Claims
- 1. A method for forming a semiconductor device comprising:
providing a semiconductor substrate; forming a metal oxide layer over the semiconductor substrate; forming a patterned gate electrode over a first portion of the metal oxide layer; and removing a second portion of the metal oxide layer by heating the semiconductor substrate and flowing a halide-containing chemistry over the substrate while heating, wherein the second portion of the metal oxide layer is adjacent to the first portion of the metal oxide layer.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the halide-containing chemistry further comprises hydrogen.
- 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the halide-containing chemistry is HCl.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the metal oxide layer is hafnium oxide.
- 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
forming an patterned ARC layer over the patterned gate electrode prior to the flowing of the halide-containing chemistry; and removing the patterned ARC layer after the flowing of the halide-containing chemistry.
- 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:
forming a first interfacial oxide layer under the metal oxide layer; removing at least a portion of the first interfacial oxide after removing the second portion of the metal oxide layer;
- 7. The method of claim 6, wherein removing at least a portion of the first interfacial oxide layer is performed using a chemistry containing hydrogen and fluorine.
- 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising forming a second interfacial oxide over the semiconductor substrate.
- 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of removing is further characterized as being at a temperature of between about 625 degrees Celsius to 675 degrees Celsius.
- 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of removing is further characterized as being at a pressure of about 50 torr for approximately 60 seconds and a flow rate of the halide-containing chemistry at about one SLM.
- 11. The method of claim 1, wherein removing a second portion of the metal oxide layer is performed in a reaction chamber in the absence of rf activation.
- 12. The method of claim 1, wherein heating is performed using a radiation source.
- 13. A method of removing a metal oxide layer that is over a semiconductor substrate, comprising:
placing the semiconductor substrate into a reaction chamber; heating the metal oxide layer; flowing a chlorine-containing chemistry while heating, wherein the chlorine-containing chemistry reacts with a portion of the metal oxide layer to create a byproduct, wherein the byproduct comprises an element from the metal oxide layer; and removing the byproduct from the reaction chamber.
- 14. A method for forming a semiconductor device comprising:
providing a semiconductor substrate; forming a metal oxide layer over the semiconductor substrate comprising hafnium and oxygen; removing a portion of the metal oxide layer by heating the semiconductor substrate using radiation and flowing a chemistry containing hydrogen and chlorine.
- 15. The method of claim 14, wherein heating the semiconductor substrate is at a temperature between about 625 degrees Celsius to 675 degrees Celsius.
- 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the semiconductor substrate comprises silicon.
- 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:
forming a first interfacial oxide layer under the metal oxide layer; removing at least a portion of the first interfacial oxide after removing the portion of the metal oxide layer;
- 18. The method of claim 17, wherein removing at least a portion of the first interfacial oxide layer is performed using a chemistry containing hydrogen and fluorine.
- 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising forming a second interfacial oxide over the semiconductor substrate.
- 20. The method of claim 14, wherein removing a second portion of the metal oxide layer is performed in a reaction chamber in the absence of RF activation.
- 21. A method of forming a metal oxide comprising:
providing a semiconductor substrate; forming a metal oxide layer over the semiconductor substrate; removing a portion of the metal oxide layer by heating the semiconductor substrate and flowing a gaseous halide.
- 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the gaseous halide comprises hydrogen.
- 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the gaseous halide is HCl.
- 24. The method of claim 22, wherein the gaseous halide is HF.
- 25. The method of claim 21, wherein the metal oxide contains hafnium and oxygen.
- 26. The method of claim 21, wherein heating the semiconductor substrate is at a temperature between about 625 degrees Celsius to 675 degrees Celsius.
- 27. A method of selectively removing a metal oxide layer from a semiconductor substrate, wherein the metal oxide layer has an exposed portion and a portion under a gate electrode comprising the step of flowing gaseous HCl, in the absence of rf activation, over the substrate with the substrate heated to between 600 and 800 degrees Celsius.
- 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the substrate is heated to between 625 and 675 degrees Celsius.
- 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the metal oxide is hafnium oxide.
- 30. The method of claim 29, wherein the substrate is heated by radiation.
- 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the metal oxide overlies an oxide layer.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is related to the following applications that are assigned to the assignee hereof:
[0002] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/851,206, by Hobbs et al., entitled “Method for Making a Semiconductor Device;” and
[0003] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/574,732, by Hobbs et al., entitled “Selective Removal of a Metal Oxide Dielectric.”