Patent ID: 8076250

Claim:
A method comprising: (a) placing a substrate in a PECVD chamber; (b) energizing first process gases into a first plasma; (c) depositing a layer of a first material on the substrate from the first plasma, the layer of the first material having a first stress in a first direction; (d) plasma purging the PECVD chamber and exposing a surface of the first material to be conditioned for deposition by the plasma purge; (e) gas purging the PECVD chamber to remove all gas contaminants; (f) energizing second process gases into a second plasma; (g) depositing a layer of a second material on the substrate from the second plasma, the layer of the second material having a second stress in a second direction that is opposite of the first direction; (h) plasma purging the PECVD chamber and exposing a surface of the second material to be conditioned for deposition by the plasma purge; (i) gas purging the PECVD chamber to remove gas contaminants; (j) maintaining a vacuum in the PECVD chamber throughout steps (b)-(i); and (k) repeating steps (b)-(j) until a predetermined number of layers of the first material and the second material have been deposited on the substrate and an upper surface of the substrate is planar.