Patent Application
20050045590
This invention relates to a method of cleaning the surface of a ferroelectric capacitor stack in ferroelectric random access memories.
The present invention is described with reference to the attached figures, wherein similar reference numerals are used throughout the figures to designate like or equivalent elements. The figures are not drawn to scale and they are provided merely to illustrate the instant invention. Several aspects of the invention are described below with reference to example applications for illustration. It should be understood that numerous specific details, relationships, and methods are set forth to provide a full understanding of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art, however, will readily recognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details or with other methods. In other instances, well-known structures or operations are not shown in detail to avoid obscuring the invention.
Referring to the drawings,
In general, a single capacitor memory cell (referred to as a “1T/1C” or “1C” memory cell) has one transistor and one storage capacitor. Furthermore, as shown in
In the example wafer structure shown in
The FRAM memory array contains numerous FRAM memory cells. The ferroelectric capacitor stack 2 within a FRAM memory cell contains ferroelectric material, such as lead zirconate titanate (called “PZT” based on its chemical formula: Pb(Zr, Ti)O3) that functions as a capacitor dielectric 6 situated between a bottom electrode 5 and a top electrode 7. In an example application, the bottom electrode 5 is comprised of Ir and the top electrode 7 is comprised of a stack of IrOx 9 and Ir 10.
Together, layers 11, 12, and 13 form a hard mask 8. The hard mask 8 facilitates the proper shaping of the ferroelectric capacitor stack 2 during the fabrication process. In the example application the hard mask 8 is comprised of a material stack of TiAlN 11, TiAlON 12, and TiAlN 13. The hard mask 8 is made thick enough to retain its integrity during all etch processes (i.e. 50-500 nm thick). Furthermore, the hardmask is comprised of layers of conductive material in order to electrically couple the ferroelectric capacitor's top electrode 7 to the rest of the FRAM array and/or the back-end module. In this example application, the hard mask 8 is comprised of a top and bottom layer of TiIAlN separated by a middle layer of TiAlON; however the hardmask may be comprised of TiN, AlN, Ti, TiO2, Al, AlOx, TiAl, TiAlOx, or any stack or combination thereof.
Referring again to the drawings,
Step 200 is the optional formation of a barrier layer 4 over the front-end module 3. Preferably, the barrier layer 4 is formed by depositing TiAlN by reactive sputter deposition. However, other deposition techniques such as chemical vapor deposition (“CVD”) or plasma enhanced CVD (“PECVD”) may be used.
Next, the bottom electrode layer 5 is formed (step 202) on the barrier layer 4 or directly on the front-end module 3. In the example application, the bottom electrode is comprised of iridium that is deposited by sputter deposition.
The capacitor dielectric layer 6 is formed on the bottom electrode layer 5 (step 204). The capacitor dielectric is PZT in the example application because it has the highest polarization and the lowest processing temperature of the available ferroelectric materials. However, other ferroelectric materials may be used, such as doped PZT, doped and alloyed PZT, or strontium tantalite and other layered perovskites. The preferred deposition technique for PZT is metal organic chemical vapor deposition (“MOCVD”). However other deposition techniques may be used, such as sol-gel or metal organic decomposition.
The top electrode layer 7 is formed (step 206) on the capacitor dielectric layer 6. In the example application, the top electrode is comprised of two layers (9, 10). However, the top electrode can be formed using just one layer. In the example application, the iridium layer 9 is deposited by physical vapor deposition (“PVD”) and the iridium oxide layer is deposited by reactive PVD.
In step 208, the hard mask layer 8 is formed, patterned, and etched. In the example application the hard mask 8 is formed by a material stack consisting of TiAlN 11, TiAlON 12, and TiAlN13. Preferably, all of these layers are deposited by sputter deposition in the same chamber where the film composition is changed during the deposition process by varying the gas composition.
Any conventional form of patterning can be used to pattern the hard mask 8, but a photoresist mask is preferable. After the photoresist is patterned then the hard mask 8 is etched (for example, using chlorine chemistries). After the hard mask 8 is etched the photoresist is removed with a conventional ash process.
Using the patterned hard mask 8 as a template, a plasma chamber is now used to etch (step 210) the remaining layers of the ferroelectric capacitor stack 2. Generally multiple etch processes are used to etch the various layers of the ferroelectric capacitor stack 2.
The plasma etch process leaves contamination on the FRAM capacitor stack 2; therefore, the next step is to remove the etch damage and/or residues with a post-etch clean. In accordance with the present invention, the unwanted material is removed from the semiconductor wafer using a cleaning process comprised of a plasma etch (step 212) and a wet clean (step 214). In the best mode application, the plasma etch clean (step 212) is performed in the same machine as the capacitor stack etch (step 210). As an example, the machine used for the stack etch and the plasma etch clean may be the Mattson Asher. In an alternative application, an etcher made by Applied Materials (“AMT) uses a directional etch process to form the capacitor stack and then a Mattson Asher uses an isotropic plasma etch to perform the plasma etch clean.
In the best mode application, the plasma etch clean (step 212) is performed using CF4/O2 as the etchant. More specifically, a diluted CF4/O2 etchant (i.e. 0.5-2% CF4) is used under low pressure (˜1.0 mTorr), moderate source power (i.e. 1200 W), no bias power, and a low temperature (˜60° C.) for a moderate period of time (i.e. 40-80 seconds). However, it is within the scope of this invention to use any isotropic fluorine-based plasma etch with appropriate processing conditions to accomplish the stack etch clean.
After the fluorine-based plasma etch (step 212) a wet clean process (step 214) is performed in order to remove fluorine and any remaining unwanted material (such as IrF, PbF, and TiF). In the best mode application, the wet clean is a two step process comprising a rinse with deionized water followed by a rinse with an aqueous acidic solution such as a dilute hydrochloric acid solution.
During the wet clean process (step 214) the wafers are rinsed in a tank using an appropriate process such as a quick dump rinse. The tank contains deionized water that removes fluorine and other soluble etch residues. After the deionized water rinse, the wafers are transferred to another tank that contains a solution of dilute hydrochloric acid. For example, the solution may be +1:10 HCl:H2O at 30° C. and the wafers may be held in the tank for approximately 200 seconds. The dilute HCl process is followed by an appropriate deionized water rinse process such as a quick dump rinse. The hydrochloric acid rinse removes remaining fluorine and other unwanted materials. However, the hydrochloric acid rinse may also cause a slight additional etching of the surface of the ferroelectric capacitor stack 2.
The use of solutions containing other concentrations of hydrochloric acid is with in the scope of this invention. Moreover, the use of other wet clean processes is within the scope of this invention. For example, after the deionized water rinse the wafers may be further rinsed with an organic solvent (i.e. ethyl alcohol), sulfuric acid, or phosphoric acid instead of hydrochloric acid.
Alternatively, the wet clean process may be only a deionized water rinse. Furthermore, the wet clean process may consist of only a phosphoric acid rinse, only a hydrochloric acid rinse, only a sulfuric acid rinse, or only an organic solvent rinse.
Other modifications to the invention as described above are within the scope of the claimed invention. As an example, the wet clean process (step 214) may be performed in an ultrasonic tank. In addition, the wet clean process may consist of numerous rinses in solvent, acid or aqueous solutions.
The clean up plasma etch (step 212) described above may be performed using any other well known machine generating an isotropic plasma. In addition, the same chamber of the plasma etcher may be used for more than one of the above described etch processes. In addition, instead of CF4/O2, any other fluorine-based etchant, such as C2F6 or NF3, may be used for the clean up etch.
Instead of using PZT as the ferroelectric material, other materials such as SrBi2Ta2O9 may be used. Furthermore, instead of using this invention to fabricate planar ferroelectric capacitors, it may be used to fabricate the three dimensional cup-shaped capacitor. As an example, this invention could be used to fabricate capacitor under bitline structures.
Instead of forming the bottom electrode, 5, on the barrier layer, 9, the bottom electrode, 5, may be formed directly on the front-end module 3. In addition, instead of SiC, the barrier material 4 may be silicon nitride, silicon oxide, nitrogen-doped silicon carbide, or oxygen-doped silicon carbide. Furthermore, instead of Ir, the bottom electrode may be comprised of other materials such as Pt, IrO2 or SrRuO3. Similarly, instead of Ir/IrOx, the top electrode may be comprised of other materials such as Pt, IrO2, or SrRuO3.
This invention can be used in the fabrication of stand-alone FRAM devices or FRAM devices integrated into a semiconductor chip that has many device functions other than those described herein. Moreover, the invention is applicable to semiconductor wafers having different well and substrate technologies, transistor configurations, and metal connector materials or configurations. The invention is also applicable to other semiconductor technologies such as BiCMOS, bipolar, SOI, strained silicon, pyroelectric sensors, opto-electronic devices, microelectrical mechanical system (“MEMS”), or SiGe.
While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Numerous changes to the disclosed embodiments can be made in accordance with the disclosure herein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above described embodiments. Rather, the scope of the invention should be defined in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10447581 | May 2003 | US |
| Child | 10938478 | Sep 2004 | US |
