The present invention is in the field of processes for preparing inorganic metal- or semimetal-containing films. The process for preparing inorganic metal- or semimetal-containing films comprising (a) depositing a metal- or semimetal-containing compound from the gaseous state onto a solid substrate and (b) bringing the solid substrate with the deposited metal- or semimetal-containing compound in contact with a compound of general formula (I) or (II) wherein Z is NR.sub.2, PR.sub.2, OR, SR, CR.sub.2, SiR.sub.2, X is H, R′ or NR′.sub.2, wherein at least one X is H, n is 1 or 2, and R and R′ is an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, an aryl group, or a silyl group.

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A film formation method includes (A) to (C) below. (A) Providing a substrate including, on a surface of the substrate, a first region in which a first material is exposed and a second region in which a second material different from the first material is exposed. (B) Supplying, to the surface of the substrate, vapor of a solution that contains a raw material of a self-assembled monolayer and a solvent by which the raw material is dissolved, and selectively forming a self-assembled monolayer in the first region. (C) Forming a desired target film in the second region by using the self-assembled monolayer formed in the first region.

A surface treatment agent including a compound represented by the general formula HO—P(═O)R.sup.1R.sup.2 in which R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are each independently bonded to the phosphorus atom and are each independently a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, a fluorinated alkyl group, or an aromatic hydrocarbon group which may have a substituent, provided that R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are not hydrogen atoms at the same time, and an organic solvent.

The present disclosure concerns an atomic layer deposition device for area-selective deposition of a target material layer onto a deposition area of a substrate surface further comprising a non-deposition area. In use the substrate is conveyed along a plurality of deposition and separator spaces including at least two gas separator spaces provided with at least a separator gas inlet and a separator drain for, in use exposing the substrate to a separator gas flow. Wherein at least one of the gas separator spaces forms a combined separator-inhibitor gas flow comprising a separator gas and inhibitor moieties. The inhibitor moieties selectively adhering to the non-deposition area to form an inhibition layer reducing adsorption of precursor moieties. In a preferred embodiment the device includes a back-etching space to increase selectivity of the deposition process.

There is provided a technique that includes (a) supplying a first-element-containing gas to the substrate; (b) supplying a first reducing gas to the substrate; (c) supplying a second reducing gas, which is different from the first reducing gas, to the substrate; (d) supplying a third reducing gas, which is different from both the first reducing gas and the second reducing gas, to the substrate; (e) after a start of (a), performing (b) in parallel with (a); (f) in (e), performing (d) in parallel with (b); and (g) forming a first-element-containing film on the substrate by alternately performing (e) and (c) a predetermined number of times.

Described herein are methods of filling features with tungsten, and related systems and apparatus, involving inhibition of tungsten nucleation. In some embodiments, the methods involve selective inhibition along a feature profile. Methods of selectively inhibiting tungsten nucleation can include exposing the feature to a direct or remote plasma. In certain embodiments, the substrate can be biased during selective inhibition. Process parameters including bias power, exposure time, plasma power, process pressure and plasma chemistry can be used to tune the inhibition profile. The methods described herein can be used to fill vertical features, such as in tungsten vias, and horizontal features, such as vertical NAND (VNAND) wordlines. The methods may be used for both conformal fill and bottom-up/inside-out fill. Examples of applications include logic and memory contact fill, DRAM buried wordline fill, vertically integrated memory gate/wordline fill, and 3-D integration using through-silicon vias.

Processes for producing flexible organic-inorganic laminates by atomic layer deposition are described, as well as barrier films comprising flexible organic-inorganic laminates. In particular, a process for producing a laminate including (a) depositing an inorganic layer by an atomic layer deposition process, and (b) depositing an organic layer comprising selenium by a molecular layer deposition process is provided.

A method of preparing a positive electrode active material for a secondary battery includes preparing a lithium composite transition metal oxide which includes nickel, cobalt, and manganese and contains 60 mol % or more of the nickel among all metals except lithium, adding a moisture absorbent and the lithium composite transition metal oxide into an atomic layer deposition (ALD) reactor, and adding a coating metal precursor into the atomic layer deposition (ALD) reactor and forming a metal oxide coating layer on surfaces of particles of the lithium composite transition metal oxide by atomic layer deposition (ALD).

A thin film deposition method and a method of fabricating an electronic device using the same are disclosed. The thin film deposition method may include preparing a substrate structure having a pattern portion including a hole, adsorbing a reaction inhibitor to inside and outside of the hole in the substrate structure, wherein an adsorption density of the reaction inhibitor may be lower in the inside than the outside, and depositing a metal layer on the inside and outside the hole by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, wherein a deposition rate of the depositing may vary depending on regions by the reaction inhibitor, and wherein the reaction inhibitor may include a metal atom and a ligand for reaction inhibition bonded to the metal atom, and the metal atom may remain on the substrate structure in the depositing the metal layer.

There is provided a technique that includes: high-frequency power sources supplying power to plasma generators; and matchers installed between the high-frequency power sources and the plasma generators and matching load impedances of the plasma generators with output impedances of the high-frequency power sources, wherein at least one of the high-frequency power sources includes: a high-frequency oscillator; a directional coupler at a subsequent stage of the high-frequency oscillator, which extracts a part of a traveling wave component from the high-frequency oscillator and a part of a reflected wave component from the matcher; a filter removing a noise signal in the reflected wave component extracted by the directional coupler; and a power monitor measuring the reflected wave component after passing through the filter and the traveling wave component extracted by the directional coupler and feedback-controlling the matcher to reduce a ratio between the reflected wave component and the traveling wave component.