EP0822584A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Method of surface treatment of semiconductor substrates
Assignee: Surface Technology Systems Ltd
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Filing: 1997-07-28
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2017-07-28
Abstract
Abstract A method of depositing a side wall passivation layer on an etched feature in a semiconductor substrate, comprising placing the substrate in a vacuum chamber, striking a plasma, and introducing a hydrocarbon deposition gas to deposit a carbon or hydrocarbon layer.
Inventors
- 👤 Jyoti Kiron Bhardwaj
- 👤 Huma Ashraf
- 👤 Babak Khamsehpour
- 👤 Janet Hopkins
- 👤 Martin Edward Ryan
- 👤 David Mark Haynes
- 👤 Alan Michael Hynes
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 11:51
CPC Classifications
H; H10; H10P; H10P50/00; H10P50/20; H10P50/24; H10P50/242; H10P50/244; H10P14/00; H10P14/60; H10P14/68; H10P14/683; H10P50/69; H10P50/691; H10P50/693; H10P50/695; H10P14/63; H10P14/6326; H10P14/6328; H10P14/6334; H10P14/6336
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 28
Claim 1
Independent Claim
41 words
A method of depositing a side wall passivation layer on
an etched feature in a semiconductor substrate, comprising
placing the substrate in a vacuum chamber, striking a
plasma, and introducing a hydrocarbon deposition gas to
deposit a carbon or hydrocarbon layer.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
89 words
A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising introducing
H 2 with the hydrocarbon deposition gas to etch the substrate
during the deposition, determining the percentage of
hydrocarbon gas in H 2 at which at least two of the following
occurs: (a) the etch rate begins to rise from a generally
steady state (b) the etch rate peaks (c) the etch rate falls to zero and subsequently performing the method of claim 1 with a
hydrocarbon gas/H 2 mix which lies between a pair of (a), (b)
or (c).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
23 words
A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the mean ion
energy >100 eV and the mix percentage lies between (a) and
(b).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
23 words
A method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the mean ion
energy is <30 eV and the percentage lies between (b) and
(c).
Claim 5
Independent Claim
43 words
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims
wherein the hydrocarbon gas is one or a combination of: CH 4 ,
C 2 H 4 , C 3 H 6 , C 4 H 8 or C 2 H 2
Claim 6
Independent Claim
20 words
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims
wherein the deposition gas includes O,N or F elements.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
20 words
A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims
wherein the deposited layer is Nitrogen and/or Fluorine
doped.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
33 words
A method of etching a trench in a semi-conductor
substrate including alternately etching and depositing a
passivation layer wherein the deposition step is as claimed
in any one of claims 1 to 7.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method of etching as claimed in claim 8 wherein the
etching and deposition steps overlap.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
17 words
A method as claimed in claim 8 or 9 wherein the etching
and deposition gases are mixed.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
27 words
A method as claimed in any one of claims 8 t 10
including pumping out the chamber between etching and
deposition and/or between the deposition and etching.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
74 words
A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein the pump out
continues until Ppa Ppa + Ppb < x wherein Ppa is the partial pressure of the gas (A) used
in the preceding step, Ppb is the partial pressure of the gas (B) to be
used in the subsequent step, and x is the percentage at which the process rate of
the process associated with gas (A) drops off from an
essentially steady state.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
24 words
A method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 12
wherein the etching and deposition gas flows are
continuously or abruptly variable.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
52 words
A method as claimed in claim 13 wherein one or more of
the following parameters: gas flow rates, chamber pressure,
plasma power, substrate bias, etch rate, deposition rate
cycle times and etching/deposition ratio varies periodically
with time, for example as a sinusoidal, square, or saw tooth
waveform or a combination of these.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
22 words
A method as claimed in claims 14 wherein the amplitude
of the parameters is variable within a cycle or as between
cycles.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
14 words
A method as claimed in claim 14 or 15 wherein the
variations are ramped.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
40 words
A method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 16
wherein the etch rate is reduced and/or the deposition rate
is enhanced during at least the first cycle or for up to at
least the first few cycles.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
21 words
A method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 17
including depositing a mask having openings prior to
etching.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
26 words
A method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the mask is
enhanced by or is itself deposited by the passivation
process of claims 1 to 5.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
27 words
A method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 19
wherein the etch and/or depositions have periods of less
than 7.5 secs or 5 secs.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
23 words
A method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 20
wherein the etch gas is CF x or XeF 2 .
Claim 22
Independent Claim
24 words
A method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 21
wherein the etch gas includes one or more higher atomic mass
halides.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
26 words
A method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 22
wherein the chamber pressure is reduced and/or the flow rate
is increased during deposition.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
31 words
A method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 23
wherein the substrate rests freely on a support in the
chamber to be heated to equilibrium by the plasma.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
23 words
A method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 24
wherein the substrate is maintained at between -100°C < and
100°C.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
26 words
A method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 25
wherein the substrate is GaAs, GaP, GaN, GaSb, SiGe, Ge Mo,
W or Ta.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
52 words
A method as claimed in claim 26 wherein the etch gas is
one or a combination of Cl 2 , BCl 3 , SiCl 4 , SiCl 2 H 2 , CH x Cl y ,
C x Cl y , or CH x with or without H or an inert gas.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
41 words
A method as claimed in claim 26 or claim 27 wherein the
deposition gas is one or a combination of CH x , CH x Cl y , or
C x Cl y with or without H, or an inert gas.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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