Plasma assisted metal oxide reduction
OwnerYu-Hao Tsai, Hojin Kim +1inventors
InventorsYu-Hao Tsai, Hojin Kim, Mingmei Wang
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Abstract
A method for making a semiconductor device can include providing a substrate having a metal layer therein, where an exposed surface of the metal layer includes a surface layer of oxidized metal, flowing carbon monoxide into a chamber containing the substrate and onto the surface layer, and reacting the carbon monoxide with the oxidized metal of the surface layer to form carbon dioxide and non-oxidized metal at the surface layer by removing oxygen from the oxidized metal of the surface layer, wherein a temperature in the chamber during the reacting is less than 40 degrees Celsius.
Claims22
A method for making a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
- providing a substrate having a metal layer therein, wherein an exposed surface of the metal layer includes a surface layer of oxidized metal;
- flowing carbon monoxide into a chamber containing the substrate and onto the surface layer;
- and
- reacting the carbon monoxide with the oxidized metal of the surface layer to form carbon dioxide and non-oxidized metal at the surface layer by removing oxygen from the oxidized metal of the surface layer, wherein a temperature in the chamber during the reacting is less than 40 degrees Celsius.
A method for making a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
- receiving a substrate having a metal layer therein, wherein an exposed surface of the metal layer includes a surface layer of oxidized metal;
- flowing carbon monoxide into a chamber containing the substrate and onto the surface layer;
- and
- after stopping the flowing of the carbon monoxide into the chamber and while maintaining the substrate at a temperature between 10 to 40 degrees Celsius, exposing the substrate to a plasma formed from an inert gas to reduce the oxidized metal.
A method for making a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
- receiving a substrate comprising an exposed surface, the exposed surface comprising a metal layer, wherein the metal layer includes a surface layer of oxidized metal;
- and
- performing, in a chamber containing the substrate, a cyclic surface preparation process, each cycle of the cyclic surface preparation process comprising
- flowing carbon monoxide into the chamber and onto the surface layer,
- after stopping the flowing of the carbon monoxide, flowing an inert gas into the chamber,
- igniting a plasma within the chamber, the plasma being generated from the inert gas,
- exposing the surface layer to the plasma, the exposing reducing the oxygen content in the surface layer, and
- after the exposing, stopping the power to the plasma and stopping the flow of the inert gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.