Boron concentration tunability in boron-silicon films

US12205818B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Applied Materials, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Yi Yang · New Taipei, TW
• Krishna Nittala · Sunnyvale, US
• Rui Cheng · San Jose, US
• Karthik Janakiraman · San Jose, US
• Diwakar Kedlaya · San Jose, US
• Zubin Huang · Santa Clara, US
• Aykut Aydin · Sunnyvale, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 15, 2024
• Grant date: Jan 21, 2025
• Expiry date: Mar 15, 2044

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01L21/67167
• WIPO field: Semiconductors
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Embodiments of the present technology include semiconductor processing methods to make boron-and-silicon-containing layers that have a changing atomic ratio of boron-to-silicon. The methods may include flowing a silicon-containing precursor into a substrate processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber, and also flowing a boron-containing precursor and molecular hydrogen (H2) into the substrate processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The boron-containing precursor and the H2 may be flowed at a boron-to-hydrogen flow rate ratio. The flow rate of the boron-containing precursor and the H2 may be increased while the boron-to-hydrogen flow rate ratio remains constant during the flow rate increase. The boron-and-silicon-containing layer may be deposited on a substrate, and may be characterized by a continuously increasing ratio of boron-to-silicon from a first surface in contact with the substrate to a second surface of the boron-and-silicon-containing layer furthest from the substrate.