text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Mar 13, 2012
|Filing date
|May 16, 2008
|Priority date
|May 16, 2008
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Bart van Schravendijk, Richard S. Hill, Wilbert van den Hoek, Harald Te Nijenhuis
|Original Assignee
|Novellus Systems, Inc.
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (135), Non-Patent Citations (58), Referenced by (19), Classifications (12), Legal Events (2)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This invention relates to electronic device fabrication processes and associated apparatus. More specifically, the invention relates to chemical vapor deposition and dry etch processes for forming dielectric layers, particularly in substrates having high density and isolated feature regions.
It is often necessary in semiconductor processing to fill high aspect ratio gaps with insulating material. This is the case for shallow trench isolation (STI), inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layers, inter-layer dielectric (ILD) layers, pre-metal dielectric (PMD) layers, passivation layers, etc. As device geometries shrink and thermal budgets are reduced, void-free filling of narrow width (e.g. less than 0.13 μm gap width), high aspect ratio (AR) features (e.g., AR>6:1) becomes increasingly difficult due to limitations of existing deposition processes.
High density plasma (HDP) chemical vapor deposition (CVD), a directional (bottom-up) CVD process, is the method currently used for high aspect ratio gapfill. HDP CVD deposits more material at the bottom of a high aspect ratio structure than on its sidewalls. It accomplishes this by directing dielectric precursor species downward, to the bottom of the gap while simultaneously removing deposited material from the trench top through sputtering by the use of biased RF power applied to the substrate. Thus, HDP CVD is not an entirely diffusion-based or isotropic process.
However, HDP CVD gapfill results in the formation of cusps, also known as overhangs, at the entry region of the gap to be filled. These formations result from sputtering and redeposition processes. The directional aspect of the deposition process produces some high momentum charged species that sputter away material from within the gap. The sputtered material tends to redeposit on the sidewalls of high AR structures. As a result, the entry region of a high aspect ratio structure may close before bottom-up fill has been completed, leaving voids or weak spots within the structure. This phenomenon, known as "pinch-off," is exacerbated in narrow features. The overhangs cannot be totally eliminated because non-directional reactions of neutral species and sputtering and redeposition reactions are inherent to the physics and chemistry of the HDP CVD processes.
Furthermore, as aspect ratios increase, the shape of the gap itself can contribute to the problem. High aspect ratio gaps often exhibit reentrant features, which make gap filling even more difficult. The most problematic reentrant feature is a narrowing at the top of the gap, wherein the side-walls slope inward near the top of the gap. For a given aspect ratio feature, this increases the ratio of gap volume to be filled to gap entry area seen by the precursor species during deposition. Hence voids or weak spots become even more likely.
In addition to undesirable formations inside the feature, a peak of dielectric material often called a "top hat" forms on the top surface of the substrate on either side of the features. Top hats are deposits of material in the shape of a peak that slopes downwards towards the entry to the gap. If not removed, the top hats are an additional source of redeposition species that increase the rate of overhang growth, thereby effectively making the aspect ratio of the gap even higher.
In some gap fill applications, particularly in the case of small features with high aspect ratios, a multi-step deposition/etch back process has been used in order to remove the overhangs, reduce the top hats, and facilitate void-free gap fill. For example, a deposition and etch process utilizing HDP CVD deposition and an aqueous HF dip for the etch back step has been used. However, this requires that the wafers be cycled between the plasma deposition system and the wet etch back system for a number of cycles. This results in a long cycle time and correspondingly large capital investment to run the multiple steps for gap fill.
In-situ multi-step plasma deposition/etch processes have also been used to keep the entry to the gap from closing before it is filled. Such in-situ HDP CVD deposition and etch back processes are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,163,896, 6,030,881, 6,395,150, and 6,867,086, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Some of these in-situ plasma etch back processes use high-energy ions to create a significantly anisotropic sputter etch. Other in-situ plasma etch back processes use chemically-reactive etch gases (e.g., nitrogen trifluoride, NF3) to create a significantly isotropic plasma etch.
In many instances, these sputter etch and reactive plasma etch processes damage the underlying structure of the features on the substrate. It should be noted that once the gap is re-opened by the etch process, the oxide fill material on the sidewalls and at the bottom of the trench is also exposed to the etch reaction. For instance, if a significantly isotropic plasma etch step is used, the upper sidewalls of the structure may be eroded and the etch step may remove nearly as much material as was deposited in the previous etch step. If the underlying structure is eroded via one of these chemical or physical pathways, it can result in compromised device performance (such as higher leakage current). Thus it is desirable to reduce erosion of the underlying structure during the gap fill operations.
Device designs typically have regions of differing feature density on the substrate. There may be one or more regions with high density of features and one or more regions with isolated features. These regions of differing feature density respond to deposition and etch processes differently, often resulting in varying degrees of gap fill. Regions having a high density of features are more susceptible to pinch-off because of their relatively higher aspect ratios. Thus the dense features generally define the maximum amount of deposition before requiring an etch step. They may similarly also define the amount of etch necessary to remove the overhangs at the entry of the gap and reopen the gap. The amount of etch required to remove cusp material from regions having high density of features may however result in over-etch of regions having isolated features. This can result in severe damage to the underlying structure in isolated features. Reduced etching would protect the isolated features but would increase the number of deposition/etch operations necessary to completely fill a gap or in more severe cases void formation could result. Thus, it is desirable to develop more advanced etch processes that can remove the overhang material without damaging the underlying features across regions with dense and isolated features.
While these in-situ multi-step deposition and etch back processes have improved high aspect ratio gap fill capabilities, dielectric deposition processes that can reliably fill high aspect ratio features of narrow width, particularly very small features (e.g., less than about 0.1 μm gap width) with aspect ratios of about 6:1 or more, without leaving voids, continue to be sought. It is even more difficult to uniformly fill high aspect ratio features on a substrate that contains regions of differing feature density. A method to reliably fill both dense and isolated features with fewer operations and without causing detrimental damage to the underlying structure is still needed.
The present invention pertains to an in-situ semiconductor process that can fill high aspect ratio (typically at least 6:1, for example 7:1 or higher), narrow width (typically sub 0.13 micron, for example 0.1 micron or less) gaps on a substrate that contains regions of differing feature density without damaging underlying structures. The fill should have little or no incidence of voids, seams or weak spots. A sequence of several deposition and etching process operations may be performed to completely fill a gap.
The process has fewer operations than prior processes, thereby increasing throughput. A protective layer is deposited to protect underlying features in regions of the substrate having isolated features so that unwanted material may be removed from regions of the substrate having high density of features. This protective layer may deposit thicker on the isolated feature than on a dense feature and may, for instance, be deposited using a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process or low sputter/deposition ratio HDP CVD process.
In one aspect, the present invention pertains to a semiconductor processing method for high-aspect ratio gapfill. A substrate having a region of high feature density and a region of lower feature density is provided. "High density" or "dense" features refer to features in the region of high feature density, and "low density" features and isolated features refer to features in the region of lower feature density. Features may be gaps or structures adjacent to the gaps. High density features may be closely packed (typically at or close to the minimum lithographic dimension) gaps with high aspect-ratios and adjacent structures, for example, as region 126 in
In some embodiments, the depositing of protective and dielectric layers and etching operations are repeated before the final dielectric layer, sometimes called a capping layer, is deposited. In other embodiments, only the depositing of dielectric layer and etching operations are repeated before the final dielectric layer is deposited. The protective layer may be deposited after an initial deposition of the dielectric layer, in some cases. In those cases, the depositing of dielectric and protective layers and etching operations may be repeated before the capping layer is deposited. Use of a protective layer preferably reduces the number of deposition/etch operations by at least 50% than if no protective layer is used under the same deposition conditions. The depositing and etching operations may occur in the same semiconductor processing tool and may even occur in the same chamber.
In certain embodiments, the protective layer may be a dielectric layer that deposits thicker in gaps in the low density region (isolated features) than in gaps in the high density region. The protective layer may be deposited using a PECVD process or a HDP CVD process having a lower sputter-deposition ratio, e.g., less than about 0.2, preferably less than about 0.15. In other words, the rate of etching during the HDP CVD process is 15% or less of the rate of deposition. The process conditions in the HDP CVD chamber may mimic that of the PECVD process. The pressure may be higher, bias and source power may be lower, and the substrate temperature may be lower than that of the conventional HDP CVD process. The protective layer may have a wet etch rate that is comparable to the wet etch rate of a thermally grown silicon oxide.
In other embodiments, the protective layer may be a dielectric layer that has high resistance to fluorine etching. The dielectric layer may comprise one or more layers of metallic oxide or nitride. The protective layer may be chosen to be compatible with operation of a semiconductor device to be created. The metallic oxide may include a zirconium oxide (ZrO2), or an aluminum oxide (Al2O3). A suitable nitride may be a boron nitride (BN). The zirconium oxide may be deposited using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process and the aluminum oxide may be deposited using a pulsed deposition layer (PDL) or an ALD process.
In certain embodiments, more than one type of protective layers may be used. A first protective layer may be a dielectric layer that has high resistance to fluorine etching. A second protective layer may be a dielectric layer that deposits thicker in gaps in the low density region (isolated features) than in gaps in the high density region. The first protective layer may be a transition-metal oxide and be deposited under the gapfill dielectric.
In another aspect, the present invention pertains to a semiconductor processing method to protect structures underlying isolated features during etching. The method includes providing a substrate having a region of high feature density and a region of lower feature density; depositing a protective layer over the features; depositing a dielectric layer to partially fill the high-aspect ratio features; etching the substrate to remove deposition from the surface and sidewalls to reduce the aspect-ratio of the features in the high feature density region; and, depositing a final dielectric layer to completely fill the feature. The dielectric deposition may form overhangs that partially block the opening before the overhang is removed by the etch. The etch operation also removes some or all of the protective layer, but removes little or no bottom fill, and does not excessively remove the underlying structures.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention are described below with reference to the drawings.
In the following detailed description of the present invention, a number of specific embodiments are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. While the invention will be described in conjunction with these specific embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to such specific embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. In some descriptions herein, well-known processes, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention. For example, the present invention applies to a substrate having gaps in need of being filled by dielectric material. The invention is not, however, limited to such applications. It may be employed in a myriad of other fabrication processes such as for fabricating flat panel displays.
In this application, the terms "wafer" and "substrate"; terms "substrate support" and "pedestal"; and terms "gap" and "trench" are used interchangeably. The following detailed description assumes the invention is implemented on a wafer. However, the invention is not so limited. The work piece may be of various shapes, sizes, and materials. In addition to semiconductor wafers, other work pieces that may take advantage of this invention include various articles such as display backplanes, printed circuit boards and the like.
This invention finds particular value in integrated circuit fabrication. The gap filling processes are performed on partially fabricated integrated circuits employing semiconductor substrates. In specific examples, the gap filling processes of this invention are employed to form shallow trench isolation (STI), intermetal dielectric (IMD) layers, interlayer dielectric (ILD) layers, pre-metal dielectric (PMD) layers, passivation layers, etc.
Most device designs have regions of variable feature density on the substrate. There may be one or more regions with high feature density and one or more regions with isolated features, or low feature density. These devices may be memory or logic or both. Dense regions include structures that are closely packed together, with high aspect-ratio trenches. Isolated regions include structures that are not so closely packed together, with lower aspect-ratio trenches.
The present invention pertains to a multi-step process comprising high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP CVD) of a dielectric layer, deposition of a protective layer, and subsequent etch back. The process can fill high aspect ratio (typically at least 6:1, for example 7:1 or higher), narrow width (typically sub 0.13 micron, for example 0.1 micron or less) gaps in dense regions with significantly reduced incidence of voids or weak spots and at the same time fill lower aspect-ratio (typically less than 1:1), wide gaps in isolated regions without damaging, or excess removal of, the underlying structures.
This HDP CVD part of the process may involve the use of any suitable HDP CVD chemistry, including those with hydrogen and dopant precursors in the reactive mixture. The dielectrics employed to fill those gaps will often be a silicon oxide such as silicon dioxide, silicon oxynitride, silicon oxyfluoride, and doped variants of these. Therefore, the invention includes at least phosphorus-doped, boron-doped, fluorine-doped, carbon-doped silicon dioxide, silicon oxynitride, and silicon oxyfluoride. The invention also includes combinations of these dopants listed in a silicon oxide. Thus, the dielectric may also be a boron- and phosphorus-silicon oxide glass (BPSG). Generally, a high density plasma is any plasma having a high concentration of free electrons and, hence, a high concentration of ions. A typical electron density in a high density plasma is in the range of 1�1011 electron per cubic centimeter or higher depending on gases in the chamber and power level used. Typically, though not necessarily, high density plasma reactors operate at relatively low pressures, in the range of 100 mTorr or lower.
The protective layer deposition part of the process involves depositing a layer of material to protect materials at the corners of trenches in isolated regions. The protective layer may be deposited before or after each HDP CVD deposition, or only once at the beginning of the entire gapfill process. In certain embodiments, the protective layer deposits thicker in isolated regions than dense regions or is especially resistant to subsequent etch. The protective layer may be a similar material as deposited in the HDP CVD operation deposited using a PECVD process or low sputter/deposition ratio HDP CVD process. This protective layer may be a metallic oxide layer that is resistant to fluorine etching, such as zirconium oxide (ZrO2) or aluminum oxide (Al2O3). The protective layer also preferably have a wet etch rate that is comparable to the wet etch rate of a thermally grown silicon oxide. Preferably, the wet etch rate may differ by less than 25%, preferably less than 15%.
The etch back part of the process involves a significantly isotropic reactive plasma etch or chemical dry etch. The reactive plasma etch may comprise a high density plasma or a downstream plasma, powered by, for example, microwave or radio frequency (RF) energy. Suitable plasma reactors with in-situ and/or downstream plasma sources are available to accomplish the etch process.
This multi-step process sequence of dielectric deposition, protective layer deposition and etch back may be repeated more than one time to achieve a fully-filled feature. All of the methods of the present invention may be performed in a single semiconductor processing tool consisting of single or multiple modules. A single module may consist of a single station or multiple stations dedicated to different operations of the process. Integrating all the steps in the same tool increases throughput and reduces handling of wafers resulting in more efficient and higher quality gap fill operations. The methods of the present invention may also be performed in more than one semiconductor processing tool.
Multi-Step Deposition and Etch Back Process
In certain embodiments, in an initial step in a multi-step gap fill process, the gaps 110/116 are partially filled with a dielectric 120 deposited by a high density plasma (HDP) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, as shown in
Any suitable dielectric deposition chemistry may be used. The deposition chemistry will have a particular composition depending on flow rates of the constituent gases, process pressures, and volume of the reactor. In general, an HDP CVD process gas will include a precursor for the deposition layer. If the dielectric is a silicon-containing dielectric, then the process gas will include a silicon-containing compound such as silane, disilane, or other silicon precursor described below. The process gas will also generally include a carrier gas. The carrier gas may be an inert gas, such as helium, argon, and/or other noble gases. Or the carrier gas may be or include elemental or molecular hydrogen or deuterium. Oxygen used to react with the silicon-containing precursor or other dielectric precursor may be provided by the precursor itself or from another process gas such as elemental oxygen (O2), nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O), steam (H2O), ozone (O3) and/or peroxides like hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).
The process gas will include a precursor for the dielectric layer. If the dielectric is a silicon-containing dielectric, then the process gas will include a silicon-bearing compound such as SiH4, SiF4, Si2H6, TEOS (tetraethyl orthosilicate), TES(Tri-ethoxy Silane), TMCTS (tetramethyl-cyclotetrasiloxane), OMCTS (octamethyl-cyclotetrasiloxane), methyl-silane, dimethyl-silane, 3MS (trimethylsilane), 4MS (tetramethylsilane), TMDSO (tetramethyl-disiloxane), TMDDSO (tetramethyl-diethoxyl-disiloxane), DMDMS (dimethyl-dimethoxyl-silane) and mixtures thereof. During the deposition process the silicon-containing reactant is decomposed to result in a silicon-containing film and volatile by-products.
Typical deposition process parameters for depositing a typical dielectric layer is as follows:
SiH4 flow rate (sccm)
O2 flow rate (sccm)
H2 flow rate (sccm)
He flow rate (sccm)
Chamber Pressure (mTorr)
Wafer Temperature (� C.)
Other oxygen and silicon-containing compounds listed above can be substituted for those listed in this table. Depending upon the atom counts in the precursor gases, the flow rate ranges may be changed. While there are no precise rules for modifying flow rates as a function of molecular structure, as an approximation the flow rate of the silicon-containing precursor may be reduced by a factor corresponding to the number of silicon atoms in the molecule. So, for example, if the molecule contains two silicon atoms, one may expect to reduce the flow rate of the silicon-containing precursor by halving the flow rate.
Note also that the presence of hydrogen in the process gas may require that the ratio of oxygen-containing precursor to silicon-containing precursor be adjusted upward (in comparison to a hydrogen-free process), as hydrogen reacts with and removes the oxygen from the deposition reaction. Regardless of this process variation, it has been found that the presence of hydrogen in the process gas does not detrimentally affect the physical and material properties of the deposited dielectric film.
In preferred embodiments, the flow rate of hydrogen employed is at least about 100 sccm, and more preferably at least about 400 sccm, and most preferably at least about 500 sccm, based on a 200 millimeter substrate. Larger substrates require higher flow rates. The flow rate may vary somewhat when special gas injector configurations are employed.
The invention is also practiced with process gases containing noble gas (e.g., argon, neon, helium, krypton or xenon), with helium being preferred in most cases, either as the sole carrier gas, or in a mixture with hydrogen or other gases. The use of noble gases can be practiced under the conditions of the above-described embodiments, and their flow rate can be varied to modify the properties of the deposited dielectric film and to modulate the effect of other process gas components (e.g., hydrogen) on the deposition process.
For doped dielectrics (particularly silicon dioxide based dielectrics), the process gas may include a dopant precursor such as a boron-containing gas, a phosphorus-containing gas, a fluorine-containing gas, a carbon-containing gas, or a mixture thereof. In a specific embodiment, the gas includes one or more boron-containing reactants and one or more phosphorus-containing reactants and the dielectric film includes a boron- and phosphorous-doped silicon oxide glass (BPSG). Examples of suitable boron and phosphorus precursor gases include the following: diborane (B2H6) and phosphine (PH3).
If the dielectric is to contain an oxyfluoride (e.g., silicon oxyfluoride), then the process gas preferably includes a fluorine-containing reactant such as silicon tetrafluoride (SiF4) or nitrogen trifluoride (NF3). If the dielectric is to contain an oxynitride (e.g., silicon oxynitride), then the process gas preferably includes a nitrogen-containing reactant such as nitrogen (N2), ammonia (NH3), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O), and mixtures thereof.
The method applies as well to the deposition (biased or unbiased) of carbon-doped silicon oxide from process gas mixtures including organosilanes (e.g., TEOS (tetraethyl orthosilicate), TES(Tri-ethoxy Silane) TMCTS (tetramethyl-cyclotetrasiloxane), OMCTS (octamethyl-cyclotetrasiloxane), methyl-silane, dimethyl-silane, 3MS (trimethylsilane), 4MS (tetramethylsilane), TMDSO (tetramethyl-disiloxane), TMDDSO (tetramethyl-diethoxyl-disiloxane), DMDMS (dimethyl-dimethoxyl-silane) and mixtures thereof.
During deposition, reactor pressure is held at a value necessary to sustain the optimum high-density plasma. Preferably the process vessel is maintained at a pressure of at most about 100 mTorr. In some cases, the process chamber pressure is maintained below 1 mTorr. For many applications, however, the pressure is maintained between about 1 and 100 mTorr, most preferably between about 1 and 30 mTorr.
The temperature of the wafer should be maintained sufficiently high to ensure that the dielectric deposition reaction proceeds efficiently. Hence, the temperature may be between about 30 and 1000� C. This temperature will vary depending upon the types of precursors employed in the reaction. Further, the temperature may be limited by process constraints, such as thermal budget limitations that preclude certain high temperatures, e.g., above 700-750� C. Such constraints become increasingly common with advanced technologies and corresponding smaller feature sizes. For such applications, the process temperature is preferably maintained between about 30 and 700� C. In particularly preferred embodiments, the substrate temperature is maintained between about 300 and 600� C., even more preferably between about 350 and 500� C.
As indicated, to control the substrate temperature, the substrate is supported on a substrate holder, or pedestal, that may have temperature control. The temperature control may be in the form of heater elements used to raise the temperature of the substrate and/or in the form of circulating fluid used to remove heat from or redistribute heat across the substrate. The reactor may also supply a heat transfer gas between a surface of the substrate and a surface of the substrate holder on which the substrate is supported during film deposition. The heat transfer gas may include helium or argon. The back-side helium pressure is set by the temperature and heat transfer requirements of the process (a typical range being between 0-25 Torr depending on the bias power applied and the amount of contact cooling also present.).
For some applications, it may be desirable to preheat the wafer to a pre-specified temperature quickly and then maintain the temperature during deposition by cooling the wafer. The speed of the preheat is constrained by thermal stresses causing damage to the wafer, the amount of power available and throughput requirements. The goal is to maintain the wafer temperature within a narrow range (close to isothermal operation) during the entire deposition process.
The low frequency power applied to the upper electrode(s) (the induction coils for generating the plasma) typically varies from 1 kW to 20 kW, and the high frequency power (for biasing the substrate holder and wafer) typically reaches at least about 0.2 W/cm2 (preferably varying from about 0.2 kW to 20 kW) depending on the substrate size (e.g., 200 or 300 mm diameter) and the requirements of the specific process being used.
The power source applied to the induction coils and the substrate electrode is typically a radio frequency (RF) bias. Applying radio frequency bias to the substrate involves supporting the substrate on a substrate holder having an electrode supplying a radio frequency bias to the substrate. For many embodiments, the radio frequency bias applied to the substrate is at the frequency range of between about 50 kHz and 100 MHz; the RF bias could be operated either in normal or pulse mode, with normal mode being used in the preferred embodiment. The frequency range applied to the induction coils is typically between about 50 kHz and 100 MHz, more typically about 200 kHz and 27 MHz.
In one embodiment, the dielectric deposition process chemistry is as follows:
Flow Rate (sccm)
The low frequency induction coils are powered at 3000 W and the high frequency substrate electrode is powered at 2600 W.
Referring to
Typical PECVD process parameters are as follows:
0.7-17 ml/min
5-18 slm
HF Power at 13.56 MHz
LF Power at 400 kHz
1.6-3 Torr
The PECVD deposited protective layer may be a dielectric layer that has the same composition as the HDP CVD dielectric layer, particularly if some of the protective layer will be integrated into the trench fill. If the same material is used, the protective layer 122 may be deposited before or after the HDP CVD dielectric 120 during the iterative process. In some embodiments, a different dielectric layer may be used. The protective layer 122 may be selected based on its etch selectivity against subsequent etching processes, e.g., against fluorine etching and wet etching. Some or all of the protective layer 122 may be consumed in subsequent etching steps, reducing the importance of using same material as the HDP CVD dielectric layer.
In certain embodiments, an HDP CVD process having a lower sputter-deposition ratio (S/D), e.g., less than about 0.2, preferably less than about 0.1, may be used to deposit the protective layer 122. In other words, the rate of etching during the HDP CVD process is 15% or less of the rate of deposition. A low S/D HDP CVD process may be accomplished by reducing the flow of sputtering species gases and reducing the source power and/or the bias power so that the sputtering species ions impact the substrate surface with less energy.
Typical gas flow rate ranges and process parameters for low S/D protective layer deposition process of the present invention are listed below.
Flow Rate (sccm)
Source power
0.2-20 kW
Bias power
0.2-20 kW
The protective layer deposits thicker on the sidewalls of isolated features and thinner on the sidewalls of high density features due to the differing rates of redeposition. After the protective layer is deposited, the sidewall of the isolated feature may be thicker than the sidewall in the high density feature, as shown in
Next, the substrate is etched to remove unwanted top hat, overhang, and sidewall deposition in and around the high density feature. This thicker sidewall of isolated features allows a stronger etch to be used than if the protective layer was not deposited.
The etch step may comprise an isotropic, anisotropic, or a combination of both etch conditions using reactive chemistry. For example, the wafer is exposed to a downstream plasma or inductively-coupled plasma containing reactive chemistries. This reactive plasma etch step results in widening of the gap and reduction in top hat 118, thus reducing the aspect ratio of the partially filled gap, as illustrated in
In certain embodiments, the plasma etch process utilizes fluorine-based chemistry or other halogen-based chemistry. For example, an inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) configured reactor with up to 10 KW of delivered source power (e.g., about 2000 to 7000 W, or 3000 W), a biased and/or unbiased substrate holder, a process pressure of about 0.5-100 mTorr and a fluorine-based chemistry (e.g. NF3) may be used. While He/NF3-based chemistry is preferred in one embodiment of the invention, the etch step can be realized using other fluorine-containing compounds (e.g., F2, HF, C2F6, CF4, SF6, etc) and carrier gases (e.g., Ar, He, H2, D2, N2). Typical process parameter ranges for ICP etch process gases in accordance with the present invention and reactor conditions are listed below.
NF3 (sccm)
He (sccm)
Pressure (mTorr)
Source Power (W)
Bias Power (W)
Time (s)
In a preferred embodiment, the fluorine-based etch process chemistry is as follows:
NF3 (sccm)
He (sccm)
H2 (sccm)
Pressure (mTorr)
Source Power (W)
Bias Power (W)
The conditions are preferably set so that the primarily isotropic etch has higher selectivity to the protective layer relative to the HDP CVD deposited dielectric (e.g., SiO2). It should also have higher selectivity to the silicon nitride barrier layer lining the trench relative to the HDP CVD deposited dielectric. As discussed above, the same or similar material may be used for the protective layer and the HDP CVD deposited dielectric; therefore, the etch selectivities may be similar also. In those cases, the thicker sidewall of the isolated feature would protect the underlying structure. Preferably, some, or most of the protective layer is consumed in the etch process so that any variance in material properties of the bulk dielectric and the protective layer would not adversely affect the performance of the device manufactured.
One or more additional HDP CVD deposition may be performed in order to further fill the remaining gap 110 with dielectric 120, as shown in
In an alternate embodiment, only one protective layer is deposited.
A protective layer 222 is deposited onto the barrier layer 212, as depicted in
The underlying protective layer 222, being resistant or substantially impervious to subsequent etch, can act as an etch stop and protect the underlying structures from being damaged. Some or all of the protective layer may be consumed by the subsequent etch steps. Given the parameters provided herein, one skilled in the art would be able to design a protective layer that is substantially consumed by the etch operations. Portions of the protective layer that are not consumed may be integrated into the filled gap. Zirconium oxide, aluminum oxide, and boron nitride may be capable of being integrated into the filled gap structure without adverse impact on device performance.
A dielectric layer 220 may be deposited using HDP CVD processes discussed above. The dielectric layer 220 forms top hats 218 and overhangs 224 and is thicker on the sidewalls in the high-density features than the isolated features, as shown in
One or more HDP CVD depositions may be required to fill the gap. In certain embodiments, the reactive plasma etch renders the gap geometry to be such that one HDP CVD operation can fill the gap. In other embodiments, the deposition/etch operations may be repeated to completely fill the gaps.
The substrate may be etched again to reduce the aspect-ratio of the high-density gaps 210, as depicted in
In certain embodiments, a combination of the embodiments of
A protective layer may be deposited on the substrate (303). In certain embodiments, the protective layer includes a metal oxide. In other embodiments, the protective layer is a dielectric layer deposited using PECVD or low S/D HDP CVD process.
A fill material is deposited (305), typically using a HDP CVD process. The fill material may be deposited in the same chamber or different chamber of the tool. The fill material forms an overhang structure partially blocking a gap opening. As explained above, the overhang structure reduces the angles of incidence with which deposition species must enter the gap to reach the bottom. Therefore, deposition at the bottom of the gap becomes less effective as the overhang grows.
After gap opening becomes partially blocked, a protective layer may be deposited, in operation 307. This protective layer may be a dielectric layer deposited using PECVD or low S/D HDP CVD process. The protective layer may be deposited even if a protective layer was previously deposited in operation 303. For example, a zirconium oxide protective layer may be deposited, followed by HDP CVD oxide, and then a low S/D HDP CVD protective layer. In other embodiments, a second protective layer may not be used after an initial zirconium oxide protective layer is deposited.
The substrate is etched (309) to reduce deposition on the surface of the substrate, e.g., top hats, and overhangs around the gap opening. Portions, may be all, of the deposition on the sidewalls may be removed by the etch. The etch process may be a reactive plasma etch, as described above, or other isotropic etch. The etch process may remove some or all of the protective layers. Generally, the etch would reduce the aspect ratio of the gaps and remove the partial block.
If one more deposition would fill the gap (311), then more fill material is deposited using the HDP CVD process to fill the gap (313). If not, then operations 303 to 309 repeat until only one more deposition can fill the gap. Operations 303 and 307 are optional depositions of protective layers. Each iteration of repeating operations 303 to 309 may perform 303 and 307 differently. For example, in some iterations, neither 303 or 309 may be performed. In other iterations, only 303 or only 309 may be performed. Still in other iterations, both 303 and 309 may be performed.
An example process sequence may be as follows: a substrate is provided (301), a zirconium oxide layer is deposited (303), a HDP CVD oxide is deposited (305), a PECVD oxide or low S/D HDP CVD oxide is deposited (307), the substrate is etched (309), a HDP CVD oxide is deposited (305), a low S/D HDP CVD oxide is deposited (307), the substrate is etched (309), a low S/D HDP CVD oxide is deposited (307), a HDP CVD oxide is deposited (305), the substrate is etched (309), and a final HDP CVD oxide is deposited to completely fill the gaps (313). In the foregoing example, two distinct protective layers are deposited before the deposition/etch operations are repeated. In the first repeat, a protective layer is deposited after the HDP CVD oxide, but in the second repeat, a protective layer is deposited before the HDP CVD oxide. Many more variations of these operations are possible within the scope of this invention to completely fill a gap without damaging underlying structures.
Implementation Systems
The system may optionally include a chamber 409 capable of performing PECVD, PDL or ALD process. Chamber 409 may include multiple stations 411, 413, 415, and 417 that may sequentially perform deposition or removal operations. The system 400 also includes one or more (in this case two) wafer source modules 401 where wafers are stored before and after processing. A device (generally a robot arm unit) in the transfer module 403 moves the wafers among the modules mounted on the transfer module 403
Wafers are transferred by the robot arm between the HDP CVD reactors 405 and/or the plasma etch reactor 407 for deposition and etch back processing, respectively. The robot arm may also transfer wafers between the protective layer deposition module 409 and the other chambers. In one embodiment, a single etch reactor can support two SPEED deposition modules 405 in this application with a high throughput of about 15-16 wafers per hour (wph). In other embodiments, two etch reactors 407 would support one or more SPEED deposition modules 405.
It should also be understood that, in the preferred embodiment, the present invention may also be practiced without a dedicated plasma etch chamber. For example, a single chamber may be configured for both HDP CVD deposition and reactive plasma etch. For example, the Novellus SPEED HDP-CVD reactors are capable of deposition and plasma etch in accordance with the present invention with a throughput similar to that of using separate reactors. Given the details and parameters provided herein, one of skill in the art would know how to configure a single chamber, for example, a plasma reactor, with equipment, for example the various plasma sources described herein, for deposition (HDP CVD) and reactive plasma etch (e.g., in-situ or downstream plasma source).
The foregoing describes implementation of the present invention in a single or multi-chamber semiconductor processing tool, capable of performing both deposition and etch processes sequentially.
While this invention has been described in terms of a few preferred embodiments, it should not be limited to the specifics presented above. Many variations on the above-described preferred embodiments may be employed. Therefore, the invention should be broadly interpreted with reference to the following claims.
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|Dec 9, 2014
|Tokyo Electron Limited
|Aspect ratio dependent deposition to improve gate spacer profile, fin-loss and hardmask-loss for FinFET scheme
|Sep 7, 2012
|Feb 17, 2015
|Novellus Systems, Inc.
|Conformal doping via plasma activated atomic layer deposition and conformal film deposition
|Dec 18, 2013
|Apr 7, 2015
|Novellus Systems, Inc.
|Plasma activated conformal dielectric film deposition
|Mar 15, 2012
|Apr 14, 2015
|Tokyo Electron Limited
|Film deposition method and film deposition apparatus
|Oct 28, 2013
|Jun 30, 2015
|Novellus Systems, Inc.
|Method for depositing a chlorine-free conformal sin film
|Dec 30, 2013
|Jul 7, 2015
|Lam Research Corporation
|Plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition with pulsed plasma exposure
|Feb 18, 2014
|Dec 15, 2015
|Lam Research Corporation
|High growth rate process for conformal aluminum nitride
|Mar 31, 2014
|Jan 5, 2016
|Novellus Systems, Inc.
|Plasma activated conformal film deposition
|Dec 20, 2013
|Feb 9, 2016
|Lam Research Corporation
|Gapfill of variable aspect ratio features with a composite PEALD and PECVD method
|Nov 7, 2013
|Mar 15, 2016
|Novellus Systems, Inc.
|Methods for depositing films on sensitive substrates
|Jun 13, 2013
|Mar 29, 2016
|Aixtron, Inc.
|Method for deposition of high-performance coatings and encapsulated electronic devices
|Oct 23, 2013
|May 31, 2016
|Lam Research Corporation
|Sub-saturated atomic layer deposition and conformal film deposition
|Nov 7, 2013
|May 31, 2016
|Novellus Systems, Inc.
|Conformal film deposition for gapfill
|Feb 21, 2014
|Jun 21, 2016
|Lam Research Corporation
|Plasma assisted atomic layer deposition titanium oxide for conformal encapsulation and gapfill applications
|Feb 28, 2014
|Jul 12, 2016
|Novellus Systems, Inc.
|Soft landing nanolaminates for advanced patterning
|Mar 15, 2012
|Oct 25, 2012
|Tokyo Electron Limited
|Film deposition method and film deposition apparatus
|Jun 13, 2013
|Dec 19, 2013
|Plasmasi, Inc.
|Method for deposition of high-performance coatings and encapsulated electronic devices
|Jan 19, 2014
|Jul 23, 2015
|United Microelectronics Corp.
|Method of forming inter-level dielectric layer
|Mar 28, 2013
|Oct 17, 2013
|Tokyo Electron Limited
|Aspect ratio dependent deposition to improve gate spacer profile, fin-loss and hardmask-loss for finfet scheme
|U.S. Classification
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Sep 8, 2008
Owner name: NOVELLUS SYSTEMS INC., CALIFORNIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:VAN SCHRAVENDIJK, BART;HILL, RICHARD S.;VAN DEN HOEK, WILBERT;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:021497/0451
Effective date: 20080529
|Sep 14, 2015
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4


text:
Westside Distribution, one of the UK's most innovative and respected music dealers, has been growing like an end-of-gig crescendo on a C F Martin customised guitar since it was founded in 1995 with just three enthusiastic employees.
The Glasgow-based company run by managing director Phil Hay now has 30 employees, £6 million turnover, a major distribution base on Clydeside and a jumping showroom in London's Denmark Street – universally known as Tin Pan Alley.
In Denmark Street, which has the largest concentration of music shops in Europe and was a magnet for nascent stars such as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and David Bowie, Westside's M1 showroom allows guitar players to experiment with the widest range of Dunlop Electronics possible.
In its Glasgow operation, it has some of the finest musical instrument and musical instrument equipment brands on the planet, including CF Martin, Nash Guitars MXR, Way Huge Electronics, Sigma Guitars, Cry Baby and Los Cabos.
But with growth as strong as Westside's, critical partnerships with manufacturers and responsibility for sales, logistics, marketing and brand development and protection of products, it was increasingly important that Westside stayed on top of its business intelligence systems.
That was why, said Westside's John McAndrew, the company turned to Eureka Solutions, the award-winning provider of business systems based in Lanarkshire, to provide a set-up which would allow the company to continue on its growth trajectory.
Like many fast developing companies, Westfield had graduated from Line 50 to Sage 200, but had reached a stage where effectively analysing its sales data from within Sage 200 was becoming an issue.
Eureka recommended QlikView, the market's leading business discovery solution which is used by more than 26,000 organisations worldwide. It is in the forefront of a new generation of business intelligence tools that focus on providing self-service BI and empowers users to access the information they need to perform rather than relying on IT to create the reports for them.
Mr McAndrew said: "Ease-of-use and the ability to customise were foremost in our decision making. Although cost was a consideration we appreciated that the correct choice might not be a cheap one.
"We explored other BI systems, but the immediacy of Qlikview appealed. If I could knock up a rough layout of a report within hours of installing the standalone version of Qlikview, then I was confident that given a few weeks, I could create a report that would fulfil our existing and future requirements."
With QlikView, data can be accessed from multiple sources, including Excel, MySQL, SAP Oracle, Sage and NetSuite, making it ideal for companies which employ multiple systems. It also allows analytics to be accessed from any location, using devices such as iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry, making it ideal for a highly mobile sales force.
Mr McAndrew said the benefits of the business intelligence system in terms of time saved, efficiency, return on investment and visibility were making themselves apparent all the time.
He said: "At the moment, we are mainly using Qlikview to report and react to sales trends and, although this benefit is difficult to quantify, the sales teams and company directors are now in the position to make decisions more quickly, based on immediately accessible, more accurate information.
"Going forward, we have just started using Qlikview to assist with product ordering, massively cutting down administration times."
Like any successful company, Westside Distribution positions its customers and suppliers at the core of the business, making it as easy and fulfilling as possible for them to interact with the company and keep coming back.
Both customers and suppliers expected the company to "report back" with sales and stock information. Under the old set-up, this had been dealt with by one person and then returned to the customer or supplier.
QlikView meant that this bottle neck could now be removed and the information can now be returned in minutes.
The system also provided a significant competitive advantage. Mr McAndrew said: "The implementation of Qlikview provided us with the invaluable benefit of having up-to-date, accurate information available across a range of technologies, which gives us a clear advantage over our competitors.
"Sales managers are more likely to meet their targets if they have a clear and concise indicator of current progress, Customers are more likely to purchase if we can give them an instant, accurate delivery time for their orders."
Westfield distribution integrates QlikView with Sage 200, Sage CRM and M.I. Store Epos Systems, as well as using Sage Reporting for business intelligence and reporting.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Internet Explorer
Web browsing is the No. 1 thing people do on their Windows-based PC, and as such, they increasingly expect the same experience they associate with their PC applications from their favorite Web-based e-mail service, photo site or social network site. This kind of immersive experience does not occur on the Web today, and using a browser is often associated with limited performance and interactivity. Microsoft developed Internet Explorer to help change this.
Microsoft Bookings: Making it easier for businesses to meet with customers
Microsoft Stream: Secure destination for businesses to manage and share videos
- Microsoft's 'revenge porn' approach one year later
- Weekend Reading: Saving babies' lives, a new era in digital aviation and predictive emojis
- The next 25 years of research: Disruption, invention and an element of surprise
- Inside the Halo Wars 2 panel at Comic-Con 2016
- Data storytellers can use Microsoft Power BI as a tool for visually compelling content


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Boko Haram: spreading fear and blood in Nigeria and beyond
A mosque attack that killed at least 120 was part of an increasingly familiar pattern that has spread fear even beyond Nigeria's borders.
Multiple bombs, gunfire at crowded central mosque in northern Nigeria
At least 35 people were killed. Authorities fear the death toll could rise dramatically.
Twin bombings kill dozens in Nigeria while Boko Haram seizes another town
Despite claims that they have since retaken a number of towns seized by the militants, soldiers have largely been unable to halt Boko Haram attacks.
Boko Haram seizes Chibok, hometown of kidnapped schoolgirls
Given Chibok's symbolic significance, its fall raises fresh doubts about the Nigerian government's whole approach to the abduction.
10 people feared dead after suspected suicide bombing at Nigerian college
The explosion in Niger state happened just two days after dozens of students were killed in a suspected Boko Haram suicide bomb attack at a school in Yobe.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to seek second term in February 2015 election
Is this good news or bad news for Nigeria?
Since #BringBackOurGirls, Boko Haram has only gotten stronger
The world was outraged by the kidnap of hundreds of schoolgirls, but a spate of attacks in recent weeks shows the Islamist group is growing bolder still.
Suicide bomber kills dozens at school assembly in Nigeria
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Yobe State.
Suicide blast kills 23 in Nigeria while prison attack frees 144 inmates
President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking a second term in elections in February, has faced rising criticism at home and abroad for failing to halt the Boko Haram insurgency.
Boko Haram says kidnapped schoolgirls 'married off'
In the latest message, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said while laughing: 'We have married them off. They are in their marital homes.'
Here's how Nigeria successfully curbed its Ebola outbreak
The virus has killed 4,546 people across the three most-affected countries, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Boko Haram agrees to release kidnapped girls after ceasefire
The break in violence is a relief for Nigeria and for the world, but experts don't expect the peace to last.
Boko Haram says it is ruling the Nigerian town of Gwoza by Islamic law
Local newspaper ThisDay quoted Major-General Chris Olukolade as saying the claim Boko Haram controls Gwoza was 'false and empty.'
Why these young Nigerians aren't waiting for their government to help them
Nigeria is now Africa's largest economy but government corruption and incompetence make life 'impossible' for millions. Young people like Mr. Jobs are working to create possibiliti
American Ebola patient set to arrive in Atlanta
The private jet carrying two American aid workers infected with the disease will land in Georgia later today.
Ebola terror spreads with new victims
An American doctor contracted the disease in Liberia and the first victim died from it in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown.
This chart shows which World Cup teams have been given the most red and yellow cards
Uruguay and Greece, what's the deal?
Boko Haram leaders are being attacked by snakes and bees
Captured fighters report the critters are reincarnations of the people they killed.
This Nigerian pop singer says she will give her virginity to Boko Haram in exchange for the girls
I mean, it's not like #bringbackourgirls is working.
Where watching the World Cup ain't easy
Folks in Jerusalem complain about having to pay to watch on Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, a car bomb exploded south of Beirut last night, wounding at least five soccer fans.
Boko Haram is suspected of abducting at least 20 young mothers in Nigeria
'This is not the first time women are being kidnapped in this area and only released when we pay cattle ransom to the kidnappers.'
Nigeria's military targets newspapers over security fears
Four dailies — The Nation, the Daily Trust, the Leadership and Punch — all said they were affected, while The Nation said soldiers stormed one of its circulation offices.
Hundreds of people are feared dead in 'massive' Boko Haram attacks on villages: Witnesses
Community leaders put the death toll as high as 400 to 500 but there was no independent confirmation.
These maps show where you can still go to jail for apostasy or blasphemy
Nearly a quarter of the globe has anti-blasphemy laws.
Nigeria: Going to work knowing that your government can't protect you
Boko Haram's series of bombings further south have shattered what small sense of security these city-dwellers once felt.
Will Nigeria's girls be recovered before they have been hopelessly brainwashed?
With each day, fears grow that, even in the event of a rescue, the schoolgirls will never be the same.
Explosion in Jos, Nigeria, targets soccer fans
The blast came days after a twin car bomb attack ripped through a crowded market in Jos, killing 118.
Despite #BringBackOurGirls, Boko Haram attacks are escalating
With the spotlight trained on the abducted schoolgirls, towns near to the one where they were captured are being slaughtered — and no one seems to care.
Australia is apparently raising a generation of overweight couch potatoes
The sports-loving nation scored a D- on an international physical activity report card.
Deadly twin blasts in the Nigerian city of Jos kill 118
The blasts occurred 15 minutes apart in the afternoon, burning several shops to the ground, shattering windows and spreading rubble in the road.
A lesson from Nigeria's president: How not to handle a crisis
Goodluck Jonathan has yet even to visit the village of Chibok.
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I'm not out to screw anyone over!! I am a single dude with alot of love to give... I have a good job with messed up hours, I work from 3 pm till 2:30 am so yes my social life sucks!!. I am a supervisor at a factory here in centralia. I am on here to find an honest women I can trust and understand. I am not the whore type to be just out to get some ass ! I want to find a girl that i can kick it with.
I have alot of confidence in myself and I believe I can do anything I put my mind to. I came to Illinois from California to find a job 10 years ago with just the clothes on my back a wife and two kids, no car, and like 200 dollars. I got a job within a week and we stayed in a motel room for the first few months and I walked to work every day no matter if it was nice outside, raining or snow...then I got a bicycle and rented a house a couple blocks away and we moved our sh*t with a shopping cart.I continued to work my ass off and within a couple months got a car.my ex-wife got pregnant and we needed a bigger house so I rented a bigger nicer place for them.then she got pregnant again and I was promoted to lead man within two years on the job and I was making more money so I bought a two story house with a three car garage. People tell me that I achieved more in less time then most people they know. Now i'm back to square one and I want to find someone I can rebuild my life around..
I am outspoken and I call it like I see it and sometimes I offend. I believe if a person cant handle the truth, then change the truth. I just recently got promoted and had to take 2nd shift hours and it sucks for my social life...everyone I know is just getting up for the day and I am just going to bed. I have some cool stories to tell as I have had a hard life when I was growing up in and out of foster/boys homes. I never had a family growing up and I tried my best to raise my kids but their mother screwed that up for them.
So now its just me, I get off work at 2:30 am and chill out on here looking for a good honest person to talk to. So if there is anyone that stays up late or cant sleep hit me up, I can guarantee I can entertain you cause like I said I been through some sh*t growing up.I'm not the type of person that likes to blow smoke up someones ass or lie to them to make them feel better about a bad situation. I am as honest as they get, I am a loving and caring guy. I believe that communication and honesty is very important in a relationship.I am looking for a person that wants to have fun on the weekends, someone that has do drama.
I am a strong minded person and I like to help build confidence and boost moral. I believe in telling a person that they are doing a good job and how much they are appreciated.I have nothing to hide and I tell it like it is, see my facebook page here http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/giltaulbee , just copy and paste the link. I like to fish and i think i'm pretty good at it. I like to take my boat out and watch the sun come up while I fish. I also like jet skiing down the kaskaskia river, I love football and I go to the dome at least 3 times a year. I love going to pops, there are a couple of bands I try and see every time they play. I like to go out and have fun on the weekends but also like to chill out at home, I am a certified chef and love to cook. I can make you any dish you want.
I say what I mean and mean what I say. I dont like being lied to at all and I feel if you have to lie to me then its not worth my time for you to even know me. I have zero tolerance for dumb shit, I can find better things to do with my time. All I have in this world are my balls and my word. If you cant be honest and sincere and you feel the need to lie to me, I do not want to know you.I treat people like I want to be treated and I expect the same in return.I dont like hanging out in bars only for the fact I dont like being around strange people that cant handle their liqueur and get loud!! I'd rather spend a lil more money and go to an event like a concert, a sport event, comedy club etc. I go to st louis often and rent a room and mess around in the casino all night.I have fun on the weekends...


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The Newburg Children's Museum of Natural History will host its annual Children's Festival Saturday, May 3, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public, but donations are always needed and welcome.
There will be live entertainment. The Missouri University of Science and Technology Dance Club will perform at 10 a.m. followed by the Rolla Choral Arts Society Children's Choir at 10:30 a.m. At 11 a.m. there will be a performance by andFLEW! Dance Studio. The Ozark Spirit Cloggers will perform at 11:30 a.m. and the Rosa String Works Band will play at noon. Bliss Hippy will play at 1 p.m.
Attendees can watch artisans demonstrate their craft, pet exotic and domestic animals, take a tour of the museum and participate in one of the many hands-on science and nature activities.
There also will be children's games, story time, face painting, international and cultural activities and more. Free lunch and drinks will be offered.
Science activities will be held at 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
For more information visit www.newburgchildrensmuseum.org and find the museum on Facebook.
Location, ST | website.com


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A 3-D carbon nanotube mesh enables rat spinal tissue sections to reconnect in culture.
In Dogged Pursuit of Sleep
March 1, 2016|
Unearthing the root causes of narcolepsy keeps Emmanuel Mignot tackling one of sleep science's toughest questions.
March 1, 2016|
Unearthing the root causes of narcolepsy keeps Emmanuel Mignot tackling one of sleep science's toughest questions.
December 1, 2015|
In his search for effective therapies for Parkinson's disease, Lorenz Studer is uncovering pluripotency switches and clues to what makes cells age.
October 1, 2015|
Eve Marder's quest to understand neurotransmitter signaling is more than 40 years old and still going strong.
September 1, 2015|
A teaching obligation in graduate school introduced James Hudspeth to a career focused on how vertebrates sense sounds.
June 1, 2015|
Stuart Levy has spent a lifetime studying mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and crusading to abolish the use of antibiotics in animal feed.
May 1, 2015|
Exploring viral replication pathways has led Carol Carter from the study of measles and reoviruses to the assembly and budding of newly minted HIV.
April 1, 2015|
Charles Sawyers, who began his research career just as the genetic details of human oncogenes were emerging, codeveloped Gleevec, the quintessential targeted cancer therapy.
February 1, 2015|
A chemical engineer walks into a biology lab . . . and revolutionizes bioengineering. How Robert Langer blazed a trail in drug delivery and regenerative medicine.
January 1, 2015|
A toothpick and a bit of chance shaped David Page's career, which he has dedicated to understanding the mammalian Y chromosome and fetal germ cell development.
November 1, 2014|
An inspiring lecturer turned Marcus Raichle's focus from music and history to science. Since then, he has pioneered the use of imaging to study how our brains function.


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Seljalandsfoss February 03, 2014 |
Seljalandsfoss, Iceland
This was the very first stop on my Iceland photography tour. This is Seljalandsfoss which has a trail that actually runs behind the waterfall. So Cool! Our guide, Tony, told us the best spot to shoot this is from up the side of this very cliff. When I realized the particular cliff he was talking about was roped off, I knew this was going to be a fun trip.
Seljalandsfoss, the first stop on the Iceland Photography Tour.


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Scientists See Clues to the Cosmos in the Echoes of the Big Bang
By JAMES GLANZ
Published: February 6, 2001
Adappled glow from the explosive birth of the universe is teasing astronomers with its mysteries and apparent contradictions, as it has again and again since two scientists at Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, N.J., discovered it accidentally in 1965.
The discovery of this radiation, in the form of a hiss in the microwave part of the radio spectrum arriving from all directions of space, firmly cemented the Big Bang — a picture in which the universe began in a great explosion more than 10 billion years ago — in its current position as the leading theory of cosmic birth.
"It's the oldest light in the universe," said Dr. Wayne Hu, a cosmologist at the University of Chicago. "We're looking at the universe as it was back then."
Because of its great age and its starkly direct link to cosmic origins, the light has been used, like pottery shards or fossilized footprints, to create a partial reconstruction of the young universe. Since 1965, observations from satellites in space, from balloons high in the atmosphere and with earthbound instruments have established that the gases of the primordial universe were extraordinarily uniform — but that there were also enough ripply patches so that swarms of stars and galaxies could later coalesce from them.
Over the last few years, by peering at those ripples with extraordinary precision, scientists have begun using them not just as general indicators of primordial conditions, but as measuring sticks for determining the basic statistics of the entire cosmos, like the total amount of matter and energy it contains.
Now, with the launching of a new $145 million NASA satellite for observing the microwave background scheduled for June 30, scientists plan to widen the scope and precision of this program so far that it will become a kind of "cosmic genome project," said Dr. Max Tegmark, a cosmologist at the University of Pennsylvania.
"The cosmic microwave background is to cosmology what DNA is to biology," Dr. Tegmark said. The ripples, or anisotropies, "constitute a cosmic DNA in the sense that they encode the blueprints for the evolution of the universe," he said. "They are the seeds from which stars and galaxies grew."
The satellite, called the Microwave Anisotropy Probe, or MAP, should examine that cosmic DNA finely enough to produce separate accountings of the various kinds of matter in the universe — the ordinary stuff of which stars, planets and people are made, and the much weirder "dark matter" that has never been seen directly but that is believed to make up most of the mass in the universe.
The observations may also provide a new measure of how fast the universe is expanding as a legacy of the Big Bang explosion, and say something about what set off the explosion in the first place.
MAP is the successor to the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite, or COBE (pronounced COH-bee), which captured the world's attention in 1992 when it discovered the ripples. But the amount of data expected to be collected in two years by MAP is so much greater, said Dr. Edward L. Wright, an astronomer at the University of California at Los Angeles who has been involved in both missions, that "it's like having COBE for 4,000 years."
The new satellite will have other advantages as well, since it will be able to see much finer features in the ripples and will be placed in an orbit much farther from the crackling confusion of Earth and its atmosphere than COBE was. The result should be a stunningly detailed map of the microwave sky.
"It will be the cleanest and clearest picture of the infant universe ever obtained," said Dr. Lyman A. Page, a Princeton physicist who is also involved in the MAP mission.
But the microwave background is creating some fresh puzzlement for scientists as they prepare for the space mission. New observations from balloons and from the ground have produced doubts as to whether some predicted features of the radiation are missing, and whether various experiments are in contradiction with one another on their results.
The most extreme possibility suggested by the new observations is that there is something crucially wrong in a theory called inflation, scientists' leading picture of what happened in the earliest moments of the Big Bang. More likely, most scientists say, uncertainties in some of the experiments have created apparent contradictions that will be resolved by the time MAP flies, allowing it to make precision measurements rather than pick up the pieces of a theory whose credibility has been shattered.
But Dr. Charles L. Bennett, an astronomer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., who is the MAP mission's lead scientist, said MAP itself could shuffle the cosmic deck. "MAP could definitely produce surprises and might well do so," Dr. Bennett said.
Another MAP scientist at Princeton, Dr. David Spergel, pointed out that however the current controversies resolved themselves, few cosmologists believed that all important questions about cosmic birth had been answered correctly by the existing theory. New data are sure to highlight any of its weaknesses, he said.


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The New Wolverine Doesn't Care About Her Own Pain and That's a Problem
Laura Kinney isn't as unhinged as the alternate reality version of the man she was cloned from. She's not killing dudes before they actually do anything wrong. No, the woman who's slashing bad guys up as Wolverine has a different psychological tic: she keeps throwing herself into danger without a care.


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We're continuing our countdown of the Big 12's top 25 players from the 2012 season. Here's more on my criteria for the list. You can take a peek at how the preseason list looked here.
We're in the top 10 now, so it's about to get heated, I'm sure. If you've got complaints, I've got a mailbag. Let's hear it.
The official list is locked away in a vault in an undisclosed location, but we'll be revealing one player a day moving forward.
On with the show ...
No. 6: Devonte Fields, DE, TCU
2012 numbers: Made 53 tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss and 10 sacks. Also had an interception, forced three fumbles and broke up four passes.
Most recent ranking: Fields was unranked in our preseason list of the Big 12's top 25 players.
Making the case for Fields: You always hear about blessings in disguise, but sometimes it's hard to believe it's not just people spinning a bad situation. Fields may never have made this big of a splash if starter Ross Forrest hadn't suffered a shoulder injury in fall camp that sidelined him for the year. He moved to role of coach, and with the weight of heightened responsibility upon him, the freshman from Arlington, Texas, answered in a big way. He broke out with 8.5 tackles for loss in his first four games and despite being a true freshman who showed up on campus in the summer, he won the Big 12's Defensive Player of the Year honors from the media. His 10 sacks were third most in the Big 12, but his 18.5 tackles for loss led the league, two more than any other player. Without time to truly understand the defense or build his body through an offseason program, he made a huge impact and set the stage for what could be a special career. He'll build on his 240-pound frame throughout his career and he'll perfect his raw technique, too. Keep an eye on him over the next couple years before he leaves to become a top-five pick in the NFL draft.
The rest of the list:
No. 9: Gabe Ikard, OL, Oklahoma
No. 10: A.J. Klein, LB, Iowa State
No. 11: Alex Okafor, DE, Texas
No. 12: Jason Verrett, CB, TCU
No. 13: Kenny Vaccaro, S, Texas
No. 14: Trey Millard, FB/RB/TE, Oklahoma
No. 15: Cyril Richardson, OL, Baylor
No. 17: Tony Jefferson, S, Oklahoma
No. 18: Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma
No. 19: Lache Seastrunk, RB, Baylor
No. 20: Jake Knott, LB, Iowa State
No. 21: James Sims, RB, Kansas
No. 22: Aaron Colvin, CB, Oklahoma
No. 23: Josh Stewart, WR, Oklahoma State
No. 24: Nick Florence, QB, Baylor


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Great trip to wonderful places. We managed to see a lot in a half a day. The only disadvantage was that we could not stop for 5 minutes to take a picture in the lavender fields (I would prefer to cut time in other places). Overall - a good experience and I would recommend to all
Barb USA
Wonderful day and wonderful, knowledgeable tour guide. What a lovely tour this is and I highly recommend it. Definitely worth the price.
Paul S USA
The travel guide, Marion, made this a treat. There's a lavender museum where you see distillation design through history, but the best reason for going is the amazing natural and architectural beauty of Rouissilon, with its red cliffs set against green landscape
Sharon Australia
This was a great tour. Very friendly, relaxed guide who knew her stuff and made the trip enjoyable. The two towns we visited were delightful and it was great to have time to wander around them on our own. While the lavender farm wasn't flowering the museum was way more interesting than I expected.
Guide was excellent, extremely knowledgable, sincere - I would highly recommend this tour again.
A lovely half day trip with our guide whose English commentary was informative and clear and communicated with a sense of fun. She engaged with all 8 travellers from UK, Belgium, China, Australia and New Zealand. We were 2 weeks too early to see lavender in bloom but the Lavender museum was interesting. The villages of Rousillon and Gordes were delightful and as picturesque as advertised. We had a 45 minutes in each to explore. An excellent trip.
Ying-Chi F United Kingdom
The driver is excellent!!
Tour was very good. Carole was an excellent guide with very good English and knowledge of local area. Roussillon and Gordes were unbelievably beautiful however it would have been better to have had more time in these villages - especially Gordes as the market was on - and not have visited the museum. Unfortunately there was also no lavender in bloom. It would be great if there was more up to date information about the lavender before booking tours that specify the opportunity to see lavender - saying this, the towns/villages were so beautiful the lavender would have only been a bonus!
Excellent service by Melanie from Provence Reservation. Understanding, helpful, friendly and informative. I would have given 5 stars if the company could arrange this half day tour to be slightly longer for another 15-30 minutes to go to lavender field. After all, that's what lavender tour is about.
It was lovely trip and the tour guide did everything she could to expose us to the natural beauty of the area.
If you are looking for a tour that provides you with a brief yet impactful overview of Avignon as well as scenery that offers optimium backdrops for memorable pictures then this is the tour to take.
Chi Chiu L Hong Kong
Unluckily, we have no chance to see the Lavender field as it is too late....but the guide is very helpful to bring us a wonderful memory.
The tour guide was lovely and very professional. More time would have been nice in some of the places but otherwise a great tour. I loved the local market.
Ee Him O Singapore
Highly recommended as this is a very relaxing country side tour. You will know more about how Lavender is grow and harvest.
Nice trip, we had been given enough time to visit places. It was more of villages trip as in August, there are no lavender fields to see. Moreover, tour guide was very nice and cheerful. good value of money.
The village of Roussillon is fantastic, lots of mediaeval buildings. We would have really loved to have more time there.
The village of Gordes was also great, and we would have loved more time there too especially as the wqeekly market was operating that day.
The tour of the Lavender Museum was interesting, but too long - better to allocate more time to Roussillon and Gordes and cut back on the time allocated to the lavender museum.
Enter your review here.
Day was very nice however we did not go to all three towns, as advertised.
The whole exercise was to visit the lavender fields. I think if the lavender field were already harvested you should have informed us so we could decide if we still wanted the tour. Was very disappointed.
It was a pleasant trip overall but we expected the tour guide would have dropped us around some lavender field and let us hang around the field for some time and take pictures. She only drove around them instead. She spoke French too much and only translated to us in very brief English.
It was too much in a rush. Would be better if we could visit fewer villages and spend more time in each.
I would like to have seen more lavender and had less time in the villages. I think I speak for our group when I say I was disappointed not to be able to spend time in the lavender fields - we had literally five minutes!
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