Inventors:
Thai Cheng Chua - Cupertino CA, US
Shankar Muthukrisnan - Plano TX, US
Johanes Swenberg - Los Gatos CA, US
Shreyas Kher - Campbell CA, US
Chikuang Charles Wang - San Jose CA, US
Giuseppina Conti - Oakland CA, US
Yuri Uritsky - Newark CA, US
Assignee:
Applied Materials, Inc. - Santa Clara CA
International Classification:
H01L 21/31
US Classification:
438763, 438287, 257E21409
Abstract:
Methods for forming a integrated gate dielectric layer on a substrate are provided. In one embodiment, the method includes forming a silicon oxide layer on a substrate, plasma treating the silicon oxide layer, depositing a silicon nitride layer on the silicon oxide layer by an ALD process, and thermal annealing the substrate. In another embodiment, the method includes precleaning a substrate, forming a silicon oxide layer on the substrate, plasma treating the silicon oxide layer, depositing a silicon nitride layer on the silicon oxide layer by an ALD process, and thermal annealing the substrate, wherein the formed silicon oxide layer and the silicon nitride layer has a total thickness less than 30 Å utilized as a gate dielectric layer in a gate structure.