a contact formed within a cavity of a substrate and a bottom surface of the cavity using a selective deposition process, including forming a residual layer on a surface of a dielectric layer forming sidewalls of the cavity, wherein a thickness of the metal silicide layer deposited over the contact is greater than a thickness of the residual layer, removing at least a portion of the residual layer formed on the dielectric layer using an etching process that comprises exposing the metal selectively deposited layer to a metal halide containing precursor, and selectively depositing a metal fill over the metal silicide layer remaining over the contact after removing the at least the portion of the residual layer using a selective metal fill process.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of forming a contact structure on a semiconductor substrate, comprising:
depositing a metal silicide layer over a surface of a device contact formed on a surface of a substrate, wherein depositing the metal silicide layer comprises:
generating a plasma in a processing region of a first processing chamber, and
the plasma comprises a titanium containing precursor gas; and
depositing a metal capping layer over the metal silicide layer, wherein depositing the metal capping layer comprises:
depositing a first portion of the metal capping layer on the metal silicide layer by delivering a metal containing precursor at a first mass flow rate to the surface of the substrate that is positioned in a processing region of a second processing chamber while the substrate is maintained at a first processing temperature; and
depositing a second portion of the metal capping layer on the first portion of the metal capping layer by delivering the metal containing precursor at a second mass flow rate to the surface of the substrate while the substrate is maintained at a second processing temperature,
wherein the first mass flow rate is less than the second mass flow rate.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein
depositing the first portion of the metal capping layer further comprises simultaneously delivering a gas comprising a reducing agent that comprises hydrogen (H 2 ) and the metal containing precursor to the surface of the substrate, and the metal containing precursor comprises molybdenum and a halogen.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the metal silicide layer comprises titanium silicide (Ti x Si y ) or molybdenum silicide (MoSi x ).

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
exposing the surface of the device contact to a preclean process gas that comprises at least one of hydrogen (H 2 ), ammonia (NH 3 ), and hydrofluoric acid (HF), wherein the exposing the surface of a device contact to a preclean process gas is performed before depositing the metal silicide layer over the surface of a device contact, and is performed by use of a non-plasma process.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising selectively depositing a metal fill layer over the metal capping layer, wherein selectively depositing the metal fill layer comprises exposing the metal capping layer to a metal halide containing precursor and a reducing agent.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the selectively deposited metal fill layer comprises molybdenum (Mo).

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the selective metal fill process is an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, a pulsed chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, or a CVD process.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein
depositing the first portion of the metal capping layer on the metal silicide layer, wherein depositing the first portion comprises:
generating a plasma in the processing region of the second processing chamber, and
the plasma formed while depositing the first portion of the metal capping layer comprises the metal containing precursor which comprises a molybdenum containing precursor gas that has a first concentration in the processing region of the second processing chamber; and
depositing the second portion of the metal capping layer on the first portion of the metal capping layer, wherein depositing the second portion comprises:
generating a plasma in the processing region of the second processing chamber, and
the plasma formed while depositing the second portion of the metal capping layer comprises the metal containing precursor which comprises the molybdenum containing precursor gas that has a second concentration in the processing region of the second processing chamber.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein first concentration is less than the second concentration.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising exposing the surface of a device contact to a preclean process gas that comprises hydrofluoric acid (HF), wherein
exposing the surface of a device contact to a preclean process gas is performed before depositing the metal silicide layer over the surface of a device contact, and the exposing the surface of the device contact to the preclean process gas, the depositing the metal silicide layer over the surface of a device contact, and the depositing the metal capping layer over the metal silicide layer are sequentially performed without exposing the substrate to air.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein depositing the second portion of the metal capping layer on the first portion of the metal capping layer comprises:
delivering the metal containing precursor at the second mass flow rate to the surface of the substrate while the substrate is maintained at the second processing temperature while being disposed within a third processing chamber.

12 . A processing system, comprising:
a plurality of processing chambers; a controller; a memory for storing instructions, which, when executed by the controller, causes the controller to perform a method of forming a contact structure on a substrate, the method comprising:
depositing a metal silicide layer over a surface of a device contact formed on a surface of the substrate, wherein depositing the metal silicide layer comprises
generating a plasma in a processing region of a first processing chamber, and
the plasma comprises a titanium containing precursor gas; and

depositing a metal capping layer over the metal silicide layer, wherein depositing the metal capping layer comprises:
depositing a first portion of the metal capping layer on the metal silicide layer by delivering a metal containing precursor at a first mass flow rate to the surface of the substrate that is positioned in a processing region of a second processing chamber while the substrate is maintained at a first processing temperature; and
depositing a second portion of the metal capping layer on the first portion of the metal capping layer by delivering the metal containing precursor at a second mass flow rate to the surface of the substrate while the substrate is maintained at a second processing temperature,
wherein the first mass flow rate is less than the second mass flow rate.

13 . The processing system of claim 12 , wherein the metal containing precursor essentially comprises molybdenum pentachloride (MoCl 5 ).

14 . The processing system of claim 12 , wherein the metal silicide layer comprises titanium silicide (Ti x Si y ) or molybdenum silicide (MoSi x ).

15 . The processing system of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
exposing the surface of the device contact to a preclean process gas that comprises at least one of hydrogen (H 2 ), ammonia (NH 3 ), and hydrofluoric acid (HF), wherein the exposing the surface of a device contact to a preclean process gas is performed before depositing the metal silicide layer over the surface of a device contact, and is performed by use of non-plasma process.

16 . The processing system of claim 12 , further comprising selectively depositing a metal fill layer over the metal capping layer, wherein selectively depositing the metal fill layer comprises exposing the metal capping layer to a metal halide containing precursor and a reducing agent.

17 . The processing system of claim 16 , wherein the metal fill layer comprises molybdenum (Mo).

18 . The processing system of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises exposing the surface of a device contact to a preclean process gas that comprises hydrofluoric acid (HF) in a first processing chamber

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Zhu Qihao
• Zhang Shumao
• Ye Weifeng
• Wan Yiyang
• How Gary
• Guo Jianqiu
• Wang Dong
• Chen Shihchung
• Wu Liqi
• Lu Jiang

Classifications

• H10P70/27

  during, before or after processing of conductive materials, e.g. polysilicon or amorphous silicon layers · CPC title

• H10W20/057

  by selectively depositing, e.g. by using selective CVD or plating · CPC title

• H10W20/033

  in openings in dielectrics · CPC title

• H10W20/048

  by using plasmas or gaseous environments, e.g. by nitriding · CPC title

• H10D64/0112 Primary

  using conductive layers comprising silicides · CPC title