CN117276043A - Liner ring for pre-cleaning chamber and pre-cleaning chamber - Google Patents

Abstract

A liner ring for pre-cleaning a chamber, the liner ring disposed around a susceptor, the susceptor being provided with at least one purge hole for supplying a purge gas; the backing ring includes: a lateral extension, a vertical extension, and at least one support, the lateral extension being connected to the vertical extension; the support piece is arranged on the lower surface of the transverse extension part, the transverse extension part is separated from the base through the at least one support piece, so that a gap is formed between the transverse extension part and the base, and the gap forms a gas channel for the purge gas to pass through; wherein the vertical extension extends downward, and the lower end of the vertical extension is lower than the lower surface of the base. The liner ring can prevent particle pollution and prevent air flow from overflowing.

Description

Liner ring for pre-cleaning chamber and pre-cleaning chamber

Technical Field

The invention relates to semiconductor equipment, in particular to the field of a pretreatment chamber and a liner ring thereof.

Background

In semiconductor devices, the pretreatment chamber is mainly used for treating an oxide layer on the surface of a wafer, and in advanced manufacturing processes of chips, the oxide layer on the surface of the wafer is pretreated before the wafer is subjected to film deposition, so that the oxide layer is removed.

Currently, the susceptor edge of the pre-clean chamber is prone to deposit and to generate large amounts of particulate contaminants during the process, thereby increasing the probability of particulate contamination falling on the surface of the wafer. And the uneven heat conduction at the edge of the base, thereby affecting the uniformity of heating of the wafer on the upper surface of the base in the process, and affecting the process temperature at the edge of the wafer. In addition, the purge gas on the bottom surface of the susceptor may affect the distribution of the process gas on the top surface of the susceptor, resulting in uneven distribution of the process gas and ultimately uneven wafer surface treatment.

Disclosure of Invention

To solve the above problems, the impact of particulate contaminants on the wafer is reduced, as well as the impact of process gas maldistribution on the wafer is reduced. The invention proposes a liner ring for pre-cleaning a chamber, said liner ring being arranged around a base provided with at least one purge hole for supplying a purge gas, said liner ring comprising:

a lateral extension;

a vertical extension connected with the lateral extension;

at least one support member disposed on a lower surface of the lateral extension portion, the lateral extension portion being spaced from the base by the at least one support member such that a gap is formed between the lateral extension portion and the base, the gap forming a gas passage through which the purge gas passes;

wherein the vertical extension extends downward, and the lower end of the vertical extension is lower than the lower surface of the base.

Further, the backing ring further includes: and the shielding ring is connected with the vertical extension part and is used for preventing the air flow from overflowing.

Further, the shielding ring is disposed at a lower end portion of the vertical extension portion.

Further, at least one step portion is arranged on the lower surface of the transverse extension portion, and the step portion enables the gas channel to be a bent gas channel.

Further, the support is a cylinder or a sphere embedded in a lower surface of the lateral extension.

Further, the material of the support is alumina, quartz or silicon nitride.

Further, the number of the supporting pieces is not less than three and not more than nine.

Further, the support members are evenly distributed along the circumference of the lateral extension.

Further, the vertical extension extends downward a length of 3-10cm beyond the lower surface of the base.

Further, the upper surface of the transverse extension part is provided with a plurality of protruding blocks, and the protruding blocks are higher than the upper surface of the base.

Further, the number of the bumps is not less than three and not more than twelve.

Further, the projections are uniformly distributed along the circumferential direction of the upper surface of the laterally extending portion.

Further, the projection extends in a radial direction.

The invention also proposes a pre-cleaning chamber comprising:

a cavity;

the base is arranged in the cavity;

and the lining ring is arranged around the base.

The invention has the beneficial effects that:

1. a channel for introducing purge gas is formed between the liner ring and the base, and the purge gas can reduce particle pollutants;

2. the vertical extension part of the lining ring provided by the invention extends downwards to prevent the air flow from overflowing, so that the uniformity of the air flow distribution of the reaction gas is ensured;

3. the shielding ring provided by the invention can further prevent the air flow from overflowing.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a pre-clean chamber according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a liner ring of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a liner ring of the present invention placed on a base;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are enlarged views of a liner ring placed on a susceptor according to two embodiments of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a top view of the base of the present invention.

Detailed Description

A liner ring for a pre-clean chamber, according to the present invention, will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and detailed description. The advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description. It should be noted that the drawings are in a very simplified form and are all to a non-precise scale, merely for the purpose of facilitating and clearly aiding in the description of embodiments of the invention. For a better understanding of the invention with objects, features and advantages, refer to the drawings. It should be understood that the structures, proportions, sizes, etc. shown in the drawings are for illustration purposes only and should not be construed as limiting the invention to the extent that any modifications, changes in the proportions, or adjustments of the sizes of structures, proportions, or otherwise, used in the practice of the invention, are included in the spirit and scope of the invention which is otherwise, without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof.

Referring to fig. 1, the pre-cleaning chamber of the present invention includes a chamber 107, a susceptor 101, a liner 103, a plasma source 105, and a liner ring 200, wherein the susceptor 101 is disposed in the chamber 107, and a heating assembly is disposed in the susceptor 101 for heating a wafer to provide a temperature required by a process; the cavity 107 comprises a side wall, and the inner surface of the side wall is provided with a bushing 103 in a connecting way; a plasma source 105 and a process gas inlet showerhead 106 are disposed above the top of the chamber 107, the process gas inlet showerhead 106 being disposed below the plasma source 105 and in communication with the plasma source 105; the bottom of the cavity 107 is provided with a lifting device 109, the top of the lifting device 109 is provided with the base 101, the base 101 is used for placing the wafer 102, and the lifting device 109 is used for controlling the lifting of the base 101. The liner ring 200 is disposed around the base 101 and is connected to the upper surface of the base 101. One side of the sidewall is provided with a tail gas channel 108 in communication with the pump for exhausting the exhaust gas. The plasma source 105 converts the input process gas into a plasma state, then the process gas in the plasma state is annihilated through at least one gas distribution plate arranged at the process gas inlet nozzle 106, neutral particles enter the cavity 107 to form a reaction gas 104, the reaction gas 104 enters the cavity to clean the surface of the wafer 102, the reaction gas 104 after the cleaning is completed passes through the lining 103 arranged on the side wall of the cavity 107, and then under the action of negative pressure of a pump, the waste gas is discharged to the outside of the cavity through the tail gas channel 108.

The liner 103 includes an annular sidewall that includes an upper ring portion and a lower ring portion, the annular sidewall having an inner surface that is the side facing the wafer 102 and an outer surface that is opposite the inner surface, i.e., the side facing the exhaust passage 108. The upper ring portion is provided with a plurality of ventilation holes, the ventilation holes are distributed at least one circle along the circumference of the bushing. The outer surface of the upper ring part of the annular side wall is provided with a first channel, the outer surface of the lower ring part of the annular side wall is provided with a second channel, the first channel is communicated with the second channel, the second channel is communicated with a tail gas channel 108, and finally the waste gas is discharged out of the cavity 107. Specifically, the top surface of upper ring portion is provided with first annular flange along its circumference, is provided with the second annular flange along its circumference at the bottom surface of lower ring portion, is provided with the third annular flange along circumference at the surface between upper ring portion and lower ring portion. The lower ring portion is provided with a wafer transfer port through which the wafer 102 is placed inside the liner from outside the chamber 107 or is taken out from inside the liner to outside the chamber 107. The liner 103 serves to uniformly distribute the reactant gas 104 over the wafer surface.

Wherein the lining 103 is made of ceramic; the base 101 is made of aluminum.

Referring to fig. 2 and 3, a liner ring 200 for a pre-clean chamber is provided for preventing particle contamination around a wafer. Since the process may generate particle contaminants, the portion of the liner ring 200 contacting the susceptor 101 is more likely to accumulate the particle contaminants, so as to prevent the particle contaminants from contaminating the surface of the wafer 102. The inside of the base 101 is provided with at least one purge hole for supplying purge gas, the purge hole is communicated with the purge gas channel 100, the at least one purge gas channel 100 is radially arranged along the base 101 (refer to fig. 4 to 6), and the purge gas enters from the lifting device 109 at the bottom of the base 101 and is discharged from the at least one purge hole.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 2 to 4, the liner ring 200 includes: a lateral extension 201 and a vertical extension 202, said lateral extension 201 being connected to said vertical extension 202. Optionally, the liner ring 200 includes aluminum, ceramic or quartz, and the liner ring 200 is integrally formed. The liner ring 200 further includes at least one support member 203, the at least one support member 203 is disposed on the lower surface of the lateral extension 201, the lateral extension 201 is spaced from the base 101 by the at least one support member 203, such that a gap is formed between the lateral extension 201 and the base 101, the gap forms a gas channel 205 through which the purge gas passes, the gas channel 205 includes a first gas channel and a second gas channel, the first gas channel is formed by the gap between the lateral extension 201 and the base 101, the second gas channel is formed by the gap between the vertical extension 202 and the base 101, as shown in fig. 3, the purge gas is guided by the liner ring 200 to form a purge gas G1 and a purge gas G2, and the purge gas G1 mainly flows in the first gas channel and the purge gas G2 mainly flows in the second gas channel. The purge gas may clean particulate contaminants in the gap and near the wafer edge through the gas channel 205, preventing contaminants from forming at the gap and the wafer edge. In the cleaning process, the pre-cleaning chamber is divided into an upper half and a lower half by taking the base 101 as a boundary line, the upper half is a process area, the lower half is a non-process area, a large amount of reaction gas 104 is in the process area, and the lower half is introduced with a second purge gas G near the lifting device 109, so as to prevent the convection of the upper and lower gases, thereby affecting the gas distribution on the surface of the wafer. Wherein the vertical extension 202 extends downward, and the lower end of the vertical extension 202 is lower than the lower surface of the base 101, optionally the vertical extension 202 extends downward by 3-10cm beyond the lower surface of the base 101. This prevents the second purge gas G from flowing in the lower non-process zone to the upper process zone, thereby affecting the wafer surface gas flow distribution. In addition, after the purge gas G2 meets the second purge gas G, upward movement of the second purge gas G can be better suppressed.

To further prevent the lower non-process zone gas flow from affecting the process zone, the liner ring 200, as shown in fig. 5, further includes: a shadow ring 204, the shadow ring 204 being connected to the vertical extension 202, the shadow ring 204 may reduce the gap between the liner ring 200 and the liner 103 for better preventing the air flow from overflowing. Further preferably, the shielding ring 204 is disposed at the lower end of the vertical extension 202, and the shielding ring 204 is disposed at the lowest end, which has a certain flow guiding effect and prevents the second purge gas G from entering the gap between the liner ring 200 and the liner 103. Of course, alternatively, the shielding ring 204 may be disposed at any position on the outer surface of the vertical extension 202. Optionally, the shroud ring 204 extends in a lateral direction.

Further, at least one step 2011 is disposed on the lower surface of the lateral extension 201, and the step 2011 makes the gas channel 205 a bent gas channel, which can inhibit the reaction gas 104 from entering the gas channel. In addition, the base 101 is provided with at least one step corresponding to the step 2011; optionally, as shown in fig. 6, the number of steps is 3, the purge holes are disposed at the first step located at the lowest position, the end of the lateral extension 201 is correspondingly disposed at the second step located at the middle position, and the wafer 102 is disposed at the third step located at the highest position. The multi-step can ensure the thermal uniformity of the periphery of the crystal.

Preferably, the support 203 is a cylinder or a sphere embedded in the lower surface of the lateral extension 201. Accordingly, a circumferential groove or a positioning hole for positioning the column or the sphere is provided on the base 101, and the supporting member 203 may be connected to the base 101 through the circumferential groove or the positioning hole, thereby ensuring the stability of the liner ring 200 on the base 101 during the process.

Since the process requires heating, the temperature of the edge of the wafer 102 is affected in order to prevent heat of the susceptor 101 from being transferred to the liner ring 200 or heat of the liner ring 200 from being transferred to the susceptor 101. The contact between the susceptor 101 and the liner ring 200 should be minimized to reduce heat conduction therebetween. In further consideration of stability of placement of the liner ring 200, the number of the supporting pieces 203 is optionally not less than three and not more than nine. Optionally, the supporting members 203 are uniformly distributed along the circumference of the lower surface of the lateral extension 201. And the material of the supporting member 203 may be selected from alumina, quartz, silicon nitride, and other materials with high thermal resistance and high hardness.

As shown in fig. 2, during cleaning, the wafer 102 tends to experience radial deflection on the susceptor 101 due to the effects of the air flow within the chamber 107. To ensure the stability of the placement of the wafer 102, the upper surface of the lateral extension 201 is provided with a plurality of bumps 206, and the bumps 206 are higher than the upper surface of the base 101. The bumps 206 contact the sides of the wafer 102 when the wafer 102 moves radially, preventing the wafer 102 from radially moving away from the susceptor 101. Preferably, the number of the bumps 206 is not less than three and not more than twelve. Preferably, the bumps 206 are uniformly distributed along the circumference of the upper surface of the lateral extension 201, and may block the wafer 102 from being offset in each radial direction. Further, the protrusion 206 may act as a deflector to reduce turbulence.

In summary, the invention has the following beneficial effects:

1. a channel for introducing purge gas is formed between the lining ring and the base, so that particle pollutants can be reduced;

2. the vertical extension part of the lining ring extends downwards to prevent the air flow from overflowing and ensure the uniformity of the air flow distribution of the reaction gas;

3. the baffle ring may further prevent the air flow from overflowing.

In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center," "height," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "axial," "radial," "circumferential," and the like indicate or are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, merely to facilitate describing the present invention and to simplify the description, and do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a specific orientation, be configured and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the present invention. In the description of the present invention, unless otherwise indicated, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more.

In the description of the present invention, unless explicitly stated and limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "secured" are to be construed broadly, and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally formed; can be mechanically or electrically connected; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and can be communicated with the inside of two elements or the interaction relationship of the two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention will be understood in specific cases by those of ordinary skill in the art.

In the present invention, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, a first feature "above" or "below" a second feature may include both the first and second features being in direct contact, as well as the first and second features not being in direct contact but being in contact with each other through additional features therebetween. Moreover, a first feature being "above," "over" and "on" a second feature includes the first feature being directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is higher in level than the second feature. The first feature being "under", "below" and "beneath" the second feature includes the first feature being directly under and obliquely below the second feature, or simply means that the first feature is less level than the second feature.

While the present invention has been described in detail through the foregoing description of the preferred embodiment, it should be understood that the foregoing description is not to be considered as limiting the invention. Many modifications and substitutions of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.

Claims (14)

1. A liner ring for a pre-clean chamber, the liner ring (200) being arranged around a base, the base (101) being provided with at least one purge hole (100) for supplying a purge gas; characterized by comprising the following steps:

a lateral extension (201);

-a vertical extension (202), the lateral extension (201) being connected to the vertical extension (202);

at least one support member (203), the support member (203) being disposed on a lower surface of the lateral extension (201), the lateral extension (201) being spaced from the base (101) by the at least one support member (203) such that a gap is formed between the lateral extension (201) and the base (101), the gap forming a gas channel (205) through which the purge gas passes;

wherein the vertical extension (202) extends downward, and a lower end portion of the vertical extension (202) is lower than a lower surface of the base (101).

2. The liner ring for a pre-clean chamber as set forth in claim 1, further comprising: and the shielding ring (204) is connected with the vertical extension (202) and is used for preventing the air flow from overflowing.

3. The liner ring for a pre-clean chamber of claim 2, wherein the shadow ring (204) is disposed at a lower end of the vertical extension (202).

4. A collar for a pre-clean chamber according to claim 1, characterized in that the lower surface of the lateral extension (201) is provided with at least one step (2011), which step (2011) makes the gas channel (205) a bent gas channel.

5. A collar for a pre-clean chamber according to claim 1, characterized in that the support (203) is a cylinder or a sphere embedded in the lower surface of the lateral extension (201).

6. A liner ring for a pre-clean chamber according to claim 1, wherein the material of the support (203) is alumina, quartz or silicon nitride.

7. A liner ring for a pre-clean chamber according to claim 1, wherein the number of supports (203) is not less than three and not more than nine.

8. A liner ring for a pre-clean chamber according to claim 1, wherein the support members (203) are evenly distributed along the circumference of the lateral extension (201).

9. A collar for a pre-clean chamber according to claim 1, characterized in that the vertical extension (202) extends down over the lower surface of the base (101) by a length of 3-10cm.

10. A collar for a pre-clean chamber according to claim 1, characterized in that the upper surface of the lateral extension (201) is provided with a number of protrusions (206), which protrusions (206) are higher than the upper surface of the base (101).

11. The liner ring for a pre-clean chamber of claim 10, wherein the number of lugs (206) is not less than three and not more than twelve.

12. Liner ring for a pre-clean chamber according to claim 10, characterized in that the protrusions (206) are evenly distributed along the circumference of the upper surface of the lateral extension (201).

13. The liner ring for a pre-clean chamber of claim 10, wherein the lugs (206) extend in a radial direction.

14. A pre-clean chamber, comprising:

a cavity (107);

a base (101), the base (101) being disposed within a cavity (107);

a liner ring (200), the liner ring (200) being arranged around the base (101), the liner ring (200) being as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13.