Ground state hydrogen radical sources for chemical vapor deposition of silicon-carbon-containing films

Abstract

A thin layer of a silicon-carbon-containing film is deposited on a substrate by generating hydrogen radicals from hydrogen gas supplied to a radicals generation chamber, supplying the hydrogen radicals to a substrate processing chamber separate from the substrate processing chamber via a multiport gas distributor, and reacting the hydrogen radicals therein with an organosilicon reactant introduced into the substrate processing chamber concurrently. The hydrogen radicals are allowed to relax into a ground state in a radicals relaxation zone within the substrate processing chamber before reacting with the organosilicon reactant.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processing chamber, wherein the processing chamber includes a pedestal for supporting a substrate, wherein an interior of the processing chamber includes a chemical vapor deposition zone adjacent to the pedestal and a relaxation zone above the chemical vapor deposition zone;   a plasma chamber that is separate from the processing chamber, wherein the plasma chamber is configured to generate excited hydrogen radicals;   a gas distributor fluidly coupled with the processing chamber and the plasma chamber, wherein the gas distributor includes a plurality of through-holes configured to direct a flow of excited hydrogen radicals into the relaxation zone of the processing chamber, the plurality of through-holes configured to cause substantially all of the excited hydrogen radicals flowing into and through the relaxation zone to transition into relaxed hydrogen radicals; and   one or more reactant openings positioned below the relaxation zone, the one or more reactant openings configured to direct a flow of an organosilicon reactant into the chemical vapor deposition zone of the processing chamber.   
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the plurality of through-holes are sized so that a mean residence time of the excited hydrogen radicals being directed through the through-holes is greater than about 1×10 −3  seconds. 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the relaxation zone is defined entirely in a space between the one or more reactant openings and the gas distributor. 
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 23 , wherein the relaxation zone is sized so that a mean residence time of the excited hydrogen radicals flowing through the relaxation zone is greater than about 1×10 −3  seconds. 
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 a controller configured with instructions to perform the following operations:
 introducing a flow of hydrogen gas into the plasma chamber; 
 exciting at least a portion of the hydrogen gas within the plasma chamber to dissociate the hydrogen gas and form the excited hydrogen radicals, wherein substantially all of the excited hydrogen radicals transition into relaxed hydrogen radicals without recombining when directed through the gas distributor and the relaxation zone; and 
 introducing a flow of the organosilicon reactant into the chemical vapor deposition zone via the one or more reactant openings, at least some of the relaxed hydrogen radicals reacting with some of the organosilicon reactant to deposit silicon-carbon-containing film on the substrate. 
   
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 25 , wherein introducing a flow of hydrogen gas includes introducing a gas mixture of hydrogen gas and helium gas, the gas mixture including between about 1 percent and about 17 percent hydrogen gas. 
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the one or more reactant openings are configured to preferentially direct the flow of the organosilicon reactant in a direction parallel to a flow path of the excited hydrogen radicals. 
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the one or more reactant openings are configured to preferentially direct the flow of the organosilicon reactant in a direction intersecting with a flow path of the excited hydrogen radicals. 
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the plurality of through-holes in the gas distributor are arranged as an array of regularly spaced apart gas ports. 
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the through-holes in the gas distributor have an axial length to diameter ratio in a range of about 3:1 to 10:1. 
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 at least one of an ion filter and a photon filter positioned between the plasma chamber and the processing chamber.   
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the one or more reactant openings are arranged as mutually spaced apart reactant openings configured to direct a flow of the organosilicon reactant into the chemical vapor deposition zone without mixing with excited hydrogen radicals in the relaxation zone. 
     
     
         33 . The apparatus of  claim 32 , wherein the one or more reactant openings are positioned at least a distance between about 0.5 and about 5 inches from the gas distributor. 
     
     
         34 . The apparatus of  claim 33 , wherein the one or more reactant openings are positioned at least a distance between about 1.5 and about 4.5 inches from the gas distributor. 
     
     
         35 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein a mass fraction of the organosilicon reactant in a region adjacent to the gas distributor is about 0.1 or less. 
     
     
         36 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the organosilicon reactant is selected from the group consisting of siloxanes, silanes, alkyl silanes, alkoxy silanes, and amino silanes.