U.S. patent application number 14/929073 was filed with the patent office on 2017-12-21 for dynamic precursor dosing for atomic layer deposition.
The applicant listed for this patent is Lam Research Corporation. Invention is credited to Hu Kang, Ishtak Karim, Purushottam Kumar, Adrien LaVoie, Fung Suong Ou, Jun Qian.
Application Number | 20170362705 14/929073 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 58446674 |
Filed Date | 2017-12-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170362705 |
Kind Code |
A9 |
Kumar; Purushottam ; et
al. |
December 21, 2017 |
DYNAMIC PRECURSOR DOSING FOR ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION
Abstract
Methods and apparatuses for controlling precursor flow in a
semiconductor processing tool are disclosed. A method may include
flowing gas through a gas line, opening an ampoule valve(s), before
a dose step, to start a flow of precursor from the ampoule to a
process chamber through the gas line, closing the ampoule valve(s)
to stop the precursor from flowing out of the ampoule, opening a
process chamber valve, at the beginning of the dose step, to allow
the flow of precursor to enter the process chamber, and closing the
process chamber valve, at the end of the dose step, to stop the
flow of precursor from entering the process chamber. A controller
may include at least one memory and at least one processor and the
at least one memory may store instructions for controlling the at
least one processor to control precursor flow in a semiconductor
processing tool.
Inventors: |
Kumar; Purushottam;
(Hillsboro, OR) ; LaVoie; Adrien; (Newberg,
OR) ; Qian; Jun; (Sherwood, OR) ; Kang;
Hu; (Tualatin, OR) ; Karim; Ishtak; (Portland,
OR) ; Ou; Fung Suong; (Etterbeek, BE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Lam Research Corporation |
Fremont |
CA |
US |
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|
Prior
Publication: |
|
Document Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20170096735 A1 |
April 6, 2017 |
|
|
Family ID: |
58446674 |
Appl. No.: |
14/929073 |
Filed: |
October 30, 2015 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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14516452 |
Oct 16, 2014 |
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14929073 |
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62236780 |
Oct 2, 2015 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01L 21/28556 20130101;
H01L 21/0228 20130101; C23C 16/45561 20130101; C23C 16/52 20130101;
C23C 16/45527 20130101; H01L 21/0262 20130101 |
International
Class: |
C23C 16/455 20060101
C23C016/455; H01L 21/02 20060101 H01L021/02; C23C 16/52 20060101
C23C016/52; H01L 21/285 20060101 H01L021/285 |
Claims
1. A method for controlling precursor flow in a semiconductor
processing tool, the method comprising: (a) flowing gas through a
gas line; (b) opening one or more valves of an ampoule, before a
dose step, to start a flow of precursor from the ampoule to a
process chamber through the gas line; (c) closing the one or more
valves of an ampoule to stop the precursor from flowing out of the
ampoule; (d) opening a process chamber valve, at the beginning of
the dose step, to allow the flow of precursor to enter the process
chamber; and (e) closing the process chamber valve, at the end of
the dose step, to stop the flow of precursor from entering the
process chamber.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein opening one or more valves of an
ampoule in (b) occurs before the dose step by an amount of time
that is substantially equal to a line charge time, wherein the line
charge time is the time required for precursor to flow from the
ampoule to the process chamber.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein closing the one or more valves of
an ampoule in (c) occurs before the closing of the process chamber
valve in (e) by an amount of time that is substantially equal to a
line charge time, wherein the line charge time is the time required
for precursor to flow from the ampoule to the process chamber.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein opening a process chamber valve
in (d) occurs after opening the valves of the ampoule in (b) by an
amount of time that is substantially equal to a line charge time,
wherein the line charge time is the time required for precursor to
flow from the ampoule to the process chamber.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein closing the process chamber valve
in (e) occurs after closing the one or more valves of ampoule in
(c) by an amount of time that is substantially equal to a line
charge time, wherein the line charge time is the time required for
precursor to flow from the ampoule to the process chamber.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein closing the one or more flow
valves of the ampoule in (c) occurs after opening the flow valves
of the ampoule in (b) by an amount of time that is substantially
equal to an adsorption time.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein closing the process chamber valve
in (e) occurs after opening the process chamber valve in (d) by an
amount of time substantially equal to the adsorption time.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein: opening one or more valves of an
ampoule in (b) occurs before the start of the dose step by an
amount of time that is substantially equal to a line charge time,
wherein the line charge time is the time required for precursor to
flow from the ampoule to the process chamber; closing the one or
more flow valves of the ampoule in (c) occurs after opening the
flow valves of the ampoule in (b) by an amount of time that is
substantially equal to an adsorption time; opening a process
chamber valve in (d) occurs after opening the valves of the ampoule
in (b) by an amount of time that is substantially equal to the line
charge time; and closing the process chamber valve in (e) occurs
after opening the process chamber valve in (d) by an amount of time
substantially equal to the adsorption time.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the adsorption time is selected
from the group consisting of: a time less than the line charge
time, a time greater than the line charge time, and a time equal to
the line charge time.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more valves of the
ampoule are opened before the dose step to cause the precursor to
reach the process chamber at the start of the dose step.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more valves of the
ampoule are opened before the dose step to cause the precursor to
at least partially fill the gas line at the start of the dose
step.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more valves of the
ampoule are closed before the end of the dose step to cause
substantially no precursor to remain in the gas line at the end of
the dose step.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more valves of the
ampoule are closed after an amount of precursor is in the gas line
to achieve a desired adsorption onto a wafer.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the valve of the process chamber
is closed after a desired adsorption onto a wafer has occurred.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein the valve of the process chamber
valve is closed when substantially no precursor remains in the gas
line.
16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a line
charge time, wherein the line charge time is the time required for
precursor to flow from the ampoule to the process chamber.
17-21. (canceled)
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Patent Application No. 62/236,780, filed Oct. 2, 2015, and titled
"DYNAMIC PRECURSOR DOSING FOR ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION", which is
incorporated by reference herein in its entirety and for all
purposes.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Some semiconductor manufacturing processes create a film on
a semiconductor wafer by flowing a precursor onto the wafer and
then activating a reaction of the substrate surface, usually with a
plasma and/or second precursor. In one such process, atomic layer
deposition ("ALD"), one or more vaporized precursors are flowed
from an ampoule onto a semiconductor wafer as part of one or more
"dose" steps during an ALD cycle. In some traditional semiconductor
processing tools, some ways in which precursor is delivered to the
processing chamber leads to precursor waste.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0003] FIG. 1 depicts a schematic representation of an example
precursor delivery system.
[0004] FIG. 2 depicts an example of the gas line section of the
example precursor delivery system in FIG. 1.
[0005] FIG. 3 depicts the graphical representation of an example
experiment that may be used to determine line charge time.
[0006] FIG. 4 depicts a graphical representation of valve operation
and timing for the first example implementation of a precursory
delivery system when the adsorption time may be less than the line
charge time.
[0007] FIG. 5 depicts the precursor delivery system of the first
example implementation at the end of precursor loading.
[0008] FIG. 6 depicts the precursor delivery system of the first
example implementation at the beginning of the dose step.
[0009] FIG. 7 depicts a graphical representation of valve operation
and timing for the second example implementation of a precursory
delivery system when the adsorption time may be greater than the
line charge time.
[0010] FIG. 8 depicts the precursor delivery system of the second
example implementation at the beginning of the dose step.
[0011] FIG. 9 depicts the precursor delivery system of the second
example implementation at the close of the ampoule valve.
[0012] FIG. 10 depicts a graphical representation of valve
operation and timing for the third example implementation of a
precursory delivery system when the adsorption time may be equal to
the line charge time.
[0013] FIG. 11 depicts the precursor delivery system of the third
example implementation at the beginning of the dose step.
[0014] FIG. 12 depicts the precursor delivery system of the third
example implementation at the end of the dose step.
[0015] FIG. 13 depicts some demonstrative data indicating that
using the implementations discussed herein may, in at least some
circumstances, lead to a reduction of precursor usage.
[0016] FIG. 14 depicts an example controller for a semiconductor
processing tool that includes a precursor delivery system.
SUMMARY
[0017] The systems, methods and devices of this disclosure each
have several innovative aspects, no single one of which is solely
responsible for the desirable attributes disclosed herein. Included
among these aspects are at least the following implementations,
although further implementations may be set forth in the detailed
description or may be evident from the discussion provided
herein.
[0018] In some implementations, a method for controlling precursor
flow in a semiconductor processing tool is provided. The method may
include: (a) flowing gas through a gas line, (b) opening one or
more valves of an ampoule, before a dose step, to start a flow of
precursor from the ampoule to a process chamber through the gas
line, (c) closing the one or more valves of an ampoule to stop the
precursor from flowing out of the ampoule, (d) opening a process
chamber valve, at the beginning of the dose step, to allow the flow
of precursor to enter the process chamber, and (e) closing the
process chamber valve, at the end of the dose step, to stop the
flow of precursor from entering the process chamber.
[0019] In some further implementations, opening one or more valves
of an ampoule in (b) may occur before the dose step by an amount of
time that may be substantially equal to a line charge time, where
the line charge time is the time required for precursor to flow
from the ampoule to the process chamber.
[0020] In some further implementations, closing the one or more
valves of an ampoule in (c) may occur before the closing of the
process chamber valve in (e) by an amount of time that may be
substantially equal to a line charge time, where the line charge
time is the time required for precursor to flow from the ampoule to
the process chamber.
[0021] In some further implementations, opening a process chamber
valve in (d) may occur after opening the valves of the ampoule in
(b) by an amount of time that may be substantially equal to a line
charge time, where the line charge time is the time required for
precursor to flow from the ampoule to the process chamber.
[0022] In some further implementations, closing the process chamber
valve in (e) may occur after closing the one or more valves of
ampoule in (c) by an amount of time that may be substantially equal
to a line charge time, where the line charge time is the time
required for precursor to flow from the ampoule to the process
chamber.
[0023] In some further implementations, closing the one or more
flow valves of the ampoule in (c) may occur after opening the flow
valves of the ampoule in (b) by an amount of time that may be
substantially equal to an adsorption time.
[0024] In some further implementations, closing the process chamber
valve in (e) may occur after opening the process chamber valve in
(d) by an amount of time that may be substantially equal to the
adsorption time.
[0025] In some such implementations, opening one or more valves of
an ampoule in (b) may occur before the start of the dose step by an
amount of time that may be substantially equal to a line charge
time, where the line charge time is the time required for precursor
to flow from the ampoule to the process chamber, closing the one or
more flow valves of the ampoule in (c) may occur after opening the
flow valves of the ampoule in (b) by an amount of time that may be
substantially equal to an adsorption time, opening a process
chamber valve in (d) may occur after opening the valves of the
ampoule in (b) by an amount of time that may be substantially equal
to the line charge time, and closing the process chamber valve in
(e) may occur after opening the process chamber valve in (d) by an
amount of time that may be substantially equal to the adsorption
time.
[0026] In some further such implementations, the adsorption time
may be a time less than the line charge time, a time greater than
the line charge time, or a time equal to the line charge time.
[0027] In some further implementations, the one or more valves of
the ampoule may be opened before the dose step to cause the
precursor to reach the process chamber at the start of the dose
step.
[0028] In some further implementations, the one or more valves of
the ampoule may be opened before the dose step to cause the
precursor to at least partially fill the gas line at the start of
the dose step.
[0029] In some further implementations, the one or more valves of
the ampoule may be closed before the end of the dose step to cause
substantially no precursor to remain in the gas line at the end of
the dose step.
[0030] In some further implementations, the one or more valves of
the ampoule may be closed after an amount of precursor is in the
gas line to achieve a desired adsorption onto a wafer.
[0031] In some further implementations, the valve of the process
chamber may be closed after a desired adsorption onto a wafer has
occurred.
[0032] In some further implementations, the valve of the process
chamber valve may be closed when substantially no precursor remains
in the gas line.
[0033] In some further implementations, the method may further
include determining a line charge time, where the line charge time
is the time required for precursor to flow from the ampoule to the
process chamber.
[0034] In some embodiments, a controller for a semiconductor
processing tool that includes a precursor delivery system may be
provided. The controller may include at least one memory and at
least one processor that may be communicatively connected with the
at least one memory and configured to be communicatively connected
with the semiconductor processing tool and the precursor delivery
system. The at least one memory may stores computer-executable
instructions for controlling the at least one processor to: cause a
flow of gas through a gas line, open one or more valves of an
ampoule, before a dose step, to start a flow of precursor from the
ampoule to a process chamber through the gas line, close the one or
more valves of an ampoule to stop the precursor from flowing out of
the ampoule, open a process chamber valve, at the beginning of the
dose step, to allow the flow of precursor to enter the process
chamber, and close the process chamber valve, at the end of the
dose step, to stop the flow of precursor from entering the process
chamber.
[0035] In some embodiments, the memory may further store computer
executable instructions for controlling the at least one processor
to open the one or more valves of the ampoule before the dose step
to cause the precursor to reach the process chamber at the start of
the dose step.
[0036] In some embodiments, the memory may further store computer
executable instructions for controlling the at least one processor
to close the one or more valves of the ampoule before the dose step
to cause substantially no precursor to remain in the gas line at
the end of the dose step.
[0037] In some embodiments, the memory may further store computer
executable instructions for controlling the at least one processor
to close the one or more valves of the ampoule after an amount of
precursor is in the gas line to achieve a desired adsorption onto a
wafer.
DESCRIPTION
[0038] In the following description, numerous specific details are
set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the
presented concepts. The presented concepts may be practiced without
some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well
known process operations have not been described in detail so as to
not unnecessarily obscure the described concepts. While some
concepts will be described in conjunction with the specific
embodiments, it will be understood that these embodiments are not
intended to be limiting.
[0039] There are many concepts and implementations described and
illustrated herein. While certain features, attributes and
advantages of the implementations discussed herein have been
described and illustrated, it should be understood that many
others, as well as different and/or similar implementations,
features, attributes and advantages of the present disclosure, are
apparent from the description and illustrations. As such, the above
implementations are merely exemplary. They are not intended to be
exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms,
techniques, materials and/or configurations disclosed. Many
modifications and variations are possible in light of this
disclosure. It is to be understood that other implementations may
be utilized and operational changes may be made without departing
from the scope of the present disclosure. As such, the scope of the
disclosure is not limited solely to the description above because
the description of the above implementations has been presented for
the purposes of illustration and description.
[0040] The present disclosure is neither limited to any single
aspect nor implementation, nor to any single combination and/or
permutation of such aspects and/or implementations. Moreover, each
of the aspects of the present disclosure, and/or implementations
thereof, may be employed alone or in combination with one or more
of the other aspects and/or implementations thereof. For the sake
of brevity, many of those permutations and combinations will not be
discussed and/or illustrated separately herein.
[0041] Disclosed herein are methods and apparatuses for improving
the precursor delivery to a process chamber during some
semiconductor fabrication processes which use film deposition on
semiconductor substrates or wafers, some of which may involve
multiple film deposition cycles, each producing a "discrete" film
thickness. Atomic layer deposition ("ALD") is one such film
deposition method, but any technique which puts down one or more
thin layers of film, including those used in a repeating sequential
matter and which may be viewed as involving multiple cycles of
deposition, may apply to this disclosure. Some implementations of
depositing a thin film on a semiconductor wafer may involve a
cyclical process that may include two half reactions on the wafer
surface. The first half reaction may include adsorption of one or
more precursors on the surface of the wafer and the second half
reaction may include the conversion of the adsorbed precursor(s)
into a film or layer.
[0042] For example, ALD is a film forming technique which is
well-suited to the deposition of conformal films due to the fact
that a single cycle of ALD only deposits a single thin layer of
material, the thickness being limited by the amount of one or more
film precursor reactants which may adsorb onto the substrate
surface (i.e., forming an adsorption-limited layer) prior to the
film-forming chemical reaction itself. Multiple "ALD cycles" may
then be used to build up a film of the desired thickness, and since
each layer is thin and conformal, the resulting film substantially
conforms to the shape of the underlying devices structure. In
certain implementations, each ALD cycle includes the following
steps (1) exposure of the substrate surface to a first precursor,
(2) purge of the reaction chamber in which the substrate is
located, (3), activation of a reaction of the substrate surface,
typically with a plasma and/or a second precursor, and (4) purge of
the reaction chamber in which the substrate is located. The first
step listed herein may be referred to as a "dose step", the second
step may be referred to as a "purge step", the third step may be
referred to as a "RF step", and the fourth step may be referred to
as a "RF purge step."
[0043] Some implementations of semiconductor processing that use a
precursor may include hardware, and may implement methods, to
deliver the precursor to the processing chamber. In certain
implementations of semiconductor processing, a liquid precursor may
need to be evaporated, i.e. vaporized, before being transported
and/or deposited on a semiconductor wafer. The liquid precursor may
be contained in an ampoule and a carrier gas, which may be an inert
gas (such as argon), a non-inert gas (such as oxygen), or a
non-inert gas mixture (such as oxygen and argon), may flow through
the ampoule to carry evaporated precursor to a semiconductor
processing chamber. Carrier gas may be either "pushed" (where gas
is forced through the lines) or "pulled" (where gas is pulled
through the lines, possibly via a vacuum) through the ampoule to
carry the evaporated precursor. Throughout this disclosure, the
term "precursor" may be used to describe precursor in both liquid
and vapor states.
[0044] FIG. 1 depicts a schematic representation of an example
precursor delivery system. As can be seen, the example precursor
delivery system 100 includes a flow controller 102, an ampoule 104,
a mixing assembly 126, and a process chamber 128 that are connected
to a series of pipes and valves and through which fluid, e.g.
liquid and/or gas, may flow. In general, the direction of the fluid
flow may be from the right of FIG. 1 towards the left of FIG. 1,
with such general directions indicated by white three arrows. For
instance, the flow controller 102 may be considered upstream from
the ampoule 104 and from the mixing assembly 126. In FIG. 1, a gas
line and/or pipe of the example precursor delivery system 100 is
depicted as a line (which, for instance, may be solid, dashed, or
dotted) while a valve is depicted as a "bowtie" (e.g., two opposing
triangles); an open valve is not shaded, whereas a closed valve is
shaded. All the valves in FIG. 1 are shown as open.
[0045] The flow controller 102 is connected downstream from valve
106 and upstream from the rest of the system. A push gas, or other
fluid, may flow into the system and may flow through flow
controller 102. In some implementations, the flow controller 102
controls the flow of the push gas or other fluid. Flow controller
102 is upstream from valve 108, which is upstream from valve 110,
after which there is a junction between valve 112 and valve 114.
The ampoule 104 includes two valves, valve 114 and valve 116, which
may permit gas flow to enter and/or exit the ampoule 104. Valve 112
is a bypass valve which permits gas to bypass, or divert around,
the ampoule 104, including when valves 114 and/or 116 may be
closed. In between valve 116 and 112 is another junction point,
after which, e.g. downstream, are valve 118 and valve 120, followed
by the mixing assembly 126. Downstream from the mixing assembly 126
is a third junction which is between valve 122 and 124. Valve 124
flows to a foreline 130 which may not flow into the process chamber
128, while valve 122 permits flow to the process chamber 128. For
purposes of this disclosure, the phrase "gas line section" and/or
"gas line" may be used to describe one or more portions of the
example precursor delivery system that may connect the ampoule 104
to the mixing assembly 126 and that may include valves 116, 118,
and 120. In some embodiments, the gas line section may also be
considered to include the line between the mixing assembly 126 and
valve 122, and/or between valve 122 and the process chamber 128.
FIG. 2 depicts an example gas line section of the example precursor
delivery system in FIG. 1. As can be seen, this gas line section
includes the gas line from the ampoule 104 to the process chamber
128.
[0046] For purposes of this disclosure, the phrase "ampoule valve
114/116" and/or "ampoule valve" may be used to describe valves 116
and 114, such that when the "ampoule valve 114/116" is open, valves
114 and 116 are open and precursor may flow out of the ampoule and
into the gas line section, and that when the "ampoule valve
114/116" is closed, valves 116 and 114 are closed such that no
precursor may flow into the gas line section. In some
configurations, when the "ampoule valve 114/116" may be open, valve
112 may therefore be closed; similarly, when the "ampoule valve
114/116" may be closed, valve 112 may be open. Likewise, valve 122
may be considered the "process chamber valve 122" because it may
allow or prevent flow into the process chamber 128, while valve 124
may be considered the "foreline valve 124" because it may allow or
prevent flow into the foreline 130. Valve 112 may be considered the
"bypass valve 112" since it allows or permits fluid to flow into
the ampoule 104 or to divert or bypass the ampoule 104.
[0047] Some other precursor deliver systems may have some different
elements and/or configurations, but the implementations discussed
herein may still be applied to such other systems. A precursory
delivery system, such as that depicted in FIG. 1, may be part of a
semiconductor processing tool, and may be connected to one or more
process chambers. For demonstrative purposes, the precursor
delivery system discussed herein involves one process chamber, but
in some implementations, it may involve more than one process
chamber.
[0048] The precursor delivery system may be implemented in a number
of methods in order to deliver precursor to the process chamber
128. In some implementations, the precursor may be caused to flow
into the precursor delivery system when push gas, such as an inert
gas like Argon or a non-inert gas like Oxygen, is caused to flow,
for instance by the flow controller 102, through opened valves 108,
110, and 114 into the ampoule 104. In such a situation, valve 112
may be closed. The vaporized precursor in the ampoule 104 may be
pushed by the push gas out of the ampoule 104 and through opened
valves 116 and 118 into the mixing assembly 126. In some such
situations, the precursor may be caused to flow through opened
valve 122 into the process chamber 128, during which valves 112 and
124 may be closed.
[0049] The time that the vaporized precursor takes to flow from the
ampoule 104 to the process chamber 128 may be considered the "line
charge time". However, line charge time may also be considered the
time that the precursor takes to flow from the ampoule 104 to
another location that may be upstream from the process chamber 128,
for instance at the process chamber valve 122. A charging of a gas
line may be considered the process of loading precursor into the
gas line, such that a partially charged gas line is a gas line that
may contains some, but not all precursor while a fully charged gas
line may contain substantially all precursor. The time that the
wafer takes to adsorb a certain amount, or percentage, of the
precursor may be considered the "adsorption time". This adsorption
time may be the saturation time, less than the saturation time, or
more than the saturation time. The saturation time is the time
required to fully saturate the work piece surface, e.g. a wafer or
substrate, with precursor. Saturation may be considered the point
at which additional precursor cannot be adsorbed onto or otherwise
physically and/or chemically associated with the work piece
surface.
[0050] Some current general implementations of precursor delivery
will now be discussed. In one current general implementation,
during more than one step of an ALD cycle, the push gas may be
caused to continuously flow, e.g. by the flow controller 102, into
the ampoule 104 such that vaporized precursor is continuously
flowing downstream from the ampoule 104, but this continuously
flowing precursor is diverted away from the process chamber 128
during steps in which precursor is not desired to be delivered to
the process chamber 128, and directed into the process chamber 128
when the precursor is required in the process chamber 128, e.g.,
during a dose step. For example, in steps in which the precursor is
not to be delivered to the process chamber 128, e.g. during the RF
step, valve 122 may be closed and valve 124 may be opened thereby
diverting precursor to the foreline 130; conversely, when precursor
is desired in the process chamber 128, valve 124 may be closed and
valve 122 may be opened. However, such continuously flowing
vaporized precursor presents a number of disadvantages including,
but not limited to, significant precursor usage and/or precursor
waste.
[0051] In some other current general implementations, the
activation of the ampoule valve may be tied to, e.g. coupled with,
and/or dependent upon the start and/or stop of a step in the
process. For example, the ampoule valve 114/116 may open at the
start of the dose step or the RF purge step, and the ampoule valve
114/116 may close at the end of the dose step. In some such
implementations, the precursor flow from the ampoule 104 towards
the process chamber 128 may start at the same time as the start of
a process step, e.g. the RF purge step, and the precursor flow may
be stopped at the end of the dose step. Such a method has a number
of disadvantages including, but not limited to, precursor waste
and/or additional time usage (which may slow wafer throughput).
[0052] For example, in some current implementations in which the
precursor is caused to flow from the ampoule 104 to the process
chamber 128 at the beginning of the dose step, the total dose step
time includes at least the line charge time plus the adsorption
time. Moreover, after the dose step, precursor may remain in the
gas line section between the ampoule 104 and the process chamber
128, which may be referred to as "slug". This slug may be diverted
away from the process chamber 128, i.e. "dumped", to foreline 130,
because if slug is used in later wafer processing steps,
condensation may occur in the gas line section, which may lead to
unwanted wafer defects. Some of this example's disadvantages
include, among other things, a long dose time which may reduce
throughput (i.e. process efficiency and total process time) as well
as precursor waste.
[0053] Another example involves the precursor starting to flow from
the ampoule 104 to the process chamber 128 at the beginning of the
RF purge step, which is before a dose step. In some such
situations, in which the RF purge step takes less time than the
line charge time, the RF purge step may be caused to be longer than
is necessary in order to allow the precursor to reach the process
chamber 128. This may adversely affect throughput, wafer
uniformity, and may waste additional materials used during the RF
purge step. In some other situations, in which the RF purge step
takes more time than the line charge time, the precursor may reach
the process chamber 128 before the end of the RF purge step which
may require some precursor to be diverted away from the process
chamber 128 and dumped, thereby wasting precursor. Additionally, as
discussed above, after the dose step is complete, precursor may
remain in the gas line between the ampoule and the process chamber
128 and may be dumped, thus wasting additional precursor.
[0054] In such current example implementations, as well as other
current implementations not discussed herein, the precursor
delivery systems are not configured to optimize line charge time
and dose time while also reducing precursor usage. Such systems
have significant disadvantages, including, but not limited to,
adversely affecting line charge time, dose step time, throughput,
and causing wafer defects.
[0055] The inventors of the present disclosure have developed new
methods, implementations, apparatuses, and techniques to
dynamically deliver and efficiently utilize the precursor while
achieving low defectivity in semiconductor processing. In some
implementations, the opening and closing of the ampoule valve
114/116 may be decoupled from occurring at the start and/or stop of
a process step, as described above, such that the ampoule valve
114/116 may open and/or close independently of the start and stop
of processing steps. In some such implementations, the operation of
the ampoule valve 114/116 may be independent of the ALD steps in
the process chamber. In some implementations, the precursor also
may not flow continuously. As discussed in more detail below, in
order to deliver the desired amount of precursor to the process
chamber at the beginning of the dose step, the present
implementations and techniques may adjust, among other factors, (A)
the duration of the ampoule valve 114/116 opening and/or (B) the
time at which the ampoule valve 114/116 opens before the dose
step.
[0056] For example, using FIG. 1, the ampoule valve 114/116 may
open at a specific time before the dose step in order to charge, or
partially charge, the gas line section before the dose step such
that the precursor arrives at the processing chamber 128 at the
beginning of the dose step. The time at which the ampoule valve
114/116 may open before the dose step may be dependent upon, among
other things, the hardware of the precursor delivery system and/or
semiconductor processing tool; one or more process parameters such
as, for example, push gas flow, ampoule temperature, and/or
headspace pressure; vapor line charge time; and/or desired
adsorption time. The ampoule valve 114/116 may remain open for a
particular time in order to draw, i.e. load, the appropriate and/or
desired amount of precursor from the ampoule 104 for the desired
amount of wafer adsorption and/or the amount or precursor needed
within the gas line section.
[0057] The ampoule valve 114/116 may also close after the
appropriate and/or desired amount of precursor has flowed out of
the ampoule 104. In some implementations, the desired amount of
precursor may be enough for saturation of the wafer, for less
adsorption than saturation, or more than may be necessary for a
desired adsorption and/or saturation; this amount may be variable,
may change from cycle to cycle, and/or may be controlled by a user.
The dose step may end, e.g. process chamber valve 122 may close,
after all or a major portion of the precursor has flowed to the
process chamber 128 such that by the end of the dose step, the
desired amount of adsorption has occurred and there is
substantially no precursor remaining in the gas line section. In
some such implementations, there may be a continuous push gas flow,
e.g. a flow that may not stop during a cycle and/or may begin
before the ampoule valve 114/116 opens and may stop after the
process chamber valve 122 is closed.
[0058] In some of the new implementations, the valve timings may be
related to the start and/or stop of certain deposition operations
such as the start and stop of an ALD dose step. The time between
opening the ampoule valve 114/116 and the start of a dose step may
be equivalent to, or based on, a gas line charge time (which, as
discussed above, may be the time required for gas to flow from the
ampoule 104 to the entrance of the process chamber 128). Further,
the ampoule valve 114/116 may remain open for a duration equivalent
to, or based on, the time required to meet the process requirements
for adsorbing precursor onto the work piece surface (which, as
discussed above, may be the saturation time or a percentage of the
saturation time).
[0059] As mentioned above, the time at which the ampoule valve
114/116 opens and/or the duration for which the ampoule valve
114/116 is opened may depend upon the adsorption time and/or the
line charge time. The line charge time may be determined by a
number of different methods. FIG. 3 depicts the graphical
representation of an example experiment that may be used to
determine line charge time. FIG. 3 includes, among other things,
some of the parameters, data, and results of such example
experiment. As can be seen, the entire dose step 332 is depicted,
with the x-axis as the dose time in seconds, and the y-axis as the
deposition rate. The RF Purge step 334 is shown on the left of FIG.
3 to indicate that such step may take place before the dose step
332, while the Purge step 336 is shown on the right of FIG. 3 to
indicate that such step may take place after the dose step 332. In
such an experiment, the deposition rate of a wafer was measured for
varying durations of dose step 332 in order to determine the line
charge time and the adsorption time (in this case, the saturation
time was measured). The dose step 332 of FIG. 3 has three sections,
the first being line charge time 338 which may occur between about
point 344 and about point 346, the second being adsorption time 340
(which may be saturation time) which may occur between about point
346 and about point 348, and the third being post saturation 342
which may occur between about point 348 and 350.
[0060] In the experiment depicted by FIG. 3 and referring to the
example precursor delivery system in FIG. 1, immediately before the
beginning of the dose step 332, the ampoule valves 114/116 were
closed, valves 106, 108, 110, 112, 118, 120, and 124 were open, and
valve 122 was closed, such that no precursor was flowing from the
ampoule 104, but push gas was flowing through the system and
diverted around the ampoule 104 through valve 112. At time zero of
the dose step 332, i.e. at point 344, the ampoule valve 114/116 was
opened and valve 112 was closed to begin flowing precursor to the
process chamber 128 from the ampoule 104. As can be seen in FIG. 3,
the deposition rate remained at approximately zero until about 0.16
seconds, indicated by point 346, when deposition began, meaning
that the precursor arrived in the process chamber 128 and began
depositing precursor on the wafer, thus giving a line charge time
338 of approximately 0.16 s. The second section the dose phase 332
in FIG. 3, adsorption time 340, depicts the time at which the wafer
reached the desired adsorption, which here was saturation, after
which no further material was adsorbed by the wafer, and occurred
at approximately 0.3 seconds after the beginning of dose step 332,
i.e. at point 348. Thus, the saturation time was about 0.15 s for
this example. During the third section of the dose phase 332, post
saturation 342, precursor flowed into the process chamber 128 but
no further adsorption occurred.
[0061] In the example shown in FIG. 3, the line charge time (about
0.16 seconds) was approximately the same as the adsorption (e.g.
saturation) time (about 0.15 seconds). Based on these findings the
present inventors determined that in some situations, vapor in a
completely, or substantially, charged line (e.g. precursor in the
gas line section from about valve 116 to about the process chamber
128) may deliver all or most of the precursor that may be required
for desired adsorption and/or saturation. However, in some other
implementations that may use different process conditions, this may
not hold true. Furthermore, the present inventors determined that
line charge may be started accurately to avoid, or reduce,
precursor waste, and that the precursor flow into the gas line
section, e.g. from the ampoule 104, may be stopped, e.g. by closing
the ampoule valve 114/116, before the end of the dose step such
that the gas line section already charged with precursor may be
used for the remaining dose step, and/or that the precursor flow
may be decoupled from the ALD steps in the chamber.
[0062] In some implementations, a measurement step such as the
above may be conducted in order to determine a line charge time
and/or saturation/adsorption time for a cycle, step, or process.
Such information may later be used in order to determine the timing
and duration of the ampoule valve opening and closing, e.g., with
respect to the dose step of an ALD process. In some
implementations, this measurement may occur before, during, and/or
after an ALD cycle and may be repeated throughout a cycle, step,
and/or semiconductor manufacturing process.
[0063] Some example implementations demonstrating the timing of the
ampoule valve's opening and closing in relation to the dose step
and process chamber valves' opening and closing will now be
discussed. As stated above, the time at which the ampoule valve
opens and/or closes may depend upon the adsorption time and/or the
line charge time. Three example situations are discussed which
involve the adsorption time may be less than the line charge time,
the adsorption time may be more than the line charge time, and the
adsorption time may be substantially equal to the line charge time.
In discussing these example implementations, the same example
precursor delivery system of FIG. 1 is used. However, these example
implementations are not limited to the precursor delivery system of
FIG. 1; they may be applied to any precursor delivery system of any
semiconductor processing tool. Furthermore, in such example
implementations, push gas may be flowing continuously through the
system.
[0064] In a first example implementation, the adsorption time may
be less than the line charge time. FIG. 4 depicts a graphical
representation of valve operation and timing for the first example
implementation of a precursory delivery system when the adsorption
time may be less than the line charge time. In the chart depicted
in FIG. 4, time is on the x-axis and progresses from left to right,
but does not have specific units because the units may vary
depending on numerous factors including, but not limited to, the
process step, the precursor, push gas, and process conditions; the
y-axis contains valve operation, i.e. either "open" or "closed" for
four valves, which includes the process chamber valve 122, the
foreline valve 124, the ampoule valve 114/116, and the bypass valve
112. As can be seen, before any precursor is loaded into the
system, i.e. before a first time point 452, the process chamber
valve 122 is closed, the foreline valve 124 is open, the ampoule
valve 114/116 is closed, and the bypass valve is open, which may
allow the push gas to flow from, among other items, the flow
controller 102, through the bypass valve 112, not into the ampoule
104, into the mixing assembly 126, and through the foreline
130.
[0065] At about the first time point 452 in FIG. 4, the ampoule
valve 114/116 opens and the bypass valve 112 closes, thereby
allowing push gas to flow into the ampoule 104 and cause precursor
to begin flowing into the system. In this example implementation,
the ampoule valve 114/116 may open before the process chamber valve
122 opens and it may be open for a time period equal to, or
substantially equal to, that of the adsorption time 460. The
ampoule valve 114/116 may close at about a second time point 454
which may also be before the process chamber valve 122 opens. In
FIG. 4, the gas line section may be loaded with precursor between
about the first time point 452 and about the second time point 454,
but in some such implementations like that depicted in FIG. 4, the
gas line section between the ampoule 104 and the process chamber
128 may not be fully charged or loaded with precursor at the end of
loading at about the second time point 454. This may allow the
desired amount of precursor to be sent into the gas line section
and/or into the process chamber 128.
[0066] FIG. 5 depicts the precursor delivery system of the first
example implementation at the end of precursor loading. In
reference to the chart of FIG. 4, FIG. 5 shows the example
precursor delivery system 100 immediately before about the second
time point 454. In FIG. 5 (as well as FIGS. 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12),
as indicated by the legend in the lower right corner, a solid line
indicates no flow, a dotted line indicates push gas, and a dashed
line indicates precursor. As can be seen in FIG. 5, the gas line
section (e.g. from the junction between valves 114 and 116 to the
junction of valves 122 and 124) contains both precursor and push
gas. In this example implementation, the amount of precursor that
may be loaded into the gas line section may not fully charge the
gas line section, but may be sufficient for the desired adsorption
or the desired process. FIG. 5 also shows that bypass valve 112 is
closed thereby allowing the push gas to enter into the ampoule 104,
and also shows process chamber valve 122 closed and foreline valve
124 open thus causing the push gas to divert to the foreline 130
and not into the process chamber 128.
[0067] Referring back to FIG. 4 at about the next time point, a
third time point 456, the dose step begins. Between the end of
loading at about the second time point 454 and the start of the
dose step at about the third time point 456, the ampoule valve
114/116 may be closed, the bypass valve 112 may be open, the
foreline valve 124 may be open and the process chamber valve 122
may be closed. In some example implementations, the dose step may
begin after the beginning of the precursor loading, e.g. the first
time point 452, by an amount of time equal, or substantially equal,
to that of a line charge time 462. As stated previously, the line
charge time 462 may be considered the time for the precursor to
travel from the ampoule 104 to the process chamber 128. This timing
may cause the precursor to reach the process chamber 128 at about
the third time point 456, which may be the start of dosing, e.g.
the dose step.
[0068] The precursor delivery system at this third time point 456
may be seen in FIG. 6. FIG. 6 depicts the precursor delivery system
of the first example implementation at the beginning of the dose
step. As can be seen, the ampoule valve 114/116 is closed, the
bypass valve 112 is open, the foreline valve 124 is closed, and the
process chamber valve 122 is open, all of which enables the
precursor in the gas line section to enter the process chamber
128.
[0069] Referring back to FIG. 4, the chamber valve 122 may be open
for an amount of time that may permit the desired amount of
precursor to enter the process chamber 128. This amount of time may
be equal to, or substantially equal to, the adsorption time 460,
which as depicted in FIG. 4, may be between about the third time
point 456 and about a fourth time period 458. Once the process
chamber valve 122 has been open for the desired amount of time,
which may be the adsorption time 460, the process chamber valve 122
may close and the foreline valve 124 may open, as is depicted at
about the fourth time point 458; this fourth time point 458 may be
considered the end of the dose step. At such a time, in some
embodiments, there may be little or no precursor remaining in the
gas line section.
[0070] In a second example implementation, the adsorption time may
be greater than the line charge time. FIG. 7 depicts a graphical
representation of valve operation and timing for the second example
implementation of a precursory delivery system when the adsorption
time may be greater than the line charge time. Similar to the chart
in FIG. 4, in FIG. 7 time is on the x-axis and progresses from left
to right, and the y-axis contains valve operation, i.e. either
"open" or "closed" for the same four valves, which include the
process chamber valve 122, the foreline valve 124, the ampoule
valve 114/116, and the bypass valve 112. As can be seen, before any
precursor is loaded into the system, i.e. before a first time point
752, the process chamber valve 122 is closed, the foreline valve
124 is open, the ampoule valve 114/116 is closed, and the bypass
valve is open, which may allow the push gas to flow from, among
other items, the flow controller 102, through the bypass valve 112
and not into the ampoule 104, into the mixing assembly 126, and
through the foreline 130.
[0071] At about the first time point 752 in FIG. 7, the ampoule
valve 114/116 may open and the bypass valve may 112 close, thereby
allowing push gas to flow into the ampoule 104 and cause precursor
to begin flowing into the system. In this second example
implementation, the ampoule valve 114/116 may open before the
process chamber valve V122 opens and it may open for a time period
equal to, or substantially equal to, that of an adsorption time
760. The ampoule valve 114/116 may close at about a third time
point 756 which may be after the process chamber valve 122 opens
(which is different than in the first example implementation) at
about a second time point 754. In some such implementations, the
ampoule valve V114/116 may remain open after the precursor reaches
and enters the process chamber 128 such that the ampoule valve
114/116 and the chamber valve 122 are both open together for some
period of time.
[0072] At about the second time point 754 in FIG. 7, the dose step
begins. This second time point 754 may occur after the first time
point 752 by an amount of time that may be equal, or substantially
equal, to a line charge time 762. As can be seen in FIG. 7, the gas
line section may be fully charged with precursor, e.g. the gas line
section from about the ampoule 104 to about the process chamber 128
may contain precursor, at about this second time point 754. The
process chamber valve 122 also opens at, or about, the second time
point 754 which may be about when the precursor arrives at the
process chamber valve 122.
[0073] FIG. 8 depicts the precursor delivery system of the second
example implementation at the beginning of the dose step. FIG. 8
depicts this system at about the second time point 754 of FIG. 7.
As can be seen, the bypass valve 112 is closed, precursor is
flowing from the ampoule 104 through the open process chamber valve
122 and into the process chamber 128.
[0074] Referring back to FIG. 7, between about the second time
point 754 and about a third time point 756, the process chamber
valve 122 and the ampoule valve 114/116 are both open. As stated
above, at the third time point 756, the ampoule valve 114/116 may
close while the process chamber valve 122 may remain open, and this
closure of ampoule valve 114/116 may occur after the ampoule valve
114/116 opened, i.e. at about the first time point 752, by an
amount equal, or substantially, equal to the adsorption time 760.
As can be seen further in FIG. 7, the third time point 756 may
occur before the process chamber valve 122 closes by an amount
equal, or substantially equal, to the line charge time 762.
[0075] FIG. 9 depicts the precursor delivery system of the second
example implementation at the close of the ampoule valve. FIG. 8
depicts this system at about the third time point 756 of FIG. 7. As
can be seen, the ampoule valve 114/116 is closed while the bypass
valve 112 is open.
[0076] At about a fourth time point 758 of FIG. 7, the process
chamber valve 122 closes and the foreline valve 124 opens. As
stated above, because the ampoule valve 114/116 may close before
the process chamber valve 122 closes by an amount equal, or
substantially equal, to the line charge time 762, the gas line
section may contain little to no precursor at the fourth time point
758 when the process chamber valve 122 closes.
[0077] In a third example implementation, the adsorption time may
be equal to the line charge time. FIG. 10 depicts a graphical
representation of valve operation and timing for the third example
implementation of a precursory delivery system when the adsorption
time may be equal to the line charge time. Similar to the charts in
FIGS. 4 and 7, time is on the x-axis and progresses from left to
right, and the y-axis contains valve operation, i.e. either "open"
or "closed" for the same four valves, which include the process
chamber valve 122, the foreline valve 124, the ampoule valve
114/116, and the bypass valve 112. As can be seen, before any
precursor is loaded into the system, i.e. before a first time point
1052, the process chamber valve 122 is closed, the foreline valve
124 is open, the ampoule valve 114/116 is closed, and the bypass
valve is open, which may allow the push gas to flow from, among
other items, the flow controller 102, through the bypass valve 112
and not into the ampoule 104, into the mixing assembly 126, and
through the foreline 130.
[0078] At a first time point 1052 in FIG. 10, the ampoule the
ampoule valve 114/116 may open and the bypass valve 112 may close,
thereby allowing push gas to flow into the ampoule 104 and cause
precursor to begin flowing into the system. In this third example
implementation, the ampoule valve 114/116 may open before the
process chamber valve V122 opens and it may open for a time period
equal to, or substantially equal to, that of an adsorption time
1060 which may be the same as a line charge time 1062. FIG. 10
illustrates this: the ampoule valve 114/116 is open for an amount
of time equal, or substantially equal, to the adsorption time 1060
which is equal, or substantially equal, to the line charge time
1062.
[0079] Two events occur at or about the second time point 1054. As
mentioned above, the ampoule valve 114/116 may close at or about
the second time point 1054 and the chamber valve 122 may open at or
about the second time point 1054. FIG. 11 depicts the precursor
delivery system of the third example implementation at the
beginning of the dose step. FIG. 11 depicts this system at about
the second time point 1054 of FIG. 10. As can be seen, the bypass
valve 112 is closed and precursor is flowing from the ampoule 104
through the open process chamber valve 122 and into the process
chamber 128.
[0080] Similar to the ampoule valve 114/116, the chamber valve 122
may remain open for an amount of time equal, or substantially
equal, to the adsorption time 1060 and the line charge time 1062,
which are equal to each other. Also, the chamber valve 122 may
close at about a third time period 1056. In such implementations,
the gas line section gets fully charged before the beginning of the
dose step at about the second time point 1054. FIG. 12 depicts the
precursor delivery system of the third example implementation at
the end of the dose step. FIG. 12 depicts this system at about the
third time point 1056 of FIG. 10. As can be seen, the bypass valve
112 is open, the ampoule valve 114/116 is closed, the process
chamber valve 122 is closed, and the foreline valve 124 is open
such that push gas is flowing through the system and through the
foreline 130. At the end of this dose step, e.g. at time 1056, all
or substantially all precursor is drained from the gas line
section.
[0081] In this third example implementation, the first time point
1052 may be considered the beginning of the precursor loading into
the system, 1054 may be considered both the end of the precursor
loading and the beginning of the dose step, and 1056 may be
considered the end of the dose step.
[0082] In all such implementations, push gas may flow continuously.
This continuous flow may ensure a continuous flow of precursor as
well as continuous purging of the gas line. When the ampoule valve
114/116 is closed, the push gas may be diverted around the ampoule
through bypass valve 112 such that the push gas continues flowing
towards the process chamber 128.
[0083] In some implementations, the gas line section may drained of
substantially all precursor at the end of the dose step, while in
some implementations, some precursor may remain within the gas line
section.
[0084] In some implementations, the duration of time which the
ampoule valve 114/116 may be opened may be more or less than the
saturation time and/or the adsorption time.
[0085] As discussed above, in some implementations the timing of
the valve operations may be set using line charge time, adsorption
time, or some other time. Moreover, the frame of reference for the
operation of the valves may be the start of a dose step, the stop
of a dose step, any other event during a dose step, and/or any
event during an ALD cycle.
[0086] In some implementations, including the three example
implementations discussed above, an amount of precursor may be sent
through the gas line that may be more than necessary for a desired
adsorption amount. This additional precursor may also be sent such
that it arrives before the beginning of the dose step, after the
dose step, and/or after the desired adsorption/saturation has been
achieved. In some such implementations, some precursor may be
dumped to the foreline before and/or after the dose step. In some
such implementations, the duration of time for which the ampoule
valve may be open, the timing of when the ampoule valve may open
and/or close, the duration of time for which the chamber valve may
be open, and/or the timing of when the chamber valve may be open
may not be the same as discussed hereinabove, including in FIGS. 4
to 12. However, to reduce waste, the excess precursor may be
limited to about 20% or less (or about 10% or less) of the amount
required for adsorption/saturation.
[0087] Furthermore, in some implementations, each event (e.g., the
opening of the ampoule valve, the closing of the chamber valve) may
not occur precisely at the intended time point. Additionally, the
location of the precursor at the each time point may not be as
precise as discussed above. In some instances the phrase
"substantially" has been used with regard to at least timing and
amounts, and this term may mean within +/-15% of the referenced
item (e.g. time or amount). For example, if an adsorption time is
0.1 seconds, then a time substantially equal to the adsorption time
may be between about 0.09 seconds and about 0.11 seconds.
[0088] Moreover, the timing of the valves may not be exactly equal
to the line charge time and/or adsorption time. There may also be a
timing delay to account for delays of the system, such as the time
it takes a valve to open or close. In some embodiments, an ALD
valve may be used which may have a timing delay of 25 milliseconds.
There may also be a margin of error within the implementations
herein which may also be 25 milliseconds.
[0089] Additionally, the timing of when the ampoule valve opens
and/or its duration of opening may not be constant for each process
cycle, such as an ALD cycle. In some implementations, a dynamic
feedback loop may be created in order to deliver exactly the same
number of moles of precursor per cycle desired for each cycle,
which may be below, equal to, or greater than the adsorption
amount. The amount of precursor delivered in a flow-over-vapor
system, such as described herein, may depend on several factors
including ampoule temperature, headspace pressure, and push gas
flow. If one or more of these parameters deviates from the intended
set points over the course of the deposition period (for example,
due to precursor level changing in the ampoule), the amount of
delivered precursor per ampoule valve open time will deviate
accordingly. A feedback loop may be created by, among other things,
sensor data (e.g. measurements) from, for instance, ampoule
thermocouples, pressure gauges, and MFC's, and a controller. In one
example, a pressure gauge (e.g., a manometer) is located at the
entrance to the process chamber (e.g., by valve 122). The arrival
of precursor at the process chamber may be signaled by a pressure
variation detected by the pressure gauge. By dynamically
controlling the ampoule open/close timing based on such feedback
loop, precursor delivery can be made more robust and repeatable
cycle-to-cycle. The feedback loop, measurements, and/or adjustments
may be made during a dose/deposition step, between steps in a
cycle, between cycles, and/or between processes.
[0090] As mentioned above, before one or more processing cycles, a
measurement and/or calibration step, for instance that described
above and shown in FIG. 3, may be performed in order to determine
the adsorption time and/or line charge time. Such a determination
may be made similar to that described above, e.g. based upon sensor
or monitoring equipment that may detect one or more factors
affecting precursor delivery and/or process parameters, and/or an
experimental step, for instance like that discussed above. The
information gathered may be used to make adjustments or changes to
the timing of when the ampoule valve is opened and/or the duration
of such opening, e.g. when it closes. This may occur between dose
steps, during a dose step, between cycles, or between
processes.
[0091] The methods, embodiments, and implementations discussed
herein provide numerous improvements and benefits to semiconductor
processing. Some important goals for semiconductor processing may
include, for instance, increasing wafer throughput, reducing
material, including precursor, waste/usage, and increasing or
maintaining wafer uniformity. For example, FIG. 13 depicts some
demonstrative data indicating that using the implementations
discussed herein may, in at least some circumstances, lead to a
reduction of precursor usage. As can be seen, the results in the
right hand column, labeled "Chemical Usage", of the chart show
precursor reduction from 0.323 grams/wafer to 0.225 grams/wafer.
The top row indicates the data shown in the middle and bottom row.
The middle row, labeled "Typical Process", shows the chemical usage
for a particular semiconductor process using typical general
precursor dosing sequence while the bottom row, labeled "New
Process", shows the chemical usage of the same semiconductor
process but with precursor delivery according to, at least in part,
the implementations discussed herein. The bottom row shows that for
the same dose time of 0.15 seconds, the ampoule valve 114/116 open
time was reduced from 0.3 seconds to 0.2 seconds without adverse
impact on deposition rate and film uniformity. The depR and NU %
(R/2) (half-range non-unifomity) improved using the new process,
which may be because of a longer ampoule valve 114/116 close time
which led to improved precursor refresh rate in the ampoule 104.
The shorter ampoule valve 114/116 open time led to reduced
precursor consumption. The new process reduces precursor
wastage.
[0092] Some other advantages of the present invention include, but
are not limited to, reduced precursor waste; reduced wafer
defectivity, which may be caused by the elimination of stagnant gas
line volume, by having a fully purged gas line section that may be
due to the constantly flowing push gas, and/or by the elimination
of chamber valve operation in the presence of precursor; and/or
reduction of dose time and/or a dose step thereby increasing
throughput.
[0093] In some implementations, a controller is part of a system,
which may be part of the examples described herein. The controller
may include "logic" such as ampoule valve(s) opening and closing
logic, as described above, or other control logic discussed herein.
The logic may be implemented as software (with or without
associated hardware for executing software instructions), hardware
designed or configured to carry out certain operations, and
combinations thereof. Such systems may comprise semiconductor
processing equipment, including a processing tool or tools,
processing chamber or chambers, a platform or platforms for
processing, and/or specific processing components including, but
not limited to, a wafer pedestal, a gas flow system, a precursor
delivery system, gas lines, plumbing, valves, an ampoule, etc.
These systems may be integrated with electronics (e.g., the logic)
for controlling their operation before, during, and after
processing of a semiconductor wafer or substrate. The electronics
(or logic) may be referred to as the "controller," which may
control various components or subparts of the system or systems,
including, but not limited to the valves which may be configured to
control the flow of fluid through one or more parts of the
system(s), which may include through the gas lines, ampoule,
plumbing, and/or process chamber.
[0094] The controller, depending on the processing requirements
and/or the type of system, may be programmed, designed, and/or
configured to control any of the processes disclosed herein,
including the delivery of processing gases, temperature settings
(e.g., heating and/or cooling), pressure settings, vacuum settings,
power settings, radio frequency (RF) generator settings, RF
matching circuit settings, frequency settings, flow rate settings,
fluid delivery settings, positional and operation settings,
refilling of ampoules, wafer transfers into and out of a tool and
other transfer tools, flow of fluid (e.g. precursor or push gas)
through the gas lines, ampoule, mixing assembly, and/or process
chamber, and/or load locks connected to or interfaced with a
specific system.
[0095] Broadly speaking, the controller may be defined as
electronics having various integrated circuits, logic, memory,
and/or software that receive instructions, issue instructions,
control operation, enable cleaning operations, enable endpoint
measurements, and the like. The integrated circuits may include
chips in the form of firmware that store program instructions,
digital signal processors (DSPs), chips defined as application
specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or one or more
microprocessors, or microcontrollers that execute program
instructions (e.g., software). Program instructions may be
instructions communicated to the controller in the form of various
individual settings (or program files), defining operational
parameters for carrying out a particular process on or for a
semiconductor wafer or to a system. The operational parameters may,
in some implementations, be part of a recipe defined by process
engineers to accomplish one or more processing steps during the
fabrication of one or more layers, materials, metals, oxides,
silicon, silicon dioxide, surfaces, circuits, and/or dies of a
wafer.
[0096] The controller, in some implementations, may be a part of or
coupled to a computer that is integrated with, coupled to the
system, otherwise networked to the system, or a combination
thereof. For example, the controller may be in the "cloud" or all
or a part of a fab host computer system, which can allow for remote
access of the wafer processing. The computer may enable remote
access to the system to monitor current progress of fabrication
operations, examine a history of past fabrication operations,
examine trends or performance metrics from a plurality of
fabrication operations, to change parameters of current processing,
to set processing steps to follow a current processing, or to start
a new process. In some examples, a remote computer (e.g. a server)
can provide process recipes to a system over a network, which may
include a local network or the Internet. The remote computer may
include a user interface that enables entry or programming of
parameters and/or settings, which are then communicated to the
system from the remote computer. In some examples, the controller
receives instructions in the form of data, which specify parameters
for each of the processing steps to be performed during one or more
operations. It should be understood that the parameters may be
specific to the type of process to be performed and the type of
tool that the controller is configured to interface with or
control. Thus as described above, the controller may be
distributed, such as by comprising one or more discrete controllers
that are networked together and working towards a common purpose,
such as the processes and controls described herein. An example of
a distributed controller for such purposes would be one or more
integrated circuits on a chamber in communication with one or more
integrated circuits located remotely (such as at the platform level
or as part of a remote computer) that combine to control a process
on the chamber.
[0097] Without limitation, example systems may include a plasma
etch chamber or module, a deposition chamber or module, a
spin-rinse chamber or module, a metal plating chamber or module, a
clean chamber or module, a bevel edge etch chamber or module, a
physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber or module, a chemical vapor
deposition (CVD) chamber or module, an atomic layer deposition
(ALD) chamber or module, an atomic layer etch (ALE) chamber or
module, an ion implantation chamber or module, a track chamber or
module, and any other semiconductor processing systems that may be
associated or used in the fabrication and/or manufacturing of
semiconductor wafers.
[0098] As noted above, depending on the process step or steps to be
performed by the tool, the controller might communicate with one or
more of other tool circuits or modules, other tool components (e.g.
a precursor delivery system), cluster tools, other tool interfaces,
adjacent tools, neighboring tools, tools located throughout a
factory, a main computer, another controller, or tools used in
material transport that bring containers of wafers to and from tool
locations and/or load ports in a semiconductor manufacturing
factory.
[0099] In some implementations, the controller may have at least a
memory and one or more processors, and the memory may contain
instructions for executing the functions necessary to operating the
implementations discussed herein. In other implementations, the
controller contains a specially designed processor, which may or
may not act under the control of software instructions. The
controller may be configured to control one or more aspects of the
precursor delivery system and/or a semiconductor processing tool
that may contain a semiconductor processing system. FIG. 14 depicts
an example controller for a semiconductor processing tool that
includes a precursor delivery system. As can be seen, the
controller 1464 includes a memory 1466 and a processor 1468, and
the processor is communicatively connected to a semiconductor
processing tool 1470 and a precursor delivery system 1400 (which is
part of the semiconductor processing tool 1470). As stated before,
the memory 1468 may contain instructions for, among other things,
controlling the precursor delivery system 1400, for instance, the
memory 1468 may include instructions for controlling one or more
ampoule valves, the ampoule, one or more process chamber valves,
one or more foreline valves, and any other aspect of the precursor
delivery system, including, but not limited to the flow of
precursor and/or push gas through the system.
[0100] As described above, in some implementations a system for
precursor delivery may include one or more of the above components
including, but not limited to, an ampoule configured to contain
precursor and to be a component of a substrate processing apparatus
(e.g. a semiconductor processing tool), a flow controller, plumbing
(e.g. gas lines, valves, restrictors) that may fluidically connect
the ampoule, flow controller, mixing assembly, and process chamber
and be configured to control fluid flow through such a system. A
controller may also be part of this system and may be configured to
control one or more aspects of the system, including but not
limited to the precursor delivery system, as described above.
[0101] Unless the context of this disclosure clearly requires
otherwise, throughout the description and the embodiments, the
words "comprise," "comprising," and the like are to be construed in
an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense;
that is to say, in a sense of "including, but not limited to."
Words using the singular or plural number also generally include
the plural or singular number respectively. Additionally, the words
"herein," "hereunder," "above," "below," and words of similar
import refer to this application as a whole and not to any
particular portions of this application. When the word "or" is used
in reference to a list of two or more items, that word covers all
of the following interpretations of the word: any of the items in
the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the
items in the list. The term "implementation" refers to
implementations of techniques and methods described herein, as well
as to physical objects that embody the structures and/or
incorporate the techniques and/or methods described herein.
[0102] There are many concepts and implementations described and
illustrated herein. While certain features, attributes and
advantages of the implementations discussed herein have been
described and illustrated, it should be understood that many
others, as well as different and/or similar implementations,
features, attributes and advantages of the present disclosure, are
apparent from the description and illustrations. As such, the above
implementations are merely exemplary. They are not intended to be
exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms,
techniques, materials and/or configurations disclosed. Many
modifications and variations are possible in light of this
disclosure. It is to be understood that other implementations may
be utilized and operational changes may be made without departing
from the scope of the present disclosure. As such, the scope of the
disclosure is not limited solely to the description above because
the description of the above implementations has been presented for
the purposes of illustration and description.
[0103] Importantly, the present disclosure is neither limited to
any single aspect nor implementation, nor to any single combination
and/or permutation of such aspects and/or implementations.
Moreover, each of the aspects of the present disclosure, and/or
implementations thereof, may be employed alone or in combination
with one or more of the other aspects and/or implementations
thereof. For the sake of brevity, many of those permutations and
combinations will not be discussed and/or illustrated separately
herein.
[0104] None of the pending claims include limitations presented in
"means plus function" or "step plus function" form. (See, 35 USC
.sctn.112(f)). It is Applicant's intent that none of the claim
limitations be interpreted under or in accordance with 35 U.S.C.
.sctn.112(f).
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