Plasma pre-clean module and process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9514927-B2
Application number	US-201615083136-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2016
Priority date	Mar 19, 2014
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

A method for integrated circuit fabrication can include removing silicon oxide by a pre-clean process. The pre-clean process can include depositing a halogen-containing material on the surface of a substrate in a first reaction chamber, and transferring the substrate having the halogen-containing material to a second reaction chamber. Silicon oxide material can be removed from a surface of the substrate by sublimating the halogen-containing material in the second reaction chamber. A target material, such as a conductive material, may subsequently be deposited on the substrate surface in the second reaction chamber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for integrated circuit fabrication, the method comprising:
removing a silicon oxide material from a surface of a substrate, wherein removing the silicon oxide material comprises:
depositing a halogen-containing material on the surface of the substrate in a reaction chamber; and
sublimating the halogen-containing material, wherein sublimating the halogen-containing material comprises heating the surface of the substrate to a temperature of less than 100° C.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein depositing the halogen-containing material comprises flowing a halogen-containing gas and a hydrogen-containing gas.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the hydrogen-containing gas comprises ammonia.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the halogen-containing gas comprises one or more of a nitrogen trifluoride, a hydrogen fluoride, and a fluorine gas.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising activating at least one of the halogen-containing gas and the hydrogen-containing gas, wherein activating the at least one of the halogen-containing gas and the hydrogen-containing gas comprises flowing at least one of the halogen-containing gas and the hydrogen-containing gas through a remote plasma source.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
flowing the halogen-containing gas and not the hydrogen-containing gas through the remote plasma source; and
flowing an inert gas through the remote plasma unit.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the surface of the substrate further comprises silicon nitride, and wherein removing the silicon oxide material comprises removing the silicon oxide material relative to the silicon nitride at a selectivity of 6:1 to 60:1.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transferring the substrate to a second reaction chamber subsequent to depositing the halogen-containing material, and wherein sublimating the halogen-containing material comprises sublimating the halogen-containing material in the second reaction chamber.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising depositing a conductive material on the substrate surface in the second reaction chamber subsequent to sublimating the halogen-containing material.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the conductive material is an epitaxial layer of silicon.

11. A method for integrated circuit fabrication, the method comprising:
removing a silicon oxide material from a surface of a substrate, wherein removing the silicon oxide material comprises:
depositing a halogen-containing material on the surface of the substrate in a reaction chamber, wherein depositing the halogen-containing material comprises exposing the surface of the substrate to a reactant gas activated by a remote plasma source; and
sublimating the halogen-containing material, wherein sublimating the halogen-containing material comprises heating the surface of the substrate to a temperature of 80° C. to 100° C.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein exposing the surface of the substrate to the reactant gas activated by the remote plasma source comprises flowing at least one of a halogen-containing gas and a hydrogen-containing gas through the remote plasma source.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the halogen-containing gas comprises nitrogen trifluoride and the hydrogen-containing gas comprises ammonia.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising flowing through the remote plasma source an inert gas.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the inert gas comprises argon.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein exposing the surface of the substrate to the reactant gas activated by the remote plasma source comprises flowing the halogen-containing gas and not the hydrogen-containing gas through the remote plasma unit.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising flowing through the remote plasma source the halogen-containing gas and the hydrogen-containing gas at a molar ratio of 3:1 to 10:1.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the surface of the substrate further comprises silicon nitride and wherein sublimating the halogen-containing material comprises removing the silicon oxide material relative to the silicon nitride at a selectivity of 7:1 to 15:1.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein removing the silicon oxide material further comprises:
depositing a second halogen-containing material subsequent to sublimating the halogen-containing material; and
sublimating the second halogen-containing material.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the surface of the substrate further comprises silicon nitride, and wherein sublimating the second halogen-containing material comprises removing the silicon oxide material relative to the silicon nitride at a selectivity of 30:1 to 150:1.

21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising transferring the substrate to a second reaction chamber subsequent to depositing the second halogen-containing material, and wherein sublimating the second halogen-containing material comprises sublimating the second halogen-containing material in the second reaction chamber.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising depositing an epitaxial layer of silicon on the substrate in the second reaction chamber subsequent to sublimating the second halogen-containing material.

Assignees

• Asm Ip Holding Bv

Inventors

• Tolle John
• Goodman Matthew G
• Vyne Robert Michael
• Hill Eric R

Classifications

• H10P95/90

  Thermal treatments, e.g. annealing or sintering · CPC title

• H10P70/27

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

• H10P70/12 Primary

  by dry cleaning only (H10P70/52 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H10P50/283

  by chemical means · CPC title

• H10P14/69433

  the material being a silicon nitride not containing oxygen, e.g. SixNy or SixByNz · CPC title