Removable amorphous carbon CMP stop
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorChristopher Dennis Bencher
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method is provided for processing a substrate including removing amorphous carbon material disposed on a low k dielectric material with minimal or reduced defect formation and minimal dielectric constant change of the low k dielectric material. In one aspect, the invention provides a method for processing a substrate including depositing at least one dielectric layer on a substrate surface, wherein the dielectric layer comprises silicon, oxygen, and carbon and has a dielectric constant of about 3 or less, forming amorphous carbon material on the at least one dielectric layer, and removing the one or more amorphous carbon layers by exposing the one or more amorphous carbon layers to a plasma of a hydrogen-containing gas.
Claims22
A method for processing a substrate in a chamber, comprising:
- depositing at least one dielectric layer on a substrate surface, wherein the dielectric layer comprises silicon, oxygen, and carbon and has a dielectric constant of about 3 or less;
- forming one or more amorphous carbon layers on the at least one dielectric layer;
- and
- removing the one or more amorphous carbon layers by exposing the one or more amorphous carbon layers to a plasma of a hydrogen-containing gas.
A method for processing a substrate, comprising:
- depositing at least one dielectric layer on a substrate surface, wherein the dielectric layer comprises silicon, oxygen, and carbon and has a dielectric constant of about 3 or less;
- forming one or more amorphous carbon layers on the at least one dielectric layer by providing a gas mixture to the deposition chamber and generating a plasma of the gas mixture to disassociate the one or more hydrocarbon compounds in the gas mixture, wherein the gas mixture comprises an inert gas and one or more hydrocarbon compounds have the general formula CxHy, wherein x has a range of 2 to 4 and y has a range of 2 to 10;
- and
- removing the one or more amorphous carbon layers by exposing the one or more amorphous carbon layers to a hydrogen-containing plasma for between about 10 seconds and about 120 seconds.
A method for processing a substrate, comprising:
- depositing at least one dielectric layer on a substrate surface, wherein the dielectric layer comprises silicon, oxygen, and carbon and has a dielectric constant of about 3 or less;
- forming one or more amorphous carbon layers on the at least one dielectric layer;
- defining a pattern in at least one region of the one or more amorphous carbon layers;
- forming feature definitions in the at least one dielectric layer by the pattern formed in the at least one region of the one or more amorphous carbon layers;
- depositing one or more conductive materials in the feature definitions;
- polishing the one or more conductive materials and stopping on the one or more amorphous carbon layers;
- and
- removing the one or more amorphous carbon layers by exposing the one or more amorphous carbon layers to a plasma of a hydrogen-containing gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.