Plasma-activated deposition of conformal films

A method of forming a through-silicon via in a substrate, the method comprising:

• forming the through-silicon via, comprising:
• applying a photoresist to the substrate,
• exposing the photoresist to light,
• patterning the resist with a pattern and transferring the pattern to the substrate, and
• selectively removing the photoresist from the substrate;
• and
• forming a thin conformal dielectric layer covering a sidewall and a bottom of the through silicon via, comprising:
• in a first phase, generating precursor radicals away from the substrate and adsorbing the precursor radicals on the sidewall and bottom of the through-silicon via,
• in a first purge phase, purging residual precursor from the process station,
• in a second phase, supplying a reactive plasma to the sidewall and bottom of the through-silicon via, the reactive plasma configured to react with the precursor radicals adsorbed on the sidewall and bottom of the through-silicon via and to form a thin conformal dielectric layer, wherein the thin conformal dielectric layer is selected from the group consisting of a silicon oxide film, a silicon nitride film, a silicon carbide film, and a silicon boride film, and
• in a second purge phase, purging residual reactant from the process station.

A method for processing a substrate, the method comprising:

• applying photoresist to the substrate;
• exposing the photoresist to light via a stepper;
• patterning the resist with a pattern and transferring the pattern to the substrate;
• selectively removing the photoresist from the substrate;
• placing the substrate into a process station of a semiconductor processing apparatus;
• and
• in the process station:
• in a first phase:
• generating precursor radicals off of a surface of the substrate, and
• adsorbing the precursor radicals to the surface to form surface active species,
• in a first purge phase, purging residual precursor from the process station,
• in a second phase, supplying a reactive plasma to the surface, the reactive plasma being configured to react with the surface active species and generate the thin conformal film, wherein the second phase comprises generating the reactive plasma by alternately pulsing a high-frequency plasma and a low frequency plasma, and
• in a second purge phase, purging residual reactant from the process station.

A method for processing a substrate, the method comprising:

• in a first phase:
• generating precursor radicals off of a surface of the substrate, and
• adsorbing the precursor radicals to the surface to form surface active species,
• in a first purge phase, purging residual precursor from the process station,
• in a second phase, supplying a reactive plasma to the surface, the reactive plasma being configured to react with the surface active species and generate the thin conformal film, wherein the thin conformal film is selected from the group consisting of a silicon oxide film, a silicon nitride film, a silicon carbide film, and a silicon boride film, and
• in a second purge phase, purging residual reactant from the process station.