US20030165615A1
Expired / Lapsed
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Process for producing metal thin films by ALD
Assignee: ASM International NV
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Filing: 2002-01-29
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2022-01-29
Abstract
Abstract The invention relates generally to processes for producing electrically conductive noble metal thin films on a substrate by atomic layer deposition. According to one embodiment of the invention a substrate with a surface is provided in a reaction chamber and a vaporised precursor of a noble metal is pulsed into the reaction chamber. By contacting the vaporised precursor with the surface of the substrate, no more than about a molecular layer of the metal precursor is formed on the substrate. In a next step, a pulse of molecular oxygen-containing gas is provided in the reaction chamber, where the oxygen reacts with the precursor on the substrate. Thus, high-quality metal thin films can be deposited by utilising reactions between the metal precursor and oxygen. In one embodiment, electrically conductive layers are deposited in structures that have high aspect ratio vias and trenches, local high elevation areas or other similar surface structures that make the surface rough.
Inventors
- 👤 Titta Aaltonen
- 👤 Petra Alen
- 👤 Mikko Ritala
- 👤 Markku Leskela
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 03:06
CPC Classifications
C; C23; C23C; C23C16/00; C23C16/06; H; H10; H10W; H10W20/00; H10W20/01; H10W20/031; H10W20/032; H10W20/046; B; B82; B82Y; B82Y25/00; C23C16/18; C23C16/44; C23C16/455; C23C16/45523; C23C16/45525; C23C16/45553; G; G11; G11B; G11B5/00; G11B5/84; G11B5/85; H01; H01F; H01F10/00; H01F10/32; H01F10/324; H01F10/325; H10D; H10D1/00; H10D1/60; H10D1/68; H10D1/692; H10P; H10P14/00; H10P14/40; H10P14/42; H10P14/43; H10P14/432; H10P14/60; H10P14/63; H10P14/6326; H10P14/6328; H10P14/6334; H10P14/6339; H10P14/69; H10P14/692; H10P14/6938; H10P14/6939; H10P14/69393; H10P14/69394
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 40
Claim 1
Independent Claim
119 words
1 . A process for producing an electrically conductive noble metal thin film on a substrate in a reactor by atomic layer deposition, comprising: placing a substrate in a reaction chamber within the reactor; providing a vaporized noble metal precursor pulse into the reaction chamber to form no more than about a single molecular layer of the precursor on the substrate; removing excess vaporized noble metal precursor from the reaction chamber; providing a second reactant gas pulse comprising oxygen to the reaction chamber such that the oxygen reacts with the precursor on the substrate; removing excess second reactant gas and any reaction by-products from the reaction chamber; and repeating until a thin film of a desired thickness is obtained.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
119 words
1 . A process for producing an electrically conductive noble metal thin film on a substrate in a reactor by atomic layer deposition, comprising: placing a substrate in a reaction chamber within the reactor; providing a vaporized noble metal precursor pulse into the reaction chamber to form no more than about a single molecular layer of the precursor on the substrate; removing excess vaporized noble metal precursor from the reaction chamber; providing a second reactant gas pulse comprising oxygen to the reaction chamber such that the oxygen reacts with the precursor on the substrate; removing excess second reactant gas and any reaction by-products from the reaction chamber; and repeating until a thin film of a desired thickness is obtained.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
16 words
2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the second reactant gas comprises free oxygen.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
15 words
3 . The process of claim 2 , wherein the free oxygen is molecular oxygen.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
28 words
4 The process of claim 3 , wherein the noble metal is selected from the group consisting of ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, rhenium, osmium, iridium, platinum and gold.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
31 words
5 . The process of claim 3 , wherein the noble metal precursor is selected from the group consisting of a metallocene compound and a beta-diketonate compound of the noble metal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
29 words
6 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the metallocene is selected from the group consisting of bis(cyclopentadienyl)-ruthenium, a derivative of bis(cyclopentadienyl)-ruthenium, (trimethyl)methylcyclopentadienylplatinum and a derivative of (trimethyl)methylcyclopentadienylplatinum.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
33 words
7 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the beta-diketonate compound of the metal is selected from the group consisting of tris(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)ruthenium(III), a derivative of tris(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)ruthenium(III), bis(2,2,6,6,-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)ruthenium(II) and a derivative of bis(2,2,6,6,-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)ruthenium(II).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
22 words
8 . The process of claim 3 , wherein the second reactant gas is provided by pulsing oxygen into the reaction chamber.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
28 words
9 . The process of claim 3 , wherein the second gas reactant is provided by pulsing a mixture of oxygen and inert gas into the reaction chamber.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
26 words
10 . The process of claim 3 , wherein the second reactant gas is provided by the catalytic decomposition of an oxygen-containing chemical inside the reactor.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
21 words
11 . The process of claim 10 , wherein the oxygen-containing chemical is H 2 O 2 or an organic peroxide.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
27 words
12 . The process of claim 11 , wherein the catalytic decomposition is carried out using a catalyst selected from the group consisting of palladium and platinum.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
26 words
13 . The process of claim 3 , wherein the second reactant gas is provided by forming oxygen inside the reactor by decomposing N 2 O.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
27 words
14 . The process of claim 3 , wherein a growth initiating layer is provided on the substrate surface prior to depositing the noble metal thin film.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
16 words
15 . The process of claim 14 , wherein the growth initiating layer comprises hydroxyl groups.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
21 words
16 . The process of claim 15 , wherein the growth initiating layer is an Al 2 O 3 thin film.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
19 words
17 . The process of claim 15 , wherein the growth initiating layer is a TiO 2 thin film.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
23 words
18 . The process of claim 14 , wherein the growth initiating layer has a thickness of between 10 Å and 20 Å.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
43 words
19 . The process of claim 14 , wherein the growth initiating layer is produced by feeding H 2 O 2 into the reaction chamber after placing the substrate in the reaction chamber and prior to providing the vaporized noble metal precursor pulse.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
35 words
20 . The process of claim 3 , wherein the noble metal thin film comprises a plurality of metals selected from the group consisting of ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, rhenium, osmium, iridium, platinum and gold.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
18 words
21 . The process of claim 20 , wherein the noble metal thin film comprises ruthenium and platinum.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
41 words
22 . The process of claim 21 , wherein the noble metal thin film comprises a first portion, adjacent to the substrate, consisting essentially of ruthenium, and a second portion, over the first portion, the second portion consisting essentially of platinum.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
92 words
23 . A process for producing a noble metal thin film on a substrate comprising: placing a substrate in a reaction chamber; pulsing a vaporized noble metal precursor into the reaction chamber to form an adsorbed layer of the noble metal precursor on the substrate; removing excess vaporized noble metal precursor; converting the adsorbed noble metal precursor layer to a noble metal layer by contacting the substrate with a gas containing oxygen; removing excess oxygen-containing gas and any reaction by-products; and repeating until a thin film of the desired thickness is formed.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
92 words
23 . A process for producing a noble metal thin film on a substrate comprising: placing a substrate in a reaction chamber; pulsing a vaporized noble metal precursor into the reaction chamber to form an adsorbed layer of the noble metal precursor on the substrate; removing excess vaporized noble metal precursor; converting the adsorbed noble metal precursor layer to a noble metal layer by contacting the substrate with a gas containing oxygen; removing excess oxygen-containing gas and any reaction by-products; and repeating until a thin film of the desired thickness is formed.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
14 words
24 . The process of claim 23 , wherein the oxygen is free oxygen.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
14 words
25 . The process of claim 24 , wherein the oxygen is molecular oxygen.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
98 words
26 . A process for producing a capacitor in an integrated circuit, comprising: depositing a first insulating layer on a silicon substrate having a doped region; forming a conductive material contacting the substrate through the insulating layer; depositing a barrier layer over an exposed surface of the conductive material; depositing a first electrode layer comprising a noble metal on the barrier layer by an atomic layer deposition process; depositing a second insulating layer on the first electrode layer; and depositing a second electrode layer comprising a noble metal on the second insulator by an atomic layer deposition process.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
98 words
26 . A process for producing a capacitor in an integrated circuit, comprising: depositing a first insulating layer on a silicon substrate having a doped region; forming a conductive material contacting the substrate through the insulating layer; depositing a barrier layer over an exposed surface of the conductive material; depositing a first electrode layer comprising a noble metal on the barrier layer by an atomic layer deposition process; depositing a second insulating layer on the first electrode layer; and depositing a second electrode layer comprising a noble metal on the second insulator by an atomic layer deposition process.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
31 words
27 . The process of claim 26 , wherein the atomic layer deposition processes comprise alternately reacting the substrate surface with a vaporized noble metal precursor and a gas comprising oxygen.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
14 words
28 . The process of claim 27 , wherein the oxygen is free oxygen.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
14 words
29 . The process of claim 28 , wherein the oxygen is molecular oxygen.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
30 words
30 . The process of claim 26 , wherein the barrier layer comprises a metal nitride layer deposited by atomic layer deposition on the exposed surface of the conductive material.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
16 words
31 . The process of claim 30 , wherein the barrier layer comprises tantalum silicon nitride.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
28 words
32 . The process of claim 26 , wherein the second insulating layer comprises a layer having a high dielectric constant that is deposited by atomic layer deposition.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
27 words
33 . The process of claim 32 , wherein the second insulating layer comprises a layer selected from the group consisting of barium-strontium titanate and tantalum oxide.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
55 words
34 . A method of producing an ultra-high density magnetic recording device comprising: forming a first ferromagnetic recording layer on a substrate; forming by an atomic layer deposition process a non-magnetic layer consisting essentially of a noble metal on the first ferromagnetic recording layer; and forming a second ferromagnetic recording layer on the non-magnetic layer.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
55 words
34 . A method of producing an ultra-high density magnetic recording device comprising: forming a first ferromagnetic recording layer on a substrate; forming by an atomic layer deposition process a non-magnetic layer consisting essentially of a noble metal on the first ferromagnetic recording layer; and forming a second ferromagnetic recording layer on the non-magnetic layer.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
28 words
35 . The method of claim 34 , wherein the atomic layer deposition process comprises alternately reacting the substrate surface with a vaporized noble metal precursor and oxygen.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
23 words
36 . The method of claim 35 , wherein the thickness of the non-magnetic layer is between about 1 nm and 100 nm.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US5916365A
Cited
US6342277B1
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