Semiconductor processing methods of chemical vapor depositing sio2 on a substrate

Abstract

The invention provides semiconductor processing methods of depositing SiO 2 on a substrate. In a preferred aspect, the invention provides methods of reducing the formation of undesired reaction intermediates in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) decomposition reaction. In one implementation, the method is performed by feeding at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2 into a reactor with an organic silicon precursor. For example, in one exemplary implementation, such components are, in gaseous form, fed separately into the reactor. In another exemplary implementation, such components are combined in liquid form prior to introduction into the reactor, and thereafter rendered into a gaseous form for provision into the reactor. The invention can be practiced with or in both hot wall and cold wall CVD systems.

1 . A semiconductor processing method of chemical vapor depositing SiO 2  on a substrate comprising: 
 placing a substrate within a chemical vapor deposition reactor;    feeding an organic silicon precursor into the chemical vapor deposition reactor having the substrate positioned therein under conditions effective to decompose the precursor into SiO 2  which deposits on the substrate and into a gaseous oxide of hydrogen; and    feeding an additional quantity of the gaseous oxide of hydrogen into the reactor while feeding the organic silicon precursor into the reactor.    
     
     
         2 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 1   , wherein the organic silicon precursor and the additional quantity of the gaseous oxide of hydrogen are fed into the reactor from separate feed streams.  
     
     
         3 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 1   , wherein the organic silicon precursor and the additional quantity of the gaseous oxide of hydrogen are fed into the reactor from a common feed stream.  
     
     
         4 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 1   , wherein the feeding steps collectively comprise: 
 mixing a quantity of the organic silicon precursor in liquid form and a quantity of the oxide of hydrogen in liquid form to form a liquid mixture;    converting the liquid mixture to a gaseous mixture; and    feeding the gaseous mixture into the reactor.    
     
     
         5 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 1   , wherein the feeding steps collectively comprise: 
 mixing a quantity of the organic silicon precursor in liquid form and a quantity of the oxide of hydrogen in liquid form to form a liquid mixture, the quantity of the organic silicon precursor being greater by volume than the quantity of the oxide of hydrogen;    converting the liquid mixture to a gaseous mixture; and    feeding the gaseous mixture into the reactor.    
     
     
         6 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 1   , wherein the feeding steps collectively comprise: 
 mixing a quantity of the organic silicon precursor in liquid form and a quantity of the oxide of hydrogen in liquid form to form a liquid mixture, the quantity of the oxide of hydrogen comprising between about 5%-15% of the liquid mixture volume;    converting the liquid mixture to a gaseous mixture; and    feeding the gaseous mixture into the reactor.    
     
     
         7 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 1   , wherein the feeding steps collectively comprise: 
 mixing a quantity of the organic silicon precursor in liquid form and a quantity of the oxide of hydrogen in liquid form to form a liquid mixture;    converting the liquid mixture to a gaseous mixture, the converting step including heating the liquid mixture to a temperature of between about 65° C. to 80° C.; and    feeding the gaseous mixture into the reactor.    
     
     
         8 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 1   , wherein the feeding steps collectively comprise: 
 mixing a quantity of the organic silicon precursor in liquid form and a quantity of the oxide of hydrogen in liquid form to form a liquid mixture, the quantity of the organic silicon precursor being greater by volume than the quantity of the oxide of hydrogen;    converting the liquid mixture to a gaseous mixture, the converting step including heating the liquid mixture to a temperature of between about 65° C. to 80° C.; and    feeding the gaseous mixture into the reactor.    
     
     
         9 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 1   , wherein the feeding steps collectively comprise: 
 mixing a quantity of the organic silicon precursor in liquid form and a quantity of the oxide of hydrogen in liquid form to form a liquid mixture, the quantity of the oxide of hydrogen comprising between about 5%-15% of the liquid mixture volume;    converting the liquid mixture to a gaseous mixture, the converting step including heating the liquid mixture to a temperature of between about 65° C. to 80° C.; and    feeding the gaseous mixture into the reactor.    
     
     
         10 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 1    wherein the organic silicon precursor is selected from the group consisting of silane, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), diethylsilane (DES), tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (TMCTS), fluorotriethoxysilane (FTES), and fluorotrialkoxysilane (FTAS).  
     
     
         11 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 1   , wherein the chemical vapor deposition reactor is a hot wall reactor.  
     
     
         12 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 1   , wherein the chemical vapor deposition reactor is a cold wall reactor.  
     
     
         13 . A semiconductor processing method of reducing the decomposition rate of an organic silicon precursor in a chemical vapor deposition process of depositing SiO 2  on a substrate within a chemical vapor deposition reactor comprising feeding at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2  into the reactor while feeding the organic silicon precursor.  
     
     
         14 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 13   , wherein the at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2  is fed into the reactor separately from the organic silicon precursor.  
     
     
         15 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 13   , wherein the at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2  is injected into the reactor separately from the organic silicon precursor, and comprises less than about 50% by volume of material injected into the reactor.  
     
     
         16 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 13   , wherein the at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2  is injected into the reactor separately from the organic silicon precursor, and comprises between about 5% to 15% by volume of material injected into the reactor.  
     
     
         17 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 13   , wherein the at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2  is injected into the reactor separately from the organic silicon precursor, and comprises less than about 5% by volume of material injected into the reactor.  
     
     
         18 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 13   , wherein the feeding steps collectively comprise: 
 mixing a quantity of the organic silicon precursor in liquid form and a quantity of the at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2  in liquid form to form a liquid mixture;    converting the liquid mixture to a gaseous mixture; and    feeding the gaseous mixture into the reactor.    
     
     
         19 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 13   , wherein the feeding steps collectively comprise: 
 mixing a quantity of the organic silicon precursor in liquid form and a quantity of the at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2  in liquid form to form a liquid mixture, the liquid mixture comprising no less than about 0.5% by volume of the at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2 ;    converting the liquid mixture to a gaseous mixture; and    feeding the gaseous mixture into the reactor.    
     
     
         20 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 13   , wherein the feeding steps collectively comprise: 
 mixing a quantity of the organic silicon precursor in liquid form and a quantity of the at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2  in liquid form to form a liquid mixture, the liquid mixture comprising between about 5% to 15% by volume of the at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2 ;    converting the liquid mixture to a gaseous mixture; and    feeding the gaseous mixture into the reactor.    
     
     
         21 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 13   , wherein the organic silicon precursor is selected from the group consisting of silane, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), diethylsilane (DES), tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (TMCTS), fluorotriethoxysilane (FTES), and fluorotrialkoxysilane (FTAS).  
     
     
         22 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 13   , wherein the chemical vapor deposition reactor is a hot wall reactor.  
     
     
         23 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 13   , wherein the chemical vapor deposition reactor is a cold wall reactor.  
     
     
         24 . A semiconductor processing method of chemical vapor depositing SiO 2  on a substrate comprising: 
 placing a substrate within a chemical vapor deposition reactor; and    feeding an organic silicon precursor and feeding an oxide of hydrogen into the chemical vapor deposition reactor having the substrate positioned therein under conditions effective to deposit an SiO 2  layer on the substrate.    
     
     
         25 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 24   , wherein the feeding steps collectively comprise: 
 mixing a quantity of the organic silicon precursor in liquid form and a quantity of the oxide of hydrogen in liquid form to form a liquid mixture, the liquid mixture comprising less than about 15% by volume of the oxide of hydrogen;    heating the liquid mixture to a temperature sufficient to produce a gas containing at least some organic silicon precursor and at least some oxide of hydrogen; and    feeding the produced gas into the reactor.    
     
     
         26 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 24   , wherein the volume of material injected into the reactor has no more than about 15% by volume of the oxide of hydrogen.  
     
     
         27 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 24   , wherein the volume of material injected into the reactor has between about 5% to 15% by volume of the oxide of hydrogen.  
     
     
         28 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 24   , wherein the volume of material injected into the reactor has between about 0.5% to 5% by volume of the oxide of hydrogen.  
     
     
         29 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 24   , wherein the organic silicon precursor is selected from the group consisting of: silane, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), diethylsilane (DES), tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (TMCTS), fluorotriethoxysilane (FTES), and fluorotrialkoxysilane (FTAS).  
     
     
         30 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 24   , wherein the chemical vapor deposition reactor is a hot wall reactor.  
     
     
         31 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 24   , wherein the chemical vapor deposition reactor is a cold wall reactor.  
     
     
         32 . A semiconductor processing method of reducing the formation of undesired reaction intermediates in a chemical vapor deposition decomposition reaction of an organic silicon precursor into silicon dioxide within a chemical vapor deposition reactor comprising feeding at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2  into the reactor with the organic silicon precursor.  
     
     
         33 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 32    wherein the at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2  is fed into the reactor separately from the organic silicon precursor.  
     
     
         34 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 32    wherein the at least one of H 2 O and H 2 O 2  is first combined with the organic silicon precursor, and then fed into the reactor with the organic silicon precursor.  
     
     
         35 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 32   , wherein the organic silicon precursor is selected from the group consisting of: silane, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), diethylsilane (DES), tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (TMCTS), fluorotriethoxysilane (FTES), and fluorotrialkoxysilane (FTAS).  
     
     
         36 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 32   , wherein the chemical vapor deposition reactor is a hot wall reactor.  
     
     
         37 . The semiconductor processing method of    claim 32   , wherein the chemical vapor deposition reactor is a cold hot reactor.  
     
     
         38 . A semiconductor processing method of chemical vapor depositing SiO 2  on a substrate comprising: 
 placing a substrate within a chemical vapor deposition reactor;    mixing a quantity of an organic silicon precursor in liquid form and a quantity of an oxide of hydrogen in liquid form to form a liquid mixture, the organic silicon precursor being selected from the group consisting of: silane, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), diethylsilane (DES), tetramethylcyclo-tetrasiloxane (TMCTS), fluorotriethoxysilane (FTES), and fluorotrialkoxysilane (FTAS), the oxide of hydrogen being selected from the group consisting of: H 2 O and H 2 O 2 , the quantity of the oxide of hydrogen comprising between about 5%-15% of the liquid mixture volume;    converting the liquid mixture to a gaseous mixture by heating the liquid mixture to a temperature of between about 65° C. to 80° C.; and    feeding the gaseous mixture into the reactor.