Patents by Inventor Juwen Gao
Juwen Gao has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 11972952Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are described that provide tungsten deposition with low roughness. In some embodiments, the methods involve co-flowing nitrogen with hydrogen during an atomic layer deposition process of depositing tungsten that uses hydrogen as a reducing agent. In some embodiments, the methods involve depositing a cap layer, such as tungsten oxide or amorphous tungsten layer, on a sidewall surface of a 3D NAND structure. The disclosed embodiments have a wide variety of applications including depositing tungsten into 3D NAND structures.Type: GrantFiled: December 13, 2019Date of Patent: April 30, 2024Assignee: Lam Research CorporationInventors: Ruopeng Deng, Xiaolan Ba, Tianhua Yu, Yu Pan, Juwen Gao
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Patent number: 11901227Abstract: 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. Pre-inhibition and post-inhibition treatments are used to modulate the inhibition effect, facilitating feature fill using inhibition across a wide process window. 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 and wordline fill, and 3-D integration using through-silicon vias.Type: GrantFiled: October 8, 2021Date of Patent: February 13, 2024Assignee: Lam Research CorporationInventors: Anand Chandrashekar, Esther Jeng, Raashina Humayun, Michal Danek, Juwen Gao, Deqi Wang
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Publication number: 20240006180Abstract: Provided herein are methods of depositing tungsten (W) films without depositing a nucleation layer. In certain embodiments, the methods involve depositing a conformal layer of boron (B) on a substrate. The substrate generally includes a feature to be filled with tungsten with the boron layer conformal to the topography of the substrate including the feature. The reducing agent layer is then exposed to a continuous flow of hydrogen and pulses of fluorine-containing tungsten precursor in a pulsed CVD process. The conformal boron layer is converted to a conformal tungsten layer.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 16, 2021Publication date: January 4, 2024Inventors: Yu PAN, Yao-Tsung HSIEH, Xiaolan BA, Juwen GAO
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Publication number: 20230290639Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for forming low resistivity tungsten using tungsten nitride barrier layers are provided herein. Methods involve depositing extremely thin tungsten nitride barrier layers prior to depositing tungsten nucleation and bulk tungsten layers. Methods are applicable for fabricating tungsten word lines in 3D NAND fabrication as well as for fabricating tungsten-containing components of DRAM and logic fabrication. Apparatus included processing stations with multiple charge volumes to pressurize gases in close vicinity to a showerhead of a processing chamber for processing semiconductor substrates.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 29, 2020Publication date: September 14, 2023Inventors: Lawrence Schloss, Anand Chandrashekar, Juwen Gao, Stephanie Noelle Sandra Sawant-Goubert, Yu Pan
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Patent number: 11670516Abstract: Various embodiments herein relate to methods, apparatus, and systems for etching a feature in a substrate. Typically the feature is etched in a dielectric-containing stack. The etching process involves cyclically etching the feature and depositing a protective film on sidewalls of the partially etched feature. These stages are repeated until the feature reaches its final depth. The protective film may have a particular composition, for example including at least one of a tungsten carbonitride, a tungsten sulfide, tin, a tin-containing compound, molybdenum, a molybdenum-containing compound, a ruthenium carbonitride, a ruthenium sulfide, an aluminum carbonitride, an aluminum sulfide, zirconium, and a zirconium-containing compound. A number of optional steps may be taken including, for example, doping the mask layer, pre-treating the substrate prior to deposition, removing the protective film from the sidewalls, and oxidizing any remaining protective film.Type: GrantFiled: August 19, 2019Date of Patent: June 6, 2023Assignee: Lam Research CorporationInventors: Karthik S. Colinjivadi, Samantha SiamHwa Tan, Shih-Ked Lee, George Matamis, Yongsik Yu, Yang Pan, Patrick Van Cleemput, Akhil Singhal, Juwen Gao, Raashina Humayun
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Publication number: 20230041794Abstract: 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.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 28, 2022Publication date: February 9, 2023Inventors: Anand CHANDRASHEKAR, Esther JENG, Raashina Humayun, Michal DANEK, Juwen GAO, Deqi WANG
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Patent number: 11410883Abstract: 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.Type: GrantFiled: March 6, 2019Date of Patent: August 9, 2022Assignee: Novellus Systems, Inc.Inventors: Anand Chandrashekar, Esther Jeng, Raashina Humayun, Michal Danek, Juwen Gao, Deqi Wang
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Publication number: 20220186370Abstract: Provided herein are methods and related apparatus for purging processing chambers during an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. The methods involve flowing purging gas from one or more accumulators to remove process gases from the processing chambers. Following the flowing of purging gas, additional reactants may be introduced into the processing chamber to continue an ALD cycle.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 15, 2020Publication date: June 16, 2022Applicant: Lam Research CorporationInventors: Pragna Nannapaneni, Sema Ermez, Novy Tjokro, Ruopeng Deng, Tianhua Yu, Xiaolan Ba, Juwen Gao, Sanjay Gopinath
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Patent number: 11348795Abstract: Disclosed are methods of depositing a transition metal such as tungsten on a semiconductor substrate. The method includes providing a gas mixture of diborane with a balance of hydrogen, where the hydrogen serves to stabilize the diborane in the gas mixture. The method further includes delivering the gas mixture to the semiconductor substrate to form a boron layer, where the boron layer serves as a reducing agent layer to convert a metal-containing precursor to metal, such as a tungsten-containing precursor to tungsten. In some implementations, the semiconductor substrate includes a vertical structure, such as a three-dimensional vertical NAND structure, with horizontal features or wordlines having openings in sidewalls of the vertical structure, where the boron layer may be conformally deposited in the horizontal features of the vertical structure.Type: GrantFiled: August 10, 2018Date of Patent: May 31, 2022Assignee: Lam Research CorporationInventors: Lawrence Schloss, Raashina Humayun, Sanjay Gopinath, Juwen Gao, Michal Danek, Kaihan Abidi Ashtiani
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Publication number: 20220102208Abstract: 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. Pre-inhibition and post-inhibition treatments are used to modulate the inhibition effect, facilitating feature fill using inhibition across a wide process window. 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 and wordline fill, and 3-D integration using through-silicon vias.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 8, 2021Publication date: March 31, 2022Inventors: Anand Chandrashekar, Esther Jeng, Raashina Humayun, Michal Danek, Juwen Gao, Deqi Wang
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Publication number: 20210335617Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are described that provide tungsten deposition with low roughness. In some embodiments, the methods involve co-flowing nitrogen with hydrogen during an atomic layer deposition process of depositing tungsten that uses hydrogen as a reducing agent. In some embodiments, the methods involve depositing a cap layer, such as tungsten oxide or amorphous tungsten layer, on a sidewall surface of a 3D NAND structure. The disclosed embodiments have a wide variety of applications including depositing tungsten into 3D NAND structures.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 13, 2019Publication date: October 28, 2021Inventors: Ruopeng Deng, Xiaolan Ba, Tianhua Yu, Yu Pan, Juwen Gao
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Publication number: 20210327754Abstract: Described herein are methods of filling features with tungsten and related systems and apparatus. The methods include inside-out fill techniques as well as conformal deposition in features. Inside-out fill techniques can include selective deposition on etched tungsten layers in features. Conformal and non-conformal etch techniques can be used according to various implementations. The methods described herein can be used to fill vertical features, such as in tungsten vias, and horizontal features, such as vertical NAND (VNAND) word lines. Examples of applications include logic and memory contact fill, DRAM buried word line fill, vertically integrated memory gate/word line fill, and 3-D integration with through-silicon vias (TSVs).Type: ApplicationFiled: June 25, 2021Publication date: October 21, 2021Inventors: Anand Chandrashekar, Esther Jeng, Raashina Humayun, Michal Danek, Juwen Gao, Deqi Wang
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Publication number: 20210313183Abstract: Described herein are methods and apparatuses for filling semiconductor substrate structures with conductive material. The methods involve depositing multi-layer bulk metal films in structures with one or more deposition conditions changed when transitioning from layer-to-layer. The methods result in high fill quality, high throughput, low precursor consumption, and low roughness. Multi-station chambers to perform the methods are also provided.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 31, 2019Publication date: October 7, 2021Inventors: Xiaolan Ba, Ruopeng Deng, Juwen Gao, Sanjay Gopinath, Lawrence Schloss
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Publication number: 20210242032Abstract: Various embodiments herein relate to methods, apparatus, and systems for etching a feature in a substrate. Typically the feature is etched in a dielectric-containing stack. The etching process involves cyclically etching the feature and depositing a protective film on sidewalls of the partially etched feature. These stages are repeated until the feature reaches its final depth. The protective film may have a particular composition, for example including at least one of a tungsten carbonitride, a tungsten sulfide, tin, a tin-containing compound, molybdenum, a molybdenum-containing compound, a ruthenium carbonitride, a ruthenium sulfide, an aluminum carbonitride, an aluminum sulfide, zirconium, and a zirconium-containing compound. A number of optional steps may be taken including, for example, doping the mask layer, pre-treating the substrate prior to deposition, removing the protective film from the sidewalls, and oxidizing any remaining protective film.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 19, 2019Publication date: August 5, 2021Inventors: Karthik S. COLINJIVADI, Samantha SiamHwa TAN, Shih-Ked LEE, George MATAMIS, Yongsik YU, Yang PAN, Patrick VAN CLEEMPUT, Akhil SINGHAL, Juwen GAO, Raashina HUMAYUN
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Patent number: 11075115Abstract: Described herein are methods of filling features with tungsten and related systems and apparatus. The methods include inside-out fill techniques as well as conformal deposition in features. Inside-out fill techniques can include selective deposition on etched tungsten layers in features. Conformal and non-conformal etch techniques can be used according to various implementations. The methods described herein can be used to fill vertical features, such as in tungsten vias, and horizontal features, such as vertical NAND (VNAND) word lines. Examples of applications include logic and memory contact fill, DRAM buried word line fill, vertically integrated memory gate/word line fill, and 3-D integration with through-silicon vias (TSVs).Type: GrantFiled: September 6, 2018Date of Patent: July 27, 2021Assignee: Novellus Systems, Inc.Inventors: Anand Chandrashekar, Esther Jeng, Raashina Humayun, Michal Danek, Juwen Gao, Deqi Wang
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Publication number: 20200211853Abstract: Disclosed are methods of depositing a transition metal such as tungsten on a semiconductor substrate. The method includes providing a gas mixture of diborane with a balance of hydrogen, where the hydrogen serves to stabilize the diborane in the gas mixture. The method further includes delivering the gas mixture to the semiconductor substrate to form a boron layer, where the boron layer serves as a reducing agent layer to convert a metal-containing precursor to metal, such as a tungsten-containing precursor to tungsten. In some implementations, the semiconductor substrate includes a vertical structure, such as a three-dimensional vertical NAND structure, with horizontal features or wordlines having openings in sidewalls of the vertical structure, where the boron layer may be conformally deposited in the horizontal features of the vertical structure.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 10, 2018Publication date: July 2, 2020Inventors: Lawrence Schloss, Raashina Humayun, Sanjay Gopinath, Juwen Gao, Michal Danek, Kaihan Abidi Ashtiani
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Publication number: 20200185273Abstract: 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. Pre-inhibition and post-inhibition treatments are used to modulate the inhibition effect, facilitating feature fill using inhibition across a wide process window. 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 and wordline fill, and 3-D integration using through-silicon vias.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 18, 2020Publication date: June 11, 2020Inventors: Anand Chandrashekar, Esther Jeng, Raashina Humayun, Michal Danek, Juwen Gao, Deqi Wang
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Patent number: 10580695Abstract: 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. Pre-inhibition and post-inhibition treatments are used to modulate the inhibition effect, facilitating feature fill using inhibition across a wide process window. 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 and wordline fill, and 3-D integration using through-silicon vias.Type: GrantFiled: May 29, 2018Date of Patent: March 3, 2020Assignee: Lam Research CorporationInventors: Anand Chandrashekar, Esther Jeng, Raashina Humayun, Michal Danek, Juwen Gao, Deqi Wang
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Patent number: 10529722Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods and related apparatus for formation of multi-component tungsten-containing films including multi-component tungsten-containing films diffusion barriers. According to various embodiments, the methods involve deposition of multi-component tungsten-containing films using tungsten chloride (WClx) precursors and boron (B)-containing, silicon (Si)-containing or germanium (Ge)-containing reducing agents.Type: GrantFiled: March 19, 2018Date of Patent: January 7, 2020Assignee: Lam Research CorporationInventors: Michal Danek, Hanna Bamnolker, Raashina Humayun, Juwen Gao
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Publication number: 20190206731Abstract: 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.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 6, 2019Publication date: July 4, 2019Inventors: Anand Chandrashekar, Esther Jeng, Raashina Humayun, Michal Danek, Juwen Gao, Deqi Wang