APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR TREATING A WORKPIECE USING A GAS CLUSTER ION BEAM

• US 20090032725A1
• Filed: 07/30/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: TEL Epion Inc. (Tokyo Electron Limited)
• Original Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Inventors: Hautala, John J.
• Application Number:
  US11/830,346
• Publication Number:
  US 20090032725A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 250/400
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/0031 Bombardment of substrates by reactive ion beams
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/022 by means of bombardment with energetic particles or radiation
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/045 Diaphragms
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/0812 Ionized cluster beam [ICB] sources
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/1518 for X-Y scanning
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/20228 Mechanical X-Y scanning
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/31706 characterised by the area treated
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/31732 Depositing thin layers on selected microareas

Abstract

Embodiments of an apparatus and methods of forming isolated islands of modified material with a gas cluster ion beam are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method of treating a workpiece using a gas cluster ion beam, the method comprising:

moving the workpiece and the gas cluster ion beam relative to each other; and

impinging a surface of the workpiece with ionized clusters of the gas cluster ion beam to form, after treatment is concluded, a plurality of islands that are spatially distributed across the surface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the gas cluster ion beam comprises ionized clusters containing an inert species and a reactive species.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the gas cluster ion beam comprises ionized clusters containing an inert species and a deposition species.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of islands have a composition that includes one or more elements from the deposition species.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

annealing the workpiece to incorporate material from the workpiece into the plurality of islands.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of islands define nucleation sites for a subsequent process.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a width of each of the plurality of islands is between about 5 nm and about 50 nm.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

partially masking the workpiece to define the surface of the workpiece impinged with the ionized clusters.

9. A method of treating a workpiece using a gas cluster ion beam, the method comprising:

moving the workpiece and the gas cluster ion beam relative to each other; and

impinging a surface of the workpiece with ionized clusters of the gas cluster ion beam to form, after treatment is concluded, a plurality of islands spatially distributed across the surface and one or more substantially unmodified regions between the plurality of islands.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

throttling the gas cluster ion beam to reduce a fluid of the gas cluster ion beam.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of isolated areas define nucleation sites for a subsequent process.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

partially masking the workpiece to define the surface of the workpiece impinged with the ionized clusters.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein a width of each of the plurality of islands is between about 5 nm and about 50 nm.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein a thickness of each of the plurality of islands is between about 5 nm and about 50 nm.

15. A method of treating a workpiece using a gas cluster ion beam, the method comprising:

moving the workpiece and the gas cluster ion beam relative to each other; and

impinging a surface of the workpiece with ionized clusters to form a plurality of indentations in the surface.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each of said indentations has a depth measured relative to the surface of between about 2 nm and about 25 nm.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the gas cluster ion beam comprises ionized clusters containing an inert species.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the surface of the workpiece has a composition that is not modified by the impingement of the ionized clusters, and further comprising:

vaporizing the ionized clusters, after the indentations are formed, to release the inert species from the surface.

19. A gas cluster ion beam apparatus for treating a workpiece using a gas cluster ion beam, the gas cluster ion beam apparatus comprising:

a vacuum vessel;

a gas cluster ion beam source within the vacuum vessel, the gas cluster ion beam source configured to produce the gas cluster ion beam; and

a positional support configured for controllably producing relative scanning motion between the workpiece and the gas cluster ion beam so that ionized clusters of the gas cluster ion beam impinge a surface of the workpiece at a plurality of spaced apart locations to form, after treatment is concluded, a plurality of islands.

20. The gas cluster ion beam apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

an adjustable aperture configured to reduce a gas cluster ion beam flux.

21. The gas cluster ion beam apparatus of claim 19, wherein the positional support controllably is configured to produce relative scanning motion along a first axis.

22. The gas cluster ion beam apparatus of claim 20, further comprising:

a plurality of electrostatic scan plates configured to controllably scan the gas cluster ion beam along a second axis different than the first axis.