Plasma-enhanced ALD of tantalum nitride films
AssigneeASM America, Inc.
InventorKai-Erik Elers
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Abstract
Methods of controllably producing conductive tantalum nitride films are provided. The methods comprise contacting a substrate in a reaction space with alternating and sequential pulses of a tantalum source material, plasma-excited species of hydrogen and nitrogen source material. The plasma-excited species of hydrogen reduce the oxidation state of tantalum, thereby forming a substantially conductive tantalum nitride film over the substrate. In some embodiments, the plasma-excited species of hydrogen react with and removes halide residues in a deposited metallic film.
Claims19
An atomic layer deposition (ALD) process for growing a tantalum nitride film over a substrate in a reaction space, comprising the sequential steps of:
- a) feeding a vapor-phase pulse of a tantalum source chemical into the reaction space;
- b) removing excess tantalum source chemical and any reaction by-products from the reaction space;
- c) feeding a vapor-phase pulse of a nitrogen source chemical into the reaction space;
- d) removing excess nitrogen source chemical and any reaction by-products from the reaction space;
- e) feeding a vapor-phase pulse of plasma-excited species of hydrogen (H2) into the reaction space;
- and
- f) removing excess plasma-excited species of hydrogen and any reaction by-products from the reaction space.
A method for depositing a conductive tantalum nitride film using a plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) process, comprising:
- providing a substrate in a reaction space;
- and
- alternately and sequentially contacting a substrate in the reaction space with spatially and temporally separated vapor phase pulses of:
- a tantalum source chemical;
- plasma-excited species of hydrogen;
- and
- a nitrogen source chemical,
- wherein plasma parameters are selected such that a conductive tantalum nitride film is deposited essentially only over the substrate and a dielectric tantalum nitride film is deposited elsewhere in the reaction space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.