System and method for radical and thermal processing of substrates

A method of making a memory device on a substrate comprising:

• forming a channel structure in a film stack by etching a channel hole in the film stack and placing a channel layer at a bottom and in an inner surface of the channel hole, the channel structure in the film stack forming high aspect ratio features on the substrate, the high aspect ratio features having aspect ratios greater than about 20:1;
• forming an oxide layer over the channel layer of the channel structure;
• exposing the channel structure comprising the oxide layer with hydrogen radicals in a first processing volume of a first processing chamber;
• and
• heating the high aspect ratio features at a temperature of about 100° C. to about 1100° C.

A method of processing a substrate comprising:

• forming a silicon-containing layer over a substrate;
• forming an oxide cap layer over the silicon-containing layer by exposing the silicon-containing layer to an oxygen plasma;
• exposing the oxide cap layer to hydrogen radicals;
• heating the substrate at a first temperature of about 100° C. to about 1100° C. to form a nucleated silicon-containing layer of the substrate;
• and
• heating the nucleated silicon-containing layer at a second temperature.