In-situ MOS gate engineering in a novel rapid thermal/plasma multiprocessing reactor

Low temperatures and short times are essential requirements of future VLSI processing and the use of plasma in conjunction with single-wafer lamp heating is a major step to realize this goal, In-situ multiprocessing reduces contamination and enhances yield. Reproducible growth of thin oxides in hot-wall furnaces is difficult due to long transient times and constant furnace temperatures. Since furnaces are not designed for single-wafer processing, no extensive in-situ real-time measurements can be performed. RTP of Si in O2 and NH3 ambients is an attractive technique for the growth of silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, nitrided oxides, oxidized nitrides, and application-specific insulators. We have also demonstrated the feasibility of low-temperature nitridation of Si in nitrogen plasma generated by microwave discharge. LPCVD of tungsten (W) has emerged as a viable technology for VLSI. The conventional hot-wall furnaces are not suitable for reproducible high-rate W deposition and nonselective formation of W on insulators.