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US 2022/0102163 A1Published application
Apparatus and method for etching metal nitrides
AssigneeASM IP Holding B.V.
InventorsRen-Jie Chang, Giuseppe Alessio Verni, Qi Xie
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Devices and methods for selectively etching a metal nitride layer are disclosed. The methods comprise an oxidation step and an etching step which are optionally separated by a purge, and which can be repeated in a cyclical etching process.
Claims20
A method for etching a metal nitride layer disposed on a substrate, the method comprising providing a substrate in a reaction chamber of a semiconductor processing device, the substrate comprising a metal nitride layer;
- the method further comprising executing one or more etching cycles, an etching cycle comprising the following steps, in the following order:
- an oxidation step that comprises providing a gaseous oxidizing agent to the reaction chamber, thereby oxidizing a surface layer of the metal nitride layer, thus forming a metal oxide surface layer overlying an unaffected metal nitride layer;
- an etching step that comprises providing a gaseous etchant to the reaction chamber, thereby selectively etching the metal oxide surface layer with respect to the unaffected metal nitride layer.
A metal nitride etching system for etching a metal nitride film disposed on a substrate, the system comprising:
- a reaction chamber configured to hold and process a substrate, the substrate comprising a metal nitride layer;
- a gaseous oxidizing agent source comprising a gaseous oxidizing agent selected from the list consisting of O2, O3, H2O, and H2O2, the gaseous oxidizing agent source being configured to provide the gaseous oxidizing agent to the reaction chamber in an oxidizing agent pulse;
- a gaseous etchant source comprising a gaseous etchant, the gaseous etchant source being configured to provide the gaseous etchant to the reaction chamber in an etchant pulse.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.