Pre-cleaning for etching of dielectric materials
AssigneeASM IP Holding B.V.
InventorsRene Henricus Jozef Vervuurt, Nobuyoshi Kobayashi, Takayoshi Tsutsumi, Masaru Hori
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An etching process is provided that includes a pre-clean process to remove a surface oxide of a dielectric material. The removal of the oxide can be executed through a thermal reaction and/or plasma process before the etch process. In some embodiments, the removal of the oxide increases etch process control and reproducibility and can improve the selectivity versus oxides.
Claims32
A cyclic etch process, the process comprising:
- pre-cleaning a dielectric material to remove a surface oxide to provide a pre-cleaned dielectric surface;
- and
- etching the pre-cleaned dielectric surface.
(canceled)
A cyclic etch process, the process comprising:
- pre-cleaning a dielectric material to remove a surface oxide to provide a pre-cleaned dielectric surface, wherein pre-cleaning is achieved by thermal reaction and/or plasma process;
- and
- cyclic dry etching the pre-cleaned dielectric surface, wherein there is no break in vacuum between pre-cleaning and cyclic dry etching, wherein cyclic dry etching comprises one or more rounds of:
- providing a H2 plasma;
- and
- providing a fluorine or chlorine containing plasma.
A cyclic etch process, the process comprising:
- pre-cleaning a dielectric material to remove a surface oxide to provide a pre-cleaned dielectric surface, wherein pre-cleaning is achieved by thermal reaction and/or plasma process;
- cyclic dry etching the pre-cleaned dielectric surface, wherein cyclic dry etching comprises:
- repeated cycles of fluorination and ligand exchange with reactant gas;
- and
- repeated cycles of modification by thermal reaction with reactant gas and etching by thermal reaction with fluorine or chlorine containing gas, and wherein there is no break in vacuum between pre-cleaning and etching.
A cyclic etch process, the process comprising:
- pre-cleaning a dielectric material to remove a surface oxide to provide a pre-cleaned dielectric surface;
- and
- etching the pre-cleaned dielectric surface, wherein pre-cleaning comprises a SF6 plasma treatment to remove a surface-oxide and wherein dry etching comprises at least one round of H2 plasma treatment and SF6 radical treatment.
A cyclic etch process, the process comprising:
- pre-cleaning a dielectric material to remove a surface oxide to provide a pre-cleaned dielectric surface;
- and
- atomic layer etching the pre-cleaned dielectric surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.