Classifications

• • 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
  • H01L21/02041—Cleaning
  • H01L21/02043—Cleaning before device manufacture, i.e. Begin-Of-Line process
  • H01L21/02054—Cleaning before device manufacture, i.e. Begin-Of-Line process combining dry and wet cleaning steps
• • 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
  • H01L21/02041—Cleaning
  • H01L21/02057—Cleaning during device manufacture
• • 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
  • H01L21/02041—Cleaning
  • H01L21/02043—Cleaning before device manufacture, i.e. Begin-Of-Line process
  • H01L21/02046—Dry cleaning only
• • 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
  • H01L21/02041—Cleaning
  • H01L21/02043—Cleaning before device manufacture, i.e. Begin-Of-Line process
  • H01L21/02052—Wet cleaning only
• • 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
  • H01L21/02282—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a deposition process liquid deposition, e.g. spin-coating, sol-gel techniques, spray coating
• • 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
  • H01L21/027—Making masks on semiconductor bodies for further photolithographic processing not provided for in group H01L21/18 or H01L21/34
  • H01L21/033—Making masks on semiconductor bodies for further photolithographic processing not provided for in group H01L21/18 or H01L21/34 comprising inorganic layers
  • H01L21/0334—Making masks on semiconductor bodies for further photolithographic processing not provided for in group H01L21/18 or H01L21/34 comprising inorganic layers characterised by their size, orientation, disposition, behaviour, shape, in horizontal or vertical plane
  • H01L21/0337—Making masks on semiconductor bodies for further photolithographic processing not provided for in group H01L21/18 or H01L21/34 comprising inorganic layers characterised by their size, orientation, disposition, behaviour, shape, in horizontal or vertical plane characterised by the process involved to create the mask, e.g. lift-off masks, sidewalls, or to modify the mask, e.g. pre-treatment, post-treatment

Definitions

• the invention relates to semiconductor devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to the production of semiconductor devices where wet chemical treatments are used on a wafer with high aspect ratio nanostructures that are sensitive to pattern collapse during processing.
• the stack of materials may comprise a single layer of silicon based material such as SiO or SiN, or the stack may comprise multiple layers of materials such as SiO, SiN, TEOS, polysilicon or silicon in different orders within the stack.
• the stack may be formed by a number of methods, including physical vapor
• a photoresist layer is applied. This photoresist layer is used as a mask for etching. Many methods of etching may be used including methods of wet etching and dry etching. After the etching, the photoresist layer is usually removed, often by a plasma ashing procedure.
• the wafers are subjected to wet processing such as wet cleaning.
• Wet cleaning is helpful to prepare the surfaces and to remove residue left behind by some of the other processing.
• the cleaning process usually consists of chemical treatment in combination with megasonics, jets and/or other particle
• the drying may include bulk
• a wafer may go through multiple occurrences of these steps during the entire fabrication process. Hence, as device features shrink on a wafer and as much liquid is used in the processing, strong capillary forces may exert enough force to
• a method of processing a wafer used in fabricating semiconductor devices is provided.
• the method teaches processing the wafer in such a way as to reduce or eliminate collapse of high aspect ratio features on the wafer.
• High aspect ratio features are formed in a silicon based layer that has been produced on the wafer.
• the sidewalls of the features are treated to make them more hydrophobic.
• a wet processing of the wafer is performed on the wafer and then the wafer is dried.
• a method of processing a wafer used in fabricating semiconductor devices is provided.
• High aspect ratio features are formed in a silicon based layer on the wafer.
• a wet processing of the wafer is performed.
• the wet processing includes wet cleaning the wafer, depositing a primer on the wafer that modifies surface properties of the features so as to increase the hydophobicity of the surfaces of the features and rinsing the wafer. After the wet processing, the wafer is then dried.
• FIGS. 1A and IB show high level flow charts of some embodiments of the invention.
• FIGS. 2A-2C show an exemplary wafer undergoing a damaging wet processing and drying.
• FIGS. 3A-3G show an exemplary wafer undergoing select steps of an embodiment of the invention.
• FIGS. 4A-4G show an exemplary wafer undergoing select steps of an embodiment of the invention.
• FIGS. 5A-5H show an exemplary wafer undergoing select steps of an embodiment of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
• Oxides and nitrides of silicon grown by low-temperature oxidation (LTO), chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and implantation have been traditionally used in front-end-of-the-line (FEOL) processing for electrical and thermal isolation, masking and encapsulation in high aspect ratio nanostructures.
• LTO low-temperature oxidation
• CVD chemical vapor deposition
• FEOL front-end-of-the-line
• the use of such materials in FEOL applications has continued to offer the selectivity to reduce feature sizes and increase aspect ratios to achieve the desired densities of devices for 32 nm integrated circuit (IC) fabrication and beyond.
• Aspect ratios are now commonly in the range of 10:1 to 25:1 and possibly higher.
• Fig. 2A shows a wafer 201 together with a set of nanostructures 202. Feature collapse occurs during wet cleaning and subsequent drying.
• Fig. 2B shows the nanostructures 202 of Fig. 2A during a wet cleaning where the fluid 204 has gathered between the nanostructures 202. Fluid enters the features during wet processing and strong capillary forces may exert sufficient force to damage the delicate nanostructures. In addition, the surface tension forces of the drying liquid tend to pull surfaces of adjacent nanostructures into contact. These forces are often exacerbated by the lack of balance of pressures across the many features due to non- uniformity of the fluid amounts gathered in the features, as well as non-uniformity in drying.
• Feature collapse can be a significant problem in semiconductor fabrication and can lead to defects in the circuits produced.
• a wafer may go through multiple occurrences of wet processing and drying during the entire fabrication process. As device features shrink on a wafer, strong capillary forces may exert enough force to collapse the structures during drying steps. A cost-effective and simple method of processing the wafers is needed that reduces the occurrence of the collapsing of high aspect ratio nanostructures during sequential wet processing. In light of this notion, the present invention outlines a methodology that can be used during single wafer wet cleaning of high aspect ratio nanostructures on a wafer to avoid collapse and sticking.
• Fig. 1A is a high level overview of an embodiment of the invention.
• At the start of the method at least one silicon based layer is deposited upon a wafer (step 102).
• a photoresist patterned mask is formed over the silicon based layer (step 104) and features are etched into the silicon based layer using the photoresist as a mask (step 108).
• the photoresist mask is then stripped away (step 112).
• a procedure is then used to make the sidewalls of the features more hydrophobic (step 116). In one embodiment, this procedure may include depositing a primer on the wafer that chemically alters the surface of the features as a first step in the process flow without needing to wet the features.
• This step can be carried out by exposing the surface of interest to the vapor of the modifying agent prior to the wet processing.
• Wet processing is then performed on the wafer (step 120), which may include a sequential series of wet cleaning steps to clean the features of common residues left behind after etch.
• the wafer is then dried (step 124).
• Fig. IB is a high level overview of another embodiment of the invention.
• the steps of making the sidewalls more hydrophobic (step 116) and the wet processing (step 120) are combined into one step of making the sidewalls more hydrophobic during the wet processing (step 124).
• this step can be carried out by exposing the surface of interest to a liquid solution that contains the modifying agent prior to or after the wet clean sequence.
• the liquid solution that contains the surface modifying agent can be derived from solvents that are miscible with the agent such as n-Hexane, Toluene, NPM, DMSO, Acetone, DMF, DM AC, or HFEs.
• the other steps may be left unchanged.
• Figs. 3A - 3G show an example of a wafer with high aspect nanostructures at selected steps of an embodiment of the disclosed method.
• Fig. 3A shows the result after step 102 has been performed.
• a layer of silicon based material 306 has been formed on the wafer 301.
• the layer may be formed by physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, electrochemical deposition or molecular beam epitaxy.
• Fig. 3A shows a single uniform silicon based layer 306, it is important to note that multiple layers of materials may be used depending on many factors, such as the intended use of the circuit being fabricated or the specific fabrication process being used.
• multilayer structures include a common shallow trench isolation (STI) stack consisting of TEOS at the top followed by SiN, then PolySi, and then Si at the bottom, or a stack consisting of SiN at the top followed by TEOS, then another layer of SiN, then PolySi, and then Si at the bottom.
• STI shallow trench isolation
• a silicon based layer 306 is not formed on the wafer 301. Instead, the silicon wafer 301 is etched.
• Fig. 3B shows the wafer 301 with the layer of silicon based material 306 and a photoresist layer 305 that has been patterned.
• a photoresist layer 305 is deposited on the silicon based material, often using a spin coating process and the photoresist is patterned using photolithography (step 104).
• the photoresist layer 305 is used as a mask to determine what silicon based material to remove and what to leave behind during the etching process.
• a wet or dry etching process (step 108) is used to remove the material not covered by the photoresist 305.
• Fig. 3C shows the wafer 301 after the etching, showing the nanostructures
• the photoresist material may then be removed (step 112).
• the photoresist may be removed by a chemical stripping process or by an ashing process.
• Fig. 3D shows a wafer 301 and four columns of the silicon based material that remains after etching and photoresist removal.
• the columns of the silicon based material make up the nanostructures 302. It is important to note that while the figures show a particular example of features that may be etched on the wafer 301, other numbers and types of features are possible.
• Fig. 3E shows the wafer 301 and nanostructures 302 after a layer of primer
• the primer 303 has been deposited on the nanostructures 302 (step 116).
• the primer 303 may be a monolayer formed by self-assembly or any other known deposition process.
• the primer layer 303 may be thicker, such as a film.
• surface modifying agents include hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDS), and various alkoxysilanes and alkysilanes. More specifically, fluorinated or long chain hydrocarbon based trichlorosilane, dichlorosilane, monochlorosilane,
• trimethoxysilane dimethoxysilane, methoxysilane, triethoxysilane, diethoxysilane, and ethoxysilane to name a few examples.
• Adding the primer 303 to the nanostructures 302 helps reduce feature collapse by modifying the surface properties of the nanostructures 302.
• the surface of the nanostructures 302 is chemically altered such that the stiction force between two adjacent surfaces is reduced or preferably eliminated by making the surfaces of the nanostructures 302 more hydrophobic.
• One example of a chemical modification that would modulate stiction would be substituting polar hydroxyl groups of a nanostructure surface (for example Si-0 or Si-N, often used to fabricate high aspect ratio nanostructures) with nonpolar groups, such as Si-CH3, Si-R or Si-RF (where R is a hydrocarbon or fluoro substituted chain of n-length).
• the Si-CH3 groups may be provided, for example, by HDMS (C 6 Hi 8 OSi 2 ).
• Another example of chemical modifier is 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctyltrichlorosilane (FOTS, C 8 Fi 3 H 4 SiCi 3 ).
• FTS fluorooctyltrichlorosilane
• C 8 Fi 3 H 4 SiCi 3 The presence of nonpolar groups provides a stable modified surface with DI water contact angles varying from 70-130° where development of excessive forces due to liquid meniscus formation can be prevented.
• the primer 303 may be added before the wet phase of processing via reaction of the surface with its vapor. When added before the wet phase, the primer 303 additionally acts to minimize or prevent the excessive stictional forces that are often exerted by the adsorption of water on surfaces that are in close proximity.
• a sample process flow using FOTS is first generating a stock solution of chemical modifier by mixing a solution of 0.1-50% FOTS by weight with anhydrous n-hexane, then co-heating one drop of the stock solution with the sample to be modified in an oven at a temperature of 40-200°C. After approximately 2-300 seconds, the stock solution evaporates completely and FOTS molecule reacts with the sample surface.
• a surface prepared this way has DI water contact angle larger than 120°.
• the primer may be added during the wet phase processing (step 126) by use of suitable solvents containing the modifying agent.
• This step could be applied either before or after the wet clean steps in the sequential process flow.
• a sample process using FOTS is immersing the sample into 0.01-50% by weight of FOTS in HFE-7100 (3M, Minneapolis, MN), Toluene, n-hexane, chloroform, or acetone for approximately 10 seconds up to 1 hour under nitrogen, followed by rinsing ultrasonically with fresh HFE-7100, then drying with nitrogen.
• Fig. 3F shows the wafer 301 undergoing a wet processing (step 120) such as a wet cleaning after having the primer 303 applied.
• the liquid 304 from the wet processing is gathered within the nanostructures 302 and is repelled by the now more hydrophobic sidewalls of the nanostructures 302.
• the increased hydrophobicity of the sidewalls of the nanostructures 302 reduces the capillary forces present between the nanostructures 302 and prevents the formation of a concave meniscus in the fluid gathered within the features.
• Fig. 3G shows the wafer 301 after it has been dried from a DI water rinse (step 124).
• the primer 303 may be removed after the drying, for example by an oxygen or carbon dioxide flash process. This would return the wafer 301 and nanostructures 302 to the state shown in Fig. 3D, but with any processing residue greatly reduced or removed.
• Figs. 4A - 4G show an example of a wafer 301 with high aspect ratio nanostructures 302 at selected steps of another embodiment of the disclosed invention.
• Fig. 4A shows the result after step 102 has been performed.
• a layer of silicon based material 306 has been formed on the wafer 301.
• the layer may be formed by physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, electrochemical deposition or molecular beam epitaxy.
• Fig. 4A shows a single uniform silicon based layer 306, it is important to note that multiple layers of materials may be used depending on many factors, such as the intended use of the circuit being fabricated or the specific fabrication process being used.
• multilayer structures include a stack consisting of TEOS at the top followed by SiN, then PolySi, and then Si at the bottom, or a stack consisting of SiN at the top followed by TEOS, then another layer of SiN, then PolySi, and then Si at the bottom.
• Fig. 4B shows the wafer 301 with the layer of silicon based material 306 and a photoresist layer 305 that has been patterned.
• a photoresist layer 305 is deposited on the silicon based material, often using a spin coating process and the photoresist is patterned using photolithography (step 104).
• the photoresist layer 305 is used as a mask to determine what silicon based material to remove and what to leave behind during the etching process.
• a wet or dry etching process (step 108) may be used to remove the material not covered by the photoresist 305.
• Fig. 4C shows the wafer 301 after the etching, showing the nanostructures 302 formed by the etching (step 108). At this point the photoresist 305 is still present. After the etching, the photoresist material 305 may then be removed (step 112). The photoresist 305 may be removed by a chemical stripping process or by an ashing process.
• Fig. 4D shows a wafer 301 and four columns of the silicon based material that remain after etching and photoresist removal (step 112).
• the columns of the silicon based material make up the nanostructures 302. It is important to note that while the figures show a particular example of features that may be etched on the wafer 301, other numbers and types of features are possible.
• the sidewalls of the nanostructures 302 are made more hydrophobic (step 116) by a roughening process.
• the surface of the nanostructures 302 are made more hydrophobic (step 116) by a roughening process.
• nanostructures 302 can be reacted with a chemical substituent such that the surface morphology of the nanostructures 302 is changed.
• a chemical substituent such that the surface morphology of the nanostructures 302 is changed.
• the photoresist 305 is spin-coated on the silicon based layer 306 the polymer resist can be exposed to a fluorine (F) and oxygen (O) mixture plasma to induce polymer re-deposition on the substrate.
• F fluorine
• O oxygen
• the re-deposited polymer generated by the plasma reaction is not a smooth thin film hence it can be used as a mask to etch the underlying substrate.
• An alternating deposition and etch process can be used to vary the surface roughness and achieve the required topography to produce a super-hydrophobic surface via a subsequent C 4 F 8 plasma thin film coating process.
• Roughening may be implemented by RIE texturing using polymerzing plasma and dry or vapor phase fluoride etching at increased temperature, for example.
• Fig. 4F shows the wafer 301 undergoing a wet processing (step 120) such as a wet cleaning after having surfaces of the nanostructures roughened to increase surface area for subsequent surface modification reactions.
• the liquid 304 from the wet processing is gathered within the nanostructures 302 and is repelled by the now more hydrophobic sidewalls of the nanostructures 302.
• the increased hydrophobicity of the sidewalls of the nanostructures 302 reduces the capillary forces present between the nanostructures 302 and prevents the formation of a concave meniscus in the fluid gathered within the features.
• Fig. 4G shows the wafer 301 after it has been dried (step 124) and showing no signs of feature collapse.
• Figs. 5A - 5H show an example of a wafer 301 with high aspect ratio nanostructures 302 at selected steps of another embodiment of the disclosed invention.
• Fig. 5A shows the result after step 102 has been performed.
• a layer of silicon based material 306 has been formed on the wafer 301.
• the layer may be formed by physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, electrochemical deposition or molecular beam epitaxy.
• Fig. 5A shows a single uniform silicon based layer 306, it is important to note that multiple layers of materials may be used depending on many factors, such as the intended use of the circuit being fabricated or the specific fabrication process being used.
• multilayer structures include a stack consisting of TEOS at the top followed by SiN, then PolySi, and then Si at the bottom, or a stack consisting of SiN at the top followed by TEOS, then another layer of SiN, then PolySi, and then Si at the bottom.
• Fig. 5B shows the wafer 301 with the layer of silicon based material 306 and a photoresist layer 305 that has been patterned.
• a photoresist layer 305 is deposited on the silicon based material, often using a spin coating process and the photoresist is patterned using photolithography (step 104).
• the photoresist layer 305 is used as a mask to determine what silicon based material to remove and what to leave behind during the etching process.
• a wet or dry etching process (step 108) may be used to remove the material not covered by the photoresist 305.
• Fig. 5C shows the wafer 301 after the etching, showing the nanostructures 302 formed by the etching (step 108). At this point the photoresist 305 is still present. After the etching, the photoresist material 305 may then be removed (step 112). The photoresist 305 may be removed by a chemical stripping process or by an ashing process.
• Fig. 5D shows a wafer 301 and four columns of the silicon based material that remain after etching and photoresist removal (step 112).
• the columns of the silicon based material make up the nanostructures 302. It is important to note that while the figures show a particular example of features that may be etched on the wafer 301, other numbers and types of features are possible.
• Fig. 5E shows the wafer 301 undergoing a wet cleaning during wet processing to clean etch or ash residue from previous processes.
• the wet cleaning chemicals 501 may include: aqueous, semi-aqueous or organic solutions of chemicals or combination of chemicals including HC1, HF, NH 4 F, NH 3 aqueous solution, H 2 S0 4 , H 2 0 2 , for example.
• Fig. 5F shows the surfaces of the nanostructures 302 being made more hydrophobic by depositing surface modifying agents 303 during wet processing (step 126) after the wet cleaning shown in Fig. 5E.
• One particular example of a procedure to make the surfaces of the nanostructures 302 more hydrophobic is: 1) rinsing away the wet cleaning chemicals 501 with DI water, 2) replacing DI water with isopropyl alcohol, 3) replacing isopropyl alcohol with HFEs, 4) immersing the wafer into 0.01- 50% by weight of FOTS in HFE for approximately 2 seconds - 10 minutes, and 5) rinsing with HFE.
• An alternative example is: 1) rinsing away the wet cleaning chemicals 501 with DI water, 2) replacing DI water with organic solvents that don't contain an -OH group, but are also miscible with DI water (Examples of solvents having such properties include: DMF, DMAC, acetone, NMP.), 3) immersing the wafer into 0.01-50% by weight of FOTS in the organic solvent solution for approximately 2 seconds - lOminutes, and 4) rinsing with the organic solvent.
• Item 502 of Fig. 5F represents the chemicals used during the procedure of making the surfaces of the nanostructures 302 more hydrophobic.
• Fig 5G shows the step to re-introduce DI water 304 into the hydrophobic nanostructures 302 after Fig. 5F to exploit the high Laplace pressure generated by convex water meniscus inside the hydrophobic nanostructures 302 to prevent the nanostructures 302 from collapse during the drying process.
• One particular example of doing so is: 1) replacing the HFE with isopropyl alcohol, and 2) replacing isopropyl alcohol with DI water. Since isopropyl alcohol has a lower surface tension than DI water and is miscible with DI water, immersion in isopropyl alcohol first then in DI water can introduce DI water into the hydrophobic nanostructures 302 through diffusion process.
• a simple DI water wash step can be applied here.
• Fig 5H shows intact high density high aspect ratio nanostructures 302 after drying.

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• 2010
  • 2010-02-01 US US12/697,862 patent/US8617993B2/en active Active
• 2011
  • 2011-01-21 JP JP2012551206A patent/JP5805105B2/ja active Active
  • 2011-01-21 KR KR1020127019911A patent/KR101827020B1/ko not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2011-01-21 WO PCT/US2011/022075 patent/WO2011094132A2/en not_active Ceased
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