# US 2021/0277516 A1 · Molecular Layer Deposition of Amorphous Carbon Films

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- Number: US 2021/0277516 A1
- Document ID: US20210277516A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/817,120
- Filed: 2020-03-12
- Published: 2021-09-09
- Earliest claimed: 2020-03-08
- Assignees: Applied Materials, Inc.; National University of Singapore
- Applicants: Applied Materials, Inc.; National University of Singapore
- Inventors: Bhaskar Jyoti Bhuyan; Mark Saly; Ahbijit Basu Mallick; Eugene Yu Jin Kong; Bo Qi
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210277516A1

## CPC

- C23C 16/26: Deposition of carbon only
- C23C 16/045: {Coating cavities or hollow spaces, e.g. interior of tubes; Infiltration of porous substrates}
- C23C 16/45536: {Use of plasma, radiation or electromagnetic fields}
- C23C 16/45544: {characterized by the apparatus}
- C23C 16/45553: {characterized by the use of precursors specially adapted for ALD}
- C23C 16/52: Controlling or regulating the coating process {(C23C16/45557, C23C16/279 take precedence)}
- C23C 16/54: Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating
- C23C 16/56: After-treatment
- H10P 14/6336: {in the presence of a plasma [PECVD]}
- H10P 14/6339: {deposition by cyclic CVD, e.g. ALD, ALE or pulsed CVD}
- H10P 14/6532: {by exposure to a plasma}
- H10P 14/668: {the materials being characterised by the deposition precursor materials}
- H10P 14/6902: {composed of carbon, e.g. alpha-C, diamond or hydrogen doped carbon}
- H10P 72/0461: {characterised by the presence of two or more transfer chambers}
- H10W 20/47: comprising two or more dielectric layers having different properties, e.g. different dielectric constants
- B05D 1/36: Successively applying liquids or other fluent materials, e.g. without intermediate treatment
- B05D 1/60: {Deposition of organic layers from vapour phase (vapour phase deposition in general C23C14/00, C23C16/00)}
- B05D 3/145: {After-treatment}
- C23C: COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL (making metal-coated products by extrusion B21C23/22; covering with metal by connecting pre-existing layers to articles, see the relevant places, e.g. B21D39/00, B23K; metallising of glass C03C; metallising mortars, concrete, artificial stone, ceramics or natural stone C04B41/00; enamelling of, or applying a vitreous layer to, metals C23D; treating metal surfaces or coating of metals by electrolysis or electrophoresis C25D; single-crystal film growth C30B; by metallising textiles D06M11/83; decorating textiles by locally metallising D06Q1/04)
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H10W: GENERIC PACKAGES, INTERCONNECTIONS, CONNECTORS OR OTHER CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10
- B05D: PROCESSES FOR APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL (conveying articles or workpieces through baths of liquid B65G, e.g. B65G49/02)

## Abstract

Methods of forming carbon polymer films are disclosed. Some methods are advantageously performed at lower temperatures. The substrate is exposed to a first carbon precursor to form a substrate surface with terminations based on the reactive functional groups of the first carbon precursor and exposed to a second carbon precursor to react with the surface terminations and form a carbon polymer film. Processing tools and non-transitory memories to perform the process are also disclosed.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of depositing a film, the method comprising:
exposing a substrate to a first carbon precursor to form a first precursor terminated surface on the substrate; and
exposing the first precursor terminated surface to a second carbon precursor to form a conformal carbon polymer film on the substrate.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first carbon precursors comprises an aromatic compound.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first carbon precursor comprises two functional groups.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein the two functional groups are the same and are selected from the group consisting of cyano (—CN), cyanate (—OCN), isocyanate (—NCO), thiocyanate (—SCN), isothiocyanate (—NCS), aldehyde (—CHO), acyl chloride (COCl), acid anhydride (—C(O)OC(O)—), amines (—NR2) and amides (—C(O)NR2), where each R is independently selected from hydrogen, C1-C6 alkyl group.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first carbon compound comprises 1,4-phenylene diisocyanate (DIC).

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the second carbon compound comprises two functional groups.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein the two functional groups are the same.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the second carbon compound comprises one or more of ethylene diamine (EDA) or phenylene diamine (PDA).

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the carbon polymer film is an alternating copolymer.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the carbon polymer film has a carbon content in the range of 40% to 90%, a nitrogen content in the range of 2% to 40% and an oxygen content in the range of 1% to 20%.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate surface comprises one or more of silicon (Si), silicon nitride (SiN) or copper (Cu).

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate surface is pre-treated to form amine terminations.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the first precursor terminated surface comprises isocyanate terminations.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises one or more surface features having an aspect ratio greater than 5:1 and the carbon polymer film is a conformal film.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising exposing the carbon polymer film to a plasma treatment to enhance thermal stability of the carbon polymer film.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising annealing the carbon polymer film at a temperature up to 400° C.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, wherein annealing the carbon polymer film causes the carbon polymer film to decrease in thickness less than 20%.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate is maintained at a temperature less than 100° C.

### Claim 19

A processing tool comprising:
a central transfer station with at least one deposition chamber and at least one annealing chamber connected to a side of the central transfer station; and
a controller having one or more of: a configuration to move a substrate from the central transfer station to the at least one deposition chamber; a configuration to move a substrate from the at least one deposition chamber to the central transfer station; a configuration to move a substrate from the central transfer station to the at least one annealing chamber; a configuration to move a substrate from the at least one annealing chamber to the central transfer station;
a configuration to expose a substrate to a first carbon precursor to form a first precursor terminated surface on the substrate; a configuration to expose the substrate to a second carbon precursor to react with the first precursor terminated surface to form a carbon polymer film on the substrate; a configuration to expose the carbon polymer film on a substrate to a plasma treatment; and a configuration to anneal the carbon polymer film.

### Claim 20

A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions, that, when executed by a controller of a processing chamber, causes the processing chamber to perform operations of:
expose a substrate to a first carbon precursor in a processing chamber;
purge the processing chamber of the first carbon precursor;
expose the substrate a second carbon precursor in the processing chamber;
purge the processing chamber of the second carbon precursor;'
move the substrate from the processing chamber to an annealing chamber; and/or
anneal the substrate in the annealing chamber.