CN113745087A

CN113745087A - Substrate processing apparatus, method of manufacturing the same, and exhaust structure

Info

Publication number: CN113745087A
Application number: CN202110538832.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 田中诚治
Original assignee: Tokyo Electron Ltd
Current assignee: Tokyo Electron Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-27
Filing date: 2021-05-18
Publication date: 2021-12-03
Also published as: JP2021190514A; KR20210146797A; JP7418285B2; TW202203317A; KR102597893B1

Abstract

The invention provides a substrate processing apparatus, a manufacturing method thereof and an exhaust structure, wherein rebound particles caused by a rotating blade of a vacuum pump communicated with an exhaust port can be prevented from entering a processing container, and the substrate processing apparatus is excellent in exhaust performance. A mounting table having a mounting surface on which a substrate is mounted and having a smaller planar area than a bottom plate is arranged above the bottom plate in a processing container of a substrate processing apparatus, an exhaust port for vacuum-exhausting the interior of the processing container is provided in the bottom plate, a shielding member is arranged above the exhaust port at a height position below the mounting surface, a first contact surface of a part of an end surface of the shielding member and a second contact surface of a part of an end surface of the mounting table are in contact with each other, an angle between a horizontal line and a first shortest straight line connecting an open end surface of the shielding member adjacent to the first contact surface and a center of the exhaust port is 35 degrees to 45 degrees, and an angle between a horizontal line and a second shortest straight line connecting the open end surface of the shielding member and an end portion of the exhaust port is 65 degrees to 80 degrees.

Description

Substrate processing apparatus, method of manufacturing the same, and exhaust structure

Technical Field

The invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus, a method of manufacturing the same, and an exhaust structure.

Background

Patent document 1 discloses a plasma processing apparatus in which a substrate is placed on a placing surface of a placing table in a processing chamber, and plasma processing is performed while applying high-frequency power for biasing the substrate to the placing table. Partition members are provided on four end faces of a rectangular mounting table in plan view, shielding members are provided below the partition members at four corners of the mounting table, and exhaust ports are provided below the shielding members. The partition member and the shielding member are provided so as to partially overlap each other in a plan view of the mounting table viewed from above, and the periphery of the mounting table is completely surrounded by the partition member and the shielding member.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2015-216260

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem to be solved by the invention

The invention provides a substrate processing apparatus, a manufacturing method thereof and an exhaust structure, wherein the substrate processing apparatus can inhibit rebound particles from entering a processing container due to a rotating blade of a vacuum pump communicated with an exhaust port, and has excellent exhaust performance.

Technical solution for solving technical problem

A substrate processing apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention is a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate in a processing container having at least a bottom plate and a side wall,

a mounting table having a mounting surface on which the substrate can be mounted and having a smaller planar area than the bottom plate is disposed above the bottom plate in the processing container,

the bottom plate is provided with an exhaust port for vacuum-exhausting the inside of the processing container,

a shielding member is disposed above the exhaust port at a height lower than the mounting surface,

a first contact surface which is a part of an end surface of the shielding member and a second contact surface which is a part of an end surface of the mounting table are in contact with each other,

an angle between a first shortest straight line connecting an open end surface of the shielding member adjacent to the first contact surface and a center of the exhaust port and a horizontal line of 35 degrees to 45 degrees,

an angle between a second shortest straight line connecting the open end surface of the shielding member and an end portion of the exhaust port and a horizontal line is 65 degrees or more and 80 degrees or less.

Effects of the invention

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a substrate processing apparatus and an exhaust structure which can suppress the intrusion of rebound particles into a processing container due to a rotary vane of a vacuum pump communicating with an exhaust port and which are excellent in exhaust performance.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of a substrate processing apparatus and an exhaust structure according to the embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a view in the direction of the arrow II in fig. 1.

Fig. 3A is a view corresponding to fig. 2 showing another example of the shielding member.

Fig. 3B is a view corresponding to fig. 2 showing another arrangement example of the shielding member.

Fig. 3C is a view corresponding to fig. 2 showing another arrangement example of the shielding member.

Fig. 3D is a view corresponding to fig. 2 showing another arrangement example of the shielding member.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the mounting table and the shielding member.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the mounting table and the shielding member enlarged along the V-V arrow in fig. 4.

Description of the reference numerals

10 treatment vessel

13a side wall

13d bottom plate

13f exhaust port

58 shielding component

58d first contact surface

58e end face (open end face)

60 placing table

60b second contact surface

64a carrying surface

100 substrate processing apparatus

G substrate

L2 first shortest straight line

L3 second shortest straight line

L4 horizontal line.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a substrate processing apparatus, a method of manufacturing the same, and an exhaust structure according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present specification and the drawings, the same reference numerals are given to substantially the same components, and overlapping description may be omitted.

Substrate processing apparatus of embodiments, method of manufacturing the same, and exhaust structure

An example of a substrate processing apparatus, a method of manufacturing the same, and an exhaust structure according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 5. Here, fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an example of a substrate processing apparatus and an exhaust structure according to the embodiment, and fig. 2 is a view along a direction of an arrow II in fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the mounting table and the shielding member, and fig. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the mounting table and the shielding member taken along the V-V arrow in fig. 4.

The substrate processing apparatus 100 shown in fig. 1 is an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) processing apparatus that performs various substrate processing methods on a substrate (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "substrate") G for an FPD that is rectangular in a plan view. As a material of the substrate, glass is mainly used, and a transparent synthetic resin or the like may be used depending on the application. Here, the substrate processing includes etching processing, film formation processing using a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) method, and the like. Examples of FPDs include Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), Electro Luminescence (ELs), and Plasma Display Panels (PDPs). The substrate G includes a support substrate in addition to the manner in which the circuitry is patterned on its surface. Further, the planar size of the substrate for FPD is scaled up with the evolution of the first generation, and the planar size of the substrate G processed by the substrate processing apparatus 100 includes at least a size of the order of 1500mm × 1800mm of the 6 th generation to a size of the order of 3000mm × 3400mm of the 10.5 th generation, for example. Further, the thickness of the substrate G is about 0.2mm to several mm.

The substrate processing apparatus 100 shown in fig. 1 includes: a rectangular box-shaped processing container 10; an exhaust structure 50; a mounting table 60 having a rectangular outer shape in a plan view, which is disposed in the processing chamber 10 to mount the substrate G thereon; and a control section 90. The processing container may have a cylindrical box shape, an elliptical box shape, or the like, and in this embodiment, the mounting table is also circular or elliptical, and the substrate placed on the mounting table is also circular or the like.

The processing chamber 10 is divided into two spaces, an upper space and a lower space, by a dielectric plate 11, and an antenna chamber as an upper space is formed by an upper chamber 12, and a processing region S as a lower space is formed by a lower chamber 13.

In the processing chamber 10, a rectangular ring-shaped support frame 14 is disposed at a boundary position between the lower chamber 13 and the upper chamber 12 so as to protrude into the processing chamber 10, and the dielectric plate 11 is placed on the support frame 14. The processing container 10 is grounded via a ground line 13 e.

The processing container 10 is made of metal such as aluminum, and the dielectric plate 11 is made of alumina (Al)₂O₃) Etc. ceramic, quartz.

A carry-in/out port 13b for carrying in/out the substrate G to/from the lower chamber 13 is opened in a side wall 13a of the lower chamber 13, and the carry-in/out port 13b is openable and closable by a shutter 20. A transport chamber (not shown) including a transport mechanism is adjacent to the lower chamber 13, and the gate 20 is controlled to open and close, and the substrate G is carried in and out by the transport mechanism through the carry-in and carry-out port 13 b. A plurality of openings 13c are opened at intervals in the side wall 13a of the lower chamber 13, and a quartz observation window 25 is attached to each opening 13c so as to close the opening 13 c.

A support beam for supporting the dielectric plate 11 is provided on the lower surface of the dielectric plate 11, and the support beam also serves as a shower head 30. The shower head 30 is made of metal such as aluminum, and surface treatment by anodic oxidation can be performed. A gas passage 31 extending in the horizontal direction is formed in the shower head 30, and the gas passage 31 communicates with a gas release hole 32, and the gas release hole 32 extends downward and faces the processing region S located below the shower head 30.

A gas introduction pipe 45 communicating with the gas flow path 31 is connected to the upper surface of the dielectric plate 11, and the gas introduction pipe 45 penetrates the supply port 12b opened in the ceiling portion 12a of the upper chamber 12 in a gas-tight manner and is connected to the processing gas supply source 44 via a gas supply pipe 41 connected to the gas introduction pipe 45 in a gas-tight manner. At a halfway position of the gas supply pipe 41, there are an on-off valve 42 and a flow rate controller 43 such as a mass flow controller. The process gas supply unit 40 is formed by a gas introduction pipe 45, a gas supply pipe 41, an opening/closing valve 42, a flow rate control unit 43, and a process gas supply source 44. The gas supply pipe 41 branches off halfway, and an opening/closing valve, a flow rate controller, and a process gas supply source (not shown) corresponding to the process gas type are connected to each branch pipe. In the plasma processing, the process gas supplied from the process gas supply unit 40 is supplied to the shower head 30 through the gas supply pipe 41 and the gas introduction pipe 45, and is discharged to the processing region S through the gas discharge holes 32.

A high-frequency antenna 15 is disposed in the upper chamber 12 forming the antenna chamber. The high-frequency antenna 15 is formed by winding an antenna wire 15a made of a metal having good conductivity such as copper in a loop or a spiral shape. For example, the loop-shaped antenna wire 15a may be arranged in multiple.

A feed member 16 extending above the upper chamber 12 is connected to a terminal of the antenna wire 15a, a feed line 17 is connected to an upper end of the feed member 16, and the feed line 17 is connected to a high-frequency power supply 19 via a matching box 18 for impedance matching. By applying a high-frequency power of, for example, 13.56MHz from the high-frequency power supply 19 to the high-frequency antenna 15, an induced electric field is formed in the lower chamber 13. By the induced electric field, the processing gas supplied from the shower head 30 to the processing region S is converted into plasma to generate inductively coupled plasma, and ions in the plasma are supplied to the substrate G. The high-frequency power supply 19 is a generation source power supply for generating plasma, and the high-frequency power supply 73 connected to the stage 60 is a bias power supply for attracting generated ions and imparting kinetic energy thereto. In this manner, the ion generation source power supply generates plasma by inductive coupling, and the bias power supply as another power supply is connected to the stage 60 to control the ion energy, whereby the generation of plasma and the control of the ion energy can be performed independently, and the degree of freedom of the process can be improved. The frequency of the high-frequency power output from the high-frequency power supply 19 is preferably set in the range of 0.1 to 500 MHz.

The mounting table 60 includes a base material 61 and an electrostatic chuck 66 formed on an upper surface 61a of the base material 61.

The base 61 has a rectangular shape in plan view and has a planar size similar to that of the FPD mounted on the mounting table 60. For example, the base material 61 has a planar size similar to that of the substrate G to be placed thereon, and can be set to a size such that the length of the long side is about 1800mm to 3400mm and the length of the short side is about 1500mm to 3000 mm. For this planar dimension, the thickness of the substrate 61 may be, for example, on the order of 50mm to 100 mm.

The base material 61 is provided with a temperature control medium flow path 62a which meanders so as to cover the entire area of the rectangular plane and is formed of stainless steel, aluminum alloy, or the like. The temperature adjusting medium passage 62a may be provided to the electrostatic chuck 66, for example. The substrate 61 may be formed of a laminate of two members, instead of being a single member as in the illustrated example.

A box-shaped base 68 formed of an insulating material and having a stepped portion on the inner side is fixed to the bottom plate 13d of the lower chamber 13, and the mounting table 60 can be placed on the stepped portion of the base 68.

An electrostatic chuck 66 on which the substrate G can be directly placed is formed on the upper surface 61a of the base member 61. The electrostatic chuck 66 includes a ceramic layer 64 and a conductive layer 65 (electrode), the ceramic layer 64 is a dielectric film formed by spraying a ceramic such as alumina, and the conductive layer 65 is embedded in the ceramic layer 64 and has an electrostatic adsorption function. The upper surface of the ceramic layer 64 is a mounting surface 64a on which the substrate G can be directly mounted. The conductive layer 65 is connected to a direct current power supply 75 via a power supply line 74. When a switch (not shown) provided in the power supply line 74 is turned on by the control unit 90, a dc voltage is applied from the dc power supply 75 to the conductive layer 65, thereby generating coulomb force. The substrate G is electrostatically attracted to the upper surface of the electrostatic chuck 66 by the coulomb force, and is held in a state of being placed on the upper surface of the base material 61. In this manner, the mounting table 60 forms a lower electrode on which the substrate G is mounted.

A base material 61 constituting the mounting table 60 is provided with a temperature control medium flow path 62a which meanders so as to cover the entire area of a rectangular plane. A supply pipe 62b and a return pipe 62c are connected to both ends of the temperature-adjusting medium flow path 62a, the supply pipe 62b supplies the temperature-adjusting medium to the temperature-adjusting medium flow path 62a, and the return pipe 62c discharges the temperature-adjusting medium that has been increased in temperature by flowing through the temperature-adjusting medium flow path 62 a. As shown in fig. 1, a supply passage 82 and a return passage 83 are respectively communicated with the supply pipe 62b and the return pipe 62c, and the supply passage 82 and the return passage 83 are communicated with the cooler 81. The cooler 81 includes a main body that controls the temperature and the discharge flow rate of the temperature control medium, and a pump (both not shown) that pressurizes and conveys the temperature control medium. As the temperature adjusting medium, a refrigerant, such as Galden (registered trademark) or Fluorinert (registered trademark), can be used. Although the temperature adjustment system of the illustrated example is a system in which the temperature adjustment medium is circulated through the base material 61, a system in which a heater or the like is built in the base material 61 and the temperature is adjusted by the heater may be employed, or a system in which the temperature is adjusted by both the temperature adjustment medium and the heater may be employed. Instead of the heater, a high-temperature adjusting medium may be circulated to adjust the temperature by heating. The heater as a resistor is formed of tungsten, molybdenum, or a compound of any of these metals with alumina, titanium, or the like. Although the illustrated example has the temperature control medium flow path 62a formed in the base 61, the electrostatic chuck 66 may have a temperature control medium flow path, for example.

A temperature sensor such as a thermocouple is disposed on the base material 61, and monitoring information obtained by the temperature sensor is immediately sent to the control unit 90. Then, the control section 90 performs temperature adjustment control of the base material 61 and the substrate G based on the transmitted monitoring information. More specifically, the control unit 90 adjusts the temperature and the flow rate of the temperature adjusting medium supplied from the cooler 81 to the supply channel 82. Then, the temperature adjustment control of the mounting table 60 is executed by circulating the temperature adjustment medium whose temperature and flow rate have been adjusted through the temperature adjustment medium flow path 62 a. A temperature sensor such as a thermocouple may be disposed on the electrostatic chuck 66, for example.

A stepped portion is formed by the electrostatic chuck 66, the outer periphery of the substrate 61, and the upper surface of the base 68, and a rectangular frame-shaped focus ring 69 is placed on the stepped portion. In a state where the focus ring 69 is provided at the step portion, the upper surface of the focus ring 69 is set lower than the upper surface of the electrostatic chuck 66. The focus ring 69 is made of ceramic such as alumina or quartz.

A power supply member 70 is connected to the lower surface of the base member 61. A power supply line 71 is connected to the lower end of the power supply member 70, and the power supply line 71 is connected to a high-frequency power supply 73 as a bias power supply via a matching box 72 for impedance matching. By applying a high-frequency power of, for example, 3.2MHz from the high-frequency power supply 73 to the stage 60, ions generated by the high-frequency power supply 19 as a plasma generation source power supply can be attracted to the substrate G. Therefore, in the plasma etching process, the etching rate and the etching selectivity can be improved together.

The control unit 90 controls the operation of the exhaust unit 55 and the like based on monitoring information transmitted from the respective components of the substrate processing apparatus 100, for example, the cooler 81, the high-

frequency power supplies

19 and 73, the process gas supply unit 40, and the pressure gauge. The control Unit 90 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The CPU executes predetermined processing in accordance with a recipe (processing recipe) stored in a memory area such as a RAM. Control information of the substrate processing apparatus 100 corresponding to the processing conditions is set in the processing recipe. The control information includes, for example, a gas flow rate, a pressure in the processing container 10, a temperature of the substrate 61, a processing time, and the like.

The scheme and the program applied by the control section 90 may be stored in, for example, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like. The recipe and the like may be set and read by the control unit 90 in a state of being stored in a mobile computer-readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a DVD, a memory card, or the like. In addition, the control section 90 includes a user interface such as an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse for inputting commands, a display device such as a display for visually displaying the operation status of the substrate processing apparatus 100, and an output device such as a printer.

Next, an example of the exhaust structure 50 of the embodiment will be described.

A plurality of exhaust ports 13f are opened in the bottom plate 13d of the lower chamber 13. More specifically, as shown in fig. 2, the exhaust ports 13f, which are circular in plan view, are provided at the four corners of the bottom plate 13d, which is rectangular in plan view.

An exhaust pipe 51 is connected to each exhaust port 13f, and the exhaust pipe 51 is connected to a vacuum pump 53 such as a turbo molecular pump via an on-off valve 52. The exhaust pipe 51, the opening/closing valve 52, and the vacuum pump 53 form an exhaust unit 55. By operating the vacuum pump 53, the inside of the lower chamber 13 can be evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum in the process.

As shown in fig. 2, a mounting table 60 having a rectangular shape in plan view is disposed inside the side wall 13a of the lower chamber 13 having a rectangular shape in plan view, the planar area of the mounting table 60 is smaller than the planar area of the lower chamber 13, and a gap S1 having a rectangular frame shape in plan view (planar area) is formed between the side wall 13a and the mounting table 60. Then, the exhaust port 13f located at the corner of the side wall 13a having a rectangular shape in plan view faces the gap S1. Here, the planar area of the lower chamber 13 is an area of a region formed in a rectangular shape when the chamber 13 is viewed in plan, and is not an area excluding an actually measured value of, for example, an exhaust port. The planar area of the mounting table 60 is also the area of a rectangular region when the mounting table 60 is viewed in plan.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, between the four corners 60a of the mounting table 60 and the corners of the side wall 13a corresponding to the corners 60a, a shielding member 58 having a substantially rectangular shape in plan view is disposed at a height position below the mounting surface 64a of the mounting table 60. The shielding member 58 has an upper surface and a lower surface (wide surface described later), and is configured with a plurality of end surfaces surrounding the upper surface and the lower surface at the end portions. Here, the shape in plan view in the illustrated example is "substantially rectangular" and is an L-shape obtained by cutting a square out of one corner of the square, but this substantially rectangular shape also includes a square or a rectangle having no cut. Further, since the "shielding member" is a plate that blocks the flow of various gases, it may also be referred to as a "baffle".

As shown in fig. 2, the cutout portion 58c provided in the shielding member 58 includes two first contact surfaces 58d as part of the end surfaces, and the second contact surface 60b of the corner portion 60a of the mounting table 60 and the first contact surface 58d are in contact with each other. As is clear from fig. 2, the shielding member 58 is disposed so as to protrude from the corner portion 60a of the mounting table 60 toward the outer side wall 13a in a plan view.

Of the other end surfaces constituting the shielding member 58, the end surface 58e (an example of an open end surface) adjacent to the first contact surface 58d faces the gap S1, and the other end surface 58f adjacent to the end surface 58e contacts the inner surface of the side wall 13 a.

Therefore, when the vacuum pump 53 is operated, various gases located inside the processing chamber 10 flow from the end surface 58e side of the shielding member 58 to below the shielding member 58 through the rectangular frame-shaped gap S1, and flow through the exhaust port 13f located below the shielding member 58 to the exhaust pipe 51. A pressure gauge (not shown) is provided at an appropriate position of the lower chamber 13, monitoring information obtained by the pressure gauge is transmitted to the control unit 90, and the control unit 90 controls the pressure in the processing container 10.

The shielding member 58 is made of metal such as aluminum. The shielding member 58 is placed on the upper surface of the bottom plate 13d so as to be adjustable in height by a plurality of (four in the illustrated example) height adjusting members 59. Here, the height adjusting member 59 may be formed by a cylinder unit or the like in which a rod automatically advances and retreats from a cylinder, or may be provided manually by selecting a rod having an appropriate length from a plurality of rods having different lengths.

Although not shown, the shielding member 58 may be supported by a plurality of height adjusting members 59, or a supporting member made of metal such as aluminum may be attached to an inner surface of a corner portion of the side wall 13a, and the shielding member 58 may be supported by the supporting member. Since the shielding member 58 is supported by a supporting member made of aluminum or the like, the shielding member 58 is grounded via the side wall 13a and the supporting member which are grounded via the ground lead 13 e. As described above, the shielding member 58 may be supported in the lower chamber 13 so as to be grounded or ungrounded, for example, so as to be selectively grounded or ungrounded.

The exhaust structure 50 of the embodiment is formed by an exhaust portion 55, a bottom plate 13d, and a shielding member 58, the exhaust portion 55 is formed by an exhaust pipe 51, an opening/closing valve 52, and a vacuum pump 53, the bottom plate 13d has an exhaust port 13f communicating with the exhaust pipe 51, and the shielding member 58 is disposed above the exhaust port 13 f.

In this manner, the substrate processing apparatus 100 has a rectangular frame-shaped gap S1 in plan view between the stage 60 and the side wall 13a of the lower chamber 13, has the exhaust port 13f constituting the exhaust structure 50 at the four corners of the gap S1, and has the shielding member 58 only at the four corners. That is, the shielding members 58 are not continuous, and a gap S1 is formed between the shielding members 58 positioned at the respective corners in a plan view.

Here, fig. 3A to 3D show the shielding member having another shape and another arrangement of the shielding member. Here, fig. 3A is a diagram corresponding to fig. 2 showing another example of the shielding member, and fig. 3B to 3D are diagrams corresponding to fig. 2 showing other arrangement examples of the shielding member.

The shielding member 58A shown in fig. 3A is a shielding member having a substantially circular shape in plan view, and a cutout portion 58g is formed in a part of the circular shape. Further, the shielding member 58A is disposed above the exhaust port 13f in a state where the notch portion 58g is in contact with the corner portion of the mounting table 60. As described above, the shape of the shielding member in plan view may be various shapes in plan view such as a circle (substantially circular) as shown in fig. 3A, or a polygon other than an ellipse or a quadrangle, in addition to a rectangle (substantially rectangular) including a square as shown in fig. 2. The exhaust port 13f may have a circular shape as shown in fig. 2 and 3A, and may have various shapes in plan view such as an elliptical shape, a rectangular shape, and a polygonal shape other than a rectangular shape.

On the other hand, in the embodiment shown in fig. 3B, the exhaust port 13f is provided at a midway position (middle position of each side in the illustrated example) between a pair of long sides (end sides) and short sides (end sides) in the rectangular frame-shaped gap S1, and the shielding member 58 is provided above each exhaust port 13 f.

On the other hand, in the embodiment shown in fig. 3C, the exhaust ports 13f are provided at intermediate positions (two intermediate positions of each side in the illustrated example, eight total positions) of a pair of long sides (end sides) and short sides (end sides) in the rectangular frame-shaped gap S1, and the shielding member 58 is provided above each exhaust port 13 f.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 3D, the shielding member 58 is provided at six positions in total, four corner portions and intermediate positions (intermediate positions of the long sides in the illustrated example) of the pair of long sides (end sides). Although not shown, in fig. 3D, a shielding member may be provided at a position intermediate between the pair of short sides (end edges).

As described above, the shielding member may be disposed at a corner of the rectangular frame-shaped gap S1 as shown in fig. 2 and 3A, at a halfway position of the rectangular frame-shaped gap S1 as shown in fig. 3B and 3C, or at both a corner and a halfway position of the rectangular frame-shaped gap S1 as shown in fig. 3D. In any of the embodiments, a plurality of (four in fig. 3A and 3B, eight in fig. 3C, and six in fig. 3D) exhaust ports 13f are provided in the rectangular frame-shaped space S1, and the shielding

members

58 and 58A are disposed above the exhaust ports 13f, and the adjacent shielding members are not continuous with each other. Therefore, it is possible to have the gap S1 with a planar area as large as possible. This can reduce the pressure difference and pressure loss between the pressure around the gap S1 and the exhaust port 13f and the pressure in the processing space S as much as possible, and ensure excellent exhaust performance of the exhaust structure 50.

For example, in a plasma processing apparatus described in patent document 1, in a mode in which baffles are arranged in the entire region of the rectangular frame-shaped gap S1, the gap for exhaust is limited and exhaust resistance (or pressure loss) increases, and there is a possibility that exhaust characteristics are degraded due to the increase in exhaust resistance.

By operating the vacuum pump 53 such as a turbo molecular pump, the inside of the processing space S is set to a predetermined pressure atmosphere, and particles floating in the processing space S, for example, are also sucked by the vacuum pump 53. At this time, since the vacuum pump 53 has a plurality of rotary blades (not shown), the sucked particles are repelled by the rotary blades to generate repelled particles, and the repelled particles may enter the processing space S.

In the substrate processing apparatus 100 of the illustrated example, the shielding member 58 is disposed so as to seal the exhaust port 13f in a plan view, but the shielding member 58 does not completely seal the rectangular frame-shaped gap S1 in a plan view. As can be seen from fig. 2 and the like, the planar area of the shielding member 58 is as small as possible. Therefore, for example, in fig. 2, the rebounding particles may intrude into the processing space S from the end surface 58e of the shielding member 58 on the side of the gap S1. Therefore, setting conditions of the shielding member 58 capable of suppressing the intrusion of the rebounding particles into the processing space S are required. Specifically, the setting conditions relate to the installation height level (the height from the exhaust port 13 f) of the shielding member 58. The setting conditions are those regarding the planar size condition of the shielding member 58 (how much the planar size of the shielding member 58 is larger than the planar size of the exhaust port 13 f) in the relationship with the exhaust port 13 f. Therefore, various setting conditions of the shielding member 58 will be described below with reference to fig. 4 and 5.

As shown in fig. 4, the shutter member 58 is substantially square with one side having a length t1 in plan view, and an exhaust port 13f having a diameter Φ is provided thereunder. As shown in fig. 4 and 5, the center (center) of the exhaust port 13f is P1. A point where the straight line L1 intersects the circumference of the exhaust port 13f (an example of an end portion of the exhaust port) is P2, and the straight line L1 is a U direction which is a longitudinal direction of the side wall 13a having a rectangular shape in a plan view and passes through the center P1. Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the shielding member 58 cut so as to include a straight line L1 in fig. 4, and a point where the vertical plane intersects (the lower end of) the end surface 58e on the gap S1 side of the shielding member 58 in fig. 5 is P3.

As shown in fig. 5, an angle between a first shortest straight line L2 connecting a point P3 in the end surface 58e of the shutter member 58 and the center P1 of the exhaust port 13f and a horizontal line L4 (the upper surface 13d1 of the bottom plate 13 d) is θ 1. That is, the first shortest straight line L2 in the illustrated example is the straight line having the shortest length among the straight lines connecting the center P1 of the exhaust port 13f and the end surface 58e on the side of the gap S1 of the shielding member 58.

On the other hand, an angle between a second shortest straight line L3 connecting a point P3 in the end surface 58e of the shutter member 58 and a point P2 on the circumference of the exhaust port 13f and a horizontal line L4 is θ 2. That is, the second shortest straight line L3 in the illustrated example is the straight line having the shortest length among straight lines connecting the point P2 on the circumference of the exhaust port 13f and the end surface 58e on the side of the gap S1 of the shutter member 58.

In the exhaust structure 50, the angle θ 1 is set to be in a range of 35 degrees to 45 degrees, and the angle θ 2 is set to be in a range of 65 degrees to 80 degrees.

The rebound particles generally receive resistance of the exhaust gas flow, collide with the wall surface twice or more to lose energy, and can be discharged by the vacuum pump 53 without entering the processing space S against the resistance of the exhaust gas flow. When the rebound particles fly out from the inlet port of the vacuum pump 53 connected to the exhaust pipe 51, if the angle is 45 degrees or less, the rebound particles collide with the inner wall surface of the exhaust pipe 51 twice or more within a length range that is structurally required even in the case of a configuration in which the length of the exhaust pipe 51 is as short as possible. Therefore, the flying-out of the rebounding particles from the exhaust port 13f becomes extremely small. Further, since the rebound particles having a small angle are more likely to enter from the center portion than the end portions of the exhaust ports 13f, the entry of the rebound particles can be prevented if the angle θ 1 is 45 degrees or less with respect to the position of the end surface 58e of the shielding member 58.

In addition to the above, in view of the balance with the exhaust efficiency and more reliably suppressing the intrusion of the rebounding particles, for this reason, a range of 10 degrees is provided, and the angle θ 1 is set in a range of 35 degrees or more and 45 degrees or less. With this setting, the rebound particles can be suppressed from entering the processing space S from the vicinity of the center of the exhaust port 13 f.

On the other hand, when the rebound particles fly out from the inlet port of the vacuum pump 53, if the angle is 80 degrees or more, the rebound particles can fly out from the outlet port 13f without colliding with the inner wall of the exhaust pipe 51 even from the end of the outlet port 13 f. Therefore, even if the angle θ 1 is in the range of 35 degrees or more and 45 degrees or less with respect to the position of the end surface 58e of the shielding member 58, there is a possibility that rebound particles having an angle of 80 degrees or more enter the processing space S from the end portion of the exhaust port 13 f. Therefore, by setting θ 2 to 80 degrees or less in addition to the numerical range of θ 1 as the position of the end surface 58e of the shielding member 58, the intrusion of the rebounding particles can be prevented.

In addition to the above, in consideration of the balance with the exhaust efficiency and more reliably suppressing the intrusion of the rebounding particles, for this purpose, a range of 15 degrees is provided, and the angle θ 2 (the flying-out angle of the rebounding particles) is set in a range of 65 degrees or more and 80 degrees or less. With this setting, the rebounding particles are rebounded at an acute angle by the shielding member 58, and as a result, the intrusion into the processing space S is eliminated. Then, the energy is lost by the second collision occurring again in the exhaust pipe 51, and the vacuum pump 53 can efficiently exhaust the gas.

In fig. 5, assuming that the overall height of the mounting table 60 is t3, the height from the exhaust port 13f to the shielding member 58 is t4, and t 1- Φ are t5, for example, an example in which Φ is 280mm, and t5 is 20mm to 50mm is considered. In this embodiment, when the angles θ 1, θ 2 are set within the above numerical range, t 3-t 4 may be set to 20mm or less. By setting t 3-t 4 to 20mm or less in this manner, a decrease in the exhaust characteristics in the exhaust structure 50 can be suppressed. Further, by setting t5 to about 20mm to 50mm (e.g., 40mm), it is possible to suppress the intrusion of the rebound particles into the processing space S without degrading the exhaust characteristic of the exhaust structure 50.

In fig. 5, the wide surface 58a of the shielding member 58, which does not face the exhaust port 13f, is a smooth surface without a recess (unevenness). Here, the smooth surface without the recess includes not only a surface roughness is small but also a surface where the head of the screw or the like does not protrude from the larger surface 58 a. For example, when the shielding member 58 having a thickness of about 10mm is fixed to the supporting member or the like by a screw or the like (not shown), a recessed groove (not shown) having a depth of about 3mm is set in advance in the wide surface 58 a. Then, by housing the head of the screw in the recessed groove and closing the surface of the recessed groove, a smooth surface such as the head of the screw that does not protrude from the wide surface 58a can be formed.

In this manner, since the wide surface 58a of the shielding member 58 facing the processing space S is a smooth surface without a recess, adhesion of the deposit to the wide surface 58a and generation of particles on the wide surface 58a can be suppressed.

In fig. 5, the wide surface 58b of the shielding member 58 facing the exhaust port 13f is a roughened surface having minute irregularities. Here, the roughening treatment includes a sand blast treatment, a spray plating treatment, and the like. As described above, since the wide surface 58b of the shielding member 58 facing the exhaust port 13f is a roughened surface, the rebounding particles that have collided with the wide surface 58b repeat their collision many times in the minute irregularities, and the energy of the rebounding particles can be effectively dissipated. Therefore, the intrusion of the rebound particles into the processing space S can be more effectively suppressed.

In the method of manufacturing the substrate processing apparatus 100, the substrate processing apparatus 100 is manufactured by an angle setting step of setting the sizes of the exhaust port 13f and the shielding member 58 so that the angles θ 1 and θ 2 are within the above numerical ranges, respectively, and setting the installation height level of the shielding member 58.

[ examination of various Properties and production costs ]

The present inventors simulated substrate processing apparatuses (examples) having the shielding members shown in fig. 2, 4, and 5 and substrate processing apparatuses of two comparative examples, compared and examined the rebound particle suppression performance and the exhaust performance of each apparatus, and calculated the manufacturing cost of the shielding member, and compared the costs.

Here, comparative example 1 is a substrate processing apparatus having four edge-shaped shielding members along a pair of long and short sides, without having a shielding member at four corners of a rectangular frame-shaped gap in a plan view. On the other hand, comparative example 2 is a substrate processing apparatus having a shielding member at four corners of a rectangular frame-shaped gap in a plan view, and having a shielding member in four-sided shapes along a pair of long sides and short sides, as shown in patent document 1. Here, in both comparative examples 1 and 2, similarly to the examples, the exhaust port having a circular shape in plan view is provided at the four corners of the rectangular frame-shaped gap in plan view. The results of the investigation are shown in table 1 below.

Comparative example 1 has a long shielding member in a shape of a side, but does not have a shielding member above the exhaust port located at the corner. Therefore, the rebound particle suppression performance becomes low. Further, compared to the embodiment having the shielding member only at the four corners, the surface area of the shielding member is increased by three times or more, and the manufacturing cost of the shielding member becomes relatively expensive.

On the other hand, in comparative example 2, since the edge-shaped shielding member and the corner-shaped shielding member were provided, the rebound particle suppression performance was high, but the exhaust performance was low. Further, the surface area of the shielding member was more than four times as large as that of example and comparative example 1, and the shielding member was more expensive to manufacture.

The examples have excellent exhaust performance compared to comparative examples 1 and 2 because they have only corner shielding members. As described above with reference to fig. 4 and 5, the rebound particles suppressing performance is also excellent by clearly defining the installation height level and the plane size of the shielding member in relation to the exhaust port. Further, by limiting the shielding member to the corner portion, the surface area of the shielding member is as small as possible, and the manufacturing cost of the shielding member is very low as compared with comparative examples 1 and 2.

The configurations and the like described in the above embodiments may be other embodiments in which other components and the like are combined, and the present invention is not limited to the configurations described here. In this regard, changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and may be determined as appropriate depending on the application.

For example, although the substrate processing apparatus 100 of the illustrated example has been described as an inductively coupled plasma processing apparatus having a dielectric window, the substrate processing apparatus may be an inductively coupled plasma processing apparatus having a metal window instead of the dielectric window, or may be a plasma processing apparatus of another embodiment. Specifically, examples thereof include Electron Cyclotron resonance Plasma (ECP), Helicon Wave Plasma (HWP), parallel plate Plasma (Capacively coupled Plasma;CCP). Furthermore, microwave-excited Surface Wave Plasma (SWP) can be mentioned. These plasma processing apparatuses include ICP, can independently control ion flux (ion flux) and ion energy, can freely control etching shape and selectivity, and can obtain 10¹¹To 10¹³cm^-3High electron density to a certain degree.

Although the vacuum pump 53 has been described as a turbo-molecular pump, the present invention can be applied to a vacuum pump of another type as long as the vacuum pump can eject rebounding particles from the suction port of the vacuum pump 53.

Claims

1. A substrate processing apparatus characterized by:

the substrate processing apparatus processes a substrate in a processing container having at least a bottom plate and a side wall,

a placing table having a placing surface on which the substrate can be placed and having a smaller planar area than the bottom plate is disposed above the bottom plate in the processing container,

an exhaust port for vacuum-exhausting the inside of the processing container is provided in the bottom plate,

a shielding member is disposed above the exhaust port at a height position below the mounting surface,

a first contact surface that is a part of an end surface of the shielding member and a second contact surface that is a part of an end surface of the mounting table are in contact with each other,

an angle between a first shortest straight line connecting an open end surface of the shielding member adjacent to the first contact surface and a center of the exhaust port and a horizontal line is 35 degrees or more and 45 degrees or less,

2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the bottom plate and the placing table are both rectangular in plan view,

the exhaust ports are provided at four corners of the bottom plate,

the shielding member is configured to protrude outwards from a corner of the placing table,

each of the shielding members is discontinuous, and has a gap between the end surface and the side wall of the mounting table in a plan view.

3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the bottom plate and the placing table are both rectangular in plan view,

the exhaust port is provided at a position midway between the four end edges of the rectangle of the bottom plate,

4. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:

the shielding member is supported by a height adjusting member disposed around the exhaust port so as to be adjustable in height.

5. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein:

the shielding component is rectangular, roughly rectangular, round or roughly round in the shape of a plane view,

the top view shape of the exhaust port is circular.

6. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein:

the shielding component is rectangular or approximately rectangular in plan view,

the exhaust port is rectangular in plan view.

7. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein:

the wide surface of the shielding member facing the exhaust port is a roughened surface.

8. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein:

the wide surface of the shielding member not opposed to the exhaust port is a smooth surface having no recess.

9. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein:

an exhaust pipe is arranged below the exhaust port,

a vacuum pump having rotating vanes is in communication with the exhaust pipe.

10. An exhaust structure characterized by:

the exhaust structure is formed of a member having an exhaust port and a shielding member,

the shielding member is disposed above the exhaust port,

an angle between a shortest straight line connecting the center of the exhaust port and the end of the shielding member and a horizontal line is 35 to 45 degrees,

an angle between a shortest straight line connecting an end of the exhaust port and the end of the shielding member and a horizontal line is 70 degrees or more and 80 degrees or less.

11. The exhaust structure according to claim 10, wherein:

12. The exhaust structure according to claim 10 or 11, wherein:

13. The exhaust structure according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein:

an exhaust pipe is arranged below the exhaust port,

a vacuum pump having rotating vanes is in communication with the exhaust pipe.

14. A method of manufacturing a substrate processing apparatus, characterized in that:

the manufacturing method of the substrate processing apparatus includes:

and setting an angle between a first shortest straight line connecting an open end surface of the shielding member adjacent to the first abutment surface and a center of the exhaust port and a horizontal line to 35 degrees or more and 45 degrees or less, and an angle between a second shortest straight line connecting the open end surface of the shielding member and an end portion of the exhaust port and the horizontal line to 65 degrees or more and 80 degrees or less.