There is included (a) forming a protective film on a surface of a third base by supplying a processing gas to a substrate in which a first base containing no oxygen, a second base containing oxygen, and the third base containing no oxygen and no nitrogen are exposed on a surface of the substrate; (b) modifying a surface of the second base to be fluorine-terminated by supplying a fluorine-containing gas to the substrate after the protective film is formed on the surface of the third base; and (c) selectively forming a film on a surface of the first base by supplying a film-forming gas to the substrate after the surface of the second base is modified.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods related to semiconductor structure formation are described. An example apparatus includes a structural material for a semiconductor device. The structural material includes an orthosilicate derived oligomer having a number of oxygen (O) atoms each chemically bonded to one of a corresponding number of silicon (Si) atoms and a chemical bond formed between an element from group 13 of a periodic table of elements (e.g., B, Al, Ga, In, and Tl) and the number of O atoms of the orthosilicate derived oligomer. The chemical bond crosslinks chains of the orthosilicate derived oligomer to increase mechanical strength of the structural material, relative to the structural material formed without the chemical bond to crosslink the chains, among other benefits described herein.

There is method of processing a substrate comprising: (a) providing the substrate with a first base containing no oxygen, a second base containing oxygen, and a third base containing no oxygen and no nitrogen on its surface, wherein a protective film is formed on a surface of the third base; (b) modifying a surface of the second base to be fluorine-terminated by supplying a fluorine-containing gas to the substrate in a state where the protective film is formed on the surface of the third base; and (c) forming a film on a surface of the first base by supplying a film-forming gas to the substrate in a state where the surface of the second base is modified.

Various embodiments of the present application are directed towards a method for forming a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate with a thick device layer and a thick insulator layer. In some embodiments, the method includes forming an insulator layer covering a handle substrate, and epitaxially forming a device layer on a sacrificial substrate. The sacrificial substrate is bonded to a handle substrate, such that the device layer and the insulator layer are between the sacrificial and handle substrates, and the sacrificial substrate is removed. The removal includes performing an etch into the sacrificial substrate until the device layer is reached. Because the device layer is formed by epitaxy and transferred to the handle substrate, the device layer may be formed with a large thickness. Further, because the epitaxy is not affected by the thickness of the insulator layer, the insulator layer may be formed with a large thickness.

A substrate processing technique including: (a) modifying a first base surface of a substrate by supplying a first modifier and a second modifier to the substrate having a surface on which the first base and a second base are exposed, wherein the first modifier contains one or more atoms to which at least one first functional group and at least one second functional group are directly bonded, wherein the second modifier contains an atom to which at least one first functional group and at least one second functional group are directly bonded, and wherein the number of the at least one first functional group contained in one molecule of the second modifier is smaller than the number of the at least one first functional group contained in one molecule of the first modifier; and (b) forming a film on a second base surface by supplying film-forming gas to the substrate.

A semiconductor device structure is provided. The semiconductor device structure includes a gate electrode layer formed over a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor device structure also includes a gate dielectric layer formed between the gate electrode layer and the semiconductor substrate. In addition, the semiconductor device structure includes a first gate spacer having a hydrophobic surface that covers a first sidewall of the gate electrode layer. The first sidewall of the gate electrode layer extends along a first sidewall of the gate dielectric layer, so that the first sidewall of the gate dielectric layer is separated from the hydrophobic surface of the first gate spacer.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor structure and method of forming the same. The semiconductor structure includes a first substrate, a first adhesive/bonding stack on the surface of first substrate, wherein the first adhesive/bonding stack includes at least one first adhesive layer and at least one first bonding layer. The material of first bonding layer includes dielectrics such as silicon, nitrogen and carbon, the material of first adhesive layer includes dielectrics such as silicon and nitrogen, and the first adhesive/bonding stack of semiconductor structure is provided with higher bonding force in bonding process.

Semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating semiconductor devices are provided. The present disclosure provides a semiconductor device that includes a first fin structure and a second fin structure each extending from a substrate; a first gate segment over the first fin structure and a second gate segment over the second fin structure; a first isolation feature separating the first and second gate segments; a first source/drain (S/D) feature over the first fin structure and adjacent to the first gate segment; a second S/D feature over the second fin structure and adjacent to the second gate segment; and a second isolation feature also disposed in the trench. The first and second S/D features are separated by the second isolation feature, and a composition of the second isolation feature is different from a composition of the first isolation feature.

There is provided an etching method including: a step of disposing a substrate in a chamber, the substrate having a silicon nitride film, a silicon oxide film, a silicon, and a silicon germanium; a step of setting a pressure in the chamber to 1,333 Pa or more; and a step of selectively etching the silicon nitride film with respect to the silicon oxide film, the silicon, and the silicon germanium by supplying a hydrogen fluoride gas into the chamber.

Embodiments of the invention address several issues and problems associated with etching of dielectric materials for BEOL applications. According to one embodiment, the method includes providing a patterned substrate containing a dielectric material, exposing the substrate to a gas phase plasma to functionalize a surface of the dielectric material, exposing the substrate to a silanizing reagent that reacts with the functionalized surface of the dielectric material to form a dielectric film, and sequentially repeating the exposing steps at least once to increase a thickness of the dielectric film. According to one embodiment, the dielectric material may be a porous low-k material, and the dielectric film seals the pores on a surface of the porous low-k material.