Selective atomic layer deposition with post-dose treatment

An apparatus for processing substrates, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) at least one process chamber including a pedestal for holding a substrate having one or more features;
• (b) at least one outlet for coupling the at least one process chamber to a vacuum;
• (c) one or more process gas inlets coupled to one or more silicon-containing precursor sources, one or more post-dose treatment gas sources, and one or more reactant gas sources;
• (d) a radio-frequency (RF) generator;
• and
• (e) a controller for controlling operations in the apparatus, including machine-readable instructions for:
• (i) introducing a silicon-containing precursor from at least one of the one or more silicon-containing precursor sources to the at least one process chamber under conditions allowing the silicon-containing precursor to adsorb onto the surface of the substrate, thereby forming an adsorbed layer of the silicon-containing precursor over the substrate;
• (ii) prior to introducing a reactant from at least one of the one or more reactant gas sources to the at least one process chamber and after introducing the silicon-containing precursor, exposing the substrate during a post-dose treatment operation to a gas selected from the group consisting of:
• nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, ammonia, helium, and CxHy, wherein x is an integer between and including 1-5 and y is an integer between and including 4-16, and
• (iii) introducing the reactant and igniting a plasma to form a silicon-containing film over the substrate.