Method for depositing one or more polycrystalline silicon layers on substrate
09728452 · 2017-08-08
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
H01L2924/0002
ELECTRICITY
C23C16/045
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
H01L21/28556
ELECTRICITY
H01L2924/0002
ELECTRICITY
H01L2924/00
ELECTRICITY
H01L21/76882
ELECTRICITY
H01L23/481
ELECTRICITY
H01L21/76879
ELECTRICITY
International classification
H01L21/44
ELECTRICITY
H01L23/48
ELECTRICITY
C23C16/04
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
H01L21/768
ELECTRICITY
Abstract
A method for depositing one or more polycrystalline silicon layers (230c) on a substrate (210) by a chemical vapor deposition in a reactor, includes adjusting a deposition temperature between 605° C.-800° C. in a process chamber of the reactor, and depositing the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers on the substrate by using a silicon source gas including SiH4 or SiH2Cl2, and a dopant gas including BCl3.
Claims
1. A method (100) for forming an electrically conductive via through a substrate (210 410) by a chemical vapour deposition in a reactor, the substrate comprising a hole (226, 420) having aspect ratio greater than 7 in the substrate, the method comprising: adjusting (140) a deposition temperature between 605° C.-800° C. and a deposition pressure below 200 mtorr in a process chamber of the reactor, and depositing (150) one or more polycrystalline silicon layers (230a, 230b, 230c) inside the hole by using a silicon source gas comprising SiH.sub.4 or SiH.sub.2Cl.sub.2, and a dopant gas comprising BCl.sub.3 so that the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited directly on a surface of the substrate or a surface of an insulation layer (220) inside the hole in order to form the electrically conductive via through the substrate, wherein the maximum layer thickness of each of the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers is about 3 micrometers.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dopant gas comprises a mixture of BCl.sub.3 and another gas comprising He, Ar, N.sub.2, or H.sub.2.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method comprises depositing the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers on the substrate in the adjusted deposition temperature and a deposition pressure between 160-170 mtorr by using SiH.sub.4 as a silicon source gas.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the substrate further comprises a protrusion extending from a surface of the substrate, and the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited on the protrusion.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises depositing the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers on the substrate in the adjusted deposition temperature and a deposition pressure between 160-170 mtorr by using SiH.sub.4 as a silicon source gas.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the substrate further comprises a protrusion extending from a surface of the substrate, and the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited on the protrusion.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the substrate comprises at least an insulating surface layer.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the reactor is a horizontal hot-wall reactor, and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 605° C.-650° C. and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 650° C.-750° C.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the substrate further comprises a protrusion extending from a surface of the substrate, and the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited on the protrusion.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the substrate comprises at least an insulating surface layer.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the reactor is a vertical reactor and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 605° C.-650° C. and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 650° C.-750° C.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the substrate further comprises a protrusion extending from a surface of the substrate, and the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited on the protrusion.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate further comprises a protrusion extending from a surface of the substrate, and the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited on the protrusion.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises at least an insulating surface layer.
15. A semiconductor structure (200) comprising: a substrate (210, 410), which comprises a hole (226, 420) having aspect ratio greater than 7 in the substrate, and one or more polycrystalline silicon layers (230a, 230b, 230c) deposited inside the hole and directly on a surface of the substrate or a surface of an insulation layer (220) that is provided by the method of claim 1 and forming an electrically conductive via through the substrate, wherein the maximum layer thickness of the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers is about 3 micrometers.
16. An apparatus (500) comprising the semiconductor structure (200) of claim 15, wherein the maximum layer thickness of the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers is 3 micrometers.
17. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 605° C.-650° C. and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 650° C.-750° C.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein, the substrate is a silicon substrate with an unoxidized silicon surface inside the hole or an oxidized silicon surface inside the hole, and the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers (230a, 230b, 230c) are deposited directly on the unoxidized silicon surface inside the hole or the oxidized silicon surface inside the hole.
19. A method (100) for forming an electrically conductive via through a substrate (210 410) by a chemical vapour deposition in a reactor, the substrate comprising a hole (226, 420) in the substrate, the method comprising: adjusting (140) a deposition temperature between 605° C.-800° C. and a deposition pressure below 200 mtorr in a process chamber of the reactor, and depositing (150) one or more polycrystalline silicon layers (230a, 230b, 230c) inside the hole by using a silicon source gas comprising SiH.sub.4 or SiH.sub.2Cl.sub.2, and a dopant gas comprising BCl.sub.3 so that the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited directly on a surface of the substrate or a surface of an insulation layer (220) inside the hole in order to form the electrically conductive via through the substrate, wherein at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 605° C.-650° C. and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 650° C.-750° C.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
(1) Next, the preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying figures, in which
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
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(8) During the method start-up in step 110, the reactor is turned on and necessary service operations, e.g. checking operations concerning a condition of the reactor and adequancy of the used reaction gases, are performed. Also, one or more substrate wafers to be deposited are arranged onto a quartz boat.
(9) The substrate wafers comprise blank silicon wafers, e.g. unoxidized blank silicon wafers or blank silicon wafers having an insulating surface layer, e.g. oxidized blank silicon wafers having a silicon dioxide surface layer, and/or preprocessed silicon wafers, e.g. unoxidized preprocessed silicon wafers or oxidised preprocessed silicon wafers, with a number of recesses, trenches, holes, protrusions, or any other structures extending from a surface of a wafer. Alternatively, the substrate wafers can be suitable metal wafers, other semiconductor wafers, insulating wafers (e.g. quartz wafers), or any other suitable substrate material. Alternatively, the substrate to be deposited can be e.g. parts of a substrate wafers, spherical silicon, silicon sheet, etc.
(10) According to an embodiment the method, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the substrate wafer comprises at least an insulating surface layer, e.g. silicon dioxide surface layer, silicon nitride surface layer, or any other insulating surface layer. The substrate wafer can comprise e.g. a combination of at least two similar or diffent insulating layers, or any combination of at least one insulating layer and at least one conductive layer or conductors. Such layer structure can be e.g. a conductive layer or pattern, e.g. conductors, provided between two insulating layers, e.g. silicon dioxide layers, on the substrate wafer. Alternatively, such layer structure can comprise three insulating layers and two conductive layers or patterns between the insulating layers.
(11) According to an embodiment the method, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the substrate wafer comprises at least one of a recess extending part-way through the substrate wafer, a trench, a hole of aspect ratio e.g. greater than 5 extending completely through the substrate wafer, and a protrusion extending from a surface of the substrate wafer, and the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited inside the recess, trench, or hole, or on the protrusion.
(12) Each preprosessed wafer may comprise a number of holes etched into the wafer from a front side of the wafer. A diameter and depth of the holes may vary considerably. The holes may extend part-way through the wafer or they may extend completely through the wafer. The holes are e.g. approximately 20 μm in diameter and 150 μm in depth.
(13) The substrate wafers are stacked vertically onto the quartz boat and the boat is placed into the process tube by a transfer mechanism in step 120. Instead of one, also two or more boats can be used simultaneously. A total number of wafers loaded into the process tube depends on an uniformity of the process and a length of the process tube. The number of wafers simultaneously processed is e.g. 80 but could be 200 or even more in longer furnaces. Instead of the horizontal process tube, it is possible use a vertical furnace, i.e. a vertical reactor with wafers mounted substantially horizontally, that are widely used in the industry and a material used for the process tube and/or the boats can be other than quartz, e.g. silicon carbide.
(14) In order to ensure substantially uniform deposition conditions for actual silicon wafers to be processed it can be used e.g. 5 wafers, i.e. so-called dummy wafers, at both ends of the quartz boat.
(15) Prior to deposition the process tube is purged with a clean and dry purge gas, e.g. nitrogen, in step 130 to remove air and moisture from the process tube. It is also possible to use other gases than nitrogen or mixtures of gases as the purge gas.
(16) During the purging process, or after that, a temperature of the reactor is increased and stabilized at the deposition temperature, e.g. 650° C.-700° C., in adjusting step 140. A pressure in a process chamber is usually maintained substantially below atmospheric pressure, e.g. approximately 135 mtorr, but it is also possible to apply the deposition process near or even at atmospheric pressure, or even at elevated pressures above one atmosphere.
(17) According to an embodiment the method, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, further comprises adjusting a deposition pressure below 200 mtorr in the process chamber.
(18) According to an embodiment the method, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the method comprises depositing the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers on the substrate wafer in the adjusted deposition temperature, preferably constant 680° C., and the deposition pressure between 160 mtorr-170 mtorr by using SiH.sub.4 as a silicon source gas.
(19) Naturally a part of adjustments concerning process parameters and belonging to step 140 can be performed during any of steps 110, 120, or 130.
(20) In the deposition a reactant gas mixture comprising a silicon containing gas, e.g. SiH.sub.4, a dopant gas or gases, e.g. BCl.sub.3, and possibly a carrier gas containing an inert gas, e.g. argon or helium, or a reducing gas, e.g. hydrogen (H.sub.2), is fed into the process tube.
(21) According to an embodiment the method, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the dopant gas comprises a mixture of BCl.sub.3 and another gas comprising at least one of He, Ar, N.sub.2, and H.sub.2.
(22) In step 150 the deposition starts after the temperature has stabilized at the desired deposition temperature and the purging has been completed.
(23) In this embodiment carrier gas is not used, so, the silicon source gas, i.e. SiH.sub.4, is fed into the process tube both from the front and the rear. A flow rate is adjusted to optimize a deposition rate and thickness profiles of grown layers. The flow rates are e.g. 120 sccm from the front and 30 sccm from the rear, but both higher and lower flows are possible. Boron doping is achieved by feeding e.g. a diluted mixture of 5% BCl.sub.3 in argon into the process tube. However, different concentrations of BCl.sub.3 are possible, e.g. more dilute mixtures or higher concentrations, even pure 100% BCl.sub.3 can be used. In addition, other inert gases than argon, or mixtures of inert gases may be used to dilute the BCl.sub.3. The flow rate of the boron-containing doping gas is adjusted to obtain the desired concentration of boron in the grown layer, e.g. BCl.sub.3:Ar is injected into the process tube from the front with the flow rate of 30 sccm and from the rear at 39 sccm.
(24) During deposition step 150 the temperature and the gas flows can be maintained constant or they may be varied by changing continuously or discontinuously e.g. the temperature, the gas flows, and/or the pressure during the deposition according to a predetermined schedule to produce a more complicated doped layer structure.
(25) A single layer is grown during one deposition run, so, the deposition is continued until the desired thickness of silicon has been grown onto the wafers, e.g. the total thickness of deposited silicon is approximately 2 μm. The deposition is terminated by switching off the silicon and boron comprising gases.
(26) If there is a need for another silicon layer in step 152, but no need to adjust the process parameters in step 154 since the next layer has similar process parameters as the previous layer, i.e. temperature, the composition of the gas flows, and the flow rates are maintained constant, the method returns back to step 150. Secondly, if it is necessary to adjust the process parameters according to a predetermined schedule to produce a more complicated doped layer structure, the method returns back to step 140. Such complicated doped layer structure may comprise a number of layers each of which is grown using different process parameters. The values of these parameters may be constant in each sublayer or they may be continuously changed.
(27) According to an embodiment the method, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the reactor is a horizontal hot-wall reactor, and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 605° C.-650° C. and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 650° C.-750° C.
(28) According to an embodiment the method, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the reactor is a vertical reactor and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 605° C.-650° C. and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 650° C.-750° C.
(29) When the deposition is completed in step 152, the process tube is purged in step 160 with a purge gas, e.g. nitrogen. During purging the temperature of the process tube is reduced prior to unloading the wafers. After the purging is completed the transfer mechanism moves the boat out of the process tube for unloading the wafers in step 170 and the method ends in step 180.
(30) The maximum thickness of silicon that can be grown in a single deposition run is limited by silicon deposition onto the boat used for holding the wafers in the process tube. When the deposited layer becomes too thick, the wafer becomes fastened onto the boat, causing a defected area at the wafer edge when wafers are removed from the boat after the polysilicon deposition. Therefore, it is practically difficult to grow very thick polysilicon layers in such a process while maintaining a sufficient edge quality of the wafers.
(31) In the present deposition method the maximum layer thickness is about 3 μm, so, for filling larger holes of more than a few μm in diameter, several depositions are made sequentially. Between the deposition runs the wafers can be taken out of the boat, rotated, and placed in a different part of the boat. With a suitable combination of rotation and re-placement the thickness uniformity of the final polysilicon layer is greatly improved. Thus, in the present deposition method 20 μm diameter holes are filled with 7 deposition runs for a total of 14 μm of deposited multi-layer boron-doped polysilicon.
(32) However, when wafers are processed with several sequential deposition runs, the deposition parameters need not be identical in each run. For the filling of large aspect ratio holes it is possible to use different parameters for the last depositions to ensure the most complete filling of the holes without causing the formation of an excessively large void inside the via. Thus, in another embodiment of the present method, after 4 deposition runs of doped/undoped multilayer polysilicon, the final filling of the holes is completed with 4 runs of undoped polysilicon grown with SiH.sub.4 at a lower temperature of 620° C. to fill the holes as completely as possible.
(33) Other embodiments for the present deposition method is that the carrier gas is used and it comprises H.sub.2, N.sub.2, Ar, He, or a mixture of one or more of these gases. Also, a used silicon precursor can comprise SiH.sub.2Cl.sub.2.
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(35) In
(36) According to an embodiment the semiconductor structure, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the substrate wafer comprises at least an insulating surface layer, e.g. silicon dioxide surface layer or any other insulating layer.
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(38) In order to provide two vias, the deposited structure 200 can be thinned from a bottom of the silicon wafer 210 such that the recesses 222 forms the vias when the silicon wafer 210 is thinned sufficiently.
(39) According to an embodiment the semiconductor structure, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the substrate wafer comprises at least one of a recess extending part-way through the substrate wafer, a trench, a hole of aspect ratio e.g. greater than 5 extending completely through the substrate wafer, and a protrusion extending from a surface of the substrate wafer, and the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited inside the recess, trench, or hole, or on the protrusion.
(40) In one embodiment the deposition temperature is maintained constant at 680° C. through the entire deposition and the silane flow rates are also maintained constant. The dopant gas BCl3:Ar, for one, is switched on and off to produce a stack of thin doped and undoped layers. Such multilayer structure 230b is advantageous because the growth rate of the undoped layer is faster than that of the doped layer, thus decreasing the overall deposition time. On the other hand, the highly doped layer ensures a low and very uniform overall resistivity in the doped/undoped layer stack of the polycrystalline silicon 230b. In this embodiment the deposition starts with a doped layer and an equal number, e.g. 9, 11, or 13, of doped and undoped layers is grown. The deposition time for each doped layer is 4 minutes, and for each undoped layer 6 minutes. Naturally, it is possible to provide the doped/undoped layer stack having different number of doped and undoped layers, e.g. 9 doped layers and 8 undoped layers.
(41) It is also possible that each deposited doped and/or undoped polycrystalline silicon layer has been provided by different process parameters so that the multilayer structure 230b comprises no identical undoped/doped silicon layers.
(42) According to an embodiment the semiconductor structure, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the reactor is a horizontal hot-wall reactor, and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 605° C.-650° C. and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 650° C.-750° C.
(43) According to an embodiment the semiconductor structure, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the reactor is a vertical reactor and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 605° C.-650° C. and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 650° C.-750° C.
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(45) Naturally all silicon wafers 210 can have recesses, trenches, holes, and/or protrusions also on its bottom surface.
(46) In one embodiment the oxidised preprocessed silicon wafer 210 of 150 mm diameter comprising holes 226 of aspect ratio greater than 7 with a diameter of about 20 μm and a depth of at least 150 μm that partly or completely extend through the silicon wafer 210. The multilayer silicon is grown at constant temperature of 680° C. and pressure about 165 mtorr with no carrier gas.
(47) According to an embodiment the semiconductor structure, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited in a deposition pressure below 200 mtorr in the process chamber.
(48) According to an embodiment the semiconductor structure, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers is deposited on the substrate wafer at the deposition temperature, preferably constant 680° C., and the deposition pressure between 160 mtorr-170 mtorr by using SiH.sub.4 as a silicon source gas.
(49) A used silicon precursor is SiH.sub.4 with a flow rate of 120 sccm from the front and 30 sccm from the rear and a boron precursor is a 5% mixture of BCl.sub.3 in the inert gas argon having flow rates 30 sccm from the front and 39 sccm from the rear.
(50) According to an embodiment the semiconductor structure, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the used dopant gas comprises a mixture of BCl.sub.3 and another gas comprising at least one of He, Ar, N.sub.2, and H.sub.2.
(51) A single layer is grown during one deposition run with a deposition rate about 15 nm/min so that the deposition process results about 2 μm thick boron doped polycrystalline silicon layers having electrical resistivity below 5 milliohm-cm so that a total deposited thickness in 6 deposition runs is about 12 μm. The layers are deposited inside the holes with excellent uniformity and conformality, and the holes are substantially filled such that a central void that is less than 1 μm, even less than 200 nm, in diameter.
(52) In other embodiments layers are grown at temperature e.g. between 700° C.-800° C., and a multilayer structure can comprise e.g. layers grown at a lower temperature below 650° C. and/or layers grown at a higher temperature of 750° C.-800° C. It is also possible to a grown polysilicon layer having a resistivity of 5-10 milliohm-cm.
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(54) Similarly,
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(56) After the bonding operation, a thickness of the wafer stack comprising the substrate wafer 410 acting as a cap wafer and the CSOI wafer 440 is reduced by wafer thinning so that the holes 420 provides through way vias to complete a semiconductor sensor structure 450 that can be used e.g. in accelerometers and gyroscopes.
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(58) According to an embodiment the apparatus, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited in a deposition pressure below 200 mtorr in the process chamber.
(59) According to an embodiment the apparatus, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the used dopant gas comprises a mixture of BCl.sub.3 and another gas comprising at least one of He, Ar, N.sub.2, and H.sub.2.
(60) According to an embodiment the apparatus, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers is deposited on the substrate wafer at the deposition temperature, preferably constant 680° C., and the deposition pressure between 160 mtorr-170 mtorr by using SiH.sub.4 as a silicon source gas.
(61) According to an embodiment the apparatus, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the reactor is a horizontal hot-wall reactor, and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 605° C.-650° C. and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 650° C.-750° C.
(62) According to an embodiment the apparatus, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the reactor is a vertical reactor and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 605° C.-650° C. and at least one polycrystalline silicon layer is deposited in the deposition temperature between 650° C.-750° C.
(63) According to an embodiment the apparatus, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the substrate wafer comprises at least one of a recess extending part-way through the substrate wafer, a trench, a hole of aspect ratio e.g. greater than 5 extending completely through the substrate wafer, and a protrusion extending from a surface of the substrate wafer, and the one or more polycrystalline silicon layers are deposited inside the recess, trench, or hole, or on the protrusion.
(64) According to an embodiment the apparatus, which is disclosed in any of the previous embodiments, wherein the substrate wafer comprises at least an insulating surface layer, e.g. silicon dioxide surface layer or any other insulating layer.
(65) The apparatus 500 comprises also a processor 520 that is adapted to perform instructions and handling data, a memory unit 530 in order to store data, e.g. instructions and application data, a user interface 540, which comprises means for inputting commands, e.g. buttons, keyboard, and/or touch pad. In addition, the apparatus may 500 comprise a display, data transfer means for transmitting and receiving data, and a loudspeaker.
(66) In the memory unit 530 is stored at least a user interface application for controlling the the user interface 540 with the processor 520 and software for handling information received from the sensor structure 510 and for determining by the received information e.g. the movement of the apparatus 500, with the processor 520.
(67) The invention has been now explained above with reference to the aforesaid embodiments and the several advantages of the invention have been demonstrated. It is clear that the invention is not only restricted to these embodiments, but comprises all possible embodiments within the spirit and scope of the invention thought and the following patent claims.