High Temperature Subatmospheric Chemical Vapor Deposited Undoped Silicate Glass: A Solution for Next Generation Shallow Trench Isolation

Abstract

Undoped silicate glass deposited using the tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and ozone thermal reaction has been selected as one of the candidates for shallow trench isolation applications. As a replacement for existing low pressure or atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition processes for device dimensions below 0.25 μm, TEOS/ozone films deposited at high temperature (>550°C) exhibit the superior qualities in terms of void‐free trench fill. In this paper, we present some characterization of the silicon oxide film deposited in the subatmospheric pressure regime using TEOS/ozone chemistry, aimed at developing a high‐quality dielectric film to meet shallow trench isolation gap‐fill requirements. It is also identified that low ozone/TEOS ratio reduces surface and pattern sensitivity. Therefore, no additional treatment or predeposition is necessary. Moreover, to enhance the etch resistance of the silicon oxide, the as‐deposited film is annealed at high temperature for densification and bond reconstruction. © 1999 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Low Temperature TEOS-Ozone Silicon Dioxide Thin Film CVD under Sub-Atmospheric Pressure Using Consecutively Pulsed Reactant Injection

“…Deposition chamber sketch and description can be found elsewhere. 13 This tool was equipped with remote microwave plasma system for in situ chamber cleaning to remove residue formed during CVD. A standard "seasoning" procedure was also performed after every deposition/cleaning process to provide process repeatability.…”

“…Silicon dioxide thin film deposition was performed either at atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) conditions, [4][5][6][7][8][9] or under subatmospheric pressure (SACVD) conditions. [10][11][12][13][14] Ozone with concentration more than about 1 weight % in oxygen was found to accelerate the film DR significantly. This made TEOS-ozone CVD process applicable for new generations of IC devices, basically due to urgent gap-filling needs of sub-quarter micron IC technology.…”

Review—Mechanical Stress in Chemically Vapor Phase Deposited Boron- and Phosphorus-Contained Silicate Glass Thin Films: A Review

“…Particularly, some stress data for silicon dioxide films obtained using ozone-based chemistry have been found in a few related publications. [32][33][34][35][36][37][38] Ozone-based CVD processes are known to produce silicon dioxide films with some unique features. These are surface sensitivity (different deposition rates on silicon and on silicon dioxide or silicon nitride surfaces), flow-like type of the deposition on the IC surface topography (step coverage more than 100%), high film porosity and film shrinkage, high etch rate, high surface roughness, etc.…”

Quantifying the Environmental Footprint of Semiconductor Equipment Using the Environmental Value Systems Analysis (EnV-S)

“…Postpump NF emissions of 0.06 g/wafer pass are discharged from the system. Since NF has a GWP of 10 800, this emission causes a global warming impact of 0.18 kgCE/wafer pass following a similar calculation as described in (2). For hot-bed adsorption and electric oxidation and water-scrubbing systems, GWEs include emissions from electricity generation.…”

“…In particular, fluorinated compound emissions from this process require treatment, especially during DCVD chamber cleaning. The case study in this paper focuses on a DCVD undoped silicate glass (USG) process module used as an insulating dielectric material in a semiconductor device [2], [3].…”