Method and apparatus for filling a gap

• US 10,177,025 B2
• Filed: 07/28/2016
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ASM IP Holding B.V. (ASM International NV)
• Original Assignee: ASM IP Holding B.V. (ASM International NV)
• Inventors: Pore, Viljami
• Primary Examiner(s): Garber, Charles D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Liu, Xiaoming
• Application Number:
  US15/222,749
• Publication Number:
  US 20180033679A1
• Time in Patent Office: 894 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/045 Coating cavities or hollow spaces, e.g. interior of tubes; Infiltration of porous substrates
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45525 Atomic layer deposition [ALD]
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45536 Use of plasma, radiation or electromagnetic fields
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/50 using electric discharges generation and control of plasma in discharge tubes for surface treatment H01J37/32, H01J37/34
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02145 the material containing aluminium, e.g. AlSiOx
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02164 the material being a silicon oxide, e.g. SiO2
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/022 the layer being a laminate, i.e. composed of sublayers, e.g. stacks of alternating high-k metal oxides adhesion layers or buffer layers H01L21/02304, H01L21/02362
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02214 the compound comprising silicon and oxygen
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02274 in the presence of a plasma [PECVD]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0228 deposition by cyclic CVD, e.g. ALD, ALE, pulsed CVD
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/76224 using trench refilling with dielectric materials trench filling with polycristalline silicon H01L21/763; together with vertical isolation, e.g. trench refilling in a SOI substrate H01L21/76264

Abstract

A method and apparatus for filling one or more gaps created during manufacturing of a feature on a substrate by: providing a bottom area of a surface of the one or more gaps with a first reactant; providing a second reactant to the substrate; and, allowing the first reactant to initiate reaction of the second reactant in the bottom area of the surface in a stoichiometric ratio of one molecule of the first reactant to multiple molecules of the second reactants leaving a top area of the surface of the one or more gaps which was not provided with the first reactant initially substantially empty.

Claims

1. A method for filling one or more gaps created during manufacturing of a feature on a substrate by a deposition method comprising:

providing a bottom area of a surface of the one or more gaps with a first reactant;

providing a second reactant to the substrate;

allowing, in a film deposition cycle, the first reactant to initiate reaction of the second reactant in the bottom area of the surface in a stoichiometric ratio of one molecule of the first reactant to multiple molecules of the second reactant, to form a layer of deposited material in the bottom area, leaving a top area of the surface of the one or more gaps which was not provided with the first reactant initially substantially empty; and

repeating the cycle, such that the deposited material forms layer-by-layer in the one or more gaps from the bottom area upwards,

wherein providing the bottom area of the surface of the one or more gaps with the first reactant comprises;

providing a polymer material in the bottom area of the surface;

infiltrating the polymer material with the first reactant; and

removing the polymer material from the bottom area while allowing the first reactant to remain in the bottom area.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises removing excess reactant and byproduct after providing a first, and or second reactant.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the deposition method is repeated multiple times to fill the gap from the bottom area to the top area.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second reactant is introduced with a relatively large dose compared to the dose in which the first reactant is provided.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein providing the bottom area of the surface of the one or more gaps with the first reactant comprises:

providing the first reactant to the top and the bottom area of the surface of the one or more gaps; and

,

using a plasma, passivating the first reactant in the top area of the one or more gaps to render the first reactant less active in the top area relative to the bottom area.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first reactant comprises one or more of a Lewis acid and a metalloid.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the plasma comprises a nitrogen plasma.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein providing the bottom area of the surface of the one or more gaps with the first reactant comprises:

passivating reactive sites on the top area of the surface; and

,

providing the first reactant to the top and the bottom area of the surface to react with the remaining active sites on the bottom surface, wherein the first reactant does not react with the passivated sites.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein passivating reactive sites of the top area of the surface comprises providing a plasma to passivate the active sites from the top area.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the plasma is a nitrogen and/or argon plasma.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein providing a polymer material in the bottom area of the surface comprises providing a polymer material in the top and bottom area and providing a plasma to remove the polymer material from the top area.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the plasma comprises nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, fluorine and/or argon.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein removing the polymer material from the bottom area while allowing the first reactant to remain comprises annealing the material in an oxygen comprising atmosphere.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the polymer material comprises a polyimide or a polyamic acid polymer or a directed self-assembly polymer.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first reactant comprises a Lewis acid metal or metalloid.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the Lewis acid metal or metalloid is selected from the group consisting of aluminium, boron, magnesium, scandium, lanthanum, yttrium, zirconium or hafnium.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the first reactant comprises trimethylaluminium (TMA).

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises heating the substrate and the second reactant comprises silanol vapor to form a silica layer.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the silanol comprises tris(tert-pentoxy)silanol or tris(tert-butoxy)silanol.