Ultrasonic wave assisted contact hole filling
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsZheng Xu, Fusen Chen
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Abstract
A method of eliminating or substantially eliminating voids formed in the bottom of high aspect ratio holes following the physical vapor deposition of a material over the surface of a substrate. The method includes placing the substrate in an ultrasonic processing chamber filled with a fluid and having an ultrasonic source. The ultrasonic source is used to generate ultrasonic waves at a frequency no higher than is sufficient to cause a flow of the material adjacent the voids into these voids, without significantly affecting the deposited material elsewhere on the substrate.
Claims8
An apparatus for substantially eliminating voids caused when material previously deposited in a vacuum over a surface of a substrate having holes extending through a film layer thereon fills a top portion of the holes but not a bottom portion thereof, the apparatus comprising:
- (a) an ultrasonic processing chamber, said chamber being filled with a fluid comprising one of (i) a liquid, or (ii) a pressurized gas;
- (b) a substrate holder for holding said substrate within the ultrasonic chamber;
- and,
- (c) an ultrasonic source for generating ultrasonic waves in the fluid, said source being positioned such that said waves traveling through said fluid are capable of impinging on an exposed surface of the material deposited over the surface of the substrate when said substrate is installed in said substrate holder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.