IC TECHNOLOGY(ICT)

NEC-603

By:
Saddam
Assistant Professor (ECE)
SRIMT, Lko.
FABRICATION PROCESSES FOR VLSI
DEVICES
 CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION

• Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) is a chemical process

used to produce high purity, high performance solid
materials.
In a typical CVD process, the substrate is exposed to one or
more volatile precursors which react and decompose on
the substrate surface to produce the desired deposit.
During this process, volatile by-products are also produced,
which are removed by gas flow through the reaction
chamber.
STEPS INVOLVED IN A CVD PROCESS
(SCHEMATIC)
 SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM - THE
STEPS INVOLVED IN CVD

• 1. Transport of reactants by forced convection to the deposition region.

2. Transport of reactants by diffusion from the main gas stream through
the boundary layer to the wafer surface
3. Adsorption of reactants on the wafer surface.
4. Surface processes, including chemical decomposition or reaction,
surface migration to attachment sites (such as atomic-level ledges and
kinks), site incorporation, and other surface reactions.
5. Desorption of byproducts from the surface.
6. Transport of byproducts by diffusion through the boundary layer and
back to the main gas stream.
7. Transport of byproducts by forced convection away from the
deposition region.
 TYPES OF CVD

CVD’s are classified into two types on the basis

of Operating Pressure.
1. Atmospheric Pressure CVD
2. Low Pressure CVD
3. Plasma Enhanced CVD
4. Photochemical Vapour Deposition
5. Thermal CVD
 ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION

• CASE 1 : HIGH TEMPERATURE

This process is used to deposit Silicon and compound films or hard
metallurgical coatings like Titanium Carbide and Titanium Nitride.
CASE 2 : LOW TEMPERATURE
Many insulating film layers such as Silicon dioxide need to be
deposited at low temperatures for effective deposition.
Aluminium oxide films are deposited by this method from aluminium
trichloride, argon and oxygen gas mixtures at temperatures ranging
from 800-1000 degree Celsius
 The films have low chlorine content, which continue to
decrease with increasing temperature.
 Analysis of the film growth rate on the substrates revealed
that, the growth takes place only by diffusion from 800 to 950
degree Celsius and only by gas phase reaction at 1000 degree Celsius.
APCVD REACTOR
 LOW PRESSURE CVD

The deposition of Silicon carbide thin film is performed using low

pressure CVD of Dichlorosilane / Acetylene / Hydrogen reaction
system.
The Silicon carbide film deposited at three different temperatures
has three different properties.

This technique permits either horizontal or vertical loading of the

wafers into the furnace and accommodates a large number of
wafers for processing.

The process results in the deposition of compounds with excellent

purity and uniformity.

However the technique requires higher temperatures and the

deposition rate is low.
LOW PRESSURE CVD
 PLASMA ENHANCED CVD
• Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is a
process used to deposit thin films from a gas state (vapor) to a solid state
on a substrate.

• Chemical reactions are involved in the process, which occur

after creation of a plasma of the reacting gases.

• The plasma is generally created by RF (AC) frequency or DC

discharge between two electrodes, the space between which is filled with
the reacting gases.

• The helping hand of the Plasma helps in increasing the film

quality at low temperature and pressure.
• PECVD uses electrical energy which is transferred to
the gas mixture.
• This transforms the gas mixture into reactive radicals,
ions, neutral atoms and molecules, and other highly
excited species.
• These atomic and molecular fragments interact with a
substrate and, depending on the nature of these
interactions, either etching or deposition processes
occur at the substrate.
• Some of the desirable properties of PECVD films are
good adhesion, low pinhole density and uniformity.
 SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF PECVD
REINBERG TYPE REACTOR (DIRECT):
Reactants, by-products, substrates
and plasma are in the same space.
Capacitive-coupled Radio Frequency
plasma.
Rotating substrates are present.

DOWNSTREAM REACTOR (INDIRECT):

Plasma is generated in a separate
chamber and is pumped into the
deposition chamber.
Allows better control of purity and
film quality when compared to the
Direct type.
 THERMAL CVD

• In thermal CVD process, temperatures as high as 2000 degree Celsius is needed to

deposit the compounds.
There are two basic types of reactors for thermal CVD.
1. Hot wall reactor
2. Cold wall reactor
A hot wall reactor is an isothermal surface into which the substrates are placed.
Since the whole chamber is heated, precise temperature control can be achieved
by designing the furnace accordingly.
• A disadvantage of the hot wall configuration is that deposition occurs on the walls
of the chamber as well as on the substrate.
As a consequence, hot wall reactors must be frequently cleaned in order to reduce
contamination of substrates.
In a cold wall reactor, only the substrate is heated.
The deposition takes place on the area of the highest temperature, since CVD
reactions are generally endothermic.
• The deposition is only on the substrate in cold wall reactors, and therefore
contamination of particles is reduced considerably.
However, hot wall reactors have higher throughput since the designs can easily
accommodate multiple wafer (substrate) configurations.
 ADVANTAGES OF CHEMICAL VAPOUR
DEPOSITION

• Variable shaped surfaces, given reasonable access to the

coating powders or gases, such as screw threads, blind
holes or channels or recesses, can be coated evenly
without build-up on edges.
Versatile –any element or compound can be deposited.
High Purity can be obtained.
High Density – nearly 100% of theoretical value.
Material Formation well below the melting point
Economical in production, since many parts can be coated
at the same time.
 Physical vapor deposition (PVD)

• There are a variety of physical vapor deposition techniques. As

the name implies, atoms/molecules (vapor) of the desired
material are directly deposited on to the substrate from the
vapor phase.
• There are different PVD techniques, which differ on the how
the ‘vapor’ is obtained.
• PVD is a line of-sight deposition technique, so that the
substrate must be in front of the source.
• The deposition rate depends on the distance between the two.
The simplest PVD technique is thermal evaporation. A schematic
of the process is shown in figure. The material to be evaporated
is heated (by resistive heating) and the atoms are then deposited
on the substrate.
• E-beam evaporation, is a deposition technique, where
instead of using resistive heating to form the vapor, an
electron beam is used to melt the material and form the
vapor. The e-beam evaporation source is shown in. E-beam
evaporator is useful for depositing materials with high
melting points like Si, Ti, W, which cannot be easily
deposited by thermal evaporation.
 Sputtering
• To perform sputtering, ions of an inert carrier gas
(such as argon) are introduced into a low-pressure or
partial-vacuum atmosphere. An electric field is used
to ionize the atoms and draw them to one place in
the chamber called the target. The target is
comprised of the metal used for deposition. When
the ions strike the target, they dislodge, or sputter,
these metal atoms. The dislodged atoms are then
deposited in a thin film on the silicon substrate facing
the target. Sputtering can be done using both direct
current and radiofrequency voltages and can be used
to deposit almost any material
• Filament Evaporation
• Filament evaporation, also called resistive evaporation, is the simplest method.
This process is usually carried out in a bell jar, in which a filament is heated by
thermal resistance. As the temperature rises, the metal to be deposited is
melted and wets the filament. The current through the filament is increased
further, until the metal vaporizes. The metal vapor then condenses on the
cooler surface of the semiconductor wafers, forming the desired metal layer.
• Electron-Beam Evaporation
• Electron-beam evaporation, frequently called "e-beam," uses a focused beam
of electrons to heat the metal for deposition. The metal is kept in a water-
cooled crucible and exposed to the electron beam, causing it to vaporize and
condense on the wafers.
• Flash Evaporation
• In flash evaporation, a ceramic bar is heated by thermal resistance. Wire is
continuously fed from a spool until it contacts the heated bar. Upon contact,
the metal evaporates and is deposited on the substrate.
• Induction Evaporation
• Induction evaporation uses radiofrequency radiation to evaporate the metal in
a crucible. The metal is then deposited as with other methods.
• Metallization
• Processes that deposit metal thin film on
wafer surface.
• Applications
• Interconnection • Gate and electrodes •
Micro-mirror • Fuse