CN218860872U - Semiconductor equipment and process chamber thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The application discloses semiconductor equipment and process chamber thereof, this process chamber includes the cavity and sets up the air inlet unit above the cavity, air inlet unit includes air intake assembly and even flow apron, even flow apron sets up in one side towards the cavity of air intake assembly, air intake assembly has inlet channel, even flow apron has even flow structure, inlet channel is through even flow structure and the inside intercommunication of process chamber, wherein, even flow apron includes central zone and the marginal zone that encircles the regional setting of central zone, the regional thickness of marginal zone is greater than the regional thickness of central zone. According to the technical scheme, the temperature difference of each area of the uniform flow cover plate can be reduced as much as possible in the process so as to improve the process stability of the process chamber of the semiconductor equipment.

Description

Semiconductor equipment and process chamber thereof

Technical Field

The application belongs to the technical field of semiconductor processes, and particularly relates to a semiconductor device and a process chamber thereof.

Background

In order to meet the requirement of uniformity of an air inlet flow field of a 12-inch 3D TSV process, a process chamber of the conventional semiconductor equipment mainly adopts an air inlet mode that a uniform flow cover plate is arranged on the top side of the process chamber to carry out uniform flow air inlet. Meanwhile, the uniform flow cover plate can directly contact the internal process gas of the process chamber, so the temperature control effect of the uniform flow cover plate can directly influence the process stability of the process chamber. However, the conventional uniform flow cover plate is mainly made of ceramic materials due to the process requirements in the process chamber, so that the heat conduction performance of the uniform flow cover plate is extremely poor, and meanwhile, in order to form a required radio frequency field in the process, a coil is arranged near the central area of the uniform flow cover plate, and when the coil works, corresponding plasma is formed to bombard the central area of the uniform flow cover plate, so that in the process, the temperature difference of each area of the uniform flow cover plate is large, that is, as shown in fig. 1, the temperature of the central area of the lower surface of the uniform flow cover plate is far higher than that of the edge area of the uniform flow cover plate, so that the process stability of the process chamber is greatly influenced.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The embodiment of the application provides semiconductor equipment and a process chamber thereof, aiming at solving the problem that the uniform flow cover plate adopted by the process chamber of the existing semiconductor equipment is easy to have large temperature difference in each area in the process and greatly influences the process stability of the process chamber.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a process chamber of a semiconductor device, the process chamber includes a cavity and an air inlet device disposed above the cavity, the air inlet device includes an air inlet assembly and an even flow cover plate, the even flow cover plate is disposed at an orientation of the air inlet assembly on one side of the cavity, the air inlet assembly has an air inlet channel, the even flow cover plate has an even flow structure, the air inlet channel passes through the even flow structure and the process chamber is communicated with the inside, wherein the even flow cover plate includes a central region and surrounds the edge region disposed on the central region, and the thickness of the edge region is greater than that of the central region.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the thickness of the edge region is 10mm to 15mm greater than the thickness of the central region.

Optionally, in some embodiments, a side surface of the flow-equalizing cover plate facing the cavity is recessed corresponding to the central region to form a central groove, so that the thickness of the edge region is greater than that of the central region.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the thickness of the bottom wall of the central groove decreases stepwise or gradually from the edge to the center.

Optionally, in some embodiments, a rounded structure is disposed between the bottom wall of the central groove and the side wall of the central groove.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the air inlet assembly includes a quartz window plate, the quartz window plate is attached to a side surface of the uniform flow cover plate away from the cavity, and a plurality of heat conducting elements are sandwiched between the quartz window plate and the uniform flow cover plate.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the heat conducting member is a graphite heat conducting block, a plurality of heat conducting block mounting grooves are uniformly distributed on a surface of one side of the quartz window plate facing the uniform flow cover plate, and each heat conducting block mounting groove is correspondingly provided with one graphite heat conducting block.

Optionally, in some embodiments, a heat conducting silica gel is further filled between each graphite heat conducting block and the corresponding heat conducting block mounting groove.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the gas inlet assembly further includes a gas inlet nozzle disposed in the center of the quartz window plate, the gas inlet nozzle is opened with the gas inlet channel, and the flow equalizing structure is opened on a side surface of the flow equalizing cover plate facing the quartz window plate to form a flow equalizing cavity between the flow equalizing cover plate and the quartz window plate, where the flow equalizing cavity communicates with the gas inlet channel.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the process chamber further includes a coil and a hot air temperature control module, and the coil and the hot air temperature control module are respectively disposed on a side surface of the quartz window plate away from the uniform flow cover plate.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a semiconductor apparatus including the above process chamber.

In the application, the uniform flow cover plate of the gas inlet device of the process chamber comprises a central area and an edge area arranged around the central area, wherein the thickness of the edge area is greater than that of the central area. Therefore, according to the technical scheme, the heat accumulation of the central area of the uniform flow cover plate is reduced by reducing the thickness of the central area, so that the heat of the central area can be transferred to the edge area of the uniform flow cover plate more quickly, and the temperature difference of each area of the uniform flow cover plate can be reduced as much as possible in the process, so that the process stability of the process chamber of the semiconductor equipment is improved.

Drawings

The technical solutions and advantages of the present application will become apparent from the following detailed description of specific embodiments of the present application when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of temperature measurement of a uniform flow cover plate in a process in the prior art.

Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional structural diagram of a process chamber of a semiconductor apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a flow distributing cover plate of the process chamber of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a gas inlet assembly of the process chamber of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a schematic temperature measurement of a flow-homogenizing lid of the process chamber of FIG. 2 during processing.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application are clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application. The embodiments described below and their technical features may be combined with each other without conflict.

In order to meet the requirement of uniformity of an air inlet flow field of a 12-inch 3D TSV process, a process chamber of the conventional semiconductor equipment mainly adopts an air inlet mode that a uniform flow cover plate is arranged on the top side of the process chamber to carry out uniform flow air inlet. Meanwhile, the uniform flow cover plate can directly contact the internal process gas of the process chamber, so the temperature control effect of the uniform flow cover plate can directly influence the process stability of the process chamber. However, the conventional uniform flow cover plate mainly adopts ceramic materials due to the process requirements in the process chamber, so that the heat conduction performance of the uniform flow cover plate is extremely poor, and meanwhile, in order to form a required radio frequency field in the process, a coil is arranged near the central area of the uniform flow cover plate, and when the coil works, corresponding plasma is formed to bombard the central area of the uniform flow cover plate, so that in the process, a large temperature difference exists in each area of the uniform flow cover plate, that is, as shown in fig. 1, the temperature of the central area of the lower surface of the uniform flow cover plate is far higher than that of the edge area of the uniform flow cover plate, and thus, the process stability of the process chamber is greatly influenced.

Therefore, a new solution for the gas inlet device of the process chamber is needed to be provided to improve the problem that the uniform flow cover plate adopted by the process chamber of the existing semiconductor equipment is easy to have large temperature difference in each area in the process, which greatly affects the process stability of the process chamber.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, in one embodiment, the present application provides a semiconductor apparatus including a process chamber 1, the process chamber 1 including a chamber body 100 having an upper opening and an air inlet device 200 disposed above the chamber body 100. The gas inlet device 200 may specifically include a gas inlet assembly 210 and a flow-equalizing cover plate 220, the flow-equalizing cover plate 220 is disposed on a side of the gas inlet assembly 210 facing the chamber 100, the gas inlet assembly 210 has a gas inlet channel, the flow-equalizing cover plate 220 has a flow-equalizing structure 223, the gas inlet channel communicates with the inside of the process chamber 100 through the flow-equalizing structure 223, wherein the flow-equalizing cover plate 220 includes a central region 221 and an edge region 222 disposed around the central region 221, and a thickness of the edge region 222 is greater than a thickness of the central region 221.

It is understood that the gas inlet device 200 is mainly used to be installed above the chamber body 100 to cover the upper opening thereof and to uniformly supply gas to the chamber body 100 to improve the distribution uniformity of the process gas entering the process chamber 1. In order to meet the process requirement inside the process chamber 1, the flow-equalizing cover plate 220 of the embodiment of the present application still adopts a ceramic material, and for the actual flow-equalizing requirement inside the process chamber 1, the actual layout of the flow-equalizing structure 223 may not be limited to that shown in fig. 3, and may be arbitrarily modified according to the actual flow-equalizing requirement.

Thus, in the technical solution of the present application, the heat accumulation of the central region 221 of the uniform flow cover plate 220 is reduced by reducing the thickness of the central region 221, so that the heat of the central region 221 can be more quickly transferred to the edge region 222 thereof, and further, the temperature difference of each region of the uniform flow cover plate 220 can be reduced as much as possible during the process, so as to improve the process stability of the process chamber 1 of the semiconductor device.

In some examples, to better reduce the temperature difference in the regions of the flow-homogenizing cover plate 220, the thickness of the edge region 222 is 10mm to 15mm greater than the thickness of the central region 221, as shown in fig. 2 and 3. Taking the original thickness of each area of the uniform flow cover plate 220 as 25mm as an example, the thickness of the central area 221 can be independently reduced by 10mm to 15mm, so that the thickness of the central area 221 is changed to 10mm to 15mm, and the thickness of the edge area 222 around the central area 221 is kept to 25 mm.

In some examples, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, a side surface of the flow-distributing cover plate 220 facing the cavity 100 is recessed corresponding to the central region 221 to form a central groove 224, so that the thickness of the edge region 222 is greater than that of the central region 221, thereby reducing the temperature difference of the regions of the flow-distributing cover plate 220 as much as possible. Further, the thickness of the bottom wall of the central groove 224 decreases stepwise from the edge to the center, so that the bottom wall of the central groove 224 is stepped; alternatively, the thickness of the bottom wall of the central groove 224 is gradually decreased from the edge to the center, so that the bottom wall of the central groove 224 forms a circular arc structure (or dome structure). With such a structural arrangement, the temperature difference of each region of the uniform flow cover plate 220 can be further reduced. Meanwhile, when the bottom wall of the central groove 224 forms an arc structure, because the inside of the process chamber 1 is a vacuum environment and has a pressure difference with the outside air environment, the uniform flow cover plate 220 having the dome-shaped structure can decompose the atmospheric pressure to the edge, thereby avoiding the fragmentation of the uniform flow cover plate 220 and further improving the service life of the uniform flow cover plate 220. Meanwhile, the uniform flow cover plate 220 with the circular arc structure also effectively avoids the Polymer deposition phenomenon on the surface of one side of the uniform flow cover plate 220 facing the cavity 100 in the process. Furthermore, a rounded structure is disposed between the bottom wall of the central recess 224 and the sidewall of the central recess 224, which can effectively avoid Polymer deposition and point discharge phenomena occurring in the process. Wherein, when the chamfer radius of the fillet structure is limited to 0.5mm-2mm, the comprehensive effect is best.

In some examples, as shown in fig. 2 and 4, the air inlet assembly 210 includes a quartz window plate 211, the quartz window plate 211 is attached to a side surface of the uniform flow cover plate 220 away from the cavity 100, and a plurality of heat conduction members 212 are sandwiched between the quartz window plate 211 and the uniform flow cover plate 220. Meanwhile, the process chamber 1 further comprises a coil 310 and a hot air temperature control module 320, wherein the coil 310 and the hot air temperature control module 320 are respectively installed on one side surface of the quartz window panel 211, which is far away from the uniform flow cover plate 220, so that a required radio frequency field is formed inside the process chamber 1 in the process of the process chamber 1 through the coil 310, and a corresponding temperature control treatment is performed on the quartz window panel 211 in the process of the process chamber 1 through a hot air flow field formed on the surface of the quartz window panel 211 through the hot air temperature control module 320. It can be seen that the top side of the process chamber 1 still adopts the structure of the combination of the conventional gas inlet assembly 210, the coil 310 and the hot air temperature control module 320, but the difference lies in that the gas inlet assembly 210 of the embodiment of the present application further has a plurality of heat conducting elements 212 sandwiched between the quartz window plate 211 and the uniform flow cover plate 220, so that, compared with the existing structure in which the quartz window plate 211 and the uniform flow cover plate 220 are directly in contact with each other by the ceramic surface (i.e. there is no heat conducting material, resulting in large contact thermal resistance and poor heat conduction, the hot air temperature control module 320 disposed on the quartz window plate 211 can only control the temperature of the quartz window plate 211 by hot air, but cannot control the temperature of the critical uniform flow cover plate 220, and further the lower surface temperature of the uniform flow cover plate 220 in the process is far higher than the lower surface height of the uniform flow cover plate in the idle state, and the temperature difference between the two is even as high as about 70 ℃, therefore, a serious first effect (i.e., different process morphologies due to different chamber environments (e.g., temperatures) of the first wafer and the following batches of wafers) occurs in the process of the process chamber 1), in the embodiment of the present application, the arrangement of the plurality of heat conducting members 212 can enhance the heat conducting performance between the quartz window plate 211 and the uniform flow cover plate 220 in the process, so that the hot air temperature control module 320 can simultaneously control the temperature of the uniform flow cover plate 220 while performing hot air temperature control on the quartz window plate 211, and thus the temperature of the lower surface of the uniform flow cover plate 220 in the process can be effectively reduced as shown in fig. 5 by controlling the hot air temperature control module 320 in the process, thereby effectively avoiding the first effect, and simultaneously, the temperature difference of each area of the uniform flow cover plate 220 can be effectively reduced as shown in fig. 5 by combining with the structural improvement of the uniform flow cover plate 220, to improve the process stability of the process chamber 1 of the semiconductor apparatus.

In some examples, in order to better dispose the plurality of heat conducting members 212 between the quartz window plate 211 and the uniform flow cover plate 220 to enhance the heat conducting performance between the quartz window plate 211 and the uniform flow cover plate 220, as shown in fig. 2 and 4, the heat conducting members 212 may be graphite heat conducting blocks, which have excellent heat conducting performance, a plurality of heat conducting block mounting grooves 2111 are uniformly distributed on a side surface of the quartz window plate 211 facing the uniform flow cover plate 220, and a graphite heat conducting block is correspondingly mounted on each heat conducting block mounting groove 2111, so that by mounting and fixing the graphite heat conducting blocks on the quartz window plate 211, the problem that the graphite heat conducting blocks are placed on the uniform flow cover plate 220 in a slot to affect the tolerance strength of the uniform flow cover plate 220 can be effectively avoided. Meanwhile, the plurality of heat conduction block mounting grooves 2111 are uniformly arranged in a plurality of annular shapes surrounding the center of the quartz window plate 211, so that the uniform heat conduction at each position of the quartz window plate 211 can be ensured. In addition, in order to avoid the setting of the graphite heat conduction blocks from affecting the gas flow direction on the uniform flow cover plate 220, the setting of the plurality of heat conduction block installation grooves 2111 needs to avoid the uniform flow structure 223 on the uniform flow cover plate 220, that is, the setting position of the uniform flow structure 223 is prevented from being over against the uniform flow structure 223. Further, for each graphite heat conduction block, it is better to be installed in the corresponding heat conduction block installation groove 2111 more firmly, and heat conduction silica gel (not shown) is further filled between each graphite heat conduction block and the corresponding heat conduction block installation groove 2111, so as to better and more firmly install each graphite heat conduction block in the corresponding heat conduction block installation groove 2111 while not affecting the heat conduction performance of each graphite heat conduction block.

In some examples, to better realize the uniform flow gas inlet of the gas inlet device 200, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the gas inlet assembly 210 further includes a gas inlet nozzle 213 disposed at the center of the quartz window plate 211, the gas inlet nozzle 213 is opened with the above-mentioned gas inlet channel (for accessing the process gas required in the process of the process chamber 1), and the uniform flow structure 223 is opened on a side surface of the uniform flow cover plate 220 facing the quartz window plate 211 to form a uniform flow cavity communicating with the gas inlet channel between the uniform flow cover plate 220 and the quartz window plate 211. Further, the uniform flow structure 223 includes a central air groove 2231, a plurality of edge air grooves 2232, and a plurality of trench type air passages 2233, the plurality of edge air grooves 2232 are distributed at equal intervals around the central air groove 2231, each edge air groove 2232 is correspondingly communicated to the central air groove 2231 through a trench type air passage 2233, and a plurality of air holes 21 penetrating through the uniform flow cover plate 220 are disposed on the bottom wall of each edge air groove 2232, and the plurality of air holes 21 are distributed at equal intervals around the center of the bottom wall of the corresponding edge air groove 2232, at this time, when the uniform flow cover plate 220 is attached to the quartz window plate 211, a central uniform flow cavity is formed between the quartz window plate 211 and the central air groove 2231, and a small uniform flow cavity is formed between the quartz window plate 211 and each edge air groove 2232, when in operation, the process gas enters the central uniform flow cavity and then flows uniformly to each small flow cavity through each trench type air passage 2233 to perform secondary uniform flow, and then enters the interior of the process chamber 1 through the plurality of corresponding air holes 21, that the uniform flow is achieved, and uniformity of the process gas enters the interior of the process chamber 1 is improved.

In an embodiment, a process chamber of a semiconductor device is separately provided in an embodiment of the present application, and the structure and function of the process chamber may specifically refer to the process chamber 1 of the above embodiment, which is not described herein again.

Although the application has been shown and described with respect to one or more implementations, equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art based upon a reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. This application is intended to embrace all such modifications and variations and is limited only by the scope of the appended claims. In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described components, the terms used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component which performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary implementations of the specification.

That is, the above description is only an embodiment of the present application, and not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and all equivalent structures or equivalent flow transformations made by using the contents of the specification and the drawings, such as mutual combination of technical features between various embodiments, or direct or indirect application to other related technical fields, are included in the scope of the present application.

In addition, in the description of the present application, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, merely for convenience of description and simplification of the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present application. In addition, the present application may be identified by the same or different reference numerals for structural elements having the same or similar characteristics. Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or to implicitly indicate the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more features. In the description of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.

In this application, the word "exemplary" is used to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present application. In the foregoing description, various details have been set forth for the purpose of explanation. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present application may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and processes are not shown in detail to avoid obscuring the description of the present application with unnecessary detail. Thus, the present application is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

Claims (11)

1. The technical chamber of the semiconductor equipment is characterized in that the technical chamber comprises a cavity and an air inlet device arranged above the cavity, the air inlet device comprises an air inlet assembly and a uniform flow cover plate, the uniform flow cover plate is arranged on one side, facing the cavity, of the air inlet assembly, the air inlet assembly is provided with an air inlet channel, the uniform flow cover plate is provided with a uniform flow structure, the air inlet channel is communicated with the inside of the technical chamber through the uniform flow structure, the uniform flow cover plate comprises a central area and an edge area surrounding the central area, and the thickness of the edge area is larger than that of the central area.

2. The process chamber of claim 1, wherein the thickness of the edge region is 10mm to 15mm greater than the thickness of the central region.

3. The process chamber of claim 1, wherein a side surface of the flow-equalizing cover plate facing the cavity is recessed corresponding to the central region to form a central recess, such that the thickness of the edge region is greater than the thickness of the central region.

4. The process chamber of claim 3, wherein the bottom wall thickness of the central recess decreases stepwise or gradually from edge to center.

5. The process chamber of claim 3, wherein a rounded structure is disposed between a bottom wall of the central recess and a sidewall of the central recess.

6. The process chamber of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the gas inlet assembly comprises a quartz window plate, the quartz window plate is attached to a side surface of the uniform flow cover plate away from the cavity, and a plurality of heat conducting elements are clamped between the quartz window plate and the uniform flow cover plate.

7. The process chamber of claim 6, wherein the heat conducting member is a graphite heat conducting block, and a plurality of heat conducting block mounting grooves are uniformly distributed on a surface of one side of the quartz window plate facing the uniform flow cover plate, and each heat conducting block mounting groove is correspondingly provided with one graphite heat conducting block.

8. The process chamber of claim 7, wherein a thermally conductive silica gel is further filled between each graphite thermally conductive block and the corresponding thermally conductive block mounting groove.

9. The process chamber of claim 6, wherein the gas inlet assembly further comprises a gas inlet nozzle disposed at the center of the quartz window plate, the gas inlet channel is opened on the gas inlet nozzle, and the flow equalizing structure is opened on a side surface of the flow equalizing cover plate facing the quartz window plate to form a flow equalizing cavity communicating with the gas inlet channel between the flow equalizing cover plate and the quartz window plate.

10. The process chamber of claim 6, further comprising a coil and a hot air temperature control module, wherein the coil and the hot air temperature control module are respectively disposed on a side surface of the quartz window plate away from the uniform flow cover plate.

11. A semiconductor device comprising the process chamber of any of claims 1-10.

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