Method and apparatus for forming gate stack on Si, SiGe or Ge channels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9373516-B2
Application number	US-201314016027-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2013
Priority date	Aug 31, 2012
Publication date	Jun 21, 2016
Grant date	Jun 21, 2016

Abstract

Provided are methods and apparatus for functionalizing a substrate surface used as the channel in a gate stack. Silicon, germanium and silicon germanium substrates surfaces are functionalized with one or more of sulfur and selenium by plasma processing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of functionalizing a surface of a substrate, the method comprising exposing a clean surface of the substrate to a functionalizing element to form a functionalized substrate surface, the substrate selected from the group consisting of silicon, germanium and silicon germanium, and the functionalizing element selected from the group consisting of sulfur, selenium and mixtures thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the functionalizing element comprises sulfur.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the sulfur is generated by a plasma of one or more of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur selenide.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the functionalizing element comprises selenium.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the selenium is generated by a plasma of one or more of hydrogen selenide and sulfur selenide.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the plasma is pulsed.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising exposing the substrate surface to an atomic hydrogen cleaning process to form the clean substrate surface.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the clean substrate surface is exposed to the functionalizing element without exposure to oxygen.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a silicon dioxide film on the functionalized substrate surface.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a silicon film on the functionalized substrate surface.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising forming a silicon dioxide film on the silicon film.

12. A method of forming a gate stack on a surface of a substrate, the method comprising:
cleaning the surface of the substrate with an atomic hydrogen cleaning process to form a clean substrate surface;
functionalizing the clean substrate surface with a functionalizing element to form a functionalized substrate surface, the functionalizing element selected from the group consisting of sulfur, selenium and combinations thereof; and
forming a silicon dioxide layer on the functionalized substrate surface,
wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of silicon, germanium and silicon germanium and the substrate is not exposed to ambient conditions until after forming the silicon dioxide layer.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising forming a silicon layer between the functionalized substrate surface and the silicon dioxide layer.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the functionalizing element comprises sulfur.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the sulfur is generated by a plasma of one or more of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur selenide.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the functionalizing element comprises selenium.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the selenium is generated by a plasma of one or more of hydrogen selenide and sulfur selenide.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein each of the cleaning, functionalizing and forming of a silicon dioxide layer are performed in separate processing chambers, each chamber attached to a centralized transfer chamber and moved between the chambers by a robot without exposure to the ambient environment.

Assignees

• Ahmed Khaled Z
• Hung Steven
• Singh Kaushal K
• Ramamurthy Sundar
• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Ahmed Khaled Z
• Hung Steven
• Singh Kaushal K
• Ramamurthy Sundar

Classifications

• H10P72/0468 Primary

  comprising a chamber adapted to a particular process · CPC title

• H10P72/0448

  Apparatus for applying a liquid, a resin, an ink or the like · CPC title

• H10P50/00

  Etching of wafers, substrates or parts of devices · CPC title

• H10P14/69215

  the material being a silicon oxide, e.g. SiO2 · CPC title

• H10P14/6514

  by exposure to a plasma · CPC title