There is provided a technique that includes selectively doping a metal film with a dopant by performing: supplying a dopant-containing gas containing the dopant to a substrate in which the metal film and a film other than the metal film are formed on a film in which the dopant is doped; and removing the dopant-containing gas from above the substrate.

A method of depositing nitride films is disclosed. Some embodiments of the disclosure provide a PEALD process for depositing nitride films which utilizes separate reaction and nitridation plasmas. In some embodiments, the nitride films have improved growth per cycle (GPC) relative to films deposited by thermal processes or plasma processes with only a single plasma exposure. In some embodiments, the nitride films have improved film quality relative to films deposited by thermal processes or plasma processes with only a single plasma exposure.

Disclosed are methods and systems for depositing layers comprising a transition metal and a group 13 element. The layers are formed onto a surface of a substrate. The deposition process may be a cyclical deposition process. Exemplary structures in which the layers may be incorporated include field effect transistors, VNAND cells, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures, and DRAM capacitors.

A method of forming nanocrystalline graphene according to an embodiment may include: arranging a substrate having a pattern in a reaction chamber; injecting a reaction gas into the reaction chamber, where the reaction gas includes a carbon source gas, an inert gas, and a hydrogen gas that are mixed; generating a plasma of the reaction gas in the reaction chamber; and directly growing the nanocrystalline graphene on a surface of the pattern using the plasma of the reaction gas at a process temperature. The pattern may include a first material and the substrate may include a second material different from the first material.

A method includes forming a gate structure and an interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer over a substrate; selectively forming an inhibitor over the gate structure; performing an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process to form a dielectric layer over the ILD layer, wherein in the ALD process the dielectric layer has greater growing rate on the ILD than on the inhibitor; and performing an atomic layer etching (ALE) process to etch the dielectric layer until a top surface of the inhibitor is exposed, in which a portion of the dielectric layer remains on the ILD layer after the ALE process is complete.

An interconnect structure comprising a low via resistance via structure is disclosed. The via structure comprises a barrier layer on sidewalls and at bottom of the via structure. The interconnect structure also includes a first metal layer. The interconnect structure further includes a second metal layer between the barrier layer at the bottom of the via structure and the first metal layer, wherein the first metal layer and the second metal layer comprise different materials.

The present disclosure describes a method for forming a nitrogen-rich protective layer within a low-k layer of a metallization layer to prevent damage to the low-k layer from subsequent processing operations. The method includes forming, on a substrate, a metallization layer having conductive structures in a low-k dielectric. The method further includes forming a capping layer on the conductive structures, where forming the capping layer includes exposing the metallization layer to a first plasma process to form a nitrogen-rich protective layer below a top surface of the low-k dielectric, releasing a precursor on the metallization layer to cover top surfaces of the conductive structures with precursor molecules, and treating the precursor molecules with a second plasma process to dissociate the precursor molecules and form the capping layer. Additionally, the method includes forming an etch stop layer to cover the capping layer and top surfaces of the low-k dielectric.

The disclosed technology generally relates to forming a thin film comprising titanium nitride (TiN), and more particularly to forming by a cyclical vapor deposition process the thin film comprising (TiN). In one aspect, a method of forming a thin film comprising TiN comprises exposing a semiconductor substrate to one or more first cyclical vapor deposition cycles each comprising an exposure to a first Ti precursor and an exposure to a first N precursor to form a first portion of the thin film and exposing the semiconductor substrate to one or more second cyclical vapor deposition cycles each comprising an exposure to a second Ti precursor and an exposure to a second N precursor to form a second portion of the thin film, wherein exposures to one or both of the first Ti precursor and the first N precursor during the one or more first cyclical vapor deposition cycles are at different pressures relative to corresponding exposures to one or both of the second Ti precursor and the second N precursor during the one or more second cyclical vapor deposition cycles. Aspects are also directed to semiconductor structures incorporating the thin film and method of forming the same.

The formation of a tungsten film is promoted when forming the tungsten film using tungsten chloride on an upper layer side of a titanium silicon nitride film. A titanium silicon nitride film is formed on one surface side of a semiconductor wafer as a substrate, and an intermediate film for promoting the formation of the tungsten film made of the tungsten chloride is formed on the upper layer side of the titanium silicon nitride film by using a gas for forming the intermediate film. The tungsten film is formed on an upper layer side of the intermediate film by using a gas of the tungsten chloride.

Provided herein are methods and apparatuses for filling features metal-containing materials. One aspect of the disclosure relates to a method for filling structures with a metal-containing material, the method including: providing a structure to be filled with a metal-containing material, exposing the structure to multiple deposition cycles, with each deposition cycle including exposure to one or more alternating reducing agent (e.g. hydrogen (H2)) dose/inert gas purge pulses pulse followed by exposure to one or more alternating metal precursor dose pulses and inert gas purge pulses. The metal may be tungsten (W) or molybdenum (Mo) in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the structure is a partially fabricated (3-D) NAND structure. Apparatuses to perform the methods are also provided.