Use of Cl2 and/or HCl during silicon epitaxial film formation
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsZhiyuan Ye, Yihwan Kim, Xiaowei Li, Ali Zojaji, Nicholas C. Dalida, Jinsong Tang, Xiao Chen, Arkadii V. Samoilov
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Abstract
In a first aspect, a first method of forming an epitaxial film on a substrate is provided. The first method includes (a) providing a substrate; (b) exposing the substrate to at least a silicon source so as to form an epitaxial film on at least a portion of the substrate; and (c) exposing the substrate to HCl and Cl2 so as to etch the epitaxial film and any other films formed during step (b). Numerous other aspects are provided.
Claims37
A method of forming an epitaxial film on a substrate comprising:
- (a) providing a substrate;
- (b) exposing the substrate to at least a silicon source so as to form an epitaxial film on at least a portion of the substrate;
- and
- (c) exposing the substrate to HCl and Cl2, at a temperature of about 700° C. or less, so as to etch the epitaxial film and any other films formed during step (b), and wherein a substantially larger flow rate of HCl relative to a flow rate of Cl2 is employed.
A method of forming an epitaxial film on a substrate comprising:
- (a) providing a substrate;
- (b) exposing the substrate to at least a silicon source so as to form an epitaxial film on at least a portion of the substrate;
- and
- (c) exposing the substrate to HCl and Cl2 so as to etch the epitaxial film and any other films formed during step (b);
- wherein step (b) includes:
- (i) exposing the substrate to the silicon source without a carbon source so as to form a first silicon epitaxial film;
- (ii) exposing the substrate to the silicon source with the carbon source so as to form a carbon containing silicon epitaxial film over the first silicon epitaxial film;
- and
- (iii) exposing the substrate to the silicon source without the carbon source so as to form a second silicon epitaxial film over the carbon containing silicon epitaxial film.
The method of forming an epitaxial film on a substrate comprising:
- (a) providing a substrate;
- (b) exposing the substrate to a silicon source and an additional element source at a temperature of about 700° C. or less, so as to form an epitaxial film comprising a silicon lattice and the additional element on at least a portion of the substrate, wherein most of the additional element which comprises the epitaxial film is substitutionally incorporated into the silicon lattice;
- and
- (c) exposing the substrate to HCl and Cl2, at a temperature of about 700° C. or less, so as to etch the epitaxial film and any other films formed during step (b).
A method of forming an epitaxial film on a substrate comprising:
- (a) providing a substrate;
- (b) exposing the substrate to a silicon source to form an epitaxial film on at least a portion of the substrate;
- and
- (c) exposing the substrate to HCl and Cl2, at a temperature of about 700° C. or less, to etch the epitaxial film, and wherein a substantially larger flow rate of HCl relative to a flow rate of Cl2 is employed.
A method of forming an epitaxial film on a substrate comprising:
- (a) providing a substrate;
- (b) exposing the substrate to a silicon source to form an epitaxial film on at least a portion of the substrate;
- and
- (c) exposing the substrate to HCl and Cl2 to etch the epitaxial film;
- wherein step (b) includes:
- (i) exposing the substrate to the silicon source without a carbon source to form a first silicon epitaxial film;
- (ii) exposing the substrate to the silicon source with the carbon source to form a carbon containing silicon epitaxial film over the first silicon epitaxial film;
- and
- (iii) exposing the substrate to the silicon source without the carbon source to form a second silicon epitaxial film over the carbon containing silicon epitaxial film.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.