Bottom-up PEALD proces

A method of performing a PEALD process, comprising:

• ionizing a precursor gas within a processing chamber configured to hold a substrate during a first time period;
• applying a bias voltage to a wafer chuck during the ionization of the precursor gas, wherein the bias voltage attracts the precursor gas to accumulate on the substrate;
• igniting a plasma within the processing chamber from a reactant gas during a second time period that occurs after the ionization of the precursor gas has ceased and that does not overlap the first time period;
• and
• wherein the plasma reacts with the precursor gas that has accumulated on the substrate to form a deposited layer having a greater thickness on horizontally extending surfaces of the substrate than on vertically extending sidewalls of the substrate.

A method of performing a PEALD process, comprising:

• introducing a precursor gas into a processing chamber configured to house a semiconductor workpiece during a first time period;
• applying an RF power to an RF antenna to ionize the precursor gas during the first time period, wherein the RF power is increased upon introducing the precursor gas into the processing chamber and decreased upon ending the introduction of the precursor gas into the processing chamber;
• biasing a wafer chuck to attract the ionized precursor gas to the semiconductor workpiece during the ionization of the precursor gas;
• and
• introducing a reactant gas into the processing chamber during a second time period that occurs after the ionization of the precursor gas has ceased and that does not overlap the first time period, wherein the reactant gas interacts with the ionized precursor gas to form a deposited layer on the semiconductor workpiece and the RF power is increased upon introducing the reactant gas into the processing chamber.