A process for fabricating an integrated circuit is provided. The process includes providing a substrate, forming a hard mask upon the substrate by one of atomic-layer deposition and molecular-layer deposition, and exposing the hard mask to a charged particle from one or more charged particle beams to pattern a gap in the hard mask. In the alternative, the process includes exposing the hard mask to a charged particle from one or more charged-particle beams to pattern a structure on the hard mask.

A method for processing a holding plate (10) of a clamping device (in particular clamp wafer chuck) for holding a component, in particular a wafer, wherein the holding plate (10) has a SiC-based surface (12) on which at least one protruding, SiC-based surface element (13) is formed, includes the steps of locally limited heating of the holding plate (10) in a predetermined surface section and creating the surface element (13) at the predetermined surface section by chemical vapor deposition, in particular by means of laser CVD. Applications of the method exist in repairing a holding plate (10) of a clamping device or manufacturing a holding plate (10) of a clamping device. Furthermore, a holding plate of a clamping device for holding a component, in particular a wafer, is described.

A method includes loading a mask having a defect into a chamber. The defect of the mask is repaired by forming a repair feature in a repair region of the mask. The forming the repair feature includes irradiating the repair region of the mask with a radiation beam. The forming the repair feature further includes while irradiating the repair region, injecting a precursor gas into the chamber to form a first film of the repair feature on the repair region, and while irradiating the repair region, injecting a cleaning gas into the chamber. The cleaning gas reacts with an impurity material in the first film to transform the first film into a first cleaned film.

A method of creating a layer of a target deposit-material, in a first target pattern, on a substrate surface. The substrate surface is placed in a vacuum and exposed to a first chemical vapor, having precursor molecules for a seed deposit-material, thereby forming a first substrate surface area that has adsorbed the precursor molecules. Then, a charged particle beam is applied to the first substrate surface area in a second target pattern, largely identical to the first target pattern thereby forming a seed layer in a third target pattern. The seed layer is exposed to a second chemical vapor, having target deposit-material precursor molecules, which are adsorbed onto the seed layer. Finally, a laser beam is applied to the seed layer and neighboring area, thereby forming a target deposit-material layer over and about the seed layer, where exposed to the laser beam.

Methods and systems for direct atomic layer etching and deposition on or in a substrate using charged particle beams. Electrostatically-deflected charged particle beam columns can be targeted in direct dependence on the design layout database to perform atomic layer etch and atomic layer deposition, expressing pattern with selected 3D-structure. Reducing the number of process steps in patterned atomic layer etch and deposition reduces manufacturing cycle time and increases yield by lowering the probability of defect introduction. Local gas and photon injectors and detectors are local to corresponding columns, and support superior, highly-configurable process execution and control.

Implementations described herein relate to selective removal processes. More specifically, laser thermal processing is utilized to selectively remove a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) material from a portion of a substrate. In one example, laser thermal processing may be utilized to selectively remove SAM materials from a metallic material layer preferentially to a dielectric material layer. Other implementations provide for a substrate process apparatus which includes a pre-clean chamber, a SAM deposition chamber, a laser thermal process chamber, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) chamber, and a post-process chamber all disposed about a central process chamber.

The present invention provides a selective area atomic layer deposition apparatus that deposits an atomic layer thin film on a substrate by supplying a source gas and a purge gas, the apparatus comprising: a reaction chamber; a stage disposed within the reaction chamber, a substrate being disposed on one surface of the stage; a combination nozzle unit disposed above the stage to move relative to the stage; and a gas supply unit that supplies a precursor and an oxidant for forming an atomic layer thin film on the substrate, wherein the combination nozzle unit has a laser core that applies a laser beam to selectively locally heat one surface of the substrate, and the gas supply unit is disposed such that at least a part thereof is adjacent to the laser core, and supplies the precursor and the oxidant to the area on the surface of the substrate that is selectively locally heated by the laser core, wherein the precursor is adsorbed onto the heated area of the substrate, and the oxidant removes ligands of the precursor.

An apparatus includes a powder storage tank (21) and a gas chamber (14), the powder storage tank (21) being provided with an outlet duct (23) in communication with the gas chamber (14). The apparatus further includes a monitoring device (24), a first switch (25) and a second switch (26). The monitoring device (24) is provided between the powder storage tank (21) and the gas chamber (14) while communicating with the outlet duct, and configured to monitor the powder content per unit volume in the outlet duct when the gas path between the monitoring device and the gas chamber is in the close state. The first switch (25) is provided between the monitoring device (24) and the outlet duct (23), and the second switch (26) is provided between the monitoring device (24) and the gas chamber (14). A method of using the apparatus is also provided.

A process for fabricating an integrated circuit is provided. The process includes providing a substrate, forming a hard mask upon the substrate by one of atomic-layer deposition and molecular-layer deposition, and exposing the hard mask to a charged particle from one or more charged particle beams to pattern a gap in the hard mask. In the alternative, the process includes exposing the hard mask to a charged particle from one or more charged-particle beams to pattern a structure on the hard mask.

A semiconductor device fabrication method includes irradiating a first surface of a substrate with a radiation beam. While irradiating the first surface of the substrate, a precursor gas is introduced near the first surface to deposit a layer including a first material. The precursor gas is removed from near the first surface after the depositing the layer. After the removing the precursor gas and prior to forming another layer over the layer, while irradiating a second surface of the layer, a cleaning gas is introduced near the second surface of the layer to transform the first material into a second material.