Intellectual property
Tegal believes NLD supplies ultra-conformality comparable to that of atomic layer deposition (ALD) with the manufacturing throughput of more conventional chemical vapour deposition (CVD) systems. NLD allows semiconductor manufacturers to choose from a wide field of deposition precursors (a key limitation of ALD) for the application of any thin film in use today for wafer processing with atomic layer precision. NLD technology can also be used to construct complex, compound film structures with a level of control and conformality that was previously unavailable or impractical, the company says.
The '220 patent covers a system and process incorporating a pulsed plasma and deposition technique applicable to a variety of films such as titanium nitride, copper and several low-k (dielectric constant) insulating films.
The pulsing technique can also be used to deposit a low-k material and to "seal" it in-situ in order to preserve the film's low-k properties. This has been a major limitation to the successful implementation of low-k dielectric materials into current generations of semiconductors.
The '318 patent combines system design, source design and NLD technology for manufacturing next generation semiconductor devices. The patent discloses a new helical ribbon electrode as a plasma source for use in an NLD system.
The '318 patent builds on the technology disclosed in the '220 patent and provides a multi-chamber platform for performing a wide variety of processing steps such as pre-clean, etch, NLD, densification, etc. As a result, complex films can be deposited with complete conformality and layer thicknesses can be controlled to one monolayer or to several hundred of Angstroms.
