JP2010520638A - Atomic layer deposition technology - Google Patents

Abstract

A technique for atomic layer deposition is disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, this technique can be realized by an apparatus for atomic layer deposition. The apparatus can comprise a process chamber having a substrate platform for holding at least one substrate. The apparatus can also comprise a source of precursor comprising at least one first species of atom and at least one second species of atom, the source providing the precursor to provide at least one Saturate the surfaces of two substrates. The apparatus can further comprise a plasma source of at least one third species metastable atom, the metastable atom comprising at least one second species atom on a saturated surface of at least one substrate. To form one or more atomic layers of at least one first species.

Description

  The present disclosure relates generally to semiconductor manufacturing, and more particularly to atomic layer deposition techniques.

Modern semiconductor manufacturing has created a need for accurate atomic level deposition of high quality thin film structures. In response to this need, many thin film growth techniques, generally known as “atomic layer deposition” (ALD) or “atomic layer epitaxy” (ALE), have been developed in recent years. ALD technology can deposit uniform and conformal films with atomic layer accuracy. A typical ALD process uses a series of self-controlled surface reactions to achieve control of thin film growth in monolayer thickness units.
Because of its excellent potential for film conformality and uniformity, ALD has been used for example in high-dielectric constant (high-k) gate oxides, storage capacitor dielectrics, and copper diffusion barriers in microelectronic devices. Became the technology of choice for advanced applications. In fact, ALD technology can be used for any advanced application that benefits from precise control of thin film structures on the nanometer (nm) or sub-nanometer scale.

  To date, however, most existing deposition techniques suffer from inherent drawbacks and have not been reliably applied to mass production in the semiconductor industry. For example, a deposition technique known as “molecular beam epitaxy” (MBE) uses individual jet cells that are shutter controlled to direct different types of atoms to the surface of the substrate, and on these surfaces, these The atoms react with each other to form the desired monolayer. In the solid source MBE process, the ejection cell must be heated to a fairly high temperature for thermionic emission of the constituent atoms. In addition, a very high vacuum must be maintained before the component atoms reach the surface of the substrate so that there are no collisions between the component atoms. Despite demanding high temperatures and high vacuum conditions, the growth rate of MBE films is quite low for mass production purposes.

Another ALD technique is known as temperature modulated atomic layer epitaxy (ALE). In order to grow a silicon film according to this technique, the following steps are repeated. First, a monolayer of silane (SiH ₄ ) is deposited on the surface of the substrate at a relatively low temperature between 180 ° C. and 400 ° C. The substrate temperature is then raised to about 550 ° C. and the hydrogen atoms are desorbed, leaving a silicon monolayer. While this technique controls film growth from layer to layer, the requirement for repeated temperature spikes makes it difficult to maintain large wafer-wide uniformity and layer-to-layer reproducibility. . In addition, heating the substrate to a high temperature can damage or destroy delicate structures formed on the substrate in previous processing steps.

One existing ALD technique uses ion bombardment to desorb excess hydrogen atoms. According to this technique, a monomolecular layer of disilane can be formed on the surface of the substrate by using disilane (Si ₂ H ₆ ) gas. Then, the surface of the substrate is bombarded with helium or argon ions to desorb excess hydrogen atoms from the disilane monolayer to form a silicon monolayer. Perhaps due to excessive energy ion bombardment (~ 50 eV ion energy), the film growth rate will be much lower (less than 0.15 monolayer per cycle) and the energy ion flux is inherently line-of-sight of-sight) process can jeopardize the possibility of atomic layer deposition for highly conformal deposition. In addition, energetic ions can cause crystal defects that necessitate post-deposition annealing.

  Furthermore, conformal doping of ALD deposited, especially thin films of three-dimensional structures (eg, FinFETs) remains a challenge for process engineers. Existing ion implantation techniques introduce dopants into a three-dimensional conformally covered structure, not only because it is difficult to make the dopant distribution uniform, but also because of potential damage due to post-anneal annealing. It is not desirable to do so.

  In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide an atomic layer deposition solution that overcomes the deficiencies and drawbacks described above.

  A technique for atomic layer deposition is disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, this technique can be implemented by an apparatus for atomic layer deposition. The apparatus can comprise a process chamber having a substrate platform that holds at least one substrate. The apparatus can also include a source of the precursor, the precursor including at least one first species atom and at least one second species atom, the source comprising the precursor Supply to saturate the surface of at least one substrate. The apparatus can further comprise a plasma source of at least one third species metastable atom, wherein the metastable atom desorbs at least one second species atom from a saturated surface of at least one substrate. Thus, one or more atomic layers of at least one first species are formed.

  In other specific exemplary embodiments, the technology can be implemented as a method for atomic layer deposition. The method may comprise the step of saturating the surface of the substrate with a precursor having at least one first species atom and at least one second species atom, thereby providing a single precursor. A molecular layer is formed on the surface of the substrate. The method may also include exposing the surface of the substrate to a plasma-generated third species of metastable atoms, the metastable atoms exposing at least one second species of atoms from the substrate surface. Desorb to form at least one first species atomic layer. The atomic layer deposition method can include multiple deposition cycles to form a plurality of atomic layers of a first species, each deposition cycle repeating steps such as those described above to produce a first species of 1 Two atomic layers are formed.

In yet another specific exemplary embodiment, the technology can be implemented by an apparatus for atomic layer deposition. The apparatus can comprise a process chamber having a substrate platform for holding at least one substrate. The apparatus may also include a disilane (Si ₂ H ₆ ) source, a helium source, configured to supply a sufficient amount of disilane to saturate the surface of at least one substrate. it can. The apparatus can further comprise a plasma chamber coupled to the process chamber, wherein the plasma chamber is configured to generate helium metastable atoms from helium supplied by a helium source. Metastable atoms can desorb hydrogen atoms from a saturated surface of at least one substrate, thereby forming one or more atomic layers of silicon.

  In yet another specific exemplary embodiment, the technology can be implemented as a method of conformal doping. The method can comprise forming a thin film on the surface of the substrate in one or more deposition cycles, wherein each of the one or more deposition cycles includes at least one first type atom and at least Supplying a precursor having one second species of atom to saturate the surface of the substrate and then desorbing at least one second species of atom from the surface of the saturated substrate to at least 1 One or more atomic layers of one first species are formed. The method also replaces at least a portion of the precursor supply with a dopant precursor in one or more of a number of deposition cycles, thereby doping one or more atomic layers of at least one first species. Steps may be provided.

  The present disclosure will be described in further detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof as shown in the accompanying drawings. The present disclosure is described below with reference to exemplary embodiments, but it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art will have access to the teachings herein to provide additional embodiments, modifications, and examples in other fields within the scope of the present disclosure as described herein and to which the present disclosure may be significantly useful. It will be recognized in the same way as the use of.

  To facilitate a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals indicate like components. These drawings should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure, but are intended to be exemplary only.

2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary atomic layer deposition cycle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary atomic layer deposition cycle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary atomic layer deposition system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary atomic layer deposition method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

  In order to solve the above-described problems associated with existing atomic layer deposition techniques, embodiments of the present disclosure introduce ALD and in situ doping techniques. Metastable atoms can be used to desorb excess atoms. Metastable atoms can be generated, for example, in a plasma chamber. For convenience of explanation, the following description focuses on methods and apparatus for depositing silicon doped or undoped using helium metastable atoms. Obviously, other types of thin films can be grown using helium or other metastable atoms by the same or similar techniques.

  Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram illustrating an exemplary atomic layer deposition cycle 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. This exemplary atomic layer deposition cycle 100 can include a saturation stage 10 and a desorption stage 12 as two stages.

In the saturation stage 10, the substrate 102 can be exposed to disilane (Si ₂ H ₆ ) gas. For the growth of silicon films, the surface of the substrate can comprise, for example, silicon, silicon-on-insulator (SOI), and / or silicon dioxide. Disilane gas serves as a silicon precursor and is supplied at a sufficiently high dose to saturate the surface of the substrate and form a monolayer 104 of disilane on the substrate. However, throughout this disclosure, “saturate” does not exclude the scenario that the surface of such a substrate is only partially covered by the material used to “saturate” the surface of the substrate. . The substrate 102 can be kept at a carefully selected temperature, similar to the process environment, to prevent the precursor gas from condensing or decomposing on the surface of the substrate. In the present embodiment, the substrate 102 is heated and maintained at a temperature between 180 ° C. and 400 ° C., but it is within the scope of the present disclosure to heat and maintain the substrate 102 within other temperature ranges.

  In the desorption step 12, the substrate 102 can be exposed to metastable atoms with sufficient energy to desorb excess atoms from the precursor monolayer. According to this embodiment, excess hydrogen atoms can be partially or completely desorbed from the monolayer 104 of disilane formed in the saturation stage 10 using metastable atoms of helium. The metastable atoms of helium can be made, for example, from helium gas in inductively coupled plasma. Each helium metastable atom can have an internal energy of about 20 eV and can be used to break the bond between silicon and hydrogen atoms. According to some embodiments, metastable states of inert gases (helium, argon, etc.), and other excited states, tend to emit photons that can indirectly drive the desorption reaction to the surface of the substrate. is there. After removing excess hydrogen atoms, a monolayer of silicon 106 can be formed on the surface of the substrate. According to some embodiments, not all of the excess hydrogen atoms can be removed. Thus, at the end of the desorption step 12, the surface of the silicon monolayer 106 may be a hybrid of dangling bonds and hydrogen-terminated silicon atoms.

  Between the saturation stage 10 and the desorption stage 12, the surface of the substrate is purged with one or more inert gases (eg helium or argon) to remove excess reactive gases as well as by-products (eg hydrogen). can do. A complete cycle with a saturation phase 10 and a desorption phase 12 including a “purge” step between two phases can be referred to as one “deposition cycle”. The deposition cycle 100 can be repeated to form a pure silicon thin film (eg, crystalline, polycrystalline, amorphous type, etc.), ie, a single monolayer (or partial monolayer) at a time.

  According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the use of metastable atoms is more advantageous than the use of ions to desorb excess atoms from the surface of a substrate saturated with precursors. When metastable atoms are generated in a plasma for desorption purposes, charged particles (eg electrons and ions) generated in the plasma reach the surface of the substrate and are anisotropic due to these charged particles. It is desirable to prevent the properties of the conductive film from being degraded or minimized. Many measures can be taken to prevent charged particles from affecting the ALD film formed on the surface of the substrate. For example, one or more devices (eg, baffles or screens) can be interposed between the plasma source and the substrate. These devices can be further biased to remove unwanted charged particles. Alternatively, an electromagnetic field can be set to deflect charged particles. According to other embodiments, the orientation of the substrate surface can be adjusted to minimize incident inflow of charged particles. For example, the substrate platform may be inverted or otherwise diverted from the plasma source line of sight. Alternatively, the plasma source can be positioned slightly away from the substrate so that most of the charged particles do not reach the surface of the substrate due to scattering or impact.

  Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrating an exemplary atomic layer deposition cycle 200 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. According to this embodiment, the ALD process illustrated in FIG. 1 described above not only deposits a single type of thin film, but also introduces impurities into the thin film in a well controlled manner, or multiple types. Can be used to form thin films of and / or alternating layers. For example, apart from undoped silicon films, doped silicon films can be grown based on a slightly modified ALD process. With this modified ALD process, one or more deposition cycles 100 can be replaced with one or more deposition cycles 200.

In the saturation phase 20 of the deposition cycle 200, the dopant precursor gas can be supplied in place of or simultaneously with the silicon precursor gas. In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the dopant precursor is diborane (B ₂ H ₆ ), which is adsorbed (or “chemisorbed”) on the surface of the substrate 102, A molecular layer 204 can be formed. In this case, the underlying surface can include a monolayer of silicon deposited in the previous deposition cycle 100. The diborane monolayer 204 may partially or completely cover the underlying surface.

  In the desorption phase 22 of the deposition cycle 200, the substrate 102 can be exposed to helium metastable atoms as described above. The metastable atoms of helium can desorb excess hydrogen atoms from the diborane monolayer 204, leaving a partial or complete boron monolayer 206.

  By controlling the number of times the deposition cycle 100 is replaced with the deposition cycle 200 and controlling the dose of diborane gas supplied in the saturation stage 20, the dopant density profile of boron in the silicon film can be made desirable. Because this in situ doping technique relies on conformal deposition of dopant atoms rather than ion implantation, a uniform dopant distribution can be achieved on a complex surface of a three-dimensional structure, such as a FinFET. Furthermore, there is no need for a post-deposition high temperature diffusion process as required for ion implanted dopant atoms. Instead, it does not require annealing, or only requires low temperature annealing, thus reducing the diffusion of dopant species, and thus a very abrupt (or “box-like”) dopant. Profile. Thus, embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented at temperatures below 500 ° C., which are well within the “thermal budget” of the semiconductor industry.

Atomic layer deposition according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be a selective process that depends on the composition of the substrate surface. For example, the process illustrated in FIG. 1 can deposit a monolayer of silicon on the surface of silicon or SOI, but not on the surface of silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ ). Thus, silicon dioxide can be used as a mask layer to shield selected portions of the substrate surface.

  Although only helium metastable atoms are used in the above example, it is clear that other species of atoms can be selected for the desorption process. The selection of these species can be made based on their metastable or excited state lifetime and energy. Table 1 provides a list of metastable atom candidate species that can be used in the desorption phase of the ALD process.

Clearly, apart from diborane gas, other dopant precursors can also be used to introduce the desired dopant atoms into the thin film formed by ALD. For example, dopant precursors suitable for introducing dopant atoms such as boron (B), arsenic (As), phosphorus (P), indium (In), and antimony (Sb) include the following classes of compounds: That is, halides (eg BF ₃ ), alkoxides (eg B (OCH ₃ ) ₃ ), alkyl groups (eg In (CH ₃ ) ₃ ), hydrides (eg AsH ₃ , PH ₃ ), cyclopentadi Including, but not limited to, enyl, alkylimide, alkylamide (eg, P [N (CH ₃ ) ₂ ] ₃ ), and amidinate.

  Furthermore, in situ doping techniques that deposit monolayers containing dopants by processes such as ALD are not limited to plasma enhanced ALD processes. Also, this in situ doping technique does not require the use of metastable atoms. For example, a thermal ALD process can also be adapted to form a monolayer containing a dopant. In fact, this in-situ doping concept can replace one or more deposition cycles that deposit a monolayer of a thin film to be doped with one or more deposition cycles that deposit a monolayer containing a dopant. It can be applied to any ALD process in which the thin film to be doped can be deposited almost simultaneously with the monolayer containing the dopant.

  FIG. 3 shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system 300 for atomic layer deposition according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

System 300 can typically be at a high vacuum base pressure (eg, 10 ⁻⁷ to 10 ⁻⁶ torr), such as turbo pump 306, mechanical pump 308, and other necessary vacuum sealing components. A process chamber 302 can be provided. Inside the process chamber 302 may be a substrate platform 310 that holds at least one substrate 30. The substrate platform 310 can be equipped with one or more temperature management devices to regulate and maintain the temperature of the substrate 30. The tilt or rotation of the substrate platform 30 can also be adjusted. The process chamber 302 may further comprise one or more thin film growth monitoring devices such as, for example, quartz crystal microbalance and / or RHEED (reflected high energy electron diffraction) equipment.

  The system 300 can also be coupled to or part of the process chamber 302 and can include a plasma chamber 304. A radio frequency (RF) power source 312 can be used to generate inductively coupled plasma 32 within the plasma chamber 304. For example, helium gas supplied at an appropriate pressure can be excited by an RF power source to generate helium plasma and then helium metastable atoms.

  The system 300 can further comprise a number of gas sources, such as, for example, a disilane source 314, a diborane source 316, an argon source 318, and a helium source 320. Each gas supply source is equipped with a flow control valve so that individual flow rates can be set as desired. The gas can be measured in the system by, for example, a series connection of a first valve, a small fixed volume chamber, and a second valve. The small chamber is filled to the desired pressure by first opening the first valve. Then, after closing the first valve, the second valve is opened to release a fixed volume of gas into the chamber. A disilane source 314 and a diborane source 316 can be coupled to the process chamber 302 via a first inlet 322 to supply a sufficient amount of silicon and boron precursor gases to saturate the substrate 30. Can do. Argon source 318 and helium source 320 can be coupled to plasma chamber 304 via second inlet 324. Argon source 318 can supply argon (or other inert gas) to purge system 300. The helium supply source 320 can supply helium gas for generating plasma of helium metastable atoms. A screen or baffle device 326 can optionally be provided between the plasma chamber 304 and the process chamber 302. The screen or baffle device 326, with or without bias, can serve to block at least some of the charged particles generated in the plasma chamber 304 from reaching the substrate 30.

  FIG. 4 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of atomic layer deposition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

In step 402, the deposition system as shown in FIG. 3 can be pumped down to a high vacuum (HV) condition. This vacuum condition is now known or can be achieved by any vacuum technique developed later. The vacuum device can include, for example, one or more of a mechanical pump, a turbo pump, and a cryopump. Preferably, the vacuum level is at least 10 ⁻⁷ to 10 ⁻⁶ torr, although maintaining the vacuum level at other pressures is within the scope of this disclosure. For example, if a higher film purity is desired, an even higher base vacuum is required. Low vacuum is acceptable for low purity thin films.

  In step 404, the substrate can be preheated to a desired temperature. The substrate temperature can be determined based on the substrate type, ALD reactive species, desired growth rate, and the like.

  In step 406, a silicon precursor gas such as disilane (and its carrier gas, if any) may be flowed into the process chamber in which the substrate sits. The silicon precursor gas can be supplied at a flow rate or pressure sufficient to saturate the surface of the substrate. The inflow of disilane can be continued for several seconds or tens of seconds, for example. The monolayer of disilane can partially or completely cover the surface of the substrate.

  In step 408, after the surface is saturated, the silicon precursor can be turned off and the deposition system can be purged with one or more inert gases to remove excess silicon precursor.

  In step 410, helium plasma can be generated. That is, helium gas can flow from the plasma chamber to the process chamber. The helium plasma can be either inductively coupled plasma (ICP) or any of many other plasma types that sufficiently excite helium atoms to create metastable atoms of helium. The substrate in the process chamber can be exposed to helium metastable atoms such that these metastable atoms react with the silicon precursor adsorbed on the substrate to desorb non-silicon atoms. For example, for a disilane monolayer, helium metastable atoms can help remove excess hydrogen atoms and form the desired silicon monolayer. Exposing the surface of the substrate to metastable atoms can last for several seconds or tens of seconds, for example.

  In step 412, the helium plasma can be turned off and the deposition system can be purged again with one or more inert gases.

  In step 414, it can be determined whether doping of the silicon film is desired. If doping is desired and it is an appropriate time to introduce the dopant, the process can branch to step 416. Otherwise, the process can be looped back to step 406 to begin the deposition of the next monolayer of silicon and / or end the deposition of the partial monolayer of silicon.

  In step 416, a dopant precursor gas such as diborane (and its carrier gas, if any) can be flowed into the process chamber. The dopant precursor gas can be supplied at a flow rate or pressure sufficient to saturate the surface of the substrate. The inflow of diborane can last for several seconds or tens of seconds, for example. The monolayer of diborane can partially or completely cover the surface of the substrate.

  In step 418, after the surface is saturated, the dopant precursor can be turned off, and the deposition system can be purged with one or more inert gases to remove excess dopant precursor.

  In step 420, helium plasma can be emitted to generate helium metastable atoms. The substrate in the process chamber can be again exposed to helium metastable atoms so that these metastable atoms react with the dopant precursor adsorbed on the substrate to desorb non-dopant atoms. For example, for diborane monolayers, helium metastable atoms can help remove excess hydrogen atoms and form the desired partial or complete boron monolayer. Exposing the surface of the substrate to metastable atoms can last for several seconds or tens of seconds, for example.

  In step 422, the helium plasma can be turned off and the deposition system can be purged again with one or more inert gases.

  The above-described process steps 406 to 412 and / or process steps 406 to 422 can be repeated until a desired silicon film having one or more monolayers with a desired dopant profile is obtained.

Although the above examples only describe silicon film deposition and / or doping, it is understood that embodiments of the present disclosure can be readily adapted to deposition or doping of thin films of other materials or species. Should. For example, an ALD thin film containing the following species can be deposited or doped. That is, germanium (Ge), carbon (C), gallium (Ga), arsenic (As), indium (In), aluminum (Al), or phosphorus (P). The resulting thin film can comprise a single species such as carbon or germanium or a compound such as a III-V compound (eg GaAs, InAlp). For this purpose, precursors containing the corresponding species can be used. Precursor candidates include, but are not limited to: That is, a hydride (eg, SiH ₄ , Si ₂ H ₆ , GeH ₄ ), or a halogenated halide (eg, SiHCl ₃ ), a halogenated hydrocarbon (eg, CHF ₃ ), an alkyl (eg, trimethylaluminum-Al (CH ₃ )). ₃ or dimethyl ethyl aluminum-CH ₃ CH ₂ -Al (CH ₃ ) ₂ ), or a halide (for example, CCl ₄ or CCl ₂ F ₂ ).

  The present disclosure should not be limited to the scope according to the particular embodiments described herein. Indeed, in addition to those described herein, various other embodiments and modifications of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Accordingly, such other embodiments and modifications are also within the scope of the present disclosure. Further, although the present disclosure has been described herein in the context of a specific implementation in a specific environment for a specific purpose, those skilled in the art are not limited thereto and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. It will be appreciated that can be beneficially implemented in any number of environments for any number of purposes. Accordingly, the claims set forth below should be construed in view of the full scope and spirit of the present disclosure as set forth herein.

Claims (35)

An apparatus for atomic layer deposition, the apparatus comprising:
A process chamber having a substrate platform for holding at least one substrate;
A source of precursor, wherein the precursor comprises at least one first species of atom and at least one second species of atom, and the source of the at least one substrate; A source for supplying the precursor to saturate the surface; and a plasma source of at least one third-type metastable atom, the metastable atom being a saturated surface of the at least one substrate. An atomic layer deposition apparatus comprising: a plasma source capable of desorbing the at least one second species of atoms to form one or more atomic layers of the at least one first species .   The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising one or more devices for preventing at least some of the charged particles generated in the plasma source from reaching the surface of the substrate.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate platform is oriented to prevent at least some of the charged particles generated in the plasma source from reaching the surface of the substrate.   And further comprising a source of dopant precursor, the source of dopant precursor being configured to be used in place of the source of precursor in one or more deposition cycles, whereby the at least one first source. The device of claim 1, wherein one or more atomic layers of the species are doped.   A dopant precursor source, wherein in one or more deposition cycles, the dopant precursor source includes the dopant precursor substantially simultaneously with the precursor source supplying the precursor. The apparatus of claim 1, configured to supply, thereby doping one or more atomic layers of the at least one first species.   The metastable atom plasma source further comprises a plasma chamber coupled to the process chamber, the plasma chamber configured to generate the at least one third type metastable atom. The apparatus according to 1.   The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the plasma chamber generates the at least one third species metastable atom from inductively coupled plasma. The precursor is
silicon,
carbon,
germanium,
gallium,
Arsenic,
indium,
The apparatus of claim 1, comprising one or more species selected from the group consisting of aluminum and phosphorus. The surface of the substrate is
silicon,
Silicon-on-insulator (SOI),
Silicon dioxide,
diamond,
Silicon germanium,
Silicon carbide,
III-V compounds,
Flat panel material,
The apparatus of claim 1, comprising one or more substances selected from the group consisting of a polymer and a flexible substrate material. The at least one third species is
Helium (He),
Neon (Ne),
Argon (Ar),
Krypton (Kr),
Radon (Rn) and xenon (Xe)
The apparatus of claim 1, comprising one or more species selected from the group consisting of:   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one substrate is maintained at a temperature of 500 ° C. or less. An atomic layer deposition method comprising:
Saturating the surface of the substrate with a precursor having at least one first type of atom and at least one second type of atom, thereby forming a monolayer of the precursor on the surface of the substrate Exposing the surface of the substrate to a metastable atom of a third species generated by plasma, the metastable atom removing the at least one second species of atom from the surface of the substrate. An atomic layer deposition method comprising: desorbing to form the at least one first type atomic layer.   13. An atomic layer deposition method comprising a number of deposition cycles forming a plurality of atomic layers of the first species, each deposition cycle repeating the steps of claim 12 to An atomic layer deposition method for forming one atomic layer.   The method further comprises supplying a dopant precursor to the surface of the substrate simultaneously with the supply of the precursor, and in one or more of the multiple deposition cycles, the plurality of atomic layers of the at least one first species are provided. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein doping is performed.   14. The method of claim 13, further comprising using a dopant precursor instead of the precursor in one or more of the multiple deposition cycles, and doping the plurality of atomic layers of the at least one first species. Method.   14. The method of claim 13, further comprising preventing at least some of the charged particles generated in the metastable atom plasma source from reaching the surface of the substrate.   The method of claim 13, further comprising annealing the surface of the substrate at a temperature of 500 ° C. or less. The precursor includes disilane (Si ₂ H ₆ ),
The at least one first species comprises silicon;
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one second species comprises hydrogen and the third species comprises helium. The method of claim 18, further comprising masking one or more selected portions of the surface of the substrate with silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ ). The precursor is
silicon,
carbon,
germanium,
gallium,
Arsenic,
indium,
14. The method of claim 13, comprising one or more species selected from the group consisting of aluminum and phosphorus. The surface of the substrate is
silicon,
Silicon-on-insulator (SOI),
Silicon dioxide,
diamond,
Silicon germanium,
Silicon carbide,
III-V compounds,
Flat panel material,
14. The method of claim 13, comprising one or more substances selected from the group consisting of a polymer and a flexible substrate material. The at least one third species is
Helium (He),
Neon (Ne),
Argon (Ar),
Krypton (Kr),
Radon (Rn) and xenon (Xe)
14. The method of claim 13, comprising one or more species selected from the group consisting of: A process chamber having a substrate platform, which holds at least one substrate;
A source of disilane (Si ₂ H ₆ ), the source of disilane (Si ₂ H ₆ ) configured to supply an amount of disilane sufficient to saturate the surface of the at least one substrate ,
An apparatus for atomic layer deposition comprising a helium source and a plasma chamber coupled to the process chamber and configured to generate helium metastable atoms from helium supplied by the helium source. ,
The atomic layer deposition apparatus, wherein the metastable atoms desorb hydrogen atoms from a saturated surface of the at least one substrate, thereby forming one or more atomic layers of silicon. Further comprising a source of diborane (B ₂ H ₆ ), wherein the source of diborane is configured to be used in place of at least a portion of the disilane supply in one or more deposition cycles; 24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein atoms are introduced into the one or more atomic layers of silicon. Forming a thin film on a surface of a substrate in one or more deposition cycles, wherein each of the one or more deposition cycles includes at least one first species atom and at least one second A precursor having species of atoms is provided to saturate the surface of the substrate, and then the at least one second species of atoms is desorbed from the surface of the saturated substrate and the at least one first Forming one or more atomic layers of one species, and in one or more of the multiple deposition cycles, replacing at least a portion of the supply of the precursor with a dopant precursor, whereby the at least one of the at least one Doping one or more atomic layers of the first species;
Conformal doping method comprising:   26. The method of claim 25, wherein the at least one second species atom is desorbed with at least one third species metastable atom.   26. The method of claim 25, wherein the at least one third species metastable atom is generated in a plasma.   28. The method of claim 27, wherein at least some of the charged particles are prevented from reaching the surface of the substrate. The at least one third species is
Helium (He),
Neon (Ne),
Argon (Ar),
Krypton (Kr),
Radon (Rn) and xenon (Xe)
28. The method of claim 27, comprising one or more species selected from the group consisting of: The precursor is
silicon,
carbon,
germanium,
gallium,
Arsenic,
indium,
26. The method of claim 25, comprising one or more species selected from the group consisting of aluminum and phosphorus. The surface of the substrate is
silicon,
Silicon-on-insulator (SOI),
Silicon dioxide,
diamond,
Silicon germanium,
Silicon carbide,
III-V compounds,
Flat panel material,
26. The method of claim 25, comprising one or more substances selected from the group consisting of a polymer and a flexible substrate material.   26. The method of claim 25, wherein the surface of the substrate is maintained at a temperature of 500 ° C or lower.   26. The method of claim 25, wherein the surface of the substrate is not subjected to a further heat treatment that redistributes atoms of the dopant precursor.   26. The method of claim 25, wherein the surface of the substrate has a three-dimensional topology, and the thin film is conformally formed and conformally doped on the thin film.   35. The method of claim 34, wherein the thin film is part of a FinFET structure.

Images