A wafer processing apparatus includes at least one pedestal, at least one ultraviolet (UV) light source, and a window. The pedestal is configured to support a wafer. The UV light source is configured to generate UV radiation to the wafer. The window is present between the pedestal and the UV light source. The UV radiation is capable of passing through the window, and the window is a convex lens, a concave lens, or combinations thereof.

An expansion sheet is adapted to be held and expanded by an expanding apparatus when a platelike workpiece is attached to the expansion sheet. The expansion sheet has a peripheral area around the workpiece where the expansion sheet is adapted to be held by first, second, third, and fourth holding units that are moveable away from each other. The expansion sheet includes a base sheet and an adhesive layer formed on the base sheet, the adhesive layer having adhesion adapted to be reduced by applying ultraviolet light. The adhesion of the adhesive layer in the peripheral area of the expansion sheet is lower than that in the other area of the expansion sheet.

A semiconductor device according to an embodiment includes a silicon carbide layer, a gate electrode, and a silicon oxide layer disposed between the silicon carbide layer and the gate electrode, a number of single bonds between carbon atoms being larger than that of double bonds between carbon atoms in the silicon oxide layer.

Described herein are compositions and methods using same for forming a silicon-containing film or material such as without limitation a silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, a carbon-doped silicon nitride, or a carbon-doped silicon oxide film in a semiconductor deposition process, such as without limitation, a plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition of silicon-containing film.

The present disclosure is generally related to semiconductor devices, and more particularly to a dielectric material formed in semiconductor devices. The present disclosure provides methods for forming a dielectric material layer by a cyclic spin-on coating process. In an embodiment, a method of forming a dielectric material on a substrate includes spin-coating a first portion of a dielectric material on a substrate, curing the first portion of the dielectric material on the substrate, spin-coating a second portion of the dielectric material on the substrate, and thermal annealing the dielectric material to form an annealed dielectric material on the substrate.

A method of forming a semiconductor device includes forming a dielectric layer over a substrate, and curing the dielectric layer with a first curing process. The first curing process includes providing a first UV light source, filtering the first UV light source with a first filter, the first filter permitting a first electromagnetic radiation within a first pre-determined spectrum to pass through and blocking electromagnetic radiation outside the first pre-determined spectrum, and curing the dielectric layer with the first electromagnetic radiation of the first UV light source.

The present invention provides a method for forming an organic film, including: forming a coating film by spin coating of an organic film-forming composition onto a substrate having an uneven pattern, and thereafter subjecting the substrate to a vibration treatment, and after or simultaneously with the vibration treatment, insolubilizing the coating film to an organic solvent to form the organic film. This provides a method for forming an organic film that can fill an uneven pattern on a substrate to highly flatten a substrate at low cost in a production step of a semiconductor apparatus, etc.

We disclose a semiconductor device, comprising a semiconductor substrate; at least one gate structure disposed above the semiconductor substrate, wherein the gate structure comprises a gate structure cavity partially filled with at least one metal layer; and an ultraviolet (UV) cured high density plasma (HDP) nitride cap layer in the gate structure cavity above the at least one metal layer. We also disclose at least one method and at least one system by which the semiconductor device may be formed. The UV cured HDP nitride cap layer may be substantially free of voids or seams, and as a result, the semiconductor device may have a reduced Vt shift relative to comparable semiconductor devices known in the art.

A method for sealing porous low-k dielectric films is provided. The method comprises exposing a substrate to UV radiation and a first reactive gas, wherein the substrate has an open feature defined therein, the open feature defined by a porous low-k dielectric layer and a conductive material, wherein the porous low-k dielectric layer is a silicon and carbon containing material and selectively forming a pore sealing layer in the open feature on exposed surfaces of the porous low-k dielectric layer using UV assisted photochemical vapor deposition.

A substrate processing method includes applying a solution of a compound containing a metal oxide to a surface of a wafer to form a liquid film of the solution on the surface of the wafer, heating the liquid film at a first temperature lower than a crosslinking temperature of the compound, and irradiating the liquid film with energy rays to form a coating film containing the metal oxide on the surface, after heating the liquid film at the first temperature.