WO2000051173A1 - Method of treating an insulating layer - Google Patents

Method of treating an insulating layer Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2000051173A1
WO2000051173A1 PCT/GB2000/000651 GB0000651W WO0051173A1 WO 2000051173 A1 WO2000051173 A1 WO 2000051173A1 GB 0000651 W GB0000651 W GB 0000651W WO 0051173 A1 WO0051173 A1 WO 0051173A1
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Prior art keywords
insulating layer
oxygen
gas
resist
inhibiting
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/GB2000/000651
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Christopher David Dobson
Original Assignee
Trikon Holdings Limited
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Trikon Holdings Limited filed Critical Trikon Holdings Limited
Priority to DE10080365T priority Critical patent/DE10080365T1/en
Priority to US09/554,290 priority patent/US6592770B1/en
Priority to AU26834/00A priority patent/AU2683400A/en
Priority to GB0022050A priority patent/GB2353407B/en
Publication of WO2000051173A1 publication Critical patent/WO2000051173A1/en

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
    • H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic System or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
    • H01L21/30—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26
    • H01L21/31—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26 to form insulating layers thereon, e.g. for masking or by using photolithographic techniques; After treatment of these layers; Selection of materials for these layers
    • H01L21/3105—After-treatment
    • H01L21/311—Etching the insulating layers by chemical or physical means
    • H01L21/31127—Etching organic layers
    • H01L21/31133—Etching organic layers by chemical means
    • H01L21/31138—Etching organic layers by chemical means by dry-etching
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02104—Forming layers
    • H01L21/02107—Forming insulating materials on a substrate
    • H01L21/02109—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the type of layer, e.g. type of material, porous/non-porous, pre-cursors, mixtures or laminates
    • H01L21/02112—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the type of layer, e.g. type of material, porous/non-porous, pre-cursors, mixtures or laminates characterised by the material of the layer
    • H01L21/02123—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the type of layer, e.g. type of material, porous/non-porous, pre-cursors, mixtures or laminates characterised by the material of the layer the material containing silicon
    • H01L21/02164—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the type of layer, e.g. type of material, porous/non-porous, pre-cursors, mixtures or laminates characterised by the material of the layer the material containing silicon the material being a silicon oxide, e.g. SiO2
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02104—Forming layers
    • H01L21/02107—Forming insulating materials on a substrate
    • H01L21/02225—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer
    • H01L21/0226—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a deposition process
    • H01L21/02263—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a deposition process deposition from the gas or vapour phase
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
    • H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic System or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
    • H01L21/30—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26
    • H01L21/31—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26 to form insulating layers thereon, e.g. for masking or by using photolithographic techniques; After treatment of these layers; Selection of materials for these layers
    • H01L21/3105—After-treatment
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
    • H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic System or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
    • H01L21/30—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26
    • H01L21/31—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26 to form insulating layers thereon, e.g. for masking or by using photolithographic techniques; After treatment of these layers; Selection of materials for these layers
    • H01L21/3105—After-treatment
    • H01L21/311—Etching the insulating layers by chemical or physical means
    • H01L21/31105—Etching inorganic layers
    • H01L21/31111—Etching inorganic layers by chemical means
    • H01L21/31116—Etching inorganic layers by chemical means by dry-etching
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
    • H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic System or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
    • H01L21/30—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26
    • H01L21/31—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26 to form insulating layers thereon, e.g. for masking or by using photolithographic techniques; After treatment of these layers; Selection of materials for these layers
    • H01L21/314—Inorganic layers
    • H01L21/316—Inorganic layers composed of oxides or glassy oxides or oxide based glass
    • H01L21/31604—Deposition from a gas or vapour
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
    • H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic System or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
    • H01L21/30—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26
    • H01L21/31—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26 to form insulating layers thereon, e.g. for masking or by using photolithographic techniques; After treatment of these layers; Selection of materials for these layers
    • H01L21/314—Inorganic layers
    • H01L21/316—Inorganic layers composed of oxides or glassy oxides or oxide based glass
    • H01L21/31604—Deposition from a gas or vapour
    • H01L21/31608—Deposition of SiO2
    • H01L21/31612—Deposition of SiO2 on a silicon body
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/71—Manufacture of specific parts of devices defined in group H01L21/70
    • H01L21/768—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics
    • H01L21/76801—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the dielectrics, e.g. smoothing
    • H01L21/76802—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the dielectrics, e.g. smoothing by forming openings in dielectrics
    • H01L21/76814—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the dielectrics, e.g. smoothing by forming openings in dielectrics post-treatment or after-treatment, e.g. cleaning or removal of oxides on underlying conductors
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/71—Manufacture of specific parts of devices defined in group H01L21/70
    • H01L21/768—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics
    • H01L21/76801—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the dielectrics, e.g. smoothing
    • H01L21/76822—Modification of the material of dielectric layers, e.g. grading, after-treatment to improve the stability of the layers, to increase their density etc.
    • H01L21/76826—Modification of the material of dielectric layers, e.g. grading, after-treatment to improve the stability of the layers, to increase their density etc. by contacting the layer with gases, liquids or plasmas
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/71—Manufacture of specific parts of devices defined in group H01L21/70
    • H01L21/768—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics
    • H01L21/76801—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the dielectrics, e.g. smoothing
    • H01L21/76822—Modification of the material of dielectric layers, e.g. grading, after-treatment to improve the stability of the layers, to increase their density etc.
    • H01L21/76828—Modification of the material of dielectric layers, e.g. grading, after-treatment to improve the stability of the layers, to increase their density etc. thermal treatment
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/71—Manufacture of specific parts of devices defined in group H01L21/70
    • H01L21/768—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics
    • H01L21/76838—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the conductors
    • H01L21/76877—Filling of holes, grooves or trenches, e.g. vias, with conductive material
    • H01L21/76882—Reflowing or applying of pressure to better fill the contact hole

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a method of treating an insulating layer such as found in semiconductor devices.
  • Such recesses are generally formed by coating the upper surface of the insulating layer with a photo-resist, removing certain parts of the resist using photo-lithographic techniques, etching through the exposed openings in the resist to form the recesses and then removing the layer of resist by reactively etching the resist using oxygen.
  • the invention consists in a method of treating an insulating layer in which a formation has been etched through a layer of resist comprising reactive etching the resist (for example with a plasma process) , inhibiting the absorption or removing water vapour and/or oxygen at the exposed surfaces of the etch formation and filling the formation with conductive metal in the absence of said water vapour and/or oxygen.
  • the inhibiting step may include supplying hydrogen with or to an etchant gas, e.g. oxygen and/or it may comprise supplying nitrogen with or to the etchant gas.
  • the step of inhibiting includes supplying a gas which is the source of reactive hydrogen and/or nitrogen with or to the etchant gas .
  • the gas may be NH 3 .
  • the etchant gas is oxygen
  • the ratio of oxygen to the gas may be approximately 3:1 and similar ratio's may be appropriate with other etchant gases.
  • the inhibiting step may be performed by maintaining the substrate under vacuum until the metallisation step is completed or there may be a removal step including heating the insulating layer prior to metallisation to outgas the insulating material.
  • the insulating layer has a dielectric constant of less than 4 and/or includes carbon. More particularly the dielectric constant is below 3.5 and most preferably below 3.0.
  • the carbon concentration in the dielectric film is most preferably more than 10%.
  • Figure 1 is a vertical section or view through apparatus for performing the method
  • Figure 2 is a view of an insulating layer with a number of vias filled using prior art techniques
  • Figure 3 is an enlargement of the vias of Figure 3 ;
  • Figure 4 is a view of vias filled utilising the steps of the present invention.
  • Figure 5 is an enlargement of a single via.
  • a vacuum chamber 10 includes a wafer support 11 for supporting a wafer opposite a plasma source 12 through which reactive gas can be streamed via gas inlet 13.
  • a heating lamp 14 is provided for heating the wafer 16 and the chamber can be evacuated via a high vacuum valve 15.
  • a plasma is generated remotely from the wafer in the plasma tube by means of an RF coil 17.
  • a wafer 16 is placed upon the support 11 and, in the prior art arrangement, oxygen is streamed into the chamber through the plasma tube 12 and reactively etches the photo-resist on the wafer 16, as has previously been described.
  • Oxygen only process 150mm wafer using lkw lamp
  • Ammonia containing process 150mm wafer using lkw lamp
  • Step 1 Step 2 Gas Flows 496 seem 0 2 496 seem 0 2
  • Plasma power 500 W ICP 500 W ICP Lamp heater: 80% 45% Process time: 40 see ' s 90 see ' s
  • FIGS. 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 are SEM' s of the oxygen only and the gas mixture processes respectively. In these SEM's the bright areas represent voids and it will be seen that the conventional metallisation process is rather unsuccessful . In contrast the gas mixture approach provides good metallisation.
  • the introduction of ammonia into the oxygen may overcome the problems of the oxygen only process because the hydrogen from the ammonia replaces the carbon removed by the oxygen by attaching to the dangling silicon bonds. This substitution of the hydrogen for the removed carbon thus stabilises the dielectric structure and guards against subsequent water vapour and absorption.
  • the nitrogen may replace the carbon or there may be an as yet unidentified interaction of the hydrogen and nitrogen in a carbon replacement process. Additionally or alternatively the presence of hydrogen and/or nitrogen may inhibit the actual replacement of carbon by oxygen.
  • the nitrogen/hydrogen treatment step may be carried out separately prior to the metallisation step, although once again this is probably a less attractive solution for reasons of throughput.

Abstract

This invention relates to a method of heating an insulating layer, such as is found in semiconductor devices, in which a formation has been etched through a layer of resist comprising reactive etching the resist, inhibiting absorption of or removing water vapour and/or oxygen at the exposed surfaces of the etched formation and filling the formation with conductive metal in the absence of said water vapour and/or oxygen.

Description

Method of Treating an Insulating Layer
This invention relates to a method of treating an insulating layer such as found in semiconductor devices.
As the designers of semiconductor architecture push the devices within the semiconductors closer and closer together, the permittivity of the insulating layers which are formed between the connecting metal tracks, becomes more significant. The trend is therefore to produce insulating materials with lower and lower dielectric constants (k) . One approach to forming such materials is to introduce carbon into the insulating material and such a method is described in our co-pending International Patent Application PCT/GB97/02240, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In order to form the metal tracks separated by the insulating layer or to connect those tracks to other tracks or devices formed in the semiconductor material on which the insulating layers are deposited, it is necessary to etch into or through the insulating layer and subsequently fill those recesses with electrically conducting metal. Such recesses are generally formed by coating the upper surface of the insulating layer with a photo-resist, removing certain parts of the resist using photo-lithographic techniques, etching through the exposed openings in the resist to form the recesses and then removing the layer of resist by reactively etching the resist using oxygen.
However, it has been found that where the insulating layer contains carbon, the dielectric constant increases as a result of the reactive oxygen etching, the side walls of the formation are etched creating barrelling and there are subsequent problems with filling the recesses with metal. From one aspect the invention consists in a method of treating an insulating layer in which a formation has been etched through a layer of resist comprising reactive etching the resist (for example with a plasma process) , inhibiting the absorption or removing water vapour and/or oxygen at the exposed surfaces of the etch formation and filling the formation with conductive metal in the absence of said water vapour and/or oxygen.
The inhibiting step may include supplying hydrogen with or to an etchant gas, e.g. oxygen and/or it may comprise supplying nitrogen with or to the etchant gas. Preferably the step of inhibiting includes supplying a gas which is the source of reactive hydrogen and/or nitrogen with or to the etchant gas . In one embodiment the gas may be NH3. Where the etchant gas is oxygen, the ratio of oxygen to the gas may be approximately 3:1 and similar ratio's may be appropriate with other etchant gases.
In an alternative arrangement the inhibiting step may be performed by maintaining the substrate under vacuum until the metallisation step is completed or there may be a removal step including heating the insulating layer prior to metallisation to outgas the insulating material.
Preferably the insulating layer has a dielectric constant of less than 4 and/or includes carbon. More particularly the dielectric constant is below 3.5 and most preferably below 3.0.
The carbon concentration in the dielectric film is most preferably more than 10%. Although the invention has been defined above it is to be understood it includes any inventive combination of the steps set out above or in the following description.
The invention may be performed in various ways and specific examples will now be described, by way example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a vertical section or view through apparatus for performing the method;
Figure 2 is a view of an insulating layer with a number of vias filled using prior art techniques; Figure 3 is an enlargement of the vias of Figure 3 ;
Figure 4 is a view of vias filled utilising the steps of the present invention; and
Figure 5 is an enlargement of a single via.
Referring to Figure 1 a vacuum chamber 10 includes a wafer support 11 for supporting a wafer opposite a plasma source 12 through which reactive gas can be streamed via gas inlet 13. A heating lamp 14 is provided for heating the wafer 16 and the chamber can be evacuated via a high vacuum valve 15. A plasma is generated remotely from the wafer in the plasma tube by means of an RF coil 17.
To etch the dielectric layer, a wafer 16 is placed upon the support 11 and, in the prior art arrangement, oxygen is streamed into the chamber through the plasma tube 12 and reactively etches the photo-resist on the wafer 16, as has previously been described.
The following experiment was performed:
In order to remove photo-resist and strip back anti- reflective coating materials the above described process was run initially using oxygen only and then using a gas mixture including NH3.
The following conditions applied: Oxygen only process (conventional resist strip) 150mm wafer using lkw lamp
Step 1 Step 2
Gas Flow: 496 seem 02 496 seem 02 Pressure : 750 mT 750 mT Plasma power: 500 W ICP 500 W ICP Lamp heater: 80% lamp power 45% lamp power Process time: 60 see's 120 see's
Ammonia containing process (embodiment of the invention) 150mm wafer using lkw lamp
Step 1 Step 2 Gas Flows 496 seem 02 496 seem 02
50 seem N2 50 seem N2
150 seem NH3 150 seem NH3
Pressure : 750 mT 750 mT Plasma power: 500 W ICP 500 W ICP Lamp heater: 80% 45% Process time: 40 see ' s 90 see ' s
[ICP : Inductively Coupled Plasma] Actual temperatures of the substrate was not measured but estimated at - 250 °C.
Subsequently to metallise the via holes with barrier/contact layers and aluminium the following process was run :
Preheat: 1.5kW, 5 mins Barrier deposition: Ti/TiN 300A/700A deposited at 200°C Aluminium alloy deposition: Al/0.5%Cu 1 micron deposited at 450°C
Forceful®: 440°C,1 min 1200 bar inlet pressure
720 bar chamber pressure (Forceful is the Trade Mark for a metallisation process described in our European Application Patent No. 92304633.8 and U.S. Patent 5527861, which are incorporated by reference)
Using the above metallisation process 100% of via holes were filled with the ammonia resist strip process and 70% of via holes were filled with the oxygen only resist strip process. It is also known that a commercial tungsten plug preceded by barrier/contact layers also suffered from unreliable via hole filling when the dielectric contained carbon and a conventional resist strip process was carried out without the further processing according to this invention. Figures 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 are SEM' s of the oxygen only and the gas mixture processes respectively. In these SEM's the bright areas represent voids and it will be seen that the conventional metallisation process is rather unsuccessful . In contrast the gas mixture approach provides good metallisation.
It is not fully understood why the standard oxygen plasma resist strip process creates metallisation problems nor why the introduction of ammonia resolves them. However it is a problem widely known by those attempting to integrate low k dielectric materials, particularly within C>10% containing dielectrics. It is possible that carbon is removed during the oxygen reactive etching leaving the exposed surface of the formation vulnerable to attack and contamination e.g. by water vapour being absorbed during subsequent atmospheric exposure. Such exposure generally takes place, because photo-resist removing stations and metallisation stations are manufactured as independent units. However, if this analysis is correct, it is conceivable that the benefits seen above could also be obtained either by significant heating, for example under vacuum, to outgas the insulating layer prior to metallisation or by maintaining the wafer in vacuum between the resist stripping process and the completion of the metallisation process. The pre-heating option is not commercially desirable both for thermal budget reasons and because it will slow throughput.
It is hypothesed that the introduction of ammonia into the oxygen may overcome the problems of the oxygen only process because the hydrogen from the ammonia replaces the carbon removed by the oxygen by attaching to the dangling silicon bonds. This substitution of the hydrogen for the removed carbon thus stabilises the dielectric structure and guards against subsequent water vapour and absorption. Additionally or alternatively the nitrogen may replace the carbon or there may be an as yet unidentified interaction of the hydrogen and nitrogen in a carbon replacement process. Additionally or alternatively the presence of hydrogen and/or nitrogen may inhibit the actual replacement of carbon by oxygen.
It is possible that the nitrogen/hydrogen treatment step may be carried out separately prior to the metallisation step, although once again this is probably a less attractive solution for reasons of throughput.

Claims

Claims
1. A method of treating an insulating layer in which a formation has been etched through a layer of resist comprising reactive etching the resist, inhibiting the absorption of or removing water vapour and/or oxygen at the exposed surfaces of the etched formation and filling the formation with conductive metal in the absence of said water vapour and/or oxygen.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the inhibiting step includes supplying hydrogen with or to a reactive etchant gas.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the inhibiting step includes supplying nitrogen with or to a etchant gas.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of inhibiting includes supplying a gas which is a source of reactive hydrogen and/or nitrogen with or to a reactive etchant gas .
5. A method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the gas is NH3.
6. A method as claimed in claim 4 or claim 5 wherein the ratio of oxygen to the gas is approximately 3:1.
7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the inhibiting step is performed by maintaining the substrate under vacuum until the metallisation step is completed.
8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the removal step includes heating the insulating layer prior to metallisation.
9. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the insulating layer has a dielectric constant of less than 4.
10. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the insulating layer includes carbon.
11. A method as claimed in claim 10 wherein dielectric layer includes more than 10% carbon.
PCT/GB2000/000651 1999-02-26 2000-02-24 Method of treating an insulating layer WO2000051173A1 (en)

Priority Applications (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE10080365T DE10080365T1 (en) 1999-02-26 2000-02-24 Process for treating an insulating layer
US09/554,290 US6592770B1 (en) 1999-02-26 2000-02-24 Method of treating an isulating layer
AU26834/00A AU2683400A (en) 1999-02-26 2000-02-24 Method of treating an insulating layer
GB0022050A GB2353407B (en) 1999-02-26 2000-02-24 Method of treating an insulating layer

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9904427.3 1999-02-26
GBGB9904427.3A GB9904427D0 (en) 1999-02-26 1999-02-26 Method treating an insulating layer

Related Child Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US09/554,290 A-371-Of-International US6592770B1 (en) 1999-02-26 2000-02-24 Method of treating an isulating layer
US10/438,876 Division US6824699B2 (en) 1999-02-26 2003-05-16 Method of treating an insulting layer

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WO2000051173A1 true WO2000051173A1 (en) 2000-08-31

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DE (1) DE10080365T1 (en)
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Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
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WO2004061919A1 (en) * 2002-12-23 2004-07-22 Tokyo Electron Limited Method and apparatus for bilayer photoresist dry development
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US6824699B2 (en) 2004-11-30
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GB2353407A (en) 2001-02-21
CN1178280C (en) 2004-12-01
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US6592770B1 (en) 2003-07-15
DE10080365T1 (en) 2001-05-17

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