Production of elemental films using a boron-containing reducing agent
AssigneeASM International N.V.
InventorsKai-Erik Elers, Ville Antero Saanila, Sari Johanna Kaipio, Pekka Juha Soininen
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Abstract
The present invention relates generally to depositing elemental thin films. In particular, the invention concerns a method of growing elemental metal thin films by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) using a boron compound as a reducing agent. In a preferred embodiment the method comprises introducing vapor phase pulses of at least one metal source compound and at least one boron source compound into a reaction space that contains a substrate on which the metal thin film is to be deposited. Preferably the boron compound is capable of reducing the adsorbed portion of the metal source compound into its elemental electrical state.
Claims33
A method of growing a tungsten nucleation layer over a structure on a substrate in an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process comprising:
- contacting the substrate with a vapor phase tungsten compound such that no more than one molecular layer of the tungsten compound adsorbs on the substrate;
- and
- contacting the adsorbed tungsten compound on the substrate with a vapor phase boron compound such that no more than one atomic layer of elemental tungsten is formed on the substrate.
A method of producing an interconnect in an integrated circuit by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, comprising adsorbing less than a monolayer of a tungsten compound on a substrate and exposing the adsorbed tungsten compound on the substrate to a boron compound, thereby reducing the tungsten compound to elemental tungsten.
A method of growing an elemental tungsten thin film on a substrate in a reaction space, the method comprising:
- contacting the substrate with a first vapor phase reactant comprising WF6 such that less than a monolayer of WF6 adsorbs on the substrate surface;
- removing any unreacted portion of the first vapor phase reactant and any gaseous reaction byproduct from the reaction space;
- introducing a second vapor-phase reactant comprising boron into the reaction space;
- and
- removing any unreacted portion of the second vapor phase reactant and any gaseous reaction byproduct from the reaction space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.