Method of forming a layer and forming a capacitor of a semiconductor device having the same layer

• US 20060014384A1
• Filed: 05/27/2005
• Published: 01/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Jong-Cheol, Lee, Seung-Hwan, Choi, Han-Mei, Kim, Young-Sun, Nam, Gab-Jin, Kim, Sung-Tae, Im, Ki-Vin, Yoo, Cha-Young
• Application Number:
  US11/140,552
• Publication Number:
  US 20060014384A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/680
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/0245 by etching with a plasma
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4554 Plasma being used non-continuously in between ALD reactions C23C16/56 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45546 specially adapted for a substrate stack in the ALD reactor
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0228 deposition by cyclic CVD, e.g. ALD, ALE, pulsed CVD
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02334 in-situ cleaning after layer formation, e.g. removing process residues
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0234 treatment by exposure to a plasma
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/3141 Deposition using atomic layer deposition techniques [ALD]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31604 Deposition from a gas or vapour H01L21/31691, H01L21/31695 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31637 Deposition of Tantalum oxides, e.g. Ta2O5
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31645 Deposition of Hafnium oxides, e.g. HfO2
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/3185 of siliconnitrides
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 28/40 Capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 28/90 having vertical extensions

Abstract

In a method of forming a layer using an atomic layer deposition process, after a substrate is loaded into a chamber, a first reactant is provided onto the substrate. The first reactant is partially chemisorbed on the substrate. A second reactant is introduced into the chamber to form a preliminary layer on the substrate by chemically reacting the second reactant with the chemisorbed first reactant. Impurities in the preliminary layer and unreacted reactants are simultaneously removed using a plasma for removing impurities to thereby form the layer on the substrate. The impurities in the layer may be effectively removed so that the layer may have reduced leakage current.

Claims

1. A method of forming a layer comprising:

forming a preliminary layer on a substrate by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process; and

removing impurities from the preliminary layer using a plasma for removing impurities, the plasma being formed from a gas.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plasma is generated adjacent to the substrate.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plasma is generated apart from the substrate.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the gas comprises an inert gas, an inactive gas or a mixture thereof.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the inert gas comprises at least one gas selected from the group consisting of a helium (He) gas, a xenon (Xe) gas, a krypton (Kr) gas and an argon (Ar) gas.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the inactive gas comprises at least one gas selected from the group consisting of an oxygen (O₂) gas, a hydrogen (H₂) gas, an ammonia (NH₃) gas, a nitrous oxide (N₂O) gas and a nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) gas.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the preliminary layer comprises oxide, nitride or oxynitride.

8. A method of forming a layer comprising:

loading a substrate into a chamber;

introducing a first reactant into the chamber;

chemisorbing the first reactant to the substrate;

introducing a second reactant into the chamber;

forming a preliminary layer on the substrate by chemically reacting the second reactant with the chemisorbed first reactant; and

forming a layer on the substrate by removing impurities from the preliminary layer using a plasma for removing impurities.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first reactant comprises an organic precursor.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the organic precursor comprises at least one compound selected from the group consisting of an alkoxide compound, an amide compound, and a cyclopentadienyl compound.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the second reactant comprises an oxygen-containing compound or a nitrogen-containing compound.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising introducing a purge gas into the chamber to remove a non-chemisorbed first reactant from the chamber before introducing the second reactant.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the purge gas comprises a plasma phase.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the second reactant comprises a plasma phase.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the plasma for removing impurities removes a non-chemisorbed second reactant from the chamber while removing the impurities from the preliminary layer.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein introducing the first reactant, chemisorbing the first reactant, introducing the second reactant, forming the preliminary layer, and forming the layer are repeatedly performed at least once.

17. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

introducing an additional second reactant into the chamber after removing the impurities from the preliminary layer; and

removing a non-chemisorbed additional second reactant from the chamber.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein introducing the first reactant, chemisorbing the first reactant, introducing the second reactant, forming the preliminary layer, forming the layer, introducing the additional second reactant, and removing the non-chemisorbed additional second reactant are repeatedly performed at least once.

19. A method of forming a capacitor of a semiconductor device comprising:

loading a substrate including a lower electrode into a chamber;

providing a first reactant onto the substrate to form an absorption layer on the lower electrode;

removing unreacted first reactant from the chamber;

providing a second reactant onto the adsorption layer to form a dielectric layer on the lower electrode;

removing impurities from the dielectric layer using a plasma for removing impurities; and

forming an upper electrode on the dielectric layer.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the lower and the upper electrodes comprise at least one compound selected from silicon compound, metal, metal oxide, metal nitride and metal oxynitride.