HIGHLY SELECTIVE DOPED OXIDE REMOVAL METHOD

• US 20150371866A1
• Filed: 06/19/2014
• Published: 12/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Chen, Zhijun, Li, Zihui, Ingle, Nitin K., Wang, Anchuan, Venkataraman, Shankar
• Granted Patent: US 9,406,523 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/334 Etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32357 Generation remote from the workpiece, e.g. down-stream
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02164 the material being a silicon oxide, e.g. SiO2
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0337 characterised by the process involved to create the mask, e.g. lift-off masks, sidewalls, or to modify the mask, e.g. pre-treatment, post-treatment
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31116 by dry-etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31138 by dry-etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31144 using masks
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/32139 using masks
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/70 Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof multistep manufacturing processes of assemblies consisting of a plurality of individual semiconductor or other solid state devices H01L25/00; manufacture of assemblies consisting of preformed electrical components H05K3/00, H05K13/00

Abstract

A method of etching doped silicon oxide on patterned heterogeneous structures is described and includes a gas phase etch using partial remote plasma excitation. The remote plasma excites a fluorine-containing precursor and the plasma effluents created are flowed into a substrate processing region. A hydrogen-containing precursor, e.g. water, is concurrently flowed into the substrate processing region without plasma excitation. The plasma effluents are combined with the unexcited hydrogen-containing precursor in the substrate processing region where the combination reacts with the doped silicon oxide. The plasmas effluents react with the patterned heterogeneous structures to selectively remove doped silicon oxide.

Claims

1. A method of etching a patterned substrate, the method comprising:

transferring the patterned substrate into a substrate processing region of a substrate processing chamber, wherein the patterned substrate has exposed doped silicon oxide;

flowing a fluorine-containing precursor into a remote plasma region fluidly coupled to the substrate processing region while forming a remote plasma in the remote plasma region to produce plasma effluents;

flowing water vapor into the substrate processing region without first passing the water vapor through any remote plasma; and

etching the exposed doped silicon oxide, wherein the exposed doped silicon oxide is one of boron-doped silicate glass, phosphorus-doped silicate glass or boron-and-phosphorus-doped silicate glass.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the patterned substrate further includes one of exposed silicon, exposed silicon nitride or exposed undoped silicon oxide.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the operation of forming the remote plasma comprises a remote plasma power between 25 W and 500 W.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein a pressure in the substrate processing region is between about 0.1 Torr and about 15 Torr during the operation of etching the exposed doped silicon oxide.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein an electron temperature in the substrate processing region is less than 0.5 eV during the operation of etching the exposed doped silicon oxide.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein plasma effluents pass through an ion suppressor disposed between the remote plasma region and the substrate processing region.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the fluorine-containing precursor comprises NF_3.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the fluorine-containing precursor comprises a precursor selected from the group consisting of hydrogen fluoride, atomic fluorine, diatomic fluorine, carbon tetrafluoride and xenon difluoride.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein a temperature of the patterned substrate is between about 25°

C. and about 90°

C. during the operation of etching the exposed doped silicon oxide.

10. A method of etching a patterned substrate, the method comprising:

transferring the patterned substrate into a substrate processing region of a substrate processing chamber, wherein the patterned substrate has an exposed portion of doped silicon oxide, wherein the doped silicon oxide consists essentially of silicon, oxygen and one or both of boron and phosphorus;

flowing a fluorine-containing precursor and an oxygen-containing precursor into a remote plasma region fluidly coupled to the substrate processing region while forming a remote plasma in the remote plasma region to produce plasma effluents;

flowing a hydrogen-containing precursor into the substrate processing region without first passing the hydrogen-containing precursor through the remote plasma region;

combining the hydrogen-containing precursor and the plasma effluents in the substrate processing region, and etching the exposed portion of doped silicon oxide.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the hydrogen-containing precursor comprises one of hydrogen, water or an alcohol.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the hydrogen-containing precursor is not excited in any plasma prior to entering the substrate processing region.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein a temperature of the patterned substrate is between about −

5°

C. and about 40°

C. during the operation of etching the exposed doped silicon oxide.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the oxygen-containing precursor is one of oxygen (O₂), ozone (O₃), nitrogen dioxide or nitrous oxide.

11. (canceled)

16. A method of etching a patterned substrate, the method comprising:

transferring the patterned substrate into a substrate processing region of a substrate processing chamber, wherein the patterned substrate has exposed doped silicon oxide wherein the exposed doped silicon oxide further comprises boron, phosphorus or boron and phosphorus;

flowing nitrogen trifluoride into a remote plasma region fluidly coupled to the substrate processing region while forming a remote plasma in the remote plasma region to produce plasma effluents;

flowing water vapor into the substrate processing region without first passing the water vapor through the remote plasma region;

etching the exposed doped silicon oxide, wherein a temperature of the patterned substrate is between about 40°

C. and about 80°

C. during the operation of etching the exposed doped silicon oxide; and

removing the patterned substrate from the substrate processing region.