Provided in the present disclosure are a coating apparatus and an application thereof, being used for coating on the surface of a substrate, the coating apparatus comprises a feeding device and a device main body, wherein the feeding device is configured to communicate with the apparatus device main body, the feeding device comprises a gas feeding device and a liquid feeding device, the gas feeding device is in communication with the device main body and is used for transmitting a gaseous gas raw material to the device main body, the liquid feeding device is in communication with the device main body and is used for transmitting a liquid gasified gas raw material to the device main body, the device main body is used for preparing a thin film based on the gas raw material, and the same coating apparatus can be used for preparing various thin films or film layers with different properties or of different types on the surface of the substrate.

Provided is a method of producing a copper-containing layer, including: step 1: a step of reducing a surface of a substrate, provided that a substrate having a surface formed of a silicic acid compound is excluded, through use of a reducing agent; and step 2: a step of forming a copper-containing layer on the surface having been reduced in the step 1 through use of a thin-film forming raw material containing a copper compound by a plasma atomic layer deposition method.

A film formation method includes (A) to (C) below. (A) Providing a substrate including, on a surface of the substrate, a first region in which a first material is exposed and a second region in which a second material different from the first material is exposed. (B) Supplying, to the surface of the substrate, vapor of a solution that contains a raw material of a self-assembled monolayer and a solvent by which the raw material is dissolved, and selectively forming a self-assembled monolayer in the first region. (C) Forming a desired target film in the second region by using the self-assembled monolayer formed in the first region.

A film forming method includes: providing the substrate into the processing container; forming a metal-based film on the substrate within the processing container; and subsequently, supplying a Si-containing gas into the processing container in a state in which the substrate is provided within the processing container.

An exclusion ring for semiconductor wafer processing includes an outer circumferential segment having a first thickness and an inner circumferential segment having a second thickness, with the first thickness being greater than the second thickness. The top surface of an inner circumferential segment and the top surface of the outer circumferential segment define a common top surface for the exclusion ring. A plurality of flow paths is formed within the outer circumferential segment, with each of the flow paths extending radially through the plurality of flow paths provides for exhaust of a wafer edge gas from the pocket where a wafer has an edge thereof disposed below part of the inner circumferential portion. The exhausting of the wafer edge gas from the pocket prevents up-and-down movement of the exclusion ring when bowed wafers are processed.

Showerheads for semiconductor processing equipment are disclosed that include various features designed to reduce nonuniformity and adjust deposited film profiles.

A film forming apparatus includes a film formation chamber capable of accommodating a substrate; a gas supplier including nozzles provided in an upper portion of the film formation chamber to supply a process gas onto a film formation face of the substrate, and a cooling part suppressing a temperature increase of the process gas; a heater heating the substrate to 1500° C. or higher; and a plate opposed to a bottom face of the gas supplier, where first opening parts of the nozzles are formed, in the film formation chamber, and arranged away from the bottom face, in which the plate includes a plurality of second opening parts having a smaller diameter than the first opening parts, and arranged substantially uniformly in a plane of the plate, and a partition protruded on an opposed face to the gas supplier and separating the plane of the plate into regions.

A surface treatment agent including a compound represented by the general formula HO—P(═O)R.sup.1R.sup.2 in which R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are each independently bonded to the phosphorus atom and are each independently a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, a fluorinated alkyl group, or an aromatic hydrocarbon group which may have a substituent, provided that R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are not hydrogen atoms at the same time, and an organic solvent.

A semiconductor processing tool performs passivation layer deposition and removal in situ. A transport mechanism included in the semiconductor processing tool transfers a semiconductor structure through different deposition chambers (e.g., without breaking or removing a vacuum environment). Accordingly, the semiconductor processing tool deposits a target layer that is thinner on, or even absent from, a metal layer, such that contact resistance is reduced between a conductive structure formed over the target layer and the metal layer. As a result, electrical performance of a device including the conductive structure is improved. Moreover, because the process is performed in situ (e.g., without breaking or removing the vacuum) in the semiconductor processing tool, production time and risk of impurities in the conductive structure are reduced. As a result, throughput is increased, and chances of spoiled wafers are decreased.

Methods and systems for forming a structure including a silicon carbide layer and structures formed using the methods and systems are disclosed. Exemplary methods include providing a silicon carbide precursor to the reaction chamber, forming a plasma within the reaction chamber to form an initially flowable, viscous silicon carbide material on a surface of the substrate, wherein the initially viscous carbon material becomes the silicon carbide layer. Exemplary methods can include use of a silicon carbide precursor that includes a carbon-carbon triple bond and/or use of a relatively low plasma power density (e.g., less than 3 W/cm.sup.2).