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US 8,012,846 B2Granted
Isolation structures and methods of fabricating isolation structures
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsCheng-Yuan Tsai, Chih-Lung Lin, Cheng-Chen Calvin Hsueh
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Abstract
A method of forming an isolation structure includes the steps of: (a) forming an opening within a substrate; (b) forming a substantially conformal layer comprising tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) layer along the opening; and (c) forming a dielectric layer over the TEOS layer, the dielectric layer substantially filling the opening.
Claims16
A method of forming a shallow trench isolation structure, comprising the steps of:
- (a) forming an opening within a substrate and through a pad oxide formed thereover;
- (b) forming a first substantially conformal liner layer along walls of the opening;
- (c) performing a first annealing step to increase a density of the first liner layer, before depositing a second substantially conformal liner layer;
- (d) after step (c), forming the second substantially conformal liner layer comprising a tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) layer along the walls of the opening and over the annealed first liner layer without filling the opening, wherein the step of forming the second liner layer comprises a first sub-atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (SACVD) process without using a processing bias;
- (e) performing a second annealing step so as to increase a density of the second liner layer, before filling the opening;
- and
- (f) forming a dielectric layer over the TEOS layer, the dielectric layer substantially filling the opening.
4 more elements
A method of forming a shallow trench isolation structure, comprising the steps of:
- (a) forming an opening within a substrate and through a pad oxide formed thereover;
- (b) forming a first substantially conformal liner layer along walls of the opening;
- (c) performing a first annealing step to increase a density of the first liner layer, before depositing a second substantially conformal liner layer;
- (d) after step (c), forming the second substantially conformal liner layer comprising a tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) layer along the walls of the opening and over the annealed first liner layer without filling the opening, wherein the step of forming the second liner layer comprises a first sub-atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (SACVD) process without using a processing bias;
- (e) performing a second annealing step so as to increase a density of the second liner layer before filling the opening;
- and
- (f) forming a dielectric layer over the TEOS layer, the dielectric layer substantially filling the opening, wherein the step of forming the dielectric layer comprises a second sub-atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (SACVD) process.
4 more elements
A method of forming a shallow trench isolation structure, comprising the steps of:
- (a) forming a pad oxide layer over a substrate, wherein an opening is formed through the pad oxide layer;
- (b) forming an opening within a substrate and through a pad oxide formed thereover;
- (c) forming a first substantially conformal liner layer along walls of the opening;
- (d) performing a first annealing step to increase a density of the first liner layer, before depositing a second substantially conformal liner layer;
- (e) after step (c), forming the second substantially conformal liner layer comprising a tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) layer along the walls of the opening and over the annealed first liner layer without filling the opening, wherein the step of forming the second liner layer comprises a first sub-atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (SACVD) process without using a processing bias;
- (f) performing a second annealing step so as to increase a density of the second liner layer, before filling the opening;
- (g) forming a dielectric layer over the TEOS layer, the dielectric layer substantially filling the opening, wherein the step of forming the dielectric layer comprises a second sub-atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (SACVD) process;
- and
- (h) removing the pad oxide layer by an etch process, wherein the etch process has an etch rate ratio of the TEOS layer to the pad oxide layer of about 1.4 or less.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.