Methods for filling a substrate feature with a seamless dielectric gap fill are described. Methods comprise sequentially depositing a film with a seam and partially etching the film in the same processing chamber. Methods and apparatus allow for the same hardware to be used for PEALD deposition of a film as well as plasma etch of the film.

Methods for filling a substrate feature with a seamless metal gate fill are described. Methods comprise sequentially depositing a film on a substrate surface having at least one feature thereon. The at least one feature extends a feature depth from the substrate surface to a bottom surface and has a width defined by a first sidewall and a second sidewall. The film is treated with an oxidizing plasma. Then the film is etched to remove the oxidized film. A second film is deposited to fill the feature, where the second film substantially free of seams and voids.

Embodiments of this disclosure relate to methods for depositing gapfill materials by a plasma ALD cycle including a plasma deactivation outside of and near the top of the substrate feature. Some embodiments of the disclosure relate to methods for filling reentrant features without void formation. In some embodiments, the gapfill material comprises one or more of silicon nitride and titanium nitride.

Methods and apparatuses for depositing material into high aspect ratio features are described herein. Methods involve depositing an oxide material using a hydrogen-containing oxidizing chemistry. Methods may also involve thermally treating deposited oxide material in the presence of hydrogen to remove seams within the deposited oxide material.

The current disclosure relates to deposition of a transition metal chalcogenide barrier layer. The method of depositing a transition metal chalcogenide barrier layer comprises providing a substrate having an opening into a reaction chamber, providing a transition metal precursor in the reaction chamber in vapor phase and providing an reactive chalcogen species in the reaction chamber. The method may be a plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition method. The disclosure further relates to an interconnect comprising a transition metal chalcogenide barrier layer.

A deposition method demonstrating a slower growth rate is disclosed. Some embodiments of the disclosure provide CVD methods which utilize a halide-containing growth inhibitor as a co-reactant with a metal halide precursor and a reactant. Some embodiments of the disclosure relate to CVD and ALD methods comprising exposure of the substrate surface to a pretreatment comprising a halide-containing growth inhibitor.

Methods for filling the gap of a semiconductor feature comprising exposure of a substrate surface to a precursor and reactant and an anneal environment to decrease the wet etch rate ratio of the deposited film and fill the gap.

A method for densifying porous annular substrates by chemical vapor infiltration, includes providing a plurality of unit modules including a support tray on which substrates are stacked, the support tray including a gas intake opening extended by an injection tube disposed in an internal volume formed by the central passages of the stacked substrates, the injection tube including gas injection orifices opening into the internal volume, forming stacks of unit modules in the enclosure of a densification furnace and injecting, into the stacks of unit modules, a gas phase including a gas precursor of a matrix material to be deposited within the porosity of the substrates.

The invention concerns a method of manufacturing a modulated optically diffractive grating and a corresponding grating. The method comprises providing a substrate and manufacturing a plurality of temporary elements onto the substrate, the temporary elements being arranged in a periodic pattern comprising at least two periods having different element characteristics. Next, a first deposition layer is deposited so as to at least partially cover the temporary elements with the first deposition layer and the temporary elements are removed from the substrate in order to form onto the substrate a modulated diffractive grating of first grating elements made of the first deposition layer, the pattern comprising within each period a plurality of first grating elements and one more gaps between the first grating elements. The invention allows for producing high-quality gratings with locally varying diffraction efficiency.

A method of forming a silicon nitride film on a substrate having a recess pattern formed in a surface thereof, includes: forming the silicon nitride film in conformity to the surface of the substrate by supplying each of a raw material gas containing silicon and a nitriding gas for nitriding the raw material gas into a processing container in which the substrate is accommodated; shrinking the silicon nitride film such that a thickness thereof is reduced from a bottom side toward an upper side of the recess pattern by supplying a plasmarized shaping gas for shaping the silicon nitride film to the substrate in a state where the supply of the raw material gas containing silicon into the processing container is stopped; and burying the silicon nitride film in the recess pattern by alternately and repeatedly performing the forming the silicon nitride film and the shrinking the silicon nitride film.