Micro-LED displays offer potential advantages such as high brightness and low energy consumption; however mass adoption requires that manufacturing yield and cost targets are met. In this presentation we explore key manufacturing requirements and present solutions for MOVCD epitaxy and mass transfer to enableMicro-LED display adoption for consumer applications.

Measurements of charged-particle concentrations and the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) have been made in Ar and SF6 glow discharges using a tuned Langmuir probe technique. A simple passive circuit connected to the probe when properly tuned increases the impedance between the probe and ground, thereby forcing the probe to follow the instantaneous plasma potential. In this manner, rf-induced distortion of the probe characteristic is mitigated. At 13.56 MHz the electron collection characteristic of a detuned probe is distorted by rf interference; the ion collection characteristic is unaffected. The EEDF is highly non-Maxwellian in argon discharges, but quite Maxwellian in SF6 discharges. The mean electron energy increases with decreasing pressure and increasing power in argon discharges, but is independent of pressure and power in SF6 discharges. The measured distribution functions and charged particle concentrations are in good agreement with calculations.

A 150-200°C atomic layer deposition (ALD) process has been developed for advanced gap and tunnel junction applications for thin films heads. The primary advantage of the ALD process is the near 100% step coverage with properties that are uniform along the sidewall. This process provides smooth false(Rnormala≃2Åfalse), pure (impurities <2 atom %), AlOx films with excellent breakdown strength (9-10 MV/cm). The process uses trimethylaluminum (TMA) as the aluminum source and water as the oxidant. The optimal precursor/oxidant delivery methods for high breakdown strengths were found to be vapor draw for the TMA and a bubbler for the water. For both reagents, a sweep gas is used to reduce the transit time to the wafer. The ALD AlOx films are continuous and exhibit excellent insulating characteristics even down to 5-10 Å making them a potential candidate for tunnel barriers for magnetic tunnel junctions. By plasma annealing the films in situ every 25-50 Å, the as-deposited tensile stress becomes slightly compressive and the breakdown field exceeds 10 MV/cm. ALD provides a relatively low deposition rate of 0.8 Å/cycle. A small chamber volume that allows the cycle time of 5 s is the key to meeting production throughput requirements of 4-6 w h−1 for a 100 Å film. © 2001 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) TiN is an attractive replacement for PVD TiN as a barrier and glue layer for subhalf-micron contacts and vias. CVD TiN films have been deposited in a commercial reactor via the thermal decomposition of tetrakis-dimethyl-amino-titanium (TDMAT) precursor in an N2 ambient. The deposition can be characterized by a simple Arrhenius rate expression with a half-order dependence on TDMAT concentration and an activation energy of 0.53 eV. Designed experiments show that the deposition transitions from being kinetically limited at high TDMAT flow rates and low temperatures to transport limited at the other extreme. In the kinetically limited regime, the deposition rate increases with increasing TDMAT mole fraction and increasing temperature. Step coverage simulations have been performed by coupling SPEEDIE (a profile evolution program) with the Arrhenius rate expression. Experimental and simulated step coverages show good agreement over a wide range of process conditions. Step coverage improves with increasing deposition rate and decreasing temperature. Adequate deposition rates (≳400 Å/min) with good deposition uniformity and high step coverage (50%–85%) can be achieved. Film stress and roughness are mostly invariant with process conditions. These films are close to stoichiometric (i.e., 1:1 Ti:N ratio), but contain up to 30% carbon. Exposure of these films to air causes rapid oxidation with a steady state concentration of 15%–20% oxygen after 24 h of air exposure. The high carbon concentration results in high film resistivity (5000 μΩ cm), which doubles after 24 h of air exposure due to oxidation of the film. Film resistivity decreases and film stability improves with increasing N2 flow rate. Electrical characterization of two process variants have been performed. The first provides a film with 85% step coverage with a resistivity of 5600 μΩ cm, while the second process achieves a lower resistivity of 3700 μΩ cm and a lower step coverage of 50%. Electrical performance of both films is similar. Contact induced diode leakage is lower for CVD TiN compared to PVD TiN. Contact resistance for 100–200 Å CVD TiN is comparable or lower than 500 Å PVD TiN. A 100 Å CVD TiN barrier is adequate; 300 Å CVD TiN is too thick because of high film resistivity. An Al–Cu/100–300 Å CVD TiN/Si stack shows lower resistance increase after 450–500 °C, 30 min N2 anneal compared to a Al–Cu/200 Å PVD TiN/Si stack indicating that CVD TiN is a superior barrier and is more inert than PVD TiN.

The use of copper interconnects enables higher speed, enhanced electromigration lifetime reliability, reduced power consumption, and ultimately reduced manufacturing cost for silicon integrated circuits. The formation of planarized inlaid copper interconnects requires sequential deposition of a continuous diffusion barrier layer followed by copper seed/fill deposition and chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP). In this article we present a vacuum-integrated cluster tool technology for deposition of a TaN barrier and copper seed/fill layers using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The MOCVD-based TaN layers deposited at substrate temperatures below 430 °C are highly conformal, have 800–1000 μΩ cm resistivity, have satisfactory adhesion to silicon dioxide, and provide superior diffusion barrier properties compared to Ta and TaN layers deposited by physical vapor deposition. The cluster MOCVD-Cu process is capable of depositing conformal and low-resistivity copper seed layers with satisfactory adhesion for subsequent copper filling by either electrochemical deposition or MOCVD. The cluster MOCVD technology has been used to fabricate inlaid copper metallization lines and plugs based on CMP damascene processing. The combination of MOCVD TaN and MOCVD copper is expected to provide an extendable multigenerational copper metallization solution for 0.18–0.10 μm technology nodes and beyond.