Nanolayer deposition using plasma treatment

Abstract

A process to deposit a thin film by chemical vapor deposition includes evacuating a chamber of gases; exposing a device to a gaseous first reactant, wherein the first reactant deposits on the device to form the thin film having a plurality of monolayers in thickness; evacuating the chamber of gases; exposing the device, coated with the first reactant, to a gaseous second reactant under a plasma treatment, wherein the thin film is treated by the first reactant; and repeating the previous steps.

1 . A process to deposit a thin film on a device by chemical vapor deposition, comprising:
 (a) exposing a device to a gaseous first reactant, wherein the first reactant deposits on the device to form a layer having a thickness of more than a monolayer;   (b) exposing the device, coated with the first reactant, to a gaseous second reactant under a plasma treatment, wherein a full thickness of the layer deposited by the first reactant is treated; and   (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) until the thin film comprising a plurality of layers is deposited.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the device is a wafer. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the plasma treatment enhances or maintains the thin film density or conformality. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the plasma is a high density plasma with higher than 5×10 9  ions/cm 3 . 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein one of the reactants comprises a metal organic reactant. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein one of the reactants comprises an organic reactant. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the thin film comprises a metal film. 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the thin film comprises a metal nitride film or a metal oxide film. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the second reactant is exposed under high pressure above approximately one hundred milliTorr (100 mTorr). 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising pressurizing the chamber to a high pressure above approximately one hundred milliTorr (100 mTorr). 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second reactants react. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 11 , wherein the reaction creates a new compound. 
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the thin film thickness is between a fraction of a nanometer and ten nanometers. 
     
     
         14 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising sequentially pulsing the plasma for each layer to be deposited. 
     
     
         15 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising exciting the plasma with a solid state RF plasma source. 
     
     
         16 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising purging a chamber containing the device. 
     
     
         17 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the plasma treatment is an isotropic plasma treatment. 
     
     
         18 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the plasma treatment treats the layer deposited by the first reactant to form a different material. 
     
     
         19 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the plasma treatment treats the layer deposited by the first reactant to form a same material. 
     
     
         20 . A process to deposit a thin film by chemical vapor deposition, comprising:
 (a) pre-cleaning a surface of a device;   (b) stabilizing precursor flow and pressure;   (c) exposing the device to a gaseous first reactant, wherein the first reactant deposits on the device to form a layer having a thickness of more than a monolayer;   (d) purging the chamber;   (e) striking a plasma;   (f) performing an isotropic plasma treatment for the deposition;   (g) exposing the device, coated with the first reactant, to a gaseous second reactant under the isotropic plasma treatment, the layer deposited by the first reactant is treated; and   (h) repeating steps (b)-(g) until the thin film comprising a plurality of layers is deposited.   
     
     
         21 . The process of  claim 20 , wherein striking the plasma comprises supplying one or a combination of N 2 , H 2 , Ar, He and NH 3 . 
     
     
         22 . The process of  claim 20 , wherein performing the isotropic plasma treatment treats a full thickness of the layer deposited by the first reactant.