Patent ID: 7959985

Claim:
A method for processing a substrate, comprising: disposing said substrate in a process chamber of a plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) system configured to perform a PEALD process; depositing a TaC or TaCN film on said substrate using said PEALD process; after the depositing, moving the substrate including the deposited TaC or TaCN film to a separate chamber from the process chamber; modifying the deposited TaC or TaCN film by exposing the deposited film to atomic hydrogen generated by a non-plasma process in the separate chamber from the process chamber in order to remove carbon from at least a plasma exposed portion of the deposited TaC or TaCN film, and the separate chamber includes a treatment system having a heated filament positioned above a substrate holder on which the substrate is positioned, and the heated filament creates the atomic hydrogen within the separate chamber; and forming a metal film on the modified TaC or TaCN film, wherein the modified TaC or TaCN film provides stronger adhesion to the metal film than the deposited TaC or TaCN film.