Described herein is a technique capable of acquiring, monitoring and recording the progress of the reaction between a substrate and a reactive gas contained in a process gas in a process chamber during the processing of the substrate. According to the technique, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus including: a process chamber accommodating a substrate; a process gas supply system configured to supply a process gas into the process chamber via a process gas supply pipe; an exhaust pipe configured to exhaust an inner atmosphere of the process chamber; a first gas concentration sensor configured to detect a first concentration of a reactive gas contained in the process gas in the process gas supply pipe; and a second gas concentration sensor configured to detect a second concentration of the reactive gas contained in an exhaust gas in the exhaust pipe.

Methods of depositing silicon nitride on a surface of a substrate are disclosed. The methods include using an intermediate treatment process to increase a quality of the silicon nitride layer and a second treatment process.

A doped or undoped silicon carbide film can be deposited using a remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. One or more silicon-containing precursors are provided to a reaction chamber. Radical species, such as hydrogen radical species, are provided in a substantially low energy state or ground state and interact with the one or more silicon-containing precursors to deposit the silicon carbide film. A co-reactant may be flowed with the one or more silicon-containing precursors, where the co-reactant can be a depositing additive or a non-depositing additive to increase step coverage of the silicon carbide film.

To reduce a hydroxy group in a silicon oxide film formed at a low temperature and obtain a silicon oxide film with an excellent film quality, (a) accommodating a substrate on a surface of which a silicon oxide film formed at a processing temperature of 300° C. or lower is formed in a processing container, (b) plasma-exciting a hydrogen gas, and a step of supplying hydrogen active species generated in (b) to the substrate are performed.

Provided are methods and systems for providing silicon-containing films. The composition of the silicon-containing film can be controlled by the choice of the combination of precursors and the ratio of flow rates between the precursors. The silicon-containing films can be deposited on a substrate by flowing two different organo-silicon precursors to mix together in a reaction chamber. The organo-silicon precursors react with one or more radicals in a substantially low energy state to form the silicon-containing film. The one or more radicals can be formed in a remote plasma source.

A method includes etching a semiconductor substrate to form a semiconductor strip and a recess, with a sidewall of the semiconductor strip being exposed to the recess, depositing a dielectric layer into the recess, and depositing a capping layer over the dielectric layer. The capping layer extends into the recess, and comprises silicon oxynitride. The method further includes filling remaining portions of the recess with dielectric materials, performing an anneal process to remove nitrogen from the capping layer, and recessing the dielectric materials, the capping layer, and the dielectric layer. The remaining portions of the dielectric materials, the capping layer, and the dielectric layer form an isolation region. A portion of the semiconductor strip protrudes higher than a top surface of the isolation region to form a semiconductor fin.

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.

Provided is a method for forming a silicon oxycarbonitride film (SiOCN) with varying proportions of each element, using a disilane precursor under vapor deposition conditions, wherein the percent carbon incorporation into the SiOCN film may be varied between about 5 to about 60%, by utilizing co-reactants chosen from oxygen, ammonia, and nitrous oxide gas. The carbon-enriched SiOCN films thus formed may be converted to pure silicon dioxide films after an etch stop protocol by treatment with O.sub.2 plasma.

Disclosed are methods and systems for providing silicon carbide films. A layer of silicon carbide can be provided under process conditions that employ one or more silicon-containing precursors that have one or more silicon-hydrogen bonds and/or silicon-silicon bonds. The silicon-containing precursors may also have one or more silicon-oxygen bonds and/or silicon-carbon bonds. One or more radical species in a substantially low energy state can react with the silicon-containing precursors to form the silicon carbide film. The one or more radical species can be formed in a remote plasma source.