Treatment approach to improve film roughness by improving nucleation/adhesion of silicon oxide

A method of forming an amorphous silicon layer on a substrate in a processing chamber, comprising:

• depositing a predetermined thickness of a sacrificial dielectric layer over a substrate;
• forming patterned features on the substrate by removing portions of the sacrificial dielectric layer to expose an upper surface of the substrate;
• forming a self-assembled monolayer (“SAM”) on the patterned features;
• depositing an amorphous silicon layer on the SAM and the exposed upper surface of the substrate;
• and
• selectively removing the amorphous silicon layer from an upper surface of the patterned features and the upper surface of the substrate using an anisotropic etching process to provide the patterned features filled within sidewall spacers formed from the amorphous silicon layer.

A method of forming an amorphous silicon layer on a substrate in a processing chamber, comprising:

• depositing a predetermined thickness of a sacrificial dielectric layer over a substrate;
• forming patterned features on the substrate by removing portions of the sacrificial dielectric layer to expose an upper surface of the substrate;
• performing a plasma treatment to the patterned features;
• forming a self-assembled monolayer (“SAM”) on the plasma treated patterned features;
• depositing an amorphous silicon layer on the SAM and the exposed upper surface of the substrate;
• and
• selectively removing the amorphous silicon layer from an upper surface of the patterned features and the upper surface of the substrate using an anisotropic etching process to provide the patterned features filled within sidewall spacers formed from the amorphous silicon layer.