CN114649242A

CN114649242A - Semiconductor processing method and semiconductor processing chamber

Info

Publication number: CN114649242A
Application number: CN202210257714.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘旭; 于宸崎; 赵可可; 胡云龙
Original assignee: Beijing Naura Microelectronics Equipment Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Naura Microelectronics Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-16
Filing date: 2022-03-16
Publication date: 2022-06-21

Abstract

The invention provides a semiconductor process chamber, which comprises a cavity, a process assembly, a bearing plate, a lifting assembly, a control device and at least one distance measurement assembly, wherein the process assembly, the bearing plate, the lifting assembly, the control device and the at least one distance measurement assembly are arranged in the cavity; transferring the wafer into the cavity, and controlling the distance measurement assembly to measure the distance of the wafer above the bearing plate; controlling the lifting assembly to lift the wafer according to the two distance measurement results so as to enable the top surface of the wafer to be spaced from the process assembly by a preset distance; and carrying out a semiconductor process. According to the semiconductor process method provided by the invention, the distance measuring component is controlled to carry out distance measurement on the process component twice before and after the wafer is transmitted into the cavity, so that the distance between the wafer and the process component is determined, the height of the lifting component for lifting the wafer is further determined, and the accuracy of the distance between the top surface of the wafer and the process component is ensured. The invention also provides a semiconductor process method.

Description

Semiconductor processing method and semiconductor processing chamber

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of semiconductor process, in particular to a semiconductor process method and a semiconductor process chamber for realizing the semiconductor process method.

Background

With the continuous reduction of feature size and the rapid increase of process complexity in the integrated circuit manufacturing process, more advanced technology nodes impose more strict requirements on the process accuracy. Compared with the traditional Wet cleaning (Wet cleaning), the Dry etching (Dry cleaning) adopts gas to replace chemical reagents to perform chemical reaction with the surface film of the wafer, achieves the effects of accurate and efficient hole bottom removal, no substrate damage (no plasma) and no reoxidation through process integrated control, and becomes an etching technology widely applied to the field of semiconductor process.

In the dry etching process, the process gas generally enters the cavity from the top of the semiconductor process chamber through a vacuum pipeline, and after passing through a uniform flow device (shower), the process gas uniformly contacts the surface of the wafer (wafer) on the base and reacts with the wafer, so as to achieve the purpose of etching. After the etching process is finished, the wafer is jacked to the highest station by a thimble (pin), and the wafer is annealed by a heated uniform flow device so as to promote reaction products to be fully volatilized by high temperature and be pumped away by a dry pump.

In the whole etching process, the distance between the gas sprayed by the uniform flow device and the wafer determines the volume of the gas staying in the chamber, so that the reaction degree between the gas and the film is directly influenced, and the process result is influenced critically; and when the thimble jacks up the wafer for annealing, the distance between the wafer and the heated uniform flow device also determines the difference of annealing degrees.

However, in the prior art, the positions of the wafer for processing and annealing are usually determined by manual detection and calculation, which results in low accuracy of the height of the wafer and poor controllability of the etching effect and the annealing process effect of the wafer.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a semiconductor process method and a semiconductor process chamber for realizing the semiconductor process method, wherein the semiconductor process method can ensure the accuracy of the position of a wafer in the semiconductor process and improve the semiconductor process effect.

In order to achieve the above object, as an aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor process chamber is provided, which includes a chamber, and a process module, a susceptor, a lifting module, which are disposed in the chamber, wherein the process module is located above the susceptor and is used for heating wafers on the susceptor and/or providing process gas into the chamber in a semiconductor process, the lifting module is used for lifting or lowering wafers on the susceptor, the semiconductor process chamber further includes a control device and at least one ranging module disposed at the bottom of the chamber, at least one ranging through hole is formed on the susceptor, the ranging through holes are in one-to-one correspondence with the ranging module, the ranging module is used for ranging an object above the susceptor through the corresponding ranging through hole, and the control device is used for controlling the ranging module to range the process module, and after wafers are conveyed into the cavity, the distance measuring assembly is controlled to measure the distance of the wafers above the bearing plate, and the lifting assembly is controlled to lift the wafers according to the results of the distance measurement in the two times, so that the top surfaces of the wafers and the process assembly are spaced by a preset distance.

Optionally, the distance measuring assembly is fixedly arranged on the bottom surface of the outer side of the bottom wall of the cavity, at least one observation window is arranged on the bottom wall of the cavity and corresponds to the distance measuring assembly in a one-to-one mode, and the distance measuring assembly is used for penetrating through the corresponding observation window and measuring distance of the object above the bearing plate through the corresponding distance measuring through hole.

Optionally, the material of the observation window includes quartz.

Optionally, three observation windows are arranged on the bottom wall of the cavity, and each observation window is circumferentially distributed at equal intervals around the axis of the cavity.

Optionally, the ranging assembly comprises a laser ranging sensor.

Optionally, the control device includes a control module, a communication module, an amplifier and a processing module; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the amplifier is electrically connected with the laser ranging sensor and used for switching on and off the laser ranging sensor under the control of the control module;

the communication module is electrically connected with the amplifier and is used for sending the signal detected by the laser ranging sensor to the processing module;

the processing module is used for carrying out data processing on the signals detected by the laser ranging sensor and sending data processing results to the control module;

the control module is used for controlling the lifting assembly to lift the wafer according to the data processing result.

As a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor processing method applied to the aforementioned semiconductor processing chamber, the semiconductor processing method comprising:

controlling the ranging assembly to perform ranging on the process assembly;

introducing a wafer into the cavity, and controlling the distance measuring assembly to measure the distance of the wafer above the bearing plate;

controlling the lifting assembly to lift the wafer according to the two ranging results so as to enable the top surface of the wafer to be spaced from the process assembly by a preset distance;

and carrying out the semiconductor process.

Optionally, the lifting assembly includes a lifting driving portion and a plurality of ejector pins, a plurality of ejector pin holes are formed in the carrier plate, the positions of the ejector pin holes correspond to the positions of the ejector pins one by one, and the lifting driving portion is configured to drive the ejector pins to lift along the corresponding ejector pin holes;

the semiconductor process method further comprises the following steps: before the wafer is conveyed into the cavity, controlling the lifting assembly to lift, enabling the top ends of the ejector pins to be higher than the bearing surface of the bearing plate, and recording the current feed amount of the lifting driving part as a first feed amount;

the control according to twice range finding results around the back the lift subassembly goes up and down to the wafer, include:

and adjusting the lifting driving part to a second feeding amount according to the distance measurement results of the two times and the first feeding amount so as to enable the top surface of the wafer to be spaced from the process assembly by a preset distance.

Optionally, the adjusting the lifting driving part to a second feeding amount according to the two-time distance measurement result and the first feeding amount comprises:

determining a distance measurement difference value between two distance measurement results;

adding the first feeding amount and the ranging difference value, and subtracting the preset distance and the thickness of the wafer to obtain a second feeding amount;

adjusting the lift drive to the second feed amount.

Optionally, the semiconductor process chamber comprises a plurality of the ranging assemblies, and the controlling the ranging assemblies to range the process assemblies comprises: obtaining a plurality of first ranging values of a plurality of ranging components;

control the range finding subassembly is to bear the weight of the dish top the wafer carries out the range finding, include: obtaining a plurality of second ranging values of a plurality of the ranging components;

the determining of the distance measurement difference value between the two distance measurement results comprises the following steps:

determining a difference between the first ranging value and the second ranging value for each of the ranging components;

if the difference between the two difference values is larger than a preset difference value, stopping the semiconductor process;

and if the difference between any two of the difference values is less than or equal to the preset difference value, determining the average value of the difference values as the ranging difference value.

Optionally, the semiconductor process chamber comprises a plurality of the ranging assemblies, and the semiconductor process method further comprises:

after wafers are conveyed into the cavity, the ranging result of each ranging assembly is obtained;

and stopping the semiconductor process if the distance measurement result of any one of the distance measurement assemblies exceeds a preset range.

In the semiconductor process method and the semiconductor process chamber provided by the invention, the control device can control the distance measurement component to perform primary distance measurement on the process component before the wafer is transmitted into the cavity, and then control the distance measurement component to perform primary distance measurement on the wafer after the wafer is transmitted into the cavity, so that the distance between the wafer and the process component can be determined, the height of the lifting component for lifting the wafer can be further determined according to the distance, the interval between the top surface of the wafer and the process component is accurately kept at the required preset distance in the semiconductor process, and in the process, the two distance measurement tasks are automatically realized by the distance measurement component without manually detecting the distance or introducing an additional standard plane for indirect distance measurement, so that the distance measurement error is reduced, the precision of data required by determining the adjustment quantity of the lifting component is improved, and the precision of the distance between the top surface of the wafer and the process component in the semiconductor process is further ensured, the semiconductor process effect is improved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention and not to limit the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the effect of the distance between a wafer and a uniform flow device on an etching process when a conventional semiconductor processing chamber is used for a semiconductor process;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional semiconductor processing chamber;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a prior art method for measuring the position of a modified wafer;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a wafer in a semiconductor process according to the prior art;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a semiconductor processing chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of one state of a semiconductor processing chamber provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of another state of a semiconductor processing chamber provided by an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a bottom wall of a chamber body in a semiconductor processing chamber provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a connection between a control device and a ranging module in a semiconductor processing chamber according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a connection between a control device and a ranging module in a semiconductor processing chamber according to an embodiment of the invention.

Description of reference numerals:

100: a cavity 200: bearing plate

210: distance measuring through hole 300: lifting assembly

310: elevation drive unit 320: thimble

400: the process kit part 500: distance measuring assembly

510: laser ranging sensor 520: fixing support

530: the programmable logic controller 541: a first amplifier

542: the second amplifier 543: third amplifier

550: the communication module 560: industrial control machine

600: observation window 10: wafer

Detailed Description

The following detailed description of embodiments of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the present invention, are given by way of illustration and explanation only, not limitation.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the effect of the distance C between the wafer and the uniform flow device on the etching process when a conventional semiconductor processing chamber is used for semiconductor processing, and it can be seen from FIG. 1 that when the distance C between the wafer and the uniform flow device is 4.0mm, the average value of the etching amount is

(angstrom), the etch uniformity (i.e., the ratio of the difference between the maximum and minimum wafer thickness to the average wafer thickness) was 12.75%; when the distance C between the wafer and the uniform flow device is 3.5mm, the average value of the etching amount is

The etching uniformity is 4.50%, and it can be seen that the distance C between the wafer and the uniform flow device has an important influence on the etching effect.

However, in the prior art, the height of the wafer lifted by the thimble needs to be determined by manual detection and calculation, so that the accuracy of the height of the wafer is low, and the controllability of the etching effect and the annealing process effect of the wafer is poor. Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a conventional semiconductor processing chamber, which includes a chamber body 100, and a process module 400, a carrier tray 200, and a lifting device disposed in the chamber body 100. The susceptor 200 is used for carrying the wafer 10, and the lifting device includes a lifting driving portion 310 and a plurality of pins 320, wherein the lifting driving portion 310 is used for driving the top ends of the plurality of pins 320 to penetrate through the pin holes of the susceptor 200 and lift up the wafer 10 on the carrying surface of the susceptor 200. The process kit part 400 may be a shower head (Showerhead) for supplying a process gas into the chamber 100 during an etching process and for heating the wafer 10 during a wafer annealing process.

The chamber body 100 includes a chamber body 110 and a chamber lid 120, the chamber lid 120 sealing an opening at the top of the chamber body 110, and the process kit part 400 is disposed on the chamber lid 120. Before a semiconductor process is performed, the distance between the top end of the thimble 320 and the process kit 400 needs to be determined through manual operation, so that the lift driving part 310 is adjusted in the semiconductor process, and the distance between the wafer 10 and the process kit 400 after the thimble 320 is lifted is controlled to be the predetermined distance C required by the process, specifically:

as shown in fig. 2, before the semiconductor process is performed, a height difference a between the lower surface of the process kit part 400 and the chamber facing surface (i.e., the facing surface between the chamber body 110 and the chamber lid 120) is measured by a mechanical three-dimensional map. Then, as shown in fig. 3, an operator opens the chamber top cover 120, places the processed standard aluminum piece 20 on the chamber docking surface at the opening of the chamber body 110, adjusts the lifting driving portion 310, measures height differences between the lower surface of the standard aluminum piece 20 and the upper surface of the wafer 10 at a plurality of positions by using a vernier caliper in a manual measurement manner until the height differences reach a certain standard value E (for example, 10mm), and records the feeding amount of the lifting driving portion 310 as B.

Then, according to the pitch (the predetermined distance C) required by the process, the feeding amount D of the lifting driving part 310 when the wafer 10 theoretically moves to the position can be determined, so that the lifting driving part 310 can be adjusted according to the determined feeding amount D, as shown in fig. 4, and the wafer 10 can be lifted to the corresponding position.

However, in the process, the height difference a is obtained by mechanical three-dimensional map simulation, and may have a deviation from an actual value, and the standard value E is determined by a manual measurement method, and a certain error is also inevitable in the measurement process, so that a deviation exists between the finally determined feeding amount D and an actually required value, and the accuracy of an actual process distance between the upper surface of the wafer 10 and the lower surface of the process kit 400 in the semiconductor process is affected.

In order to solve the above technical problems, according to an aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor processing chamber is provided, which includes a chamber body 100, and a process module 400, a susceptor 200, and a lift module 300 disposed in the chamber body 100, wherein the process module 400 is disposed above the susceptor 200 and used for heating a wafer 10 on the susceptor 200 and/or providing a process gas into the chamber body 100 during a semiconductor process, and the lift module 300 is used for lifting or lowering the wafer 10 on the susceptor 200.

The semiconductor process chamber further comprises a control device and at least one ranging assembly 500 arranged at the bottom of the chamber body 100, wherein at least one ranging through hole 210 is formed in the carrier plate 200, the position of the ranging through hole 210 corresponds to that of the ranging assembly 500, the ranging assembly 500 is used for ranging an object above the carrier plate 200 through the corresponding ranging through hole 210, the control device is used for controlling the ranging assembly 500 to perform ranging on the process assembly 400 (as shown in fig. 5), after a wafer 10 is conveyed into the chamber body 100, the ranging assembly 500 is controlled to perform ranging on the wafer 10 above the carrier plate 200 (as shown in fig. 6), and the lifting assembly 300 is controlled to lift the wafer 10 according to the results of the two ranging operations, so that a preset distance C (as shown in fig. 7) is formed between the top surface of the wafer 10 and the process assembly 400.

In the semiconductor process chamber provided by the invention, the control device can control the distance measuring component 500 to perform one distance measurement on the process component 400 before the wafer 10 is transferred into the cavity 100, and then control the distance measuring component 500 to perform one distance measurement on the wafer 10 after the wafer 10 is transferred into the cavity 100, so that the distance between the wafer 10 and the process component 400 can be determined, the height of the wafer 10 lifted by the lifting component 300 is further determined according to the distance, the interval between the top surface of the wafer 10 and the process component 400 is accurately kept at the required preset distance C in the semiconductor process, and in the process, the two distance measuring tasks are automatically realized by the distance measuring component 500 without manually detecting the distance or introducing an additional standard plane (the lower surface of the standard aluminum piece 20 in the prior art) for indirectly measuring the distance, the distance measuring error is reduced, and the precision of data required by determining the adjustment amount of the lifting component 300 is improved, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the spacing distance between the top surface of the wafer 10 and the process kit part 400 during the semiconductor process and improving the semiconductor process effect.

In order to prolong the service life of the precision devices in the distance measuring assembly 500 and reduce the maintenance cost of the semiconductor process chamber, as shown in fig. 5 to 8, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the distance measuring assembly 500 is fixedly disposed on the bottom surface of the bottom wall of the chamber 100, at least one observation window 600 is disposed on the bottom wall of the chamber 100, the observation window 600 is corresponding to the distance measuring assembly 500, and the distance measuring assembly 500 is used for measuring the distance of the object above the carrier tray 200 through the corresponding observation window 600 and the corresponding distance measuring through hole 210.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the distance measuring assembly 500 is fixedly disposed outside the cavity 100, so that the distance measuring assembly 500 is prevented from directly contacting with the process gas, plasma or tail gas in the cavity 100, the service life of the precision device in the distance measuring assembly 500 is prolonged, and the maintenance cost of the semiconductor process chamber is reduced. Optionally, the material of the observation window 600 includes quartz.

As an alternative embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5 to 7, the chamber body 100 includes a chamber body 110 and a chamber lid 120, the chamber lid 120 is used to seal an opening at the top of the chamber body 110, and the process kit part 400 is disposed on the chamber lid 120.

As an alternative embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5 to 8, the semiconductor process chamber includes three ranging assemblies 500, three observation windows 600 are correspondingly disposed on the bottom wall of the chamber body 100, and the three observation windows 600 may be circumferentially distributed at equal intervals around the axis of the chamber body 100, that is, an included angle between every two observation windows 600 and a line connecting the centers of the bottom wall of the chamber body 100 is 120 °.

As an alternative embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5 to 7, the distance measuring assembly 500 includes a laser distance measuring sensor 510 and a fixing bracket 520, the laser distance measuring sensor 510 is fixedly disposed on the bottom wall of the cavity 100 through the fixing bracket 520, and the laser distance measuring sensor 510 is used for realizing the distance measuring function.

Optionally, the control device is further used for controlling the semiconductor process chamber to perform the semiconductor process.

For example, as an optional implementation manner of the present invention, the process module 400 has a heating function, and the control device is further configured to perform a wafer etching process after controlling the distance measuring module 500 to measure the distance of the wafer 10 above the carrier tray 200 and before controlling the lifting module 300 to lift the wafer 10, and perform a wafer annealing process after controlling the lifting module 300 to lift the wafer 10. That is, after the wafer etching process is finished, the wafer 10 is lifted to a predetermined distance C required by the annealing process between the top surface of the wafer and the process kit 400, and then the process kit 400 is controlled to heat the wafer 10, so as to implement the wafer annealing process.

Alternatively, the process kit 400 may be a uniform flow device (Showerhead), and the control device is further configured to control the semiconductor process chamber to perform a wafer etching process after controlling the lifting assembly 300 to lift the wafer 10. That is, the control device is configured to control the lifting assembly 300 to lift the wafer 10 to the predetermined distance C required by the etching process between the top surface of the wafer and the process assembly 400 after two distance measurements, control the process assembly 400 to provide the process gas into the chamber 100, and control the corresponding assembly to ionize the process gas to generate plasma, so as to etch the wafer 10.

Alternatively, the process module 400 may be a uniform flow device with a heating function, and the control device is further used for controlling the lifting module 300 to lift and lower the wafer 10 for a plurality of times and perform a plurality of semiconductor processes. That is, after the two distance measurements are completed, the wafer 10 is lifted to a predetermined distance between the top surface of the wafer and the process module 400, which is required by the etching process, the process module 400 is controlled to provide the process gas into the chamber 100, and the corresponding module is controlled to ionize the process gas to generate plasma, so as to etch the wafer 10; the wafer 10 is then lifted to a predetermined distance between the top surface thereof and the process kit 400 required for the annealing process, and the process kit 400 is controlled to heat the wafer 10 to implement the wafer annealing process.

In order to improve the accuracy of controlling the height of the wafer 10, as shown in fig. 6, the lift assembly 300 includes a lift driving portion 310 and a plurality of pins 320, a plurality of pin holes corresponding to the plurality of pins 320 are formed on the carrier 200, and the lift driving portion 310 is configured to drive the top ends of the plurality of pins 320 to pass through the corresponding pin holes and extend out of the carrier surface of the carrier 200.

The control device is further configured to control the lifting assembly 300 to lift and lower before the wafer 10 is transferred into the chamber 100, so that the top ends of the plurality of pins 320 are higher than the carrying surface of the carrier tray 200 (as shown in fig. 5), and record the current feeding amount of the lifting driving part 310 as the first feeding amount E.

The step of controlling the lifting assembly 300 to lift the wafer 10 by the control device according to the two distance measurement results includes:

the lift driving part 310 is adjusted to the second feeding amount D according to the two previous and subsequent ranging results and the first feeding amount E, so that the top surface of the wafer 10 is spaced apart from the process kit 400 by the predetermined distance C.

In the embodiment of the present invention, before the lift driving part 310 transfers the wafer and measures the distance of the wafer 10, the lift pin 320 is lifted to a position higher than the carrying surface of the carrying tray 200, so that the wafer 10 only contacts with the top end of the lift pin 320 during measuring the distance, at this time, the feeding amount of the lift driving part 310 is recorded (as the first feeding amount E), which can be used as a basis for adjusting the height of the wafer 10 in step S3, and the difference between the second feeding amount D and the first feeding amount E is the height to be raised of the wafer 10, so that after the height adjustment amount of the wafer 10 is determined according to the results of measuring the distance twice, the feeding amount of the lift driving part 310 is adjusted to the second feeding amount D, which can ensure that the wafer 10 is located at a desired position, and improve the accuracy of controlling the height of the wafer 10.

As an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the control device is further configured to control the lifting assembly 300 to return to the wafer position (i.e., adjust the lifting assembly 300 to the first feeding amount E to lift the ejector pins 320 to the height of the wafer 10 when the wafer 10 is transferred) after the semiconductor process is completed, and transfer the wafer 10 out of the chamber 100.

In order to further improve the accuracy of controlling the height of the wafer 10, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the thickness of the wafer 10 is also considered when determining the second feeding amount D. Specifically, the step of adjusting the lifting driving part 310 to the second feeding amount D by the control device according to the two-time distance measurement result and the first feeding amount E includes:

determining a distance measurement difference value Z between the two distance measurement results;

adding the first feeding amount E and the distance measurement difference value Z, and subtracting the preset distance C and the thickness M of the wafer 10 to obtain a second feeding amount D;

the elevation driving part 310 is adjusted to the second feeding amount D.

That is, the second feed amount D is the first feed amount E + the distance measurement difference Z-the predetermined distance C-the wafer thickness M. It is understood that the thickness M of the wafer 10 can be obtained according to the specification and dimension information of the current batch of wafers, or can be obtained by measuring the batch of wafers.

As an optional embodiment of the present invention, the semiconductor process chamber only includes one ranging assembly 500, and only one ranging through hole 210 is correspondingly formed on the carrier tray 200, where the two ranging results are two ranging values obtained by performing ranging twice on the ranging assembly 500, and the ranging difference Z is a difference between the two ranging values.

In order to improve the safety of the semiconductor process, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the semiconductor process chamber includes a plurality of ranging assemblies 500, so that whether the wafers 10 on the susceptor 200 are normal can be determined by determining whether the ranging values of the ranging assemblies 500 are consistent.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 5 to 7, the semiconductor process chamber includes a plurality of ranging assemblies 500, and the step of controlling the ranging assemblies 500 by the control device to perform ranging on the process assembly 400 specifically includes: obtaining a plurality of first ranging values Yi (Y1, Y2, … … Yn) for a plurality of ranging components 500;

the steps of the control device controlling the ranging assembly 500 to perform ranging on the wafer 10 above the susceptor 200 specifically include: obtaining a plurality of second ranging values Xi (X1, X2, … … Xn) for the plurality of ranging components 500;

the specific steps of determining the distance measurement difference value Z between the two distance measurement results by the control device specifically include:

step S311, determining a difference Zi between the first ranging value Y and the second ranging value X of each ranging module 500 (i.e. obtaining Z1, Z2, … … Zn by Yi-Xi ═ Zi);

step S312, if the difference between the two difference values Zi is larger than the preset difference value, stopping the semiconductor process;

step 313, if the difference between any two of the plurality of difference values Zi is less than or equal to the preset difference value, determining the average value of the plurality of difference values Zi as the ranging difference value Z.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the control device performs a difference operation on the front and rear two distance measurement values of each distance measurement component 500 to obtain a plurality of difference values Zi, and compares every two difference values Zi before averaging the plurality of difference values Zi, when a difference between the two difference values is greater than a preset difference value, it indicates that a large deviation occurs in the levelness of the process component 400 or the wafer 10 is damaged (part of the distance measurement components 500 do not detect the wafer 10 in the second distance measurement), the semiconductor process needs to be stopped and the process component 400 or the lifting component 300 needs to be overhauled (for example, the height of an ejector pin in the lifting component 300 is adjusted), so that an abnormal condition of the wafer 10 or the semiconductor process chamber is identified before the semiconductor process, and the safety of the semiconductor process is improved.

As an alternative embodiment of the invention, the predetermined difference is 0.2mm (millimeters).

As an alternative embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5 to 8, the semiconductor process chamber includes three ranging assemblies 500, three observation windows 600 are correspondingly disposed on the bottom wall of the chamber body 100, and the three observation windows 600 are circumferentially distributed at equal intervals around the axis of the chamber body 100, that is, an included angle between a line connecting every two observation windows 600 and the center of the bottom wall of the chamber body 100 is 120 °.

Correspondingly, the control device may obtain three difference values Z1, Z2, Z3 according to three first ranging values Y1, Y2, Y3 and three second ranging values X1, X2, X3 of the three ranging assemblies 500. That is, Y1-X1 ═ Z1, Y2-X2 ═ Z2, and Y3-X3 ═ Z3. In step S31, the three differences Z1, Z2, and Z3 are averaged to obtain the distance measurement difference Z.

In order to further improve the safety of the semiconductor process, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the control device is further configured to obtain the ranging result of each ranging assembly 500 after the wafer 10 is transferred into the chamber 100, and stop the semiconductor process if the ranging result of the ranging assembly 500 exceeds a preset range.

It should be noted that the preset range is a range in which the normal ranging result of the ranging assembly 500 floats up and down by a certain error after the wafer 10 normally falls on the plurality of ejector pins 320, and the size of the error range can be selected according to actual situations. In the embodiment of the present invention, the control device reads the ranging result of each ranging assembly 500 after the wafer is transferred, and when the ranging result of a certain ranging assembly 500 exceeds a preset range (i.e., the deviation between the ranging result and the normal ranging value is too large), it indicates that the height of the wafer 10 at the position (circumferential position) is too high/too low or a defect occurs, so as to identify the abnormal condition (e.g., a fragment) of the wafer 10 in time and stop the semiconductor process, thereby ensuring the safety of the semiconductor process.

As an alternative embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 9, the control device may include a processing module, such as an industrial personal computer 560. To improve the ranging accuracy, as shown in fig. 9, the semiconductor process chamber may preferably include a communication module 550 and at least one amplifier (e.g., a first amplifier 541, a second amplifier 542, and a third amplifier 543) corresponding to the laser ranging sensor 510 in a one-to-one manner, and the laser ranging sensor 510 (e.g., a first laser ranging sensor 511, a second laser ranging sensor 512, and a third laser ranging sensor 513) of each ranging assembly 500 is in communication connection with the control device through the corresponding amplifier and the communication module 550. The amplifier is used for amplifying the ranging signal of the laser ranging sensor 510 and sending the amplified ranging signal to the control device through the communication module 550, so that the ranging signal of each laser ranging sensor 510 can be amplified, and the accuracy of the finally obtained ranging value is improved.

As an optional embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 9 and 10, the control device further includes a control module, for example, a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) 530, where the PLC 530 controls each amplifier through an input/output signal (I/O signal) under the control of the industrial personal computer 560, so as to implement functions of setting parameters such as a power mode of the amplifier, resetting (reset) the amplifier, or performing 0-drift calibration ON the amplifier, and indirectly control each corresponding laser ranging sensor 510, thereby implementing turning ON or OFF the corresponding laser ranging sensor 510 (laser ON/OFF). And simultaneously, signals fed back by the amplifiers can be acquired, so that the state of each amplifier can be monitored, such as the state of an alarm (alm), some logic judgment results and the like.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 10, the control device controls the feeding amount of the elevation driving part 310 in the elevation assembly 300 through the programmable logic controller 530.

As a second aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor processing method is provided, which is applied to a semiconductor processing chamber provided in an embodiment of the present invention, and the semiconductor processing method includes:

step S1, controlling the distance measuring assembly 500 to measure the distance of the process assembly 400 (as shown in fig. 5);

step S2, transferring the wafer 10 into the chamber 100, and controlling the distance measuring assembly 500 to measure the distance of the wafer 10 on the susceptor 200 (as shown in fig. 6);

step S3, controlling the lifting assembly 300 to lift the wafer 10 according to the two previous and subsequent distance measurement results, so that the top surface of the wafer 10 is spaced from the process assembly 400 by a predetermined distance C (as shown in fig. 7);

and step S4, carrying out semiconductor process.

The semiconductor process method provided by the invention controls the ranging assembly 500 to perform primary ranging on the process assembly 400 before the wafer 10 is transferred into the cavity 100, and controls the ranging assembly 500 to perform primary ranging on the wafer 10 after the wafer 10 is transferred into the cavity 100, so that the distance between the wafer 10 and the process assembly 400 can be determined, the height of the wafer 10 lifted by the lifting assembly 300 is further determined according to the distance, the interval between the top surface of the wafer 10 and the process assembly 400 is accurately kept at the required preset distance C in the semiconductor process, and in the process, two ranging tasks are automatically realized by the ranging assembly 500 without manually detecting the distance or introducing an additional standard plane (the lower surface of the standard aluminum piece 20 in the prior art) for indirect ranging, the ranging error is reduced, and the accuracy of data required by determining the adjustment quantity of the lifting assembly 300 is improved, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the spacing distance between the top surface of the wafer 10 and the process kit part 400 during the semiconductor process and improving the semiconductor process effect.

For example, as an optional implementation manner of the present invention, the process element 400 has a heating function, the semiconductor processing method further includes performing a wafer etching process between the steps S2 and S3, and performing a wafer annealing process in S4. That is, after the wafer etching process is completed, the wafer 10 is lifted to a predetermined distance C required for the annealing process between the top surface thereof and the process kit 400 (i.e., step S3 is performed), and the process kit 400 is controlled to heat the wafer 10 to perform the wafer annealing process (i.e., step S4 is performed).

Alternatively, the process kit part 400 may be a flow-leveling device (Showerhead), and the wafer etching process is performed in step S4. That is, the wafer 10 is lifted to a predetermined distance C required for the etching process between the top surface thereof and the process kit 400 in step S3, and the process kit 400 is controlled to supply a process gas into the chamber 100 and ionize the process gas to generate a plasma to etch the wafer 10 in step S4.

Still alternatively, the process kit part 400 may be a uniform flow device having a heating function, and the steps S3 and S4 are repeated a plurality of times. That is, after step S2, the wafer 10 is lifted to a predetermined distance C between the top surface of the wafer and the process kit 400, the process kit 400 is controlled to provide the process gas into the chamber 100, and the process gas is ionized to generate plasma, so as to etch the wafer 10 (step S3 and step S4 are performed in the first round); the wafer 10 is then lifted to a predetermined distance C required by the spacing annealing process between the top surface thereof and the process kit 400, and the process kit 400 is controlled to heat the wafer 10 to perform the wafer annealing process (perform the second round of steps S3 and S4).

In order to improve the accuracy of controlling the height of the wafer 10, as shown in fig. 6, the lift assembly 300 includes a lift driving portion 310 and a plurality of pins 320, wherein a plurality of pin holes corresponding to the plurality of pins 320 are formed on the carrier tray 200, and the lift driving portion 310 is configured to drive the top ends of the plurality of pins 320 to pass through the corresponding pin holes and extend out to the upper side of the carrier surface of the carrier tray 200;

the semiconductor process method further comprises: before the wafer 10 is transferred into the chamber 100, the lifting assembly 300 is controlled to lift, so that the top ends of the plurality of pins 320 are higher than the carrying surface of the carrying tray 200 (as shown in fig. 5), and the current feeding amount of the lifting driving part 310 is recorded as a first feeding amount E;

in step S3, the lifting assembly 300 is controlled to lift the wafer 10 according to the two distance measurement results, which specifically includes:

As an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the semiconductor processing method further includes controlling the lifting assembly 300 to return to the wafer position (i.e., adjusting the lifting assembly 300 to the first feeding amount E to lift the ejector pins 320 to the height of the wafer 10 when the wafer 10 is transferred) after the semiconductor process is completed, and transferring the wafer 10 out of the chamber 100.

In order to further improve the accuracy of controlling the height of the wafer 10, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the thickness of the wafer 10 is also considered when determining the second feeding amount D. Specifically, the step of adjusting the elevation driving part 310 to the second feeding amount D according to the two-time distance measurement result and the first feeding amount E in the step S3 specifically includes:

step S31, determining a distance measurement difference Z between the distance measurement results of the previous time and the distance measurement result of the next time;

step S32, adding the first feeding quantity E and the distance measurement difference Z, and subtracting the preset distance C and the thickness M of the wafer 10 to obtain a second feeding quantity D;

in step S33, the lift drive unit 310 is adjusted to the second feed amount D.

That is, the second feed amount D is the first feed amount E + the distance measurement difference Z-the predetermined distance C-the wafer thickness M. It is understood that the thickness M of the wafer 10 can be obtained from the specification and dimension information of the current batch of wafers, or measured for the batch of wafers.

In order to improve the safety of the semiconductor process, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the semiconductor process chamber includes a plurality of distance measuring assemblies 500, so that whether the wafers 10 on the susceptor 200 are normal can be determined by whether the distance measuring values of the plurality of distance measuring assemblies 500 are consistent.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 5 to 7, the semiconductor process chamber includes a plurality of ranging assemblies 500, and the step of controlling the ranging assembly 500 to perform ranging on the process assembly 400 in the step S1 specifically includes: obtaining a plurality of first ranging values Yi (Y1, Y2, … … Yn) for a plurality of ranging components 500;

the step of controlling the ranging module 500 to perform ranging on the wafer 10 above the susceptor 200 in the step S2 specifically includes: obtaining a plurality of second ranging values Xi (X1, X2, … … Xn) for the plurality of ranging components 500;

step S31 specifically includes:

step S311, determining a difference Zi between the first distance measurement value Y and the second distance measurement value X of each distance measurement module 500 (i.e., calculating Z1, Z2, … … Zn by Yi-Xi ═ Zi);

In the embodiment of the present invention, a difference operation is performed on the front and rear two distance measurement values of each distance measurement component 500 to obtain a plurality of difference values Zi, before averaging the plurality of difference values Zi, each difference value Zi is compared with each other, and when a difference between the two difference values is greater than a preset difference value, it indicates that a large deviation occurs in the levelness of the process component 400 or the wafer 10 is damaged (part of the distance measurement components 500 do not detect the wafer 10 in the second distance measurement), the semiconductor process needs to be stopped and the process component 400 or the lifting component 300 needs to be repaired (for example, the height of a thimble in the lifting component 300 is adjusted), so that an abnormal condition of the wafer 10 or the semiconductor process chamber is identified before the semiconductor process, and the safety of the semiconductor process is improved.

As an alternative embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5 to 8, the semiconductor process chamber includes three ranging assemblies 500, three observation windows 600 are correspondingly disposed on the bottom wall of the chamber body 100, and the three observation windows 600 are circumferentially distributed at equal intervals around the axis of the chamber body 100, that is, an included angle between each two observation windows 600 and a line connecting the centers of the bottom wall of the chamber body 100 is 120 °.

Correspondingly, in step S311, three difference values Z1, Z2 and Z3 can be obtained according to the three first ranging values Y1, Y2 and Y3 and the three second ranging values X1, X2 and X3 of the three ranging components 500. That is, Y1-X1 ═ Z1, Y2-X2 ═ Z2, and Y3-X3 ═ Z3. In step S31, the three differences Z1, Z2, and Z3 are averaged to obtain the distance measurement difference Z.

In order to further improve the safety of the semiconductor process, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the semiconductor process method further includes:

after the wafer 10 is introduced into the chamber 100, a ranging result of each ranging assembly 500 is obtained;

if the distance measurement result of the distance measurement component 500 exceeds the preset range, the semiconductor process is stopped.

It should be noted that the preset range is a range of a certain error in which the normal ranging result of the ranging assembly 500 fluctuates up and down after the wafer 10 normally falls on the plurality of pins 320 in step S2, and the size of the error range can be selected according to actual situations. In the embodiment of the present invention, the ranging result of each ranging module 500 after being transferred is read, and when the ranging result of a certain ranging module 500 exceeds a preset range (i.e. the deviation from the normal ranging value is too large), it indicates that the height of the wafer 10 at the position (circumferential position) is too high/too low or incomplete, so as to identify an abnormal condition (e.g. a fragment) of the wafer 10 in time and stop the semiconductor process, thereby ensuring the safety of the semiconductor process.

In order to further improve the safety of the semiconductor process and ensure the rhythm of the production of the machine, as a preferred embodiment of the invention, the semiconductor process method further comprises the following steps: after the semiconductor process chamber is controlled to stop the semiconductor process, an alarm is given (for example, an alarm lamp is controlled to emit light or flash, a buzzer is controlled to ring, or an operation interface is controlled to pop up an alarm window, and the like).

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.

Claims

1. A semiconductor process chamber comprises a chamber body, a process assembly, a bearing plate and a lifting assembly, wherein the process assembly, the bearing plate and the lifting assembly are arranged in the chamber body, the process assembly is positioned above the bearing plate and used for heating wafers on the bearing plate and/or providing process gas into the chamber body in a semiconductor process, the lifting assembly is used for lifting or putting down wafers on the bearing plate, the semiconductor process chamber is characterized by further comprising a control device and at least one ranging assembly arranged at the bottom of the chamber body, at least one ranging through hole which corresponds to the ranging assembly in a one-to-one mode is formed in the bearing plate, the ranging assembly is used for ranging objects above the bearing plate through the corresponding ranging through hole, the control device is used for controlling the ranging assembly to range the process assembly and transmitting the wafers into the chamber body, and then controlling the distance measuring assembly to measure the distance of the wafer above the bearing disc, and controlling the lifting assembly to lift the wafer according to the results of the two distance measurements so as to enable the top surface of the wafer to be spaced from the process assembly by a preset distance.

2. The semiconductor processing chamber of claim 1, wherein the ranging assembly is fixedly disposed on a bottom surface outside the bottom wall of the cavity, the bottom wall of the cavity is provided with at least one observation window corresponding to the ranging assembly in one-to-one position, and the ranging assembly is configured to measure a distance of an object above the susceptor through the corresponding observation window and the corresponding ranging through hole.

3. The semiconductor processing chamber of claim 2, wherein the observation window comprises quartz.

4. The semiconductor processing chamber of claim 3, wherein three observation windows are disposed on the bottom wall of the cavity, and wherein the observation windows are circumferentially equally spaced around the axis of the cavity.

5. The semiconductor processing chamber of claim 1, wherein the ranging assembly comprises a laser ranging sensor.

6. The semiconductor process chamber of claim 5, wherein the control device comprises a control module, a communication module, an amplifier, and a processing module; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

7. A semiconductor processing method applied to the semiconductor processing chamber of any one of claims 1 to 6, the semiconductor processing method comprising:

controlling the ranging assembly to perform ranging on the process assembly;

and carrying out the semiconductor process.

8. The semiconductor process method according to claim 7, wherein the lifting assembly comprises a lifting driving portion and a plurality of lift pins, a plurality of lift pin holes corresponding to the lift pins in a one-to-one manner are formed on the carrier tray, and the lifting driving portion is configured to drive the lift pins to lift along the corresponding lift pin holes;

9. The semiconductor process method according to claim 8, wherein the adjusting the elevating driving part to a second feeding amount according to the ranging result twice before and after and the first feeding amount comprises:

adding the first feeding amount and the distance measurement difference value, and subtracting the preset distance and the thickness of the wafer to obtain a second feeding amount;

adjusting the lift drive to the second feed amount.

10. The semiconductor processing method of claim 9, wherein the semiconductor processing chamber includes a plurality of the ranging assemblies, and wherein controlling the ranging assembly to range the process assembly comprises: obtaining a plurality of first ranging values of a plurality of ranging components;

and if the difference between any two of the difference values is smaller than or equal to the preset difference value, determining the average value of the difference values as the ranging difference value.

11. The semiconductor processing method of claim 7, wherein the semiconductor processing chamber comprises a plurality of the ranging assemblies, the semiconductor processing method further comprising: