Patent ID: 6200651
Filing Date: 2001-03-13
Classification: C23C,H01J

Abstract:
A chemical vapor deposition method of depositing a dielectric layer on a workpiece in an electron cyclotron resonance vacuum plasma processor having a plasma chamber and a reaction chamber, the method comprising forming a plasma by supplying microwave energy and gases from a plasma source to the plasma chamber while at least one reacting gas is supplied to the reaction chamber, chemically reacting at least one element of the at least one reacting gas with at least one element in at least one of the gases of the plasma as derived from the plasma source to form the deposited layer on the workpiece, and repetitively pulsing the microwave energy supplied to the plasma chamber to maximum and minimum power levels while the gases from the plasma source and the reacting gas are in the reaction chamber, the minimum power level periods being long enough to cause electrons in the plasma on the deposited dielectric layer to be cooled sufficiently to reduce the tendency for opposite polarity charges to be established across the deposited dielectric layer and reduce the tendency for destructive Fowler-Nordheim tunneling current to flow across the deposited dielectric layer.