Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to processes for forming silicon- and boron-containing films for use in, e.g., spacer-defined patterning applications. In an embodiment, a spacer-defined patterning process is provided. The process includes disposing a substrate in a processing volume of a processing chamber, the substrate having patterned features formed thereon, and flowing a first process gas into the processing volume, the first process gas comprising a silicon-containing species, the silicon-containing species having a higher molecular weight than SiH.sub.4. The process further includes flowing a second process gas into the processing volume, the second process gas comprising a boron-containing species, and depositing, under deposition conditions, a conformal film on the patterned features, the conformal film comprising silicon and boron.

Methods for depositing oxide thin films, such as metal oxide, metal silicates, silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) and silicon oxycarbonitride (SiOCN) thin films, on a substrate in a reaction space are provided. The methods can include at least one plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) cycle including alternately and sequentially contacting the substrate with a first reactant that comprises oxygen and a component of the oxide, and a second reactant comprising reactive species that does not include oxygen species. In some embodiments the plasma power used to generate the reactive species can be selected from a range to achieve a desired step coverage or wet etch rate ratio (WERR) for films deposited on three dimensional features. In some embodiments oxide thin films are selectively deposited on a first surface of a substrate relative to a second surface, such as on a dielectric surface relative to a metal or metallic surface.

According to the present disclosure, a semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, a first metal layer provided above the semiconductor substrate, a second metal layer provided above the first metal layer and containing Ni as a material and a third metal layer provided above the second metal layer and containing Cu or Ni as a material, wherein the second metal layer has a Vickers hardness of 400 Hv or more and is harder than the third metal layer, and the third metal layer is harder than the first metal layer.

The present disclosure describes a semiconductor structure and a method for forming the same. The semiconductor structure can include a substrate, first and second fin structures formed over the substrate, and an isolation structure between the first and second fin structures. The isolation structure can include a lower portion and an upper portion. The lower portion of the isolation structure can include a metal-free dielectric material. The upper portion of the isolation structure can include a metallic element and silicon.

An example embodiment of the present disclosure involves a method for semiconductor device fabrication. The method comprises providing a structure that includes a conductive component and an interlayer dielectric (ILD) that includes silicon and surrounds the conductive component, and forming, over the conductive component and the ILD, an etch stop layer (ESL) that includes metal oxide. The ESL includes a first portion in contact with the conductive component and a second portion in contact with the ILD. The method further comprises baking the ESL to transform the metal oxide located in the second portion of the ESL into metal silicon oxide, and selectively etching the ESL so as to remove the first portion of the ESL but not the second portion of the ESL.

To provide a novel method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. To provide a method for manufacturing a highly reliable semiconductor device at relatively low temperature. The method includes a first step of forming a first oxide semiconductor film in a deposition chamber and a second step of forming a second oxide semiconductor film over the first oxide semiconductor film in the deposition chamber. Water vapor partial pressure in an atmosphere in the deposition chamber is lower than water vapor partial pressure in atmospheric air. The first oxide semiconductor film and the second oxide semiconductor film are formed such that the first oxide semiconductor film and the second oxide semiconductor film each have crystallinity. The second oxide semiconductor film is formed such that the crystallinity of the second oxide semiconductor film is higher than the crystallinity of the first oxide semiconductor film.

A method for manufacturing a novel semiconductor device is provided. The method includes a first step of forming a first oxide semiconductor film over a substrate, a second step of heating the first oxide semiconductor film, and a third step of forming a second oxide semiconductor film over the first oxide semiconductor film. The first to third steps are performed in an atmosphere in which water vapor partial pressure is lower than water vapor partial pressure in atmospheric air, and the first step, the second step, and the third step are successively performed in this order.

There is provided a method of forming an etching-purpose mask structure on an insulating film containing silicon and oxygen, which includes: forming an intermediate film containing silicon, carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen as main components by supplying a first process gas onto the insulating film formed on a substrate; and subsequently, forming a tungsten film by supplying a second process gas containing a compound of tungsten to the substrate to replace some of silicon constituting the intermediate film with tungsten.

A method of forming an oxide film including two non-oxygen elements includes providing a first source material on a substrate, the first source material including a first central element, providing an electron donor compound to be bonded to the first source material, providing a second source material on the substrate after the providing of the electron donor compound, the second source material including a second central element, and providing an oxidant on the substrate.

Methods of forming metal silicon oxide layers and metal silicon oxynitride layers are disclosed. Exemplary methods include providing a silicon precursor to the reaction chamber for a silicon precursor pulse period, providing a first metal precursor to the reaction chamber for a first metal precursor pulse period, and providing a first reactant to the reaction chamber for a first reactant pulse period, wherein the silicon precursor pulse period and the first metal precursor pulse period overlap.