Patent ID: 11923189
Assignee: LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  C | IPC C  H

Claim 0:
1. A method of forming ferroelectric hafnium oxide (HfO2) in a substrate processing system, the method comprising:
depositing an HfO2 layer on a substrate;
depositing a capping layer on the HfO2 layer;
annealing the HfO2 layer and the capping layer to form ferroelectric hafnium HfO2;
selectively etching the capping layer to remove the capping layer without removing the HfO2 layer;
repairing the HfO2 layer subsequent to selectively etching the capping layer, by performing one or more cycles of additional HfO2 deposition to deposit a thin HfO2 film on the HfO2 layer to fill cracks in the HfO2 layer; and
depositing a top electrode on the HfO2 layer subsequent to repairing the HfO2 layer.