Photo-assisted deposition of flowable films
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsBrian Saxton UNDERWOOD, Abhijit Basu MALLICK, Mukund SRINIVASAN, Juan Carlos ROCHA-ALVAREZ
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for forming a flowable film are described. The method includes providing an oxygen free precursor gas mixture to a processing chamber containing a substrate. The oxygen free precursor gas is activated by exposure to UV radiation in the processing chamber. Molecular fragments resulting from the UV activation are encouraged to deposit on the substrate to form a flowable film on the substrate. The substrate may be cooled to encourage deposition. The film may be hardened by heating and/or by further exposure to UV radiation.
Claims20
A processing chamber, comprising:
- a processing space containing a substrate support;
- a gas volume coupled to first flow channels through which first gases enter the processing chamber;
- a first divider having a plurality of openings and disposed between the processing space and the gas volume;
- and
- a source of UV radiation directed towards the gas volume.
A method of processing a substrate, comprising:
- disposing the substrate in a processing space of a processing chamber;
- providing a precursor gas to a gas volume of the processing chamber, wherein the gas volume is separated from the processing space by at least one divider having a plurality of openings;
- activating the precursor gas by exposing the precursor gas to UV radiation in the gas volume of the chamber;
- flowing the activated precursor gas to the processing space through the at least one divider;
- and
- forming an oxygen free flowable film on the substrate from the activated precursor gas.
A method of processing a substrate, comprising:
- disposing the substrate in a processing space of a processing chamber;
- providing a precursor gas to a gas volume of the processing chamber, wherein the gas volume is separated from the processing space by at least one divider having a plurality of openings;
- decomposing the precursor gas by exposing the precursor gas to UV radiation in the gas volume of the chamber;
- flowing the decomposed precursor gas to the processing space through the at least divider;
- and
- forming an oxygen free flowable film on the substrate from the decomposed precursor gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.