US20030134508A1
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Controlled conformality with alternating layer deposition
Assignee: ASM International NV
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Filing: 2002-11-21
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2022-11-21
Abstract
Abstract Method and structures are provided for conformal lining of dual damascene structures in integrated circuits, and particularly of openings formed in porous materials. Trenches and contact vias are formed in insulating layers. The pores on the sidewalls of the trenches and vias are blocked, and then the structure is exposed to alternating chemistries to form monolayers of a desired lining material. In exemplary process flows chemical or physical vapor deposition (CVD or PVD) of a sealing layer blocks the pores due to imperfect conformality, and is followed by an atomic layer deposition (ALD), particularly alternately pulsed metal halide and ammonia gases injected into a constant carrier flow. An alternating process can also be arranged to function in CVD-mode within pores of the insulator, since the reactants do not easily purge from the pores between pulses. Self-terminated metal layers are thus reacted with nitrogen. Near perfect step coverage allows minimal thickness for a diffusion barrier function, thereby maximizing the volume of a subsequent filling metal for any given trench and via dimensions.
Inventors
- 👤 Ivo Raaijmakers
- 👤 Pekka Soininen
- 👤 Ernst Granneman
- 👤 Suvi Haukka
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 04:09
CPC Classifications
C; C23; C23C; C23C16/00; C23C16/04; C23C16/045; C23C16/44; C23C16/455; C23C16/45523; C23C16/45525; H; H10; H10P; H10P14/00; H10P14/40; H10P14/412; H10P14/42; H10P14/43; H10P14/432; H10W; H10W20/00; H10W20/01; H10W20/031; H10W20/032; H10W20/033; H10W20/034; H10W20/042; H10W20/043; H10W20/047; H10W20/048; H10W20/052; H10W20/0526; H10W20/071; H10W20/074; H10W20/076; H10W20/081; H10W20/084; H10W20/086; H10W20/093; H10W20/095; H10W20/097; H10W20/40; H10W20/41; H10W20/42; H10W20/425
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 36
Claim 1
Independent Claim
135 words
1 . A method for controlling conformality of a deposited a film on a semiconductor substrate, the method comprising: providing the substrate with a plurality of openings at a surface thereof; providing a sequence of at least two different, mutually reactive reactants in temporally separated and alternating reactant pulses; selecting temporal separation of the reactant pulses to control the conformality of the film deposited in the openings in the surface of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the separation is selected to achieve reduced conformality compared to an atomic layer deposition process in which deposition over an upper surface of the substrate does not exceed deposition over a lower surface of the substrate within the opening; and exposing the semiconductor substrate to the sequence of the reactant pulses with the selected temporal separation to deposit the film.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
135 words
1 . A method for controlling conformality of a deposited a film on a semiconductor substrate, the method comprising: providing the substrate with a plurality of openings at a surface thereof; providing a sequence of at least two different, mutually reactive reactants in temporally separated and alternating reactant pulses; selecting temporal separation of the reactant pulses to control the conformality of the film deposited in the openings in the surface of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the separation is selected to achieve reduced conformality compared to an atomic layer deposition process in which deposition over an upper surface of the substrate does not exceed deposition over a lower surface of the substrate within the opening; and exposing the semiconductor substrate to the sequence of the reactant pulses with the selected temporal separation to deposit the film.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
47 words
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the separation is selected to achieve reduced conformality compared to an atomic layer deposition process that operates in a self-limiting and self-saturating mode on the substrate surface and on the walls of the openings at the substrate surface.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
47 words
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the separation is selected to be shorter compared to an atomic layer deposition process in which deposition over an upper surface of the substrate does not exceed deposition over a lower surface of the substrate within the opening.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
27 words
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the separation is insufficient to remove all of the reactant of a previous reactant pulse from the opening.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
22 words
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein residual reactant in the openings deposit in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-mode reaction.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
17 words
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the openings comprise trenches within an insulating layer.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
20 words
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the openings further comprise vias extending from bottoms of the trenches.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
18 words
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the openings further comprise pores within the insulating layer.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
21 words
9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the film does not achieve full coverage of surfaces of the trench.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
15 words
10 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the film is an insulating film.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
32 words
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor substrate is exposed to a pulse of a second reactant before the first reactant pulse is completely removed from the opening.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
46 words
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the conformality of the film is controlled such that a portion of the opening adjacent to the surface of the semiconductor substrate receives a thicker film coating than a portion of the opening spaced from the surface.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
25 words
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the portion of the opening spaced from the surface receives no film coating during the deposition.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
33 words
14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a pulse duration of at least one of the reactants is selected to allow the reactant to diffuse at least partially into the openings.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
17 words
15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising purging during the separation of reactant pulses.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
25 words
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the purging is insufficient to remove all reactant of a previous reactant pulse from the openings.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
15 words
17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the film is an insulating film.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
100 words
18 . A method of designing a process for a depositing layers on a semiconductor substrate having openings therein, comprising: selecting an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process whereby deposition on an upper surface of the substrate would not exceed deposition on bottom surfaces of the openings, the ALD process including specified reactant pulse durations and specified pulse separation durations for each cycle; and modifying the selected ALD process by adjusting at least one of the reactant pulse durations and/or one of the pulse separation durations to produce an alternating deposition process with reduced conformality relative to the selected ALD process.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
100 words
18 . A method of designing a process for a depositing layers on a semiconductor substrate having openings therein, comprising: selecting an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process whereby deposition on an upper surface of the substrate would not exceed deposition on bottom surfaces of the openings, the ALD process including specified reactant pulse durations and specified pulse separation durations for each cycle; and modifying the selected ALD process by adjusting at least one of the reactant pulse durations and/or one of the pulse separation durations to produce an alternating deposition process with reduced conformality relative to the selected ALD process.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
23 words
19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein modifying comprises shortening at least one of the pulse separation durations during each cycle.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
24 words
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the alternating deposition process comprises supplying purge gas to the substrate during each pulse separation.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
24 words
21 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the alternating deposition process operates in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) mode in the openings.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
23 words
22 . The method of claim 18 , wherein modifying comprises lengthening at least one of the reactant pulse durations during each cycle.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
17 words
23 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the openings include trenches in an insulating material.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
19 words
24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the openings further include vias extending downwardly from the trenches.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
32 words
25 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the opening further include pores in the insulating material, the insulating material characterized by a dielectric constant less than that of silicon oxide.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
24 words
26 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the substrate comprises a low k material having the openings therein, the openings comprising trenches.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
130 words
27 . A method of depositing layers on a substrate having a plurality of openings therein, the method comprising a plurality of alternating deposition cycles, each cycle comprising, in sequence: supplying a first reactant pulse to the substrate for a first pulse period; purging the first reactant for a first pulse separation period; supplying a second reactant pulse to the substrate for a second pulse period; and purging the second reactant for a second pulse separation period, wherein the pulse periods and pulse separation periods are selected to achieve reduced conformality within the openings compared to an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process utilizing the first and second reactants, wherein the ALD process operates in a self-limiting and self-saturating mode on an upper surface and inner openings surfaces of the substrate.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
130 words
27 . A method of depositing layers on a substrate having a plurality of openings therein, the method comprising a plurality of alternating deposition cycles, each cycle comprising, in sequence: supplying a first reactant pulse to the substrate for a first pulse period; purging the first reactant for a first pulse separation period; supplying a second reactant pulse to the substrate for a second pulse period; and purging the second reactant for a second pulse separation period, wherein the pulse periods and pulse separation periods are selected to achieve reduced conformality within the openings compared to an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process utilizing the first and second reactants, wherein the ALD process operates in a self-limiting and self-saturating mode on an upper surface and inner openings surfaces of the substrate.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
20 words
28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the alternating deposition process experiences a depletion effect within the openings.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
36 words
29 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the alternating deposition process operates at least partially in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) mode within the openings and in an ALD mode on the upper surface.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
16 words
30 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the openings comprise trenches in an insulator.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
17 words
31 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the openings further comprise pores in the insulator.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
30 words
32 . The method of claim 31 , wherein the alternating deposition process blocks the pores, the method further comprising a further ALD process subsequent to the alternating deposition process.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
20 words
33 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the alternating deposition process forms an insulating layer on the substrate.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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