Forming Low-Stress Silicon Nitride Layer Through Hydrogen Treatment

A method comprising:

• forming mandrels over a semiconductor substrate of a wafer;
• forming a silicon nitride layer on the mandrels using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) in a process chamber, the forming the silicon nitride layer comprising:
• generating hydrogen radicals;
• and
• conducting the hydrogen radicals into the process chamber;
• etching the silicon nitride layer to form spacers on sidewalls of the mandrels;
• removing the mandrels;
• and
• transferring patterns of the spacers into the semiconductor substrate.

A method comprising:

• forming a silicon nitride layer comprising:
• placing a wafer into a process chamber;
• introducing a silicon-containing precursor into the process chamber, wherein the silicon-containing precursor comprises a halogen element;
• purging the silicon-containing precursor from the process chamber;
• introducing a precursor to remove parts of the halogen element from portions of the silicon-containing precursor attached to the wafer;
• introducing a nitrogen-containing precursor into the process chamber to react with the silicon-containing precursor that has reduced amount of the halogen element;
• and
• purging the nitrogen-containing precursor from the process chamber.