Uniform dielectric film deposition on textured surfaces
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorsKlaus F. Schuegraf, Pierre C. Fazan
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Abstract
Uniformity of thin deposited layers on textured surfaces is enhanced by reducing the total surface area available to film deposition. The backside surface area of a semiconductor wafer is reduced prior to film deposition, thereby reducing the available surface to deposition when a deposition process is supply-limited. Reducing the backside surface area suppresses nonuniformities in thin film deposition when the deposition process is substantially supply-limited. The present invention is advantageous for improving uniformity of nitride capacitor dielectric layers deposited on textured electrodes.
Claims18
A method of depositing a film on a semiconductor wafer comprising the steps of:
- providing a semiconductor wafer;
- texturizing a layer on each side of the wafer to produce a textured first surface region and a textured second surface region on an opposite side of the wafer;
- smoothing the first surface region;
- and
- depositing the film on both the smooth first surface and the textured second surface regions.
A process for forming a dielectric layer on a semiconductor wafer having a texturized top surface region and a texturized bottom surface region comprising the steps of:
- smoothing the bottom surface region;
- and
- depositing the dielectric layer conformally on the texturized top surface region and the smoothed bottom surface region.
A method of depositing a uniformly thick insulating film on a semiconductor wafer comprising the steps of:
- providing a semiconductor wafer;
- texturizing a layer to produce a textured first surface region with a surface area and a discontinuous textured second surface region;
- smoothing the first surface region;
- and
- depositing the film conformally on both the smooth first surface and the textured second surface regions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.