Filling a cavity in a substrate using sputtering and deposition

Abstract

A method may include providing a cavity in a surface of a substrate, the cavity comprising a sidewall portion and a lower surface; directing depositing species to the surface of the substrate, wherein the depositing species condense to form a fill material on the sidewall portion and lower surface; and directing angled ions at the cavity at a non-zero angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to a plane defined by the substrate, wherein the angled ions strike an exposed part of the sidewall portion and do not strike the lower surface, and wherein the cavity is filled by the fill material in a bottom-up fill process.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A processing apparatus comprising:
 a plasma chamber to receive a sputtering gas flow from a first gas source and a reactive precursor gas flow from a second gas source;   a process chamber disposed adjacent the process chamber and housing a substrate, the substrate comprising a cavity having a sidewall portion and a lower surface;   a plasma generator coupled to the plasma chamber and generating a plasma comprising sputtering gas derived from the sputtering gas flow and a reactive species derived from the reactive precursor gas flow, the reactive species generating a fill material at the substrate;   an extraction plate disposed between the plasma chamber and substrate and comprising an extraction aperture;   a bias voltage source generating a bias voltage according to a bias voltage signal between the substrate and plasma chamber, wherein an angled ion beam is directed to the substrate through the extraction plate, the angled ion beam comprising angled ions incident at a surface of the substrate at a non-zero angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to a plane defined by the substrate; and   a controller coupled to the bias voltage source, the plasma generator, the first gas source, and second gas source, the controller including a component to control the bias voltage signal, the reactive precursor gas flow, the sputtering gas flow, wherein the cavity is filled by the fill material in a bottom-up fill process.   
     
     
         2 . The processing apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the sputtering gas flow comprises a plurality of deposition pulses. 
     
     
         3 . The processing apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the angled ion beam is directed to the substrate in a plurality of sputtering intervals. 
     
     
         4 . The processing apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the sputtering gas flow comprises a plurality of deposition pulses and wherein the plurality of sputtering intervals alternate with the plurality of deposition pulses. 
     
     
         5 . The processing apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein a duration of an individual pulse of the plurality of deposition pulses comprises 1 second to 1000 seconds, and an individual sputtering interval of the plurality of sputtering intervals comprises 1 second to 1000 seconds. 
     
     
         5 . The processing apparatus of  claim 4 , where wherein the angled ions are provided continuously including during the deposition pulses. 
     
     
         6 . The processing apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the non-zero angle of incidence is less than 45 degrees and greater than 10 degrees. 
     
     
         7 . The processing apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the angled ion beam comprises a ribbon beam having a beam width and a beam length, wherein a ratio of the beam width to the beam length is greater than 5. 
     
     
         8 . The processing apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the series of angled ion pulses are generated by generating a series of bias voltage pulses between the plasma chamber and the substrate, wherein a bias voltage pulse of the series of bias voltage pulses comprises a duration of 100 μs to 100 ms, and wherein an interval between bias voltage pulses comprises a duration of 100 μs to 100 ms. 
     
     
         9 . The processing apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the depositing species are provided in a processing sequence, the processing sequence comprising:
 a first process interval when just a first precursor is provided to the substrate; and a second process interval when the first precursor and a second precursor are provided to the substrate, the second process interval alternating with the first process interval, wherein the first process interval and second process interval comprise a duration of 1 second to 1000 seconds, and wherein the bias voltage pulses are provided during the first process interval and second process interval.   
     
     
         10 . The processing apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein plasma generator is one of an RF plasma source, an inductively-coupled plasma source, a capacitively coupled plasma source, a helicon source, a electron cyclotron resonance source, an indirectly heated cathode source, and a glow discharge source. 
     
     
         11 . The processing apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first gas source provides an inert gas species including one of argon, krypton, and neon.