Provided are high quality metal-nitride, such as aluminum nitride (AlN), films for heat dissipation and heat spreading applications, methods of preparing the same, and deposition of high thermal conductivity heat spreading layers for use in RF devices such as power amplifiers, high electron mobility transistors, etc. Aspects of the inventive concept can be used to enable heterogeneously integrated compound semiconductor on silicon devices or can be used in in non-RF applications as the power densities of these highly scaled microelectronic devices continues to increase.

Methods and systems of forming treated silicon-carbon material are disclosed. Exemplary methods include depositing silicon-carbon material onto a surface of the substrate and treating the silicon-carbon material. The step of treating can include a first treatment step followed by a second treatment step, wherein the first treatment step includes providing first reductant gas activated species and the second treatment step includes providing one or more of a first oxidant gas activated species and a second reductant gas activated species.

Methods of forming silicon nitride on a sidewall of a feature are disclosed. Exemplary methods include providing a substrate comprising a feature comprising a sidewall surface and a surface adjacent the sidewall surface, forming a silicon oxide layer overlying the sidewall surface and the surface adjacent the sidewall surface, using a cyclical deposition process, depositing a silicon nitride layer overlying the silicon oxide layer, and exposing the silicon nitride layer to activated species generated from a hydrogen-containing gas. Exemplary methods can additionally include selectively removing a portion of the silicon nitride layer. Structures formed using the methods and systems for performing the methods are also disclosed.

Novel cyclic silicon precursors and oxidants are described. Methods for depositing silicon-containing films on a substrate are described. The substrate is exposed to a silicon precursor and a reactant to form the silicon-containing film (e.g., elemental silicon, silicon oxide, silicon nitride). The exposures can be sequential or simultaneous.

Exemplary processing methods may include providing one or more deposition precursors to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. A substrate including a plurality of layers of a silicon-containing material may be housed within the processing region. Adjacent layers of the silicon-containing material may be vertically spaced apart to define a plurality of lateral gaps. One or more features may extend through the plurality of layers of the silicon-containing material and into the substrate. The methods may include depositing a flowable oxygen-containing material on the substrate in the plurality of lateral gaps and in the one or more features extending into the substrate. The methods may include providing a hydrogen-containing precursor to the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include contacting the substrate with the hydrogen-containing precursor while applying a bias power. The contacting may reduce a thickness of the flowable oxygen-containing material.

In an embodiment, a method for nitriding a substrate is provided. The method includes flowing a nitrogen-containing source and a carrier gas into a plasma processing source coupled to a chamber such that a flow rate of the nitrogen-containing source is from about 3% to 20% of a flow rate of the carrier gas; generating an inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) in the plasma processing source by operating an ICP source, the ICP comprising a radical species formed from the nitrogen-containing source, the carrier gas, or both; and nitriding the substrate within the chamber, wherein nitriding includes operating a heat source within the chamber at a temperature from about 150 C. to about 650 C. to heat the substrate; maintaining a pressure of the chamber from about 50 mTorr to about 2 Torr; introducing the ICP to the chamber; and adjusting a characteristic of the substrate by exposing the substrate to the radical species.

Embodiments described herein relate to a method that includes forming a pattern in a resist layer that is provided over a patterning stack that includes a responsive layer. In an embodiment, the method may include transferring the pattern into the responsive layer, and applying a treatment to the responsive layer. In an embodiment, the treatment induces a tensile stress in the responsive layer and reduces a line width roughness (LWR) of the pattern.

A semiconductor device structure and a formation method are provided. The method includes forming a sacrificial base layer over a substrate and forming a semiconductor stack over the sacrificial base layer. The semiconductor stack has multiple sacrificial layers and multiple semiconductor layers laid out alternately. The method also includes forming a gate stack to partially cover the sacrificial base layer, the semiconductor layers, and the sacrificial layers. The method further includes removing the sacrificial base layer to form a recess between the substrate and the semiconductor stack. In addition, the method includes forming a metal-containing dielectric structure to partially or completely fill the recess. The metal-containing dielectric structure has multiple sub-layers.

A method includes forming a semiconductor layer over a substrate; etching a portion of the semiconductor layer to form a first recess and a second recess; forming a first masking layer over the semiconductor layer; performing a first thermal treatment on the first masking layer, the first thermal treatment densifying the first masking layer; etching the first masking layer to expose the first recess; forming a first semiconductor material in the first recess; and removing the first masking layer.

The present disclosure relates to methods and apparatuses for selective deposition on a surface. In particular, a silicon-containing inhibitor can be used to selectively bind to a first region, thus inhibiting deposition of a material on that first region.