Methods for reducing metal oxide layers on semiconductor devices to pure metal layers using microwave radiation are described. The method includes exposing a semiconductor substrate surface to microwave radiation to reduce a metal oxide layer on a metal material. The semiconductor substrate surface may have at least one feature extending a depth from the substrate surface to a bottom and having two sidewalls, where the bottom includes the metal oxide layer and the two sidewalls include a dielectric material.

Provided is a processing solution for a semiconductor device, containing a fluorine-containing compound, a cyclic ether compound, a diaminoalkane, and water.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes performing chemical mechanical polishing on a surface using a polishing slurry including abrasives, and first cleaning by supplying a cleaning slurry including soft particles and a dispersion medium to remove the abrasives from a polished surface on which the chemical mechanical polishing is performed he soft particles having a lower hardness than the polished surface, wherein a zeta potential of one of the soft particles and the abrasives at a pH of the cleaning slurry is greater than 0, and a zeta potential of the other of the soft particles and the abrasives at the pH of the cleaning slurry is less than 0.

Microelectronic deviceshaving at least one conductive contact structure adjacent a silicide regionare formed using methods that avoid unintentional contact expansion and contact reduction. A first metal nitride liner is formed in a contact opening, and an exposed surface of a polysilicon structure is thereafter treated (e.g., cleaned and dried) in preparation for formation of a silicide region. During the pretreatments (e.g., cleaning and drying), neighboring dielectric material is protected by the presence of the metal nitride liner, inhibiting expansion of the contact opening. After forming the silicide region, a second metal nitride liner is formed on the silicide region before a conductive material is formed to fill the contact opening and form a conductive contact structure (e.g., a memory cell contact structure, a peripheral contact structure).

Provided is a reduction treatment method in which hydrogen radicals are efficiently generated in an amount required for reduction treatment and the surface of an object to be treated is reduced by a relatively simple treatment process. A reduction treatment method including: irradiating a hydrogen radical source-containing material with ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 255 nm or less to generate hydrogen radicals; and bringing the generated hydrogen radicals into contact with a surface of an object to be treated to reduce the surface.

Methods of removing molybdenum oxide from a surface of a substrate comprise exposing the substrate having a molybdenum oxide layer on the substrate to a halide etchant having the formula R.sub.mSiX.sub.4-m, wherein m is an integer from 1 to 3, X is selected from iodine (I) and bromine (Br) and R is selected from the group consisting of a methyl group, ethyl group, propyl group, butyl group, cyclohexyl group and cyclopentyl group. The methods may be performed in a back-end-of-the line (BEOL) process, and the substrate contains a low-k dielectric material.

An optical inspection system for pre-bonding inspection includes a stage having a surface on which a sample to be inspected is placed, the surface of the sample having a two dimensional (2D) periodic pattern and defects, an optical fiber, a transmissive spatial light modulator (SLM), a measurement lens configured to transmit a beam of light transmitted through the transmissive SLM, a camera configured to detect the transmitted beam of light from the measurement lens, and a measuring beam path through which a beam of light from the optical fiber is incident on and reflected at the surface of the sample on the stage, and transmitted to the transmissive SLM, wherein the transmissive SLM is configured to block the beam of light reflected by the 2D periodic pattern on the surface of the sample.

A Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) technique is provided to produce improved dielectric/semiconductor interfaces for GaN-based electronic devices. Using the LPCVD technique, superior interfaces are achieved through the use of elevated deposition temperatures (>700 C.), the use of ammonia to stabilize and clean the GaN surface, and chlorine-containing precursors where reactions with chlorine remove unwanted impurities from the dielectric film and its interface with GaN. The LPCVD silicon nitride films have less hydrogen contamination, higher density, lower buffered-HF etch rates, and lower pin hole density than films produced by other deposition techniques making the LPCVD coatings suitable for device passivation. A metal insulator semiconductor (MIS) structures fabricated with LPCVD SiN on GaN exhibit near ideal capacitance-voltage behavior with both charge accumulation, depletion, and inversion regimes.

A method of forming features in stack with a silicon containing layer below a mask is provided. Features are etched into the stack. A post etch plasma treatment is provided to reduce surface roughness of sidewalls of the features.

Various embodiments of methods are provided for etching titanium nitride (TiN) and other transition metal nitride materials in a wet ALE process. The methods disclosed herein use a wide variety of wet etch chemistries to: (a) halogenate a TiN surface and form a self-limiting, titanium halide or titanium oxyhalide passivation layer in a surface modification step of the wet ALE process, and (b) selectively remove the titanium halide or titanium oxyhalide passivation layer in a dissolution step of the wet ALE process. In the embodiments disclosed herein, a surface modification solution containing a halogenation agent dissolved in non-aqueous solvent is used to form a self-limiting, titanium halide or titanium oxyhalide passivation layer, which is selectively removed in an acidic dissolution solution via reactive dissolution.