Oxide growth of a gate dielectric layer that occurs between processes used in the fabrication of a gate dielectric structure can be reduced. The reduction in oxide growth can be achieved by maintaining the gate dielectric layer in an ambient effective to mitigate oxide growth of the gate dielectric layer between at least two sequential process steps used in the fabrication the gate dielectric structure. Maintaining the gate dielectric layer in an ambient effective to mitigate oxide growth also improves the uniformity of nitrogen implanted in the gate dielectric.

In one aspect of the invention, a method for fabricating an advanced metal conductor structure includes providing a conductive line pattern including a set of conductive line trenches in a dielectric layer. Each conductive line trench of the conductive line pattern having parallel vertical sidewalls and a horizontal bottom. A surface treatment of the dielectric layer is performed. The surface treatment produces an element enriched surface layer in which a concentration of a selected element in a surface portion of the parallel sidewalls and horizontal bottoms of the conductive line trenches is increased. A first metal layer is deposited on the element enriched surface layer. A first thermal anneal is performed which simultaneously reflows the first metal layer to fill a first portion of the conductive line trenches and causes a chemical change at interfaces of the first metal layer and the element enriched surface layer creating a liner which is an alloy of the first metal and selected element. A wetting layer is deposited on the first metal layer. A second thermal anneal is preformed which reflows the wetting layer to fill a second portion of the conductive line trenches. A second metal layer is deposited on the wetting layer. A second thermal anneal is performed which reflows the second metal layer to fill a remaining portion of the conductive line trenches. Another aspect of the invention is a device formed by the method.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, includes forming a thin film containing silicon, oxygen and carbon or a thin film containing silicon, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen on a substrate by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times. The cycle includes supplying a precursor gas serving as a silicon source and a carbon source or a precursor gas serving as a silicon source but no carbon source, and a first catalyst gas to the substrate; supplying an oxidizing gas and a second catalyst gas to the substrate; and supplying a modifying gas containing at least one selected from the group consisting of carbon and nitrogen to the substrate.

Oxide growth of a gate dielectric layer that occurs between processes used in the fabrication of a gate dielectric structure can be reduced. The reduction in oxide growth can be achieved by maintaining the gate dielectric layer in an ambient effective to mitigate oxide growth of the gate dielectric layer between at least two sequential process steps used in the fabrication the gate dielectric structure. Maintaining the gate dielectric layer in an ambient effective to mitigate oxide growth also improves the uniformity of nitrogen implanted in the gate dielectric.

A method for forming a semiconductor structure is provided. The method includes providing a substrate having a first region and a second region; and forming at least one first trench in the first region of the substrate, and at least one second trench in second region of the substrate. The method also includes forming a first liner layer on side and bottom surfaces of the first trench, and the side and bottom surfaces of the second trench; and performing a rapid thermal oxy-nitridation process on the first liner layer to release a tensile stress between the first liner layer and the substrate. Further, the method includes removing a portion of the first liner layer in the first region to expose the first trench; and forming a second liner layer on the side and bottom surface of the first trench.

Oxide growth of a gate dielectric layer that occurs between processes used in the fabrication of a gate dielectric structure can be reduced. The reduction in oxide growth can be achieved by maintaining the gate dielectric layer in an ambient effective to mitigate oxide growth of the gate dielectric layer between at least two sequential process steps used in the fabrication the gate dielectric structure. Maintaining the gate dielectric layer in an ambient effective to mitigate oxide growth also improves the uniformity of nitrogen implanted in the gate dielectric.

A substrate in which a high-dielectric-constant gate insulator is formed on a silicon substrate with an interface layer film sandwiched in between is housed in a chamber. The method of the invention including: (a) housing the substrate in a chamber; (b) supplying ammonia to the chamber to foam an ammonia atmosphere; and (c) applying flash light to a surface of the substrate housed in the chamber to heat the high dielectric constant film, wherein the flash light applied in said step (c) has a spectral distribution that has a peak in a wavelength range of 200 to 300 nm.

Disclosed is a composite substrate manufacturing method whereby, after bonding a semiconductor substrate (1) and a supporting substrate (3) to each other, the semiconductor substrate (1) is thinned, and a composite substrate (8) having a semiconductor layer (6) on the supporting substrate (3) is obtained. On the supporting substrate (3) surface to be bonded, a coating film (4a) containing polysilazane is formed, a silicon-containing insulating film (4) is formed by performing firing by heating the coating film (4a) to 600-1,200 C., then, the semiconductor substrate (1) and the supporting substrate (3) are bonded to each other with the insulating film (4) therebetween, thereby suppressing bonding failures due to surface roughness and defects of the supporting substrate, and easily obtaining the composite substrate.

Embodiments provided herein describe methods and systems for forming high-k dielectric materials, as well as devices that utilize such materials. A property of a high-k dielectric material is selected. A value of the selected property of the high-k dielectric material is selected. A chemical composition of the high-k dielectric material is selected from a plurality of chemical compositions of the high-k dielectric material. The selected chemical composition of the high-k dielectric material includes an amount of nitridation associated with the selected value of the selected property of the high-k dielectric material. The high-k dielectric material is formed with the selected chemical composition.

Oxide growth of a gate dielectric layer that occurs between processes used in the fabrication of a gate dielectric structure can be reduced. The reduction in oxide growth can be achieved by maintaining the gate dielectric layer in an ambient effective to mitigate oxide growth of the gate dielectric layer between at least two sequential process steps used in the fabrication the gate dielectric structure. Maintaining the gate dielectric layer in an ambient effective to mitigate oxide growth also improves the uniformity of nitrogen implanted in the gate dielectric.