Semiconductor device manufacturing method, semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus and semiconductor device

• US 6,287,988 B1
• Filed: 03/17/1998
• Issued: 09/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Memory Corporation (Kioxia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Itoh, Hitoshi, Nagamine, Makoto
• Primary Examiner(s): Meier, Stephen D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BROPHY, JAMIE LYNN
• Application Number:
  US09/039,980
• Time in Patent Office: 1,274 Days
• Field of Search: 438/765, 438/769-771, 438/778, 438/787, 438/788
• US Class Current: 438/770
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0214 the material being a silicon oxynitride, e.g. SiON or SiON:H
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02164 the material being a silicon oxide, e.g. SiO2
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02238 silicon in uncombined form, i.e. pure silicon
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02252 formation by plasma treatment, e.g. plasma oxidation of the substrate after treatment of an insulating film by plasma H01L21/3105 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02255 formation by thermal treatment H01L21/02252 takes precedence; after treatment of an insulating film H01L21/3105 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/28185 with a treatment, e.g. annealing, after the formation of the gate insulator and before the formation of the definitive gate conductor
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/28202 in a nitrogen-containing ambient, e.g. nitride deposition, growth, oxynitridation, NH3 nitridation, N2O oxidation, thermal nitridation, RTN, plasma nitridation, RPN
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/28211 in a gaseous ambient using an oxygen or a water vapour, e.g. RTO, possibly through a layer H01L21/28194 and H01L21/28202 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/306 Chemical or electrical treatment, e.g. electrolytic etching to form insulating layers H01L21/31
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/3065 Plasma etching; Reactive-ion etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31662 of silicon in uncombined form
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/76224 using trench refilling with dielectric materials trench filling with polycristalline silicon H01L21/763; together with vertical isolation, e.g. trench refilling in a SOI substrate H01L21/76264
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/763 Polycrystalline semiconductor regions H01L21/76264 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/40114 the electrodes comprising a conductor-insulator-conductor-insulator-semiconductor structure
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/513 the variation being perpendicular to the channel plane
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/518 the insulating material containing nitrogen, e.g. nitride, oxynitride, nitrogen-doped material

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which comprises a step of forming an oxide film by oxidizing a surface of semiconductor layer in an atmosphere containing an oxygen-activated species at a temperature of over 550° C. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which comprises the steps of forming an oxide film by oxidizing a surface of semiconductor in an atmosphere containing an oxygen-activated species, and removing the oxide film so as to expose a surface of the semiconductor. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device which comprises a step of feeding an oxidizing source gas comprising as a main component oxygen atomic radicals of singlet state in an excited state to a silicon layer thereby to oxidize a surface of the silicon layer, thus forming a silicon oxide film.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising:

feeding an oxidizing source gas, which has at least one of oxygen molecule and ozone, comprising as a main component oxygen atomic radicals of a singlet state in an excited state to one of a silicon substrate and a silicon thin film deposited on a substrate; and

oxidizing a surface of one of said silicon substrate and said silicon thin film to form a silicon oxide film.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a light of 175 nm or less in wavelength is irradiated to said oxygen source gas thereby to generate oxygen atomic radicals of singlet state.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a light of 175 nm or less in wavelength is irradiated to a plasma atmosphere of gas containing a molecule having oxygen atom thereby to generate the oxygen atomic radicals of singlet state.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said plasma atmosphere is separated into a plasma-generating region and an oxidizing region.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a light having a wavelength which enables to promote the generation efficiency of oxygen atomic radicals of singlet state rather than oxygen atomic radicals of triplet state is irradiated to a gas atmosphere containing a molecule having an oxygen atom thereby to generate the oxygen atomic radicals of singlet state.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said oxidizing source gas containing oxygen atomic radicals of singlet state contains a gas molecule which enables a reaction rate constant to become 4×

10¹¹ cm³mol<sup>−

1</sup>s<sup>−

1</sup> or less at a temperature of 298 K in the reaction of deactivating oxygen atomic radicals of singlet state to oxygen atomic radicals of triplet state.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein a light of 341 nm or less in wavelength is irradiated to an atmosphere containing dinitrogen monoxide thereby to generate the oxygen atomic radicals of singlet state.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said oxidation is performed under the conditions where a partial pressure of oxygen molecule in the oxidizing source gas is set to 10 Torr or less, and the oxidizing temperature is set to 550°

C. or less.