# US 11,443,948 B2 · Doping techniques

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- Number: US 11,443,948 B2
- Document ID: US11443948B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/536,600
- Filed: 2019-08-09
- Published: 2020-02-13
- Granted: 2022-09-13
- Earliest claimed: 2018-08-11
- Assignees: Applied Materials, Inc.
- Applicants: Applied Materials, Inc.
- Inventors: Wolfgang Aderhold; Yi-Chiau Huang; Wei Liu; Benjamin Colombeau; Abhilash Mayur
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11443948B2

## CPC

- H10P 32/1408: {from or through or into an external applied layer, e.g. photoresist or nitride layers}
- H10P 32/141: {the applied layer comprising oxides only}
- H10D 64/0112: {using conductive layers comprising silicides}
- H10P 32/171: {being group IV material}
- H10P 72/0454: {surrounding a central transfer chamber}
- H10P 72/0468: {comprising a chamber adapted to a particular process}
- H10P 95/90: Thermal treatments, e.g. annealing or sintering
- 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 14/6332: {using thermal evaporation (formation of epitaxial layers by a deposition process H10P14/6349)}
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H10D: INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
- H10B: ELECTRONIC MEMORY DEVICES

## Abstract

A method of selectively and conformally doping semiconductor materials is disclosed. Some embodiments utilize a conformal dopant film deposited selectively on semiconductor materials by thermal decomposition. Some embodiments relate to doping non-line of sight surfaces. Some embodiments relate to methods for forming a highly doped crystalline semiconductor layer.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of forming an electronic device, the method comprising:
selectively depositing a dopant film on a first surface comprising a semiconductor material relative to a second surface comprising an oxide material by a non-line of sight, thermal decomposition deposition process, the dopant film consisting essentially of a dopant and being substantially conformal; and
annealing the electronic device to drive dopant atoms from the dopant film into the semiconductor material to a depth greater than or equal to about 1 nm to form a conformally doped semiconductor material with substantially no dopant atoms driven into the oxide material.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the thermal decomposition process comprises exposing the first surface and the second surface to a boron precursor at a temperature in a range of about 600° C. to about 900° C. and the dopant film consists essentially of boron.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the boron precursor comprises one or more of borane, diborane, triborane, tetraborane or pentaborane.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein annealing the electronic device comprises one or more of a spike anneal, laser anneal, rapid thermal anneal or millisecond anneal.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein annealing occurs at a temperature in a range of about 1000° C. to about 1300° C.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the dopant film has a thickness in a range of about 2 to about 10 monolayers.

### Claim 7 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the dopant atoms are driven into the semiconductor material to a depth greater than or equal to about 5 nm.

### Claim 8 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the conformally doped semiconductor material has a dopant concentration greater than or equal to about 220 atoms B/cm3 at the first surface of the semiconductor material.

### Claim 9 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the semiconductor material comprises silicon.

### Claim 10 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the semiconductor material is a source/drain extension region of a transistor.

### Claim 11 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the electronic device comprises a 3D NAND device comprising a plurality of alternating first surfaces and second surfaces.

### Claim 12 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the conformally doped semiconductor material has a dopant concentration greater than or equal to about 520 atoms B/cm3 at the first surface of the semiconductor material.

### Claim 13 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the boron precursor comprises one or more of a cyclic triborane, or a cyclic tetraborane.

### Claim 14 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the boron precursor comprises a haloborane.

### Claim 15 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the boron precursor comprises an alkyl borane.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the dopant film consists essentially of phosphorous.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the dopant film consists essentially of arsenic.

### Claim 18

A method of forming an electronic device, the method comprising:
exposing a substrate with a first surface comprising a semiconductor material and a second surface comprising an oxide material to a boron precursor at a temperature in a range of about 700° C. to about 800° C. to selectively deposit a conformal dopant film by a non-line-of-sight, thermal decomposition process, the conformal dopant film being deposited on the first surface over the second surface, the conformal dopant film consisting essentially of boron and having a thickness in a range of about 2 to about 10 monolayers; and
annealing the electronic device with a millisecond anneal at a temperature in a range of about 1150° C. to about 1200° C. to drive boron atoms from the conformal dopant film into the semiconductor material to conformally dope the semiconductor material to a depth of at least 1 nm with substantially no dopant atoms driven into the oxide material.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the boron precursor comprises one or more of borane (BH3), diborane (B2H6), chloroborane (BH2Cl), trimethylborane (B(CH3)3) or triethylborane (B(C2H5)3).