Adjustment of deposition uniformity in an inductively coupled plasma source

• US 6,042,700 A
• Filed: 09/15/1997
• Issued: 03/28/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Gopalraja, Praburam, Narasimhan, Murali
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nam
• Assistant Examiner(s): VerSteeg, Steven H.
• Application Number:
  US08/929,829
• Time in Patent Office: 925 Days
• Field of Search: 204/192.12, 204/192.15, 204/192.3, 204/298.08, 204/298.12, 204/298.13
• US Class Current: 204/192.15
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/046 Coating cavities or hollow spaces, e.g. interior of tubes; Infiltration of porous substrates
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/345 using substrate bias
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/35 by application of a magnetic field, e.g. magnetron sputtering C23C14/3457 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/358 Inductive energy
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/321 the radio frequency energy being inductively coupled to the plasma
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/34 operating with cathodic sputtering H01J37/36 takes precedence ; methods of cathodic sputtering C23C14/34

Abstract

A plasma chamber in a semiconductor fabrication system uses a two step process to sputter deposit material onto a substrate. The first step provides a power ratio of RF power to DC power optimized to increase uniformity of deposition of material onto a workpiece from a first target. A second step involves applying little to no DC power to the target, while an RF power is coupled into a plasma generation region to sputter material from a second target onto the workpiece. It has been found that material from the second target provides greater sidewall coverage of channels located on the workpiece, as well as increasing the uniformity of the deposit on the surface of the workpiece.

Claims

1. A method of sputter depositing material onto a workpiece in a sputter reactor, comprising:

in a first interval, spultering material primarily from a first, disk-shaped target, thereby depositing sputtered material from said first target onto said workpiece; and

in a second interval, sputtering material primarily from a second, ring-shaped target which is a coil coupling RF energy, thereby depositing sputtered material from said second target onto said workpiece.

2. A method of sputter depositing material onto a workpiece, comprising:

in a first interval, sputtering material primarily from a first target in a plasma energized by RF energy radiated by a coil, thereby depositing sputtered material from said first target onto said workpiece; and

in a second interval, sputtering material primarily from said coil, thereby depositing sputtered material from said coil onto said workpiece.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein, in said first interval, said first target is DC biased by a DC power supply.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said second interval occurs after said first interval.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein said first interval occurs after said second interval.

6. The method of claim 2 further comprising, in a third interval preceding said first and second intervals, etching said workpiece by biasing said workpiece and applying RF energy to said coil to produce ions to strike the surface of said workpiece to clean contacts located on said workpiece.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein said coil includes a coil material, and said target includes a target material, wherein said target material and said coil material are the same type of material.

8. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said target includes titanium, and wherein said coil includes titanium.

9. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said target includes aluminum, and wherein said coil includes aluminum.

10. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said target includes copper, and wherein said coil includes copper.

11. A method of sputter depositing material onto a workpiece, the method comprising:

in a first interval, biasing a target arranged about a chamber axis and positioned above said workpiece to attract ions to sputter material from said target and applying RF energy to a coil to energize a plasma of said ions;

in a second interval, terminating said biasing of said target while applying RF energy to said coil; and

in a third interval preceding said first and second intervals, etching said workpiece by biasing said workpiece and applying RF energy to said coil to produce ions to strike the surface of said workpiece to clean contacts located on said workpiece.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein, in said first interval, said first target is DC biased by a DC power supply.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein said coil includes a coil material and said target includes a target material, wherein said target material and said coil material are the same type of material.

14. A method of depositing sputtered material onto a workpiece within a semiconductor fabrication system having a target powered by a first power source and a coil powered by a second power source, the method comprising:

a first step of depositing sputtered material from both said coil and said target onto said workpiece in a first interval in which material is sputtered primarily from said target; and

a second step of depositing sputtered material from said coil onto said workpiece in a second interval in which material is sputtered primarily from said coil.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said second interval occurs after said first interval.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein said first interval occurs after said second interval.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising, prior to said first and second steps, applying RF energy from said second power source to said coil, thereby etching said workpiece to clean contacts located on said workpiece.

18. A method practiced in a DC plasma sputtering chamber of sputtering a material from a target onto a wokpiece supported on a pedestal, an induction coil comprising said material being wrapped within the chamber around a plasma generation region, said method comprising a first step and a second step being alternately performed while said workpiece is disposed in said chamber;

wherein said first step comprises applying a first DC level of DC power to said target and a first RF level of RF power to said coil;

wherein said second step comprises applying a second DC level of DC power less than said first DC level to said target and a second RF level of RF power to said coil; and

whereby said first step preferentially deposits said material at a center of said workpiece and said second step preferentially deposits said material at a periphery of said workpiece.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said second DC level is approximately zero.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said first and second RF levels are substantially equal.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising electrically biasing said pedestal negative string said first and second steps.