Patent US6534420B2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US6534420B2
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Methods for forming dielectric materials and methods for forming semiconductor devices
Assignee: Micron Technology Inc
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Filing: 2001-07-18
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Granted: 2003-03-18
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Expires: 2021-07-18
Abstract
Abstract Embodiments in accordance with the present invention provide methods of forming such dielectric materials, dielectric material layers and various semiconductor devices that employ such materials and layers. In general, embodiments of the present invention provide for physically vapor forming a high purity metal layer over the semiconductor substrate and after forming such a layer oxidizing the high purity metal layer to form the dielectric material employing atomic oxygen generated in a high density plasma environment. Such a dielectric material is useful in the forming of a variety of semiconductor devices such as transistors, capacitors and the like.
Inventors
- 👤 Kie Y. Ahn
- 👤 Leonard Forbes
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 00:57
CPC Classifications
H; H10; H10P; H10P14/00; H10P14/60; H10P14/63; H10P14/6302; H10P14/6304; H10P14/6314; C; C23; C23C; C23C14/00; C23C14/0021; C23C14/0026; C23C14/0031; C23C14/58; C23C14/5846; C23C14/5853; C23C8/00; C23C8/02; H10D; H10D64/00; H10D64/01; H10D64/013; H10D64/01302; H10D64/01332; H10D64/0135; H10D64/60; H10D64/66; H10D64/68; H10D64/691; H10P14/6319; H10P14/69; H10P14/692; H10P14/6938; H10P14/6939; H10P14/69392; H10P14/69394; H10P14/69395; H10P14/69396
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 40
Claim 1
Independent Claim
56 words
A method of forming a dielectric material comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate within a vacuum chamber; physically vapor forming a high purity metal layer of at least about 99.9% purity over the semiconductor substrate; and oxidizing the high purity metal layer to form the dielectric material employing atomic oxygen generated in a high density plasma environment.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
56 words
A method of forming a dielectric material comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate within a vacuum chamber; physically vapor forming a high purity metal layer of at least about 99.9% purity over the semiconductor substrate; and oxidizing the high purity metal layer to form the dielectric material employing atomic oxygen generated in a high density plasma environment.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the physically vapor forming comprises an electron beam evaporation.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of claim 2 , wherein the physically vapor forming comprises: prior to the electron beam evaporation, evacuating the vacuum chamber to a base pressure of about 1×10 −7 Torr or lower; and providing a low-energy ion-bombardment source directed towards the semiconductor substrate during the electron beam evaporation.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the physically vapor forming comprises an electron beam evaporation, and further comprising providing a low-energy argon ion-bombardment directed towards the semiconductor substrate during the electron beam evaporation.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the high purity metal layer comprises two or more high purity metals.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the two or more high purity metals comprises a metal-silicon alloy.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the physically vapor forming comprises forming the high purity metal having a designated purity of about 99.999% or higher.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the physically vapor forming comprises selecting the high purity metal from the group of metals consisting of titanium, yttrium, zirconium, hafnium and/or mixtures thereof.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
83 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the physically vapor forming comprises: electron beam evaporation of the high purity metal; prior to the electron beam evaporation, heating the semiconductor substrate to a temperature of about 100° Celsius (° C.) to about 150° C.; and during the evaporation, maintaining the temperature of the semiconductor substrate at a temperature of about 100° Celsius (° C.) to about 150° C.; and providing a low-energy ion-bombardment source directed toward the semiconductor substrate during the electron beam evaporation.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the atomic oxygen is generated using an oxygen and noble gas mixture.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 10 , wherein the noble gas mixture comprises argon, krypton or xenon combined with between about 2% to about 4% oxygen by volume.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
65 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the atomic oxygen is generated from a mixture of krypton and oxygen comprising about 3% by volume oxygen exposed to microwave energy with a power density of about 4 Watts per square centimeter and a frequency of about 8.3 gigahertz to form a high density plasma characterized by an electron temperature of less than about 1.3 electron volts.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
172 words
A method for forming a dielectric material layer over a semiconductor substrate comprising: providing the semiconductor substrate in a vacuum chamber, the vacuum chamber having an evaporation apparatus therein; after the providing, evacuating the vacuum chamber to a base pressure of about 1×10 −7 Torr or lower; heating the semiconductor substrate to a temperature of about 100° C. to about 150° C.; providing a high purity metal to the evaporation apparatus; providing sufficient energy to the evaporation apparatus for forming a layer of the high purity metal over the semiconductor substrate; during the forming, maintaining the semiconductor substrate to a temperature of about 100° C. to about 150° C. and providing a source of argon ion-bombardment having an ion-beam density of about 0.7 milliamps per square centimeter (ma/cm 2 ) to about 2 ma/cm 2 , the ion-beam directed towards the semiconductor substrate; after the forming, oxidizing the high purity metal layer to form a dielectric material layer, the oxidizing comprising providing a source of atomic oxygen in a high density plasma.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
172 words
A method for forming a dielectric material layer over a semiconductor substrate comprising: providing the semiconductor substrate in a vacuum chamber, the vacuum chamber having an evaporation apparatus therein; after the providing, evacuating the vacuum chamber to a base pressure of about 1×10 −7 Torr or lower; heating the semiconductor substrate to a temperature of about 100° C. to about 150° C.; providing a high purity metal to the evaporation apparatus; providing sufficient energy to the evaporation apparatus for forming a layer of the high purity metal over the semiconductor substrate; during the forming, maintaining the semiconductor substrate to a temperature of about 100° C. to about 150° C. and providing a source of argon ion-bombardment having an ion-beam density of about 0.7 milliamps per square centimeter (ma/cm 2 ) to about 2 ma/cm 2 , the ion-beam directed towards the semiconductor substrate; after the forming, oxidizing the high purity metal layer to form a dielectric material layer, the oxidizing comprising providing a source of atomic oxygen in a high density plasma.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 13 , wherein the providing the high purity metal comprises providing a metal selected from the group consisting of titanium, yttrium, zirconium, hafnium and/or mixtures thereof.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 13 , wherein the providing the high purity metal comprises providing two or more metals, at least one metal comprising a metal-silicon alloy.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 13 , wherein the physically vapor forming comprises forming the high purity metal having a designated purity of about 99.999% or higher.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 13 , the oxidizing further comprising providing a noble gas mixture comprises argon, krypton or xenon combined with between about 2% to about 4% oxygen by volume for forming the high density plasma.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
65 words
The method of claim 13 , wherein the atomic oxygen is generated from a mixture of krypton and oxygen comprising about 3% by volume oxygen exposed to microwave energy with a power density of about 4 Watts per square centimeter and a frequency of about 8.3 gigahertz to form a high density plasma characterized by an electron temperature of less than about 1.3 electron volts.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 13 , wherein the evaporation apparatus comprises an electron beam evaporation apparatus.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of claim 13 , wherein providing sufficient energy comprises providing energy sufficient to evaporate the high purity metal at an evaporation rate of between about 0.5 nanometers per second (nm/sec) to about 1.5 nm/sec.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
71 words
A method for forming a transistor, comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate having a surface; forming a high purity metal layer of at least about 99.9% purity overlying the surface by electron beam evaporation; after forming the high purity metal layer, oxidizing the high purity metal layer to form a dielectric layer employing atomic oxygen generated in a high density krypton plasma environment; and forming a gate electrode over the dielectric layer.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
71 words
A method for forming a transistor, comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate having a surface; forming a high purity metal layer of at least about 99.9% purity overlying the surface by electron beam evaporation; after forming the high purity metal layer, oxidizing the high purity metal layer to form a dielectric layer employing atomic oxygen generated in a high density krypton plasma environment; and forming a gate electrode over the dielectric layer.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 21 , wherein the high purity metal layer comprises two or more high purity metals.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 22 , wherein at least one of the two or more high purity metals comprises a metal-silicon alloy.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 21 , wherein the forming of the high purity metal layer comprises forming the high purity metal having a designated purity of about 99.999% or higher.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 21 , wherein the forming of the high purity metal layer comprises selecting the high purity metal from the group of metals consisting of titanium, yttrium, zirconium, hafnium and/or mixtures thereof.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 21 , wherein the forming of the high purity metal layer further comprises providing a low-energy argon ion-bombardment directed towards the semiconductor substrate during the electron beam evaporation.
Claim 30
Independent Claim
69 words
A method of forming a capacitor structure, comprising: providing a first capacitor electrode; forming a high purity metal layer of at least about 99.9% purity over the first capacitor electrode; after forming the high purity metal layer, oxidizing the high purity metal layer to form a dielectric layer employing atomic oxygen generated in a high density krypton plasma environment; and forming a second capacitor electrode over the dielectric layer.
Claim 31
Independent Claim
69 words
A method of forming a capacitor structure, comprising: providing a first capacitor electrode; forming a high purity metal layer of at least about 99.9% purity over the first capacitor electrode; after forming the high purity metal layer, oxidizing the high purity metal layer to form a dielectric layer employing atomic oxygen generated in a high density krypton plasma environment; and forming a second capacitor electrode over the dielectric layer.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 27 , wherein the high purity metal layer comprises two or more high purity metals.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 28 , wherein at least one of the two or more high purity metals comprises a metal-silicon alloy.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 27 , wherein the forming of the high purity metal layer comprises forming the high purity metal having a designated purity of about 99.999% or higher.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 27 , wherein the forming of the high purity metal layer comprises selecting the high purity metal from the group of metals consisting of titanium, yttrium, zirconium, hafnium and/or mixtures thereof.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 27 , wherein the forming of the high purity metal layer further comprises providing a low-energy argon ion-bombardment directed towards the semiconductor substrate during an electron beam evaporation.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a metal source material for the physically vapor forming of the high purity metal layer, and wherein the high purity of the metal layer exceeds a purity of the metal source material.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 13 , wherein the heating comprises maintaining the temperature during the forming of the layer of the high purity metal.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 21 , further comprising providing a metal source material for the forming of the high purity metal layer, and wherein the high purity of the metal layer exceeds a purity of the metal source material.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 27 , further comprising providing a metal source material for the forming of the high purity metal layer, and wherein the high purity of the metal layer exceeds a purity of the metal source material.
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