JP2007088497A - Process control system, process control method and process processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the length of time (cycle time) to elapse from process processing through inspection processing and also to improve the operating rate of each process device. <P>SOLUTION: The present invention relates to a process control system that controls processing executed on semiconductor wafers by processing apparatuses 120, 122, 124 which are installed in each bay (area) 110 inside a factory and of which processing results are predictable, having installed in the corresponding bay, at least one measuring apparatus 130 that executes a measuring operation on workpieces undergoing the processing in the bay, a transfer path 140 of a transfer apparatus, through which the workpieces are transferred among various apparatuses installed within the bay including the individual processing apparatuses and the measuring apparatus, and a process control device 150 that controls the processing apparatuses, the measuring apparatus and the transfer apparatus in the bay. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a process control system, a process control method, and a process processing apparatus that perform process control for manufacturing a semiconductor device, for example.

  For example, in a semiconductor manufacturing factory, a plurality of process units that perform semiconductor manufacturing are arranged. Each process unit is configured by providing, for example, a transfer device for transferring, for example, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as “wafer”) as an object to be processed in a plurality of process devices such as an etching device. In such a process unit, the process is performed in a predetermined order while the wafer is transferred to each process apparatus. In general, an inspection wafer is prepared in order to periodically check the process finish of the etching apparatus or the like. Then, the above process is performed on the inspection wafer. Next, the etching rate, in-plane uniformity, etc. are inspected by the inspection apparatus for the inspection wafer subjected to the process processing. It has been determined whether or not to continue the process according to the inspection result.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-22306 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-12694

  However, in general, the inspection apparatus is concentrated in a room different from the room in which the process units are arranged. There are various types of such inspection apparatuses, but not all inspection wafers necessarily perform all inspections. However, since the use plan of these inspection apparatuses is not organized, inspection waiting for inspection wafers occurs. In addition, when checking the status of the process apparatus for each process step using the inspection wafer, there is a waiting state when the inspection wafer is transferred to the process apparatus of another process step until the inspection is completed in a certain process step. appear. As a result, the process processing takes time, which causes a reduction in the operating rate of the process device. For example, a technique described in Patent Document 1 is an example in which the inspection apparatus is concentrated in a room different from the room in which the process units are arranged.

  In addition, for example, as in the technique described in Patent Document 2, an inspection transfer path for an inspection wafer is provided separately from a production transfer path for a production wafer as a normal product. In some cases, the inspection wafer is transferred by a transfer path. However, since this requires two transfer systems for inspection of production wafers, many areas for installing these in the clean room are also required, and it takes time to transfer the wafers.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such problems, and its object is to improve the operating rate of each process apparatus while shortening the time (cycle time) from process processing to inspection processing. The present invention provides a process control system and a process control method that can be performed.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a process is performed for an object to be processed by at least one process device provided for each area in a factory and capable of predicting a processing result. A process control system for controlling processing, provided for each of the above-described areas, provided for each of the above-mentioned at least one measuring device for measuring an object to be processed in each of the above-mentioned areas, The process device in each area, a transport device that transports the object to be processed between the devices including the measuring device, and the process device, the measuring device, and the like provided in each area. There is provided a process control system comprising a control device for controlling a transfer device.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, according to a second aspect of the present invention, at least one process device capable of predicting a processing result and at least one for measuring an object to be processed by the process device. For each area, one measuring device, a transport device that transports the object to be processed between the process device and each device including the measuring device, and a control device that controls the process device, the measuring device, and the transport device. A process control method performed by the control device in each area in the provided process control system, based on a process of measuring an object to be processed by the process device with the measurement device and a measurement result of the measurement device And a process control method for setting a processing condition of the process apparatus.

  According to the system according to the first aspect or the method according to the second aspect, when a measuring device is provided for each area (also referred to as a bay) in a clean room or the like in the factory, when it is necessary in each area Since necessary measurement can be performed by the measuring device, there is no waiting for measurement or waiting by the measuring device, and the time from the process processing to the measurement can be shortened. For this reason, the operating rate of the process device can be improved. In addition, since it is sufficient to provide the measuring apparatus with measuring equipment necessary for process control performed in each area, the cost of capital investment can be reduced.

  In the system according to the first aspect or the method according to the second aspect, the control device measures an object to be processed by the process device with the measurement device, and performs the process based on the measurement result. If the processing conditions of the apparatus are set, the object to be processed as a product to be processed by the process apparatus is transported to the measuring apparatus for each area, and the line width of the pattern formed on the object to be processed, Process finishes such as film thickness, doping amount, film density, and stress, distribution within the wafer, etc. can be automatically measured by a measuring device to inspect whether these are processed within the target specification. For this reason, the time from the process processing to the measurement can also be shortened.

  In the system according to the first aspect or the method according to the second aspect, the control device transports the object to be processed to the measuring device by the transport device after at least process processing by the process device, and the measuring device. The measured value of the processing result of the object to be processed obtained based on at least the measurement result after the process processing by means of is compared with the target value of the processing result, and the error between the measured value and the target value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value If it is determined, the processing conditions of the process apparatus may be reset according to the error. Note that the above measurement may be performed not only after the process processing but also before and after the process processing.

  Further, at least after the process processing by the process device, the object to be processed is transferred to the measuring device by the transfer device, and the processing result of the object to be processed obtained based on the measurement result at least after the process processing by the measuring device is obtained. Compare the measured value with the target value of the processing result, observe the fluctuation situation of the error between the measured value and the target value, predict the trend, and before the error exceeds the predetermined value, The processing conditions of the process device may be changed according to the tendency. Note that the measurement in this case may be performed not only after the process processing but also before and after the process processing.

  With this configuration, when the error from the target value is large, the process conditions can be adjusted so as to correct the error. Because such corrections are possible, even if the workpieces vary or the state of the process equipment changes slightly, the optimum processing conditions can always be set, and strict design specifications can be achieved. Satisfactory process processing can be performed. In addition, it is possible to perform process processing while measuring the processed object as a product one by one with a measuring device, and it is possible to measure only a predetermined lot or all the number of wafers. Appropriate process conditions can be set. Since the process conditions can be automatically set in this way, the operation rate of the process device can be improved.

  Further, in the system according to the first aspect or the method according to the second aspect, the measuring device is provided with self-diagnosis means for diagnosing whether there is an abnormality in the own device (self-measuring device), and the control device includes: , When it is determined that the error between the measured value and the target value of the processing result is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the self-diagnosis means of the measuring device performs self-diagnosis, and the measuring device is caused to perform based on the self-diagnosis If it is configured so that the processing conditions of the above process equipment are reset only when it is determined that there is no abnormality, even if there is an abnormality in the measurement equipment, the effect can be prevented from affecting process control. It can be performed.

  Further, in the system according to the first aspect or the method according to the second aspect, the control device performs the multivariate analysis based on the operation data and the processing result data by the process device, thereby performing the operation data and the processing. If the configuration is such that the correlation of the result data is obtained, and the predicted value of the processing result is obtained using the operation data when the object to be processed other than the object to be processed is obtained based on this correlation, Correlation (model equation) can be obtained simply by collecting a small number of operation data and processing result data obtained by processing a small number of samples for each area, and then the operation data when the workpiece is processed Is simply applied to the prediction formula, the processing result of the object to be processed can be predicted easily and with high accuracy.

  In the system according to the first aspect or the method according to the second aspect, the control device transports the object to be processed to the measuring device by the transport device after at least process processing by the process device, and the measuring device. The measured value of the processing result of the object to be processed obtained based on at least the measurement result after the process processing according to is compared with the predicted value, and the error between the measured value and the predicted value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. If the above correlation is generated again when the judgment is made, even if the correlation (model equation) is once obtained, the wafer processing result may be greatly deviated from the predicted value. Since the correlation (model formula) is automatically generated and updated, the prediction accuracy can always be kept high.

  In the system according to the first aspect or the method according to the second aspect, the measuring device is provided with self-diagnosis means for diagnosing whether or not there is an abnormality in the own device, and the control device When it is determined that the error between the measured value and the predicted value is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the self-diagnosis means of the measuring device performs self-diagnosis, and it is determined that the measuring device is normal based on the self-diagnosis In such a case, if the above correlation is regenerated, even if there is an abnormality in the measurement device, it is possible to prevent the influence from being given to the correlation (model equation), so accurate prediction can be performed. . In the system according to the first aspect or the method according to the second aspect, the PLS method may be used as multivariate analysis.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, according to a third aspect of the present invention, a process control system is provided for each area in a factory and controls process processing performed on an object to be processed by at least one process device. Each of the above-described process apparatuses has a processing chamber for processing the object to be processed, and either before or after processing the object to be processed in the processing chamber, or before or after the processing. A measurement unit that performs measurement processing of the object to be processed; and an in-apparatus transport unit that can transport the object to be processed between at least the processing chamber and the measurement unit. At least one measuring device capable of executing measurement processing of an object to be processed in the area, and provided in each area, The process device, a transport device for transporting the object to be processed between the devices including the measurement device, and the process device, the measurement device, and the transport device provided in each area are provided for each area. A process control system comprising a control device is provided.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, at least one process device, at least one measurement unit provided in each of the process devices, and an object to be processed by the process device. At least one measuring device capable of executing measurement processing of a processing object, a transporting device that transports an object to be processed between the process device and each device including the measuring device, the process device, the measuring device, and the transporting device A process control method performed by the control device for each area in a process control system provided for each area with a control device for controlling the object, wherein an object to be processed by the process device is measured by the measurement unit. A process in which processing conditions of the process device are set based on a measurement result by the measurement unit, During maintenance of the measurement unit, a process is performed in which the object to be processed is transported to the measurement device by the transport device, measured by the measurement device, and processing conditions of the process device are set based on the measurement result. A process control method is provided.

  According to the system according to the third aspect or the method according to the fourth aspect, a measurement device is provided for each area (also referred to as a bay) in a clean room or the like in a factory, and a measurement unit is provided for each process device. In general, necessary measurement processing is performed in each process device for each process device, and the measurement device can be used instead of the measurement unit when the measurement unit cannot be used due to failure or maintenance. . For this reason, although the measurement unit cannot be used, it is possible to prevent the entire process apparatus from being unusable when the wafer can be processed. As a result, the cycle time of wafer processing in each area can be shortened, and a reduction in operating rate and a reduction in manufacturing capacity in each area can be suppressed as much as possible.

  Further, in the system according to the third aspect or the method according to the fourth aspect, the measurement device serves as a reference machine for the measurement unit of the process device, and a difference between the measurement result by the measurement unit and the measurement result by the measurement device. It may be periodically confirmed that there is no error or the deviation is within an allowable range. Thereby, it is possible to prevent variations in measurement results in the measurement units of the process devices in each area.

  In the system according to the third aspect or the method according to the fourth aspect, the measurement device is used to create measurement processing information necessary for measurement processing executed by the measurement unit of the process device. May perform measurement processing based on the measurement processing information. As a result, the measurement unit of each process device in each area can always be in an operational state for the production of devices and the like. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the production capacity in each area from being affected.

  In the system according to the third aspect or the method according to the fourth aspect, as the measurement processing information, for example, coordinate information for setting coordinates for specifying a measurement location on the object to be processed, the object to be processed The film thickness of the upper film, the deposit on the object to be processed, the width of the pattern formed on the object to be processed, the defect on the object to be processed, the overlay of the pattern formed on the object to be processed, etc. Is mentioned.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, process processing performed on an object to be processed by two or more different types of process devices provided for each area in a factory is controlled. A process control system that is provided for each of the areas and that measures at least one measuring device for measuring the object to be processed in each of the areas; and for each of the areas, The process device, the transfer device for transferring the object to be processed between the devices including the measurement device, and the process device, the measurement device, and the transfer device provided in each area. A process control system including a control device for controlling is provided. According to this, it is possible to exchange data such as processing conditions according to each process device not only for the same type of process device but also for different types of process devices.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a process control system is provided for each area in a factory, and controls a process performed on a workpiece by at least one process device. Each of the above-described process apparatuses has a processing chamber for processing the object to be processed, and either before or after processing the object to be processed in the processing chamber, or before or after the processing. A measurement unit that performs measurement processing of the object to be processed; and an in-apparatus transport unit that can transport the object to be processed between at least the processing chamber and the measurement unit. At least one measuring device capable of executing measurement processing of an object to be processed in the area, and provided in each area, The process device, a transport device for transporting the object to be processed between the devices including the measurement device, and the process device, the measurement device, and the transport device provided in each area are provided for each area. A control device, and when the measurement unit of a certain process device cannot be used, the control device performs measurement of an object to be processed for process processing executed by the process device with a measurement unit of another process device. In addition, a process control system is provided that controls the process device, the measurement device, and the transfer device. As a result, the cycle time of wafer processing in each area can be shortened, and a reduction in operating rate and a reduction in manufacturing capacity in each area can be suppressed as much as possible.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process processing apparatus for performing a plasma etching process on a target object, a processing chamber for performing a plasma etching process on the target object, , A measurement unit for performing measurement processing of the object to be processed, either before or after performing plasma etching on the object to be processed in the processing chamber, or before or after plasma etching, and at least the processing chamber with the object to be processed An in-apparatus transport means capable of transporting to and from the measurement unit, wherein the in-apparatus transport means transports the object to be processed after at least the plasma etching process in the processing chamber to the measurement unit, and The measurement unit measures at least the object to be processed after the plasma etching process, and the measurement result is connected to a control device connected via a network. By transmitting, the control device compares the measured value of the processing result of the target object obtained based on the transmitted measurement result and the target value of the processing result, and as a result of the comparison, the actual value and the target value are compared. Is determined to be greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the processing conditions of the process processing device are reset by the control device according to the error, and the processing chamber is set to the reset processing conditions. There is provided a process processing apparatus characterized in that an object to be processed is plasma-etched.

  The measurement unit may be connected via a network and measure the same measurement object as the measurement apparatus that functions as a reference machine for the measurement unit.

  The measurement unit may cause the measurement device to periodically check whether there is a deviation between the measurement result of the measurement device and its own measurement result or whether the deviation is within an allowable range.

  The measurement unit may warn when it is confirmed that the deviation is out of the allowable range.

  The measurement target of the measurement apparatus and the measurement unit may be the film thickness of the film on the object to be processed. At this time, the allowable range of deviation of the measurement results of the measurement device and the measurement unit may be 0.2 nm or less.

  The measurement object of the measurement device and the measurement unit may be a deposit on the object to be processed. At this time, the allowable range of deviation of the measurement results of the measurement device and the measurement unit may be that the error in the count number of deposits having a particle size of 0.15 μm or more is within 10%.

  The measurement target of the measurement apparatus and the measurement unit may be a width of a pattern formed on the object to be processed. At this time, the allowable range of deviation of the measurement results of the measurement apparatus and the measurement unit may be 27.5% or less with respect to the width of the pattern.

  The measurement object of the measurement apparatus and the measurement unit may be a defect on the object to be processed, or may be an overlay of a pattern formed on the object to be processed.

  The measurement unit may cause the measurement device to create measurement process information necessary for the measurement process executed by the measurement unit, and perform the measurement process based on the created measurement process information.

  The measurement processing information includes at least coordinate information for setting coordinates for specifying a measurement location on the object to be processed, an image recognition condition indicating a digital image processing procedure for image recognition, or a measurement target reference. May include at least one of the measurement reference information of the target object indicating the target value information.

  The measurement processing information includes at least coordinate information for setting coordinates for specifying a measurement location on the object to be processed, an image recognition condition indicating a digital image processing procedure for image recognition, or a measurement target reference. At least one of the measurement reference information of the target object indicating the target value information.

  A plurality of types of etching gases may be used for the plasma etching process.

  The processing conditions of the process processing apparatus to be reset may be a plurality of types of etching gas ratios.

  The width of the pattern formed on the treatment body may be the pattern width of the organic antireflection film.

The plurality of types of etching gases may contain at least CF ₄ gas and O ₂ gas.

The plurality of types of etching gas ratios may be O ₂ / (CF ₄ + O ₂ ).

  The measurement unit may control the control device so that the object to be processed is not conveyed to the measurement device when the measurement unit is normally operating.

  When the measurement unit is not normally operated, the control device may be controlled so that the measurement device measures the measurement target of the object to be processed instead of the measurement unit.

  The measurement unit determines the stability of the plasma etching process of the process processing device by transmitting the measurement result to the control device, and the management target range of the device manufactured by the stability and the object to be processed or the above Based on the operation status of the process processing apparatus, the optimum value of the number of workpieces to be measured and the number of measurement points of the workpiece to be measured before and after the plasma etching process is calculated, and based on the calculated optimum values Then, the measurement process may be performed.

  A correlation between the operation data and the processing result data is obtained by performing multivariate analysis based on the operation data and the processing result data by the process processing device, and the object other than the target object that has obtained the correlation based on the correlation Multivariate analysis means for obtaining a predicted value of the processing result using the operation data when the object to be processed is processed may be further provided.

  The measurement unit measures the object to be processed at least after the plasma etching process, and based on the measurement result, the measured value of the object to be processed obtained by the analysis by the multivariate analysis means and the predicted value To the control device, and when the error between the measured value and the predicted value is determined to be greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the control device may regenerate the correlation.

  The multivariate analysis means may use a PLS method as the multivariate analysis.

  The operation data includes measured data of gas flow rate supplied to the process processing apparatus, upper electrode temperature in the process processing apparatus, lower electrode temperature in the process processing apparatus, wall surface temperature of the process processing apparatus, and APC valve. APC opening, electrostatic chuck applied current, electrostatic chuck applied voltage, gas flow rate of heat transfer gas detected by mass flow controller, gas pressure of heat transfer gas detected by pressure gauge, variable capacitor of matching unit Position, voltage between high frequency power supply line and ground, fundamental and harmonic high frequency voltage detected by VI probe, fundamental and harmonic high frequency current detected by VI probe, fundamental wave detected by VI probe And harmonic high frequency phase, fundamental and harmonic impedance detected by VI probe Nsu, traveling wave and the reflected wave of the high frequency power, application integration time of high-frequency power may be at least one of the emission spectrum of a particular wavelength range to be detected by an optical measuring device for detecting a plasma emission.

  The application integration time of the high-frequency power may be reset to zero every time the process processing apparatus is maintained.

  The processing result data may be a width of a pattern formed on the object to be processed.

  At this time, the width of the pattern formed on the processing body may be the width of the pattern of the organic antireflection film.

  A plurality of the above-described process processing apparatuses may be provided in each area in the factory, and may be arranged in a single row or in a radial state.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the process control system and process processing method which can improve the operation rate of each process apparatus can be provided, shortening the time (cycle time) from process processing to inspection processing.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present specification and drawings, components having substantially the same functional configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  First, in the first embodiment, a process control system that controls a semiconductor device manufacturing process will be described as an example. FIG. 1 shows an overall schematic configuration of the process control system. The process control system 100 is provided, for example, in a clean room of a semiconductor manufacturing factory.

  The clean room is divided into a plurality of areas (herein referred to as “bays”) 110 (110A, 110B...). There are as many bays as there are semiconductor device manufacturing processes.

  In each bay 110 (110A, 110B...), A plurality of process devices 120 (120A, 120B...), 122 (122A, 122B...), 124 (124A, 124B...). Yes. The process devices 120, 122, 124,... Are, for example, an etching device, a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) device, a coater developer, a cleaning device, a CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) device, a PVD (PVD). Physical vapor deposition (physical vapor deposition) equipment, exposure equipment, ion implanter, etc. In the following, the process devices 120 indicate the process devices 120, 122, 124... In the bay 110 unless otherwise distinguished.

  Each bay 110 is provided with at least one measuring device 130 for measuring a wafer to be processed in each bay 110. The measurement of the wafer by the measuring device 130 may be performed before or after the wafer is processed, or may be performed before or after the wafer is processed. Examples of the measuring device include a film thickness device, ODP (Optical Digital Profiler), and FTIR. Each bay 110 may be provided with a plurality of measuring devices 130. The measuring device 130 may be provided with a self-diagnosis unit 132 as an example of self-diagnosis means for self-diagnosis whether there is an abnormality in the constituent circuit of the own device (self-measuring device).

  Each bay 110 is provided with a transfer device. The transport device includes, for example, bay transport paths 140 (140A, 140B...) Provided in each bay 110. The bay transfer path 140 is a transfer path for transferring a wafer between the process devices 120 arranged in each bay 110 or between the process device 120 and the measurement device 130. Each of the bay conveyance paths 140 is connected to a main conveyance path 142 that constitutes a conveyance path between the bays 110. The transport device is configured by, for example, OHT (Overhead Hoist Transport), AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicle), or the like. In this case, the transfer paths 140 and 142 may be constituted by rails, and may be transferred by a traveling vehicle guided by the rails while the wafer is held on a carrier such as a FOUP or a wafer cassette.

  Each bay 110 is provided with a process control device 150 as an example of a control device that controls each of the process devices 120, 122, 124, the measuring device 130, and the transfer device in each bay 110. Within each bay 110 (110A, 110B...), The process control device 150 (150A, 150B...), Each process device 120 (120A, 120B...), 122 (122A, 122B...), 124 (124A, 124B. The measuring device 130 (130A, 130B...) And the transfer device are connected to each other via a network 152 (152A, 152B...), And the process control device 150, each process device 120. Data and signals can be exchanged via the network 152.

  The process control device 150 measures, for example, a wafer to be processed by the process device 120 with the measurement device 130 and sets processing conditions of the process device 120 based on the measurement result. Specifically, the processing conditions for generating a model formula for the process processing result may be determined based on the measurement result by the measuring device 130. Details of specific examples of processing performed by the process apparatus 120 will be described later.

The process control device 150 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) in which a program for controlling each circuit is stored, and a CPU in which a ROM (Read
A microprocessor provided with a RAM (Random Access Memory) provided with a memory area or the like that expands and stores a program read from the Only Memory) as necessary. Further, a recording unit such as a hard disk device, an input unit such as a keyboard, a display unit such as a display, a notification unit that notifies when there is an abnormality, and the like may be provided.

  Next, an etching apparatus as an example of the process apparatus 120 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of the etching apparatus. The etching apparatus 201 is configured as a capacitively coupled parallel plate etching apparatus in which electrode plates are opposed in parallel in the vertical direction, and a plasma forming power source is connected to one of them.

  The etching apparatus 201 has a chamber (processing chamber) 202 formed in a cylindrical shape made of aluminum whose surface is anodized (anodized), for example, and the chamber 202 is grounded. A substantially cylindrical susceptor support 204 for mounting the wafer W is provided on the bottom of the chamber 202 via an insulating plate 203 such as ceramic. On the susceptor support base 204, a susceptor 205 constituting a lower electrode is provided. A high pass filter (HPF) 206 is connected to the susceptor 205.

  Inside the susceptor support base 204, a temperature control medium chamber 207 is provided. Then, the temperature control medium is introduced into the temperature control medium chamber 207 through the introduction pipe 208, circulated, and discharged from the discharge pipe 209. By such circulation of the temperature control medium, the susceptor 205 can be controlled to a desired temperature.

  The upper center portion of the susceptor 205 is formed into a convex disk shape, and an electrostatic chuck 211 having substantially the same shape as the wafer W is provided thereon. The electrostatic chuck 211 has a configuration in which an electrode 212 is interposed between insulating materials. The electrostatic chuck 211 electrostatically attracts the wafer W by electrostatic force when a DC voltage of, for example, 1.5 kV is applied from a DC power source 213 connected to the electrode 212.

  Then, a heat transfer medium (for example, a backside gas such as He gas) is supplied to the back surface of the wafer W, which is the object to be processed, to the insulating plate 203, the susceptor support base 204, the susceptor 205, and the electrostatic chuck 211. A gas passage 214 is formed for heat transfer between the susceptor 205 and the wafer W via the heat transfer medium so that the wafer W is maintained at a predetermined temperature.

  An annular focus ring 215 is disposed at the upper peripheral edge of the susceptor 205 so as to surround the wafer W placed on the electrostatic chuck 211. The focus ring 215 is made of an insulating material or a conductive material such as ceramic or quartz, and improves etching uniformity.

  Further, an upper electrode 221 is provided above the susceptor 205 so as to face the susceptor 205 in parallel. The upper electrode 221 is supported inside the chamber 202 via an insulating material 222. The upper electrode 221 includes an electrode plate 224 that constitutes a surface facing the susceptor 205 and has a large number of discharge holes 223, and an electrode support 225 that supports the electrode plate 224. The electrode plate is made of, for example, quartz, and the electrode support 225 is made of, for example, a conductive material such as aluminum whose surface is anodized. Note that the distance between the susceptor 205 and the upper electrode 221 can be adjusted.

  A gas inlet 226 is provided at the center of the electrode support 225 in the upper electrode 221. A gas supply pipe 227 is connected to the gas introduction port 226. Further, a processing gas supply source 230 is connected to the gas supply pipe 227 via a valve 228 and a mass flow controller 229.

An etching gas for plasma etching is supplied from the processing gas supply source 230. FIG. 2 shows only one processing gas supply system including the processing gas supply source 230 and the like. However, a plurality of these processing gas supply systems are provided, for example, CF ₄ , O ₂ , N ₂ , CHF _{3, and the} like can be supplied into the chamber 202 by independently controlling the flow rate of each gas.

  On the other hand, an exhaust pipe 231 is connected to the bottom of the chamber 202, and an exhaust device 235 is connected to the exhaust pipe 231. The exhaust device 235 includes a vacuum pump such as a turbo molecular pump, and is configured to be able to evacuate the chamber 202 to a predetermined reduced pressure atmosphere (for example, 0.67 Pa or less). A gate valve 232 is provided on the side wall of the chamber 202. With the gate valve 232 opened, the wafer W is transferred to and from the bay transfer path 140 via a wafer cassette or the like.

  A first high-frequency power supply 240 is connected to the upper electrode 221, and a matching unit 241 is inserted in the feeder line. In addition, a low pass filter (LPF) 242 is connected to the upper electrode 221. The first high frequency power supply 240 has a frequency in the range of 50 to 150 MHz. By applying high-frequency power in this way, a high-density plasma can be formed in a preferable dissociated state in the chamber 202, and plasma processing under a lower pressure condition than before can be performed. The frequency of the first high frequency power supply 240 is preferably 50 to 80 MHz, and typically, the illustrated frequency of 60 MHz or the vicinity thereof is adopted.

  A second high-frequency power source 250 is connected to the susceptor 205 serving as a lower electrode, and a matching unit 251 is inserted in the power supply line. The second high frequency power supply 250 has a frequency in the range of several hundred kHz to several tens of MHz. By applying a frequency in such a range, it is possible to give an appropriate ion action without damaging the wafer W that is the object to be processed. The frequency of the second high frequency power supply 250 is typically a frequency such as 13.56 MHZ or 2 MHz shown in the figure.

  Next, a specific example of process control by the process control system according to the present embodiment will be described. Here, the etching apparatus 201 is a process apparatus 120 and the measurement apparatus 130 is an apparatus that measures a shape element of a wafer pattern, and controls the trimming amount of a mask (for example, an organic antireflection film) formed on the wafer. The case where it performs is demonstrated.

  This trimming is effective when finer wiring is performed on the wafer. That is, when a predetermined pattern is formed on a wafer by a photolithography process, it is generally difficult to form a mask layer having a line width of about 0.07 μm or less due to technical limitations of the exposure / development process. However, the line width of the mask layer is set wider than the width originally formed, and the edge width is narrowed (trimmed) by the etching process, so that the mask layer is forcibly applied in the mask layer exposure and development processes. As a result, a wiring having a narrow line width can be formed by trimming in the etching process without reducing the line width.

It has been experimentally found that such a mask trimming amount can be controlled by, for example, a flow rate ratio [O ₂ flow rate / (CF ₄ + O ₂ ) flow rate]. Therefore, in the present embodiment, using the above, the shape element in the pattern formed on the wafer is measured by the measurement device 130, and the flow rate ratio [O ₂ flow rate / (CF ₄ + O ₂ ) Control the flow rate] and form the designed pattern on the wafer.

First, the relationship between the trimming amount of a mask (for example, an organic antireflection film) and the flow rate ratio [O ₂ flow rate / (CF ₄ + O ₂ ) flow rate] will be described. Here, an ArF resist was used as a mask. FIG. 3 schematically shows an enlarged part of a longitudinal section of a wafer using an ArF resist.

  In the wafer shown in FIG. 3, a silicon oxide film 322 is formed on the polysilicon film 321 with a predetermined film thickness (50 nm in this embodiment) as shown in FIG. 3A, and an organic film is formed on the silicon oxide film 322. A system antireflection film 323 is formed with a predetermined film thickness (80 nm in this embodiment). Further, on the organic antireflection film 323, an ArF resist 324 having a predetermined film thickness (240 nm in this embodiment) patterned in a predetermined pattern through the exposure process and the development process as described above is formed. . In this embodiment, the line width (indicated by d in the figure) of the ArF resist 324 is 80 nm.

From the state shown in FIG. 3A, the organic antireflection film 323 is first etched through the ArF resist 324 (mask layer) by plasma etching using an etching gas composed of CF ₄ gas and O ₂ gas. As shown in FIG. 3B, the organic antireflection film 323 is patterned into a predetermined pattern.

Thereafter, from the state shown in FIG. 3B, the silicon oxide film 322 is passed through the ArF resist 324 (mask layer) and the organic antireflection film 323, and an etching gas composed of CF ₄ gas and CHF ₃ gas is used. As shown in FIG. 3C, patterning is performed into a predetermined pattern by the plasma etching used.

  Thereafter, the ArF resist 324 and the organic antireflection film 323 are removed by ashing or the like.

  In the etching process of the organic antireflection film 323, the above-described trimming can be performed. However, the trimming amount can be easily controlled. In the etching process of the silicon oxide film 322, the trimming is performed. Etching can be performed with almost no change in the edge width.

By the above process, a wafer having a diameter of 200 mm was etched under the following conditions. Also, change the order to examine the trimming amount of change when changing the flow ratio of the O2 gas to the total flow rate _(CF 4 + _{O 2)} of the etching gas, the flow rate ratio _{[O 2} flow rate _{/ (CF} 4 + _{O 2)} flow rate] Then, etching was performed several times.

The conditions for etching the organic antireflection film are as follows.
Etching gas: CF ₄ + O ₂ (total flow rate 40 sccm)
Pressure: 0.67 Pa (5 mTorr)
Upper electrode applied high frequency power: 300W
Lower electrode applied high frequency power: 60W
Distance between electrodes: 140mm
Temperature / top / wall / bottom): 80/60/75 ° C
He gas pressure (center / edge): 400/400 Pa (3 Torr)
Overetching: 10%

The conditions for etching the silicon oxide film are as follows.
Etching gas; CF ₄ (flow rate 20 sccm) + CHF ₃ (flow rate 20 sccm)
Pressure: 5.3 Pa (40 mTorr)
Upper electrode applied high frequency power: 600W
Lower electrode applied high frequency power: 100W
Distance between electrodes: 140mm
Temperature (top / wall / bottom): 80/30/65 ° C
He gas pressure (center / edge): 1300/1300 Pa (10 Torr)
Overetching: 10%

The result of controlling the trimming amount is shown in FIG. The graph of FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the vertical axis as the trimming amount (nm) and the horizontal axis as the flow rate ratio (%) of [O ₂ flow rate / (CF ₄ + O ₂ ) flow rate]. The result when the above-described etching process is performed is indicated by the symbol. In this case, the high-frequency power amount (RF power density) per unit area applied to the lower electrode is 0.19 W / cm ² . As shown in the figure, it was found that the trimming amount can be changed substantially linearly by changing the flow rate ratio [O ₂ flow rate / (CF ₄ + O ₂ ) flow rate].

Next, in consideration of the fact that the trimming amount can be changed substantially linearly by changing the flow rate ratio [O ₂ flow rate / (CF ₄ + O ₂ ) flow rate], the process control system according to the present invention enables mask trimming. A case where a desired pattern is formed on the wafer by controlling the amount will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the process condition changing process performed by the process control device 150.

  First, in step S100, the pattern shape before the process is measured. That is, the wafer before etching the organic antireflection film 323 is transferred to the measuring device 130 via the transfer path 140, and the measuring device 130 is caused to measure the line width d shown in FIG. When the measurement is performed by the measurement device 130, the process control device 150 receives the measurement value from the measurement device 130.

  Here, the process control device 150 determines the flow rate condition from the relationship between the trimming amount and the flow rate ratio shown in FIG. 4 stored in advance according to the difference between the received measurement value before the etching process and the target value. Then, an appropriate processing condition may be transmitted to the process device 120 (step S110). For example, when the measured value before the etching process is 80 nm and the target line width after the etching process is 50 nm, that is, the target trimming amount is −30 nm, the process control device 150 stores the trimming amount and flow rate shown in FIG. The condition of the flow rate ratio of 50% can be determined from the relationship with the ratio, and the appropriate processing condition can be transmitted to the process device 120.

  When the measurement before the etching process is completed, the wafer is transferred to the process apparatus 120 via the transfer path 140, and the process apparatus 120 causes the organic antireflection film 323 to be etched under the appropriate processing conditions.

  In step S120, the pattern shape after the process is measured. That is, after the etching processing of the organic antireflection film 323 by the process device 120, the wafer is transferred again to the measuring device 130, and the line width d 'shown in FIG. Received from the measuring device 130.

  In step S130, the line width measurement difference before and after the process is calculated. That is, the measurement difference (for example, d′−d) of the line width before and after the etching of the organic antireflection film 323 is calculated. This measurement difference becomes the trimming amount.

  Subsequently, in step S140, it is determined whether or not the measurement difference, that is, the error between the trimming amount and the target value (target trimming amount) is a predetermined value or more. If it is determined in step S140 that the error between the measurement difference (trimming amount) and the target value is not equal to or greater than the predetermined value, this process ends.

  If it is determined in step S140 that the difference between the measurement difference (trimming amount) and the target value is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the self-diagnosis unit 132 of the measurement device 130 is operated in step S150 to A self-diagnosis is performed, and it is determined in step S160 whether or not the measuring apparatus 130 is normal.

If it is determined in step S160 that there is no abnormality in the measurement apparatus 130, and if wafers having substantially the same pattern shape measurement values by the measurement apparatus 130 before the etching process are continuously processed, a process is performed in step S170. The processing conditions are changed for the etching apparatus 201 which is the apparatus 120. Specifically, based on the relationship between trim amount and the flow rate ratio _{[O 2} flow rate _{/ (CF} 4 + _{O 2)} flow rate] shown in FIG. 4, the flow ratio in accordance with the error _{[O 2} flow rate _{/ (CF} 4 + _{O 2} ) Change the flow rate]. As a result, when an error of a predetermined value or more occurs between the trimming amount and the target value, the trimming amount is controlled to approach the target value.

  It should be noted that the trend of the error fluctuation between the measured value and the target value is observed to predict its tendency, and the processing conditions of the process equipment are changed according to the tendency of the error fluctuation before the error exceeds the predetermined value. It may be. For example, if the error tends to increase gradually, the processing conditions may be changed gradually according to the tendency, and if the error tends to increase greatly, the processing conditions may be changed according to the tendency. The degree of change may be controlled to be a little larger. Thus, by changing the processing conditions in advance, it is possible to control so that the error does not exceed a predetermined value.

  If it is determined in step S160 that there is an abnormality in the measuring device 130, error processing is performed in step S180. As an error process, the process control device 150 performs, for example, notification by a notification unit that there is an abnormality in the measurement device 130 or displays an error on the display unit.

  As described above, when the measuring apparatus 130 itself is abnormal, the etching apparatus 201 is not changed in processing conditions. This is because when the measuring apparatus 130 itself is abnormal, accurate control cannot be performed even if the processing conditions are changed.

  In the process shown in FIG. 5, steps S160 and S180 are not necessarily provided. However, by providing steps S160 and S180, even if there is an abnormality in the measuring device 130, the influence is given to the process control. Therefore, accurate control can be performed. In the processing shown in FIG. 5, the case where measurement is performed by the measuring device 130 before and after the process processing has been described. However, the measurement is not necessarily limited to this, and the measurement may be performed only after the process processing. For example, when performing process processing continuously, the measurement value after the process processing performed immediately before may be stored, and the measurement difference between the measurement value and the measurement value after the process processing performed this time may be obtained.

  As described above, by providing the measurement device 130 for each bay 110, the process control device 150 causes the measurement device 130 to change the pattern of wafers processed by the process devices 120, 122, 124,. The shape and the like can be measured, and the processing conditions of the process device can be reset based on the measurement result. Thereby, accurate process control can always be performed for each bay 110.

  In addition, since the measurement device 130 is provided for each bay 110, the measurement device 130 can perform necessary measurement when necessary in each bay 110, so that the measurement device 130 may wait for measurement and transportation. In addition, the time from the process processing to the measurement can be shortened. For this reason, the operating rate of the process device can be improved. In addition, since it is sufficient to provide the measurement device 130 with measurement equipment necessary for process control performed in each bay, the cost of capital investment can be reduced.

  Further, by providing a measurement device 130 for each bay 110 and controlling the process processing by each process control device 150, the line width of the pattern formed on the wafer itself as a product, not on the wafer for inspection and analysis. It is possible to automatically measure the process finish such as film thickness, doping amount, film density, stress, etc., distribution within the wafer, etc. by the measuring device 130 and inspect whether these are processed within the target specification. it can. If the error from the target value is large, the process conditions can be adjusted so as to correct the error. Because such corrections are possible, even if the workpieces vary or the state of the process equipment changes slightly, the optimum processing conditions can always be set, and strict design specifications can be achieved. Satisfactory process processing can be performed. Further, it is possible to perform process processing while measuring wafers as products one by one by the measuring device 130, and it is possible to measure only a predetermined lot or all wafers.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, the process control device 150 generates a model expression for predicting the process processing result of the process devices 120, 122, 124,... Using multivariate analysis, and performs process control based on the model expression. It is.

  The process apparatus 120 in this embodiment is assumed to be an etching apparatus 201 shown in FIG. In addition, the process control apparatus 150 in this embodiment includes a multivariate analysis unit 400.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the multivariate analysis unit 400 includes an operation data storage unit 410, a processing result data storage unit 420, a multivariate analysis program storage unit 430, a multivariate analysis processing unit 440, and a multivariate analysis result storage unit 450. It has.

  The operation data storage unit 410 constitutes means for storing operation data, and the processing result data storage unit 420 constitutes means for storing processing result data. The multivariate analysis processing unit 440 constitutes a means for obtaining a correlation (for example, a prediction equation, a regression equation) between the operation data and the processing result data and a means for predicting the processing result based on the correlation. The multivariate analysis result storage unit 450 constitutes means for storing the correlation obtained by the multivariate analysis processing unit 440.

  Specifically, the multivariate analysis unit 400 may be configured by, for example, a microprocessor that operates based on a program from the multivariate analysis program storage unit 430. Processing may be performed using a microprocessor constituting the process control device 150 as the multivariate analysis unit 400. The operation data storage unit 410, the processing result data storage unit 420, and the multivariate analysis result storage unit 450 may each be configured by a recording unit such as a memory provided in the process control device 150, or a recording unit such as a hard disk. Each memory area may be provided.

  The multivariate analysis unit 400 stores each data in the operation data storage unit 410 and the processing result data storage unit 420 by inputting the operation data and the process characteristic data, and then stores these data and the program of the multivariate analysis program storage unit 430. Are extracted into the multivariate analysis processing unit 440, the multivariate analysis processing unit 440 performs multivariate analysis of the operation data and process characteristic data, and the processing results are stored in the multivariate analysis result storage unit 450.

  Specifically, the multivariate analysis unit 400 uses a plurality of types of operation data as explanatory variables (explanatory variables), and processing result data as explained variables (object variables, objective variables). (A prediction formula such as a regression formula or model) is obtained using a multivariate analysis program. In the regression equation (1) below, X means a matrix of explanatory variables, and Y means a matrix of explained variables. B is a regression matrix made up of coefficients (weights) of explanatory variables, and E is a residual matrix.

Y = BX + E (1)

  For obtaining the above equation (1), for example, the PLS (Partial Least Squares) method described in JOURNAL OF CHEMOMETRICS, VOL.2 (PP211-228) (1998) is used. In this PLS method, even if there are a large number of explanatory variables and explained variables in each of the matrices X and Y, a relational expression between X and Y can be obtained if there are a small number of actually measured values. Moreover, it is a feature of the PLS method that even a relational expression obtained with a small actual measurement value is highly stable and reliable.

  The multivariate analysis program storage unit 430 stores a program for the PLS method, and the multivariate analysis processing unit 440 processes the operation data and the process characteristic data according to the procedure of the program to obtain the above equation (1). The multivariate analysis result storage unit 450 stores the result. Therefore, in the second embodiment, if the above equation (1) is obtained, then the process characteristics can be predicted by applying the operation data to the matrix X as explanatory variables. In addition, the predicted value is highly reliable.

In the multivariate analysis unit 400 according to the present embodiment, for example, various monitors (such as various measuring instruments) during operation including measured data of gas flow rate such as the flow rate ratio [O ₂ flow rate / (CF ₄ + O ₂ ) flow rate] described above. Trace data, which is actual measurement data, is used as operation data, and multivariate analysis is performed using pattern measurement values such as the trimming amount of the mask (for example, an organic antireflection film) formed on the wafer as processing result data. Predict the trimming amount. Various operation condition setting data including gas flow rate setting data can be used as the operation data instead of the trace data.

Examples of the trace data include actual measurement data of the temperatures (upper electrode temperature T ₁ , wall surface temperature T ₂ , lower electrode temperature T ₃ ) at a plurality of locations in the chamber 202 in addition to the actual gas flow rate data. Further, the following data may be added as trace data.

  For example, the exhaust device 235 shown in FIG. 2 is provided with an APC (Auto Pressure Controller) valve so that the opening degree of the APC valve is automatically adjusted in accordance with the gas pressure in the chamber 202. The APC opening degree by this APC valve may be detected and included in the trace data.

  Further, a wattmeter for detecting the applied current and applied voltage of the electrostatic chuck 211 may be provided, and the applied current and applied voltage data of the electrostatic chuck 211 detected from the wattmeter may be included in the trace data.

  Further, for example, a mass flow controller is provided in the gas passage 214 for supplying a heat transfer medium (for example, He gas), and the mass flow controller detects the gas flow rate of the heat transfer gas. The gas flow rate of the heat transfer gas may be included in the trace data together with the gas pressure of the heat transfer gas detected by the pressure gauge.

  The matching unit 241 or 251 includes, for example, two variable capacitors and coils, and impedance matching is performed via the variable capacitors C1 and C2. The positions of the variable capacitors C1 and C2 in the matching state may be included as trace data. Further, a power meter is provided in the matching unit 241 or 251, and a voltage Vdc between a high-frequency power supply line (electric wire) and the ground (ground) of the etching apparatus 201 is measured by the power meter. The voltage Vdc between the high-frequency power supply line (electric wire) and the ground may be included as trace data.

  Further, an electrical measuring instrument (for example, a VI probe) is attached to the matching electrode 241 or 251 on the upper electrode 221 side or susceptor (lower electrode) 205 side (high-frequency voltage output side), and the upper electrode is connected via the electrical measuring instrument. 221 or fundamental wave (traveling wave and reflected wave of high frequency power) and harmonic high frequency voltage V, high frequency current I, high frequency phase P, impedance based on plasma generated by high frequency power P applied to susceptor (lower electrode) 205 Z is detected as electrical data. The traveling wave and reflected wave of this high frequency power may be included as trace data.

  An integration unit that integrates the application time of the high frequency power may be connected between the high frequency power supply 250 and the wattmeter, and the application integration time of the high frequency power detected by the integration unit may be included as trace data. The application integration time here is the integration of the time during which high frequency power is applied every time the wafer W is processed.

  The integration unit is configured to reset the application integration time of the high-frequency power to zero each time the etching apparatus 201 is maintained. Therefore, the high frequency power application integration time here is the application integration time until the next maintenance is performed. Examples of the maintenance include wet cleaning performed to remove by-products (for example, particles) in the etching apparatus 201 generated by etching, replacement of consumables and measuring instruments, and the like.

  In such a multivariate analysis means 400, for example, the trace data or setting data as the operation data is used as an explanatory variable, and the trimming amount of the mask as the pattern measurement value as the processing result data (the line width d and the line width shown in FIG. 3). Using the multivariate analysis program for the PLS method, for example, the relational expression (regression equation) of (1) is obtained with the difference from d ′ as the explained variable (target variable). Then, the operation data is input to the obtained regression equation to predict the mask trimming amount.

  In addition, the multivariate analysis processing unit 440 performs MSC (Multiplicative Signal Correction) or the like on the operation data and the processing result data before performing multivariate analysis such as calculation of the relational expression (regression equation) in (1). Processing may be performed. This preprocessing by MSC is generally preprocessing for correcting the dispersion between samples to be smaller by obtaining an ideal spectrum from the samples. Specifically, the pre-processing by the MSC calculates, for example, an average in the wavelength direction for each sample (ideal spectrum), and calculates a linear regression line with the ideal spectrum for each sample. The data of each sample is corrected from the slope and intercept obtained from the linear regression line. Details of the pretreatment by the MSC are described in, for example, Gelad, et al., (1985), Linearization and Scatter-infrared Reflactance Spectra of Meat, Applied Spectroscopy, 3,491-500.

  Next, the operation of the etching apparatus 201 will be described. When the operation of the etching apparatus 201 is started, detection data intermittently detected from each measuring instrument such as the matching units 241 and 251 by the etching apparatus 201 is sequentially input to the multivariate analysis unit 400 of the process control apparatus 150. Subsequently, an average value of each operation data for each wafer is obtained via the multivariate analysis processing unit 440. Next, the average value of the operation data for each wafer is stored in the operation data storage unit 410, or is prepared for the next processing as it is.

  Then, the etched wafer is taken out from the etching apparatus 201 and transferred to the measurement apparatus 130 via the transfer path 140. The measuring device 130 calculates a mask trimming amount for the etched wafer. Specifically, the difference between the line width d shown in FIG. 3A measured by the measuring apparatus 130 before the etching process and the line width d ′ shown in FIG. 3B measured by the measuring apparatus 130 after the etching process is trimmed. Calculate as a quantity. When the trimming amount from the measuring device 130 is input to the multivariate analysis unit 400 of the process control device 150, the input value is stored in the processing result data storage unit 420 as processing result data. Then, the pre-processing is not performed or the pre-processing is performed, and then the regression formula (relational formula (1)) by the PLS method is obtained.

  When the etching process is actually performed by the etching apparatus 201, when the trace data or setting data detected intermittently from each measuring instrument is input to the process control apparatus 150, the multivariate analysis of the process control apparatus 150 is performed. The means 400 calculates the predicted value of the trimming amount, which is the objective variable, using the regression formula based on the PLS method obtained as described above using the trace data or the setting data as an explanatory variable.

  Next, model formula update processing for updating a regression formula (model formula) by the PLS method by the process control system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of the model formula update process performed by the process control apparatus 150.

  First, in step S200, the pattern shape before the process is measured. That is, the wafer before etching the organic antireflection film 323 is transferred to the measuring device 130 via the transfer path 140, and the measuring device 130 is caused to measure the line width d shown in FIG. When the measurement is performed by the measurement device 130, the process control device 150 receives the measurement value from the measurement device 130.

  Here, from the correlation between the trimming amount stored in advance in the multivariate analysis result storage unit 450 and various setting data including the flow rate ratio, an appropriate condition of at least the flow rate ratio that greatly affects the trimming amount is determined, and the process apparatus An appropriate condition may be transmitted to 120 (step S210).

  When the measurement before the etching process is completed, the wafer is transferred to the process apparatus 120 via the transfer path 140, and the process apparatus 120 causes the organic antireflection film 323 to be etched under the appropriate conditions.

  In step S220, the pattern shape after the process is measured. That is, after the etching processing of the organic antireflection film 323 by the process device 120, the wafer is transferred again to the measuring device 130, and the line width d 'shown in FIG. Received from the measuring device 130.

  Next, in step S230, a line width measurement difference before and after the process is calculated. That is, the measurement difference (for example, d′−d) of the line width before and after the etching of the organic antireflection film 323 is calculated. This measurement difference becomes the trimming amount.

  Subsequently, in step S240, it is determined whether or not an error between this measurement difference, that is, the trimming amount and the predicted value of the trimming amount by the multivariate analysis unit 400 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. If it is determined in step S240 that the error between the measurement difference (trimming amount) and the predicted value is not greater than or equal to the predetermined value, this process ends.

  If it is determined in step S240 that the error between the measurement difference (trimming amount) and the predicted value is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the self-diagnostic unit 132 of the measurement device 130 is operated in step S250. A self-diagnosis is performed, and it is determined in step S260 whether or not the measuring apparatus 130 is normal.

  If it is determined in step S260 that there is no abnormality in the measurement device 130, the model formula is regenerated by the multivariate analysis unit 400 in step S270, and the model formula is updated. As described above, even if the model formula (regression formula) by the PLS method is once obtained, if the processing result of the wafer deviates greatly from the predicted value, the model formula (regression formula) is automatically selected. Since it is regenerated and updated, the prediction accuracy can always be kept high.

  It is to be noted that the tendency of the error between the measured value and the predicted value is observed and the tendency is predicted, and the processing condition of the process apparatus is changed according to the tendency of the error fluctuation before the error exceeds a predetermined value. It may be. For example, if the error tends to increase gradually, the processing conditions may be changed gradually according to the tendency, and if the error tends to increase greatly, the processing conditions may be changed according to the tendency. The degree of change may be controlled to be a little larger. Thus, by changing the processing conditions in advance, it is possible to control so that the error does not exceed a predetermined value.

  If it is determined in step S260 that there is an abnormality in the measurement device 130, error processing is performed in step S280. As an error process, the process control device 150 performs, for example, notification by a notification unit that there is an abnormality in the measurement device 130 or displays an error on the display unit. As in the case of the first embodiment, steps S260 and S280 are not necessarily provided in the process shown in FIG. 7, but by providing steps S260 and S280, even if there is an abnormality in the measuring device 130, Therefore, it is possible to prevent the influence from being given to the correlation (model formula), and therefore, an accurate prediction can be performed. Further, in the process shown in FIG. 7, as in the process shown in FIG. 5, the case where measurement is performed before and after the process process by the measurement device 130 has been described. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this, and only after the process process. Measurement may be performed. For example, when performing process processing continuously, the measurement value after the process processing performed immediately before may be stored, and the measurement difference between the measurement value and the measurement value after the process processing performed this time may be obtained.

  As described above, by providing the measurement device 130 for each bay 110, the process control device 150 causes the measurement device 130 to change the pattern of wafers processed by the process devices 120, 122, 124,. The shape and the like can be measured, and the model expression of the process device can be regenerated based on the measurement result. Thereby, it is possible to always perform process control based on accurate prediction for each bay 110.

  In addition, in 2nd Embodiment, although what used trace data as operation data was demonstrated, it is not necessarily restricted to this. For example, a spectroscope (hereinafter referred to as “optical measuring instrument”) that detects plasma emission in the chamber 202 is provided in the etching apparatus 201, and light emission in a specific wavelength range (for example, 200 to 950 nm) obtained by this optical measuring instrument. Spectral intensity may be used as optical data, and this optical data may be used as operation data.

  Further, the high frequency of the harmonics based on the plasma generated by the high frequency power P applied to the upper electrode 221 or the susceptor (lower electrode) 205 via the electrical measuring instrument (for example, VI probe) provided in the matching units 241 and 251. The voltage V, high-frequency current I, high-frequency phase P, and impedance Z may be used as VI probe data, and this VI probe data may be used as operation data.

  Furthermore, all of these trace data, optical data, and VI probe data may be used as operation data, or any of the data may be used as operation data. Also, with respect to the trace data, all data may be used as operation data, or a part of data may be used as operation data.

  As processing result data measured by the measuring device, data indicating etching characteristics such as the line width and taper of the etching pattern is used as in this embodiment, and data such as etching rate and in-plane uniformity is used. It may be used.

  In the second embodiment, the regression equation (1) is obtained by using the PLS method when performing multivariate analysis. However, other known numerical calculation methods (for example, power method) other than the PLS method are used. The eigenvalue and its eigenvector may be obtained by using them.

  In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the case where one measuring device is provided in each bay has been described. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this, and the measuring device is provided in each bay. Two or more of each may be provided. An example in which two measuring devices 160 and 162 are provided in each bay 110 is shown in FIG. Self-diagnosis units 161 and 163 are provided in the measuring devices 160 and 162, respectively. In such a process control system, for example, the wafer is transferred to the measuring device 160 before and after the process processing by the process device 120 and desired measurement is performed, and then the wafer is loaded on the measuring device 162 before and after the process processing by the process device 122. It may be conveyed to perform desired measurement. Further, after the measurement by the measurement device 160 is completed, the wafer may be transferred to the measurement device 162 and another measurement may be performed before the process processing by the process device 124 is performed.

  As described above, any number of measuring devices 130 necessary for each bay 110 can be provided, so that the installation of the measuring device 130 can be planned based on the processing capability of the measuring device 130 and the necessary measurement plan. Thereby, capital investment can be performed efficiently.

  Moreover, the process apparatus provided in each bay 110 may be of two or more different types as shown in FIG. 9, for example. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, a process apparatus 120 provided in each bay 110 may perform different types of process processing on a wafer, such as etching apparatuses 120a and 120c and a film forming apparatus 120b. However, the arrangement of the processing chambers is different, such as one in which a plurality of processing chambers are arranged radially like the etching device 120c and one in which a plurality of processing chambers are arranged in a row like the etching device 120a. Different process devices may be used.

  Furthermore, the bay conveyance path 140 of the conveyance device in each bay 110 is not necessarily limited to a straight line as shown in FIG. 1, and various shapes can be applied. For example, the bay conveyance path 140 may be U-shaped connected to the main conveyance path 142 as shown in FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, a process device 120 (120a, 120b, 120c) and a measurement device 130 are disposed around a U-shaped bay conveyance path 140. In FIG. 9, the conveyance direction in the main conveyance path 142 and the bay conveyance path 140 is, for example, a direction indicated by an arrow. However, the conveying direction is not limited to that shown in FIG.

  The process devices 120 (120a, 120b, 120c), the measurement device 130, the process control device 150, and the transfer device are connected via a network 152, and the process devices 120 (120a, 120b, 120c), the measurement device 130 are connected. The process control device 150 and the transfer device can exchange data and signals via the network 152, respectively. As a result, not only the same type of process device but also different types of process devices can exchange data such as processing conditions according to each process device.

  For example, when the same type of process processing is performed by the same type of process device, the process control device 150 can create a network 152 because the processing conditions of the same process can be created in common for any measurement result. The processing conditions of the same process can be transmitted and set to each process device. On the other hand, in the case of different types of process devices, since the processes are usually different, the same processing condition cannot be set. However, depending on the measurement target measured by the measurement apparatus 130, the process control apparatus 150 may be able to generate processing conditions suitable for different types of process apparatuses based on the same measurement result. The process control apparatus 150 transmits and sets such processing conditions to the corresponding process apparatus. Examples of such measurement targets include particles on the wafer (for example, deposits and deposits), defects on the wafer (for example, the number of defective devices among devices generated by process processing), and the like.

As the network 152, the process control device 150, each process device 120, and the measurement device 130 are connected so as to be capable of bidirectional communication, and a WAN (Wide Area Network), a LAN (Local Area Network), an IP- VPN (Internet Protocol-Virtual
It may be a closed line network such as a private network or a public line network such as the Internet. The connection medium may be wired wireless, such as an optical fiber cable by FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface), a coaxial cable or twisted pair cable by Ethernet (registered trademark), or wireless by IEEE802.11b.

  Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the first and second embodiments, the case where one measuring device 130 or a plurality of measuring devices 160 and 162 configured separately from each process device 120 is provided for each bay 110 has been described. In the third embodiment, a case where each process apparatus further includes a measurement unit will be described.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the bay 510 according to the third embodiment. As shown in FIG. 10, a bay 510 according to the third embodiment includes a plurality of process devices 520 (520a, 520b, 520c) around the bay transfer path 140 of the transfer device, and these process devices 520 are separated from each other. A measuring device 130 provided on the body is provided.

  Each process device 130, measurement device 530, process control device 550, and transfer device are connected by a network 152, and each process device 520, measurement device 130, process control device 550, and transfer device are connected via the network 152, respectively. Data and signals can be exchanged.

  In addition to the measurement device 130, each process device 520 (520a, 520b, 520c) in the bay 510 includes a measurement unit 530 (530a, 530b, 530c).

  At least the measurement device 130 in the same bay can measure the same measurement object as the measurement unit 530 of the process device 520. Such measurement targets include, for example, the thickness of the film formed on the wafer, particles on the wafer (for example, deposits and deposits), pattern width of the pattern formed on the wafer, and pattern overlay (relative Position accuracy), defects on the wafer (for example, cracks, resist collapse), and the like. When the types of process devices 520 provided in the bay 510 are different, the measurement device 130 can measure all the measurement targets respectively measured by the measurement units 530 of the process devices 520 having different types. Configured.

  Each process device 520 includes a processing chamber for processing a wafer, and an in-device transfer means capable of transferring the wafer at least between the processing chamber and the measurement unit 530 in the atmosphere.

  A configuration example of the process apparatus 520 provided with such a measurement unit 530 is shown in FIG. A process apparatus 520 shown in FIG. 11 includes a dry etching apparatus 580 (580a, 580b) that performs dry etching on a wafer by plasma processing or the like, and a wet etching apparatus 590 that performs wet etching on the wafer. For example, one dry etching apparatus 580a shown in FIG. 11 performs mask etching of a wafer, and the other dry etching apparatus 580b performs gate etching.

  The dry etching apparatus 580 (580a, 580b) and the wet etching apparatus 590 are arranged in series on one side of the transport path 560 in a direction orthogonal to the transport path 560. On the other side of the transfer path 560, a wafer carry-in unit 564 composed of a wafer cassette or the like that accommodates a wafer to be carried into the process apparatus 520, and a wafer carry-out unit 566 for carrying out the processed wafer from the process apparatus 520. A measurement unit 530 is arranged. The measurement unit 530 performs measurement processing on a wafer to be processed by the process device 520 provided with the measurement unit 530. Measurement by the measurement unit 530 may be performed before or after the wafer is processed, or may be performed either before or after the process.

  The dry etching apparatuses 580a and 580b include processing chambers 584a and 584b connected to the transfer path 560 through gates 582a and 582b, respectively. The processing chambers 584a and 584b may be connected to the transfer path 560 via transfer means such as a transfer chamber having a transfer arm, for example, for transferring wafers between the transfer path 560 and the process chambers 584a and 584b.

  The wet etching apparatus 590 includes a processing chamber 594 connected to the transfer path 560 via a treatment chamber 592. The processing chamber 594 is for, for example, performing chemical treatment on the wafer, and the treatment chamber 592 is for performing, for example, treatment processing with a rinse liquid on the wafer. Note that the treatment chamber 592 may include a transfer means for transferring a wafer between the transfer path 560 and the processing chamber 594, for example, a transfer body having a horizontal movement mechanism and an elevating mechanism.

  A transport arm 570 that is movable along the transport path 560 is provided in the transport path 560. The transfer arm 570 connects, for example, a base 572 that can move along a transfer path 560 formed of a rail or the like, a pick 574 that can place a wafer, a base 574, and a pick 574, and the pick 574 is connected to the base 572. And an extendable arm 576. The transport path 560 and the transport arm 570 constitute an example of the in-device transport means.

  According to such a process apparatus 520, wafers from the wafer carry-in section 564 are transferred to the processing chambers 580a, 580b, and 590 in a predetermined order by the transfer arm 570, and predetermined process processing is performed. At this time, the wafer is transferred to the measurement unit 530 at a necessary timing, and a predetermined measurement process is performed by the measurement unit 530. Then, the wafer for which all processing has been completed is transferred to the wafer unloading unit 566 by the transfer arm 570.

  According to the process control system having such a configuration, since the measurement unit 530 of the process device 520 and the measurement device 130 in the bay 510 can measure the same measurement object, any process in the bay 510 can be measured. Even when the measurement unit 530 of the apparatus cannot be used due to failure or maintenance, the measurement apparatus 130 can be used instead of the measurement unit 530.

  For example, when the measurement unit 530a of the process apparatus 520a shown in FIG. 10 cannot be used, information for obtaining measurement processing by the measurement apparatus 130 is obtained when the measurement of the measurement target is required in the process apparatus 520a. Sent to. Then, based on the control of the process control device 550, the process device 520a unloads the wafer, and the unloaded wafer is transported to the measurement device 130 via the bay transport path 140, and necessary measurement is performed in the measurement device 130. .

  As described above, since the measurement device 130 can be used instead of the measurement unit 530, the measurement unit 530 of the process device 520 cannot be used. However, if the wafer can be processed, the entire process device 520 can be used. Can be prevented from becoming unusable.

  As a result, the wafer processing cycle time in each bay 510 can be shortened, and the operating rate and manufacturing capacity in each bay 510 can be minimized. That is, if each process apparatus is provided with a measurement unit, the cycle time can be shortened in that it is not necessary to carry the wafer to the measurement apparatus 130 each time a wafer is measured. On the other hand, if the measurement unit of one of the process devices cannot be used due to failure or maintenance, there is a problem that the process device cannot be used and the operating rate decreases. In the present invention, when the measurement unit 530 cannot be used, the measurement device 130 is used instead of the measurement unit 530, so that both cycle time and operation rate can be achieved.

  For example, when the process control apparatus 550 receives information for obtaining measurement processing by the measurement apparatus 130 from the process apparatus 520a via the network 152, the process control apparatus 550 confirms whether the measurement apparatus 130 is in a measurable state. When the confirmation is made, the wafer unloading permission may be transmitted to the process apparatus 520a via the network 152.

  When the measuring device 130 is used instead of the measuring unit 530, measurement processing information (for example, wafer measurement coordinate information) necessary for wafer measurement processing in the measuring device 130 is stored in the measuring device 130 in advance. It may be left. The measurement processing information may be stored in the process control device 550. In this case, measurement processing information is transmitted to the measurement device 130 when the measurement device 130 performs measurement. The measurement apparatus 130 performs wafer measurement processing based on the received measurement processing information.

  Next, a case where the measurement device 130 in each bay 510 is used as a reference machine of the measurement unit 530 of each process device 520 in the bay 510 where the measurement device 130 is provided will be described. In each bay 510, by using the measurement device 130 as a reference machine of the measurement unit 530, it is possible to prevent a difference between a measurement result by the measurement unit 530 of each process device 520 and a measurement result by the measurement device 130. .

  Specifically, for example, the measurement apparatus 130 periodically confirms that there is no deviation between the measurement result by the measurement unit 530 of the process apparatus 520 and the measurement result by the measurement apparatus 130 or that the deviation is within an allowable range. . Then, for example, when the deviation of the measurement result between the measurement unit 530 and the measurement device 130 is not within the allowable range, the measurement device 130 notifies that the maintenance of the measurement unit 530 is necessary, displays it on a display, or the like. Prompt. In this way, the deviation between the measurement results of the measurement unit 530 and the measurement device 130 is managed so as to be within an allowable range. As a result, the measurement error between the measurement units 530 in the plurality of process devices 520 can be managed so as to be a predetermined value or less. Therefore, variations in measurement results in the measurement unit 530 of each process apparatus 520 in the bay 510 can be prevented.

  As described above, when the measurement device 130 is used as a reference machine of each measurement unit 530, measurement errors may be managed for each measurement target. For example, when managing a measurement error of a CD (Critical Dimension) of a pattern formed by process processing as a measurement target, a reference wafer on which a line or space pattern is formed is connected to a measurement unit 530 that is a measurement error management target. Measurement is periodically performed by the measuring device 130. Based on the measurement result, the measurement device 130 confirms that the deviation of the measurement result between the measurement unit 530 and the measurement device 130 is within an allowable range. For example, when managing a CD (Critical Dimension) of 40 nm, the allowable range of measurement accuracy is set to 11 nm or less.

  In addition, when managing a measurement error of a film thickness formed on a wafer as a measurement target, for example, a reference wafer on which the film thickness is formed is periodically measured by the measurement unit 530 and the measurement device 130 that are measurement error management targets. To measure. Based on the measurement result, the measurement device 130 confirms that the deviation of each measurement result is within an allowable range. In this case, the allowable range of measurement accuracy is, for example, 0.2 nm or less.

  Further, when managing measurement errors of particles on a wafer as a measurement target, for example, a clean wafer without particles is periodically measured by the measurement unit 530 and the measurement device 130 which are measurement error management targets. Based on the measurement result, the measurement device 130 confirms that the deviation of each measurement result is within an allowable range. In this case, the allowable range of measurement accuracy is, for example, an error in the count number of particles having a particle diameter of 0.15 μm or more within 10%.

  Next, a method of using the measuring apparatus 130 when creating a new device in each bay 510 will be described. According to the process control system configured as described above, the measurement processing information (for example, wafer measurement coordinate information) of the measurement unit 530 required when a new device is created by the process device 520 of the bay 510 is stored in each bay. It can be created by the measuring device 130 in 510. As a result, the measurement unit 530 of each process device 520 in the bay 510 can always be in an operable state for the production of devices and the like. Therefore, the production capacity in the bay 510 can be prevented from being affected.

  When the process apparatus 520 (520a, 520b, 520c) illustrated in FIG. 10 is configured by a plurality of different types of process apparatuses 520, such as the process apparatus 120 (120a, 120b, 120c) illustrated in FIG. Alternatively, measurement processing information may be created for each measurement unit 530 of a different type of process device 520.

  The measurement processing information created by the measurement device 130 may be transmitted to the measurement unit 530 of each process device 520 via the network 152 and set, or set to the measurement unit 530 via a known recording medium. You may make it do.

  Here, a specific example of measurement processing information necessary for, for example, wafer measurement processing by the measurement unit 530 or the measurement apparatus 130 will be described. Examples of such measurement processing information include wafer measurement coordinate information, image recognition conditions, and wafer measurement reference information. The measurement coordinate information of the wafer is coordinate information for setting coordinates for specifying a measurement location on the object to be processed. For example, when an image of a wafer is read by an imaging means such as a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) camera provided in the measurement unit 530 and the measurement device 130, measurement is performed by setting coordinates based on the measurement coordinate information of the wafer. The location can be specified.

  The image recognition condition is a digital image processing procedure for recognizing and understanding an image of information received by the CCD camera or the like, for example. Examples of digital image processing procedures include, for example, data normalization, preprocessing stage for noise removal, color shading processing, contrast processing such as binarization processing and gradation processing, and extraction processing for edge extraction filtering. There are an operation processing stage for performing stages, data comparison, arithmetic processing, and the like, and a collation stage for performing collation (matching) on feature values extracted in advance. The measurement unit 530 and the measurement apparatus 130 perform wafer measurement processing according to such image recognition conditions, for example, digital image processing procedures.

  The wafer measurement reference information is information on a target value serving as a reference of a measurement target such as an etching rate and a film thickness. The measurement unit 530 and the measurement device 130 compare the measurement reference information of the wafer, for example, the target value with the actually measured measurement value. This comparison information can be used for, for example, feedback of process processing by the process apparatus 520.

  The process control apparatus 550 receives the measurement result from the measurement unit 530 of each process apparatus 520, and based on the measurement result, the process processing stability of the process apparatus 520 (for example, the number of defective products manufactured from a wafer) ) Based on the stability, the management target range of devices manufactured by the wafer (for example, the target number of manufactured devices), the operating status (for example, the operating rate) of the process apparatus 520, and the like. Processing for optimizing the number of wafers to be measured and the number of measurement locations in the wafer may be performed. The optimization information obtained by such optimization processing is transmitted to the measurement unit 530 of the process device 520 via the network 152, for example. Then, each measurement unit 530 performs measurement processing based on the number of wafers optimized by the process control device 550 and the number of measurement locations in the wafer. As a result, since the process can be performed with the minimum necessary measurement process, the cycle time of the wafer process process in the entire bay 510 can be shortened for each bay 510.

  As described above, the preferred embodiments according to the present invention have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, but it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to such examples. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the case where the multivariate analysis unit 400 is provided in the process control device 150 has been described. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this, and the multivariate analysis unit 400 may be provided in each process device 120. Good. As a result, each process device 120 can perform multivariate analysis and measure the processing result based on a command from the process control device 150, so that the burden on the process control device can be reduced and the data processing speed can be reduced. Can be improved.

  The present invention is applicable to, for example, a process control system, a process control method, and a process processing apparatus that perform process control for manufacturing a semiconductor device.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the process control system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of the etching apparatus as an example of the process apparatus in the embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the pattern formed in the wafer in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the gas flow rate ratio and trimming amount in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the process condition change process which the process control apparatus in the embodiment performs. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the multivariate analysis means concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the model type update process which the process control apparatus in the embodiment performs. It is a block diagram which shows the other structural example of the process control system concerning this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the other structural example of the process control system concerning this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the process control system concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the structural example of the process apparatus in the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Process control system 110 Bay 120 Process apparatus 120a Etching apparatus 120b Film formation apparatus 120c Etching apparatus 122 Process apparatus 124 Process apparatus 130 Measurement apparatus 132 Self-diagnosis part 140 Bay conveyance path 142 Main conveyance path 150 Process control apparatus 152 Network 160 Measurement apparatus 161 Self-diagnosis unit 162 Measuring device 163 Self-diagnosis unit 201 Etching device 202 Chamber 203 Insulating plate 204 Susceptor support base 205 Susceptor 207 Temperature control medium chamber 208 Introduction pipe 209 Discharge pipe 211 Electrostatic chuck 212 Electrode 213 DC power supply 214 Gas passage 215 Focus ring 221 Upper electrode 222 Insulating material 223 Discharge hole 224 Electrode plate 225 Electrode support 226 Gas inlet 227 Gas supply pipe 228 Valve 229 Mass flow Controller 230 Processing gas supply source 231 Exhaust pipe 232 Gate valve 235 Exhaust device 240 High frequency power supply 241 Matching device 250 High frequency power supply 251 Matching device 320 Process device 321 Polysilicon film 322 Silicon oxide film 323 Organic antireflection film 324 Resist 400 Multivariate analysis Means 410 Operation data storage unit 420 Processing result data storage unit 430 Multivariate analysis program storage unit 440 Multivariate analysis processing unit 450 Multivariate analysis result storage unit 510 Bay 520 Process device 530 Measurement unit 550 Process control device 560 Transfer path 564 Wafer loading Section 566 Wafer unloading section 570 Transfer arm 572 Base 574 Arm 574 Pick 580 Dry etching apparatus 582a Gate 582b Gate 584a Processing chamber 584b Processing chamber 590 Wet etching Grayed apparatus 592 treatment room 594 the processing chamber

Claims (30)

A process processing apparatus for performing a plasma etching process on a workpiece,
A processing chamber for plasma-etching the workpiece;
A measurement unit for performing measurement processing of the object to be processed either before or after performing plasma etching on the object to be processed in the processing chamber or before or after plasma etching;
In-apparatus transport means capable of transporting the object to be processed at least between the processing chamber and the measurement unit,
The in-device transport means is
At least the object to be processed after plasma etching in the processing chamber is transferred to the measurement unit,
The above measurement unit is
At least the object to be processed after plasma etching is measured, and the measurement result is transmitted to the control device connected via the network, so that the processing result of the object to be processed obtained based on the transmitted measurement result is obtained. The actual value and the target value of the processing result are compared with the control device. As a result of the comparison, if it is determined that the error between the actual value and the target value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the process processing is performed according to the error. The processing conditions of the device are reset by the control device,
The processing chamber is
A process processing apparatus for performing plasma etching processing on an object to be processed based on the reset processing conditions. The process processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the measurement unit is connected via a network and measures the same measurement target as the measurement apparatus that functions as a reference machine for the measurement unit. 3. The measurement unit according to claim 2, wherein the measurement unit periodically confirms whether there is no deviation between the measurement result of the measurement apparatus and its own measurement result or whether the deviation is within an allowable range. The process processing apparatus as described in. 4. The process processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when the deviation is confirmed to be outside the allowable range, the measurement unit warns that the deviation is outside the allowable range. The process processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a measurement target of the measurement apparatus and the measurement unit is a film thickness of the film on the object to be processed. 6. The process processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein an allowable range of deviation of measurement results of the measurement apparatus and the measurement unit is 0.2 nm or less. The process processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a measurement target of the measurement apparatus and the measurement unit is a deposit on the object to be processed. 8. The process according to claim 7, wherein an allowable range of deviation of measurement results of the measuring device and the measuring unit is that an error in the count number of deposits having a particle size of 0.15 μm or more is within 10%. Processing equipment. The process processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a measurement target of the measurement apparatus and the measurement unit is a width of a pattern formed on the object to be processed. The process processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein an allowable range of deviation of measurement results of the measurement apparatus and the measurement unit is 27.5% or less with respect to the width of the pattern. The process processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a measurement target of the measurement apparatus and the measurement unit is a defect on the object to be processed. The process processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a measurement target of the measurement apparatus and the measurement unit is an overlay of a pattern formed on the object to be processed. The measurement unit causes the measurement device to create measurement process information necessary for the measurement process executed by the measurement unit, and performs the measurement process based on the created measurement process information. The process processing apparatus according to any one of 12. The measurement processing information includes at least coordinate information for setting coordinates for specifying a measurement location on the object to be processed, an image recognition condition indicating a digital image processing procedure for image recognition, or a measurement target reference. The process processing apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising at least one of measurement reference information of an object to be processed that indicates target value information. The process processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of types of etching gases are used for the plasma etching process. 16. The process processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing conditions of the process processing apparatus to be reset are a plurality of kinds of etching gas ratios. The process processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the width of the pattern formed on the processing body is a pattern width of an organic antireflection film. The process processing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the plurality of types of etching gases include at least CF ₄ gas and O ₂ gas. The process processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the ratio of the plurality of types of etching gases is O ₂ / (CF ₄ + O ₂ ). The process processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the measurement unit controls the control device so that the object to be processed is not transported to the measurement device when the measurement unit is normally operating. . The said measurement unit makes a control apparatus control so that the said measurement apparatus may measure the measurement object of a to-be-processed object instead of the said measurement unit, when self is not working normally. The process processing apparatus in any one of. The measurement unit determines the stability of the plasma etching process of the process processing device by transmitting the measurement result to the control device, and the management target range of the device manufactured by the stability and the object to be processed or the above Based on the operation status of the process processing apparatus, the optimum value of the number of workpieces to be measured and the number of measurement points of the workpiece to be measured before and after the plasma etching process is calculated, and based on the calculated optimum values The process processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein measurement processing is performed. A correlation between the operation data and the processing result data is obtained by performing multivariate analysis based on the operation data and the processing result data by the process processing device, and the object other than the target object that has obtained the correlation based on the correlation The process processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 22, further comprising multivariate analysis means for obtaining a predicted value of a processing result using operation data when the object to be processed is processed. The measurement unit measures the object to be processed at least after the plasma etching process, and based on the measurement result, the measured value of the object to be processed obtained by the analysis by the multivariate analysis means and the predicted value 24. The control device according to claim 23, wherein when the error between the measured value and the predicted value is determined to be equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the control device regenerates the correlation. Process processing equipment. 25. The process processing apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the multivariate analysis means uses a PLS method as the multivariate analysis. The operation data includes measured data of gas flow rate supplied to the process processing apparatus, upper electrode temperature in the process processing apparatus, lower electrode temperature in the process processing apparatus, wall surface temperature of the process processing apparatus, and APC valve. APC opening, electrostatic chuck applied current, electrostatic chuck applied voltage, gas flow rate of heat transfer gas detected by mass flow controller, gas pressure of heat transfer gas detected by pressure gauge, variable capacitor of matching unit Position, voltage between high frequency power supply line and ground, fundamental and harmonic high frequency voltage detected by VI probe, fundamental and harmonic high frequency current detected by VI probe, fundamental wave detected by VI probe And harmonic high frequency phase, fundamental and harmonic impedance detected by VI probe And at least one of an emission spectrum in a specific wavelength range detected by an optical measuring instrument for detecting plasma emission. The process processing apparatus in any one of 23-25. 27. The process processing apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the high frequency power application integration time is reset to zero every time the process processing apparatus is maintained. 28. The process processing apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the processing result data is a width of a pattern formed on an object to be processed. 29. The process processing apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the width of the pattern formed on the processing body is the width of the pattern of the organic antireflection film. The process processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 29, wherein a plurality of the process processing apparatuses are provided in each area in a factory, and are arranged in either a single row or a radial state. .

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