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

Claim 10:
11. A system configured to form ferroelectric hafnium oxide (HfO2) on a substrate in a processing chamber, the system comprising:
a gas delivery system configured to supply process gases to the processing chamber;
a radio frequency (RF) generating system configured to selectively generate plasma within the processing chamber; and
a controller configured to, by controlling the gas delivery system and the RF generating system,
deposit an HfO2 layer on the substrate,
deposit a capping layer on the HfO2 layer,
anneal the HfO2 layer and the capping layer to form ferroelectric hafnium HfO2,
selectively etch the capping layer to remove the capping layer without removing the HfO2 layer,
repair 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
deposit a top electrode on the HfO2 layer subsequent to repairing the HfO2 layer.