Plasma processing with tunable nitridation

A method for nitriding a substrate, comprising:

• positioning the substrate on a substrate support in a processing volume of a processing chamber;
• generating an inductively-coupled plasma in a plasma processing source coupled to the processing chamber, wherein generating the inductively-coupled plasma comprises:
• operating an inductively-coupled plasma source at a power of about 2,000 W to about 10,000 W;
• flowing hydrazine and a carrier gas into the plasma processing source such that a flow rate of the hydrazine is from about 3% to about 100% of a flow rate of the carrier gas, the carrier gas comprising Ar, He, Ne, Kr, Xe, or combinations thereof;
• and
• forming the inductively-coupled plasma, the inductively-coupled plasma comprising a radical species comprising N, NH, or a combination thereof;
• and
• nitriding the substrate within the processing chamber, wherein nitriding the substrate comprises:
• operating a heat source within the processing chamber at a temperature of about 150° C. to about 650° C. to heat the substrate;
• maintaining a pressure of the processing chamber of about 50 m Torr to about 2 Torr;
• introducing the inductively-coupled plasma to the processing chamber;
• and
• adjusting a nitrogen content, a number of nitrogen atoms per unit area, a nitride thickness, or combinations thereof, of the substrate by exposing the substrate to the inductively-coupled plasma comprising the radical species;
• and
• performing a hydrogen radical treatment before or after nitriding the substrate.

A method for nitriding a substrate, comprising:

• positioning the substrate on a substrate support in a processing volume of a processing chamber, the substrate comprising silicon;
• generating an inductively-coupled plasma in a plasma processing source coupled to the processing chamber, wherein generating the inductively-coupled plasma comprises:
• operating an inductively-coupled plasma source at a power of 2,000 W to 10,000 W;
• flowing a nitrogen-containing source and a carrier gas into the plasma processing source such that a flow rate of the a nitrogen-containing source is from about 3% to 100% of a flow rate of the carrier gas, the carrier gas comprising Ar, He, Ne, Kr, Xe, or combinations thereof;
• and
• forming the inductively-coupled plasma, the inductively-coupled plasma comprising a radical species comprising N, NH, or a combination thereof;
• and
• nitriding the substrate within the processing chamber, wherein nitriding the substrate comprises:
• operating a heat source within the processing chamber at a temperature from about 150° C. to about 650° C. to heat the substrate;
• maintaining a pressure of the processing chamber from about 50 mTorr to about 2 Torr;
• introducing the inductively-coupled plasma to the processing chamber;
• and
• adjusting a nitrogen content, a number of nitrogen atoms per unit area, a nitride thickness, or combinations thereof, of the substrate by exposing the substrate to the inductively-coupled plasma comprising the radical species;
• and
• performing a hydrogen radical treatment before or after nitriding the substrate.