Wet oxidation process performed on a dielectric material formed from a flowable CVD process

Abstract

Methods of performing a wet oxidation process on a silicon containing dielectric material filling within trenches or vias defined within a substrate are provided. In one embodiment, a method of forming a dielectric material on a substrate includes forming a dielectric material on a substrate by a flowable CVD process, curing the dielectric material disposed on the substrate, performing a wet oxidation process on the dielectric material disposed on the substrate, and forming an oxidized dielectric material on the substrate.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The invention relates to a method for processing substrates, such as semiconductor wafers, and more particularly, to a method for wet oxidizing a dielectric material disposed on a substrate.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]Reliably producing sub-half micron and smaller features is one of the key technologies for the next generation of very large scale integration (VLSI) and ultra large-scale integration (ULSI) of semiconductor devices. However, as the limits of integrated circuit technology are pushed, the shrinking dimensions of interconnects in VLSI and ULSI technology have placed additional demands on processing capabilities. Integrated circuits may include more than one million micro-electronic field effect transistors (e.g., complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) field effect transistors) that are formed on a substrate (e.g., semiconductor wafer) and cooperate to perform various functions within...

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Benefits of technology

[0056]Furthermore, the wet oxidation processing solution provides a low cost, fast and simple process so that the overall process complexity may be reduced while also reducing manufacturing cost and process cycle time. In one embodiment, the process time for the wet oxidation process performed on the substrate 400 may be controlled at between about 1 seconds and about 10 hours. Alternatively, the process time may also be controlled by observing the bonding structures formed in the oxidized dielectric material 412 until a desired percentage or atomic weight of the silicon-nitrogen and / or silicon-hydrogen bonding in the dielectric material 408 have been converted into the silicon-oxygen bonding. The bonding structure of the oxidized dielectric material 412 may be inspected or observed by FTIR, SIMS or XPS.

Problems solved by technology

However, as the limits of integrated circuit technology are pushed, the shrinking dimensions of interconnects in VLSI and ULSI technology have placed additional demands on processing capabilities.

One challenge regarding the manufacture of high aspect ratio trenches is avoiding the formation of voids during the deposition of dielectric material in the trenches.

However, as the aspect ratio increases, it becomes more likely that the opening of the trench will “pinch off”, forming a void within the trench.

However, this deposition technique often suffers from high film impurities as the liquid precursor used to fill in the trench may include contaminants that may adversely deteriorate on the electrical properties of the formed dielectric material which adversely affects device performance.

However, HARP processes often have low throughput, which results in high manufacturing cost.

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