CN-121986594-A - Neutralizing stress diamond-like carbon

Abstract

The present disclosure provides methods for processing a substrate. The method includes flowing a deposition gas comprising a hydrocarbon compound into a process volume of a process chamber having a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck. A plasma is generated at the substrate by applying a first RF bias to the electrostatic chuck to deposit a diamond-like carbon film on the substrate. The diamond-like carbon film is doped with a hydrogen dopant to form a doped diamond-like carbon film. The hydrogen dopant is thermally annealed to the doped diamond-like carbon film.

Inventors

• WANG JIALIANG
• S.LI
• E. Vinkata Subremane
• A.B. Malik

Assignees

• 应用材料公司

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20240724

Priority Date

20230803

Claims (20)

1. 1. A method of processing a substrate, comprising: Flowing a deposition gas comprising a hydrocarbon compound into a process volume of a process chamber having a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck, and Generating a plasma at the substrate by applying a first RF bias to the electrostatic chuck to deposit a diamond-like carbon film on the substrate; doping the diamond-like carbon film with a hydrogen dopant to form a doped diamond-like carbon film, and Thermally annealing the hydrogen dopant to the doped diamond-like carbon film.
2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the doped diamond-like carbon film has a density of greater than or equal to about 2.5 g/cc.
3. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the doped diamond-like carbon film comprises a stress distribution of about-100 MPa to about 100 MPa.
4. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the doped diamond-like carbon film has an atomic percent of hydrogen from about 0.01 atomic percent to about 30 atomic percent.
5. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the hydrogen dopant comprises at least one of H 2 .
6. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the hydrocarbon compound comprises at least one of acetylene, propylene, methane, butene, 1, 3-dimethyladamantane, bicyclo [2.2.1] hepta-2, 5-diene, corundum, or norbornene.
7. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the deposition gas further comprises helium, argon, xenon, neon, nitrogen (N 2 ), hydrogen (H 2 ), or any combination thereof.
8. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing volume is maintained at a pressure of about 5 mtorr to about 100 mtorr.
9. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the doped diamond-like carbon film has an elastic modulus greater than 150 GPa.
10. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein thermally annealing the doped diamond-like carbon film comprises heating the processing chamber to a temperature of about 300 degrees celsius to about 500 degrees celsius.
11. 11. The method of claim 1, wherein thermally annealing the doped diamond-like carbon film is performed for about 2 minutes to about 10 minutes.
12. 12. A method of processing a substrate, comprising: Flowing a deposition gas comprising a hydrocarbon compound and a hydrogen dopant into a processing volume of a process chamber having a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck, wherein the processing volume is maintained at a pressure of about 0.5 millitorr to about 10 torr; generating a plasma at the substrate by applying a first RF bias to the electrostatic chuck to deposit a doped diamond-like carbon film formed by the hydrocarbon compound and the hydrogen dopant on the substrate, and Thermally annealing the hydrogen dopant to the doped diamond-like carbon film.
13. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the doped diamond-like carbon film has an atomic percent of hydrogen from about 0.01 atomic percent to about 30 atomic percent.
14. 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the doped diamond-like carbon film comprises a stress distribution of about-100 MPa to about 100 MPa.
15. 15. The method of claim 12, wherein the hydrocarbon compound comprises at least one of acetylene, propylene, methane, butene, 1, 3-dimethyladamantane, bicyclo [2.2.1] hepta-2, 5-diene, corundum, or norbornene.
16. 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the deposition gas further comprises at least one of helium, argon, xenon, neon, nitrogen (N 2 ), or hydrogen (H 2 ).
17. 17. The method of claim 12, wherein the doped diamond-like carbon film has an elastic modulus greater than 150 GPa.
18. 18. The method of claim 12, wherein thermally annealing the doped diamond-like carbon film is performed for about 2 minutes to about 10 minutes.
19. 19. A method of processing a substrate, comprising: Flowing a deposition gas comprising a hydrocarbon compound and a hydrogen dopant into a processing volume of a process chamber having a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck, wherein the electrostatic chuck comprises a chucking electrode and an RF electrode separate from the chucking electrode, wherein the processing volume is maintained at a pressure of about 0.5 millitorr to about 10 torr; generating a plasma at the substrate by applying a first RF bias to the RF electrode to deposit a doped diamond-like carbon film formed by the hydrocarbon compound and the hydrogen dopant on the substrate, wherein the doped diamond-like carbon film has a density of greater than 2.5 g/cc; Thermally annealing the hydrogen dopant to the doped diamond-like carbon film at a temperature of about 300 degrees celsius to about 500 degrees celsius for a time of about 2 minutes to about 10 minutes, wherein the doped diamond-like carbon film has a substantially neutral stress; Forming a patterned photoresist layer over the doped diamond-like carbon film; Etching the doped diamond-like carbon film in a pattern corresponding to the patterned photoresist layer, and Etching the pattern into the substrate.
20. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the doped diamond-like carbon film has an elastic modulus greater than 150 GPa.

Description

Neutralizing stress diamond-like carbon Background Technical Field Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the fabrication of integrated circuits. More particularly, embodiments described herein provide techniques for depositing high density films for patterning applications. Description of related Art Integrated circuits have evolved into complex devices that can include millions of transistors, capacitors, and resistors on a single chip. The evolution of chip designs continues to require faster circuitry and greater circuit density. The need for faster circuits with greater circuit densities places corresponding demands on the materials used to fabricate these integrated circuits. In particular, as the size of integrated circuit components is reduced to the submicron level, it is necessary to use low resistivity conductive materials as well as low dielectric constant insulating materials to obtain suitable electrical properties from these components. The need for greater integrated circuit density also places a need for a process sequence for the fabrication of integrated circuit components. For example, in a process sequence using conventional photolithography techniques, a layer of energy sensitive resist is formed over a stack of material layers disposed on a substrate. The energy sensitive resist layer is exposed to the pattern image to form a photoresist mask. Thereafter, the mask pattern is transferred to one or more of the stacked material layers using an etching process. The chemical etchant used in the etching process is selected to have a greater etch selectivity to the stacked material layers than to the mask of the energy sensitive resist. That is, the chemical etchant etches one or more layers of the material stack at a much faster rate than for the energy sensitive resist. The etch selectivity to the stacked one or more material layers over the resist prevents the energy sensitive resist from being consumed before the pattern transfer is complete. As pattern size decreases, the thickness of the energy sensitive resist correspondingly decreases in order to control pattern resolution. These thin resist layers may not be sufficient to mask the underlying material layer during the pattern transfer step due to attack by the chemical etchant. An intermediate layer (e.g., silicon oxynitride, silicon carbide, or carbon film) called a hard mask, which facilitates pattern transfer due to greater resistance to chemical etchants, is often used between the energy sensitive resist layer and the underlying material layer. A hard mask material having high etch selectivity, high young's modulus and high deposition rate is required. As the critical dimensions (critical dimension, CD) decrease, many current hard mask materials lack the required etch selectivity with respect to underlying materials (e.g., oxides and nitrides), do not have high moduli, and are often difficult to deposit. Current hard mask materials with high etch selectivity, high modulus, and high deposition rates often have high stress levels (especially compressive stress), which can create line swing in the hard mask, leading to anomalies in the integrated circuit. There is therefore a need in the art for improved hard mask layers and methods for depositing improved hard mask layers. Disclosure of Invention In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of processing a substrate. The method includes flowing a deposition gas comprising a hydrocarbon compound into a process volume of a process chamber having a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck. A plasma is generated at the substrate by applying a first RF bias to the electrostatic chuck to deposit a diamond-like carbon film on the substrate. The diamond-like carbon film is doped with a hydrogen dopant to form a doped diamond-like carbon film. The hydrogen dopant is thermally annealed to the doped diamond-like carbon film. In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of processing a substrate. The method includes flowing a deposition gas comprising a hydrocarbon compound and a hydrogen dopant into a process volume of a process chamber having a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck. The process volume is maintained at a pressure of about 0.5 millitorr to about 10 torr. A plasma is generated at the substrate by applying a first RF bias to the electrostatic chuck to deposit a doped diamond-like carbon film formed by a hydrocarbon compound and a hydrogen dopant on the substrate. The hydrogen dopant is thermally annealed to the doped diamond-like carbon film. In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of processing a substrate. The method includes flowing a deposition gas comprising a hydrocarbon compound and a hydrogen dopant into a process volume of a process chamber having a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck. The electrostatic chuck includes a chucking electrode and an RF electrode separate from the chuc