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US 2022/0186370 A1Published application
Rapid flush purging during atomic layer deposition
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorsPragna Nannapaneni, Sema Ermez, Novy Tjokro, Ruopeng Deng, Tianhua Yu, Xiaolan Ba, Juwen Gao, Sanjay Gopinath
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Abstract
Provided herein are methods and related apparatus for purging processing chambers during an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. The methods involve flowing purging gas from one or more accumulators to remove process gases from the processing chambers. Following the flowing of purging gas, additional reactants may be introduced into the processing chamber to continue an ALD cycle.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- providing a semiconductor substrate to a chamber having a chamber pressure less than 100 torr, wherein the semiconductor substrate comprises a partially fabricated three-dimensional (3-D) NAND structure comprising sidewalls and a plurality of openings in the sidewalls leading to a plurality of features having a plurality of interior regions fluidically accessible through the openings;
- depositing a material on the semiconductor substrate by multiple ALD cycles, wherein each cycle comprises flowing into the chamber in sequence:
- a reducing agent;
- a first purge gas;
- a tungsten precursor;
- and
- a second purge gas;
- and
- wherein flowing the first purge gas and the second purge gas comprises flowing purging gas from a first accumulator with a first charge pressure, followed by flowing purging gas from a second accumulator with a second charge pressure within 5 seconds of flowing the purging gas from the first accumulator, and the first charge pressure and the second charge pressure are between 400 torr and 1000 torr.
6 more elements
A method comprising:
- providing a semiconductor substrate to a chamber having a chamber pressure;
- depositing a material on the semiconductor substrate by multiple ALD cycles, wherein each cycle comprises flowing into the chamber in sequence:
- a reactant;
- and
- a purge gas;
- wherein flowing the purge gas comprises flowing purging gas from a first accumulator with a first charge pressure, followed by flowing purging gas from a second accumulator with a second charge pressure.
3 more elements
The method of claim, wherein flowing the purge gas is a choked flow.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.