# US 10,504,727 B2 · Thick tungsten hardmask films deposition on high compressive/tensile bow wafers

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- Number: US 10,504,727 B2
- Document ID: US10504727B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/695,180
- Filed: 2017-09-05
- Published: 2018-03-15
- Granted: 2019-12-10
- Earliest claimed: 2016-09-13
- Assignees: Applied Materials, Inc.
- Applicants: Applied Materials, Inc.
- Inventors: Jiarui Wang; Prashant Kumar Kulshreshtha; Eswaranand Venkatasubramanian; Susmit Singha Roy; Kwangduk Douglas Lee
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10504727B2

## CPC

- H10P 76/405: {characterised by their composition, e.g. multilayer masks}
- C23C 16/0272: {Deposition of sub-layers, e.g. to promote the adhesion of the main coating}
- C23C 16/06: characterised by the deposition of metallic material
- C23C 16/342: {Boron nitride}
- C23C 16/345: {Silicon nitride}
- C23C 16/401: {containing silicon}
- C23C 16/45523: {Pulsed gas flow or change of composition over time}
- C23C 16/50: using electric discharges {(generation and control of plasma in discharge tubes for surface treatment H01J37/32, H01J37/34)}
- C23C 16/505: using radio frequency discharges
- C23C 16/52: Controlling or regulating the coating process {(C23C16/45557, C23C16/279 take precedence)}
- H10B 41/27: the channels comprising vertical portions, e.g. U-shaped channels
- H10B 43/27: the channels comprising vertical portions, e.g. U-shaped channels
- H10P 14/6336: {in the presence of a plasma [PECVD]}
- H10P 14/6506: {Formation of intermediate materials}
- H10P 14/668: {the materials being characterised by the deposition precursor materials}
- H10P 14/68: Organic materials, e.g. photoresists
- H10P 14/69215: {the material being a silicon oxide, e.g. SiO2}
- H10P 14/6939: {characterised by the metal}
- H10P 14/69433: {the material being a silicon nitride not containing oxygen, e.g. SixNy or SixByNz}
- H10P 50/73: {using masks for insulating materials}
- H10P 76/4085: {characterised by the processes involved to create the masks}
- H10B 41/50: characterised by the boundary region between the core region and the peripheral circuit region
- H10B 43/50: characterised by the boundary region between the core and peripheral circuit regions
- H10P 72/0432: {mainly by conduction}
- H10P 72/72: using electrostatic chucks
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10
- C23C: COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL (making metal-coated products by extrusion B21C23/22; covering with metal by connecting pre-existing layers to articles, see the relevant places, e.g. B21D39/00, B23K; metallising of glass C03C; metallising mortars, concrete, artificial stone, ceramics or natural stone C04B41/00; enamelling of, or applying a vitreous layer to, metals C23D; treating metal surfaces or coating of metals by electrolysis or electrophoresis C25D; single-crystal film growth C30B; by metallising textiles D06M11/83; decorating textiles by locally metallising D06Q1/04)
- H10B: ELECTRONIC MEMORY DEVICES

## Abstract

Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to the fabrication of integrated circuits. More particularly, the implementations described herein provide techniques for deposition of thick hardmask films on a substrate. In one implementation, a method of forming a hardmask layer on a substrate is provided. The method comprises applying a chucking voltage to a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck in a processing chamber, forming a seed layer comprising boron on a film stack disposed on a substrate by supplying a seed layer gas mixture in the processing chamber while maintaining the chucking voltage, forming a transition layer comprising boron and tungsten on the seed layer by supplying a transition layer gas mixture in the processing chamber and forming a bulk hardmask layer on the transition layer by supplying a main deposition gas mixture in the processing chamber.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of forming a hardmask layer on a substrate comprising:
applying a chucking voltage to a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck in a processing chamber;
forming a seed layer comprising boron on a film stack disposed on the substrate by supplying a seed layer gas mixture in the processing chamber while maintaining the chucking voltage, wherein the seed layer gas mixture comprises at least a boron-based precursor gas and a nitrogen-based precursor gas;
forming a transition layer comprising boron and tungsten on the seed layer by supplying a transition layer gas mixture in the processing chamber, wherein supplying the transition layer gas mixture comprises:
ramping down a gas flow rate of the boron-based precursor gas while maintaining a steady gas flow rate of the nitrogen-based precursor gas; and
supplying a tungsten-based precursor gas; and
forming a bulk hardmask layer on the transition layer by supplying a main deposition gas mixture in the processing chamber.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the chucking voltage is between about 10 volts and about 3,000 volts.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the chucking voltage is between about 200 volts and about 1,000 volts.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein the seed layer comprising boron is formed in the presence of a plasma.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the plasma is formed in-situ.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein the plasma is formed using mixed frequency RF.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein forming the seed layer is performed without a shadow ring encircling a perimeter of the substrate.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the film stack comprises repeating layers of a first dielectric layer and a second dielectric layer.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the first dielectric layer is a silicon oxide layer and the second dielectric layer is a silicon nitride layer.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein a gas flow rate of the tungsten-based precursor gas is ramped up at a ramp up rate in the transition layer gas mixture while the gas flow rate of the boron-based precursor gas is ramped down.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, wherein the tungsten-based precursor gas is ramped up at a rate similar to the ramp down rate of the boron-based precursor gas.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein forming the bulk hardmask layer further comprises:
steadily supplying the tungsten-based precursor gas and the nitrogen-based precursor gas in the processing chamber.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the boron-based precursor gas is B2H6 and the nitrogen-based precursor gas is at least one of N2 and NH3.

### Claim 14

A method of forming a hardmask layer on a substrate comprising:
applying a chucking voltage to a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck in a processing chamber;
forming a seed layer comprising boron on a film stack disposed on the substrate by:
supplying a seed layer gas mixture in the processing chamber while maintaining the chucking voltage, wherein the seed layer gas mixture comprises at least a boron-based precursor gas and a nitrogen-based precursor gas; and
steadily supplying the nitrogen-based precursor gas and varying a flow of the boron-based precursor gas in the processing chamber to form the seed layer;
forming a transition layer comprising boron and tungsten on the seed layer by supplying a transition layer gas mixture in the processing chamber, wherein supplying the transition layer gas mixture comprises:
ramping down a gas flow rate of the boron-based precursor gas while maintaining a steady gas flow rate of the nitrogen-based precursor gas; and
supplying a tungsten-based precursor gas; and
forming a bulk hardmask layer on the transition layer by supplying a main deposition gas mixture in the processing chamber.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein forming the bulk hardmask layer further comprises:
steadily supplying the tungsten-based precursor gas and a carbon-based precursor gas in the processing chamber.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein forming the seed layer further comprises supplying a hydrogen-based precursor gas into the processing chamber.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, wherein the film stack is used to form stair-like structures to form three dimension NAND memory devices.

### Claim 18 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the film stack comprises repeating layers of a silicon oxide layer and a silicon nitride layer.

### Claim 19

A method of forming a hardmask layer on a substrate comprising:
applying a chucking voltage to a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck in a processing chamber;
forming a boron nitride layer on a film stack disposed on the substrate by supplying a seed layer gas mixture in the processing chamber while maintaining the chucking voltage, wherein the seed layer gas mixture comprises at least a boron-based precursor gas and a nitrogen-based precursor gas;
forming a boron tungsten nitride layer on the boron nitride layer by supplying a transition layer gas mixture in the processing chamber, wherein supplying the transition layer gas mixture comprises:
ramping down a gas flow rate of the boron-based precursor gas while maintaining a steady gas flow rate of the nitrogen-based precursor gas; and
supplying a tungsten-based precursor gas; and
forming a tungsten nitride layer on the boron nitride layer by supplying a main deposition gas mixture in the processing chamber.

### Claim 20 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the tungsten-based precursor gas is WF6.