Cryogenic atomic layer etch with noble gases
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsAlvaro Garcia De Gorordo, Zhonghua Yao, Sunil Srinivasan, Sang Wook Park
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Abstract
The present disclosure generally relates to substrate processing methods, such as etching methods with noble gases at low temperatures. In an aspect, the method includes exposing a substrate, a first layer comprising a gas, and a fluorine-containing layer to energy to form a passivation layer while maintaining the substrate at conditions encompassing a triple point temperature of the gas, the substrate positioned in a processing region of a processing chamber. The method further includes etching the substrate with ions.
Claims20
A method of processing a substrate, the method comprising:
- flowing a noble gas into a processing region of a processing chamber;
- forming a first layer from the noble gas on a substrate;
- flowing a fluorine-containing gas comprising SF6, NF3, F2, C4H8, CHF3, or combinations thereof into the processing region;
- forming a fluorine-containing layer from the fluorine-containing gas on the first layer;
- exposing the substrate, the first layer comprising the noble gas, and the fluorine-containing layer to energy to form a passivation layer while maintaining the substrate at conditions encompassing a triple point temperature of the noble gas;
- and
- etching the substrate with ions.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, that, when executed on a processor, perform operations of a substrate processing method, the operations comprising:
- forming a first layer of a noble gas on a substrate while maintaining the substrate at conditions encompassing a triple point temperature of the noble gas, the substrate positioned in a processing region of a processing chamber;
- forming a fluorine-containing layer on the first layer;
- exposing the first layer and fluorine-containing layer to ultraviolet energy or a plasma formed from radio frequency power to form a passivation layer from the first layer and the fluorine-containing layer;
- and
- etching a material from the substrate.
A method of processing a substrate, the method comprising:
- cooling a substrate to a cryogenic temperature encompassing a triple point temperature of a krypton precursor gas;
- forming a krypton fluoride passivation layer over a surface of the substrate;
- and
- etching a material from substrate.
A method of processing a substrate, the method comprising:
- (a) exposing a substrate, a first layer comprising a noble gas, and a fluorine-containing layer to energy to form a passivation layer while maintaining the substrate at conditions encompassing a triple point temperature of the noble gas, the substrate positioned in a processing region of a processing chamber;
- (b) etching the substrate with ions;
- and
- (c) repeating (a) and (b) for multiple cycles to achieve a targeted etch depth of the substrate.
A method of processing a substrate, the method comprising:
- exposing a substrate, a first layer comprising a noble gas, and a fluorine-containing layer to energy to form a passivation layer while maintaining the substrate at conditions encompassing a triple point temperature of the noble gas, the substrate positioned in a processing region of a processing chamber, the energy selected from the group consisting of plasma, ultraviolet photons, or combinations thereof;
- and
- etching the substrate with ions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.