Applied Materials Patent Applications

MODIFYING PATTERNED FEATURES USING A DIRECTIONAL ETCH

Granted: April 25, 2024
Application Number: 20240136197
Disclosed herein are approaches for modifying patterned features using a directional etch. In one approach, a method may include providing a stack of layers of a semiconductor device, forming an opening through the stack of layers, the opening defined by a first sidewall and a second sidewall, and delivering ions into the first sidewall in a reactive ion etching process. The ions maybe delivered at a first non-zero angle relative to a perpendicular extending from the substrate, wherein…

SELECTIVE TRENCH MODIFICATION USING DIRECTIONAL ETCH

Granted: April 25, 2024
Application Number: 20240136194
Disclosed herein are approaches for device modification, namely, trench elongation. In one approach, a method may include providing a substrate including a plurality of surface features defining a plurality of trenches, wherein a first trench has a first trench length extending in a first direction, wherein a second trench connected to the first trench has a second trench length extending in a second direction, and wherein the first direction and the second direction are non-parallel.…

METHOD FOR CREATING A SMOOTH DIAGONAL SURFACE USING A FOCUSED ION BEAM AND AN INNOVATIVE SCANNING STRATEGY

Granted: April 25, 2024
Application Number: 20240136150
A method of milling a diagonal cut in a region of a sample, the method comprising: positioning the sample in a processing chamber having a charged particle beam column; moving the region of the sample under a field of view of the charged particle column; generating a charged particle beam with the charged particle beam column and scanning the charged particle beam over the region of the sample along scan lines arranged parallel to a slope of the diagonal cut; and repeating the generating…

PROCESS CHAMBER WITH REFLECTOR

Granted: April 25, 2024
Application Number: 20240134151
A reflector and processing chamber having the same are described herein. In one example, a reflector is provided that includes cylindrical body, a cooling channel, and a reflective coating. The cylindrical body has an upper surface and a lower surface. The lower surface has a plurality of concave reflector structures disposed around a centerline of the cylindrical body. The cooling channel disposed in or on the cylindrical body. The reflective coating is disposed on the plurality of…

PHASE RETRIEVAL

Granted: April 25, 2024
Application Number: 20240133807
A method for phase retrieval, the method may include (a) obtaining multiple out-of-focus intensity images of one or more point spread function targets; wherein the out-of-focus intensity images are generated by based on residual collected light signals obtained by a residual collection channel of an optical unit having a numerical aperture that exceeds 0.8; and (b) calculating phase information, based on the multiple out-of-focus intensity images and on a vectorial model of the point…

METHODS FOR FORMING DRAM DEVICES WITHOUT TRENCH FILL VOIDS

Granted: April 18, 2024
Application Number: 20240130117
Disclosed herein are approaches for forming dynamic DRAM devices without trench fill voids. A method may include providing a plurality of trenches in a substrate, the plurality of trenches defining a plurality of device structures, and depositing a plurality of layers over the device structures. The layers may include a first layer over the device structures, a second layer over the first layer, and a third layer over the second layer. The method may further include forming a plurality…

SACRIFICIAL SOURCE/DRAIN FOR METALLIC SOURCE/DRAIN HORIZONTAL GATE ALL AROUND ARCHITECTURE

Granted: April 18, 2024
Application Number: 20240128355
Semiconductor devices and methods of manufacturing the same are described. The method includes forming a source region and a drain region adjacent to a superlattice structure on a substrate. The source region and the drain region comprise a metallic silicide material. In some embodiments, a sacrificial material is first deposited and then removed to form a metallic silicide material in the source and drain region.

ENDPOINT OPTIMIZATION FOR SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESSES

Granted: April 18, 2024
Application Number: 20240128131
A camera may capture reflected light from the surface of the wafer during a semiconductor process that adds or removes material from the wafer, such as an etch process. To accurately determine an endpoint for the process, a camera sampling rate and light source intensity may be optimized in the process recipe. Optimizing the light source intensity may include characterizing light intensities that will be reflected from the waiver using an image of the wafer. Pixel intensities may be used…

INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA APPARATUS WITH NOVEL FARADAY SHIELD

Granted: April 18, 2024
Application Number: 20240128052
An antenna assembly, comprising: an antenna; a dielectric enclosure surrounding the antenna; and a Faraday shield, disposed around the antenna, and arranged between the antenna and the dielectric enclosure, wherein the Faraday shield comprises a non-uniform opacity along an antenna axis of the antenna, wherein a first opacity of the Faraday shield at a first position along the antenna axis is greater than a second opacity of the Faraday shield at a second position along the antenna axis…

BOTTOM CONTACT FORMATION FOR 4F2 VERTICAL DRAM

Granted: April 11, 2024
Application Number: 20240121937
Disclosed herein are approaches for forming contacts in a 4F2 vertical dynamic random-access memory device. One method includes providing a plurality of fins extending from a substrate, forming a spacer layer over the plurality of fins, and etching the substrate to expose a base portion of the plurality of fins. The method may include forming a doped layer along the base portion of the plurality of fins and along an upper surface of the substrate, and forming an oxide spacer over the…

ISOTROPIC SILICON NITRIDE REMOVAL

Granted: April 11, 2024
Application Number: 20240120210
Exemplary methods of etching a silicon-containing material may include flowing a first fluorine-containing precursor into a remote plasma region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include flowing a sulfur-containing precursor into the remote plasma region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include forming a plasma within the remote plasma region to generate plasma effluents of the first fluorine-containing precursor and the sulfur-containing…

CARBON REPLENISHMENT OF SILICON-CONTAINING MATERIAL

Granted: April 11, 2024
Application Number: 20240120193
Exemplary methods of semiconductor processing may include etching a portion of a silicon-containing material from a substrate disposed within a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The silicon-containing material may extend into one or more recesses defined by alternating layers of material deposited on the substrate. The methods may include providing a carbon-containing precursor to the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may…

Deposition Of Piezoelectric Films

Granted: April 4, 2024
Application Number: 20240114800
A piezoelectric device comprises: a substrate (12) and a lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate (PMNPT) piezoelectric film on the substrate (12). The PMNPT film comprises: a thermal oxide layer (20) on the substrate (12); a first electrode above on the thermal oxide layer (20); a seed layer (26) above the first electrode; a lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate (PMNPT) piezoelectric layer (16) on the seed layer (26), and a second electrode on the PMNPT piezoelectric layer (16). The PMNPT…

PARTICLE ACCELERATOR HAVING NOVEL ELECTRODE CONFIGURATION FOR QUADRUPOLE FOCUSING

Granted: April 4, 2024
Application Number: 20240114613
An apparatus may include a drift tube assembly, comprising a plurality of drift tubes to conduct an ion beam along a beam propagation direction. The plurality of drift tubes may define a multi-gap configuration corresponding to a plurality of acceleration gaps, wherein the plurality of drift tubes further define a plurality of RF quadrupoles, respectively. As such, the plurality of quadrupoles are arranged to defocus the ion beam along a first direction at the plurality of acceleration…

MOLECULAR LAYER DEPOSITION CARBON MASKS FOR DIRECT SELECTIVE DEPOSITION OF SILICON-CONTAINING MATERIALS

Granted: March 28, 2024
Application Number: 20240105499
Embodiments of the present technology relate to semiconductor processing methods that include providing a structured semiconductor substrate including a trench having a bottom surface and top surfaces. The methods further include depositing a portion of a silicon-containing material on the bottom surface of the trench for at least one deposition cycle, where each deposition cycle includes: depositing the portion of the silicon-containing material on the bottom surface and top surfaces of…

ENHANCED DEPOSITION RATE BY APPLYING A NEGATIVE VOLTAGE TO A GAS INJECTION NOZZLE IN FIB SYSTEMS

Granted: March 28, 2024
Application Number: 20240105421
A method of depositing material over a localized region of a sample comprising: positioning a sample within a vacuum chamber such that the localized region is under a field of view of a charged particle beam column; injecting a deposition precursor gas, with a gas injection nozzle, into the vacuum chamber at a location adjacent to the deposition region; generating a charged particle beam with the charged particle beam column and focusing the charged particle beam within the deposition…

PLASMA-ENHANCED MOLYBDENUM DEPOSITION

Granted: March 28, 2024
Application Number: 20240102157
Embodiments of the disclosure are directed to methods of depositing a molybdenum film directly on a substrate surface (e.g., a low-K dielectric material) by exposing the substrate surface to a molybdenum-containing precursor and a plasma at a temperature of less than or equal to 400° C. The molybdenum-containing precursor comprises one or more of molybdenum pentachloride (MoCl5), molybdenum dioxide dichloride (MoO2Cl2), molybdenum oxytetrachloride (MoOCl4), molybdenum hexacarbonyl,…

IN-SITU CARBON LINER FOR HIGH ASPECT RATIO FEATURES

Granted: March 21, 2024
Application Number: 20240096641
Exemplary methods of semiconductor processing may include etching a first portion of a feature in a substrate disposed within a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The first portion of the feature may at least partially extend through one or more layers of material formed on the substrate. The methods may include providing a carbon-containing precursor to the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include generating plasma…

SINGLE GATE THREE-DIMENSIONAL (3D) DYNAMIC RANDOM-ACCESS MEMORY (DRAM) DEVICES

Granted: March 21, 2024
Application Number: 20240098971
A memory cell array includes a plurality of memory levels stacked in a first direction, each of the plurality of memory levels including an active region, a cell transistor having a single gate above the active region in the first direction, and a cell capacitor having a bottom electrode layer that is electrically connected to the active region.

DRIFT TUBE ELECTRODE ARRANGEMENT HAVING DIRECT CURRENT OPTICS

Granted: March 21, 2024
Application Number: 20240098871
An apparatus may include a drift tube assembly having a plurality of drift tubes to conduct an ion beam along a beam propagation direction. The plurality of drift tubes may define a multi-gap configuration corresponding to a plurality of acceleration gaps, wherein at least one powered drift tube of the drift tube assembly is coupled to receive an RF voltage signal. The apparatus may also include a DC electrode assembly that includes a conductor line, arranged within a resonator coil that…