JP2004200646A - Plasma processing system and plasma processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plasma processing system capable of processing a large area substrate. <P>SOLUTION: The plasma processing system comprises a rectangular waveguide 1, a plurality of slots 2 provided in the rectangular waveguide 1 and constituting a waveguide antenna, an electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 composed of a dielectric, and a vacuum container 5 wherein plasma processing is performed by generating plasma with an electromagnetic wave radiated from the slot 2 into the vacuum container 5 through the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4. A plurality of rectangular waveguides 1 are provided and arranged in contact with each other. A plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 are provided to correspond with the plurality of slots 2 in common and a waveguide section 17 distributes electromagnetic wave from a microwave source 3 to the plurality of rectangular waveguides 1. Vacuum is held between the plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 and the vacuum container 5 and the slots 2 are distributed substantially uniformly over the entire area of a substrate 8 being subjected to plasma processing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus and a plasma processing method, and more particularly to a plasma processing apparatus and a plasma processing method for performing plasma processing such as film deposition, surface modification, or etching on a large square substrate. .

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, a liquid crystal display device, or the like, in order to perform plasma processing such as film deposition, surface modification, or etching, a parallel plate type high frequency plasma processing apparatus or an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma is used. Processing devices and the like are used.
However, the parallel plate type plasma processing apparatus has a problem in that the plasma density is low and the electron temperature is high, and the ECR plasma processing apparatus requires a DC magnetic field for plasma excitation, which makes it difficult to process a large area. Have
On the other hand, in recent years, there has been proposed a plasma processing apparatus which does not require a magnetic field for plasma excitation and can generate plasma with high density and low electron temperature.
Hereinafter, such an apparatus will be described.

<< First conventional device >>
FIG. 15A is a top view of a first conventional plasma processing apparatus, and FIG. 15B is a cross-sectional view.
This device is described in Patent Document 1 below.
71 is a coaxial transmission line, 73 is a circular microwave radiating plate, 72 is a slot provided concentrically on the circular microwave radiating plate 73, 74 is an electromagnetic wave radiating window made of a dielectric, 75 is a vacuum vessel, and 76 is a gas inlet. , 77 are gas exhaust ports, 78 is a substrate for plasma processing, and 79 is a substrate support.
In this device, microwave power is supplied from a coaxial transmission line 71 to a circular microwave radiating plate 73 having concentric slots 72.
In this device, while the microwave introduced from the coaxial transmission line 71 toward the center of the circular microwave radiating plate 73 is propagated in the radial direction of the circular microwave radiating plate 73, a slot provided in the circular microwave radiating plate 73 is provided. It is intended to generate uniform plasma in the vacuum vessel 75 by radiating from the vacuum chamber 72.

<< 2nd conventional device >>
FIG. 16A is a top view of a second conventional plasma processing apparatus, and FIG. 16B is a cross-sectional view.
This device is described in Patent Document 2 below.
81 is a rectangular waveguide, 82 is a slot constituting a waveguide antenna, 83 is a microwave source, 84 is an electromagnetic wave radiation window made of a dielectric, 85 is a vacuum vessel, 86 is a gas inlet, 87 is a gas exhaust, 88 is a substrate to be subjected to plasma processing, 89 is a substrate support, 110 is a reflection surface (short-circuit surface, R surface) of the rectangular waveguide 81, and 111 is an H surface (perpendicular to the direction of the microwave electric field) of the rectangular waveguide 81. Plane).
This device is provided on a part of the H surface 111 of a rectangular waveguide 81, and supplies microwave power from a slot 82 constituting a waveguide antenna through an electromagnetic wave radiation window 84 to thereby form a vacuum vessel 85. Generates plasma within.
In this device, the width (opening area) of the two slots 82 provided on the H surface 111 of the rectangular waveguide 81 is changed in consideration of microwave reflection on the reflecting surface 110 of the rectangular waveguide 81. (Not shown), it is intended to equalize the radiation power from the microwave slot 82. In FIG. 16A, the change in the width of the slot 82 is not shown, but as described in the official gazette, for example, the slot 82 is formed on the reflecting surface 110 of the rectangular waveguide 81. It has a shape that is changed stepwise or tapered so as to become narrower toward.
Accordingly, if the generated plasma is sufficiently diffused, it is possible to generate a relatively uniform plasma by the microwave power radiated from the two slots 82.
In recent years, in a plasma processing apparatus used for manufacturing a semiconductor device or a liquid crystal display device, the size of the device has been increasing with the increase in the substrate size. An apparatus for processing the substrate is required. This is about 10 times the area of a substrate having a diameter of 300 mm used for manufacturing a semiconductor device.
Further, in the plasma treatment, a reactive gas such as a monosilane gas, an oxygen gas, a hydrogen gas, and a chlorine gas is used as a source gas. Many negative ions (O ⁻ , H ⁻ , Cl ^−, etc.) are present in the plasma of these gases, and a manufacturing facility and a manufacturing method that take these behaviors into consideration are required.

<< 3rd conventional device >>
FIG. 17A is a cross-sectional view of the third plasma processing apparatus, and FIG. 17B is a top view.
This conventional device is described in Patent Document 3 below.
101 is a rectangular waveguide, 102 is a coupling hole forming a waveguide antenna, 104 is an electromagnetic radiation window made of a dielectric, and 105 is a vacuum vessel. Note that a substrate to be subjected to plasma processing, a substrate support, and the like are not shown.
This apparatus is a surface wave plasma processing apparatus in which three rows of rectangular waveguides 101 are arranged, and a plurality of rectangular waveguides 101 are arranged in a vacuum vessel 105 in parallel at equal intervals. Are provided with coupling holes 102 whose coupling coefficients are sequentially increased toward the distal end thereof, and the vacuum vessel 105 is provided with an electromagnetic wave radiation window 104 formed separately corresponding to each coupling hole 102.

<< 4th conventional device >>
FIG. 18 is a cut-away top view of the fourth plasma processing apparatus.
This conventional device is described in Patent Document 4 below.
Microwaves are introduced from the microwave power supply 1026 through the waveguide 1023 and from the introduction section 1311 to the dielectric electric circuit 1031. The microwave passes from the matching portion 1312 through a portion corresponding to a waveguide formed by the partition plate 1314 and the rectangular portion 1313, and is guided from the microwave inlet 1003 to the reaction chamber. Note that reference numeral 1004 denotes a microwave introduction window.

<< 5th conventional device >>
FIG. 19 is a cutaway top view of the fifth plasma processing apparatus.
This conventional device is described in Patent Document 5 below.
The microwave supplied from the microwave power supply 1126 is distributed to the waveguide 1028 through the microwave distributor 1027. In addition, 1002 is a reaction chamber.

JP-A-9-63793 Japanese Patent No. 2857090 JP 2002-280196 A JP-A-11-45799 JP-A-11-111493 Proceedings of the 49th JSAP Lecture Meeting on Applied Physics, 128 pages, March 2002 ESCAMPIG16 & ICRP5 Proceedings 321 pages July 14-18, 2002

However, the first to fifth conventional apparatuses have the following problems.
<< Issues of the first conventional apparatus >>
When a microwave is propagated through conductors such as the coaxial transmission line 71 and the circular microwave radiating plate 73 as in the first conventional device shown in FIG. 15, propagation loss such as copper loss in these conductors is caused. Occurs. This propagation loss becomes a serious problem as the frequency increases and the coaxial transmission distance and the radiation plate area increase. Therefore, in the case of a large-sized device such as a liquid crystal display device corresponding to a very large substrate, microwave attenuation is large and it is difficult to efficiently generate plasma.
Further, this device that emits microwaves from the circular microwave radiating plate 73 is suitable for processing a circular substrate such as a semiconductor device, but is suitable for processing a square substrate such as a liquid crystal display device. Also, there is a problem that the plasma becomes non-uniform at the corners of the substrate.
Therefore, the first conventional apparatus has a problem that it is difficult to process a large-area substrate, particularly a rectangular substrate.

<< Issues of the second conventional apparatus >>
In the case of a system in which the microwave propagated through the rectangular waveguide 81 is radiated from the two slots 82 as in the second conventional device shown in FIG. 16, the propagation loss can be suppressed low. . However, in the case of a reactive plasma in which a large amount of negative ions are present in the generated plasma, the ambipolar diffusion coefficient of the plasma becomes small, so that the plasma is biased in the vicinity of the slot from which the microwave is radiated. There is. This problem is exacerbated when the plasma pressure is high. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to perform plasma treatment on a large area using a gas containing oxygen, hydrogen, chlorine, or the like, which easily generates negative ions, as a raw material, particularly when the pressure is high. Further, the distribution of the slots 82 constituting the waveguide antenna is localized and non-uniform on the processing surface of the substrate 88 on which the plasma processing is performed, so that the plasma density becomes non-uniform.

<< Issues of the Third Conventional Apparatus >>
Although the third conventional apparatus can cope with a substrate having a larger area than the first conventional apparatus, Patent Document 3 does not describe a method of introducing microwaves, but Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose the method. , A microwave is supplied from one microwave power supply to one rectangular waveguide. For this reason, many microwave sources are required. In particular, when the size is increased, there is a problem that a large number of microwave power sources are required and they must be operated simultaneously. Further, since the rectangular waveguides 101 are arranged at intervals in consideration of plasma diffusion, the coupling holes 102 are arranged over the entire area to be subjected to plasma processing, thereby uniformly distributing the plasma. It was difficult.
In addition, since the electromagnetic wave radiation windows 104 are provided corresponding to the respective coupling holes 102, there are many locations where the vacuum can be sealed by the number of the coupling holes 102, the processing cost of the top plate of the vacuum vessel 105 increases, and the apparatus price increases. There is a problem that.

<< Problems of the fourth conventional apparatus >>
In the fourth conventional apparatus, as shown in FIG. 18, microwaves are distributed by an introduction portion 1311 and waveguides (three waveguides separated by a partition plate 1314 downstream of the microwave waveguide 1023). To be supplied. Since the introduction portion 1311 and the three waveguides are on the same plane, the height of the device can be reduced. However, since the microwave supply direction is the same as the direction of the three waveguides, it is difficult to distribute the microwaves uniformly in the three waveguides by the introduction unit 1311. Also, it is difficult to cope with large-sized devices. Further, the footprint of the device is increased due to the microwave introduction unit 1311.

<< Problems of the fifth conventional apparatus >>
In the fifth conventional apparatus, as shown in FIG. 19, a microwave supplied from a microwave power supply 1126 is distributed to a waveguide 1028 through a microwave distributor 1027. Although the microwave distributor 1027 and the waveguide 1028 are on the same plane, the microwave distributor 1027 is large, and the footprint of the device is large.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, to provide a compact plasma processing apparatus capable of processing a large-area substrate, having a small footprint, and a low apparatus height, and a plasma processing method using the same. Is to do.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has a configuration as described in the claims.
That is, the plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1 includes a waveguide, a plurality of slots provided in the waveguide, and constituting a waveguide antenna, an electromagnetic radiation window made of a dielectric, and a vacuum container. A plasma processing apparatus comprising: generating plasma by an electromagnetic wave radiated into the vacuum vessel from the slot through the electromagnetic wave radiation window into the vacuum vessel, and performing a plasma process, wherein the plasma processing apparatus includes a plurality of waveguides; Are disposed in contact with each other, and have an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing electromagnetic waves from an electromagnetic wave source to the plurality of waveguides, and a vacuum is held between the plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows and the vacuum container. Is provided.
Since the rectangular waveguides are arranged in contact with each other in this manner, the slots can be easily distributed uniformly over the entire area to be subjected to plasma processing, and since a plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows are provided, the electromagnetic wave radiation windows are provided. Can be made thinner and has a waveguide section for distributing electromagnetic waves from an electromagnetic wave source to the plurality of waveguides. Therefore, the electromagnetic wave distribution mechanism is simple, inexpensive, and does not take up a volume. A substrate having an area can be processed with a uniform plasma density. In addition, since one electromagnetic wave source supplies electromagnetic waves to a plurality of waveguides through the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section, the frequency can be the same in all waveguides, and a uniform energy density can be obtained. Easy to design radiating antenna. If the frequency is different, it is necessary to design in consideration of electromagnetic wave interference.

Further, the plasma processing apparatus according to claim 2 is connected to the electromagnetic wave source for outputting an electromagnetic wave, the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide for transmitting the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source, and the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide. A waveguide, a plurality of slots provided in the waveguide, constituting a waveguide antenna, an electromagnetic wave radiation window made of a dielectric material provided opposite to the plurality of slots, and an electromagnetic wave radiation window. A vacuum container provided as an incident surface of the electromagnetic wave, wherein a plasma is generated by the electromagnetic wave radiated into the vacuum container from the slot through the electromagnetic wave radiation window to perform plasma processing. A plurality of the waveguides, and an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source to the respective waveguides. And a structure that is provided to branch from the plane perpendicular to the field plane of the waveguide section (E plane) or field plane (H plane).
With such a structure, a large-area substrate can be processed, and a plasma processing apparatus with a small footprint and a uniform plasma density can be provided.

Further, the plasma processing apparatus according to claim 3 is connected to the electromagnetic wave source for outputting the electromagnetic wave, the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide for transmitting the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source, and the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide. A waveguide, a plurality of slots provided in the waveguide, constituting a waveguide antenna, an electromagnetic wave radiation window made of a dielectric material provided opposite to the plurality of slots, and an electromagnetic wave radiation window. A vacuum container provided as an incident surface of the electromagnetic wave, wherein a plasma is generated by the electromagnetic wave radiated into the vacuum container from the slot through the electromagnetic wave radiation window to perform plasma processing. The plurality of waveguides, having an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source to each of the waveguides, wherein in the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section, Wave propagation direction is bent substantially at a right angle, and has a configuration that is adapted to distribute the electromagnetic waves to a plurality of the waveguide.
With such a structure, a large-area substrate can be processed, and a plasma processing apparatus with a small footprint and a uniform plasma density can be provided.

The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 4 is connected to the electromagnetic wave source for outputting an electromagnetic wave, the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide for transmitting the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source, and the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide. A waveguide, a plurality of slots provided in the waveguide, constituting a waveguide antenna, an electromagnetic wave radiation window made of a dielectric material provided opposite to the plurality of slots, and an electromagnetic wave radiation window. A vacuum container provided as an incident surface of the electromagnetic wave, wherein a plasma is generated by the electromagnetic wave radiated into the vacuum container from the slot through the electromagnetic wave radiation window to perform plasma processing. A plurality of the waveguides, and an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source to the respective waveguides. Provided branched from the electric field plane of the waveguide section, wherein the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion and a plurality of the waveguide has a structure that is disposed on substantially the same plane.
With such a structure, a large-area substrate can be processed, and a plasma processing apparatus with a small footprint and a uniform plasma density can be provided.

Further, the plasma processing apparatus according to claim 5 is connected to the electromagnetic wave source for outputting the electromagnetic wave, the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide for transmitting the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source, and the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide. A waveguide, a plurality of slots provided in the waveguide, constituting a waveguide antenna, an electromagnetic wave radiation window made of a dielectric material provided opposite to the plurality of slots, and an electromagnetic wave radiation window. A vacuum container provided as an incident surface of the electromagnetic wave, wherein a plasma is generated by the electromagnetic wave radiated into the vacuum container from the slot through the electromagnetic wave radiation window to perform plasma processing. A plurality of the waveguides; and an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing the electromagnetic waves from the electromagnetic wave source to the respective waveguides. As uniformly radiated into the vacuum container through a wave radiation window, the distance between the inner surfaces of the waveguide adjacent, has a configuration that is within the width between the inner surfaces of the waveguide.
With such a structure, a large-area substrate can be processed, and a plasma processing apparatus with a small footprint and a uniform plasma density can be provided.

Also, the plasma processing apparatus according to claim 6 is connected to the electromagnetic wave source for outputting the electromagnetic wave, the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide for transmitting the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source, and the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide. A waveguide, a plurality of slots provided in the waveguide, constituting a waveguide antenna, an electromagnetic wave radiation window made of a dielectric material provided opposite to the plurality of slots, and an electromagnetic wave radiation window. A vacuum container provided as an incident surface of the electromagnetic wave, wherein a plasma is generated by the electromagnetic wave radiated into the vacuum container from the slot through the electromagnetic wave radiation window to perform plasma processing. A plurality of the waveguides, and an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source to the respective waveguides. It has a configuration that is provided with branches each opposed wall surfaces of the waveguide portion.
With such a structure, a large-area substrate can be processed, and a plasma processing apparatus with a small footprint and a uniform plasma density can be provided.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the plasma processing apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the plurality of waveguides are provided on both sides of the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section at a substantially right angle. Is provided.
With such a structure, a large-area substrate can be processed, and a plasma processing apparatus with a smaller footprint and a uniform plasma density can be provided.

The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 8 is the plasma processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section and the plurality of waveguides are arranged on substantially the same plane. It has a configuration.
With such a structure, a large-area substrate can be processed, and a plasma processing apparatus with a smaller footprint and a uniform plasma density can be provided.

The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 9 is the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 8, wherein a plurality of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows are provided, and a vacuum is provided between the plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows and the vacuum container. Is held.
Since a plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows are provided in this manner, the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation window can be reduced, and thus a large-area substrate can be processed with a uniform plasma density.

A plasma processing apparatus according to a tenth aspect is the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to ninth aspects, wherein the slots are substantially uniformly distributed over the entire area of the plasma processing. I have.
Therefore, a large-area substrate can be processed with a uniform plasma density.

Further, in the plasma processing apparatus according to claim 11, in the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, a plurality of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows corresponding to a plurality of the slots are provided in a hermetically sealed manner. A structure is provided in which vacuum is maintained between the electromagnetic wave radiation window and the vacuum container.
By providing a plurality of electromagnetic radiation windows common to a plurality of slots in this way, it is possible to reduce the processing cost of the top plate of the vacuum vessel, reduce the cost of the apparatus, and to provide a plurality of electromagnetic radiation windows, so that the electromagnetic radiation window is provided. Can be reduced, and a large-area substrate can be processed with a uniform plasma density.

A plasma processing apparatus according to a twelfth aspect is the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to eleventh aspects, wherein the width is substantially equal to the width of the waveguide for each of the waveguides. The electromagnetic wave radiation window having the, the major axis direction of the waveguide and the electromagnetic wave radiation window substantially coincide, the major axis direction length of the waveguide and the electromagnetic wave radiation window substantially coincide, A configuration is provided in which the period of the major axis of the waveguide and the period of the long axis of the electromagnetic wave radiation window are substantially the same.
With such a configuration, the electromagnetic wave can be effectively introduced into the vacuum vessel without the electromagnetic wave being blocked by the beam.

A plasma processing apparatus according to a thirteenth aspect is the plasma processing apparatus according to the twelfth aspect, wherein a length of the electromagnetic wave radiation window in a long axis direction is shorter than a length of the waveguide in a long axis direction. Have.
With such a configuration, the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation window can be further reduced.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to thirteenth aspects, a dielectric member commonly in contact with one or more of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows is provided in the vacuum vessel. It is provided with a configuration that is provided.
With such a configuration, the electromagnetic wave spreads in the dielectric member provided below the entire waveguide antenna including the entirety of the plurality of slots, and a more uniform plasma can be formed than without the dielectric member. Can be.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to thirteenth aspects, the vacuum vessel side of the beam supporting each of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows is covered with a dielectric member. Is provided.
With such a configuration, the electromagnetic wave spreads in the dielectric member that covers the inside of the vacuum vessel of the beam, and plasma with higher uniformity can be formed than without the dielectric member.

The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 16 is the plasma processing apparatus according to claim 15, for controlling the temperature in the beam supporting the electromagnetic radiation window between the plurality of electromagnetic radiation windows. It has a configuration in which a water cooling tube is provided.
Since the beam of the vacuum vessel and the hermetic sealing member of the electromagnetic wave radiation window are heated by the plasma and are deformed or damaged, they need to be cooled. By providing the water cooling tube in the beam in this manner, it is possible to efficiently cool the plasma without hindering the generation of plasma.

A plasma processing apparatus according to a seventeenth aspect is the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to sixteenth aspects, wherein the lower portion of the beam supporting the electromagnetic wave radiation window is provided between a plurality of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows. Is provided with a gas inlet in the vacuum container.
With such a structure, the gas can be uniformly supplied to a large area without hindering the generation of plasma, so that plasma processing with good uniformity can be performed.

  An eighteenth aspect of the present invention provides the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to seventeenth aspects, wherein the number of the electromagnetic wave sources for supplying electromagnetic waves to the waveguide is one. .

A plasma processing apparatus according to a nineteenth aspect is the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to seventeenth aspects, wherein the plurality of electromagnetic wave sources for supplying the electromagnetic wave to the waveguide are provided. .
Since the maximum output of the microwave source is limited, the use of a plurality of microwave sources can increase the power.

A plasma processing apparatus according to a twentieth aspect of the present invention is the plasma processing apparatus according to the nineteenth aspect, wherein a plurality of the electromagnetic wave sources have different frequencies from adjacent electromagnetic wave sources.
When a plurality of microwave sources are used, interference between plasmas occurs. Therefore, interference can be prevented by changing the frequency of adjacent microwave sources.

Further, a plasma processing apparatus according to claim 21 is the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein the frequency of the electromagnetic wave source that supplies an electromagnetic wave to the waveguide is 2.45 GHz. Have.
2.45 GHz is currently the standard as the frequency of the microwave source, and is inexpensive and has many types.

A plasma processing apparatus according to a twenty-second aspect is the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to twenty-first aspects, wherein the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section is provided with a slot.
A plasma processing apparatus according to a twenty-third aspect of the present invention is the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to twenty-second aspects, wherein the plasma processing is a plasma oxidation.
A plasma processing apparatus according to a twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention is the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to twenty-second aspects, wherein the plasma processing is a plasma film formation.
A plasma processing apparatus according to a twenty-fifth aspect of the present invention is the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to twenty-second aspects, wherein the plasma processing is plasma etching.

In a plasma processing method according to a twenty-sixth aspect, plasma oxidation and film formation by a plasma CVD method are continuously performed without breaking vacuum using the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to twenty-second aspects. It has a configuration.
A plasma processing method according to a twenty-seventh aspect is provided with a configuration in which plasma processing such as film formation or plasma etching by plasma oxidation or plasma CVD is performed using the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the first to twenty-second aspects. ing.
With such a structure, a large-area substrate can be processed, and various plasma processing can be performed using a plasma processing apparatus with a small footprint and a uniform plasma density.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a plasma processing apparatus and a plasma processing method capable of processing a large-area substrate and having a uniform plasma density.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings described below, those having the same functions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and repeated description thereof will be omitted.
Embodiment 1
1A is a cross-sectional view of the plasma processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1B is an enlarged view of a portion A of FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C is a top view of FIG.
1 is a waveguide, for example, a rectangular waveguide having a rectangular cross section, 2 is a plurality of slots constituting a waveguide antenna, 3 is an electromagnetic wave source, for example, a microwave source for outputting a microwave of 2.45 GHz, 4 Is a rectangular electromagnetic wave radiation window (electromagnetic wave introduction window) made of a dielectric material such as quartz, glass, ceramic or the like that transmits electromagnetic waves, 5 is a vacuum vessel (plasma generation chamber), and 6 is a processing gas for plasma processing. An inlet 7 is a gas exhaust port, 8 is a substrate to be processed by plasma processing, 9 is a substrate support (stage), 10 is a top plate of the vacuum vessel 5, and 11 is each of the above-mentioned rectangular electromagnetic radiation windows 4. Numeral 17 denotes an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing electromagnetic waves from the microwave source 3 to the plurality of rectangular waveguides 1.
The electromagnetic wave radiation window (electromagnetic wave introduction window) 4 is divided into a plurality of parts in order to make it relatively thin and have a withstand voltage. In the first embodiment, each electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 is formed in a rectangular shape so as to face the plurality of slots 2, and the top plate 10 of the vacuum vessel 5 is constituted by the plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4. .
The beam body 11 is made of a good heat conductor such as aluminum to protect the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 from being heated by the plasma reaction heat and being deformed to deteriorate the airtightness, and a mechanism for controlling the temperature such as the flow of the refrigerant. It can be provided with a built-in road. The coolant is desirably running water, and a water channel can be formed in the beam body 11 to control the temperature of the beam body 11 to a predetermined temperature. In other words, the size of one electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 is designed to have a desired thickness and a size capable of controlling the temperature.
The distance between the adjacent slots 2 is set such that uniform plasma is generated in the vacuum vessel 5 or electromagnetic waves are uniformly radiated into the vacuum vessel 5. The slots 2 are provided so as to be substantially uniformly distributed over the entire area of the plasma processing. The distance between the inner surfaces of the opposing tube walls of the adjacent waveguides 1 is provided within the width between the opposing inner surfaces of one waveguide 1 so that the electromagnetic waves are uniformly radiated into the vacuum vessel 5. . Emitting the electromagnetic waves uniformly in the vacuum vessel 5 makes the plasma density formed in the vacuum vessel 5 uniform. The length of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 is substantially the same as the length of the waveguide 1 and the length of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 and the length of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4. The length in the axial direction is shorter than the length in the long axis direction of the waveguide 1.

A gas introduction port 6 for introducing a source gas and a gas exhaust port 7 for exhausting the introduced gas are connected to the vacuum vessel 5 where the plasma is generated.
The airtight container is constituted by the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 as an upper wall surface of the vacuum container 5.
The microwave oscillated by the oscillator of the microwave source 3 is distributed and transmitted to the plurality of waveguides 1 by the linear electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17, and electromagnetic waves are radiated from the slots 2 constituting the waveguide antenna. The light is radiated into the vacuum container 5 through the window 4. A number of waveguides 1 branch off at a substantially right angle from the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17. The surface where the many waveguides 1 branch from the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17 is a surface perpendicular to the electric field surface (E surface) 18, that is, the magnetic field surface (H surface) 19, or the electromagnetic wave distribution surface. In the case where the waveguide section 17 for use is a rectangular waveguide as in the first embodiment, it can be said that the waveguide section has a shorter width. For this reason, the propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave is bent substantially at a right angle in the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion 17. Thereby, compared with the fourth conventional device and the fifth conventional device in which the propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave does not bend at a substantially right angle, the electromagnetic wave can be branched into a larger number of waveguides 1 and a large area substrate can be accommodated. It is easy to use and has a small footprint at the branch.
Further, the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17 and the large number of waveguides 1 are substantially on the same plane. This method is called a single-layer type, as opposed to a multilayer type in which the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17 and a large number of waveguides 1 are arranged in an overlapping manner. Compared with the multilayer type, the single-layer type can reduce the height of the device and can make the device compact. In addition, as will be described later, the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17 and a large number of waveguides 1 are cut out from a single metal block to be manufactured at a low cost.

For example, the width _{w 4} of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 is 10 cm, the width _{w 2} of the slot 2 is several mm smaller. Providing a plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 to reduce the width w ₄ can reduce the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4, reduce the loss of electromagnetic waves, and reduce the size of the large substrate, as described below. A corresponding large-sized plasma processing apparatus can be provided.
When the inside of the vacuum vessel 5 is set to a low pressure, the gas pressure difference between the substantially atmospheric pressure and the pressure close to the vacuum, that is, a force of about 9.80665 × 104 Pa (1 kg / cm ² ) is applied to the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4. Take it. For this reason, it is necessary to make the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 thick enough to withstand this force.
As shown in Table 1 below, when the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 is formed of, for example, a circular synthetic quartz plate having a diameter of 300 mm or a rectangular shape of 250 mm square, the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 needs to be about 30 mm. As the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 increases, the loss of the electromagnetic wave increases. Furthermore, in the case of a plasma processing apparatus corresponding to a large substrate of about 1 m square, the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 becomes too thick, which is not feasible. For this reason, in the first embodiment, six electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 of 8 cm × 55 cm are provided, and a vacuum is held between these six electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 and the vacuum container 5. . Therefore, the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 can be set to 30 mm.

本実施の形態１のプラズマ処理装置は、導波管、例えば矩形導波管１と、矩形導波管１に設けられ、導波管アンテナを構成する複数のスロット２と、誘電体からなる電磁波放射窓４と、真空容器５とを具備し、スロット２から電磁波放射窓４を通して真空容器５内に放射された電磁波によってプラズマを生成し、プラズマ処理を行うプラズマ処理装置において、矩形導波管１が複数あり（ここでは６本を図示）、隣り合う矩形導波管１間の間隔は、隣り合う導波管１の内壁面間の距離が、導波管１の内面間の幅以内であり、この実施の形態１では矩形導波管１どうしが接して配置され、電磁波源、例えばマイクロ波源３から６本の矩形導波管１に電磁波を分配する導波管部、すなわち、電磁波分配用導波管部１７を有し、複数の電磁波放射窓４と真空容器５との間で真空が保持されている。また、スロット２は、プラズマ処理する基板８の全面積に渡りほぼ均一に分布させている。さらに、複数の（ここでは９個を図示）スロット２に共通して対応する電磁波放射窓４を複数（ここでは６個）設けている。
本実施の形態１にあっては、矩形導波管１の複数のスロット２に対応して電磁波放射窓４を複数設けたので、外気と真空容器５内との圧力差は、電磁波放射窓４の寸法により耐えられればよいので、電磁波放射窓４の厚さを薄くすることができる。したがって、大型のプラズマ処理装置を実現でき、大面積の基板を均一なプラズマ密度で処理することができる。また、矩形導波管１どうしを接して配置しているため、スロット２をプラズマ処理する全面積に渡り均一に分布させることが容易にできる。したがって、大面積の基板を均一なプラズマ密度で処理することができる。また、スロット２をプラズマ処理する全面積に渡り均一に分布させるというのは、例えばスロット２どうしの縦方向のピッチ、および横方向のピッチを同一にすることである。また、１台の電磁波源（ここでは、マイクロ波源３）から、電磁波分配用導波管部１７を通じて複数の矩形導波管１へ電磁波を供給しているため、すべての矩形導波管１において周波数を同一とすることができ、均一なエネルギー密度を放射するようなアンテナを設計しやすい。周波数が異なると、電磁波の干渉を考慮して設計する必要がある。
さらに、複数のスロット２に共通する電磁波放射窓４を複数設けることにより、真空容器５の天板の加工費を低減でき、装置価格を低減することができる。
図１（ｄ）は、矩形導波管１の別の構成例を示す断面図である。図１（ａ）に示すように、別部材で形成した複数の矩形導波管１を接して配置してもよいし、複数の矩形導波管１を接して配置した図１（ｄ）に示すような１個の部材を用いてもよい。なお、本発明において、複数の矩形導波管１どうしを接して配置するという技術思想には、矩形導波管１どうしを数ｃｍ離す程度のことは当然含まれる。また、導波管１と電磁波分配用導波管部１７とを１個の部材を用いて作製してもよい。

The plasma processing apparatus according to the first embodiment includes a waveguide, for example, a rectangular waveguide 1, a plurality of slots 2 provided in the rectangular waveguide 1, and constituting a waveguide antenna, and an electromagnetic wave formed of a dielectric. In a plasma processing apparatus that includes a radiation window 4 and a vacuum vessel 5 and generates plasma by electromagnetic waves radiated into the vacuum vessel 5 from the slot 2 through the electromagnetic radiation window 4 and performs plasma processing, a rectangular waveguide 1 (Here, six are shown), and the distance between the adjacent rectangular waveguides 1 is such that the distance between the inner wall surfaces of the adjacent waveguides 1 is within the width between the inner surfaces of the waveguides 1. In the first embodiment, the rectangular waveguides 1 are arranged in contact with each other, and a waveguide section for distributing electromagnetic waves from an electromagnetic wave source, for example, a microwave source 3 to six rectangular waveguides 1, that is, an electromagnetic wave distributing section. A plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows having a waveguide portion 17; Vacuum is maintained between the vacuum chamber 5 and. Further, the slots 2 are distributed almost uniformly over the entire area of the substrate 8 to be subjected to the plasma processing. Further, a plurality of (six in this case) electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 corresponding to a plurality of (here, nine are shown) slots 2 are provided.
In the first embodiment, since a plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 are provided corresponding to the plurality of slots 2 of the rectangular waveguide 1, the pressure difference between the outside air and the inside of the vacuum vessel 5 is reduced. Therefore, the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 can be reduced. Therefore, a large-sized plasma processing apparatus can be realized, and a large-area substrate can be processed with a uniform plasma density. Further, since the rectangular waveguides 1 are arranged in contact with each other, the slots 2 can be easily distributed uniformly over the entire area of the plasma processing. Therefore, a large-area substrate can be processed with a uniform plasma density. To distribute the slots 2 uniformly over the entire area of the plasma processing means, for example, to make the vertical pitch and the horizontal pitch of the slots 2 the same. Further, since electromagnetic waves are supplied from one electromagnetic wave source (here, the microwave source 3) to the plurality of rectangular waveguides 1 through the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17, all the rectangular waveguides 1 It is easy to design an antenna that can have the same frequency and radiate a uniform energy density. If the frequency is different, it is necessary to design in consideration of electromagnetic wave interference.
Further, by providing a plurality of electromagnetic radiation windows 4 common to the plurality of slots 2, the processing cost of the top plate of the vacuum vessel 5 can be reduced, and the cost of the apparatus can be reduced.
FIG. 1D is a cross-sectional view illustrating another configuration example of the rectangular waveguide 1. As shown in FIG. 1A, a plurality of rectangular waveguides 1 formed of different members may be arranged in contact with each other, or in FIG. 1D in which a plurality of rectangular waveguides 1 are arranged in contact with each other. One member as shown may be used. In the present invention, the technical idea of arranging a plurality of rectangular waveguides 1 in contact with each other naturally includes a distance of several cm between the rectangular waveguides 1. Alternatively, the waveguide 1 and the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17 may be manufactured using one member.

The basic idea of the first embodiment is that the microwave is distributed by the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17 using a plurality of rectangular waveguides 1 almost at right angles to each other to form a rectangular large area. Microwaves are radiated from the slots 2 through the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 from the slot 2 to the square-shaped large area with a uniform energy density to generate plasma with a uniform plasma density.
In the third conventional device described above, as described in the specification (paragraph 0028), equal microwave power is emitted from the coupling hole, and a plasma is formed. However, since the waveguides are arranged at predetermined intervals and the plasma spreads by diffusion, the plasma density has a Gaussian distribution. This Gaussian distribution is superimposed to achieve uniformity.
That is, in the first embodiment, the plasma having a uniform plasma density is generated in a rectangular area having a large area by the plurality of rectangular waveguides 1 in contact with each other. On the other hand, in the third conventional apparatus, the waveguides are spaced at a certain interval, and the plasma is made uniform by overlapping the Gaussian distribution.
This difference will be described with reference to a difference in a method of manufacturing a waveguide.
In the first embodiment, an example in which the effective processing area is 70 cm × 60 cm will be described as an example. For this reason, for example, as a specific method for manufacturing the rectangular waveguide 1, six aluminum blocks of 70 cm × 60 cm × 4 cm are used so that the width in the rectangular waveguide 1 is 9 cm and the height is 3 cm. The rectangular waveguide 1 was cut out and manufactured. That is, in this case, the walls of the adjacent rectangular waveguides 1 are integral (see FIG. 1D).
Also, in a method of manufacturing a plurality of rectangular waveguides 1 and assembling them so as to be in contact with each other, the waveguide planar antenna according to the first embodiment can be manufactured.
Further, as described above, even if these rectangular waveguides 1 are manufactured with a slight gap therebetween, the effect of the first embodiment can be obtained.
Further, as shown in FIG. 1C, the width of the rectangular waveguide 1 is substantially equal to the width of the rectangular waveguide 1 (here, the width of the rectangular waveguide 1 is smaller than that of the rectangular waveguide 1). The electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 having a narrow width is arranged, and the long axis directions of the rectangular waveguide 1 and the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 substantially coincide with each other. The lengths of the rectangular waveguide 1 and the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 substantially coincide with each other. Thus, the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 is formed for each of the rectangular waveguides 1, and the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 is made to correspond to the longitudinal direction, the length and the period of the rectangular waveguide 1, so that the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 is formed. The electromagnetic wave can be effectively introduced into the vacuum vessel 5 without dividing the electromagnetic wave by the beam 11 while dividing the beam 4 into a plurality.
Further, the length of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 in the long axis direction can be shorter than the length of the rectangular waveguide 1 in the long axis direction. In this case, the beam 11 of the top plate 10 of the vacuum vessel 5 that supports the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 can be formed to cross in the vertical and horizontal directions, and the small electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 shorter in length than the rectangular waveguide 1 can be formed. Therefore, the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 can be reduced.

Further, there is one microwave source 3 for supplying the electromagnetic wave to the rectangular waveguide 1, and the frequency of the microwave source 3 is 2.45 GHz. The frequency of the microwave source 3 is mass-produced at 2.45 GHz, and is now standard, inexpensive, and abundant.
In the plasma processing apparatus according to the first embodiment, as the plasma processing, plasma oxidation, plasma film formation, plasma etching, or plasma ashing can be performed.
In addition, by using the present apparatus, plasma processing of a substrate having a large square area can be performed. In addition, since the present plasma has a high electron density, a low electron temperature, and good uniformity, it is possible to provide a plasma treatment method of plasma oxidation, plasma etching, and plasma film formation that is very good.

Embodiment 2
FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of a plasma processing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention, and FIG. 2B is a top view of FIG.
In the second embodiment, the beam 11 (usually made of metal) that supports the plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 made of a dielectric is covered with a dielectric, for example, a dielectric member 12, so that the plasma is applied to the beam 11 part. This is to make it easier to spread. In order to easily spread the plasma to the beam 11, at least the inner surface (inner wall surface) side of the vacuum vessel 5 of the beam 11 should be a dielectric member so that electrons and the like in the plasma do not disappear in the beam 11 made of metal. Achieved by covering with 12.
In the second embodiment, one or more rectangular plate-shaped dielectric members 12 that are in common contact with one or more electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 (here, nine rows by six rows = 54) are formed by vacuum. It is provided in the container 5.
In the second embodiment, even if there is a metal beam 11 that supports a plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4, it is provided at the lower part of the entire waveguide antenna constituted by the plurality of slots 2. Since the electromagnetic waves are easily spread in the dielectric member 12 and the plasma is not exposed to the metal beam 11, a more uniform plasma can be formed as compared with the case where the dielectric member 12 is not provided. Further, in the second embodiment, the case where the number of the dielectric member 12 is one is shown, but the dielectric member 12 can be divided into a plurality of pieces. In addition, as described above, this can be achieved by covering at least the inner surface side of the beam body 11 of the vacuum vessel 5 with the dielectric member. It is also possible to integrally form a dielectric member constituting the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 and a dielectric member covering the inner surface of the beam 11.

Embodiment 3
FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view of a plasma processing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention, and FIG. 3B is an enlarged view of a portion B in FIG. FIG. 4 is a top view showing the arrangement of the water cooling tubes of the present plasma processing apparatus. FIG. 5 is a top view showing an arrangement of a gas introduction pipe having a plurality of gas introduction ports of the present plasma processing apparatus.
13 is an O-ring for sealing airtightness between the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 and the beam 11 of the vacuum vessel 5, 14 is a rectangular cylindrical water cooling tube provided in the beam 11 and for flowing cooling water for temperature control, Reference numeral 15 denotes a gas introduction pipe for flowing gas into the vacuum vessel 5, and reference numeral 16 denotes gas introduction ports provided at a plurality of locations of the gas introduction pipe 15 (in FIG. 5, installation locations of the gas introduction pipe 15 are not shown).
In the third embodiment, a water cooling pipe 14 is provided between the plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 in the beam 11 holding the electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4. The beam 11 of the vacuum vessel 5 and the O-ring 13 that seals the airtightness of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 are heated by the plasma and are deformed or damaged. In the third embodiment, by providing the water cooling tube 14 in the beam 11, cooling can be efficiently performed without hindering generation of plasma.

  Further, a plurality of gas inlets 16 are provided between the plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 in the vacuum vessel 5 below the beam 11 holding the electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4. These gas inlets 16 allow the gas to be uniformly supplied to the large-area substrate 8 without hindering the generation of plasma, so that plasma processing with good uniformity can be performed. Of course, any one of the water cooling pipe 14, the gas introduction pipe 15, and the gas introduction port 16 having such a configuration may be provided.

Embodiment 4
FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional view of a plasma processing apparatus according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention, and FIG. 6B is a top view of FIG.
When the maximum output of the microwave source 3 is sufficient, it is possible to supply the microwave with one microwave source 3 as in the first embodiment. However, the processing area is limited by the output of the microwave source 3. Since the maximum output of the microwave source 3 is limited, a plurality of (here, two) microwave sources 3 are provided and the microwaves are supplied from the plurality of microwave sources 3 as in the fourth embodiment. Accordingly, the power can be increased and a plasma processing apparatus capable of processing a large area can be realized.
By providing two microwave sources 3 as in the fourth embodiment, the area can be doubled. For example, when one 10 kW electromagnetic wave source is used, a substrate size of 100 cm × 120 cm is possible. However, when two 10 kW electromagnetic wave sources are used, a substrate size of 140 cm × 170 cm can be handled. Further, the plasma density can be increased, and the plasma processing time can be reduced.

However, when a plurality of microwave sources 3 are used, the microwaves from the plurality of microwave sources 3 have an effect, change the plasma characteristics, and degrade the stability. Therefore, by setting the frequencies of the adjacent microwave sources 3 of the plurality of microwave sources 3 to be different from each other, the influence of the microwave sources 3 can be reduced, interference can be prevented, and the stability can be increased.
Further, as described above, the microwave source 3 having a frequency of 2.45 GHz is mass-produced, and by using this, the device can be manufactured at low cost. Even in the microwave source 3 of 2.45 GHz, the frequency can be slightly changed, and the frequency of the adjacent microwave source 3 can be set to be different.

Embodiment 5
FIG. 7 is a top view of the plasma processing apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.
In the fifth embodiment, by using four electromagnetic wave sources, for example, four microwave sources 3, it is possible to cope with four times the area as compared with a case where one microwave source 3 is provided. For example, when four 10 kW electromagnetic wave sources are used, it is possible to cope with a substrate size of 200 cm × 240 cm.

Embodiment 6
FIG. 8A is a cross-sectional view of a plasma processing apparatus according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention, and FIG. 8B is a top view of FIG.
As described above, in the present invention, the technical idea of arranging a plurality of rectangular waveguides 1 in contact with each other naturally includes about a distance of several cm between the rectangular waveguides 1. In the sixth embodiment, the width w1 between the inner surfaces of the rectangular waveguides ₁ is 9 cm, while the distance d between the inner surfaces of the adjacent rectangular waveguides 1 is 3 cm. The distance between the rectangular waveguides 1 is such that electromagnetic waves are uniformly radiated from the slots 2 through the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 into the vacuum vessel 5.
The light emission state of the plasma characteristics generated by changing the distance between the rectangular waveguides 1 was observed with a CCD camera installed on the lower surface of the vacuum vessel 5. According to this experiment, when the distance d between the inner surfaces of the adjacent rectangular waveguides ₁ is close to each other within the width w1 between the inner surfaces of the rectangular waveguides 1, the plasma is uniformly distributed in the vacuum vessel 5. There has occurred. This result is good distance d between the inner surface of the waveguide is placed close within the width w ₁ between the inner surface of the waveguide.

Embodiment 7
FIG. 9 is a top view of the plasma processing apparatus according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention.
In the present seventh embodiment, the number of the electromagnetic wave sources, for example, the four microwave sources 3 in the sixth embodiment is set to be four times as large as that in the case where the number of the microwave sources 3 is one. . For example, when four 10 kW electromagnetic wave sources are used, it is possible to cope with a substrate size of 200 cm × 240 cm.

Embodiment 8
FIG. 10A is a cross-sectional view of the plasma processing apparatus according to the eighth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10B is a top view of FIG.
In the eighth embodiment, the microwave oscillated by the oscillator of the microwave source 3 branches off to the opposing wall surfaces of the linear and rectangular electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17 and is guided in two directions, left and right. The light is distributed and transmitted to the wave tube 1, and is radiated from the slot 2 constituting the waveguide antenna into the vacuum vessel 5 through the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4. Also in the eighth embodiment, the waveguide 1 and the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17 are formed on the same plane. A large number of waveguides 1 are branched from the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17 at right and left substantially at right angles. As shown in FIG. 10 (b), a slot 2 may be provided in the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17, or plasma is more uniformly generated when the slot 2 is provided.
In the eighth embodiment, it is difficult to design the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17 for distributing the electromagnetic waves to the left and right as compared with the first and second embodiments, but the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section 17 is separately required. In addition, the apparatus can be made compact, and the whole length of the waveguide is short, so that it is easy to obtain uniformity of plasma in the length direction of the waveguide.

Embodiment 9
FIG. 11 is a top view of the plasma processing apparatus according to the ninth embodiment of the present invention.
In the ninth embodiment, the number of the microwave sources 3 which is the electromagnetic wave source of the eighth embodiment is set to four, so that the area is four times as large as that of the case where the number of the microwave sources 3 is one. . For example, when four 10 kW electromagnetic wave sources are used, it is possible to cope with a substrate size of 200 cm × 240 cm.

Embodiment 10
FIG. 12A is a cross-sectional view of a plasma processing apparatus according to Embodiment 10 of the present invention, and FIG. 12B is a top view of FIG. Note that FIG. 12A is a cross-sectional view viewed from the direction of arrow C in FIG. 10B, different from the cross-sectional view of FIG. 1A. 12A and 12B, the installation locations of the gas inlet 6 and the gas outlet 7 do not correspond.
As described above, when the inside of the vacuum vessel 5 is set to a low pressure, the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 has a gas pressure difference between the substantially atmospheric pressure and the pressure close to the vacuum, that is, about 9.80665 × 104 Pa (1 kg / cm). ² ) The force is applied. For this reason, it is necessary to make the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 thick enough to withstand this force. For example, in the case of an electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 of 70 cm × 60 cm, a single electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 can be used if quartz glass is used and the thickness is 70 mm. The tenth embodiment shows a case where the number of the electromagnetic wave radiation window 4 is one. In this case, there is an advantage that the electromagnetic wave is not affected by the beam 11. However, when the number of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 is one, the thickness of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows 4 becomes too thick for a substrate size of 100 cm square or more, and it is difficult to cope with the size.
In the first to tenth embodiments described above, the electromagnetic wave source is mainly described using a microwave source, but is not limited to a microwave source. Further, the description has been made using the linear waveguide portion for electromagnetic wave distribution, but the present invention is not limited to the linear waveguide portion. Further, the waveguide is not limited to a rectangular shape.

Embodiment 11
Next, a process of manufacturing a polycrystalline silicon thin film transistor (Poly-Si TFT) for a liquid crystal display device formed on a glass substrate using the plasma processing apparatus of the above embodiment will be described.

First, the positioning of the polycrystalline silicon thin film transistor and the required specifications of the gate insulating film will be described.
Low-temperature poly-Si (polycrystalline silicon) thin-film transistors (Poly-Si TFTs) have higher electrical characteristics than conventional amorphous thin-film transistors (a-Si TFTs) and can form various electronic circuits on glass substrates for liquid crystal displays. , Very expected. One of the key technologies of the low-temperature poly-Si TFT is formation of a gate insulating film.
Gate insulating films for low-temperature poly-Si TFTs and integrated circuits are used for similar applications, but the required specifications are completely different. First, the process temperature must be 950 ° C. or higher for integrated circuits, 600 ° C. or lower when glass is used for TFT, and 200 ° C. or lower when plastic is used. The substrate area is about 9 times as large as that of a glass substrate of about 70 cm × 90 cm with respect to a single crystal Si wafer for an integrated circuit having a diameter of 30 cm, and it is necessary to cover a larger area in the future.
On the other hand, surface irregularities can be made atomically flat in a single crystal Si wafer for integrated circuits, and the future target is 0.1 nm. On the other hand, the surface unevenness of the low-temperature poly-Si is such that when the melted Si changes from a liquid phase to a solid starting from the nucleus and grows as a crystal, the volume expands, and finally the crystal grain swells at a grain boundary where the crystal grains collide with about 50 nm. Projections are formed. The step of the island-shaped poly-Si in the channel portion is 50 nm to 200 nm. For this reason, it is necessary to develop a gate insulating film for low-temperature poly-Si TFTs that can sufficiently cover the protrusions and steps.
Next, we describe differences required specifications of the electrical defect density of the gate insulating film, the area of a single element, with respect to 1.5 cm ² of the PC processor of the integrated circuit 15-inch LCD display 900 cm ² and 600 It is twice. The channel area, which is the central part of the transistor, is 0.14 μm × 0.14 μm for integrated circuits, and the minimum TFT is 1.0 μm × 1.0 μm, and some peripheral circuits are even larger, about 100 times. The number of TFTs in the liquid crystal screen is 1600 × 1200 × 3 = 5.76 million in UXGA. The number of transistors included in the peripheral integrated circuit to be taken into the TFT substrate is considered to be on the order of several million, although it depends on the circuit to be taken in. Therefore, the total number of transistors included in the system panel including the peripheral circuit is several times that of the peripheral integrated circuit. From these facts, the total channel area in a single device is estimated to be several hundred times larger in the case of a low-temperature poly-Si TFT than in an integrated circuit. That is, in order to make the yield rate of the TFT single panel equal to that of the integrated circuit single chip, it is necessary to reduce the electrical defect density of the gate insulating film to several hundredths.
As described above, in the case of the low-temperature poly-Si TFT, unlike the case of the integrated circuit, it is essential to develop an insulating film forming technique suitable for the low-temperature poly-Si TFT satisfying the following required specifications.
(1) It is formed at a low temperature of 600 ° C. or less.
(2) Cover large areas and large irregularities with good uniformity.
(3) Significantly improve electrical defect density.
(4) Form a good Si / SiO ₂ interface.
Therefore, a plasma processing apparatus capable of performing oxidation, film formation, and etching on a rectangular large-area substrate using high-density and low-damage plasma is desired.

Next, a process of manufacturing a polycrystalline silicon thin film transistor (Poly-Si TFT) for liquid crystal display formed on a glass substrate using the plasma processing apparatus of the above embodiment will be described.
FIG. 13 is a process flow diagram when the present invention is applied to an n-channel type and a p-channel type polycrystalline silicon thin film transistor for a liquid crystal display device, and FIGS. 14 (a) to 14 (e) are element cross sections in each process. FIG.
As the glass substrate 200 (FIG. 14), a glass plate having a size of 700 mm × 600 mm × 1.1 mm was used.
As shown in FIG. 14A, a 200-nm-thick silicon oxide film (SiO ₂ film) is formed as a base coat film 201 on a cleaned glass substrate 200 by PE-CVD (plasma CVD) using TEOS gas. It was formed (S1 in FIG. 13).
Thereafter, an amorphous silicon film having a thickness of 50 nm was formed by a PE-CVD method using SiH ₄ and H ₂ gases (S2).
Since this amorphous silicon film contains 5 to 15 atomic% of hydrogen, if the laser is irradiated as it is, the hydrogen becomes a gas, the volume expands rapidly, and the film is blown off. For this reason, hydrogen was released from the glass substrate 200 on which the amorphous silicon film was formed by maintaining the glass substrate 200 at 350 ° C. or higher where hydrogen bonding was cut off for about one hour (S3).
Thereafter, a pulse light (670 mJ / pulse) having a wavelength of 308 nm from a xenon chloride (XeCl) excimer laser light source is formed into 0.8 mm × 130 mm by an optical system and has an intensity of 360 mJ / cm ² on the glass substrate 200. The silicon film was irradiated. The amorphous silicon was absorbed by the laser beam, melted, turned into a liquid phase, then cooled down and solidified, and polycrystalline silicon was obtained. The laser beam is a 200 Hz pulse, and the melting and solidification are completed within one pulse. For this reason, the laser irradiation repeats the melting and solidifying for each pulse. By irradiating a laser while moving the glass substrate 200, a large area can be crystallized. In order to suppress variations in the characteristics, the irradiation regions of the individual laser beams were irradiated with an overlap of 95 to 97.5% (S4).
This polycrystalline silicon layer is patterned into an island-shaped polycrystalline silicon layer 216 corresponding to the source, channel, and drain by a photolithography step (S5) and an etching step (S6), as shown in FIG. Then, an n-channel TFT region 202, a p-channel TFT region 203, and a pixel portion TFT region 204 were formed (so far, FIG. 14A).

Thereafter, an interface with an insulating film formed on the most important channel region of the Poly-Si TFT and an insulating film are formed (S7).
As the plasma processing apparatus, the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 described in Embodiment 1 was used.
The glass substrate 200 having the island-shaped polycrystalline silicon layer 216 on the base coat film 201 (FIG. 14A) was set on the support 10 at a temperature of 350 ° C.
Thereafter, a gas in which Ar gas and oxygen gas are mixed at a ratio of Ar / (Ar + O ₂ ) = 95% is introduced into the reaction chamber, and the gas is maintained at 80 Pa. Thereafter, power of 5 kW is supplied from a microwave power supply of 2.45 GHz, oxygen plasma is generated, and plasma oxidation is performed.
In the oxygen plasma, the oxygen gas is decomposed into highly reactive oxygen atom active species, and the island-shaped polycrystalline silicon layer 216 is oxidized by the oxygen atom active species to form a gate insulating film 205 (FIG. 14B, first). A photo-oxide film made of SiO ₂ to be an insulating film is formed. A first gate insulating film 205 (first insulating film) having a thickness of about 3 nm was formed in three minutes (S8).
Next, in order to continuously form a SiO ₂ film without breaking the vacuum after exhausting the gas for plasma oxidation, the TEOS gas flow rate is 30 sccm, the oxygen gas flow rate is 7500 sccm, and the film formation chamber is kept at the substrate temperature of 350 ° C. A second gate insulating film 206 (second insulating film) made of a SiO ₂ film was formed by a plasma CVD method with the pressure in the chamber 25 set to 267 Pa (2 Torr) and the microwave power supply set to 450 W. A second gate insulating film 206 having a thickness of 30 nm was formed in two minutes (S9).
The plasma oxidation step (S8) and the step (S9) of forming the first gate insulating film 205 by the high-density and low-damage plasma CVD method can be continuously performed in a vacuum without lowering the productivity. . As a result, a good interface between the semiconductor (the island-shaped polycrystalline silicon layer 216) and the first gate insulating film 205 was formed, and a thick and practically usable insulating film could be formed quickly. The plasma oxidation and the film formation by the plasma CVD method can be performed in different reaction chambers.

Thereafter, a Poly-Si TFT was formed by the same process as the conventional method.
First, the density of the first gate insulating film 205 made of a SiO ₂ film is increased by annealing the glass substrate 200 at a substrate temperature of 350 ° C. for 2 hours in a nitrogen gas (S10). By the high-density treatment, the density of the SiO ₂ film is increased, and the leakage current and the withstand voltage are improved.
Then, after forming a film with a thickness of 100 nm using Ti as a barrier metal by the sputtering method, a film of Al was formed in a thickness of 400 nm in the same manner by the sputtering method (S11). The metal layer made of Al was patterned by photolithography (S12) (S13), and a gate electrode 207 was formed as shown in FIG. 14 (c).
Thereafter, only the p-channel TFT 250 was covered with a photoresist (not shown) in a photolithography process (S14). Next, using the gate electrode 207 as a mask, 6 × 10 ¹⁵ / cm ² of phosphorus was doped into the n ⁺ source / drain contact portion 209 of the n-channel TFT 260 at 80 keV (S15).
Thereafter, the n-channel TFT region 202 and the n-channel TFT 260 in the pixel portion TFT region 204 are covered with a photoresist by a photolithography process (S18), and boron is applied at 60 keV and 1 × 10 ¹⁶ by ion doping using the gate electrode 207 as a mask. The P ⁺ source / drain contact portion 210 of the p-channel TFT 250 (FIG. 14C) in the p-channel region 203 (FIG. 14A) was doped at S / cm ² (S17).
Thereafter, the glass substrate 200 was annealed at a substrate temperature of 350 ° C. for 2 hours to activate ion-doped phosphorus and boron (S18). Then, an interlayer insulating film 208 made of SiO ₂ was formed by a plasma CVD method using a TEOS gas (S19) (FIG. 6C).

Next, the second gate insulating film 206 and the interlayer insulating film 208 are contacted with the n ⁺ source / drain contact portion 209 and the P ⁺ source / drain contact portion 210 by a photolithography step (S20) and an etching step (S21). The holes were patterned as shown in FIG. Then, after sputtering with a thickness of 100 nm using Ti as a barrier metal (not shown), sputtering with a thickness of 400 nm is performed on Al (S22), and a source electrode 213 and a drain electrode 212 are formed by a photolithography method (S23) and an etching step (S24). Was patterned (FIG. 14D).

Further, as shown in FIG. 14E, a protective film 211 made of a SiO ₂ film is formed to a thickness of 300 nm by a plasma CVD method (S25), and the n-channel TFT 260 in the pixel portion TFT 204 region (FIG. 14A) is formed. A contact hole for connection with a pixel electrode 214 (to be described later) made of ITO was formed in the drain portion 212 of FIG. 14C by a photolithography step (S26) and an etching step (S27).
Thereafter, a hydrogen plasma treatment was performed for 3 minutes at a substrate temperature of 350 ° C., a H ₂ gas flow rate of 1000 sccm, a gas pressure of 173 Pa (1.3 Torr), and an RF power supply of 450 W in a multi-chamber sputtering apparatus. (S28).
Thereafter, the substrate was moved to another reaction chamber, and a film of ITO was formed to a thickness of 150 nm (S29). By patterning the ITO as a pixel electrode 214 in a photolithography step (S30) and an etching step (S31), the TFT substrate 215 was completed (FIG. 14E), and a substrate inspection was performed (S32).

Polyimide was applied to the TFT substrate 215 and a glass substrate (not shown) on which a color filter was formed, rubbed, and then the substrates were bonded. Thereafter, the bonded substrate was cut into panels.
These panels were placed in a vacuum tank, the inlet of the panel was immersed in the liquid crystal in a dish, and air was introduced into the tank, whereby the liquid crystal was injected into the panel at that pressure. Thereafter, the liquid crystal panel was completed by sealing the injection port with resin (S33).
Thereafter, a liquid crystal module was completed by attaching a deflection plate and attaching peripheral circuits, a backlight, a bezel, and the like (S35).
This liquid crystal module can be used for personal computers, monitors, televisions, portable terminals, and the like.
At this time, the threshold voltage of the TFT was 1.9 V ± 0.8 V in the conventional case in which no plasma oxide film was formed and SiO ₂ was formed by a normal plasma CVD method. Since the interface between the silicon oxide film and the silicon film is formed in the polycrystalline silicon film, good interface characteristics between the silicon oxide film and the polycrystalline silicon (the island-like polycrystalline silicon layer 216) can be obtained. The threshold voltage has been improved to 1.5V ± 0.6V due to the improvement of the bulk characteristics. Since the variation in the threshold voltage was reduced, the yield rate was significantly improved. In addition, a stacked structure of a plasma oxide film and a high-density and low-damage plasma CVD film provides good coverage and good characteristics of a film formed by a plasma CVD method. Therefore, the thickness can be reduced to about 1/3 of 30 nm, and the on-current can be improved about three times.
A single-crystal Si wafer (P type, 8 to 12 Ω · cm, diameter 150 mm, (100)) was placed on a glass substrate, and a gate insulating film was formed in the same manner as in Embodiment 11. Thereafter, aluminum was deposited by heating with low resistance through a mask having a hole having a diameter of 1 mm. Then, it was baked at 400 ° C. for 30 minutes in a mixed gas of 96% nitrogen gas and 4% hydrogen gas. When the interface state density was measured using this MOS structure element, a good interface characteristic of 3 × 10 ¹⁰ cm ⁻² eV ⁻¹ was obtained, which is equivalent to that of a thermal oxide film.

  According to the first to eleventh embodiments of the present invention, a thin gate insulating film having good interface characteristics with a single-crystal Si layer for forming a channel of a low-temperature poly-Si TFT in a glass-based liquid crystal display panel described above is provided. It is possible to provide a plasma processing apparatus and a plasma processing method which are very effective for forming by plasma oxidation.

  The first to eleventh embodiments described above are described for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and are not described for limiting the present invention. For example, the electromagnetic wave source has been mainly described using a microwave source, but is not limited to a microwave source. In addition, the description has been made using the linear waveguide portion for electromagnetic wave distribution, but the present invention is not limited to the linear shape, and may be a curved shape or a bent shape. Further, the shape of the waveguide is not limited to a rectangle. Therefore, each element disclosed in the above embodiment is intended to include all design changes and equivalents belonging to the technical scope of the present invention.

  It is possible to provide a plasma processing apparatus and a plasma processing method with a uniform plasma density for performing plasma processing such as film deposition, surface modification, or etching on a large substrate to be processed, and in particular, a liquid crystal display, an EL, a plasma display, etc. It is suitable for use in manufacturing various displays.

(A) is a cross-sectional view of the plasma processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, (b) is an enlarged view of part A of (a), (c) is a top view of (a), and (d) is a rectangular conductor. It is sectional drawing which shows another structural example of a wave tube. (A) is a sectional view of a plasma processing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention, and (b) is a top view of (a). (A) is a cross-sectional view of a plasma processing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention, and (b) is an enlarged view of a portion B of (a). FIG. 13 is a top view showing an arrangement of water cooling tubes of the plasma processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a top view for illustrating an arrangement of a gas introduction pipe having a plurality of gas introduction ports of the plasma processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. (A) is sectional drawing of the plasma processing apparatus of Embodiment 4 of this invention, (b) is a top view of (a). FIG. 13 is a top view of the plasma processing apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. (A) is sectional drawing of the plasma processing apparatus of Embodiment 6 of this invention, (b) is a top view of (a). FIG. 17 is a top view of the plasma processing apparatus according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention. (A) is sectional drawing of the plasma processing apparatus of Embodiment 8 of this invention, (b) is a top view of (a). FIG. 19 is a top view of the plasma processing apparatus according to the ninth embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of the plasma processing apparatus of Embodiment 10 of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a process flow diagram in a case where the present invention is applied to n-channel and p-channel polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors for a liquid crystal display device. (A)-(e) is an element sectional view in each process, respectively. (A) is a top view of the first conventional plasma processing apparatus, and (b) is a cross-sectional view of (a). (A) is a top view of a second conventional plasma processing apparatus, and (b) is a cross-sectional view of (a). (A) is a sectional view of a third conventional plasma processing apparatus, and (b) is a top view of (a). FIG. 11 is a cutaway top view of a fourth conventional plasma processing apparatus. FIG. 13 is a cut-away top view of a fifth conventional plasma processing apparatus.

Explanation of reference numerals

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Rectangular waveguide, 2 ... Slot, 3 ... Microwave source, 4 ... Electromagnetic radiation window, 5 ... Vacuum container, 6 ... Gas introduction port, 7 ... Gas exhaust port, 8 ... Substrate to be processed, 9 ... Substrate support Reference numeral 10: top plate, 11: beam member, 12: dielectric member, 13: O-ring, 14: water cooling tube, 15: gas introduction tube, 16: gas introduction port, 17: waveguide portion for electromagnetic wave distribution, 18 ... electric field plane (E plane), 19 ... magnetic field plane (H plane),
71: Coaxial transmission line, 72: Slot, 73: Circular microwave radiation plate, 74: Electromagnetic radiation window, 75: Vacuum container, 76: Gas inlet, 77: Gas outlet, 78: Substrate, 79: Substrate support ,
81: rectangular waveguide, 82: slot, 83: microwave source, 84: electromagnetic radiation window, 85: vacuum vessel, 86: gas inlet, 87: gas exhaust port, 88: substrate, 89: substrate support, 110 ... Reflection surface of rectangular waveguide, 111 ... H surface of rectangular waveguide,
101: rectangular waveguide, 102: coupling hole, 104: electromagnetic wave radiation window, 105: vacuum vessel,
200 glass substrate 201 base coat film 202 n-channel TFT region 203 p-channel TFT region 204 pixel TFT region 205 first gate insulating film 206 second gate insulating film 207 gate electrode 208 interlayer insulating film 209 ... N ⁺ source / drain contact 210—P ⁺ source / drain contact 211—protective film 214—pixel electrode 215—TFT substrate 250—p-channel TFT
260 ... n-channel TFT
1003: microwave introduction port, 1004: microwave introduction window, 1023 ... waveguide, 1026 ... microwave power supply, 1031 ... dielectric circuit, 1311 ... introduction part, 1312 ... matching part, 1313 ... rectangular part, 1314 ... partition plate ,
1002 is a reaction chamber, 1126 is a microwave power supply, 1027 is a microwave distributor, 1028 is a waveguide.

Claims (27)

A waveguide,
A plurality of slots provided in the waveguide and constituting a waveguide antenna;
An electromagnetic radiation window made of a dielectric;
And a vacuum container,
A plasma processing apparatus that generates plasma by electromagnetic waves radiated into the vacuum vessel through the electromagnetic wave radiation window from the slot and performs plasma processing,
There are a plurality of the waveguides, the waveguides are arranged in contact with each other,
An electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section that distributes electromagnetic waves from an electromagnetic wave source to the plurality of waveguides,
A plasma processing apparatus, wherein a vacuum is maintained between a plurality of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows and the vacuum container. An electromagnetic wave source that outputs an electromagnetic wave, an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion that propagates the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source, and a waveguide connected to the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion;
A plurality of slots provided in the waveguide and constituting a waveguide antenna;
An electromagnetic wave radiation window made of a dielectric material provided opposite to the plurality of slots,
A vacuum container provided with the electromagnetic wave radiation window as an incident surface of the electromagnetic wave,
A plasma processing apparatus that generates plasma by the electromagnetic wave radiated into the vacuum vessel through the electromagnetic wave radiation window from the slot and performs plasma processing,
There are a plurality of said waveguides,
An electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source to each of the waveguides,
The plasma processing apparatus, wherein the plurality of waveguides are provided by branching from a plane perpendicular to an electric field plane (E plane) or a magnetic field plane (H plane) of the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide unit. . An electromagnetic wave source that outputs an electromagnetic wave, an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion that propagates the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source, and a waveguide connected to the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion;
A plurality of slots provided in the waveguide and constituting a waveguide antenna;
An electromagnetic wave radiation window made of a dielectric material provided opposite to the plurality of slots,
A vacuum container provided with the electromagnetic wave radiation window as an incident surface of the electromagnetic wave,
A plasma processing apparatus that generates plasma by the electromagnetic wave radiated into the vacuum vessel through the electromagnetic wave radiation window from the slot and performs plasma processing,
There are a plurality of said waveguides,
An electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source to each of the waveguides,
The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion, a propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave is bent at substantially a right angle to distribute the electromagnetic wave to the plurality of waveguides. An electromagnetic wave source that outputs an electromagnetic wave, an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion that propagates the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source, and a waveguide connected to the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion;
A plurality of slots provided in the waveguide and constituting a waveguide antenna;
An electromagnetic wave radiation window made of a dielectric material provided opposite to the plurality of slots,
A vacuum container provided with the electromagnetic wave radiation window as an incident surface of the electromagnetic wave,
A plasma processing apparatus that generates plasma by the electromagnetic wave radiated into the vacuum vessel through the electromagnetic wave radiation window from the slot and performs plasma processing,
There are a plurality of said waveguides,
An electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source to each of the waveguides,
The plurality of waveguides are provided by branching from the electric field surface of the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion,
The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section and the plurality of waveguides are arranged on substantially the same plane. An electromagnetic wave source that outputs an electromagnetic wave, an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion that propagates the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source, and a waveguide connected to the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion;
A plurality of slots provided in the waveguide and constituting a waveguide antenna;
An electromagnetic wave radiation window made of a dielectric material provided opposite to the plurality of slots,
A vacuum container provided with the electromagnetic wave radiation window as an incident surface of the electromagnetic wave,
A plasma processing apparatus that generates plasma by the electromagnetic wave radiated into the vacuum vessel through the electromagnetic wave radiation window from the slot and performs plasma processing,
There are a plurality of said waveguides,
An electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source to each of the waveguides,
The distance between the inner surfaces of the adjacent waveguides is within the width between the inner surfaces of the waveguides so that the electromagnetic waves are uniformly radiated from the slots through the electromagnetic wave emission windows into the vacuum vessel. Characteristic plasma processing apparatus. An electromagnetic wave source that outputs an electromagnetic wave, an electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion that propagates the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source, and a waveguide connected to the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide portion;
A plurality of slots provided in the waveguide and constituting a waveguide antenna;
An electromagnetic wave radiation window made of a dielectric material provided opposite to the plurality of slots,
A vacuum container provided with the electromagnetic wave radiation window as an incident surface of the electromagnetic wave,
A plasma processing apparatus that generates plasma by the electromagnetic wave radiated into the vacuum vessel through the electromagnetic wave radiation window from the slot and performs plasma processing,
There are a plurality of said waveguides,
An electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section for distributing the electromagnetic wave from the electromagnetic wave source to each of the waveguides,
The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of waveguides are provided to be branched to respective opposite wall surfaces of the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section.   7. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of waveguides are provided on both sides substantially at right angles from the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section.   The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section and the plurality of waveguides are arranged on substantially the same plane.   9. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of said electromagnetic wave radiation windows are provided, and a vacuum is maintained between said plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows and said vacuum vessel.   10. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slots are substantially uniformly distributed over the entire area of the plasma processing.   The electromagnetic wave radiation window corresponding to a plurality of the slots is provided in a plurality of airtight manners, and a vacuum is held between the plurality of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows and the vacuum vessel. The plasma processing apparatus according to any one of the above. Corresponding to each of the waveguides, disposing the electromagnetic wave radiation window having a width substantially equal to the width of the waveguide;
The major axis directions of the waveguide and the electromagnetic wave radiation window substantially coincide with each other,
The major axis direction lengths of the waveguide and the electromagnetic wave radiation window substantially match,
The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a period of a major axis of the waveguide and a period of a major axis of the electromagnetic wave radiation window substantially coincide with each other.   13. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein a length of the electromagnetic wave radiation window in a long axis direction is shorter than a length of the waveguide in a long axis direction.   14. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a dielectric member commonly in contact with one or more of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows is provided in the vacuum vessel.   The plasma processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein a vacuum vessel side of the beam supporting each of the electromagnetic wave radiation windows is covered with a dielectric member.   16. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein a water cooling tube for controlling the temperature is provided in the beam supporting the electromagnetic wave radiation window between the plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows.   17. A gas inlet is provided between the plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation windows in the vacuum vessel below the beam supporting the electromagnetic wave radiation windows. Plasma processing equipment.   18. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of the electromagnetic wave sources for supplying the electromagnetic wave to the waveguide is one.   18. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of said electromagnetic wave sources for supplying an electromagnetic wave to said waveguide are provided.   20. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the frequencies of adjacent ones of the plurality of electromagnetic wave sources are different.   21. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a frequency of the electromagnetic wave source that supplies an electromagnetic wave to the waveguide is 2.45 GHz.   22. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a slot is also provided in the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide section.   23. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plasma processing is plasma oxidation.   23. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plasma processing is plasma film formation.   23. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plasma processing is plasma etching.   A plasma processing method using the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 22, wherein plasma oxidation and film formation by a plasma CVD method are continuously performed without breaking vacuum.   A plasma processing method using the plasma processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 22 to perform plasma processing such as film formation or plasma etching by plasma oxidation or plasma CVD.

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