High pressure treatment of silicon nitride film
Methods and systems relating to processes for treating a silicon nitride film on a workpiece including supporting the workpiece in a chamber, introducing an amine gas into the chamber and establishing a pressure of at least 5 atmospheres, and exposing the silicon nitride film on the workpiece to the amine gas while the pressure in the chamber is at least 5 atmospheres.
1. A method of thermally annealing a dielectric film that includes silicon-nitride bonds on a workpiece, comprising:
supporting the workpiece that has the dielectric film that includes silicon-nitride bonds in a chamber;
raising a temperature of the dielectric film to between 200-500° C. before introducing neutrally-charged amine gas into the chamber;
establishing a pressure of at least 5 atmospheres in the chamber; and
exposing the dielectric film on the workpiece to the neutrally-charged amine gas at the raised temperature while the pressure in the chamber is at least 5 atmospheres to thermally anneal the dielectric film.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein raising the temperature of the dielectric film comprises maintaining a support for the workpiece in the chamber at an elevated temperature.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the pressure in the chamber comprises introducing the neutrally-charged amine gas in the chamber.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the neutrally-charged amine gas comprises ammonia gas.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the neutrally-charged amine gas includes methylamine gas and/or dimethylamine gas.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric film is a portion of a fin field-effect transistor in fabrication.
7. The method of claim 1 , comprising exposing the dielectric film to the neutrally-charged amine gas for at least 5 minutes.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric film is a silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride or silicon carbon nitride film.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pressure is at least 10 atmospheres.
10. A method of forming and thermally annealing a dielectric material on a workpiece, comprising:
depositing a dielectric film that includes silicon-nitride bonds on the workpiece by flowable chemical vapor deposition;
raising a temperature of the dielectric film to between 200-500° C. before introducing neutrally-charged amine gas; and
exposing the dielectric film that includes silicon-nitride bonds on the workpiece to the neutrally-charged amine gas in a chamber while a pressure in the chamber at the raised temperature is at least 5 atmospheres to thermally anneal the dielectric film.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the deposition of the dielectric film on the workpiece is at a temperature below 380° C.
12. The method of claim 10 , comprising establishing the pressure in the chamber by introducing the neutrally-charged amine gas in the chamber.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the neutrally-charged amine gas is ammonia gas.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the dielectric film is a portion of a fin field-effect transistor.
15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the dielectric film is a silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride or silicon carbon-nitride film.
16. A method of thermally annealing a dielectric film that includes silicon-nitride bonds on a workpiece, comprising:
supporting the workpiece having the dielectric film that includes silicon-nitride bonds in a chamber;
raising a temperature of the dielectric film to between about 200-500° C. prior to introducing neutrally-charged amine gas into the chamber;
establishing a total pressure of at least 5 atmospheres in the chamber, wherein the total pressure is provided by the neutrally-charged amine gas; and
exposing the dielectric film on the workpiece to the neutrally-charged amine gas at the raised temperature while the total pressure in the chamber is at least 5 atmospheres to thermally anneal the dielectric film.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the total pressure is at least 10 atmospheres in the chamber.