Gas-phase functionalization of surfaces of microelectronic structures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9425406-B2
Application number	US-201213344738-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2012
Priority date	Feb 7, 2006
Publication date	Aug 23, 2016
Grant date	Aug 23, 2016

Abstract

There are provided methods for functionalizing a planar surface of a microelectronic structure, by exposing the surface to at least one vapor including at least one functionalization species, such as NO 2 or CH 3 ONO, that non-covalently bonds to the surface while providing a functionalization layer of chemically functional groups, to produce a functionalized surface. The functionalized surface is exposed to at least one vapor stabilization species that reacts with the functionalization layer to form a stabilization layer that stabilizes the functionalization layer against desorption from the planar microelectronic surface while providing chemically functional groups. The stabilized surface is exposed to at least one material layer precursor species that deposits a material layer on the stabilized planar microelectronic surface. The stabilized planar microelectronic surface can be annealed at a peak annealing temperature that is less than about 700° C.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for functionalizing an inert planar surface of a microelectronic structure comprising:
providing a planar microelectronic structure surface that is chemically inert to material layer deposition precursors;
exposing the inert planar microelectronic structure surface to at least one vapor including at least one functionalization specie that is physisorbed but not chemisorbed on the inert microelectronic structure surface and that is not a metal that changes electrical state of the microelectronic structure, to non-covalently bond to the inert planar microelectronic structure surface while providing a functionalization layer of chemically-active functional groups, to produce a functionalized planar microelectronic structure surface that is reactive to material layer deposition precursors;
exposing the functionalized planar microelectronic structure surface to at least one vapor stabilization species that reacts with the functionalization layer to form a stabilization layer that stabilizes the functionalization layer against desorption from the planar microelectronic structure surface while providing chemically-active functional groups at the planar microelectronic structure surface, to produce a stabilized planar microelectronic structure surface; and
exposing the stabilized planar microelectronic structure surface to at least one material layer precursor species that deposits a material layer on the stabilized planar microelectronic structure surface.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the chemically inert planar microelectronic structure surface comprises a microelectronic material selected from the group consisting of silicon, silicon dioxide, and silicon nitride.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the chemically inert planar microelectronic structure surface comprises a semiconducting material.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the chemically inert planar microelectronic structure surface comprises an insulating material.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the chemically inert planar microelectronic structure surface comprises an electrically conducting material.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the chemically inert planar microelectronic structure surface comprises a surface of a microelectronic wafer.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one vapor comprises a first vapor including a first functionalization species that is physisorhed on the planar microelectronic structure surface and a second vapor including a second functionalization species that reacts with the physisorbed first functionalization species to form on the planar microelectronic structure surface a functionalization layer of chemically-active functional groups.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the chemically inert planar microelectronic structure surface exposure comprises cyclically alternating exposure of the planar microelectronic structure surface to the first vapor and the second vapor.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the cyclically alternating exposure comprises cycles of atomic layer deposition with the first functionalization species and the second functionalization species.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the cyclically alternating exposure is carried out a number of exposure cycles that forms a functionalization layer of no greater than one monolayer in thickness.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the cyclically alternating exposure is carried out a number of exposure cycles that forms a functionalization layer of no greater than about one nanometer in thickness.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the stabilization species reacts with the functionalization layer to covalently bond to the functionalization layer.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the chemically-active functional groups comprise —CH 3 groups.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the stabilization layer that is formed comprises Al 2 O 3 .

15. The method of claim 1 wherein depositing a material layer on the stabilized planar microelectronic structure surface comprises forming an electrically insulating layer on the stabilization layer.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the electrically insulating layer that is formed on the stabilization layer is selected from a group consisting of Al 2 O 3 , LaAlO 3 , ZrO 2 , Ta 2 O 5 , and mixtures thereof.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising forming an electrically conducting layer on the insulating layer.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the electrically conducting layer is selected from a group consisting of Rh, Pd, WN, Al, and TiN.

19. A method for functionalizing a planar surface of a microelectronic structure comprising:
exposing the planar microelectronic structure surface to at least one vapor including at least one functionalization species, selected from the group consisting of NO 2 and CH 3 ONO, that non-covalently bonds to the planar microelectronic structure surface while providing a functionalization layer of chemically-active functional groups, to produce a functionalized planar microelectronic structure surface that is reactive to material layer deposition precursors; and
exposing the functionalized planar microelectronic structure surface to at least one vapor stabilization species that reacts with the functionalization layer to form a stabilization layer that stabilizes the functionalization layer against desorption from the planar microelectronic structure surface while providing chemically functional groups at the planar microelectronic structure surface, to produce a stabilized planar microelectronic structure surface.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising exposing the functionalized planar microelectronic structure surface to at least one vapor stabilization species that reacts with the functionalization layer to form a stabilization layer that stabilizes the functionalization layer against desorption from the planar microelectronic structure surface while providing chemically-active functional groups at the planar microelectronic structure surface, to produce a stabilized planar microelectronic structure surface.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the functionalization species exposure of the planar microelectronic structure surface and the stabilization species exposure of the planar microelectronic structure surface are carried out at a temperature of about 25° C.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the at least one vapor comprises a first vapor including a first functionalization species that is physisorhed on the microelectronic structure surface and a second vapor including a second functionalization species that reacts with the physisorbed first functionalization species to form on the microelectronic structure surface a functionalization layer of chemically-active functional groups.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the second functionalization species is selected from a group consisting of trimethylaluminum, dimethylzinc, trimethylgallium, trimethylindium, trimethylbismuth, tetrakis(dimethylamido)hafnium, and tetrakis(dimethylamido)zirconium.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the planar microelectronic structure surface exposure comprises cyclically alternating exposure of the planar microelectronic surface to the first vapor and the second vapor.

25. The method of claim 19 wherein the at least one vapor stabilization species consists of water and a species selected from a group consisting of trimethylaluminum, dimethylzinc, trimethylgallium, trimethyl

Assignees

• Gordon Roy G
• Farmer Damon B
• Harvard College

Inventors

• Gordon Roy G
• Farmer Damon B

Classifications

• B82Y10/00 Primary

  Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic · CPC title

• Y10S977/89

  Deposition of materials, e.g. coating, cvd, or ald · CPC title

• Y10S977/847

  Surface modifications, e.g. functionalization, coating · CPC title

• H01L51/0595

  Electricity · mapped topic

• B82Y40/00

  Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures · CPC title