Methods and systems for forming a layer comprising vanadium and oxygen
Disclosed are methods and systems for depositing layers comprising vanadium and oxygen. The layers are formed onto a surface of a substrate. The deposition process may be a cyclical deposition process. Exemplary structures in which the layers may be incorporated include field effect transistors, VNAND cells, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures, and DRAM capacitors.
1. A method for filling a gap by a thermal process, the method comprising:
introducing a substrate provided with a gap into a reactor chamber, the gap comprising a gap surface comprising a proximal part and a distal part, the distal part comprising a distal surface within the gap, the proximal part comprising a proximal surface within the gap, the distal surface and the proximal surface comprising the same material;
executing a plurality of deposition cycles, a deposition cycle comprising a precursor pulse and a reactant pulse, wherein:
the precursor pulse comprises introducing a gaseous vanadium precursor into the reactor chamber; and,
the reactant pulse comprises introducing a gaseous oxygen reactant into the reactor chamber;
thereby spatially selectively depositing a vanadium oxide containing material on the distal surface relative to the proximal surface, wherein the step coverage of the vanadium oxide containing material is greater than 150%,
wherein the vanadium precursor chemisorbs onto the gap surface during the precursor pulse of a first deposition cycle, and
wherein a temperature within the reaction chamber during the step of executing a plurality of deposition cycles is at least 400° C.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the vanadium precursor comprises a vanadium oxyhalide.
3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the vanadium precursor comprises vanadium (V) oxytripropoxide or vanadium (V) oxytriethoxide.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the vanadium precursor comprises a vanadium alkoxide, a vanadium cyclopentadienyl compound, or a vanadium dialkylamido compound.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the vanadium precursor comprises vanadium (IV) chloride.
6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the vanadium precursor comprises a vanadium beta-diketonate.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the oxygen reactant is consists of one or more of O 2 and H 2 O 2 .
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the oxygen reactant is consists of O 2 .
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a pressure within the reaction chamber during the step of executing a plurality of deposition cycles is at most 0.1 Torr.
10. The method according to claim 9 wherein the inter-deposition cycle purge has a duration of at least 2 s to at most 50 s.
11. The method according to claim 9 wherein the inter-deposition cycle purge lasts for a pre-determined inter-cycle purge time from at least 2 s to at most 10 s, wherein the reaction chamber is maintained at a pre-determined reaction chamber pressure, and wherein the pre-determined inter-cycle purge time multiplied with the pre-determined reaction chamber pressure equals from at least 2 s·Torr to at most 200 s·Torr.
12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of executing the plurality of deposition cycles immediately follows the step of introducing the substrate into the reactor chamber.
13. The method according to claim 1 wherein the gap surface comprises a monocrystalline silicon.
14. The method according to claim 1 wherein the precursor pulse has a duration of at least 0.01 s to at most 1.0 s.
15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step coverage of the vanadium oxide containing material is greater than 200%.
16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the gap comprises a sidewall and a bottom, and wherein the distal part and the proximal part are on the sidewall of the gap.
17. A method for filling a gap comprising:
introducing a substrate provided with a gap into a reactor chamber, the gap comprising a proximal part and a distal part, the distal part comprising a distal surface within the gap, the proximal part comprising a proximal surface within the gap, the distal surface and the proximal surface comprising the same material;
executing a plurality of deposition cycles, a deposition cycle comprising a precursor pulse and a reactant pulse, wherein:
the precursor pulse comprises introducing a gaseous vanadium precursor into the reactor chamber; and,
the reactant pulse comprises introducing a gaseous oxygen reactant into the reactor chamber;
thereby spatially selectively depositing a vanadium oxide containing material on the distal surface relative to the proximal surface, wherein the step coverage of the vanadium oxide containing material is greater than 150%, wherein the inter-deposition cycle purge lasts for a pre-determined inter-cycle purge time, wherein the reaction chamber is maintained at a pressure of at least 0.1 Torr to at most 10 Torr, and wherein the pre-determined inter-cycle purge time multiplied with the pressure equals from at least 2 s·Torr to at most 150 s·Torr,
wherein a temperature within the reaction chamber during the step of executing a plurality of deposition cycles is at least 400° C.