IES20190077A2 - Semiconductor processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

semiconductor processing device (1') is provided for holding a wafer (60), including an upper element (10), a lower element (20), and an elastomer (50). The upper element (10) is configured to hold the wafer (60), and has a first sidewall surface (10A). The lower element (20) is configured to hold the upper element (10), and has a second sidewall surface (20A), wherein there is a groove (40) between the upper element (10) and the lower element (20), and the groove (40) is located between the first sidewall surface (10A) and the second sidewall surface (20A). The elastomer (50) is disposed in the groove (40), and has a main body and a positioning portion, wherein a gap is formed between the positioning portion and the upper element (10), and another gap is formed between the positioning portion and the lower element (20).

Description

TITLE SEM]CONDUCTOR PROCESSING DEVICE BACKGROUND Technical Field

[0001] The disclosure relates to a semiconductor processing device, and in particular to a semiconductor processing device with an elastomer.

Description of the Related Art

[0002] In the semiconductor manufacturing processes that are currently in use, an etching process is usually performed on a wafer to form circuit patterns on the semiconductor.

Plasma etching is one type of etching process that emits a high—speed ion flow towards the wafer to etch the surface of the wafer and form circuit patterns. In order to maintain the position of the wafer under the high-speed ion flow in the plasma etching process, for now an electrostatic chuck (ESC) is often used to generate electrostatic force to fix the position of the water. However, the electrostatic chuck may be damaged by the etching gas, affecting the yield of the process. Therefore, a semiconductor processing device that is less likely to be damaged would overcome the aforementioned problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY

[0003] For solving the aforementioned problems, one embodiment of the present disclosure provides a semiconductor processing device for holding a wafer. The semiconductor processing device includes an upper element, a lower element, and an elastomer. The upper element is configured to hold a wafer, and includes a first sidewall surface. The lower element is configured to hold the upper element, and includes a second sidewall surface, wherein there is a groove between the lower element and the upper element, and the groove is located between the first sidewall surface and the second sidewall surface.

The elastomer is disposed in the groove, and includes a main body and a positioning portion, wherein a gap is formed between the positioning portion and the upper element, and another gap is fonned between the positioning portion and the lower element.

[0004] In an embodiment, the main body further includes a sealing portion protruding from the main body, and the sealing portion abuts the upper element and the lower element.

The width of the sealing portion in an axial direction is greater than that of the groove in the axial direction.

[0005] In an embodiment, the semiconductor processing device further includes a connecting layer and an outer element, wherein the connecting layer is located between the upper element and the lower element for connecting the upper element to the lower element.

The outer element surrounds the upper element and the lower element, and is disposed facing the first sidewall surface of the upper element and the second sidewall surface of the lower element, wherein a distance between the outer element and the elastomer is greater than that between the outer element and the first sidewall surface or between the outer element and the second sidewall surface.

[0006] In an embodiment, the elastomer further includes an extending portion protruding from the main body. The extending portion protrudes from the first sidewall surface and/or the second sidewall surface, and extends along the first sidewall surface and/or the second sidewall surface.

[0007] In an embodiment, the positioning portion further includes two sides substantially parallel to each other, and the both sides respectively face the upper element and the lower element. A groove depth of the groove is in a radial direction and a groove width of the groove is in an axial direction, and a depth-width ratio of the groove is in a range from 3:1 to :1. The elastomer further includes a chamfer fonned on the main body and the positioning portion, and the chamfer is towards the upper element and/or the lower element. The elastomer includes a fluoro-elastomer, a perfluoro-elastomer or a fluorosilicone material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0008] Fig. l is a cross-sectional view illustrating the semiconductor processing device in accordance with a comparative example of the present disclosure.

[0009] Fig. 2A is a cross-sectional view illustrating the semiconductor processing device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0010] Fig. 2B is a partial schematic View illustrating the upper element, the lower element, the connecting layer, the elastomer, the outer element, and the extending element in Fig. 2A.

[0011] Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0012] Figs. 4A, 4B, and 4C are cross-sectional views illustrating the process of mounting the elastomer shown in Fig. 3 into the groove.

[0013] Fig. 5A is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0014] Fig. 5B is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer shown in Fig. 5A mounted into the groove.

[0015] Fig. 6A is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0016] Fig. 6B is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer shown in Fig. 6A mounted into the groove.

[0017] Fig. 7A is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] Fig. 7B is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer shown in Fig. 7A mounted into the groove.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] The semiconductor processing device of some embodiments of the present disclosure is described in the following description. However, it should be appreciated that the following detailed description of some embodiments of the disclosure provides various concepts of the present disclosure which may be performed in specific backgrounds that can vary widely. The specific embodiments disclosed are provided merely to clearly describe the usage of the present disclosure by some specific methods without limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

[0020] Unless defined otherwise, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It should be appreciated that, in each case, the term, which is defined in a commonly used dictionary, should be interpreted as having a meaning that conforms to the relative skills of the present disclosure and the background or the context of the present disclosure, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal manner unless so defined in the present disclosure.

[0021] Fig. l is a cross-sectional view illustrating a semiconductor processing device 1 in accordance with a comparative example. The semiconductor processing device 1 may be configured to hold a wafer 60, for example, to perform etching or other processes to the wafer 60 by using an etch gas 80. The semiconductor processing device l mainly includes an upper element 10, a lower element 20, and an outer element 70. As shown in Fig. 1, the lower element 20 may hold the upper element 10, and the outer element 70 is disposed around the upper element 10 and the lower element 20. Furthermore, an extending element 71 is disposed around the wafer 60 for guiding the etch gas 80 to flow through the gas channel between the outer element 70 and the upper element 10, the lower element 20. A connecting layer 30 may be disposed between the upper element 10 and the lower element 20, and is configured to connect the upper element 10 and the lower element 20. A groove 40 is formed at a junction between the upper element 10 and the lower element 20, wherein the groove 40 is an annular groove surrounding the upper element 10 and the lower element 20.

[0022] in addition, an electrode 1 l is disposed inside the upper element 10 for receiving voltage and serving as an electrode, wherein the electrode ll includes a conductive material, such as copper or tungsten. Since the etch rate of the wafer is afiected by the temperature of the wafer, a heating unit 22 and a cooling system 24 may be disposed inside the lower element for controlling the temperature of the lower element 20. For example, the heating unit 22 may include a resistance material. The resistance material is heated by power supply to provide thermal energy for the lower element 20. A cooling fluid 241 is introduced in the cooling system 24 for cooling the lower element 20. By means of the cooperation of the heating unit 22 and the cooling system 24, the temperature of the lower element 20 may be controlled stably so that the temperature of the lower element 20 would not affect that of the wafer 60. Therefore, the etch rate of the wafer 60 can be expected. Furthermore, a fluid supply system 26 may be disposed in the lower element 20 for feeding a fluid 261 (such as helium) to a backside of the wafer 60 through the connecting layer 30 and the upper element 10, thereby the thermal energy of the wafer may be transferred so that the temperature of the wafer is adjusted and the etch rate is controlled. Therefore, in this comparative example, an epoxy resin 45 or a replaceable 0-ring may be filled into the groove 40 to prevent fluid from leaking from the groove 40 when it passes through the connecting layer 30, which causes contamination.

[0023] Referring to Figs. 2A and 2B, Fig. 2A is a cross-sectional view illustrating a semiconductor processing device 1’ in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, and Fig. 2B is a partial schematic view illustrating the upper element 10, the lower element 20, the connecting layer 30, the elastomer 50, the outer element 70, and the extending element 71 in Fig. 2A. It should be noted that the semiconductor processing device 1’ may include same or similar elements with the semiconductor processing device 1, those same or similar elements will be denoted as the same or similar numerals, and will not be described in detail again. As shown in Fig. 2B, the groove 40, which is formed between the upper element 10 and the lower element 20, is located between the first sidewall surface 10A and the second sidewall surface 20A. A groove depth DR of the groove 40 is in a radial direction (X-axis direction), and a groove width W9. of the groove 40 is in an axial direction (Y-axis direction), such as in a range from about 0.1mm to about {).8mm. The depth-width ratio of the groove 40 (that is the ratio of the groove depth DR to the groove width WK) may be in a range from about 3:1 to about 20:1.

[0024] Generally, if the epoxy resin 45 is used in the above comparative example, it is usually eroded by the etch gas 80 and consumed in the etch process, causing the fluid 261 leakage. Therefore, users ofien choose to fill a replaceable o-ring into the groove 40. That way, the o-ring may be regularly replaced before it fails due to consumption, remaining sealing state of the groove 40, and by-product of the process would not deposit in the groove 40, avoiding the by-product of the process brought out by the fluid in the process and contaminating the product. However, the depth-width ratio of the groove 40 is relatively high, making the o-ring, which is used to be filled in the groove 40, easily affected by the interference with the sidewalls of the groove 40. Therefore, it is hard to position the o-ring, making the assembly difficult. Even if the o-ring is successfully filled into the groove 40, the o-ring and the groove 40 could not be closely matched. Therefore, the o-ring could not do its work as original. Thus, for solving the aforementioned problems, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide an elastomer 50, which is capable of applying to the groove with a high depth—width ratio. The detailed s’n'ucture of the elastomer 50 will be described in more detail in accompany with Fig. 3.

[0025] It should be noted that since the semiconductor processing devices 1, 1’ are mainly configured to hold wafers, the semiconductor processing devices 1, 1’ are usually designed as circular structures, and the elastomer 50 is designed as a circular annular structures surrounding the semiconductor processing device 1’. However, the above structure merely serves as an example, and is not intended to limit the present disclosure. If the structure of the semiconductor processing device 1’ is in another shape (such as an ellipse) as required for special design, the structure of the elastomer 50 would be a corresponding annular structure surrounding the semiconductor processing device 1’.

[0026] Referring to Fig. 3, Fig. 3 is a cross—sectional View illustrating the elastomer 50 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 3, the elastomer 50 includes a main body 51, a positioning portion 52, and an external surface 53, wherein the elastomer 50 may be disposed around the groove 40, making the positioning portion 52 near the inside of the groove 40. The main body 51 is near the outside of the groove 40, exposing the external surface 53. A first width W1 of the main body 51 is in an axial direction (Y—axis direction) of the elastomer 50, and a second width W2 of the positioning portion 52 is in the axial direction (Y-axis direction) of the elastomer 50, and a length L of the positioning portion 52 is in a radial direction (X-axis direction) of the elastomer 50. The first width W. of the elastomer 50 is slightly greater than the groove width WR of the groove 40 so that the main body 51 may be closely attached to the groove 40, achieving the sealing effect. The second width W2 of the positioning portion 52 is slightly smaller than the groove width WR of the goove 40 as well as the first width W; of the elastomer 50. Therefore, the positioning portion 52 may be easily disposed into the groove 40, and the effect of positioning is achieved. It should be noted that the length of the positioning portion 52 should be greater than a certain length along the radial direction (X- axis direction) of the elastomer 50 to prevent the positioning portion 52 from leaving the groove 40 and losing the effect of positioning. For example, when the groove width WR is less than 0.4mm, the length L has to be greater than 0.6mm; when the groove width W1; is greater than 0.4mm, the length L has to be 1.5 times of the groove width Wu. That way, the effect of positioning may be provided, and for the longest length L, the positioning portion 52 should not be in contact with the groove 40 afier mounted.

[0027] It should be noted that in this embodiment, since the structure of the groove 40 is a substantial triangular structure (such as shown in Fig. 2B) outside (which is near the first sidewall surface 10A and the second sidewall surface 20A), the dimension of the external surface 53 in the axial direction (Y-axis direction) of the elastomer 50 is greater than the first width W1 of the elastomer 50. The portion, which is near the external surface 53, of the main body 51 is designed as a structure that is gradually widened to completely match the elastomer 50 and the groove 40. Meanwhile, by means of designing the dimension of the external surface 53 to be greater than the groove width WR of the groove 40, the elastomer 50 may be prevented from arranging into the groove 40 too deeply, which increases the difficulty for replacing the elastomer 50. In other embodiments, the external surface of the elastomer may also be correspondingly designed according to different shapes of the groove.

The detailed description of the process of mounting the elastomer 50 into the groove 40 will be provided in accompany with Figs. 4A to 4C.

[0028] Referring to Figs. 4A to 4C, which respectively are cross-sectional views illustrating the process of mounting the elastomer 50 into the groove 40 in series. Fig. 4A is a cross-sectional view illustrating that the elastomer 50 is positioned with the groove 40. As shown in Fig. 4A, the positioning portion 52 is aligned with the groove 40 to facilitate the subsequent assembly, wherein the positioning portion 52 includes two sides substantially parallel to each other. The two sides respectively faces two sidewalls (that is, the two sides of the positioning portion 52 respectively face the upper element 10 and the lower element ) of the groove 40. The second width W2 of the positioning portion 52 is slightly smaller than the groove width WR of the groove 40, and thereby the positioning portion 52 may be easily aligned with and disposed into the inner portion of the groove 40 without the interference between the sidewalls (composed of the upper element 10 or the lower element , respectively) of the groove 40. Therefore, the effect of positioning is achieved. In other words, a gap G is formed between the positioning portion 52 and the upper element 10, and another gap G is formed between the positioning portion 52 and the lower element 20.

[0029] As shown in Fig. 4B, after the positioning portion 52 is disposed into the inner portion of the groove 40, the main body 51 may fiirther be pushed into the groove 40. The first width W1 of the main body 51 is slightly greater than the groove width WR of the groove 40. Therefore, when mounted into the groove 40, the main body 51 is usually affected by the friction between the sidewalls (that is, the upper element 10 and the lower element 20) of the groove 40, making the assembly difficult. By means of the design of the positioning portion 52, the main body 51 of the elastomer 50 may be mounted into the groove 40 more easily.

[0030] Fig. 4C is a cross-sectional view illustrating that the assembly of the elastomer 50 is finished. It should be noted that for the sake of clearly illustrating the relative position between the elastomer 50 and the outer element 70, the outer element 70 is illustrated in Fig. 4C, As shown in Fig. 4C, the elastomer 50 is entirely filled into the groove 40 so that a first distance D1 between the outer element 70 and the first sidewall surface 10A of the upper element 10 is less than a second distance D2 between the outer element 70 and the external surface 53 of the elastomer 50. Therefore, the external surface 53 may fully cover the groove 40 to prevent the fluid inside the semiconductor processing device from leaking out of the groove 40, which causes contamination.

[0031] Referring to Fig. 5A, Fig. 5A is a cross-sectional view illustrating an elastomer 50’ in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be noted that the elastomer 50’ may include the same or similar portions as the elastomer 50, and those portions that are the same or similar will be labeled with the same or similar numerals, and will not be described in detail again. The difference between the elastomer 50’ in this embodiment and the elastomer 50 shown in Fig. 3 is that at least one chamfer 51C, 52C is disposed on inner edges of the main body 51 ’ and the positioning portion 52’. The chamfers 51C and 52C are configured to decrease the difficulty of the assembly when the elastomer 50’ is mounted into the groove 40 of the semiconductor processing device (see Fig. 5B).

Therefore, it is facilitated that the protection eflect of the elastomer 50’ is secured. In other embodiments, according to different requirement, only one pair of the chamfers 5 1C are disposed on the inner edge of the main body 51’, or only one pair of the chamfers 52C are disposed on the inner edge of the positioning portion 52’, even only single chamfer 5 1C or 52C may be disposed.

[0032] Fig. 5B is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer 50’ shown in Fig. 5A mounted into the groove 40. As shown in Fig. 5B, the chamfers SIC and 52C of the main body 51’ and the positioning portion 52’ are towards the sidewalls of the groove 40 (which means towards the upper element 10 and/or the lower element 20). That way, the positioning between the positioning portion 52’ and the groove 40, and filling the main body 51 ’ into the groove 40 are facilitated.

[0033] Referring to Fig. 6A, Fig. 6A is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer 50A in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be noted that the elastomer 50A may include the same or similar portions as the elastomer 50, and those portions that are the same or similar will be labeled with the same or similar numerals, and will not be described in detail again. The difference between the elastomer 50A in this embodiment and the elastomers 50, 50’ shown in Figs. 3 and SA is that the elastomer 50A further includes sealing portions 54 in the form of multiple peaks protruding from the main body 51A along an axial direction (Y-axis direction) of the elastomer 50A. It should be noted that at the peaks, a third width W3 of the sealing portions 54 is in the axial direction of the elastomer SOA, and at the troughs, a fourth width W4 of the main body 51A is in the axial direction of the elastomer 50A, wherein the third width W3 is greater than the groove width WR of the groove 40 (such as shown in Fig. 2B), and the fourth width W4 is less than the groove width WR of the groove 40. The structure after the elastomer 50A mounted into the groove 40 will be described in details as follows in accompany with Fig. 6B.

[0034] Next, referring to Fig. 6B, Fig. 6B is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer 50A shown in Fig. 6A into the groove 40 after assembly. It should be noted that the difference between this embodiment and the embodiment shown in Figs. 4A to 4C is that the elastomer 50A further includes sealing portions 54 protruding from the main body 51A, wherein the third width W3 of the sealing portions 54 at the peaks of the elastomer 50A is greater than the groove width WR of the groove 40, and the fourth width W4 of the main body 51A at the troughs is less than the groove width WR of the groove 40. By means of the above design, the frictional resistance generated by large area interference may be reduced.

Therefore, the sealing portions 54 are easily mounted and abut the upper element 10 and the lower element 20 (which are the sidewalls of the groove 40) closer, achieving a better protective effect.

[0035] Referring to Fig. 7A, Fig. 7A is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer 50B in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be noted that the elastomer 50B may include the same or similar portions as the elastomer 50, and those portions, which are the same or similar, will be labeled with the same or similar numerals, and will not be described in detail again. The difference between the elastomer 50B in this embodiment and the elastomers 50, 50’, 50A shown in Figs. 3, 5A, and 6A is that the elastomer 50B includes an extending portion 55 protruding from the main body 5 l B along the radial direction (X-axis direction) of the elastomer 50B, and the extending portion 55 extends upwards and downwards along the axial direction (Y-axis direction) of the elastomer 50B. The structure after the elastomer 50B mounted into the groove 40 will be described in details as follows in accompany with Fig. 7B.

[0036] Next, referring to Fig. 7B, Fig. 7B is a cross-sectional view illustrating the elastomer 50B shown in Fig. 7A into the groove 40 after assembly. The difference between this embodiment and the embodiment shown in Figs. 4A to 4C is that the extending portion 55 of the elastomer 50B protrudes from the first sidewall surface 10A and the second sidewall surface 20A, and extends along the first sidewall surface 10A and the second sidewall surface 20A. Therefore, when an etch process is performed on the wafer 60 by applying the etch gas 80, the first sidewall surface 10A and the second sidewall surface 20A are protected from being etched by the etch gas 80 so that arcing or leakage current failure (caused by exposing the electrode 1 1 inside the upper element 10 or the interior structure of the lower element 20) is avoided. It should be noted that in other embodiments, the extending portion 55 of the elastomer 50B may only extend along the first sidewall surface 10A or the second sidewall surface 20A.

[0037] In the embodiment where the extending portion 55 extends along the first sidewall surface 10A, the top surface 55B of the extending portion 55 is lower than the top surface 10B of the upper element 10. The arrangement of the extending portion 55 and the upper element 10 ensures that the top surface 55B of the extending portion 55 is not in contact with the wafer 60 held by the upper element 10. This avoids affecting the positioning of the wafer 60.

[0038] In above embodiments, the elastomers 50, 50’, 50A, and 50B may include a fluoro-elastomer, a perfluoro-elastomer or a fluorosilicone material to enhance its corrosion resistance relative to the etch gas. However, the materials of the elastomers in the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto, but may be any other suitable resilient materials such as rubber.

[0039] As set forth above, the present disclosure provides elastomers may be regularly replaced before it fails due to erosion by the etch gas, the effects of protecting the semiconductor processing device and increasing the process yield may be enhanced. In addition, the elastomers provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure include a positioning portion. Even if applied in a groove with a high depth-width ratio, the elastomers may also be positioned and mounted, and good protection effect may still be achieved.

[0040] While the embodiments and the advantages of the present disclosure have been described above, it should be understood that those skilled in the art may make various changes, substitutions, and alterations to the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the processes, machines, manufacture, composition, devices, methods and steps in the specific embodiments described in the specification. Those skilled in the art may understand existing or developing processes, machines, manufacture, compositions, devices, methods and steps from some embodiments of the present disclosure. As long as those may perform substantially the same function in the aforementioned embodiments and obtain substantially the same result, they may be used in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure includes the aforementioned processes, machines, manufacture, composition, devices, methods, and steps. Furthennore, each of the appended claims constructs an individual embodiment, and the scope of the present disclosure also includes every combination of the appended claims and embodiments. [0041} Although the preferable embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, these embodiments are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art may make some changes and alterations without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure may be defined according to the appended claims. Furthermore, each of the appended claims constructs an individual embodiment, and the scope of the present disclosure also includes every combination of the appended claims and embodiments.

Claims (5)

What is claimed is:

1. A semiconductor processing device for holding a wafer, comprising: an upper element holding the wafer and having a first sidewall surface; a lower element holding the upper element and having a second sidewall surface, wherein a groove is formed between the lower element and the upper element, and the groove is located between the first sidewall surface and the second sidewall surface; and an elastomer disposed in the groove and having a main body and a positioning portion, wherein a gap is formed between the positioning portion and the upper element, and another gap is formed between the positioning portion and the lower element.

2. The semiconductor processing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main body further comprises at least one sealing portion protruding from the main body along an axial direction of the elastomer, and the sealing portion abuts the upper element and the lower element.

3. The semiconductor processing device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the width of the sealing portion in the axial direction of the elastomer is greater than that of the groove.

4. The semiconductor processing device as claimed in claim 1, fiirther comprising an outer element surrounding the upper element and the lower element, and disposed facing the first sidewall surface of the upper element and the second sidewall surface of the lower element, wherein a distance between the outer element and the elastomer is greater than a distance between the outer element and the first sidewall surface or between the outer element and the second sidewall surface.

5. The semiconductor processing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elastomer further comprises an extending portion protruding from the main body, the 16 extending portion protrudes from the first sidewall surface and/or the second sidewall surface, and extends along the first sidewall surface and/or the second sidewall surface. ANNE RYAN & CO AGENTS FOR THE APPLICANTS