The present disclosure is directed to formation of a low-k spacer. For example, the present disclosure includes an exemplary method of forming the low-k spacer. The method includes depositing the low-k spacer and subsequently treating the low-k spacer with a plasma and/or a thermal anneal. The low-k spacer can be deposited on a structure protruding from the substrate. The plasma and/or thermal anneal treatment on the low-k spacer can reduce the etch rates of the spacer so that the spacer is etched less in subsequent etching or cleaning processes.

The present disclosure relates to a method of depositing a polymer layer, including: providing a substrate, having a sensor structure disposed on the substrate, to a substrate support within a hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) chamber; providing a process gas comprising an initiator gas and a monomer gas and a carrier gas to the HWCVD chamber; heating a plurality of filaments disposed in the HWCVD chamber to a first temperature sufficient to activate the initiator gas without decomposing the monomer gas; and exposing the substrate to initiator radicals from the activated initiator gas and to the monomer gas to deposit a polymer layer atop the sensor structure.

Methods and apparatuses for selectively depositing silicon nitride on exposed surfaces of a substrate having hydroxyl end groups relative to exposed surfaces having SH bonds are provided herein. Techniques involve providing a transition metal-containing reactant or a non-hydride aluminum-containing gas to the substrate to form a transition metal-containing or an aluminum-containing moiety on an exposed surface having hydroxyl end groups and selectively depositing silicon nitride on the surface using alternating pulses of an aminosilane and a hydrazine by thermal atomic layer deposition catalyzed by the transition metal-containing or aluminum-containing moiety on the exposed surface having hydroxyl end groups relative to an exposed surface having SH bonds. Additional techniques involve providing a transition metal-containing gas to an exposed silicon oxide surface to form a transition metal-containing moiety that acts as a catalyst during thermal atomic layer deposition of silicon nitride using alternating pulses of an aminosilane and a hydrazine.

A film where a first layer and a second layer are laminated is formed on a substrate by performing: forming the first layer by performing a first cycle a predetermined number of times, the first cycle including non-simultaneously performing: supplying a source to the substrate, and supplying a reactant to the substrate, under a first temperature at which neither the source nor the reactant is thermally decomposed when the source and the reactant are present alone, respectively; and forming the second layer by performing a second cycle a predetermined number of times, the second cycle including non-simultaneously performing: supplying the source to the substrate, and supplying the reactant to the substrate, under a second temperature at which neither the source nor the reactant is thermally decomposed when the source and the reactant are present alone, respectively, the second temperature being different from the first temperature.

A film where a first layer and a second layer are laminated is formed on a substrate by performing: forming the first layer by performing a first cycle a predetermined number of times, the first cycle including non-simultaneously performing: supplying a source to the substrate, and supplying a reactant to the substrate, under a first temperature at which neither the source nor the reactant is thermally decomposed when the source and the reactant are present alone, respectively; and forming the second layer by performing a second cycle a predetermined number of times, the second cycle including non-simultaneously performing: supplying the source to the substrate, and supplying the reactant to the substrate, under a second temperature at which neither the source nor the reactant is thermally decomposed when the source and the reactant are present alone, respectively, the second temperature being different from the first temperature.

Provided is a technique which includes forming on a substrate an oxide film containing silicon or a metal element and doped with a dopant by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times, wherein the cycle includes sequentially and non-simultaneously performing: (a) supplying a first gas to the substrate wherein the first gas is free of chlorine and contains boron or phosphorus as the dopant; (b) supplying a second gas to the substrate wherein the second gas contains silicon or the metal element; and (c) supplying a third gas to the substrate wherein the third gas contains oxygen.

A magnetically polarized photonic device is provided. The magnetically polarized photonic device (100) includes substrate (102), an annihilation layer (106) and a graded band gap layer (142). The annihilation layer (106) is deposed on a surface (104) of substrate (102) with graded band gap layer (142) disposed on annihilation layer (106). Contacts (116, 128) are disposed on ends (146, 150) of magnetically polarized photonic device (100). A magnetic field (159) is applied to graded band gap layer (142) and annihilation layer (106) to drive charges to contacts (116, 128).

There is provided a technique which includes: forming a film containing at least Si, O and N on a substrate in a process chamber by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times, the cycle including non-simultaneously performing: forming a first layer by supplying a precursor gas containing at least a SiN bond and a SiCl bond and a first catalyst gas to the substrate; exhausting the precursor gas and the first catalyst gas in the process chamber through an exhaust system; forming a second layer by supplying an oxidizing gas and a second catalyst gas to the substrate to modify the first layer; and exhausting the oxidizing gas and the second catalyst gas in the process chamber through the exhaust system.

A substrate processing method for forming fully self-aligned vias. The method may be performed in a batch processing system that is capable of simultaneously processing multiple substrates, where the batch processing system includes a process chamber containing processing spaces defined around an axis of rotation in the process chamber. Each of the substrates contain a first surface and a second surface, and the method includes selectively forming SiO.sub.2 raised features on the first surface relative to the second surface.

Methods and apparatuses for forming an encapsulation bilayer over a chalcogenide material on a semiconductor substrate are provided. Methods involve forming a bilayer including a barrier layer directly on chalcogenide material deposited using pulsed plasma plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PP-PECVD) and an encapsulation layer over the barrier layer deposited using plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD). In various embodiments, the barrier layer is formed using a halogen-free silicon precursor and the encapsulation layer deposited by PEALD is formed using a halogen-containing silicon precursor and a hydrogen-free nitrogen-containing reactant.