A method of pre-coating a carbon film by plasma in a processing container, includes: pre-coating an inner wall of the processing container with a first carbon film by plasma of a first carbon-containing gas under a first pressure; and processing the first carbon film with the plasma under a second pressure.

A substrate processing tool configured for performing integrated substrate processing and substrate metrology, and methods of processing a substrate. The substrate processing tool includes a substrate transfer chamber, a plurality of substrate processing chambers coupled to the substrate transfer chamber, and a substrate metrology module coupled to the substrate transfer chamber. A substrate processing method includes processing a substrate in a first substrate processing chamber of a substrate processing tool, transferring the substrate from the first substrate processing chamber through a substrate transfer chamber to a substrate metrology module in the substrate processing tool, performing metrology on the substrate in the substrate metrology module, transferring the substrate from the substrate metrology module to a second substrate processing chamber through the substrate transfer chamber, and processing the substrate in the second substrate processing chamber.

Passivation layers to inhibit vapor deposition can be used on reactor surfaces to minimize deposits while depositing on a substrate housed therein, or on particular substrate surfaces, such as metallic surfaces on semiconductor substrates to facilitate selective deposition on adjacent dielectric surfaces. Passivation agents that are smaller than typical self-assembled monolayer precursors can have hydrophobic or non-reactive ends and facilitate more dense passivation layers more quickly than self-assembled monolayers, particularly over complex three-dimensional structures.

Process for manufacturing a printhead for a 3D manufacturing system that uses metal electrodeposition to construct parts. The printhead may be constructed by depositing layers on top of a backplane that contains control and power circuits. Deposited layers may include insulating layers and an anode layer that contain deposition anodes that are in contact with the electrolyte to drive electrodeposition. Insulating layers may for example be constructed of silicon nitride or silicon dioxide; the anode layer may contain an insoluble conductive material such as platinum group metals and their associated oxides, highly doped semiconducting materials, and carbon based conductors. The anode layer may be deposited using chemical vapor deposition or physical vapor deposition. Alternatively in one or more embodiments the printhead may be constructed by manufacturing a separate anode plane component, and then bonding the anode plane to the backplane.

A plasma processing method including: a film formation step of forming a silicon-containing film on a surface of a member inside a chamber by plasma of a silicon-containing gas and a reducing gas; a plasma processing step of plasma-processing a workpiece carried into the chamber by plasma of a processing gas after the silicon-containing film is formed on the surface of the member; and a removal step of removing the silicon-containing film from the surface of the member by plasma of a fluorine-containing gas after the plasma-processed workpiece is carried out of the chamber.

A method for producing a nickel thin film on a Si substrate by a chemical vapor deposition method, in which the nickel thin film is formed by use of a hydrocarbon-type nickel complex represented by a following formula as a raw material compound, which is a nickel complex in which a cyclopentadienyl group (Cp) or a derivative thereof and a chain or cyclic alkenyl group having 3 to 9 carbon atoms or a derivative thereof are coordinated to nickel and an element other than carbon and hydrogen is not contained in the structure, use of hydrogen as a reaction gas, and use of a film formation pressure of 1 to 150 torr and a film formation temperature of 80 to 250° C. as film formation conditions ##STR00001##
(In the formula, X represents a chain or cyclic alkenyl group having 3 to 9 carbon atoms or a derivative thereof. R.sub.1 to R.sub.5 which are substituent groups of the cyclopentadienyl group represent C.sub.nH.sub.2n+1 and n represents an integer of 0 to 6).

A method of fabricating semi-polar gallium nitride includes providing a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. The SOI substrate includes a substrate, a silicon oxide layer and a silicon substrate. The silicon substrate has (1,0,0) facets. The silicon oxide layer is disposed between the substrate and the silicon substrate. Later, a vapor etching process is performed to etch the (1,0,0) facets to form (1,1,1) facets. The vapor etching process is performed by disposing a nebulizer under the SOI substrate. The top surface of the silicon substrate faces the nebulizer. Later, the nebulizer turns etchant into mist to etch the (1,0,0) facets by the mist to form (1,1,1) facets. Finally, an epitaxial process is performed to grow a semi-polar gallium nitride layer on the (1,1,1) facets.

A surface-coated cutting tool has a hard coating layer on a tool body. The hard coating layer includes a (Ti.sub.1−xAl.sub.x)(C.sub.yN.sub.1−y) layer (the average amount Xavg of Al and the average amount Yavg of C satisfy 0.60≦Xavg≦0.95 and 0≦Yavg≦0.005). Crystal grains having an NaCl type face-centered cubic structure in the layer have {111} orientation, a columnar structure in which the average grain width of the individual crystal grains having an NaCl type face-centered cubic structure is 0.1 μm to 2.0 μm and the average aspect ratio is 2 to 10 is included, and in the individual crystal grains having an NaCl type face-centered cubic structure, a periodic compositional variation in Ti and Al in the composition formula: (Ti.sub.1−xAl.sub.x)(C.sub.yN.sub.1−y) is present and the difference between the average of maximum values of x and the average of minimum values thereof is 0.03 to 0.25.

Methods of depositing an adamantane film are described, which may be used in the manufacture of integrated circuits. Methods include processing a substrate in which an adamantane seed layer is deposited on a substrate, converting to a diamond nuclei layer having an increased crystallinity relative to the adamantane seed layer and then grown into full nanocrystalline diamond film from the diamond nuclei layer.

Described are low resistivity metal layers/films, such as low resistivity ruthenium (Ru) layers/films, and methods of forming low resistivity metal films. Ru layers/films with close-to-bulk resistivity can be prepared on substrates using Ru(CpEt).sub.2 + O.sub.2 ALD, as well as a two-step ALD process using Ru(DMBD)(CO).sub.3 + TBA (tertiary butyl amine) to nucleate the substrate and Ru(EtCp).sub.2 + O.sub.2 to increase layer/film thickness. The Ru layer/films and methods of preparing Ru layers/films described herein may be suitable for use in barrierless via-fills, as well as at M0/M1 interconnect layers.