In-trench quality improvement of silicon-and-oxygen-containing materials

A semiconductor processing method comprising:

• i) providing a silicon-containing precursor to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber, wherein a substrate is disposed within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber, and wherein the substrate defines one or more features along the substrate;
• ii) contacting the substrate with the silicon-containing precursor, wherein the contacting deposits a silicon-containing material on the substrate, wherein the silicon-containing material extends within the one or more features along the substrate;
• iii) providing an oxygen-containing precursor to the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber;
• iv) contacting the substrate with the oxygen-containing precursor, wherein the contacting converts the silicon-containing material to a silicon-and-oxygen-containing material;
• repeating operations i through iv to iteratively fill the one or more features on the substrate with the silicon-and-oxygen-containing material;
• and
• v) thermally treating the silicon-and-oxygen-containing material with the oxygen-containing precursor and a hydrogen-containing precursor, wherein the treating increases Si—O—Si crosslinking in the silicon-and-oxygen-containing material.

A semiconductor processing method comprising:

• i) providing a silicon-containing precursor to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber, wherein a substrate is disposed within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber, and wherein the substrate defines one or more features along the substrate;
• ii) contacting the substrate with the silicon-containing precursor, wherein the contacting deposits a silicon-containing material on the substrate, wherein the silicon-containing material extends within the one or more features along the substrate;
• iii) providing an oxygen-containing precursor and a hydrogen-containing precursor to the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber;
• iv) forming plasma effluents of the oxygen-containing precursor and the hydrogen-containing precursor;
• v) contacting the substrate with the plasma effluents of the oxygen-containing precursor and the hydrogen-containing precursor, wherein the contacting converts the silicon-containing material to a silicon-and-oxygen-containing material, and wherein the contacting increases Si—O—Si crosslinking in the silicon-and-oxygen-containing material;
• repeating operations i through v to iteratively fill the one or more features on the substrate with the silicon-and-oxygen-containing material;
• and
• vi) thermally treating the silicon-and-oxygen-containing material with the oxygen-containing precursor and the hydrogen-containing precursor, wherein the treating further increases Si—O—Si crosslinking in the silicon-and-oxygen-containing material.