Methods of raising reflow temperature of glass alloys by thermal treatment in steam, and microelectronic structures formed thereby

A method of forming a layer on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• forming a layer of germanosilicate glass on a substrate using Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) at about 200° C.;
• and
• thermally treating the layer of germanosilicate glass in steam to remove germanium from the germanosilicate glass and thereby raise the reflow temperature of the germanosilicate glass so treated.

A method of forming a layer on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• forming a layer of germanosilicate glass having mole percentage of germanium dioxide of between about 60% and about 85% on a substrate;
• and
• thermally treating the layer of germanosilicate glass in steam to remove germanium from the germanosilicate glass and thereby raise the reflow temperature of the germanosilicate glass so treated.

A method of forming a layer on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• forming a layer of boron doped germanosilicate glass having mole percentage of germanium dioxide relative to silicon dioxide of between about 40% and about 85% and mole percentage of boron of between about 1% and about 4% relative to the total on a substrate;
• and
• thermally treating the layer of doped germanosilicate glass in steam to remove at least one of germanium and dopant from the germanosilicate glass and thereby raise the reflow temperature of the doped germanosilicate glass so treated.

A method of forming a layer on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• forming a layer of phosphorous doped germanosilicate glass having mole percentage of germanium dioxide relative to silicon dioxide of between about 60% and about 85% and mole percentage of phosphorous of between about 14% and about 44% relative to the total on a substrate;
• and
• thermally treating the layer of doped germanosilicate glass in steam to remove at least one of germanium and dopant from the germanosilicate glass and thereby raise the reflow temperature of the doped germanosilicate glass so treated.

A method of forming a layer on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• forming a layer of boron and phosphorus doped germanosilicate glass having mole percentage of germanium dioxide relative to silicon dioxide of between about 40% and about 85%, mole percentage of boron of between about 1% and about 4% relative to the total, and mole percentage of phosphorus of between about 5% and about 23% relative to the total on the substrate;
• and
• thermally treating the layer of doped germanosilicate glass in steam to remove at least one of germanium and dopant from the germanosilicate glass and thereby raise the reflow temperature of the doped germanosilicate glass so treated.

A method of forming a layer on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• forming a layer of germanium-containing glass on a substrate;
• thermally pretreating the layer of germanium-containing glass in at least one of a noble gas and nitrogen gas to reflow the layer of germanium-containing glass and then
• thermally treating the layer of germanium-containing glass in steam to remove germanium from the germanium-containing glass and thereby raise the reflow temperature of the germanium-containing glass so treated.