Methods for depositing fluorine/carbon-free conformal tungsten

1. A processing method comprising:

positioning a substrate in a processing chamber comprising a gas distribution assembly including a plurality of elongate gas ports including a first reactive gas port and second reactive gas port, the first reactive gas port in fluid communication with a first reactive gas comprising a tungsten-containing compound with the empirical formula WCl 5 or WCl 6 and the second reactive gas port in fluid communication with a second reactive gas comprising hydrogen, the gas distribution assembly flowing both the first reactive gas and the second reactive gas into the processing chamber simultaneously;

passing the second reactive gas across a heating element to generate hydrogen radicals in the second reactive gas; and

sequentially exposing at least a portion of the substrate to the first reactive gas and the hydrogen radicals in the second reactive gas to form a tungsten film on the substrate.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heating element is contained within a enclosure substantially resistant to thermal expansion, the enclosure affixed to a front face of the gas distribution assembly, so that the second reactive gas flows through the enclosure.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein prior to deposition of the tungsten film, the substrate comprises a metallic layer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein prior to the deposition of the tungsten film, the substrate comprises an oxide layer and the method further comprises soaking the substrate with disilane or a mixture of hydrogen and silane at a partial pressure in the range of about 5 Torr to about 20 Torr.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tungsten film grows at a rate in the range of about 0.2 Å/cycle and about 3 Å/cycle.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein sequentially exposing at least a portion of the substrate to the first reactive gas and the hydrogen radicals in the second reactive gas comprises moving the substrate relative to the gas distribution assembly so that each portion of the substrate is exposed to a flow of gases consisting essentially of, in order, the first reactive gas and the hydrogen radicals.

7. A processing method comprising sequentially exposing at least a portion of substrate in a processing chamber to a first reactive gas comprising a tungsten-containing compound having the empirical formula WCl 5 or WCl 6 and a second reactive gas comprising hydrogen radicals to form a tungsten-containing film, wherein the first reactive gas and the second reactive gas are flowed into the processing chamber at the same time, the first reactive gas and the second reactive gas are flowed into the processing chamber through a gas distribution assembly comprising adjacent elongate gas ports, the first reactive gas and the second reactive gas flowing through different elongate gas ports being separated by at least one of a purge gas port and a vacuum port.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising generating the hydrogen radicals from hydrogen gas.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein generating the hydrogen radicals from hydrogen gas comprises passing the hydrogen gas across a heating element having a temperature sufficient to create hydrogen radicals.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising heating the heating element to the temperature sufficient to create hydrogen radicals.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein heating the heating element comprises providing a flow of electrical current through the heating element.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising applying dynamic tension to ends of the heating element to prevent the heating element from sagging at the temperature sufficient to create hydrogen radicals.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the heating element is contained within an enclosure substantially resistant to thermal expansion.

14. The method of claim 7 , wherein the heating element is positioned within the second reactive gas port.

15. The method of claim 7 , wherein the heating element is contained within an enclosure substantially resistant to thermal expansion.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the enclosure is affixed to a front surface of gas distribution assembly so that the second reactive gas flowing from the second reactive gas ports flows through the enclosure and around the heating element.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising moving the substrate relative to the gas distribution assembly so that each portion of the substrate is exposed to a flow of gases consisting essentially of, in order, the first reactive gas and the second reactive gas.

18. The method of claim 7 , wherein the substrate is maintained at a temperature less than about 475° C.