Pulsed nitride encapsulation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9748093-B2
Application number	US-201615071523-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2016
Priority date	Mar 18, 2015
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure pertain to methods of forming conformal liners on patterned substrates having high height-to-width aspect ratio gaps. Layers formed according to embodiments outlined herein have been found to inhibit diffusion and electrical leakage across the conformal liners. The liners may comprise nitrogen and be described as nitride layers according to embodiments. The conformal liners may comprise silicon and nitrogen and may consist of silicon and nitrogen in embodiments. Methods described herein may comprise introducing a silicon-containing precursor and a nitrogen-containing precursor into a substrate processing region and concurrently applying a pulsed plasma power capacitively to the substrate processing region to form the conformal layer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of forming a conformal silicon nitride layer on a patterned substrate, the method comprising:
placing the patterned substrate in a substrate processing region of a substrate processing chamber;
flowing a silicon-containing precursor into the substrate processing region;
combining the silicon-containing precursor with a nitrogen-containing precursor;
forming a pulsed plasma by applying a square wave of RF power to the substrate processing region, wherein the square wave comprises a minimum plasma power level between 1% and 25% of the peak plasma power and wherein the square wave has a duty cycle between 80% and 99%;
exciting the combination of the silicon-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor in the pulsed plasma; and
forming the conformal silicon nitride layer, wherein the conformal silicon nitride layer comprises both silicon and nitrogen, and wherein an atomic percentage of nitrogen in the conformal silicon nitride layer is less than 50% while an atomic percentage of silicon is greater than 50% in the conformal silicon nitride layer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein combining the silicon-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor occurs in the substrate processing region.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein combining the silicon-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor occurs prior to the substrate processing region and the combination of the silicon-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor flow into the substrate processing region together.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the conformal silicon nitride layer consists of silicon and nitrogen.

5. A method of forming a conformal silicon nitride layer in a gap on a patterned substrate, the method comprising:
placing the patterned substrate in a substrate processing region of a substrate processing chamber;
flowing a precursor into the substrate processing region;
applying pulsed RF power in the form of a square wave to the substrate processing region to form a pulsed plasma from the precursor, wherein the pulsed RF power comprises a minimum plasma power level between 2% and 20% of the peak plasma power, wherein the square wave has a duty cycle between 85% and 97%; and
forming the conformal silicon nitride layer, wherein the conformal silicon nitride layer comprises silicon and nitrogen, and wherein an atomic percentage of nitrogen in the conformal silicon nitride layer is less than 50% while an atomic percentage of silicon is greater than 50% in the conformal silicon nitride layer.

6. A method of forming a conformal hermetic layer in a gap on a patterned substrate, the method comprising:
placing the patterned substrate in a substrate processing region of a substrate processing chamber;
flowing a precursor into the substrate processing region;
forming a pulsed plasma by applying pulsed RF power in the form of a square wave to the precursor within the substrate processing region, wherein the pulsed RF power comprises a minimum plasma power level between 1% and 25% of the peak plasma power, wherein the square wave has a duty cycle between 80% and 99%; and
forming the conformal hermetic layer.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the conformal hermetic layer comprises nitrogen.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein a thickness of the conformal hermetic layer is between 15 Å and 200 Å.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein a radio frequency of the pulsed RF power is between 1,000 Hz and 50,000 Hz.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Reilly Patrick James
• Bethke David Alan
• Balseanu Mihaela

Classifications

• H10P14/69433 Primary

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

• H10P14/6682

  the compound being a silane, e.g. disilane, methylsilane or chlorosilane · CPC title

• H10P14/6339

  deposition by cyclic CVD, e.g. ALD, ALE or pulsed CVD · CPC title

• H10P14/6336

  in the presence of a plasma [PECVD] · CPC title

• H10W74/137

  the encapsulations being directly on the semiconductor body (H10W74/134 takes precedence) · CPC title