Cyclic low temperature film growth processes
AssigneeTokyo Electron Limited
InventorsJianping Zhao, Peter Ventzek, Toshihiko Iwao
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Abstract
A method of nitridation includes cyclically performing the following steps in situ within a processing chamber at a temperature less than about 400° C.: treating an unreactive surface of a substrate in the processing chamber to convert the unreactive surface to a reactive surface by exposing the unreactive surface to an energy flux, and nitridating the reactive surface using a nitrogen-based gas to convert the reactive surface to a nitride layer including a subsequent unreactive surface.
Claims20
A method of nitridation comprising cyclically performing the following steps in situ within a processing chamber at a temperature less than about 400° C.:
- treating an unreactive surface of a substrate in the processing chamber to convert the unreactive surface to a reactive surface by exposing the unreactive surface to an energy flux;
- and
- nitridating the reactive surface using a nitrogen-based gas to convert the reactive surface to a nitride layer comprising a subsequent unreactive surface.
A method of nitridation comprising cyclically performing the following steps in situ within a plasma processing chamber at a temperature less than about 400° C.:
- removing hydrogen from an unreactive region of a silicon substrate to convert the unreactive region to a reactive region by bombarding the silicon substrate with ions and photons from a plasma generated in the plasma processing chamber;
- and
- nitridating the reactive region using a hydronitrogen gas to convert the reactive region to a nitride region comprising a subsequent unreactive region.
A method of film growth comprising cyclically performing the following steps in situ within a processing chamber at a temperature less than about 400° C.:
- treating a hydrogenated surface of a substrate in the processing chamber to convert the hydrogenated surface to a reactive surface by removing hydrogen from the hydrogenated surface using an energy flux incident on the hydrogenated surface, the substrate comprising a first material, and
- exposing the reactive surface to a hydrogen-based gas comprising a second material to convert the reactive surface into a film comprising a subsequent hydrogenated surface and a compound comprising the first material and the second material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.