Patent ID: 7727912

Claim:
A method for processing a substrate, comprising: disposing the substrate in a process chamber of a light enhanced atomic layer deposition (LEALD) system configured to perform a LEALD process; and depositing a film containing a metal nitride or a metal carbide film, or a combination thereof on the substrate using the LEALD process, wherein the depositing comprises: (a) exposing the substrate to a first process material comprising a metal containing precursor without irradiating the substrate with electromagnetic radiation at any time during the exposing the substrate to the metal containing precursor, such that the metal containing precursor is adsorbed to a surface of the substrate, (b) exposing the substrate to a second process material comprising a reducing agent and irradiating the substrate with a first light radiation having either no or at least partial temporal overlap with the exposing of the substrate to the second process material such that the adsorbed metal containing precursor is reduced to a material of the film to be deposited on the substrate, and (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) until a desired film has been deposited.