There is provided a technique that includes (a) forming a first film having a first thickness on an underlayer by supplying a first process gas not including oxidizing gas to a substrate, wherein the first film contains silicon, carbon, and nitrogen and does not contain oxygen, and the underlayer is exposed on a surface of the substrate and is at least one selected from the group of a conductive metal-element-containing film and a nitride film; and (b) forming a second film having a second thickness larger than the first thickness on the first film by supplying a second process gas including oxidizing gas to the substrate, wherein the second film contains silicon, oxygen, and nitrogen, and wherein in (b), oxygen atoms derived from the oxidizing gas and diffuse from a surface of the first film toward the underlayer are absorbed by the first film and the first film is modified.

In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a first interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer is formed over a substrate, a CMP stop layer is formed over the first ILD layer, a trench opening is formed by patterning the CMP stop layer and the first ILD layer, an underlying first process mark is formed by forming a first conductive layer in the trench opening, a lower dielectric layer is formed over the underlying first process mark, a middle dielectric layer is formed over the lower dielectric layer, an upper dielectric layer is formed over the middle dielectric layer, a planarization operation is performed on the upper, middle and lower dielectric layers so that a part of the middle dielectric layer remains over the underlying first process mark, and a second process mark by the lower dielectric layer is formed by removing the remaining part of the middle dielectric layer.

An embodiment is a method including recessing a gate electrode over a semiconductor fin on a substrate to form a first recess from a top surface of a dielectric layer, forming a first mask in the first recess over the recessed gate electrode, recessing a first conductive contact over a source/drain region of the semiconductor fin to form a second recess from the top surface of the dielectric layer, and forming a second mask in the second recess over the recessed first conductive contact.

A method includes forming a protruding structure, and forming a non-conformal film on the protruding structure using an Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) process. The non-conformal film includes a top portion directly over the protruding structure, and a sidewall portion on a sidewall of the protruding structure. The top portion has a first thickness, and the sidewall portion has a second thickness smaller than the first thickness.

Methods and improved process flows are provided herein for forming self-aligned contacts using spin-on silicon carbide (SiC). More specifically, the disclosed methods and process flows form self-aligned contacts by using spin-on SiC as a cap layer for at least one other structure, instead of depositing a SiC layer via plasma vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), etc. The other structure may be a source and drain contact made through the use of a trench conductor. By utilizing spin-on SiC as a cap layer material, the disclosed methods and process flows avoid problems that typically occur when SiC is deposited, for example by CVD, and subsequently planarized. As such, the disclosed methods and process flows improve upon conventional methods and process flows for forming self-aligned contacts by reducing defectivity and improving yield.

A semiconductor may include a first inter metal dielectric (IMD) layer, a first blocking layer on the first IMD layer, a metal wiring and a second blocking layer. The first inter metal dielectric (IMD) layer may be formed on a substrate, the first IMD layer may include a low-k material having a dielectric constant lower than a dielectric constant of silicon oxide. The first blocking layer may be formed on the first IMD layer. The first blocking layer may include an oxide having a dielectric constant higher than the dielectric constant of the first IMD layer. The metal wiring may be through the first IMD layer and the first blocking layer. The second blocking layer may be formed on the metal wiring and the first blocking layer. The second blocking layer may include a nitride. The first and second blocking layers may reduce or prevent from the out gassing, so that a semiconductor device may have good characteristics.

A semiconductor device structure and a method for fabricating the semiconductor device structure are disclosed. The method includes receiving a substrate stack including at least one semiconductor fin, the substrate stack including: a bottom source/drain epi region directly below the semiconductor fin; a vertical gate structure directly above the bottom source/drain epi region and in contact with the semiconductor fin; a first inter-layer dielectric in contact with a sidewall of the vertical gate structure; and a second interlayer-layer dielectric directly above and contacting a top surface of the first inter-layer dielectric. The method further including: etching a top region of the semiconductor fin and the gate structure thereby creating a recess directly above the top region of the semiconductor fin and the vertical gate structure; and forming in the recess a top source/drain epi region directly above, and contacting, a top surface of the semiconductor fin.

There is provided a technique that includes (a) forming a first film on the substrate by supplying a film-forming agent to the substrate; (b) adding oxygen to the first film by supplying a first oxidizing agent to the substrate and oxidizing a part of the first film; and (c) changing the oxygen-added first film into a second film including an oxide film by supplying a second oxidizing agent to the substrate and oxidizing the oxygen-added first film.

There is provided a technique that includes: forming a film containing silicon, a predetermined element, and nitrogen on a substrate by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times, the cycle including: (a) forming a first layer by supplying a first gas containing silicon to the substrate; (b) forming a second layer by supplying a second gas containing silicon and differing in molecular structure from the first gas, to the substrate; (c) supplying a third gas containing the predetermined element to the substrate; and (d) modifying the first layer and the second layer by supplying a fourth gas containing nitrogen to the substrate, wherein an element capable of forming defects in the film is used as the predetermined element, and wherein in the cycle, (a) to (d) are performed in an order of: (a), (c), (b), and (d); (c), (a), (b), and (d); or (c), (a), (c), (b), and (d).

Compositions and methods using same are used for forming a silicon-containing film such as without limitation a silicon carbide, silicon oxynitride, a carbon-doped silicon nitride, a carbon-doped silicon oxide, or a carbon doped silicon oxynitride film on at least a surface of a substrate having a surface feature. The silicon-containing film is deposited using an alkylhydridosilane compound containing at least one Si—H bond.