Back to results
US 8,877,655 B2Granted
Systems and methods for thin-film deposition of metal oxides using excited nitrogen-oxygen species
AssigneeASM America, Inc.
InventorsEric J. Shero, Petri I. Raisanen, Sung-Hoon Jung, Chang-Gong Wang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates to a process and system for depositing a thin film onto a substrate. One aspect of the invention is depositing a thin film metal oxide layer using atomic layer deposition (ALD).
Claims25
A method for depositing a film on a substrate that is within a reaction chamber, the method comprising applying an atomic layer deposition cycle to the substrate, the cycle comprising:
- exposing the substrate to a precursor gas for a precursor pulse interval and then removing the precursor gas;
- and exposing the substrate to an oxidizer comprising an oxidant gas and a nitrogen-containing species gas comprising activated ionic or radical species for an oxidation pulse interval and then removing the oxidizer;
- prior to introducing the nitrogen-containing species to the reaction chamber, monitoring the nitrogen-containing species;
- and
- adjusting one or more process parameters based on the step of monitoring.
2 more elements
A system comprising:
- a reaction chamber;
- a precursor reactant source coupled to the reactor chamber;
- a purge gas source coupled to the reactor chamber;
- an oxidizer gas source coupled to the reactor chamber;
- an activated nitrogen-containing species source coupled to the reactor chamber;
- a system operation and control mechanism configured to cause the system to apply an atomic layer deposition cycle to a substrate, the cycle comprising:
- exposing the substrate to a precursor gas for a precursor pulse interval then removing the precursor gas thereafter;
- and
- exposing the substrate to an oxidizer comprising an oxidant gas and an activated nitrogen-containing species gas for an oxidation pulse interval then removing the oxidizer thereafter;
- and
- a sensor coupled to the activated nitrogen-containing species source, wherein the sensor monitors one or more of an amount, a composition, and a concentration of the activated nitrogen-containing species.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.