Patent ID: 8669185

Claim:
A method of forming a Si-containing film on a patterned surface of a substrate, comprising: (i) depositing a Si-containing sub-layer on the patterned surface by pulsed plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PPECVD) or plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD), wherein a thickness of the sub-layer is T 1 at a top surface of the patterned surface, referred to as top thickness, and S 1 at a side wall of the patterned surface, referred to as side thickness, wherein S 1 /T 1 is less than one; (ii) etching the sub-layer by reducing T 1 more than S 1 to obtain a second top thickness T 2 and a second side thickness S 2 , wherein S 2 /T 2 is closer to one than is S 1 /T 1 , wherein the etching is conducted by pulsing: step (a) of exposing the sub-layer to an excited etching gas and step (b) of purging the excited etching gas therefrom while no excited etching gas is supplied, said excited etching gas being produced by a remote plasma unit and introduced in pulses into a reaction chamber where the substrate is placed, each pulse having a. duration of step (a) of 1 to 10 seconds and being separated by step (b) whose duration is equal to or longer than the duration of step (a); and (iii) repeating steps (i) and (ii) multiple times to increase the top thickness and the side thickness, thereby forming a Si-containing film composed of laminated multiple sub-layers on the patterned surface.