Method for elimination of TEOS/ozone silicon oxide surface sensitivity
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsBang C. Nguyen, Shankar Vankataranan, Ruby Liao, Peter W. Lee
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for reducing surface sensitivity of a TEOS/O.sub.3 SACVD silicon oxide layer, formed over a substrate, that deposits a ramp layer while ramping pressure to a target deposition pressure and deposits an SACVD layer over the ramp layer. In one embodiment, the flow of ozone is stopped during the pressure ramp-up to control the thickness of the ramp layer.
Claims14
A method for reducing surface sensitivity of a silicon oxide subatmospheric CVD (SACVD) layer deposited over a ramp layer of silicon oxide on a substrate in a vacuum chamber, said method comprising the steps of:
- introducing the substrate into the vacuum chamber;
- establishing a base pressure in the vacuum chamber;
- introducing a process gas comprising TEOS and O.sub.3 into said chamber;
- increasing the pressure in said chamber at a substantially constant rate from the base pressure to a target subatmospheric deposition pressure;
- supplying thermal energy to react TEOS and O.sub.3 of said process gas without forming a plasma while pressure is increasing to form the ramp layer on the substrate;
- terminating the flow of O.sub.3 into the chamber a predetermined time after pressure in the chamber begins to increase;
- maintaining the pressure at said target deposition pressure when the pressure in the chamber becomes equal to the target deposition pressure;
- restarting the flow of O.sub.3 when the target deposition pressure is attained;
- and
- supplying thermal energy to react the process gas without forming a plasma while pressure is equal to the target deposition pressure to form the SACVD layer over the ramp layer.
A method for reducing surface sensitivity of a silicon oxide subatmospheric CVD (SACVD) layer deposited over a ramp layer of silicon oxide on a substrate in a vacuum chamber, said method comprising the steps of:
- introducing the substrate into the vacuum chamber;
- establishing a base pressure in the vacuum chamber;
- introducing a process gas comprising TEOS and O.sub.3 into said chamber;
- increasing the pressure in said chamber at a substantially constant rate from the base pressure to a target subatmospheric deposition pressure;
- supplying thermal energy to react TEOS and O.sub.3 of said process gas without forming a plasma while pressure is increasing to form the ramp layer on the substrate;
- maintaining said target deposition pressure when the pressure in the chamber becomes equal to the target deposition pressure;
- supplying thermal energy to react the process gas without forming a plasma while pressure is equal to the target deposition pressure to form the SACVD layer over the ramp layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.