US 12,272,551 B2
Selective metal removal with flowable polymer
Liqi Wu, San Jose, CA (US); Feng Q. Liu, San Jose, CA (US); Bhaskar Jyoti Bhuyan, San Jose, CA (US); James Hugh Connolly, Dublin (IE); Zhimin Qi, Fremont, CA (US); Jie Zhang, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Wei Dou, Santa Clara, CA (US); Aixi Zhang, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Mark Saly, Santa Clara, CA (US); Jiang Lu, Milpitas, CA (US); Rongjun Wang, Dublin, CA (US); David Thompson, San Jose, CA (US); and Xianmin Tang, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed by Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed on May 25, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/824,889.
Prior Publication US 2023/0386833 A1, Nov. 30, 2023
Int. Cl. H01L 21/027 (2006.01); C23C 14/16 (2006.01); H01L 21/3213 (2006.01); H01L 21/768 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 21/0271 (2013.01) [C23C 14/16 (2013.01); H01L 21/32139 (2013.01); H01L 21/76816 (2013.01); H01L 21/76831 (2013.01); H01L 21/76877 (2013.01)] 23 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of selective metal removal, the method comprising:
forming a flowable polymer film on a substrate surface with at least one feature formed therein, the at least one feature having an opening at a top surface with an opening width, at least one sidewall and a bottom, the at least one feature extending a feature depth from the top surface to the bottom, the flowable polymer film formed within the at least one feature and having a polymer depth less than or equal to the feature depth;
selectively removing at least a portion of a metal material from the top surface without substantially affecting any material beneath the polymer film; and
removing the polymer film by exposing the substrate surface to a H2 plasma treatment to expose a metal layer beneath the polymer film.