CN111118458B - Chamber cleaning method and apparatus - Google Patents

Chamber cleaning method and apparatus Download PDF

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CN111118458B
CN111118458B CN201911226305.3A CN201911226305A CN111118458B CN 111118458 B CN111118458 B CN 111118458B CN 201911226305 A CN201911226305 A CN 201911226305A CN 111118458 B CN111118458 B CN 111118458B
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process chamber
wafer
cleaning
chamber
processed
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CN111118458A (en
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刘学庆
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Beijing Naura Microelectronics Equipment Co Ltd
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Beijing Naura Microelectronics Equipment Co Ltd
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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
    • C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
    • C23C14/00—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material
    • C23C14/22—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the process of coating
    • C23C14/34—Sputtering
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
    • C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
    • C23C14/00—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material
    • C23C14/22—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the process of coating
    • C23C14/54—Controlling or regulating the coating process
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67005—Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67011—Apparatus for manufacture or treatment

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
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Abstract

The invention provides a chamber cleaning method and a device, wherein the chamber cleaning method comprises the following steps: s1, when the target wafer leaves the process chamber, judging whether the process chamber meets the preset cleaning condition, if so, marking the process chamber to be cleaned and executing the step S2, and if not, continuously judging whether the process chamber meets the preset cleaning condition after the next target wafer leaves the process chamber; s2, judging whether the target wafer is the last wafer in the corresponding target batch, if so, cleaning the process chamber; if not, cleaning the process chamber after the last wafer in the target batch leaves the process chamber. The invention can realize the automatic cleaning of the process chamber, reduce the workload of the staff for maintaining the chamber and ensure the consistency of the process results of the wafers in the same batch.

Description

Chamber cleaning method and apparatus
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductors, in particular to a method and a device for cleaning a cavity.
Background
In the fabrication process of integrated circuits, the by-products contaminate the process chamber, so that the process chamber environment does not meet the process conditions, and the process chamber is usually cleaned periodically or aperiodically to ensure the normal operation and monthly yield of the equipment.
In the prior art, a machine control device can automatically clean a process chamber based on a target consumption increment in the process chamber, generally, the chamber is immediately cleaned when the target consumption increment in a certain process chamber reaches a preset threshold, and a wafer cannot enter the chamber to execute a process in the cleaning process and can only wait for the completion of the cleaning and then execute the process. Therefore, if the wafers in one batch are not all subjected to process treatment before being cleaned, the wafers without the process treatment need to wait for the completion of cleaning, so that the consistency of the performance of the wafers in the same batch cannot be ensured; and if the cleaning time is long, the queue of the batch of wafers may be overtime, which may eventually affect the process result, even cause the wafer to be scrapped.
Disclosure of Invention
The present invention is directed to at least one of the problems of the prior art, and provides a chamber cleaning method and apparatus.
To achieve the object of the present invention, in one aspect, there is provided a chamber cleaning method including:
s1, when the target wafer leaves the process chamber, judging whether the process chamber meets the preset cleaning condition, if so, marking the process chamber to be cleaned and executing the step S2, and if not, continuously judging whether the process chamber meets the preset cleaning condition after the next target wafer leaves the process chamber;
s2, judging whether the target wafer is the last wafer in the corresponding target batch, if so, cleaning the process chamber; if not, cleaning the process chamber after the last wafer in the target batch leaves the process chamber.
Optionally, the method further comprises:
s3, when the wafer to be processed enters the loading position, judging whether the wafer to be processed is the first wafer to be processed in the batch, if so, executing the step S4; if not, allowing the wafer to be processed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber;
s4, judging whether the process chamber has a cleaning mark or is in an unavailable state, if so, not allowing the wafer to be processed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber; and if not, allowing the wafer to be processed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber.
Optionally, after determining whether the target wafer is the last wafer in the corresponding target lot, the method further includes:
and off-line marking is carried out on the process chamber meeting the preset cleaning condition.
Optionally, after the cleaning of the process chamber is started, the method further includes:
changing the mark to be cleaned into a mark without cleaning, and changing the off-line mark of the process chamber after cleaning into an on-line mark.
Optionally, after the cleaning the process chamber, the method further includes:
resetting a cleaning condition of the process chamber to an initial state.
Optionally, the meeting the preset cleaning condition includes:
the consumption increment of the target material in the process chamber is more than or equal to a preset threshold value.
To achieve the object of the present invention, in another aspect, there is provided a chamber cleaning apparatus including a first judging module and a cleaning module, wherein:
the first judging module is used for judging whether the process chamber meets a preset cleaning condition or not when a target wafer leaves the process chamber, if so, judging whether the target wafer is the last wafer in a corresponding target batch, and if not, continuously judging whether the process chamber meets the preset cleaning condition or not after the next target wafer leaves the process chamber;
the marking module is used for marking the process chamber meeting the preset cleaning condition to be cleaned.
The cleaning module is used for cleaning the process chamber after the last wafer in the target batch leaves the process chamber.
Optionally, the system further comprises a second determining module and an executing module, wherein:
the second judging module is used for judging whether the wafer to be processed is the first wafer to be processed in the batch when the wafer to be processed enters the material loading position; if yes, judging whether the process chamber has a cleaning mark or is in an unavailable state;
the execution module is used for allowing the wafer to be processed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber when the wafer to be processed is not the first wafer to be processed in the batch or is the first wafer to be processed in the batch but has an available process chamber; when the wafer to be processed is the first wafer to be processed in the first process of the batch and no process chamber is available, the wafer to be processed is not allowed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber; wherein the available process chambers include an in-line process chamber and a process chamber without a cleaning mark.
Optionally, the marking module is further configured to perform offline marking on the process chamber meeting the preset cleaning condition, change the mark to be cleaned to a mark without cleaning after the process chamber is cleaned, and change the offline marking of the process chamber after cleaning to an online marking.
Optionally, a reset module is included, the reset module is configured to,
after the process chamber is cleaned, the cleaning conditions of the process chamber are reset to an initial state.
The invention has the following beneficial effects:
according to the chamber cleaning method provided by the invention, after the target wafer finishes the process treatment and leaves the process chamber, whether the process chamber meets the preset cleaning condition is judged, and when the process chamber meets the preset cleaning condition, the process chamber is not cleaned immediately, but only the process chamber is marked to be cleaned, so that the process chamber meeting the preset cleaning condition is distinguished from other available process chambers of the same type. Then determining whether the wafers in the same batch with the target wafer have finished the process treatment and leave the process chamber, and cleaning the process chamber after determining that the wafers in the same batch have finished the process treatment and leave the process chamber, so that the process result consistency of the wafers in the same batch can be ensured; meanwhile, the automatic cleaning of the process chamber is realized, and the workload of the worker for maintaining the chamber is reduced.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a machine structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
FIG. 2 is a first flowchart of a chamber cleaning method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a clip ejection control provided in an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 4 is a second flowchart of a chamber cleaning method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Detailed Description
Reference will now be made in detail to the present application, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the same or similar parts or parts having the same or similar functions throughout. In addition, if a detailed description of the known art is not necessary for illustrating the features of the present application, it is omitted. The embodiments described below with reference to the drawings are exemplary only for the purpose of explaining the present application and are not to be construed as limiting the present application.
It will be understood by those within the art that, unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the prior art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. Further, "connected" or "coupled" as used herein may include wirelessly connected or wirelessly coupled. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes all or any element and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
The following describes the technical solutions of the present application and how to solve the above technical problems in specific embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The present embodiment provides a chamber cleaning method, which can be applied to a chamber control system of a semiconductor device, and the chamber control system can be used for controlling and managing a process chamber in a machine table as shown in fig. 1. When the wafer is processed in the machine shown in fig. 1, the wafer firstly enters the machine from the loading position 1, is subjected to a process pretreatment in the front-end processing chamber 2, then sequentially passes through the vacuum conversion channel 3 and the vacuum transfer chamber 4, and enters the process chamber 5 which is actually subjected to the process treatment from the vacuum transfer chamber 4. The process chamber 5 may be understood as a process chamber in which a process is performed within the chamber during the fabrication of an integrated circuit, and byproducts are generated that may contaminate the chamber. The process chamber 5 may be controlled, including but not limited to, managing wafers within the process chamber 5, performing automated cleaning of the process chamber 5, etc. Embodiments of cleaning may be understood as any type of chamber cleaning known in the art, such as purging or ventilating a chamber by introducing a gas into the chamber; or wiping, washing, etc. the inner wall of the chamber. By applying the chamber cleaning method provided by the embodiment, when the process chamber 5 needs to be cleaned, the process chamber 5 can be cleaned after it is determined that the wafers in the same batch are processed and leave the process chamber 5, so that the consistency of the process results of the wafers in the same batch is ensured.
As shown in fig. 2, a first flowchart of a chamber cleaning method provided in this embodiment may include the following steps:
step S1, when the target wafer leaves the process chamber 5, determining whether the process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition, if yes, marking the process chamber 5 to be cleaned and executing step S2, if no, after the next target wafer leaves the process chamber 5, continuously determining whether the process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition.
The target wafer may be any wafer in the machine, may be one wafer or multiple wafers, and here, the target wafer refers to only a wafer leaving the process chamber 5 at a certain time, and is not limited to a specific wafer. The process chamber 5 may include one or more. The cleaning conditions are understood to be conditions that are required to achieve a cleaning state, and can be set by the person skilled in the art according to the specification that characterizes the degree of cleaning of the process chamber 5 during the actual application.
In this embodiment, the chamber control system may monitor all wafers in the machine, monitor the distribution state of the wafers in the machine, and determine whether the process chamber 5 from which the target wafer leaves meets the predetermined cleaning condition according to the predetermined cleaning condition after finding that the target wafer has been processed (may be any process performed in the process chamber 5) and leaves the process chamber 5. If the process chamber 5 from which the target wafer leaves does not satisfy the preset cleaning condition, the process chambers 5 satisfying the preset cleaning condition can be marked to be cleaned, so that when two or more process chambers 5 are provided, if one process chamber 5 satisfies the preset cleaning condition and other process chambers 5 of the same type are available (do not satisfy the preset cleaning condition), the process chambers 5 satisfying the preset cleaning condition and other available process chambers 5 of the same type can be distinguished according to the mark of the process chambers 5, so that the chamber control system can perform the following wafer discharging control on the wafer to be processed according to the mark and perform wafer distribution on different process chambers 5, so that the subsequent wafer to be processed directly enters the other available process chambers 5, and the wafer can be prevented from waiting in line at the process chamber 5 satisfying the preset cleaning condition or the process chamber 5 being cleaned, thereby being convenient for controlling the process treatment of the wafer, saving the waiting time of the wafer and the like. After the process chamber 5 is marked to be cleaned, the process continues to step S2.
If the process chamber 5 from which the target wafer leaves does not satisfy the preset cleaning condition, the subsequent steps for the target wafer may be terminated, and then after the next target wafer leaves the process chamber, it is continuously determined whether the process chamber 5 satisfies the preset cleaning condition. In particular, the mark may be in the form of, but is not limited to, adding a "to be cleaned" mark to each process chamber 5, if the mark corresponds to yes, then it is indicated to be cleaned; if the mark is not corresponding to the mark, cleaning is not needed. The control system can directly carry out the wafer discharging control according to the mark of the process chamber 5 without judging the cleaning degree and the availability of the process chamber 5, thereby quickening the reaction speed of the wafer discharging control of the chamber control system, shortening the reaction time of the wafer discharging control and improving the efficiency of the automatic cleaning of the chamber. It should be noted that the wafer may be monitored by a chamber control system, or may be a monitoring system separately provided, as long as the chamber control system can acquire monitoring data of the wafer.
Alternatively, the chamber control system may manage whether to allow the wafer to leave the carrier level 1 into the process chamber 5 on a batch basis, and accordingly, as shown in fig. 3, the chamber cleaning method may further include the following processes: step S3, when the wafer to be processed enters the loading position 1, judging whether the wafer to be processed is the first wafer to be processed in the batch, if so, executing step S4; if not, allowing the wafer to be processed to leave the loading position 1 and enter the process chamber 5; step S4, judging whether the process chamber 5 has a cleaning mark or all the process chambers 5 are unavailable, if so, not allowing the wafer to be processed to leave the loading position 1 and enter the process chamber 5; if not, the wafer to be processed is allowed to leave the carrier position 1 into the process chamber 5. .
The loading position 1 can be understood as an entrance and exit of the wafer in and out of the machine, and can be, but not limited to, an upper (lower) material table and a loading and unloading chamber. The unavailability of the process chamber 5 may be, but is not limited to, the process chamber 5 being cleaned or the chamber not meeting process conditions, etc.
In this embodiment, when the chamber control system monitors that the wafer to be processed enters the loading position 1, the wafer to be processed does not directly leave the loading position 1 and enters the machine, but the wafer discharging (the wafer leaves the loading position 1 and enters the machine) control is performed first, and the wafer to be processed is determined whether to be allowed to leave the loading position 1 and enter the machine through the wafer discharging control. The process of the piece output control can be as follows: and the chamber control system determines whether the machine station has a wafer with the same batch number as the wafer to be processed according to the distribution state of all the wafers, so as to judge whether the wafer to be processed is the first wafer to be processed in the batch, and if the machine station has a wafer with the same batch number as the wafer to be processed, the wafer to be processed is not the first wafer to be processed in the batch, so that the wafer to be processed is allowed to leave the loading position 1 and enter the process chamber 5.
If the machine station does not have the wafer with the same batch number as the wafer to be processed, the wafer to be processed is the first wafer to be processed in the batch, whether the wafer to be processed is allowed to leave the loading position 1 and enter the process chamber 5 can be judged according to the cleaning degree of the process chamber 5 and whether the process chamber 5 is available at the current moment, and when any process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition, namely has a mark to be cleaned, or all process chambers 5 are unavailable, the wafer to be processed is not allowed to leave the loading position 1 and enter the process chamber 5. When the process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition, the wafers in the new batch are not allowed to leave the loading position 1 and enter the process chamber 5, so that the wafers are conveniently subjected to wafer discharging control based on the batch, and the situations that the wafers are discharged all the time, the waiting time for the wafers in the same batch to leave the process chamber 5 is too long after the process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition, and the like can be avoided. When all the process chambers 5 are unavailable, the wafers to be processed are not allowed to leave the loading position 1 and enter the process chambers 5, so that the phenomenon that the time consumed for cleaning the process chambers 5 is long, the time spent on the batches with queuing time is possibly overtime, the process result of the wafers is finally influenced, and the wafers are even scrapped and the like can be avoided.
Alternatively, the predetermined cleaning condition may include, but is not limited to, an increment of consumption of the target material in the process chamber 5 being equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.
In this embodiment, if the process chamber 5 is a chamber for performing sputtering coating processing, the chamber control system may further monitor the target in the process chamber 5, and after the process chamber 5 is contaminated, the inner wall of the chamber may adsorb more target ions, and then more targets may be consumed during the process processing, so that the consumption of the target in the process chamber 5 may be used as an index for representing the cleaning degree of the process chamber 5, and when the chamber control system monitors that the consumption of the target is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, it may be determined that the process chamber 5 has satisfied a preset cleaning condition. From the above, the consumption of the target material has an obvious correlation with the cleaning degree of the process chamber 5, and the preset cleaning condition is set as that the consumption increment of the target material in the process chamber 5 is greater than or equal to the preset threshold value, so that the cleaning degree of the process chamber 5 can be more accurately judged, and the chamber control system can more conveniently manage and maintain the process chamber 5. Of course, the preset cleaning condition may also be other judgment conditions, for example, the preset cleaning condition is satisfied after the preset number of times or duration of process treatment is set, that is, the preset cleaning condition is not specifically limited in this embodiment.
Step S2, determining whether the target wafer is the last wafer in the corresponding target lot, and if so, cleaning the process chamber 5; if not, the process chamber 5 is cleaned after the last wafer in the target lot leaves the process chamber 5.
The target lot can be understood as a lot to which the target wafer belongs, the same lot number can be set for the wafers of the same lot in the actual production process, and the control system can manage the wafers of the same lot through the lot number.
In this embodiment, after the chamber control system determines that the process chamber 5 from which the target wafer leaves meets the preset cleaning condition according to the preset cleaning condition, the process chamber 5 is not immediately cleaned, but first, whether all wafers in the target lot corresponding to the target wafer have completed the process treatment and leave the process chamber 5 is determined according to the distribution state of all wafers, and if the chamber control system determines that all wafers in the target lot corresponding to the target wafer leave the process chamber 5, the process chamber 5 can be immediately cleaned. If there are wafers in the target lot that have not left the process chamber 5, the chamber control system determines the distribution status of all wafers after the target wafers leave the process chamber 5 after completing the process according to the distribution status of all wafers in the machine, and the process chamber 5 can be cleaned until it is determined that all wafers in the target lot leave the process chamber 5. Therefore, the situation that the process conditions of the wafers in the same batch are inconsistent due to the fact that the process chamber 5 is cleaned immediately after the process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning conditions can be avoided. It should be noted that the cleaning embodiments may be understood as any type of chamber cleaning method in the prior art, such as introducing gas into the chamber, purging or ventilating the chamber; or wiping, washing, etc. the inner wall of the chamber.
Alternatively, when it is determined that a process chamber 5 is to be cleaned, the status of the process chamber 5 may be set to an offline status, and accordingly, as shown in fig. 4, after determining that the target wafer is the last wafer in the corresponding target lot, the method may further include step 5: the linear marking is performed for process chambers 5 that satisfy the preset cleaning conditions.
Where the process chamber 5 is not available, the chamber control system may be configured to default to not allowing wafers when the process chamber 5 is down.
In this embodiment, when the wafers in the same batch do not completely complete the processing and leave the processing chamber 5, in order to ensure the processing consistency of the wafers in the same batch, even if the processing chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition, the wafers to be processed in the batch are still allowed to enter the processing chamber 5, so after it is determined that all the wafers in the target batch corresponding to the target wafer leave the processing chamber 5, the processing chamber 5 capable of being cleaned immediately is subjected to the offline marking when it is determined that the processing chamber 5 meeting the preset cleaning condition can be cleaned immediately, and after the chamber control system reads the marking of the processing chamber 5, all the wafers in the machine can be reasonably managed according to the state of the processing chamber 5. In particular, it may be an addition of a logotype to the process chamber 5.
Optionally, in order to further facilitate the wafer discharging control, after the cleaning of the process chamber 5 is started, step S6 may be further included: the mark to be cleaned is changed to a no clean mark and the off-line mark of the process chamber 5 that is cleaned is changed to an on-line mark.
In the embodiment, based on the above wafer output control principle, in order to further facilitate the wafer output control of each batch of wafers under the condition that a plurality of process chambers 5 of the same type are provided, after the process chambers 5 start to be cleaned, the mark to be cleaned is changed to the mark without cleaning, and the offline mark of the process chamber 5 after cleaning is changed to the online mark, so that after the process chambers 5 are cleaned, the chamber control system can directly determine the state of the process chambers 5 by reading the marks, and then perform the wafer output control according to the marks and the state of the process chambers 5. After the process chamber 5 is cleaned, the mark to be cleaned is changed into the mark without cleaning, so that the situation that the chamber control system does not allow the wafers of the new batch to leave the loading position 1 and enter the process chamber 5 under the condition that other process chambers 5 of the same type are available due to the fact that the process chamber 5 always displays the mark needing cleaning can be avoided, and the wafers of the new batch can be allowed to leave the loading position 1 and enter the process chamber 5 under the condition that other process chambers 5 of the same type are available. Specifically, the lower line of the process chamber 5 after cleaning may be changed to the upper line.
Alternatively, the chamber control system may implement the chamber cleaning method in multiple threads, and accordingly, the process chamber 5 may be cleaned in an asynchronous process.
Here, asynchronous processing may be understood as a process of performing a specific chamber cleaning process and determining whether the process chamber 5 needs to be cleaned using two threads, respectively.
In this embodiment, after the chamber control system is started up, each time a wafer leaves the process chamber 5 after completing the process, a process for determining whether the process chamber 5 needs to be cleaned may be performed, and if it is determined that the wafer needs to be cleaned, the process chamber 5 may be directly cleaned by the thread after the wafers in the same batch leave the process chamber 5, and since the chamber cleaning time is long, a plurality of threads (the same number of wafers leave the process chamber 5) may need to be started to perform the process for determining whether the process chamber 5 needs to be cleaned. The cleaning is carried out in an asynchronous processing mode, the determination time for determining whether the process chamber 5 needs to be cleaned is short, and the whole realization process of the chamber cleaning method can adopt fewer threads to carry out the processing, so that the processing process of the chamber cleaning method can be accelerated, and the system resource usage amount of a chamber control system can be reduced. Specifically, the state of the process chamber 5 may be set to an on-line state after a thread of performing a particular chamber cleaning process is initiated.
Optionally, in order to better realize the automatic cleaning of the process chamber 5, after the cleaning of the process chamber 5, the following processes may be further included: the cleaning conditions of the process chamber 5 are reset to the initial state.
The initial state may be understood as a state in which the process chamber 5 is cleaned to a high degree, i.e., is not required to be cleaned, such as an increment of 0 or other small value of the target consumption in the process chamber 5, or a state in which the cumulative number or duration of the process treatments is reset to 0 or other small value.
In this embodiment, after the chamber cleaning is completed, the cleaning condition of the process chamber 5 may be reset to the initial state so as to better record the real-time cleaning degree of the process chamber 5, and the cleaning degree of the process chamber 5 may be accurately determined so as to better implement the automatic cleaning function of the process chamber 5.
In the chamber cleaning method provided in this embodiment, after the target wafer finishes the process treatment and leaves the process chamber 5, it is determined whether the process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition, and when the process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition, the process chamber 5 may not be cleaned immediately, but only the process chamber 5 is marked to be cleaned, so as to distinguish the process chamber 5 meeting the preset cleaning condition from other available process chambers 5 of the same type. Then, whether the wafers in the same batch with the target wafer are all processed and leave the process chamber 5 is determined, and then the process chamber 5 can be cleaned after the wafers in the same batch are determined to be processed and leave the process chamber 5, so that the consistency of the process results of the wafers in the same batch can be ensured; meanwhile, the automatic cleaning of the process chamber 5 can be realized, and the workload of the maintenance of the chamber by workers is reduced.
Based on the same inventive concept of the chamber cleaning method, the present embodiment further provides a chamber cleaning apparatus, including a first determining module, a marking module and a cleaning module, wherein:
the first judging module is used for judging whether the process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition or not when the target wafer leaves the process chamber 5, if so, judging whether the target wafer is the last wafer in the corresponding target batch, and if not, continuously judging whether the process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition or not after the next target wafer leaves the process chamber 5;
the marking module is used for marking the process chamber meeting the preset cleaning condition to be cleaned;
the cleaning module is used for cleaning the process chamber 5 after the last wafer in the target batch leaves the process chamber 5.
Optionally, the chamber cleaning apparatus further comprises a second determining module and an executing module, wherein:
the second judging module is used for judging whether the wafer to be processed is the first wafer to be processed in the batch when the wafer to be processed enters the material loading position; if yes, judging whether the process chamber 5 has a cleaning mark or is in an unavailable state;
the execution module is used for allowing the wafer to be processed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber 5 when the wafer to be processed is not the first wafer to be processed in the batch or is the first wafer to be processed in the batch but has the available process chamber 5; when the wafer to be processed is the first wafer to be processed in the first process of the batch and no process chamber 5 is available, the wafer to be processed is not allowed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber 5; among the available process chambers are inline process chambers and process chambers without cleaning marks.
Optionally, the marking module is further configured to perform offline marking on the process chamber 5 meeting the preset cleaning condition, change the mark to be cleaned into a mark without cleaning after the process chamber is cleaned, and change the offline marking of the process chamber after cleaning into online marking.
Optionally, the marking module is further adapted to,
the mark to be cleaned is changed to a no clean mark and the off-line mark of the process chamber 5 that is cleaned is changed to an on-line mark.
Optionally, the chamber cleaning apparatus further comprises a reset module for resetting the cleaning condition of the process chamber 5 to an initial state after the process chamber 5 is cleaned.
The chamber cleaning apparatus provided in this embodiment, using the above-mentioned chamber cleaning method, determines whether the process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition after the target wafer completes the process treatment and leaves the process chamber 5, and when the process chamber 5 meets the preset cleaning condition, the process chamber 5 may not be cleaned immediately, but only the process chamber 5 is marked to be cleaned, so as to distinguish the process chamber 5 meeting the preset cleaning condition from other available process chambers 5 of the same type. Then, whether the wafers in the same batch with the target wafer are all processed and leave the process chamber 5 is determined, and then the process chamber 5 can be cleaned after the wafers in the same batch are determined to be processed and leave the process chamber 5, so that the consistency of the process results of the wafers in the same batch can be ensured; meanwhile, the automatic cleaning of the process chamber 5 is realized, and the workload of the maintenance of the chamber by workers is reduced.
It will be understood that the above embodiments are merely exemplary embodiments taken to illustrate the principles of the present invention, which is not limited thereto. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the spirit and substance of the invention, and these modifications and improvements are also considered to be within the scope of the invention.
In the description of the present application, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "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, and are only for convenience in describing the present invention and simplifying the description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.
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 implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means two or more unless otherwise specified.
In the description of the present application, it is to be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood in specific cases to those skilled in the art.
In the description herein, particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.
The foregoing is only a partial embodiment of the present application, and it should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, various modifications and decorations can be made without departing from the principle of the present application, and these modifications and decorations should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present application.

Claims (10)

1. A method of chamber cleaning, comprising:
s1, when the target wafer leaves the process chamber, judging whether the process chamber meets the preset cleaning condition, if so, marking the process chamber to be cleaned and executing the step S2, and if not, continuously judging whether the process chamber meets the preset cleaning condition after the next target wafer leaves the process chamber;
s2, judging whether the target wafer is the last wafer in the corresponding target batch, if so, cleaning the process chamber; if not, cleaning the process chamber after the last wafer in the target batch leaves the process chamber.
2. The chamber cleaning method of claim 1, further comprising:
s3, when the wafer to be processed enters the loading position, judging whether the wafer to be processed is the first wafer to be processed in the batch, if so, executing the step S4; if not, allowing the wafer to be processed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber;
s4, judging whether the process chamber has a cleaning mark or is in an unavailable state, if so, not allowing the wafer to be processed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber; and if not, allowing the wafer to be processed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber.
3. The chamber cleaning method of claim 1 or 2, wherein determining that the target wafer is the last wafer in the corresponding target lot further comprises:
and off-line marking is carried out on the process chamber meeting the preset cleaning condition.
4. A chamber cleaning method as claimed in claim 3,
after the process chamber is initially cleaned, the method further comprises:
changing the mark to be cleaned into a mark without cleaning, and changing the off-line mark of the process chamber after cleaning into an on-line mark.
5. The chamber cleaning method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising, after cleaning the process chamber:
resetting a cleaning condition of the process chamber to an initial state.
6. A chamber cleaning method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the preset cleaning conditions comprise:
the consumption increment of the target material in the process chamber is more than or equal to a preset threshold value.
7. The utility model provides a chamber cleaning device which characterized in that, includes first judgement module, mark module and cleaning module, wherein:
the first judging module is used for judging whether the process chamber meets a preset cleaning condition or not when a target wafer leaves the process chamber, if so, judging whether the target wafer is the last wafer in a corresponding target batch, and if not, continuously judging whether the process chamber meets the preset cleaning condition or not after the next target wafer leaves the process chamber;
the marking module is used for marking the process chamber meeting the preset cleaning condition to be cleaned;
the cleaning module is used for cleaning the process chamber after the last wafer in the target batch leaves the process chamber.
8. The chamber cleaning apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a second determining module and an executing module, wherein:
the second judging module is used for judging whether the wafer to be processed is the first wafer to be processed in the batch when the wafer to be processed enters the material loading position; if yes, judging whether the process chamber has a cleaning mark or is in an unavailable state;
the execution module is used for allowing the wafer to be processed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber when the wafer to be processed is not the first wafer to be processed in the batch or is the first wafer to be processed in the batch but has an available process chamber; when the wafer to be processed is the first wafer to be processed in the first process of the batch and no process chamber is available, the wafer to be processed is not allowed to leave the loading position and enter the process chamber; wherein the available process chambers include an in-line process chamber and a process chamber without a cleaning mark.
9. Chamber cleaning apparatus according to claim 7 or 8,
the marking module is also used for off-line marking the process chamber meeting the preset cleaning condition, changing the mark to be cleaned into a mark without cleaning after the process chamber is cleaned, and changing the off-line mark of the process chamber after cleaning into an on-line mark.
10. The chamber cleaning apparatus of claim 7 or 8, further comprising a reset module to,
after the process chamber is cleaned, the cleaning conditions of the process chamber are reset to an initial state.
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