Selective etching of silicon nitride dielectrics with MICROWAVE oxidation
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsMohammad Mahdi TAVAKOLI, Joung Joo LEE, Avgerinos V. GELATOS, Bencherki MEBARKI
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Abstract
According to one or more embodiments, a method includes positioning a substrate within a processing chamber. The substrate includes a hardmask layer disposed over a surface of the substrate, a first layer disposed over the hardmask layer, and a second layer disposed over the first layer. The method further includes flowing a process gas into the processing chamber, and delivering a microwave energy for a period of time to the process gas to selectively etch the hardmask layer and the first layer, wherein delivering the microwave energy to the process gas does not generate a plasma.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- positioning a substrate within a processing chamber, the substrate comprising:
- a hardmask layer disposed over a surface of the substrate;
- a first layer disposed over the hardmask layer;
- and
- a second layer disposed over the first layer;
- flowing a process gas into the processing chamber;
- and
- delivering a microwave energy for a period of time to the process gas to selectively etch the hardmask layer and the first layer, wherein delivering the microwave energy to the process gas does not generate a plasma.
A method comprising:
- positioning a substrate within a processing chamber, the substrate comprising:
- a first layer disposed over a surface of the substrate, the first layer comprising silicon dioxide (SiO2),
- a second layer disposed over the first layer, the second layer comprising a tungsten based material, and
- a feature disposed on the second layer, the feature having a first feature structure disposed on the surface of the second layer and a second feature structure disposed on the surface of the first feature structure;
- flowing a process gas into the processing chamber;
- and
- delivering a microwave energy to the process gas to perform an etch operation on the substrate, wherein the etch operation selectively removes the second layer and the first feature structure.
A method comprising:
- positioning a substrate within a processing chamber, the substrate comprising:
- a first layer disposed over a surface of the substrate, the first layer comprising a ferroelectric material,
- a second layer disposed over the surface of the substrate, the second layer comprising a non-ferroelectric material,
- flowing a process gas into the processing chamber;
- and
- delivering a microwave energy to the process gas for a period of time to selectively etch the first layer, wherein delivering the microwave energy to the process gas does not generate a plasma.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.