JP2002126675A - Plasma cleaning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily assemble a plasma cleaning apparatus and to facilitate taking in and out operations of a product to be cleaned. SOLUTION: A chamber 3 of a plasma cleaning apparatus 1 is constituted of a moveable chamber section 5 in which an upper electrode 13 is arranged and a fixed chamber section 7 in which a lower electrode 15 is arranged and a product set stage 21 is also provided to place a product on the top surface of the stage 21. The section 5 is supported by a driving means 29 in a freely moveable manner in the up and down directions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a plasma cleaning apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, plasma cleaning by a plasma cleaning apparatus includes an RIE (reactive ion etching) method and a DP (direct plasma) method.

[0003] The outline of the plasma cleaning by the RIE method is as follows. After a product such as a semiconductor to be cleaned is set in a chamber in which discharge is performed by a hot electrode and a cold electrode, an inert gas such as an argon gas is introduced into the chamber. An ion sheath is generated by generating plasma by an internal discharge phenomenon, and dirt attached to the semiconductor is removed by a physical sputtering action of the ion sheath. Generally, it is suitable for inorganic cleaning.

On the other hand, the outline of the DP type plasma cleaning is as follows.
The discharge is performed by the hot and cold electrodes.
After setting products such as semiconductors to be cleaned in the chamber
And O ₂Filled with an active gas such as gas,
Generating plasma by electric phenomena to cause chemical reactions
And use the chemical reaction to remove dirt.
is there. Generally suitable for organic cleaning.

[0005]

The plasma cleaning apparatus is
A product is put in and taken out of the chamber by an opening / closing door.

For this reason, for example, when a plasma cleaning apparatus is installed and used on a manufacturing line for manufacturing semiconductors and the like, the opening and closing door is small and the opening / closing door is obstructed when the apparatus is opened, so that products cannot be taken in and out. The leash is the bottleneck.

Further, since the inside of the chamber is a closed space, the assembling work for assembling the electrodes and the like is very troublesome, which is not desirable in terms of assemblability.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to enable products to be taken in and out without using an opening / closing door, because it is excellent in terms of assemblability and when one of an upper electrode and a lower electrode is a hot electrode. It is another object of the present invention to provide a plasma cleaning apparatus in which the wiring between the first and second matching devices using the other as a cold electrode and the electrode is short.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a chamber having at least an upper electrode and a lower electrode opposed to each other.
An oscillator for generating a high frequency, comprising a pair of a first matching device and a second matching device having one of the upper electrode and the lower electrode as a hot electrode and the other as a cold electrode; and It comprises a movable chamber section in which the upper electrode is arranged, and a fixed chamber section in which the lower electrode is arranged and a product set stage for placing a product on the upper surface is provided, and the movable chamber section is vertically movable by driving means. Supported.

Thus, since the chamber can be divided into a movable chamber section and a fixed chamber section, it is easy to assemble the upper electrode to the movable chamber section and to assemble the lower electrode to the fixed chamber section.

On the other hand, by raising the movable chamber portion, a wide space for taking in and out of the product can be ensured, so that the work for taking in and out the product to be cleaned can be performed easily and quickly.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the first
Is mounted on the upper surface of the upper chamber portion, and the second matching device is mounted on the lower surface of the lower chamber portion.

Thus, the first matching device is connected to the upper electrode of the movable chamber at the shortest distance.

Further, since the second matching device is connected to the lower electrode of the fixed chamber portion at the shortest distance, a wiring having a small residual inductance can be provided.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a plasma cleaning apparatus 1, in which a chamber 3 is disposed above a control case 2.

The chamber 3 is formed by a movable chamber 5 and a fixed chamber 7 which can be separated vertically.
FIG. 2 shows a divided perspective view of FIG.

When the movable chamber section 5 and the fixed chamber section 7 are engaged with each other, the inner space of the chamber 3 is hermetically sealed by a sealing member 9 provided on the joint surface, while the vacuum port is provided. A predetermined vacuum state is obtained by a vacuum pump (not shown) connected to 11, and an inert gas such as argon and an active gas such as O ₂ are supplied from a gas blowing pipe 12 by switching control of a solenoid valve (not shown). Are sent respectively.

In the chamber 3, an upper electrode 13 and a lower electrode 15 which are vertically opposed to each other are arranged.

The upper electrode 13 is fixedly supported by the movable chamber section 5 via an insulator 17, and the lower electrode 15 is fixedly supported by the fixed chamber section 7 via an insulator 19. On the upper surface of the lower electrode 15, for example, a product setting stage 21 on which a product for cleaning such as a semiconductor is mounted is supported so as to be freely put in and out.

As shown in FIG. 1, the movable chamber 5 is supported on both sides by a support bracket 25 via a support shaft 23, and the support bracket 25 is vertically moved along left and right guide rails 27 rising from the control case 2. It is slidably mounted and supported.

The movable chamber section 5 includes a first driving means 29
, And can be rotated 90 degrees by the second drive means 31.

The first driving means 29 includes a cylinder 35 supported by a support arm 33 rising from the control case 2 for taking in and out of a product to be washed, and a piston rod 37 which can expand and contract with respect to the cylinder 35. Consists of The front end of the piston rod 37 is fixedly supported by the support bracket 25, and the movable rod 5 moves up and down along the guide rail 27 as the piston rod 37 expands and contracts as shown by the arrow A. And the fixed chamber section 7
And a large distance between them so that they can be freely moved in and out.

The second driving means 31 includes a movable chamber 5
Is used for maintenance to be used after the cylinder 39 is fully raised, and the cylinder 39 supported by the support bracket 25 is used.
And a piston rod 41 which expands and contracts at an angle inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the cylinder 39. The tip of the piston rod 41 is fixedly supported by a support 43 fixed to the support shaft 23 of the support bracket 25, and the piston rod 4
1 is reduced as indicated by the arrow B, so that the movable chamber 5
Is rotated by 90 degrees with the support shaft 23 as a fulcrum so that maintenance can be easily performed.

The upper electrode 13 is electrically connected to the first matching device 45, and the lower electrode 15 is electrically connected to the second matching device 47.

The first matching device 45 is mounted and supported on the upper surface of the movable chamber portion 5 via a mounting member 49, so that the wiring to the upper electrode 13 can be made the shortest distance, and the electric resistance is small. It is set to be.

The second matching device 47 also serves as a support member fixedly supported on the upper surface of the control case 2, is mounted and supported on the lower surface of the fixed chamber section 7 via a driving member 51, and extends to the lower electrode 15. The wiring is designed to be the shortest distance and the residual inductance is reduced.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first and second matching devices 45 and 47 have control switches 53 and 55 which can be turned on and off, respectively. High-frequency energy efficient upper electrode 1
3 or a function of feeding the lower electrode 15.

The first and second matching devices 45 and 47 are controlled to be switched so that when one of the control switches 53 and 55 is ON, the other is OFF, for example, as shown in FIG. As described above, the control switch 53 that is turned on is configured such that the circuit to the ground G is closed, so that the upper electrode 13 becomes a cold electrode (negative electrode). The control switch 55 that is turned off is controlled so that the lower electrode 15 becomes a hot electrode (positive side electrode) when the circuit to the ground G is opened.
With respect to ON and OFF of 55, switching control is performed so that when one of the upper electrode 13 and the lower electrode 15 becomes a hot electrode, the other becomes a cold electrode.

The distributor 57 includes a first switch contact P1 connected to the first matching unit 45, a second switch contact P2 connected to the second matching unit 47, and a switching terminal connected to the oscillator 59. PL.

The switching terminal PL of the distributor 57 can be switched so as to be connected to the first and second switch terminals P1 and P2, respectively. The high frequency energy is supplied to the first matching unit 45 when the oscillator 59 is connected to the second switch contact P2.
Are switched to the second matching device 47 and controlled.

The first and second switch terminals P1 and P2 and the control switches 53 and 5 of the first and second matching devices 45 and 47, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 6, when the switching terminal PL of the distributor 57 is on the first switch contact P1 side, the control switch 53 of the first matching unit 45 is OFF, and The control switch 55 of the matching device 47 is turned on.

The switching terminal PL of the distributor 57 is connected to the second
When the switch is on the switch contact P2 side, first, the control switch 53 of the matching unit 45 is set to ON, and the control switch 55 of the second matching unit 47 is set to OFF.

The plasma cleaning apparatus 1 constructed as described above
According to this, the upper electrode 13 can be easily attached to the movable chamber portion 5 divided into upper and lower portions, and the lower electrode 15 can be easily attached to the fixed chamber portion 7.

Since the movable chamber 5 is raised, a large space is formed on the front and both sides, so that the product set stage 21 can be easily moved in and out quickly.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, an inert gas such as argon gas is introduced into the chamber 3 using the upper electrode 13 as a cold electrode and the lower electrode 15 provided with the product set stage 21 as a hot electrode. This makes it possible to use it as an RIE type plasma cleaning apparatus for removing inorganic dirt.

In this case, as shown in FIG.
An ion sheath is generated by generating plasma by a discharge phenomenon in the inside, and it becomes possible to remove inorganic dirt attached to a semiconductor or the like by a physical sputtering action of the ion sheath.

As shown in FIG. 5, the upper electrode 13 is a hot electrode, and the lower electrode 15 provided with the product set stage 21 is a cold electrode.
By introducing an active gas such as _two gases, it becomes possible to use as a DP type plasma cleaning apparatus for removing organic dirt.

In this case, as shown in FIG.
To generate plasma by vacuum discharge phenomenon inside
And O₂Activate gas to cause chemical reaction, CO,
CO₂ , H₂Organic compounds decomposed into O, etc. and attached to semiconductors, etc.
It becomes possible to clean the system.

In these series of operations, the first matching device 45 and the upper electrode 13 and the second matching device 47 and the lower electrode 1
Numerals 5 are the shortest wires, so that high-frequency energy can be efficiently propagated by small residual inductance.

[0041]

As described above, according to the plasma cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the chamber is vertically divided into a movable chamber portion provided with an upper electrode and a fixed chamber portion provided with a lower electrode. Therefore, it is easy and quick to put in and take out the product to be cleaned.

Further, assembling of the upper electrode and the lower electrode becomes easy, and the assembling workability can be improved.

In addition, since the wiring from the first matching device and the upper electrode and the wiring from the second matching device to the lower electrode are minimized, and as a result, high-frequency loss can be reduced, high-frequency energy can be transmitted efficiently. become.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a plasma cleaning apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a chamber.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view of cutting a chamber.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a plasma cleaning apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram similar to FIG. 4, in which an upper electrode is a hot electrode and a lower electrode is a cold electrode.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing ON / OFF relationships of control switches of a distributor and first and second matching devices.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an operation during inorganic cleaning.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an operation during inorganic cleaning.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Chamber 13 Upper Electrode 15 Lower Electrode 21 Product Set Stage 29 Driving Means 45 First Matcher 47 Second Matcher 57 Distributor 59 Oscillator

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masahito Nakada 322 Toda Tech, Kosai-cho, Nakakoma-gun, Yamanashi Pref. (72) Inventor Sada Osawa 322 Toda Toda, Kosai-cho, Nakakoma-gun, Yamanashi Pref. (72) Inventor Person Eizo Higuchi 322 Toda, Kosai-cho, Nakakoma-gun, Yamanashi Prefecture (72) Inventor Tatsuya Ishii 2-10-12 Minamisuna, Koto-ku, Tokyo Yamato Glass Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 3B116 AA02 AA04 AB03 AB42 BC01 5F004 AA14 BA04 DA23 DA26

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A chamber having at least an upper electrode and a lower electrode opposed to each other, an oscillator for generating high frequency, and a cold electrode being used when one of the upper electrode and the lower electrode is a hot electrode. A product set stage in which a movable chamber section in which the upper electrode is arranged and the lower electrode are arranged and a product is placed on an upper surface of the chamber. And a fixed chamber portion provided with a movable chamber portion, wherein the movable chamber portion is vertically movably supported by a driving means. 2. The plasma cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first matching device is mounted on an upper surface of the upper chamber portion, and the second matching device is mounted on a lower surface of the lower chamber portion.