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US 9,493,879 B2Granted
Selective sputtering for pattern transfer
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsMark Hoinkis, Hiroyuki Miyazoe, Eric Joseph
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods of patterning conductive layer with a mask are described. The methods include low-ion-mass sputtering of the conductive layer by accelerating (e.g. helium or hydrogen containing ions) toward a substrate which includes the patterned mask and the underlying conductive layer. The sputtering processes described herein selectively remove conductive layers while retaining mask material.
Claims15
A method of patterning a conductive layer, the method comprising:
- transferring a substrate into a substrate processing region of a substrate processing chamber, wherein a portion of the substrate is the conductive layer;
- flowing a sputtering gas into a sputtering generation region fluidly coupled to the substrate processing region while forming a sputtering plasma in the sputtering generation region, wherein the sputtering plasma is formed by applying a sputtering plasma power to form ions;
- selectively removing portions of the conductive layer which are not covered by a patterned mask layer by bombarding exposed portions of the conductive layer with the ions accelerated towards the substrate with an accelerating potential, wherein the substrate is in the substrate processing region during the selective removal operation, wherein the sputtering generation region and the substrate processing region are devoid of molecules having mass greater than ten atomic mass units.
A method of patterning a conductive layer, the method comprising:
- providing a patterned substrate having a conductive layer a patterned mask layer formed on the conductive layer, wherein the patterned substrate is in a substrate processing region of a substrate processing chamber;
- flowing a sputtering gas into a sputtering generation region fluidly coupled to the substrate processing region while forming a sputtering plasma in the sputtering generation region, wherein the sputtering plasma is formed by applying a sputtering plasma power to form sputtering ions and wherein the sputtering generation region and the substrate processing region consist essentially of elements with atomic weights below ten atomic mass units;
- selectively removing portions of the conductive layer which are not covered by the patterned mask layer by bombarding exposed portions of the conductive layer with the sputtering ions accelerated towards the substrate with an accelerating potential, wherein the substrate is in the substrate processing region during the selective removal operation.
A method of patterning a copper layer, the method comprising:
- flowing a sputtering gas into a sputtering generation region of the substrate processing chamber while forming a sputtering plasma in the substrate processing chamber, wherein the sputtering plasma is formed by applying a sputtering plasma power to form sputtering ions, wherein the sputtering gas consists essentially of one or more of atomic hydrogen (H), hydrogen (Hz) and helium;
- selectively removing portions of the copper layer which are not covered by a patterned mask layer formed on the conductive layer by bombarding exposed portions of the conductive layer with sputtering ions accelerated towards the substrate with an accelerating potential, wherein the patterned mask layer comprises tungsten or tantalum and wherein the sputtering generation region and the substrate processing region are devoid of molecules having mass greater than ten atomic mass units.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.