Gate all around I/O engineering
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsSteven C. H. Hung, Benjamin Colombeau, Andy Lo, Byeong Chan Lee, Johanes F. Swenberg, Theresa Kramer Guarini, Malcolm J. Bevan
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Abstract
Described is a method of manufacturing a gate-all-around electronic device. The method includes forming a thermal oxide layer though an enhanced in situ steam generation process in combination with atomic layer deposition of a low-κ layer. The thin thermal oxide layer passivates the interface between the silicon layer and the dielectric layer of the GAA. A passivation process after the deposition of the low-κ layer reduces the bulk trap and enhances the breakdown performance of the GAA transistor.
Claims15
A processing tool for forming a semiconductor device, the processing tool comprising:
- a central transfer station having a plurality of processing chambers disposed around the central transfer station;
- a robot within the central transfer station configured to move a substrate between the plurality of processing chambers;
- a first processing chamber connected to the central transfer station, the first processing chamber configured to perform an enhanced in situ steam generation (eISSG) process to deposit a thermal oxide layer at a pressure below 20 Torr;
- a metrology station within the processing tool accessible to the robot, the metrology station comprising one or more of a scatterometer, a refractometer, an ellipsometer, or an e-beam configured to determine a thickness of the thermal oxide layer on a substrate;
- a second processing chamber connected to the central transfer station, the second processing chamber configured to perform an atomic layer deposition process;
- a third processing chamber connected to the central transfer station, the third processing chamber configured to perform a passivation process and/or a densification process;
- and
- a controller connected to the central transfer station, the robot, the first processing chamber, the metrology station, the second processing chamber, and the third processing chamber, the controller comprising a first configuration to move a substrate on the robot between the plurality of processing chambers and metrology station;
- a second configuration to perform the enhanced in situ steam generation (eISSG) process to deposit a thermal oxide layer on a substrate in the first processing chamber;
- a third configuration to perform an analysis to determine the thickness of the thermal oxide layer in the metrology station;
- a fourth configuration to perform an atomic layer deposition process in the second processing chamber, the atomic layer deposition adjusted for the thickness of the thermal oxide layer, and a fifth configuration to perform the passivation process and/or the densification process.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.