Methods for low temperature oxidation of a semiconductor device
Methods of fabricating an oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of forming an oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate includes placing a substrate to be oxidized on a substrate support in a vacuum chamber of a plasma reactor, the chamber having an ion generation region remote from the substrate support; introducing a process gas into the chamber, the process gas comprising at least one of hydrogen (H 2 ) and oxygen (O 2 )—provided at a flow rate ratio of hydrogen (H 2 ) to oxygen (O 2 ) of up to about 3:1—or water vapor (H 2 O vapor); and generating an inductively coupled plasma in the ion generation region of the chamber to form a silicon oxide layer on the substrate.
1. A method of forming an oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate, comprising:
placing a substrate to be oxidized on a substrate support in a vacuum chamber of a plasma reactor, the chamber having an ion generation region remote from the substrate support;
introducing a process gas into the chamber, the process gas comprising hydrogen (H 2 ), oxygen (O 2 ), and water vapor (H 2 O vapor); and
generating an inductively coupled plasma in the ion generation region of the chamber to form a silicon oxide layer on the substrate.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate further comprises:
a film stack comprising a plurality of layers, and wherein the silicon oxide layer is formed on the stack.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the film stack comprises gate stack having an oxide layer formed therein.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the process gas further comprises at least one inert gas.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining the substrate below about 700 degrees Celsius.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining the substrate below about 600 degrees Celsius.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pressure in the chamber is maintained between about 5-500 mTorr.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the silicon oxide film has a growth rate of about 7-50 Angstroms/minute.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating an inductively coupled plasma further comprises:
providing pulsed plasma source power.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
pulsing the plasma source power at a pulse frequency of about 5-20 kHz.
11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
providing pulsed plasma source power having a duty cycle of about 2-70 percent.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ion generation region is disposed between about 2-20 cm from the substrate support.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the process gas comprises hydrogen (H 2 ) and oxygen (O 2 ) provided at a flow rate ratio of between about 1:3 and 3:1.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the process gas comprises hydrogen (H 2 ) and oxygen (O 2 ) provided at a flow rate ratio of hydrogen (H 2 ) to oxygen (O 2 ) of up to about 3:1.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plasma has an ion energy of less than about 15 eV.