Removal of transition metal ternary and/or quaternary barrier materials from a substrate

• US 20050112901A1
• Filed: 09/15/2004
• Published: 05/26/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Versum Materials US, LLC (Merck & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals Incorporated (Linde Plc)
• Inventors: Ji, Bing, Karwacki, Eugene Joseph Jr., Wu, Dingjun, Badowski, Peter Richard, Plishka, Martin Jay
• Granted Patent: US 7,371,688 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/710
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4405 Cleaning of reactor or parts inside the reactor by using reactive gases
• CPC Class Codes: C23G 5/00 Cleaning or de-greasing metallic material by other methods; Apparatus for cleaning or de-greasing metallic material with organic solvents
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/32135 by vapour etching only
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/32136 using plasmas
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 438/905 Cleaning of reaction chamber

Abstract

A process for the selective removal of a substance from a substrate for etching and/or cleaning applications is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, there is provided a process for removing a substance from a substrate comprising: providing the substrate having the substance deposited thereupon wherein the substance comprises a transition metal ternary compound, a transition metal quaternary compound, and combinations thereof; reacting the substance with a process gas comprising a fluorine-containing gas and optionally an additive gas to form a volatile product; and removing the volatile product from the substrate to thereby remove the substance from the substrate.

Claims

1. A process for removing a substance from at least a portion of a substrate, said process comprising:

providing the substrate comprising the substance selected from a transition metal ternary compound, a transition metal quaternary compound, and mixtures thereof deposited thereupon;

reacting the substance with a process gas comprising a fluorine containing gas and optionally an additive gas to form a volatile product; and

removing the volatile product from the substrate to thereby remove the substance from the substrate.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the substance is the transition metal ternary compound selected from TaN_xC_y, WN_xC_y, TaSi_xN_y, TaSi_xC_y, WSi_xN_y, WSi_xC_y and mixtures thereof and wherein x and y independently range from 0.05 to 10.0.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the fluorine-containing gas is selected from NF₃, CIF₃, CIF, SF₆, a perfluorocarbon, a hydrofluorocarbon, HF, F₂, a gas having the formula NF_nCl_3-n, where n is a number ranging from 1 to 2, and mixtures thereof.

4. The process of claim 3, wherein the fluorine-containing gas is NF₃.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein the fluorine-containing gas is conveyed to the substance from a gas cylinder, a safe delivery system, a pipeline, a point of use delivery system, a vacuum delivery system, and combinations thereof.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein the fluorine-containing gas is formed in close proximity to the process chamber by a point-of-use generator.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein the process gas comprises the additive gas.

8. The process of claim 1 wherein the process gas further comprises an oxygen-containing gas.

9. The process of claim 1 wherein the process gas is substantially free of an oxygen-containing gas.

10. The process of claim 1, wherein the reacting step is conducted by an in situ plasma, a remote plasma, an in-situ thermal source, a remote thermal source, a remote catalytic source, a photon activation source, and combinations thereof.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein the reacting step is conducted by a remote plasma.

12. The process of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a semiconductor substrate and the process etches selected portions of the substance from the semiconductor substrate.

13. The process of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a process chamber and the process cleans deposition residue from the process chamber.

14. The process of claim 1, wherein the substance is coated on the substrate by atomic layer deposition.

15. A process for cleaning a substance from a process chamber surface, said process comprising:

providing a process chamber containing the process chamber surface wherein the process chamber surface is at least partially coated with a film comprising the substance selected from a transition metal ternary compound, a transition metal quaternary compound, and mixtures thereof;

reacting the substance with a process gas comprising a fluorine-containing gas to form a volatile product wherein the fluorine-containing gas comprises at least one member selected from NF₃, CIF₃, CIF, SF₆, a perfluorocarbon, a hydrofluorocarbon, HF, F₂, a gas having the formula NF_nCl_3-n, where n is a number ranging from 1 to 2, and mixtures thereof and removing the volatile product from the process chamber to thereby remove the substance from the substrate.

16. The process of claim 15 wherein the process chamber is one selected from an atomic layer deposition process chamber and an atomic layer chemical vapor deposition process chamber.

17. The process of claim 15 wherein the substance is the transition metal ternary compound selected from TaN_xC_y, WN_xC_y, TaSi_xN_y, TaS_xC_y, WSi_xN_y, and WSi_xC_y and mixtures thereof wherein x and y independently range from 0.05 to 10.0.

18. A process for removing a substance from at least a portion of a substrate, said process comprising:

providing the substrate having the substance comprising a transition metal carbonitride;

reacting the substance with a process gas comprising a fluorine containing gas and optionally an additive gas to form a volatile product; and

removing the volatile product from the substrate to thereby remove the substance from the substrate.

19. The process of claim 18 wherein the transition metal carbonitrides is at least one selected from titanium carbonitride (TiNC), tantalum carbonitride (TaNC), chromium carbonitride, tungsten carbonitride, molybdenum carbonitride, zirconium carbonitrides, and mixtures thereof.

20. A process for removing a substance from at least a portion of a substrate, said process comprising:

providing the substrate having the substance comprising a transition metal silicon nitride;

reacting the substance with a process gas comprising a fluorine containing gas and optionally an additive gas to form a volatile product; and

removing the volatile product from the substrate to thereby remove the substance from the substrate.

21. A process for removing a substance from at least a portion of a substrate, said process comprising:

providing the substrate having the substance comprising a transition metal silicon carbide;

reacting the substance with a process gas comprising a fluorine containing gas and optionally an additive gas to form a volatile product; and

removing the volatile product from the substrate to thereby remove the substance from the substrate.

22. A process for removing a substance from at least a portion of a substrate, said process comprising:

providing the substrate having the substance comprising a transition metal quaternary compound;

reacting the substance with a process gas comprising a fluorine containing gas and optionally an additive gas to form a volatile product; and

removing the volatile product from the substrate to thereby remove the substance from the substrate.