公开(公告)号：US20240282631A1

公开(公告)日：2024-08-22

申请号：US18419526

申请日：2024-01-22

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Xi CEN ,  Kai WU ,  Yao XU ,  Yang LI ,  Meng ZHU ,  Insu HA ,  Jianqiu GUO ,  Chao LI ,  Rongjun WANG ,  Xianmin TANG

IPC: H01L21/768 ,  H01L21/02 ,  H01L21/285

CPC classification number: H01L21/76879 ,  H01L21/02068 ,  H01L21/28568 ,  H01L21/76843

Abstract: A method of filling a via having a necking point includes performing a pre-clean process to remove residues from an exposed surface of a metal layer at a bottom of a via and recover inner surfaces of the via, wherein the via is formed within a dielectric layer and has a necking point protruding within the via, performing a selective deposition process to partially fill the via with metal fill material from the exposed surface of the metal layer below the necking point, performing a liner deposition process to form a liner layer on exposed inner surfaces of the via, and performing a metal fill process to fill the via with the metal fill material.

公开(公告)号：US20240014072A1

公开(公告)日：2024-01-11

申请号：US18212352

申请日：2023-06-21

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Tsung-Han YANG ,  Zhimin QI ,  Yongqian GAO ,  Rongjun WANG ,  Yi XU ,  Yu LEI ,  Xingyao GAO ,  Chih-Hsun HSU ,  Xi CEN ,  Wei LEI ,  Shiyu YUE ,  Aixi ZHANG ,  Kai WU ,  Xianmin TANG

IPC: H01L21/768 ,  H01J37/32

CPC classification number: H01L21/76879 ,  H01J37/32449 ,  H01J37/32816 ,  H01J37/32422 ,  H01J2237/2001 ,  H01J37/321 ,  H01J2237/332

Abstract: A method of forming a semiconductor device structure includes forming a nucleation layer within at least one feature. The method includes exposing the nucleation layer to a nitrogen plasma treatment. The nitrogen plasma treatment preferentially treats the top field and sidewalls while leaving the bottom surface substantially untreated to encourage bottom up metal growth.

公开(公告)号：US20240266215A1

公开(公告)日：2024-08-08

申请号：US18107326

申请日：2023-02-08

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Xi CEN ,  Yang LI ,  Kai WU ,  Mehran BEHDJAT ,  Jallepally RAVI

IPC: H01L21/768 ,  H01L21/3205

CPC classification number: H01L21/76876 ,  H01L21/32051 ,  H01L21/76856 ,  H01L21/76877

Abstract: A method of forming a structure on a substrate, includes forming a nucleation layer within an opening of the substrate within a processing chamber. The method further includes forming a passivation layer on at least a portion of the nucleation layer by introducing radical treatment into the processing chamber. The method further includes forming a tungsten fill layer within the opening over the passivation layer and the nucleation layer, wherein the tungsten fill layer is formed by a plurality of treatment cycles. Each treatment cycle includes pulsing a first gas at the substrate for a pulse time duration while concurrently flowing a second gas over the substrate, and purging the first gas and the second gas by flowing a purge gas over the substrate for a purge time duration.

公开(公告)号：US20240258109A1

公开(公告)日：2024-08-01

申请号：US18532381

申请日：2023-12-07

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Xi CEN ,  Kai WU ,  Min-Han LEE ,  Yang LI ,  Cheng CHENG ,  Zhixiu LIANG

IPC: H01L21/285 ,  C23C16/02 ,  C23C16/14 ,  C23C16/34

CPC classification number: H01L21/28568 ,  C23C16/0272 ,  C23C16/14 ,  C23C16/34

Abstract: A method of forming a structure on a substrate includes forming an adhesion layer on a substrate. The method further includes forming a tungsten containing layer in-situ with the adhesion layer. The tungsten containing layer is formed by a one-time soak process including soaking the substrate once, and only once, in a first gas, purging the first gas, and soaking the substrate once, and only once, in a second gas. The method further includes removing the tungsten containing layer from the adhesion layer.

公开(公告)号：US20240162089A1

公开(公告)日：2024-05-16

申请号：US18054798

申请日：2022-11-11

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Dixiong WANG ,  Xi CEN ,  Kai WU ,  Peiqi WANG ,  Yang LI

IPC: H01L21/768

CPC classification number: H01L21/76879 ,  H01L21/76876 ,  H01L21/76883

Abstract: A method of forming a structure on a substrate that includes forming a tungsten nucleation layer within at least one opening within a multi-tier portion of a substrate. The method includes exposing the nucleation layer to a nitrogen-containing gas to inhibit growth of the nucleation layer at narrow points within the at least one opening. The method includes exposing the at least one opening of the substrate to the tungsten-containing precursor gas to form a fill layer over the nucleation layer within the at least one opening. The method includes exposing the at least one opening to a molybdenum-containing gas to remove a tungsten nitride layer from the tungsten fill layer.

公开(公告)号：US20240371654A1

公开(公告)日：2024-11-07

申请号：US18142940

申请日：2023-05-03

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Qihao ZHU ,  Chi Hong CHING ,  Liqi WU ,  Tsungjui LIU ,  Gaurav THAREJA ,  Xinke WANG ,  Feng Q. LIU ,  Xi CEN ,  Kai WU ,  Yixiong YANG ,  Yuanhung LIU ,  Jiang LU ,  Rongjun WANG ,  Xianmin TANG

IPC: H01L21/3213 ,  H01L21/02 ,  H01L21/768

Abstract: A method of filling a feature in a semiconductor structure with metal includes depositing a metal cap layer on a bottom surface of a feature formed within a dielectric layer and top surfaces of the dielectric layer, partially filling the feature from the bottom surface with a flowable polymer layer, performing a metal pullback process to remove the metal cap layer on the top surfaces of the dielectric layer selectively to the dielectric layer, wherein the metal pullback process includes a first etch process including a chemical etch process using molybdenum hexafluoride (MoF6) to remove the metal cap layer selectively to the dielectric layer, and a second etch process to remove residues on etched surfaces of the dielectric layer, removing the flowable polymer layer, pre-cleaning a surface of the metal cap layer, and filling the feature from the surface of the metal cap layer with metal fill material.

公开(公告)号：US20230317458A1

公开(公告)日：2023-10-05

申请号：US17887292

申请日：2022-08-12

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Kai WU ,  Xi CEN ,  Dixiong WANG ,  Yang LI ,  Peiqi WANG

IPC: H01L21/285 ,  C23C16/56 ,  C23C16/455 ,  C23C16/50 ,  C23C16/08

CPC classification number: H01L21/28568 ,  C23C16/56 ,  C23C16/45553 ,  C23C16/50 ,  C23C16/08

Abstract: A method of forming an interconnect structure over a substrate includes forming a nucleation layer over a surface of the substrate. The surface of the substrate comprises a plurality of openings, and the process of forming the nucleation layer includes (a) exposing the substrate to a tungsten-containing precursor gas to form a tungsten-containing layer over a surface of each of the plurality of openings, (b) exposing the formed tungsten-containing layer to an etchant gas, wherein exposing the tungsten-containing layer to the etchant gas etches at least a portion of the tungsten-containing layer disposed at a top region of each of the plurality of openings, and repeating (a) and (b) one or more times. The method further includes forming a bulk layer over the formed nucleation layer.

公开(公告)号：US20230023235A1

公开(公告)日：2023-01-26

申请号：US17477413

申请日：2021-09-16

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Xi CEN ,  Yun TAEWOONG ,  Shirish A. PETHE ,  Kai WU ,  Nobuyuki SASAKI ,  Wei LEI

IPC: H01L21/768

Abstract: Embodiments of methods and associated apparatus for filling a feature in a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of filling a feature in a substrate includes: depositing a seed layer of tungsten nitride in the feature via a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process; depositing a liner layer of tungsten on the seed layer of tungsten nitride in the feature via a PVD process; and subsequently filling the feature with a tungsten bulk fill via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process.

公开(公告)号：US20250038051A1

公开(公告)日：2025-01-30

申请号：US18908747

申请日：2024-10-07

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Xi CEN ,  Kai WU ,  Dixiong WANG ,  Yi LUO

IPC: H01L21/768 ,  C23C16/14 ,  H01L21/285 ,  H01L23/532

Abstract: A structure is provided including a substrate and a tungsten-containing layer. The tungsten-containing layer includes a nucleation layer disposed on the substrate and a bulk layer is disposed over the nucleation layer. The nucleation layer includes tungsten and the bulk layer includes about 0.1% to about 20% atomic molybdenum. The tungsten-containing layer includes a film stress of about 350 MPa to about 450 MPa.

公开(公告)号：US20240209500A1

公开(公告)日：2024-06-27

申请号：US18557675

申请日：2021-05-06

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Xi CEN ,  Wei Min CHAN ,  Kai WU ,  Peiqi WANG ,  Mingrui ZHAO ,  Michael C. KUTNEY ,  Kazuya DAITO ,  Harpreet SINGH

IPC: C23C16/44 ,  C23C16/02 ,  C23C16/04 ,  C23C16/455 ,  C23C16/54 ,  H01L21/285 ,  H01L21/67 ,  H01L21/768 ,  H01L23/532

CPC classification number: C23C16/4405 ,  C23C16/0281 ,  C23C16/045 ,  C23C16/45553 ,  C23C16/45561 ,  C23C16/45565 ,  C23C16/54 ,  H01L21/28562 ,  H01L21/67017 ,  H01L21/76856 ,  H01L21/76876 ,  H01L21/76879 ,  H01L23/53266

Abstract: Embodiments herein are generally directed to electronic device manufacturing and, more particularly, to systems and methods for forming substantially void-free and seam-free tungsten features in a semiconductor device manufacturing scheme. In one embodiment, a substrate processing system features a processing chamber and a gas delivery system fluidly coupled to the processing chamber. The gas delivery system includes a first radical generator for use in a differential inhibition treatment process and a second radical generator for use in a chamber clean process.