Method for manufacturing semiconductor device

• US 9,355,844 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2014
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Yamazaki, Shunpei
• Primary Examiner(s): STARK, JARRETT J
• Application Number:
  US14/270,657
• Publication Number:
  US 20140242749A1
• Time in Patent Office: 756 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02488 Insulating materials
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02554 Oxides
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02565 Oxide semiconducting materials not being Group 12/16 materials, e.g. ternary compounds
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02631 Physical deposition at reduced pressure, e.g. MBE, sputtering, evaporation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/283 Deposition of conductive or insulating materials for electrodes conducting electric current
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/66969 of devices having semiconductor bodies not comprising group 14 or group 13/15 materials comprising selenium or tellurium in uncombined form other than as impurities in semiconductor bodies of other materials, comprising cuprous oxide or cuprous iodide H01L21/02365
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/78603 characterised by the insulating substrate or support H01L29/78657 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/7869 having a semiconductor body comprising an oxide semiconductor material, e.g. zinc oxide, copper aluminium oxide, cadmium stannate

Abstract

Electrical characteristics of transistors using an oxide semiconductor are greatly varied in a substrate, between substrates, and between lots, and the electrical characteristics are changed due to heat, bias, light, or the like in some cases. In view of the above, a semiconductor device using an oxide semiconductor with high reliability and small variation in electrical characteristics is manufactured. In a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, hydrogen in a film and at an interface between films is removed in a transistor using an oxide semiconductor. In order to remove hydrogen at the interface between the films, the substrate is transferred under a vacuum between film formations. Further, as for a substrate having a surface exposed to the air, hydrogen on the surface of the substrate may be removed by heat treatment or plasma treatment.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising the steps of:

forming an insulating film over a substrate;

performing dehydration treatment or dehydrogenation treatment on the substrate in a substrate processing chamber; and

introducing the substrate into a first film formation chamber without exposure to air, and forming an oxide semiconductor film over the insulating film in the first film formation chamber.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the insulating film is formed by a sputtering method.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

implanting oxygen into the insulating film by an ion implantation method;

wherein the oxygen includes any one of oxygen whose mass number is 16 and oxygen whose mass number is 18.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the oxide semiconductor film is formed by a sputtering method.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the oxide semiconductor film comprises indium, gallium and zinc.

6. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 1, further comprising the step of introducing the substrate into a transfer chamber evacuated to be in a vacuum state before performing the dehydration treatment or the dehydrogenation treatment in the substrate processing chamber.

7. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising the steps of:

forming a first insulating film over a substrate in a first film formation chamber;

performing dehydration treatment or dehydrogenation treatment on the substrate in a substrate processing chamber;

introducing the substrate into a second film formation chamber without exposure to air, and forming an oxide semiconductor film over the first insulating film in the second film formation chamber; and

introducing the substrate into a third film formation chamber without exposure to air and forming an oxide conductive film over the oxide semiconductor film in the third film formation chamber.

8. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 7, further comprising the step of:

implanting oxygen into the first insulating film by an ion implantation method before forming the oxide semiconductor film.

9. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 7, wherein the dehydration treatment or the dehydrogenation treatment is one of or both of heat treatment and plasma treatment.

10. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 9, wherein the dehydration treatment or the dehydrogenation treatment is performed in any one of an inert atmosphere, a reduced-pressure atmosphere, and a dry air atmosphere.

11. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 7, wherein the first insulating film is a silicon oxide film including oxygen atoms which are more than twice as many as silicon atoms per unit volume.

12. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

processing the oxide conductive film and the oxide semiconductor film to form an island-shaped oxide conductive film and an island-shaped oxide semiconductor film;

forming a first conductive film over the island-shaped oxide conductive film; and

processing the first conductive film and the island-shaped oxide conductive film to form a source electrode and a drain electrode and to form oxide conductive films between the source electrode and the island-shaped oxide semiconductor film and between the drain electrode and the island-shaped oxide semiconductor film.

13. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 7, wherein any one of the first film formation chamber to the third film formation chamber is the same as one or more of the other film formation chambers.

14. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 7, wherein a leakage rate of the first film formation chamber to the third film formation chamber is less than or equal to 1×

10<sup>−

10</sup> Pa·

m³/sec.

15. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 7, further comprising the step of introducing the substrate into a transfer chamber evacuated to be in a vacuum state before performing the dehydration treatment or the dehydrogenation treatment in the substrate processing chamber.

16. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising the steps of:

forming a first insulating film over a substrate in a first film formation chamber;

introducing the substrate into a second film formation chamber and forming a first conductive film over the first insulating film in the second film formation chamber;

introducing the substrate into a first substrate processing chamber and performing dehydration treatment or dehydrogenation treatment on the substrate in the first substrate processing chamber after forming the first conductive film; and

introducing the substrate into a third film formation chamber without exposure to air, and forming a oxide semiconductor film over the first conductive film in the third film formation chamber.

17. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 16, further comprising the step of:

implanting oxygen into the first insulating film by an ion implantation method before forming the oxide semiconductor film.

18. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 16, wherein the dehydration treatment or the dehydrogenation treatment is one of or both of heat treatment and plasma treatment.

19. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 18, wherein the dehydration treatment or the dehydrogenation treatment is performed in any one of an inert atmosphere, a reduced-pressure atmosphere, and a dry air atmosphere.

20. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 16, wherein the first insulating film is a silicon oxide film including oxygen atoms which are more than twice as many as silicon atoms per unit volume.

21. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

introducing the substrate into a second substrate processing chamber, without exposure to air, and performing heat treatment on the substrate at a temperature higher than or equal to 300 °

C. and lower than or equal to 650 °

C. in any one of an inert atmosphere, a reduced-pressure atmosphere, and a dry air atmosphere;

introducing the substrate into a fourth film formation chamber without exposure to air, and forming an oxide conductive film over the oxide semiconductor film in the fourth film formation chamber;

processing the oxide conductive film and the oxide semiconductor film to form an island-shaped oxide conductive film and an island-shaped oxide semiconductor film;

forming a conductive film over the island-shaped oxide conductive film; and

processing the conductive film and the island-shaped oxide conductive film to form a source electrode and a drain electrode and to form oxide conductive films between the source electrode and the island-shaped oxide semiconductor film and between the drain electrode and the island-shaped oxide semiconductor film.

22. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 21, wherein any one of the first film formation chamber to the fourth film formation chamber is the same as one or more of the other film formation chambers.

23. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 21, wherein a leakage rate of the first film formation chamber to the fourth film formation chamber is less than or equal to 1×

10<sup>−

10</sup>Pa·

m³/sec.

24. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, according to claim 16, further comprising the step of introducing the substrate into a transfer chamber evacuated to be in a vacuum state before performing the dehydration treatment or the dehydrogenation treatment in the first substrate processing chamber.