Method of depositing low dielectric constant silicon carbide layers
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsFrancimar Campana, Srinivas Nemani, Michael Chapin, Shankar Venkataraman
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Abstract
A method of forming a silicon carbide layer for use in integrated circuits is provided. The silicon carbide layer is formed by reacting a gas mixture comprising a silicon source, a carbon source, and a nitrogen source in the presence of an electric field. The as-deposited silicon carbide layer incorporates nitrogen therein from the nitrogen source.
Claims20
A computer storage medium containing a software routine that, when executed, causes a general purpose computer to control a deposition chamber using a layer deposition method, comprising:
- positioning a substrate in a deposition chamber;
- providing a gas mixture to the deposition chamber, wherein the gas mixture comprises a silicon source, a carbon source, and a nitrogen source;
- reacting the gas mixture in the presence of an electric field to form a nitrogen-containing silicon carbide layer on the substrate;
- and then
- exposing the nitrogen-containing silicon carbide layer to a plasma by:
- providing one or more inert gas to a process chamber having the substrate therein with the nitrogen-containing silicon carbide layer formed thereon;
- and
- applying an electric field to the one or more inert gas to generate a plasma in the process chamber.
A computer storage medium containing a software routine that, when executed, causes a general purpose computer to control a deposition chamber using a layer deposition method, comprising:
- positioning a substrate in a deposition chamber;
- providing a gas mixture to the deposition chamber, wherein the gas mixture comprises a silicon source, a carbon source, and a nitrogen source;
- reacting the gas mixture in the presence of an electric field to form a nitrogen-containing silicon carbide layer on the substrate;
- and
- forming a silicon carbide cap layer on the nitrogen-containing silicon carbide layer.
A computer storage medium containing a software routine that, when executed, causes a general purpose computer to control a deposition chamber using a layer deposition method, comprising:
- providing a substrate having a metal layer thereon;
- forming a nitrogen-containing silicon carbide barrier layer on the metal layer, wherein the nitrogen-containing silicon carbide barrier layer is formed by reacting a gas mixture comprising a silicon source, a carbon source, and a nitrogen source in the presence of an electric field;
- forming a first dielectric layer on the nitrogen-containing silicon carbide barrier layer;
- forming a nitrogen-containing silicon carbide hard mask on the first dielectric layer, wherein the nitrogen-containing silicon carbide hard mask is formed by reacting a silicon source, a carbon source, and a nitrogen source in the presence of an electric field;
- patterning the nitrogen-containing silicon carbide hard mask to define vias therethrough;
- forming a second dielectric layer on the patterned nitrogen-containing silicon carbide hard mask;
- patterning the second dielectric layer to define interconnects therethrough, wherein the interconnects are positioned over the vias defined in the nitrogen-containing silicon carbide hard mask;
- transferring the via pattern through the first dielectric layer using the nitrogen-containing silicon carbide hard mask as a mask;
- and
- filling the vias and interconnects with a conductive material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.