Methods for pre-cleaning conductive interconnect structures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9460959-B1
Application number	US-201514958459-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 3, 2015
Priority date	Oct 2, 2015
Publication date	Oct 4, 2016
Grant date	Oct 4, 2016

Abstract

Methods for processing a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, method of processing a substrate includes: heating a substrate disposed within a processing volume of a substrate processing chamber to a temperature of up to about 400 degrees Celsius, wherein the substrate comprises a first surface, an opposing second surface, and an opening formed in the first surface and extending towards the opposing second surface, and wherein the second surface comprises a conductive material disposed in the second surface and aligned with the opening; and exposing the substrate to a process gas comprising about 80 to about 100 wt % of an alcohol to reduce a contaminated surface of the conductive material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of processing a substrate, comprising:
heating a substrate disposed within a processing volume of a substrate processing chamber to a temperature of up to about 400 degrees Celsius, wherein the substrate comprises a first surface, an opposing second surface, and an opening formed in the first surface and extending towards the opposing second surface, and wherein the second surface comprises a conductive material disposed in the second surface and aligned with the opening;
heating an ampoule to a predetermined temperature to vaporize a liquid alcohol, wherein the ampoule is disposed exterior to the processing chamber;
introducing the vaporized alcohol into the processing chamber; and
exposing the substrate to substantially a process gas comprising about 80 to about 100 wt % of the vaporized alcohol to reduce a contaminated surface of the conductive material.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the conductive material is copper or cobalt.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alcohol has a formula C n H 2n+1 —OH, wherein n is a whole number.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a pressure of the substrate processing chamber while exposing the substrate to the process gas is about 0.1 to about 30 Torr.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a pressure of the substrate processing chamber while exposing the substrate to the process gas is about 0.6 to about 3 Torr.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising exposing the substrate to the process gas for up to about 60 seconds.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined temperature is about 20 to about 50 degrees Celsius, and wherein a vapor pressure of the alcohol within the ampoule is substantially constant.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising drawing the vaporized alcohol from the ampoule into the processing volume via a vacuum draw process.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising exposing the substrate to hydrogen radicals provided to the processing volume from a remote plasma source coupled to the substrate processing chamber.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the alcohol is one or more of ethanol, isopropanol, methanol, or butanol.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the hydrogen radicals are provided to the processing volume at least one of prior to or concurrently with exposing the substrate to the process gas.

12. A method of processing a substrate, comprising:
heating a substrate disposed in a processing volume of a substrate processing chamber to a temperature of up to about 400 degrees Celsius, wherein the substrate comprises a first surface and an opening formed in the first surface and extending towards an opposing second surface having a copper material disposed in the second surface and aligned with the opening;
heating an ampoule to a predetermined temperature to vaporize a liquid alcohol, wherein the ampoule is disposed exterior to the processing chamber;
introducing the vaporized alcohol into the processing chamber; and
exposing the substrate to substantially a process gas comprising about 80 to about 100 wt % of the vaporized alcohol to reduce a contaminated surface of the copper material, wherein the alcohol has a formula C n H 2n+1 —OH, and wherein n is a whole number.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
exposing the substrate to hydrogen radicals provided to the processing volume from a remote plasma source coupled to the substrate processing chamber.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising exposing the substrate to the alcohol for up to about 60 seconds.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the predetermined temperature is about 20 to about 50 degrees Celsius, and wherein a vapor pressure of the alcohol within the ampoule is substantially constant.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising drawing the vaporized alcohol from the ampoule into the processing volume via a vacuum draw process.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the hydrogen radicals are provided to the processing volume at least one of prior to or concurrently with exposing the substrate to the alcohol.

18. A method of processing a substrate, comprising:
heating a substrate disposed within a processing volume of a substrate processing chamber to a temperature of up to about 400 degrees Celsius, wherein the substrate comprises a first surface, an opposing second surface, and an opening formed in the first surface and extending towards the opposing second surface, and wherein the second surface comprises a conductive material disposed in the second surface and aligned with the opening;
exposing the substrate to a process gas comprising about 80 to about 100 wt % of an alcohol to reduce a contaminated surface of the conductive material; and
exposing the substrate to hydrogen radicals provided to the processing volume from a remote plasma source coupled to the substrate processing chamber, wherein the hydrogen radicals are provided to the processing volume at least one of prior to or concurrently with exposing the substrate to the process gas.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Xie Xiangjin
• Liu Feng Q
• Yao Daping
• Jansen Alexander
• Lee Joung Joo
• Allen Adolph Miller
• Tang Xianmin
• Chang Mei

Classifications

• H10P70/234

  the processing being the formation of vias or contact holes · CPC title

• H10W20/081

  by forming openings in the dielectric parts · CPC title

• H10P70/27 Primary

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

• B08B7/0071

  by heating (B08B7/0035 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B08B3/00

  Cleaning by methods involving the use or presence of liquid or steam (B08B9/00 takes precedence) · CPC title