Gap filling of shallow trench isolation by ozone-tetraethoxysilane
First Claim
1. A method for filling a trench within a silicon substrate comprising:
- providing a silicon substrate, the silicon substrate having a trench formed therein;
oxidizing thermally the silicon substrate to form within the trench a thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer;
treating the thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer with a plasma formed from a plasma gas phase composition which upon plasma activation simultaneously supplies active nitrogen containing species and active oxygen containing species to form a plasma treated thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer, wherein the plasma gas composition is nitrous oxide and the plasma is employed at;
a reactor chamber pressure of from about 1 to about 2 torr;
a radio frequency power of about 50 to about 150 watts at a radio frequency of 13.56 MHz;
a nitrous oxide gas flow of from about 400 to about 600 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm);
forming upon the thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer a conformal silicon oxide intermediate layer formed through a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method employing silane as a silicon source material; and
forming upon the conformal silicon oxide intermediate layer a gap filling silicon oxide trench fill layer formed employing a sub-atmospheric pressure thermal chemical vapor deposition (SACVD) method employing ozone as an oxidant and tetra-ethyl-ortho-silicate (TEOS) as a silicon source material.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for filling a trench within a silicon substrate. There is first provided a silicon substrate having a trench formed therein. There is then oxidized thermally the silicon substrate to form within the trench a thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer. There is then treated the thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer by exposure to a plasma formed from a gas composition which upon plasma activation simultaneously supplies an active nitrogen containing species and an active oxygen containing species to form a plasma treated thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer. There is then formed upon the plasma treated thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer a conformal silicon oxide intermediate layer formed through a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method employing a silane silicon source material. Finally, there is then formed upon the conformal silicon oxide intermediate layer a gap filling silicon oxide trench fill layer through an ozone assisted sub-atmospheric pressure thermal chemical vapor deposition (SACVD) method employing an ozone oxidant and a tetra-ethyl-ortho-silicate (TEOS) silicon source material.
51 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A method for filling a trench within a silicon substrate comprising:
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providing a silicon substrate, the silicon substrate having a trench formed therein; oxidizing thermally the silicon substrate to form within the trench a thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer; treating the thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer with a plasma formed from a plasma gas phase composition which upon plasma activation simultaneously supplies active nitrogen containing species and active oxygen containing species to form a plasma treated thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer, wherein the plasma gas composition is nitrous oxide and the plasma is employed at; a reactor chamber pressure of from about 1 to about 2 torr; a radio frequency power of about 50 to about 150 watts at a radio frequency of 13.56 MHz; a nitrous oxide gas flow of from about 400 to about 600 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm); forming upon the thermal silicon oxide trench liner layer a conformal silicon oxide intermediate layer formed through a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method employing silane as a silicon source material; and forming upon the conformal silicon oxide intermediate layer a gap filling silicon oxide trench fill layer formed employing a sub-atmospheric pressure thermal chemical vapor deposition (SACVD) method employing ozone as an oxidant and tetra-ethyl-ortho-silicate (TEOS) as a silicon source material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification