Method for silicon based dielectric deposition and clean with photoexcitation

• US 20060286819A1
• Filed: 06/21/2005
• Published: 12/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Brailove, Adam, Smith, Jacob, Morin, Jeannot, Seutter, Sean M., Singh, Kaushal K., Iyer, R. Suryanarayanan, Ghanayem, Steve G., Shydo, Robert Jr.
• Application Number:
  US11/157,533
• Publication Number:
  US 20060286819A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/791
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/02 Pretreatment of the material to be coated C23C16/04 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/345 Silicon nitride
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/482 using incoherent light, UV to IR, e.g. lamps
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/56 After-treatment
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0217 the material being a silicon nitride not containing oxygen, e.g. SixNy or SixByNz H01L21/02126 and H01L21/0214 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0228 deposition by cyclic CVD, e.g. ALD, ALE, pulsed CVD
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/3185 of siliconnitrides

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention generally provide a method for depositing films using photoexcitation. The photoexcitation may be utilized for at least one of treating the substrate prior to deposition, treating substrate and/or gases during deposition, treating a deposited film, or for enhancing chamber cleaning. In one embodiment, a method for depositing silicon and nitrogen-containing film on a substrate includes heating a substrate disposed in a processing chamber, generating a beam of energy of between about 1 to about 10 eV, transferring the energy to a surface of the substrate; flowing a nitrogen-containing chemical into the processing chamber, flowing a silicon-containing chemical with silicon-nitrogen bonds into the processing chamber, and depositing a silicon and nitrogen-containing film on the substrate.

Claims

1. A method for depositing a silicon and nitrogen-containing film on a substrate, the method comprising:

positioning a substrate on a substrate support disposed in a processing chamber;

generating a beam or flux of energy of between about 1 to about 10 eV;

heating the substrate;

flowing a nitrogen-containing chemical into the processing chamber;

flowing a silicon-containing chemical with silicon-nitrogen bonds into the processing chamber;

depositing a silicon and nitrogen-containing film on the heated substrate disposed in the processing chamber; and

transferring the energy into the processing chamber during the depositing of the silicon and nitrogen-containing film.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transferring further comprises:

photoexciting a surface of the substrate.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of photoexciting the surface of the substrate further comprises:

removing hydrogen from the surface of the substrate.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the beam or flux has an energy level between about 3.0 to about 9.84 eV.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of directing the beam or flux of energy further comprises:

photoexciting at least one of the nitrogen-containing chemical or the silicon-containing chemical during deposition of the silicon and nitrogen-containing film.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of photoexciting further comprises:

exposing at least one of the nitrogen-containing chemical and the silicon-containing chemical within the processing chamber to the beam or flux of energy.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of photoexciting further comprises:

exposing at least one of the nitrogen-containing chemical and the silicon-containing chemical outside the processing chamber to the beam or flux of energy; and

flowing the at least one exposed chemical into the processing chamber.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the beam or flux of photons has a wavelength between about 336 and about 470.7 nm.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the silicon-containing chemical is a gas identified as NR₂—

Si(R′

₂)—

Si(R′

₂)—

NR₂ (amino(di)silanes), wherein R and R′

comprise at least one functional group selected from the group of a halogen, an organic group having one or more double bonds, an organic group having one or more triple bonds, an aliphatic alkyl group, a cyclical alkyl group, an aromatic group, an organosilicon group, an alkyamino group, or a cyclic group containing N or Si.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the R and R′

further comprise at least one of a functional group selected from the group of chloro, methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, trimethylsilyl or pyrrolidine.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the silicon-containing chemical is a gas identified as R₃—

Si—

N═

N═

N (silyl azides), wherein R comprises at least one functional group selected from the group of a halogen, an organic group having one or more double bonds, an organic group having one or more triple bonds, an aliphatic alkyl group, a cyclical alkyl group, an aromatic group, an organosilicon group, an alkyamino group, or a cyclic group containing N or Si.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the R and R′

further comprise at least one of a functional group selected from the group of chloro, methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, trimethylsilyl or pyrrolidine.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein the silicon-containing chemical is a gas identified as R′

₃—

Si—

NR—

NR₂ (silyl hydrazines), wherein R and R′

comprise at least one functional group selected from the group of a halogen, an organic group having one or more double bonds, an organic group having one or more triple bonds, an aliphatic alkyl group, a cyclical alkyl group, an aromatic group, an organosilicon group, an alkyamino group, or a cyclic group containing N or Si.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the R and R′

further comprise at least one of a functional group selected from the group of chloro, methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, trimethylsilyl or pyrrolidine.

15. The method of claim 5, wherein the silicon-containing chemical is 1,3,4,5,7,8-hexamethytetrasiliazane.

16. The method of claim 5, wherein the Si-source gas is R₃—

SiN₃, where R is at least one of H, an organic functional group or an amino group.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein R is CxHy or at least one of a methyl, ethyl, propyl or butyl organic functional group.

18. The method of claim 5, wherein the nitrogen-containing chemical is at least one of NH₃, N₂H₄ or HN₃.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of directing the beam of energy further comprises:

photoexciting the surface of the substrate after deposition of the silicon and nitrogen-containing film.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of directing the beam of energy further comprises:

photoexciting the surface of the substrate before deposition of the silicon and nitrogen-containing film.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

flowing a gas blanket in the processing chamber between a window and at least one of the silicon-containing and the nitrogen-containing chemicals, the window separating a source of the beam from an interior of the processing chamber.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

injecting at least one of the silicon-containing chemical and the nitrogen-containing chemical into the chamber laterally from a first side of the substrate; and

removing the injected chemicals laterally from a second side of the substrate.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of heating further comprises:

heating the substrate to a temperature less than about 550 degrees Celsius.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

rotating the substrate to expose different portions of the substrate to the beam or flux of energy.

25. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

indexing the substrate to expose different portions of the substrate to the beam or flux of energy.

26. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

changing the angle of incidence of the beam or flux of energy.

27. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

removing the substrate from the processing chamber;

cleaning the processing chamber with a photoexcited cleaning agent; and

transferring a second substrate to the processing chamber.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of cleaning further comprises:

exposing an interior of a chamber to a beam or flux of energy.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of exposing further comprises:

exposing an interior of a chamber to a beam or flux of energy after processing at least one substrate; and

exposing the interior of the chamber to a cleaning agent generated by a remote plasma source after processing at least one substrate, wherein the step of exposing the interior chamber to the beam or flux of energy is performed more frequently than the step of exposing the interior chamber to the cleaning agent after processing a batch of substrates.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of cleaning further comprises:

exposing a cleaning agent within the processing chamber to the beam or flux of energy.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of cleaning further comprises:

exposing a cleaning agent to the beam or flux of energy outside the processing chamber; and

flowing the exposed agent into the processing chamber.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of cleaning further comprises:

photoexposing a cleaning agent comprising fluorine; and

cleaning the processing chamber with the photoexposed cleaning agent.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the beam or flux of energy further comprises:

generating a first beam or flux of energy having a first wavelength; and

generating a second beam or flux of energy having a second wavelength.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of generating further comprises:

generating the first beam or flux of energy using a first lamp; and

generating the second beam or flux of energy using a second lamp housed remotely from the first lamp.

35. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

flowing a purge gas into the processing chamber between the steps of flowing the nitrogen-containing gas and flowing the silicon containing gas;

wherein the energy is transferred to at least one of the gases or the substrate, or both the substrate and at least one of the gases; and

wherein the step of depositing further comprises depositing a monolayer.