Method and apparatus for high-K gate performance improvement and combinatorial processing

A method for performing plasma treatments in a combinatorial manner, comprising:

• introducing a substrate into a processing chamber, wherein the substrate comprises a plurality of site-isolated regions;
• forming a first film on a surface of a first site-isolated region on the substrate;
• forming a second film on a surface of a second site-isolated region on the substrate;
• exposing the first film to a plasma having a first source gas to form a first treated film on the substrate without etching the first treated film in the processing chamber;
• exposing the second film to a plasma having a second source gas to form a second treated film on the substrate without etching the second treated film in the processing chamber;
• evaluating properties of the first treated film and the second treated film;
• forming a third film on the first film to form a first capacitive stack;
• forming a fourth film on the second film to form a second capacitive stack;
• wherein the third and fourth films are formed by flowing reactive gases through a plurality of gas distribution ports of a small spot showerhead apparatus;
• wherein the small spot showerhead apparatus has a diameter that is less than the diameter of the substrate such that the diameters of the third and fourth films provided by the small spot showerhead apparatus are less than the diameter of the substrate;
• forming a purge wall on the surface of the substrate during the forming of each of the third and fourth films, wherein the purge wall is external to the reactive gases flowing through the plurality of gas distribution ports, by flowing purge gases through a plurality of purge holes disposed around the periphery of the small spot showerhead apparatus thereby containing the reactive gases within the confines of the purge wall;
• and
• evaluating properties of the first capacitive stack and the second capacitive stack.