The deposition of tungsten films using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques is an integral part of many semiconductor fabrication processes. Tungsten films may be used as low resistivity electrical connections in the form of horizontal interconnects, vias between adjacent metal layers, and contacts between a first metal layer and the devices on the silicon substrate. In a conventional tungsten deposition process, the wafer is heated to the process temperature in a vacuum chamber, and then a very thin portion of tungsten film, which serves as a seed or nucleation layer, is deposited. Thereafter, the remainder of the tungsten film (the bulk layer) is deposited on the nucleation layer. Conventionally, the tungsten bulk layer is formed by the reduction of tungsten hexafluoride (WF6) with hydrogen (H2) on the growing tungsten layer. The tungsten bulk layer is generally deposited more rapidly than the nucleation layer, but cannot be produced easily and reliably without first forming the nucleation layer.
Advancing technology requires that tungsten electrical connections be increasingly thin yet maintain very low resistivity. Hence, it is critical that tungsten deposition process provide tungsten films having very low resistivity. The uniformity of the film properties across wafers is also critical to improving yield as wafer size continues to increase.