Method for etching high dielectric constant materials and for cleaning deposition chambers for high dielectric constant materials
View Patent ↗A process for the removal of a substance from a substrate for etching and/or cleaning applications is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, there is provided a process for removing a substance having a dielectric constant greater than silicon dioxide from a substrate by reacting the substance with a reactive agent that comprises at least one member from the group consisting a halogen-containing compound, a boron-containing compound, a hydrogen-containing compound, nitrogen-containing compound, a chelating compound, a carbon-containing compound, a chlorosilane, a hydrochlorosilane, or an organochlorosilane to form a volatile product and removing the volatile product from the substrate to thereby remove the substance from the substrate.
1. A process for removing a substance from at least a portion of the surface of a reaction chamber, said process comprising:
providing a reactor chamber wherein at least a portion of the surface is at least partially coated with the substance and wherein the substance has a dielectric constant of 4.1 or greater and is at least one member of the group consisting of a transition metal oxide, a transition metal silicate, a Group 13 metal oxide, a Group 13 metal silicate, a nitrogen containing transition metal oxide, a nitrogen containing transition metal silicate, or a laminate comprising at least one layer of the group consisting of a transition metal oxide, a transition metal silicate, a Group 13 metal oxide, a Group 13 metal silicate, a nitrogen containing Group 13 metal oxide, a nitrogen containing Group 13 metal silicate, a nitrogen containing transition metal oxide, a nitrogen containing transition metal silicate;
introducing a reactive agent into the reaction chamber wherein the reactive agent comprises at least one fluoride containing compound and at least one other compound comprising BCl 3 wherein the amount of fluorine-containing compound is less than 50% by volume of an amount of the at least one other compound;
exposing the reactive agent to one or more energy sources sufficient to react the substance with the reactive agent and form a volatile product; and
removing the volatile product from the reaction chamber.
2. The process of claim 1 wherein the at least one other compound further comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of a boron-containing compound, a carbon-containing compound, a hydrogen-containing compound, a nitrogen-containing compound, a chelating compound, a chlorosilane compound, a hydrochlorosilane compound, and an organochlorosilane compound.
3. The process of claim 1 wherein the reactive agent is exposed to one or more energy sources and the exposing step is conducted prior to the introducing step.
4. The process of claim 1 wherein the reactive agent is exposed to one or more energy sources and the exposing step is conducted during at least a portion of the introducing step.
5. The process of claim 1 wherein a temperature of the exposing step is at least 150° C.
6. The process of claim 1 wherein a pressure of the exposing step is at least 10 mTorr.
7. The process of claim 1 wherein the reactor is an atomic layer deposition reactor.
8. The process of claim 1 wherein the substance is at least one member selected from the group consisting of Al 2 O 3 , HfO 2 , ZrO 2 , HfSi x O y , ZrSi x O y wherein x is greater than 0 and y is 2x+2, Al 2 Si w O z , where w is greater than 0 and z is 2w+3, and any of the aforementioned compounds containing nitrogen.
9. The process of claim 1 wherein the substance is a laminate comprising layers of at least one material selected from the group consisting of a transition metal oxide, a transition metal silicate, a Group 13 metal oxide, a Group 13 metal silicate, a nitrogen containing transition metal oxide, a nitrogen containing transition metal silicate, a nitrogen containing Group 13 metal oxide, or a nitrogen containing Group 13 metal silicate.
10. The process of claim 1 wherein the at least one other compound further comprises a carbon-containing compound having the formula C x H y Cl z , wherein x is a number ranging from 1 to 6, y is a number ranging from 0 to 13, and z is a number ranging 1 from 14.
11. The process of claim 1 wherein the reactive agent is conveyed to the substance from a gas cylinder, a safe delivery system or a vacuum delivery system.
12. The process of claim 1 wherein the reactive agent is formed in situ by a point-of-use generator.
13. The process of claim 1 wherein the substance is contacted with the reactive agent diluted with an inert gas diluent.
14. A process for cleaning a substance from a reactor surface, said process comprising:
providing a reactor wherein the reactor surface is at least partially coated with the substance and wherein the substance has a dielectric constant of 4.1 or greater and is at least one member of the group consisting of Al 2 O 3 , HfO 2 , ZrO 2 , HfSi x O y , ZrSi x O y wherein x is a number greater than 0 and y is 2x+2, Al 2 Si w O z wherein w is greater than 0 and z is 2w+3 and any of the aforementioned compounds containing nitrogen;
reacting the substance with a reactive agent to form a volatile product, wherein the reactive agent comprises at least one fluorine-containing compound comprising NF 3 and at least one other compound comprising BCl 3 wherein the amount of fluorine-containing compound is less than 50% by volume of an amount of the at least one other compound; and
removing the volatile product from the reactor to thereby remove the substance from the surface.