Systems and methods for thin-film deposition of metal oxides using excited nitrogen-oxygen species

1. A system comprising:

a reaction chamber;

a precursor reactant source, comprising a precursor reactant gas, coupled to the reaction chamber;

a first oxidizer gas source, configured to produce an oxidizer comprising ozone and activated nitrogen compounds generated from a mixture of O 2 and N 2 having an N 2 /O 2 ratio greater than 0.001, coupled to the reaction chamber;

an N x O y species source configured to produce an N x O y species gas and coupled to the reaction chamber, the N x O y species source comprising:

a second oxidizer gas source;

a nitrogen gas source;

a nitrogen-containing species generator coupled to the second oxidizer gas source and the nitrogen gas source; and

a sensor coupled to the nitrogen-containing species generator to monitor a composition of a N x O y species gas, created by the nitrogen-containing species generator, prior to introducing the N x O y species gas to the reaction chamber;

a system operation and control mechanism coupled to the precursor reactant source, the first oxidizer gas source, the second oxidizer gas source, the nitrogen gas source, a power unit of the nitrogen-containing species generator, and the sensor; and

a first control input to the system operation and control mechanism, wherein the first control input is an output from the sensor;

at least a first control output from the system operation and control mechanism, generated in response to the output from the sensor, to control a ratio of the second oxidizer gas source and the nitrogen gas source input into the nitrogen-containing species generator in conjunction with controlling the power unit of the nitrogen-containing species generator to achieve a desired type of N x O y species gas and composition of the N x O y species gas being output from the nitrogen-containing species generator;

wherein the system operation and control mechanism is configured to cause the system to apply an atomic layer deposition cycle to a substrate, the cycle comprising:

exposing the substrate to the precursor reactant gas for a precursor pulse interval; and

then exposing the substrate to the first oxidizer, comprising the ozone and the activated nitrogen compounds from the first oxidizer gas source, and the NxOy species gas from the N x O y species source for an oxidation pulse interval,

wherein, during the oxidation pulse interval, a pulse of the first oxidizer to the reaction chamber and a pulse of the N x O y species gas to the reaction chamber are independently controlled prior to entering the reaction chamber.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the N x O y species gas comprises activated ionic or radical species comprising at least one of NO*, N 2 O*, NO 2 *, NO 3 * and N 2 O 5 *.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the oxidizer comprises about 5 atomic percent to about 25 atomic percent ozone.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor further monitors a volume of an output stream of the nitrogen-containing species source.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises one or more of the group consisting of a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analyzer, a UV absorption sensor, a density sensor, a conductivity/permittivity sensor, a chemiluminescence sensor, and a gas chromatography sensor.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor monitors a ratio of ozone and the N x O y species gas.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system operation and control mechanism is configured to adjust at least one of a power input of the nitrogen-containing species generator, a temperature of a housing of the nitrogen-containing species generator, a flowrate of an oxygen gas to the nitrogen-containing species generator, and a flowrate of a nitrogen gas to the nitrogen-containing species generator.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system operation and control mechanism is configured to adjust at least one of a power input of the nitrogen-containing species generator, a temperature of a housing of the nitrogen-containing species generator, a flowrate of an oxygen gas to the nitrogen-containing species generator, and a flowrate of a nitrogen gas to the nitrogen-containing species generator to achieve a predetermined criterion.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined criterion is selected from one or more of a flow rate of the oxidizer; an oxidant/N x O y species concentration ratio; an active N x O y species concentration; a ratio of active N x O y species, wherein the N x O y species gas comprises an excited N x O y species gas containing a plurality of excited nitrogen-oxygen compounds; and a concentration of a particular active nitrogen-oxygen compound.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system operation and control mechanism is configured to control the first oxidizer gas source.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the nitrogen-containing species generator is an ozone generator.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system operation and control mechanism is configured to control the first oxidizer gas source to produce O 2 /O 3 in a desired ratio.