JP2007018819A - Treatment device and treatment method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a treatment device capable of applying uniform plasma treatment even to a large-sized object to be treated. <P>SOLUTION: The treatment device 1 is provided with a plurality of antennas 20 for electromagnetic wave radiation made incident inside a vacuum container, and plasma is formed by electromagnetic wave incident into the vacuum container, in which the plasma treatment is applied to the object to be treated. The plurality of antennas 20 for the electromagnetic wave radiation has an oscillator 22 to generate the electromagnetic wave, an electromagnetic wave transmission part 23 to transmit the electromagnetic wave generated in the oscillator 22, and an electromagnetic wave radiation part 24 to radiate the electromagnetic wave inside the vacuum container. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention is applied to a manufacturing process of a semiconductor element such as a thin film transistor (TFT) or a metal oxide semiconductor element (MOS element), a semiconductor device such as a semiconductor integrated circuit device, or a display device such as a liquid crystal display device. The present invention relates to a processing apparatus and a processing method suitable for application.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a processing apparatus used for performing plasma processing such as film deposition, surface modification, or etching in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device or a liquid crystal display device, a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) of parallel plate electrodes or an electron One using cyclotron resonance plasma (ECR) is known. However, since CCP generates plasma by the RF electric field generated between the electrodes, the electron density and the electron temperature cannot be controlled separately, and ion damage to the substrate increases when the process speed is improved. There is a problem that it ends up. In addition, ECR can reduce ion damage to the substrate by separating the plasma generation unit and the substrate processing unit. However, since the DC magnetic circuit is used, an attempt was made to obtain a uniform plasma with a large area. In this case, it is necessary to take a long magnetic circuit area in consideration of the leakage magnetic field. For this reason, the magnetic circuit becomes large, and it is not practical to process a large area such as a liquid crystal substrate. Although a ring-shaped electromagnetic wave radiation part is formed by an electromagnetic wave reflection plate to reduce the size of the device, the structure is complicated and it is difficult to apply it to a large area square substrate such as a liquid crystal substrate. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  As means for solving such a problem, a magnetic fieldless microwave plasma that emits microwave band electromagnetic waves directly into a reaction vessel through a dielectric window has attracted attention. In particular, the surface wave plasma that increases the electron density of the plasma above the cutoff density, propagates the surface wave at the interface between the dielectric window and the plasma, and forms the plasma by the electric field is a high-density, low ion-damaged plasma. Obtainable. Therefore, it is very effective as a means for obtaining a high-quality thin film.

  As a non-magnetic field microwave plasma processing apparatus, for example, an apparatus including a circular planar antenna member having a plurality of slots formed concentrically or spirally is known. In this processing apparatus, the microwave generated by the microwave generator propagates through the coaxial waveguide to reach the planar antenna member, and is propagated radially from the central portion of the planar antenna member to the peripheral portion. An electrostatic field is generated between the slits. As a result, an electric field is formed directly below the planar antenna member, that is, in the upper part of the processing space, so that the etching gas is excited by this electrostatic field to be turned into plasma (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

  In addition, a processing apparatus is known that is configured such that microwaves are supplied into a chamber through a dielectric window from two slots arranged on the H-plane of a rectangular waveguide. Yes. In this processing apparatus, the slot is formed so that the closer to the reflection surface, the narrower the slot. Further, the slot is formed in a stepped shape or a tapered shape so as to become narrower toward the reflection surface of the waveguide (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

  Further, a processing apparatus in which a plurality of rectangular waveguides are arranged in parallel at equal intervals is known. Each waveguide is provided with a coupling hole having a coupling coefficient sequentially increased toward the tip side. The vacuum vessel is provided with a plurality of dielectric windows divided and formed corresponding to each coupling hole (see, for example, Patent Document 4).

  Further, as a processing apparatus, an apparatus configured so that a microwave is introduced into a plate-shaped dielectric electric circuit via a microwave waveguide is known. The dielectric electric circuit has an introduction portion inserted into the microwave waveguide, a rectangular portion, and a matching portion connecting the introduction portion and the rectangular portion. In this processing apparatus, the microwave is introduced from the matching portion, passes through a portion corresponding to the waveguide formed by the partition plate and the rectangular portion, and is guided from the microwave introduction port to the reaction chamber (see, for example, Patent Document 5). .

  Further, as a processing apparatus, a processing apparatus configured to distribute a microwave supplied from a microwave oscillator to a plurality of dielectric lines through a microwave distributor having a plurality of branch paths is known. ing. The dielectric line is composed of a plurality of rectangular plates extending from the tip of the branch path, and the plurality of rectangular plates are partitioned by a conductor plate (see, for example, Patent Document 6).

  Further, as a processing apparatus that performs strong and uniform plasma processing over a large area, a microwave introduction window is divided into a plurality of transmission windows, and each of the divided transmission windows has a microwave oscillator and a waveguide. There is a processing apparatus provided with a wave introduction unit (see, for example, Patent Document 7).

In addition, the inventors of the present application processed a plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation waveguides arranged in parallel to each other so as to branch in a vertical direction from the electric field surface or magnetic field surface of the electromagnetic wave distribution waveguide coupled to the electromagnetic wave source. The apparatus is proposed (for example, refer nonpatent literature 1 and nonpatent literature 2).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-148097 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-063793 Japanese Patent No. 2857090 JP 2002-280196 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-45799 JP-A-11-111493 JP 2003-142460 A The 49th Joint Conference on Applied Physics Lecture Proceedings 128 pages (March 2002) ESCAMPIG16 & ICRP5 Proceedings 321 pages (July 14-18, 2002)

  By the way, there is a demand for a processing apparatus that can uniformly perform plasma processing even for a large object to be processed. As a document dealing with a large object to be processed as described above, there is a processing apparatus described in Patent Document 7. However, even if the microwave introduction window is divided into a plurality of transmission windows and a microwave oscillator is provided independently for each of the divided transmission windows, and the oscillation power of each microwave oscillator is controlled, A gap occurs in

    The gaps between the microwave oscillators generate microwave power valleys (power reduction), which limits the uniformity of the plasma. Such plasma peaks and valleys have problems such as film formation unevenness, oxide film unevenness, etching unevenness, and ashing unevenness on the surface to be processed.

  The present invention has been made based on such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus and a processing method capable of uniformly processing even a large object to be processed.

  The processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes an electromagnetic wave radiation antenna including an oscillator that generates an electromagnetic wave, an electromagnetic wave transmission unit that propagates the electromagnetic wave generated by the oscillator, and an electromagnetic wave that propagates through the electromagnetic wave transmission unit. And a processing apparatus for processing a substrate to be processed by generating surface wave plasma using electromagnetic waves incident on the inside of the processing container, the electromagnetic wave incident on the processing container. The surface is divided into a plurality of regions, and the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna is provided for each of the divided regions.

  According to this processing apparatus, the electromagnetic wave crane includes a processing container coupled so that an electromagnetic crane is incident thereon, and the electromagnetic wave incident surface that transmits the electromagnetic wave generated by the oscillator and radiates the electromagnetic wave into the processing container has a plurality of regions. It has an antenna for electromagnetic wave radiation that generates surface wave plasma by making electromagnetic waves uniformly incident on each divided area, and the antenna for electromagnetic wave radiation for large objects can be easily changed with a simple configuration Realize.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the processing apparatus and method which can process uniformly even if it is a large to-be-processed object are obtained.

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, the electromagnetic wave incident surface of the processing container is divided into a plurality of regions, and the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna is provided for each of the divided regions to make the surface of a large object to be rough and uniform by surface wave plasma. A processing apparatus and a processing method for performing dense uniform processing.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view for explaining an embodiment of a processing apparatus, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of an attached state of the oscillator of FIG. 2, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the structure of the magnetron in FIG. 3. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the processing apparatus 1 of this embodiment is suitable for plasma processing. As the processing container, for example, a vacuum container 10, an oscillator, a waveguide, a slit that radiates electromagnetic waves, and the like. The electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 is provided. This processing apparatus 1 makes it possible to uniformly process a large object to be processed by a plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 and surface wave plasma for one vacuum vessel 10.

  The vacuum vessel 10 has an upper wall 11a, a bottom wall 11b as outer walls, and a peripheral wall 11c that connects the peripheral edge of the upper wall 11a and the peripheral edge of the bottom wall 11b, and reduces the inside to a vacuum state or the vicinity thereof. It is formed to a strength that is possible. As a material for forming the upper wall 11a, the bottom wall 11b, and the peripheral wall 11c, for example, a metal material such as aluminum can be used.

  The vacuum vessel 10 includes a gas introduction part 12 as a gas introduction system for introducing a gas for generating plasma, a gas for processing a substrate to be processed into the vacuum vessel 10, and a gas in the vacuum vessel 10. And a gas discharge unit 13 for exhausting. A gas cylinder (not shown) is detachably attached to the gas introduction part 12. The gas exhaust unit 13 communicates with an exhaust pump (not shown) such as an exhaust pump, for example, a turbo molecular pump. Inside the vacuum vessel 10, a substrate support base 14 that supports, for example, a rectangular target substrate 100 as a target object is provided. The substrate support 14 may be provided (built-in) with heating means (for example, a heater) for keeping the substrate 100 to be processed at a predetermined temperature.

  The antenna unit 21 includes a plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 arranged in one or a plurality of rows with respect to one vacuum vessel 10. Each of the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 includes an oscillator 22 that generates an electromagnetic wave, an electromagnetic wave transmission unit 23 that propagates the electromagnetic wave generated by the oscillator 22, and an electromagnetic wave propagated by the electromagnetic wave transmission unit 23 inside the vacuum container 10. And an electromagnetic wave radiation part 24 for radiating. The antenna unit 21 is configured by arbitrarily setting the number and arrangement of the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 so as to correspond to the size of the substrate to be processed 100 as the object to be processed. In the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, two rows of six electromagnetic wave emission antennas 20 are arranged so that the electromagnetic wave emission surfaces of the electromagnetic wave emission units 24 of the electromagnetic wave emission antennas 20 constituting the antenna unit 21 are located on the same plane. It is configured by arranging in three rows.

  In other words, the electromagnetic wave incident surface of the vacuum vessel 10 is virtually divided into a plurality of regions, for example, six regions divided into equal areas. In each of the virtually divided areas, an electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 is provided.

  Along with this, six planar rectangular dielectric members 15 are provided on the electromagnetic wave incident surface of the vacuum vessel 10, for example, the upper wall 11 a, so as to constitute a part of the hermetic vessel wall of the vacuum vessel 10. Each of these dielectric members 15 is an electromagnetic wave incident window, and is provided to face the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20. These dielectric members 15 are integrally formed with such a strength that the inside of the vacuum vessel 10 can be depressurized to a vacuum state or the vicinity thereof. As a dielectric material for forming the dielectric member 15, for example, synthetic quartz or alumina can be used.

  Specifically, the upper wall 11 a has a cross-section inverted T-shaped support frame having six openings 16. Each of the inverted T-shaped support frames is a structure having a substantially inverted T-shaped cross section (xy cross section). This structure has heat resistance and pressure and strength to support the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20, and the material is, for example, a metal such as stainless steel or aluminum. The dielectric members 15 (openings 16) are provided in 2 rows and 3 columns so as to face the antenna portions 21, respectively.

  Each of the six dielectric members 15 has a substantially T-shaped cross section (xy cross section) that fits into the opening 16. The dielectric members 15 are fitted into the corresponding openings 16 to block the openings 16 in an airtight manner. That is, a plurality of dielectric members 15 are integrally provided on the support frame on the upper wall 11a of the vacuum vessel 10 so as to constitute a part of the hermetic vessel wall of the vacuum vessel 10. The support frame is a part of the wall of the vacuum vessel 10 and also functions as a beam that supports the dielectric member 15. Hereinafter, the dielectric member 15 is referred to as a dielectric window. The dielectric member 15 may be a single plate having a size corresponding to the entire electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20.

  A sealing mechanism for forming an airtight container wall is provided between the support frame and each dielectric window 15. The sealing mechanism includes, for example, grooves (not shown) provided on the inner surface (the peripheral surface of the beam) defining each opening 16 along the circumferential direction, and seals provided along the grooves, respectively. It has an O-ring 17 as a member. Such a sealing mechanism hermetically seals between the support frame and the dielectric window 15 fitted thereto.

  Next, the antenna unit 21 will be described in detail. Each of the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 constituting the antenna unit 21 has a waveguide 30 as the electromagnetic wave transmission unit 23. The waveguide 30 is disposed such that the surface facing the dielectric window 15 is the E surface. The waveguide 30 is provided so as to be substantially in the center of the short side direction of each dielectric window 15 having a rectangular plane and to be parallel to the long side direction.

  Each of the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 includes a magnetron 40 as an oscillator 22 that generates an electromagnetic wave. The magnetron 40 is provided at a position that is the magnetic field surface (H surface) of the waveguide 30 and that is substantially the center in the longitudinal direction of the waveguide 30. The magnetron 40 and the waveguide 30 are coupled by a probe. As shown in FIG. 3, the magnetron 40 is attached by, for example, a tube mount 25. The coupling between the oscillator 22 and the electromagnetic wave transmission unit 23 may be coupling by a loop coil. In the case of a loop coil, the magnetron is provided on the E plane.

  By doing so, the electromagnetic wave generated by the magnetron 40 is propagated in the fundamental mode (TE10) in the one end direction and the other end direction of the waveguide 30, respectively. A plurality of slots 31 serving as the electromagnetic wave radiation portion 24 are provided on the E surface of the waveguide 30 facing the dielectric window 15. In the present embodiment, the slots 31 adjacent to each other are formed to be inclined in different directions with respect to the propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave. The slot 31 may be provided in parallel with the propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave. In that case, the slots 31 adjacent to each other may be alternately provided in a state provided near one side in the width direction of the waveguide 30 and a state provided near the other side (fourth described later). FIG. 8 of the embodiment).

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the magnetron 40. The magnetron 40 includes an anode part 41, a cathode part 42, an antenna 46, a heat radiating part 47, a casing 56, a magnetic circuit part (not shown), and the like. The anode portion 41 forms a space that resonates at 2.45 GHz, for example, by arranging the vanes 44 inside the cylindrical member 48. The vanes 44 connect every other strap ring 45. The resonance frequencies are matched by adjusting the dimensions of the vane 44 and the strap ring 45.

  The cathode part 42 has a filament 49 and a filament terminal 50. By applying a voltage to both ends of the filament terminal 50 to light the filament 49, electrons are emitted from the filament 49. End shields (not shown) for shielding electrons are provided at both ends of the filament terminal 50. In the figure, reference numeral 57 denotes a capacitor, and reference numeral 58 denotes a filter case.

  In such a magnetron 40, a space surrounded by the vane 44, the filament 49, and the end shield is an action space 52. In this working space 52, electrons emitted from the filament 49 cause a cycloid motion.

  The magnetic circuit unit has a pair of permanent magnets 53. By these permanent magnets 53, a magnetic force parallel to the cathode axis is formed in the working space 52. The anode part 41 is connected to the magnetic circuit part so as to be electrically at the same potential. In the state where the antenna unit 21 is provided, the potential is the same as that of the antenna unit 21. Therefore, the voltage applied between the anode unit 41 and the cathode unit 42 is set to zero potential at the anode unit 41 and negative to the cathode unit 42. Give voltage.

  The antenna 46 has an antenna lead 54 and a ceramic dome 55. The antenna lead 54 is connected to the end face of the pane 44. As a result, the oscillated electromagnetic wave is coupled to the antenna lead 54 and radiates and propagates through the ceramic dome 55.

  Next, an embodiment of a processing method using the processing apparatus 1 will be described. In the processing apparatus 1, the substrate to be processed 100 is processed as follows. The gas inside the vacuum vessel 10 is discharged outside until a predetermined degree of vacuum is reached. A predetermined gas for generating plasma in the vacuum vessel 10 is introduced from the gas inlet 12. The magnetrons 40 of the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 are simultaneously controlled and operated to generate electromagnetic waves. The electromagnetic wave generated by each magnetron 40 is propagated in the fundamental mode (TE10) in each waveguide 30 in both end directions. As a result, the propagated electromagnetic waves are simultaneously radiated from the slots 31 provided in the waveguide 30 toward the dielectric window 15. That is, the inner surface of the dielectric window 15, which is the upper wall of the vacuum vessel 10, becomes the electromagnetic wave incident surface F. The processing apparatus 1 adjusts the voltage across the filament terminal 50 of each magnetron 40 so that the electromagnetic wave, for example, microwave power radiated from each electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 becomes uniform on the electromagnetic wave incident surface F.

  When electromagnetic waves are incident on the inside of the vacuum vessel 10 from the electromagnetic wave incident surface F through the dielectric window 15, the gas in the vacuum vessel 10 is excited to generate plasma, and the electron density in the plasma near the electromagnetic wave incident surface F is generated. Will increase. As the electron density in the plasma in the vicinity of the electromagnetic wave incident surface F increases, the electromagnetic wave becomes difficult to propagate in the plasma and attenuates in the plasma. Therefore, the electromagnetic wave does not reach the region away from the electromagnetic wave incident surface F, and the region where the gas is excited by the electromagnetic wave is limited to the vicinity of the electromagnetic wave incident surface F. This state is a state in which surface wave plasma is generated.

  In the state where surface wave plasma is generated, the electric field of the sheath generated in the vicinity of the surface of the substrate to be processed 100 is small. Therefore, the incident energy of ions to the substrate 100 to be processed is low, and the substrate 100 to be processed is less damaged by the ions.

  The boundary of the region where the surface wave plasma is generated is an interface between the electromagnetic wave incident surface F (here, the inner surface of the dielectric window 15) and the internal space of the vacuum vessel 10. Further, in a state where surface wave plasma is generated, a region where the plasma energy is high can be known from the skin thickness. The skin thickness indicates the distance from the electromagnetic wave incident surface F to the position where the electric field of the electromagnetic wave attenuates to 1 / e, and the value depends on the electron density near the electromagnetic wave incident surface.

  That is, in a state where surface wave plasma is generated, high-density plasma is generated in a region where the distance from the electromagnetic wave incident surface F is smaller than the skin thickness. Further, in a region where the distance from the electromagnetic wave incident surface F is larger than the skin thickness (a region outside the skin thickness), the electromagnetic wave is shielded by high-density plasma and does not reach. Therefore, in this processing apparatus 1, the plasma spreads over the entire area near the electromagnetic wave incident surface F. Therefore, plasma can be generated uniformly in the vacuum vessel 10.

  This surface wave plasma excites the processing gas to generate activated processing gas molecules. The activated processing gas molecules process the surface of the substrate 100 to be processed. If the processing molecule is a film forming gas, the processing apparatus 1 forms a CVD film on the surface of the substrate 100 to be processed. If the processing molecule is an oxidizing gas, the processing apparatus 1 oxidizes the surface of the substrate to be processed 100 to form an oxide film. If the processing molecule is an etching gas, the processing apparatus 1 etches the film on the surface of the substrate 100 to be processed. If the processing molecule is an ashing gas, the processing apparatus 1 performs an ashing process on the film on the surface of the substrate 100 to be processed. The processing apparatus 1 of this embodiment can suppress the ion damage given to the to-be-processed substrate 100 by arrange | positioning the to-be-processed substrate 100 in the area | region where the distance from the electromagnetic wave incident surface F is larger than skin thickness.

  As described above, the processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes the vacuum container 10 in which electromagnetic waves are incident and the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 that causes the electromagnetic waves to enter the vacuum container 10. Then, plasma is generated inside the vacuum vessel 10 by electromagnetic waves incident on the vacuum vessel 10, and plasma processing is performed by this plasma. The electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 includes a plurality of antenna units 21, and each of the plurality of antenna units 21 includes an oscillator 22 that generates an electromagnetic wave, an electromagnetic wave transmission unit 23 that transmits an electromagnetic wave generated by the oscillator 22, and An electromagnetic wave radiation unit 24 that radiates the electromagnetic wave transmitted by the electromagnetic wave transmission unit 23 to the inside of the vacuum vessel 10 is provided.

  Therefore, the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 for the large substrate 100 can be realized with a simple configuration. Further, by using such an electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20, it is possible to make electromagnetic waves uniformly enter the inside of the vacuum vessel 10. Moreover, the size and shape of the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 can be easily and arbitrarily set by the number and arrangement of the antenna portions 21. Therefore, according to the processing apparatus 1, even a large substrate 100 (for example, a rectangular substrate having a large area used for a large liquid crystal display device or the like) can be processed uniformly.

  In the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the electromagnetic wave transmission unit 23 includes the waveguide 30, and the electromagnetic wave radiation unit 24 is a slot 31. A waveguide slot antenna formed of metal generally has a lower dielectric loss and higher resistance to high power than when an antenna formed of a dielectric is used. In addition, the waveguide slot antenna has a simple structure, and radiation characteristics can be designed relatively accurately. Therefore, the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment has low dielectric loss and high resistance to large power. Moreover, the processing apparatus 1 of this embodiment can be easily designed even when the large substrate 100 is subjected to plasma processing.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the adjacent electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 of the processing apparatus 1 are arranged so that the waveguides 30 are parallel to each other has been described. However, the feeding of the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 adjacent to each other is performed. It is good to set so that it may become a reverse phase electric power feeding. The electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 adjacent to each other may include oscillators 22 having different oscillation frequencies. The difference in oscillation frequency may be slight. By doing in this way, the interference of the electromagnetic waves between the electromagnetic radiation antennas 20 adjacent to each other can be suppressed.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 is configured in the same manner as the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 described in the first embodiment. A feature of this embodiment is an example in which the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 are arranged so that the propagation directions of the electromagnetic waves of the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 adjacent to each other are orthogonal. In this embodiment, the waveguides 30 constituting the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas 20 adjacent to each other are arranged side by side so that the longitudinal directions thereof are orthogonal to each other. In addition, since the other structure is the same as the processing apparatus 1 of 1st Embodiment mentioned above, the overlapping description attaches | subjects the same code | symbol to a figure and abbreviate | omits.

  According to the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. In addition, according to the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the electromagnetic waves between the adjacent antenna units 21 can be supplied without using opposite-phase power supply to the adjacent antenna units 21 or different oscillation frequencies. Interference can be suppressed.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, each antenna unit 21 included in the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 includes a horn antenna 60.

  Specifically, the electromagnetic wave transmission unit 23 (horn antenna 60) of each antenna has a first transmission unit 61 and a second transmission unit 62, respectively. The first transmission unit 61 is a rectangular waveguide, and one end of the first transmission unit 61 extends conically. The oscillator 22 is attached to the other end of the first transmission unit 61. The second transmission unit 62 is formed in a flat box shape having an end surface that is substantially the same size as the upper surface of the dielectric window 15. A plurality of holes 63 serving as the electromagnetic wave radiation unit 24 are provided on the surface of the second transmission unit 62 facing the dielectric window 15.

  By doing so, the electromagnetic wave generated by the magnetron 40 as the oscillator 22 is propagated in the TM11 mode in the electromagnetic wave transmission unit 23. In addition, since the other structure is the same as the processing apparatus 1 of 1st Embodiment mentioned above, the overlapping description attaches | subjects the same code | symbol to a figure and abbreviate | omits. According to the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. Moreover, according to the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the directivity in the propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave can be reduced.

Hereinafter, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, each antenna unit 21 included in the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 is coupled to the first waveguide 71 to which the oscillator 22 is coupled, and the first waveguide 71. And a plurality of second waveguides 72 arranged side by side so that their longitudinal directions are parallel to each other.
The electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 is configured by arranging the antenna portions 21 in 3 rows and 3 columns so that a plurality of slots 73 as the electromagnetic wave radiation portions 24 are located on the same plane. Accordingly, nine planar substantially square-shaped dielectric windows 15 are provided on the upper wall 11a of the vacuum container 10 so as to constitute a part of the wall of the vacuum container 10. The dielectric window 15 may be a single plate having a size corresponding to the entire electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20.

  Specifically, the magnetron 40 as the oscillator 22 is provided in the center portion in the longitudinal direction of the upper surface of the first waveguide 71. The first waveguide 71 and each of the second waveguides 72 are arranged so as to be orthogonal and overlap each other. The second waveguides 72 are arranged side by side in such a posture that the long side direction of the cross section is parallel to the horizontal direction and the longitudinal directions thereof are parallel to each other. Therefore, both side surfaces of each second waveguide 72 are electric field surfaces (E surfaces), and upper and lower surfaces are magnetic field surfaces (H surfaces). Each second waveguide 72 is coupled to the first waveguide 71 on its upper surface, that is, on the magnetic field surface (H surface) (a surface perpendicular to the electric field surface (E surface)).

  On the lower surface of each second waveguide 72, a slot 73 as the electromagnetic wave radiation portion 24 is provided. The slot 73 is provided in parallel with the propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave. The slots 73 adjacent to each other are alternately arranged in a state provided near one side in the width direction of the waveguide 30 and a state provided near the other side.

  When the first waveguide 71 and the second waveguides 72 are orthogonal to each other, there is no coupling of magnetic fields, but coupling is possible. As an example of the coupling method, a slot 74 formed so as to incline in directions different from each other with respect to the propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave is formed at a coupling portion between the first waveguide 71 and each second waveguide 72. The method of providing is mentioned. When the number of the second waveguides 72 is an odd number, the slot 74 may be provided so as to straddle the second waveguides 72 adjacent to each other. When the number of the second waveguides 72 is an even number, the slots 74 may be provided so as to correspond to the respective second waveguides 72.

  In addition, as a coupling method, a method of providing a coupling hole in a coupling portion between the first waveguide 71 and each second waveguide 72 can be cited. This configuration is known to those skilled in the art as a Bethe hole directional coupler. As another coupling method, there is a method in which cross-shaped coupling holes are provided at the four corners of the coupling portion between the first waveguide 71 and each second waveguide 72. This configuration is known to those skilled in the art as a cruciform directional coupler. The first waveguide 71 and each second waveguide 72 may be coupled by a probe.

  The power supply to the antenna parts 21 adjacent to each other may be set to be reverse phase power supply. That is, the power supply to the antenna unit 21 indicated by a thick line in FIGS. 8 and 10 and the power supply to the antenna unit 21 indicated by a thin line may be set to be reverse phase power supply. The adjacent antenna units 21 may include oscillators 22 having different oscillation frequencies. The difference in oscillation frequency may be slight. By doing in this way, the interference of the electromagnetic waves between the mutually adjacent antenna parts 21 can be suppressed. In addition, since the other structure is the same as the processing apparatus 1 of 1st Embodiment mentioned above, the overlapping description attaches | subjects the same code | symbol to a figure and abbreviate | omits.

  According to the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. Moreover, according to the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the slots 73 that are the electromagnetic wave radiation portions 24 can be densely arranged as compared with the processing apparatus 1 of the first embodiment. Therefore, electromagnetic waves can be made to enter the vacuum vessel 10 more uniformly. That is, since the plasma can be generated more uniformly inside the vacuum vessel 10, the substrate 100 to be processed can be more uniformly plasma processed.

Hereinafter, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the antenna unit 21 is configured similarly to the antenna unit 21 described in the fourth embodiment. The electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 is configured by arranging the antenna portions 21 adjacent to each other so that the longitudinal directions of the second waveguides 72 are orthogonal to each other. Each antenna part 21 indicated by a thick line has the longitudinal direction of the second waveguide 72 parallel to each other, and each antenna part 21 indicated by a thin line has the longitudinal direction of the second waveguide 72 parallel to each other. is there.

  The electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 is configured by arranging the antenna portions 21 in 3 rows and 3 columns so that a plurality of slots 73 as the electromagnetic wave radiation portions 24 are located on the same plane. Accordingly, nine planar substantially square-shaped dielectric windows 15 are provided on the upper wall 11a of the vacuum container 10 so as to constitute a part of the wall of the vacuum container 10. In addition, since the other structure is the same as the processing apparatus 1 of 1st Embodiment mentioned above, the overlapping description attaches | subjects the same code | symbol to a figure and abbreviate | omits.

  According to the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the same effect as that of the fourth embodiment can be obtained. In addition, according to the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the electromagnetic waves between the adjacent antenna units 21 can be supplied without using opposite-phase power supply to the adjacent antenna units 21 or different oscillation frequencies. Interference can be suppressed.

Hereinafter, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the electromagnetic wave transmission unit 23 of each antenna unit 21 has a coaxial tube 80. A magnetron 40 as an oscillator 22 is coupled to the coaxial tube 80. The magnetron 40 is provided above the dielectric window 15 and at a position corresponding to the center of the dielectric window 15.

  The coaxial tube 80 is divided into one or more, for example, two forks. The tip of the coaxial tube 80 exposes the inner conductor. The inner conductor exposed portion 81 where the inner conductor is exposed becomes the electromagnetic wave radiation portion 24 of each antenna portion 21. On the outer surface of each dielectric window 15, a plurality of recesses 18 for inserting the inner conductor exposed portion 81 as the electromagnetic wave radiating portion 24 is formed. As shown in FIG. 13, the upper wall 11 a of the vacuum vessel 10 (the upper surface of the dielectric window 15) is covered with a shield member 19.

  The electromagnetic wave radiation antenna 20 is configured by arranging the antenna portions 21 side by side in 3 rows and 3 columns so that the tip of the exposed inner conductor portion 81 is located on the same plane. Accordingly, nine planar substantially square-shaped dielectric windows 15 are provided on the upper wall 11a of the vacuum container 10 so as to constitute a part of the wall of the vacuum container 10. In addition, since the other structure is the same as the processing apparatus 1 of 1st Embodiment mentioned above, the overlapping description attaches | subjects the same code | symbol to a figure and abbreviate | omits. According to the processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

In addition, the processing apparatus and the processing method of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be variously implemented without departing from the gist thereof. In the said embodiment, although the electromagnetic wave radiation | emission area | region where the electromagnetic wave incident surface was divided | segmented demonstrated the example made into the same shape and the same area, it does not need to be the same shape and the same area. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, the central electromagnetic radiation region may be enlarged and the peripheral electromagnetic radiation region may be reduced.
The electromagnetic wave transmission line may have a coaxial tube and a waveguide. In this case, it is preferable to achieve matching by maintaining the ratio between the inner conductor and the outer conductor of the coaxial tube even in the waveguide.

  A gas introduction system (gas introduction part) for introducing gas into the processing vessel (vacuum vessel) may be formed integrally with the dielectric member (dielectric window). Further, in the processing apparatus 1 of the first to sixth embodiments, the gas introduction system (gas introduction unit) for introducing the gas into the processing container (vacuum container) is one system, but in the processing apparatus of the present invention, A plurality of gas introduction systems for introducing gas into the processing vessel (vacuum vessel) may be provided. The gas introduction system can be arbitrarily selected depending on the processing (for example, film deposition (film formation), surface modification, etching, oxidation, etc.) on the object to be processed, the number and types of gases to be used, and the like.

  As the object to be processed, for example, a substrate such as a glass substrate, a quartz glass substrate, a ceramic substrate, a resin substrate, or a silicon wafer can be used. As the object to be processed, a semiconductor layer such as single crystal silicon, polycrystalline silicon, microcrystalline silicon, or amorphous silicon formed by laser crystallization or solid phase crystallization is formed on the substrate as described above. You may use what was done. Further, as the object to be processed, the semiconductor layer and the insulating film are stacked in any order on the substrate as described above, or the semiconductor layer and the insulating film are stacked in any order on the substrate as described above. Alternatively, a circuit element having a portion or a part of the circuit element may be used.

The top view which shows the processing apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. Sectional drawing cut | disconnected and shown along the II-II line | wire shown in FIG. Sectional drawing which shows the state which attached the magnetron to the processing apparatus shown in FIG. Sectional drawing which shows an example of a magnetron. The top view which shows the processing apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The top view which shows the processing apparatus which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. Sectional drawing cut | disconnected and shown along the VII-VII line shown in FIG. The top view which shows the processing apparatus which concerns on the 4th Embodiment of this invention. The top view which shows the antenna part with which the antenna for electromagnetic wave radiation of the processing apparatus shown in FIG. 8 is provided. Sectional drawing cut | disconnected and shown along the XX line shown in FIG. The top view which shows the processing apparatus which concerns on the 5th Embodiment of this invention. The top view which shows the processing apparatus which concerns on the 6th Embodiment of this invention. Sectional drawing cut | disconnected and shown along the XIII-XIII line | wire shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Processing apparatus, 0 ... Vacuum container (processing container), 20 ... Antenna for electromagnetic wave radiation, 21 ... Antenna part, 22 ... Oscillator, 23 ... Electromagnetic wave transmission part, 24 ... Electromagnetic wave radiation part, 30 ... Waveguide (electromagnetic wave transmission) Part), 31 ... slot (electromagnetic radiation part), 40 ... magnetron (oscillator), 60 ... horn antenna (antenna part), 61 ... first transmission part (electromagnetic wave transmission part), 62 ... second transmission part (electromagnetic wave) Transmission part), 63 ... Hole (electromagnetic radiation part), 71 ... First waveguide (electromagnetic wave transmission part), 72 ... Second waveguide (electromagnetic wave transmission part), 73 ... Slot (electromagnetic wave radiation part) 80 ... Coaxial tube (electromagnetic wave transmission part) 81 ... Internal conductor exposed part (electromagnetic wave radiation part)

Claims (7)

An oscillator that generates electromagnetic waves;
An electromagnetic wave radiation antenna comprising an electromagnetic wave transmission unit for propagating electromagnetic waves generated by the oscillator;
A treatment container coupled so that an electromagnetic wave propagated through the electromagnetic wave transmission unit is incident;
A processing apparatus for processing a substrate to be processed by generating surface wave plasma using electromagnetic waves incident on the inside of the processing container,
The processing apparatus, wherein the electromagnetic wave incident surface of the processing container is divided into a plurality of regions, and the electromagnetic wave radiation antenna is provided for each of the divided regions.   The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic wave transmission unit is a waveguide having a slit for radiating electromagnetic waves.   The electromagnetic wave transmission unit is coupled to the first waveguide to which the oscillator is coupled and the first waveguide, and a plurality of the electromagnetic wave transmission units are arranged side by side so that their longitudinal directions are parallel to each other. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second waveguide. Each of the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas provided in each region of the divided electromagnetic wave radiation surface is disposed so as to be located on the same plane,
The processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas adjacent to each other are arranged so that the electromagnetic wave propagation directions are orthogonal to each other.     The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas adjacent to each other have oscillators having different oscillation frequencies.   The processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein power supply to the electromagnetic wave radiation antennas adjacent to each other is set to be reverse phase power supply. A plurality of oscillators that generate electromagnetic waves;
A plurality of electromagnetic wave radiation antennas composed of electromagnetic wave transmission units for propagating electromagnetic waves generated by the oscillators;
A treatment container having a treatment container coupled so that the electromagnetic wave propagated through each electromagnetic wave transmission section is incident on each of the electromagnetic wave incidence surfaces divided into regions, and a method of treating the object to be treated by the treatment apparatus. ,
A step of simultaneously oscillating and controlling the plurality of oscillators;
Radiating an electromagnetic wave into the processing container through each electromagnetic wave incident surface divided from each electromagnetic wave transmission path;
Generating surface wave plasma in the processing container by electromagnetic waves incident on the inside of the processing container;
And a step of processing a substrate to be processed by exciting a processing gas with the generated surface wave plasma.

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