Nano-scale gap filling and mechanism of deposit–etch–deposit process for phase-change material

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/21/11/115203

Abstract Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ gap filling is one of the key processes for phase-change random access memory manufacture. Physical vapor deposition is the mainstream method of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ film deposition due to its advantages of film quality, purity, and accurate composition control. However, conventional physical vapor deposition process cannot meet the gap-filling requirement with device critical dimension scaling down to 90 nm or below. In this study, we find that the deposit-etch-deposit process shows better gap-filling capability and scalability than single-step deposition process, especially at the nano-scale critical dimension. The gap-filling mechanism of the deposit-etch-deposit process was briefly discussed. We also find that re-deposition of phase-change material from via sidewall to via bottom by argon ion bombardment during etch step was a key ingredient for the final good gap filling. We achieve void-free gap filling of phase-change material on the 45-nm via by two-cycle deposit-etch-deposit process. We gain a rather comprehensive insight into the mechanism of deposit-etch-deposit process and propose a potential gap-filling solution for over 45-nm technology nodes for phase-change random access memory.

Keywords: deposit-etch-deposit process single step deposit gap filling re-deposition

Received: 29 February 2012
Revised: 11 June 2012
Accepted manuscript online:

PACS:	52.50.Qt	(Plasma heating by radio-frequency fields; ICR, ICP, helicons)
	81.65.Cf	(Surface cleaning, etching, patterning)
	68.60.-p	(Physical properties of thin films, nonelectronic)
	81.16.-c	(Methods of micro- and nanofabrication and processing)

Fund: Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2010CB934300, 2011CBA00607, and 2011CB932800), the National Integrate Circuit Research Program of China (Grant No. 2009ZX02023-003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 60906004, 60906003, 61006087, and 61076121), and the Science and Technology Council of Shanghai, China (Grant No. 1052nm07000).

Corresponding Authors: Liu Bo
E-mail: liubo@mail.sim.ac.cn

Cite this article:

Ren Wan-Chun (任万春), Liu Bo (刘波), Song Zhi-Tang (宋志棠), Xiang Yang-Hui (向阳辉), Wang Zong-Tao (王宗涛), Zhang Bei-Chao (张北超), Feng Song-Lin (封松林 ) Nano-scale gap filling and mechanism of deposit–etch–deposit process for phase-change material 2012 Chin. Phys. B 21 115203

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Nano-scale gap filling and mechanism of deposit–etch–deposit process for phase-change material

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