Method for etching tungsten

The  invention relates to an improved process for the forming and etching of tungsten containing film on a semiconductor wafer.Refractory metals such as chemical vapor deposited tungsten have been identified as suitable interconnect material for VLSI/ULSI applications. Chemical vapor deposited tungsten is finding applications in the area of gate and interconnect technology due to its electromigration resistance, excellent step coverage, and because its thermal expansion is similar to that of silicon. Chemical vapor deposited tungsten also withstands higher process temperatures and does not form hillock as will aluminum.

This invention  described an useful embodiment of a process for etching of a tungsten film which comprises the steps of: removing tungsten from unmasked areas of a workpiece using a first etchant that removes tungsten at a greater rate than it removes photoresist; and removing tungsten from unmasked areas of the workpiece using a second etchant that removes tungsten at a greater rate than it removes silicon dioxide.

 

It has been found useful in performing the above process to generate the first etchant from a gas comprised of, for example, fluorine, bromine and halogenated hydrocarbon and the second etchant from a gas comprised of species of fluorine, bromine and chlorine.It has also been found useful to generate the first etchant using at least one electromagnetic energy source taken from the group consisting of radio frequency energy, electron cyclotron resonance, chemically assisted ion beam, ion beam cluster, magnetron enhanced, LASER, x-ray, ultraviolet, and visible light. The second etchant is usefully generated using a combination of the aforementioned energy sources and activation using a plasma generator remote from the process chamber.
 
The advantages are set forth within and toward the end of the description of the preferred embodiment.
 
 
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Purification of Tungsten Hexafluoride

The invention is directed to a process for purifying tungsten hexafluoride to produce a pure material useful in applications such as the electronics industry in which the impurities level is required to be reduced as much as possible to avoid adverse effects. The steps are as follows:

a) evaporating tungsten hexafluoride from said non-volatile impurities dissolved in said liquid tungsten hexafluoride, b) condensing the evaporated tungsten hexafluoride, c) freezing the condensed tungsten hexafluoride to solid tungsten hexafluoride, d) evacuating volatile impurities from said solid tungsten hexafluoride, e) thawing said solid tungsten hexafluoride to liquid tungsten hexafluoride to release volatile impurities trapped in said solid tungsten hexafluoride to the gas phase, f) heating the thawed tungsten hexafluoride to a temperature above the boiling point of tungsten hexafluoride under pressure in a closed container whereby volatile impurities dissolved in the thawed tungsten hexafluoride are removed and collected above the thawed tungsten hexafluoride and heating the thawed tungsten hexafluoride, g) venting the volatile impurities collected above the thawed tungsten hexafluoride into an evacuated space. 

 

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Deposition of tungsten films

A method of forming a composite tungsten film on a substrate is described. The composite tungsten film comprises sequentially deposited tungsten nucleation layers and tungsten bulk layers. Each of the tungsten nucleation layers and the tungsten bulk layers have a thickness less than about 300 Å. The tungsten nucleation layers and the tungsten bulk layers are formed one over the other until a desired thickness for the composite tungsten film is achieved. The resulting composite tungsten film exhibits good film morphology. The tungsten nucleation layers may be formed using a cyclical deposition process by alternately adsorbing a tungsten-containing precursor and a reducing gas on the substrate. The tungsten bulk layers may be formed using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process by thermally decomposing a tungsten-containing precursor.

 

The tungsten nucleation layers may be formed using a cyclical deposition process by alternately adsorbing a tungsten-containing precursor and a reducing gas on the substrate. The tungsten bulk layers may be formed using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process by thermally decomposing a tungsten-containing precursor.
 
The composite tungsten film is compatible with integrated circuit fabrication processes. In one integrated circuit fabrication process, the composite tungsten film may be used as word and/or bit line metallization to read and write data to memory cell devices. For a word and/or bit line fabrication process, a preferred process sequence includes providing a substrate having a word and/or bit line pattern defined in a dielectric material layer. The word and/or bit line pattern defined in the dielectric material includes a barrier layer thereon. Thereafter, a composite tungsten film comprising sequentially deposited tungsten nucleation layers and tungsten bulk layers, each having a thickness less than about 300 Å, are formed one over the other on the barrier layer until a desired thickness for the composite tungsten film is achieved.
 
 
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Reclamation of tungsten values from tungsten-thoria

 

This invention relates to the field of reclaiming tungsten values from tungsten alloys. In particular, this invention relates to reclaiming tungsten values from tungsten alloys containing thoria.
 
Tungsten-thoria is a tungsten alloy containing fine particulates of thorium oxide (thoria) dispersed throughout the tungsten matrix. Some of the applications for tungsten-thoria include the making of filament wire for the lighting industry and rods for the welding industry. Scrap tungsten-thoria which is produced in the manufacturing of these products may not be easily disposed of because of the radioactive properties of the thoria. Since the thoria typically comprises about 0.5 to 2 weight percent of the tungsten-thoria, it would be desirable to separate the thoria from the tungsten-thoria so that the total mass of radioactive material is substantially reduced and can be disposed of more easily.
 
One generally used method for reclaiming tungsten from tungsten scrap involves an oxidizing fusion process whereby the tungsten metal is converted into a soluble tungstate such as sodium tungstate. Tungsten scrap is combined with strong oxidizers such as nitrates, peroxides, or chlorates, and heated to initiate a highly exothermic reaction whereby the soluble tungstate is formed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,043 describes a fusion process using a combination of sodium nitrate and sodium hydroxide to covert tungsten to sodium tungstate. However, because of the violent and potentially explosive nature of the exothermic reactions caused by these oxidizers, these methods are unsuitable for use with tungsten-thoria because of the increased potential for the release of radioactive thoria particles. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method for efficiently recovering tungsten values from tungsten-thoria which minimizes the risk of releasing hazardous quantities of thoria particles into the atmosphere.
 
 
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Integrated tungsten/tungsten silicide plug process

A method of filling an opening in an insulating layer of an integrated circuit. First a tungsten-silicide layer is deposited over the opening. Next a tungsten layer is deposited onto the tungsten-silicide layer such that the opening is substantially filed with tungsten. The tungsten and tungsten-silicide layer are then chemically-mechanically polished back until the insulating layer is substantially revealed.

 

It is to be noted that an advantage of the present invention is that the formation of tungsten layer 308 and tungsten-silicide adhesion layer 306 can be done "in-situ". That is, the tungsten layer 308 can be deposited in the same chamber as the tungsten-silicide adhesion layer without the need to break vacuum. Tungsten layer 308 and tungsten-silicide layer 306 may also be formed, if desired, in a tungsten cluster tool having a WSix deposition chamber and a tungsten deposition chamber.
 
It is to be appreciated that the use of tungsten-silicide adhesion layer eliminates the need for a tungsten nucleation layer. That is, if a TiN adhesion layer were utilized instead of a WSix adhesion layer, the formation of tungsten layer 308 would require the formation of a nucleation layer first. (It is to be appreciated that silane (SiH4) used to form the WSix adhesion layer 306 is already supplied to the deposition system because it was required to form the nucleation layer for the tungsten layer.) Thus, in the process of the present invention a tungsten-silicide deposition step is added while a tungsten nucleation step is eliminated.
 
 
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Tungsten Material

 

This invention relates to tungsten materials having improved ductility, a method of preparing the same and structural parts made of these materials. 
 
The tungsten materials of this invention can be used for such applications as filaments for shock-or vibration-proof electric bulbs, cathode heater elements for electronic discharge tubes, grid electrodes for electronic tubes and filaments for common electric tubes and bulbs, which are required to have high resistance to high temperature deformation, shock-or vibration-proof strength and good shaping properties. 
 
In connection with researches on tungsten materials for such applications, there have been developed a number of tungsten materials but none of them are fully satisfactory. The tungsten materials heretofore known include, for example, the type consisting of pure tungsten blended with aluminum oxide (Al2 O3), or the type blended with thorium dioxide (ThO2) or zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) in order to improve the thermal electron emissive properties for use as cathode electrodes of signal transmission tubes and the like, the type similarly consisting of pure tungsten alloyed with rhenium (Re) or molybdenum (Mo), or mixed with zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) and an element or elements of Group VIII such as iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), etc., and the type consisting of pure or thoriated tungsten blended with an element or elements of Group VIII such as iron (Fe), nickel (Ni) and the like. 
 
These prior art tungsten materials, contain common doping agents for the purpose of improving the thermal electron emissive properties or the sagging properties by adjusting the particle size of recrystallized grains of tungsten. 
 
 
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Tungsten catalysts

The present invention relates to a new tungsten-based catalyst on a zirconia and/or titanium dioxide support. At the present time, there is no tungsten/zirconia catalyst which has a high content of tungsten and no additive and which is active after calcination at a temperature less than or in the order of 700° C., or even 600° C.

Various authors indeed propose that the strong acid sites correspond to the formation of micro fields of tungsten trioxide (WO3). This hypothesis allows several experimental observations to be reconciled: the increase in activity with the percentage of tungsten (20% above the most active), the need to heat the solid to a temperature where sintering begins to become evident, as well as the observation in the Raman spectrum of lines which correspond to the clusters of WO3.  In some cases, the isolated atoms of tungsten are in a deformed octahedral environment and that there is no tetrahedral tungsten in the case of a tungsten/zirconia solid. 

It can be determined from this that current tungsten/zirconia catalysts substantially comprise octahedral tungsten, probably owing to the process of preparation thereof which is based on the use of metatungstates which decompose into WO42− ions only at a very basic pH at which the zirconia does not fix anions. 

 

The object of the invention is therefore to provide new tungsten catalysts on a zirconia and/or titanium dioxide support which do not have the disadvantages mentioned above, in particular when they are used in the catalytic reactions envisaged.
 
More precisely, one object of the present invention consists in providing tungsten/zirconia and/or titanium dioxide catalysts with a high level of acidity, in particular, greater than the tungsten/zirconia catalysts known at present.
 
 
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Tungsten alloy recovery

 

 

The present invention relates to improvements in a process for the recovery of tungsten and more particularly in improvements in a process employing acidic hydrogen peroxide to recover tungsten from scrap tungsten alloys.
 
Tungsten is a valuable and useful metal in for example electric light filaments and in drill bits, but high grade ores containing it are comparatively scarce so that there is continuing interest in its recovery from scrap materials. One source of scrap comprises tungsten alloys such as tungsten carbide pieces, each of which on average weigh several grams and are typically several mm such as at least 5 mm in size, many are 1 or 2 cm in size and some are even up to 10 cm in size. The tungsten carbide is often cemented with other metals such as cobalt, and can contain minor fractions of other metals such as titanium and tantalum typically often present as the respective carbides. The pieces can also be coated with a thin layer of, for example aluminium nitride or niobium or titanium or tantalum compounds. Both pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods have been suggested for recovering tungsten from scrap pieces, but the former methods currently suffer from the increased cost of energy in recent years, and the aforementioned coatings can interfere with tungsten recovery disproportionately. Other tungsten alloys that can be treated according to the present invention in piece form can contain significant proportions of copper, nickel and cobalt and minor amounts of group IVB and VB metals including titanium, tantalum, niobium and zirconium. A characteristic of tungsten alloy scrap pieces is that virtually none of the metal can be leached out using a mineral acid solution free from added oxidant.
 
Disintegration of drill-type tungsten/cobalt alloy scrap using a hydrochloric acid solution of hydrogen peroxide has already been suggested by Toyo Soda in Japanese patent application publication No. 1977-13408 which resulted in the leaching of the cobalt into solution and the disintegration of the resultant mass into a tungsten-containing powder. However, the problem still remains of recovering tungsten from the powder so that this disclosure represents only a partial solution to the problem of tungsten recovery.
 
In one other patent, Shwayder in U.S. Pat. No. 3,438,730, has advocated the use of phosphoric acid solution to disintegrate carbide masses, and once again he is producing a powder of tungsten carbide rather than extracting the tungsten into solution. In one comparison, he uses a mixture of hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide, with at best 13.5% wt recovery. Even if that statement implied recovery into solution, which from the context is doubtful, it does not form the basis for a viable process for extracting tungsten from its scrap.
 
 
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Tungsten metallization

This invention relates to metallization used in semiconductor devices.alternatives to aluminum have been sought for at least portions of the metallization. One commonly contemplated alternative metal is low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) tungsten. LPCVD tungsten is a desirable alternative because it has a conformal step coverage. LPCVD tungsten also offers advantages for use as interconnects. Besides having conformal step coverage, it has high electromigration resistance, resistance to hillock formation and high temperature stability. Although many methods of depositing LPCVD tungsten have been proposed, they are all included within two generic categories which are conveniently termed selective and blanket.

Selective deposition typically relies upon the reaction of a gas, such as tungsten hexafluoride, with substrates, such as silicon, to leave tungsten on the silicon surface. Selective deposition is also possible on metals and silicides.
 
With blanket deposition, tungsten is deposited over the entire surface and then etched back so that tungsten ideally remains only in the vias or as, for example, interconnects. While this process is conceptually simple, tungsten does not adhere well to silicon dioxide and practical problems arise. For example, after the deposition has been completed, the tungsten film may simply peel off the silicon dioxide which is also an obviously undesirable result.
 
The use of a glue layer has been proposed to overcome the adhesion problem just discussed. A glue layer is a layer of material deposited prior to the tungsten and which has good adhesion both to the underlying dielectric layer and to the tungsten. Several substances have been proposed for glue layers. For example, the use of both elemental metals, such as Ti, and metallic silicides, such as WSi2, has been proposed. See, for example, Comparison of Two Contact Plug Techniques for Use with Planarized Oxide and A Contact Filling Process with CVD-Tungsten for Multilevel Metallization Systems, Proceedings of the V-MIC Conference, pp. 403-410, and pp. 443-449, June 9-10, 1986, respectively. A common feature of the approaches adopted by these references in the use of relatively thick glue layers. Thicknesses of approximately 100 nm or more were used.
 
 
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Airbus to Trial Tungsten Carbide Coatings

Hardide Coatings Limited, which has developed a revolutionary tungsten carbide-based coating for chrome replacement programmes, has entered into a three year coatings approval test programme with Airbus and has confidence tests being performed at seven further key aerospace industry manufacturers.

The precision coating, which made its Farnborough debut in 2006, provides excellent wear resistance against abrasion, erosion and corrosion on components made from ferrous and nickel-based alloys. It coats internal surfaces and offers significant technical and environmental advantages over hard chrome and HVOF. Independent ASTM G65 testing has shown that Hardide wears out 40 times slower than abrasion resistant AR-500, 12 times slower than hard chrome and four times slower than thermal spray tungsten carbide.

The current primary market for the coating is the oil and gas exploration and production industry where Hardide-coated components are in widespread use in extreme downhole and drilling applications around the world. The coating is also in service in the valve, power, chemical and food manufacturing industries.

 

 

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