Deposition of complex nitride films

Abstract

Methods are provided for pulsed chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of complex nitrides, such as ternary metal nitrides. Pulses of metal halide precursors are separated from one another and nitrogen-containing precursor is provided during the metal halide precursor pulses as well as between the metal halide precursor pulses. Two different metal halide precursors can be provided in simultaneous pulses, alternatingly, or in a variety of sequences. The nitrogen-containing precursor, such as ammonia, can be provided in pulses simultaneously with the metal halide precursors and between the metal halide precursors, or continuously throughout the deposition. Temperatures can be kept between about 300° C. and about 700° C.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the deposition of thin films such as films used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Nitride films find widespread application in semiconductor manufacturing, primarily because nitride films are dense and have excellent properties as diffusion barriers and as etch stop layers. Typically, nitride films are deposited by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). Deposition of TiN using TiCl₄ and NH₃ is described by Price et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,328. Temperatures in excess of 680° C. prevent the incorporation of unacceptably large quantities of chlorine into the film. Many metal-organic source materials have been developed to prevent the incorporation of large quantities of chlorine while simultaneously allowing lower deposition temperatures to be used. Examples are tetrakis(dimethylamido) titanium (TDMAT) and tetrakis(diethylamido) titanium (TDEAT). More recently, Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) appeared to be a useful technique for the deposition of thin metal nitride films with good control of deposition rate and uniformity. The use of TiCl₄, NbCl₅, TaCl₅ and MoCl₅ in combination with NH₃ is proposed by Hiltunen et al., Thin Solid Films, 166 (1988) 149-154, for the deposition of TiN, NbN, TaN, and MoN respectively. Undesirably, ALD results in low deposition rates and therefore lower throughput.

Accordingly, there is a continuing need for methods for forming nitride films.

SUMMARY

According to some embodiments of the invention, a method is provided for the deposition of a nitride-containing film onto a substrate. The method comprises providing a substrate in a reaction chamber and heating the substrate in the reaction chamber to a temperature between about 300° C. and about 700° C. A first metal halide precursor is flowed into the reaction chamber in temporally separated pulses and a second metal halide precursor is also flowed into the reaction chamber in temporally separated pulses. A nitrogen-containing precursor is also flowed into the reaction chamber. The nitrogen-containing precursor can be introduced into the reaction chamber in various sequences including: (i) flowing the nitrogen-containing precursor during the metal halide precursor pulses to induce a thermally activated reaction between at least one of the metal halide precursors and the nitrogen containing precursor and (ii) flowing the nitrogen-containing precursor between the metal halide precursor pulses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary furnace for use with preferred embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating temporally separated metal halide pulses and continuous ammonia flow in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating temporally separated metal halide pulses and separate ammonia pulses in accordance with other embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating simultaneous or mixed metal halide pulses and separate ammonia pulses, in accordance with other embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME EMBODIMENTS

In a search of optimizing the properties of nitride films, nitrides of different metals can be selected for particular applications, such as nitrides continuing Ti, Ta, Hf, Nb, and Mo. Further optimization of film properties can be achieved by using mixtures of two or more nitrides, which has been found particularly beneficial. One difficulty in developing a deposition process for such mixed nitrides is finding precursor materials for the respective metals or semiconductors that are compatible with each other. In many cases, the various precursor materials, although individually suited to deposit a single nitride, are optimally employed at different deposition temperatures. In particular, metal-organic precursor materials are not very thermally stable and often require deposition temperatures below 400° C. to prevent thermal decomposition of the precursor itself, whereas halide precursor materials such as TiCl₄ typically require process temperatures above 400° C. to get significant deposition rates of nitride films when used in combination with NH₃. Alternatively, deposition of mixed nitrides can employ a single wafer reactor to allow control of the deposition process such as described in U.S. Patent Appl. Publication 2004/0009336, published Jan. 14, 2004, wherein TiSiN films are grown using TDMAT, SiH₄ and NH₃.

Co-assigned with the present patent application is U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/096,861, relating to pulsed CVD of TiN in a hot wall batch furnace, that application discloses using pulses of TiCl₄ and a continuous flow of NH₃. This resulted in excellent control of uniformity and film thickness and in a strong reduction of the chlorine content in the deposited film in comparison to films deposited by CVD. Pulsed CVD combines the advantages of CVD and ALD and is a particularly useful way of operating a vertical furnace for batch processing.

Pulsed CVD, flowing NH₃ between halide metal precursor pulses, results is a drastic reduction of the chlorine content in a deposited film compared to a film deposited by regular CVD (in which precursors are not introduced in a plurality of pulses) at the same temperature. An advantage of halide metal precursors is that they are thermally very stable: the halide source materials can be heated to temperatures of several hundred degrees Centigrade, or even to the deposition process temperature without risk of thermal decomposition. A second reactant, preferably a nitrogen-containing reactant such as NH₃, is used to facilitate the chemical reaction.

According to some embodiments of the invention, two or more metal halide precursors and NH₃ are flowed into a reaction chamber for the deposition of a mixed nitride film. The NH₃ is flowed into the chamber to induce a thermally activated reaction between the NH₃ and at least one metal halide precursor. Preferably, the NH₃ is flowed into the chamber to induce a thermally activated reaction between the NH₃ and each of the two metal halide precursors. Instead of NH₃, other nitrogen precursors, such as hydrazine (N₂H₄), can also be used. For the purpose of this disclosure “metal” will be deemed to include Si, Ge and Boron. The different metal halide precursors are generally very compatible and the temperatures required for a reaction with NH₃ are in a similar range: significant reaction rates can be achieved in the temperature range of from about 300° C. to about 700° C., preferably from about 400° C. to about 700° C., more preferably in the range of about 450° C. to about 550° C. The process can further be controlled by flowing the two or more metal halide precursors into the reaction chamber in temporally separated pulses.

An exemplary furnace for use with preferred embodiments of the invention is shown in FIG. 1 and commercially available under the trademark A412™ from ASM Europe, The Netherlands. In this vertical furnace design, a reaction chamber 100 is delimited by a process tube 110, a support flange 120 and a door 130. The process tube 110 is closed at the top. An advantage of this design in comparison to a design that has a top inlet for gases is that the process tube 110 is simpler in construction and the problems of gas-tightness and thermal isolation associated with use of a top inlet can be avoided. All gases in this set-up are introduced through gas injectors 140, of which two are shown. Preferably, separate injectors 140 are used for each gas. In the case of TiN deposition with TiCl₄ and NH₃, one injector 140 is used for each of the process gases. In the case of the deposition of mixed nitrides, two or more metal halide precursors can be injected through the same injector or through separate injectors. These injectors 140 are preferably multiple hole gas injectors having holes distributed over the height of the tube 110. An additional injector 140 can be used for a purge gas, preferably an inert gas such as nitrogen gas or a noble gas such as Ar or He. The injector 140 for the purge gas is preferably a tube with an open end at its top and without gas discharge holes in its sidewall, so that all the purge gas is discharged near the top of the reaction chamber 100. The gases are exhausted through an exhaust 150 near the bottom of the reaction chamber 100. The process tube is surrounded by a heater 160 configured to heat the process chamber to a temperature between 300° C. and 700° C.

To deposit a nitrogen-containing film, a pulsed CVD process with a gas flow sequence such as schematically depicted in FIG. 2 can be used. Temporally separated pulses of two different precursors are fed into the reaction chamber, wherein the first constituent component M₁ of the nitride film is selected from the group of Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, and Al and the second constituent component M₂ of the nitride film is selected from the group of Si, Ge, B, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, and Al. In FIG. 2, X stands for a halide atom. The halide ligand atoms can be F, Cl, I or Br or any combination thereof. Preferably, the halide is Cl. The precursor pulses are shown with equal magnitude e.g. equal flow rates. In some embodiments, they may have a different magnitude. The subscripts m and n are integer numbers equal to the valence of M₁ and M₂, typically between 3 and 6. A person skilled in the art will recognize that the presented formulas for the precursors are presented as monomeric formulas and the gas phase composition and oxidation state of these precursors can be different, for example, depending upon the temperature. Dimeric, trimeric and more clusterized forms of these precursors might be present in the gas phase and, in some cases, the metal in a precursor can have lower oxidation states.

With continued reference to FIG. 2, a regular alternating sequence of pulses is shown for M₁X_m and M₂X_n. In some embodiments, the sequence may be varied depending on the desired composition of the film, for examply by flowing a first number of sequential pulses of the first metal halide M₁X_m to the reaction chamber and then flowing a second number of sequential pulses of the second metal halide precursor M₂X_n to the reaction chamber. In the illustrated embodiment, the NH₃ flow is continuous and at a constant level during the process. The flow rate of the NH₃ may also vary during the deposition process. The level of the NH₃ flow can, e.g., be reduced during the metal halide pulses or can even be non-continuous with interruptions in between the metal halide pulses as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

In FIG. 3, the NH₃ is introduced in temporally separated pulses, as are the metal halides. Preferably, the NH₃ pulses that are provided simultaneously with the metal halide pulses start before the start of the metal halide pulse and end after ending of the metal halide pulse to ensure nitrogen precursor presence during deposition. After ending of the metal halide pulse and the overlapping NH₃ pulse, the reaction chamber is evacuated. Preferably, an intermediate NH₃ pulse is provided to achieve adequate halide removal and nitrogen incorporation in the deposited film. In the example of FIG. 3, the two different metal halide pulses are introduced in an alternating manner.

In FIG. 4, the two metal halide pulses overlap temporally. NH₃ pulses are flowed simultaneously with the metal halide pulses and additional intermediate NH₃ pulses are provided between the metal halide pulses, wherein gases are removed, e.g. by evacuation from the reaction chamber between the NH₃ pulses. The evacuation of the reaction chamber can be combined with flowing a purge gas through the reaction chamber. A purge gas such as N₂ or a noble gas can flow during part of the deposition pulses or throughout the process. In FIG. 4, the different metal halide pulses can over-lap temporally with each other, but the preceding of succeeding pulses remain temporally separated with intervening provision of NH₃, either in pulses (as shown) or by continuous NH₃ flow (like FIG. 2).

In pulsed CVD, the metal halide precursor and NH₃ are simultaneously present within the deposition chamber that houses the substrates, at least during part of the metal halide pulses. Flowing the NH₃ during the metal halide pulses and maintaining a deposition temperature between about 300° C. and about 700° C. induces a thermally activated reaction between the metal halide and the NH₃, resulting in much higher deposition thicknesses than is possible for the alternating pulses used in ALD. In ALD, due to steric hindrance of the ligands and limited availability of reactive sites, among other things, the deposited thickness per deposition cycle is typically only a small fraction of a monolayer. In pulsed CVD, the preferred deposited thickness per deposition cycle is in the range of one full monolayer to a few monolayers.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the metal and semiconductor precursor materials used for the deposition of mixed nitrides are halides. The metal is preferably selected from the group of Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, and Al and a semiconductor selected from the group of Si and Ge, with B as a dopant. The halide can be a fluoride, chloride, iodide or bromide or any combination thereof. Preferably, the halide is selected from the group of SiCl₄, SiHCl₃, SiH₂Cl₂, SiH₃Cl, GeCl₄, GeHCl₃, GeH₂Cl₂, GeHCl₃, BCl₃, TiCl₄, ZrCl₄, HfCl₄, VCl₅, TaCl₅, CrCl₄, MoCl₅, MoF₆, MoF₅, WCl₅, WCl₆, WF₆AlCl₃ and AlHCl₂.

Possible candidates for mixed nitrides are TiSiN, TaSiN, HfSiN, ZrSiN, TiAlN, TaAlN, HfAlN, ZrAlN, TiHfN, TiZrN and HfZrN, preferably TiSiN, TaSiN TiAlN and TiHfN. However, in principle, any combination of two or more of the above mentioned metals can be used.

EXAMPLE 1

In a first example, TiSiN is formed by pulsed CVD, using TiCl₄, SiCl₄ and NH₃ as source materials. The process conditions are: process temperature between 450° C. and 550° C., TiCl₄ and SiCl₄ are alternatingly pulsed, TiCl₄ pulse time 30 seconds, SiCl₄ pulse time 30 seconds, interval time between metal precursor pulses 2 minutes, NH₃ flow constant (per FIG. 2) at a level of 0.2 slm. The deposited thickness per complete cycle is about 1 mm.

EXAMPLE 2

In a second example, TiSiN is formed by pulsed CVD using TiCl₄, DCS and NH₃ as source materials. The process conditions are: process temperature between 450° C. and 550° C., TiCl₄ and DCS are alternatingly pulsed, TiCl₄ pulse time 30 seconds, DCS pulse time 30 seconds, interval time between metal precursor pulses 2 minutes, NH₃ flow constant (per FIG. 2) at a level of 0.2 slm. The deposited thickness per complete cycle is about 1 nm.

EXAMPLE 3

In a third example, TiAlN is formed by pulsed CVD using TiCl₄, AlCl₃ and NH₃ as source materials. Although TMA is by far the most commonly used aluminum source material for deposition of aluminum-containing films, AlCl₃ is an easily available alternative with relatively high vapor pressure of 1 Torr at 100° C. and a AlCl₃ container temperature between 100° C. and 130° C. is sufficient to be able to generate source material pulses that are adequate for a batch system. The process settings are: process temperature between 450° C. and 550° C., TiCl₄ and AlCl₃ are alternatingly pulsed, TiCl₄ pulse time 30 seconds, AlCl₃ pulse time 30 seconds, interval time between metal precursor pulses 2 minutes, NH₃ flow constant (per FIG. 2) at a level of 0.2 slm. When using direct liquid injection, a precursor dosing rate in the range between 1 and 10 g/minute is adequate, preferably the dosing rate is about 5 g/minute. The estimated deposited thickness per complete cycle is about 1 nm.

EXAMPLE 4

In a fourth example, TiSiN is formed by pulsed CVD using TiCl₄, DCS and NH₃ as source materials. The use of DCS in combination with TiCl₄ is particularly beneficial as, when introduced simultaneously (per FIG. 4), the DCS can reduce the Ti(IV) to Ti(III) which is the most difficult step of the chemical reactions involving TiCl₄. The process conditions are: process temperature between 450° C. and 550° C., TiCl₄ and DCS are simultaneously pulsed (per FIG. 4), pulse time 30 seconds, interval time between metal precursor pulses 3 minutes, NH₃ flow pulsed (per FIG. 3 or 4) at a level of 0.2 slm, NH₃ pulse times 1 minute for the pulses simultaneously with the metal halide pulses as well as for the NH₃ pulses in between the metal halide pulses and evacuation times of 30 seconds in between the NH₃ pulses. The deposited thickness per complete cycle is about 1 nm.

It will be appreciated that various modifications of the above-described embodiments are possible. For example, a chlorine removing agent can be flowed into the reaction chamber. Such an agent can be flowed into the reaction chamber in a continuous manner or in temporally separated pulses. Examples of suitable chlorine removing agents are carbon chains comprising a double carbon-carbon bond (alkenes), such as ethane (C₂H₄), propene (C₃H₆) and butane (C₄H₈), or triple carbon-carbon bonds, such as ethyne, (C₂H₂), propyne (C₃H₄), and buthyne (C₄H₆). Ring-structured carbon chains, like benzene, cyclohepthene, or cyclopentadienyl that have at least one double bond can also be used. The double bond can break open and each carbon dangling bond can connect to a chlorine atom.

Various modifications and alterations of the embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. For example, features of different embodiments can be combined. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed herein, and that the claims should be interpreted as broadly as the prior art allows.

Claims

1. A method for depositing a nitride-containing film onto a substrate, comprising: providing a substrate in a reaction chamber;heating the substrate in the reaction chamber;flowing a first metal halide precursor into the reaction chamber in temporally separated pulses;flowing a second metal halide precursor into the reaction chamber in temporally separated pulses; andflowing a nitrogen containing precursor into the reaction chamber, wherein flowing the nitrogen-containing precursor comprises: flowing the nitrogen-containing precursor during the pulses of the first and second metal halide precursors to induce a thermally activated reaction between at least one of the metal halide precursors and the nitrogen-containing precursor, andflowing the nitrogen containing precursor between the pulses of the first and the second metal halide precursors.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein flowing the nitrogen-containing precursor comprises flowing NH3.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein flowing the nitrogen-containing precursor comprises continuously flowing the nitrogen-containing precursor.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein flowing the nitrogen-containing precursor comprises flowing the nitrogen-containing precursor in the reaction chamber at a constant rate.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein flowing the nitrogen-containing precursor comprises flowing the nitrogen-containing precursor in temporally separated pulses.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first metal halide precursor comprises a metal selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, Hf V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, and Al.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second metal halide precursor comprises a metal selected from the group consisting of Si, Ge, B, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, and Al and is different from the first metal.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the temporally separated pulses of the first metal halide precursor and the second metal halide precursor comprise at least a period of alternation of the first metal halide precursor pulses with the second metal halide precursor pulses.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein flowing the first and second metal halide precursors comprises simultaneously flowing pulses of the first metal halide precursor and pulses of the second metal halide precursor into the reaction chamber.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the substrate comprises providing a plurality of substrates in the reaction chamber.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the reaction chamber is provided in a vertical furnace.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second metal halide precursors comprise halogens selected from the group consisting of F, Cl, I, Br and combinations thereof.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the deposited nitride is selected from the group consisting of TiSiN, TaSiN, TiAlN and TiHfN.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the deposited nitride is selected from the group consisting of TiSiN, TaSiN, HfSiN, ZrSiN, TiAIN, TaAlN, HfAlN, ZrAlN, TiHfN, TiZrN and HfZrN.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein heating the substrate comprises heating the substrate to a temperature between about 300° C. and 700° C.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein heating the substrate comprises heating the substrate to a temperature between about 450° C. and 550° C.