JP2009191292A - Apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance a yield in the manufacture of the semiconductor by preventing a film thickness of a wafer, uniformity within the face and uniformity between the faces among wafers from being aggravated due to a change of a plasma state in a plasma chamber which originates from the oxidation of an electrode and the contraction of the length of the electrode installed in a process tube used in a decompression vapor deposition apparatus that uses plasma in an apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus for manufacturing the semiconductor device including the decompression vapor deposition apparatus that uses the plasma has a heater 6 provided in the periphery of a treatment chamber 4, and an electroconductive electrode 12 which is vacuum-sealed in a protection pipe 11 installed in the treatment chamber 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly to an apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device including a low pressure vapor phase growth apparatus using plasma.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, film deposition at a low temperature is required even in a low-pressure vapor phase growth apparatus as a process is miniaturized. For this reason, a low pressure vapor phase film forming apparatus using a process capable of forming a film without reducing productivity even in a low temperature film forming process is used.

  Hereinafter, a conventional low-pressure vapor phase growth apparatus as a background art of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the figure, 1 denotes the entire apparatus, 2 is a process tube, 3 is a wafer, 4 is a processing chamber, 5 is a furnace port, 6 is a heater, 7 is an exhaust pipe, 8 is a seal cap, 9 is a rotating shaft, 10 is 11, a protection tube (11 a is bent downward), 12 is a conductive electrode, 13 is a plasma chamber, 14 is a partition, 15 is an outlet, 16 is a gas supply pipe, 17 is a processing gas, 20 is a plasma, Reference numeral 21 denotes active particles which are arranged and operated as follows.

This conventional apparatus is configured as a batch type hot wall type remote plasma apparatus, and includes a process tube 2 formed in a cylindrical shape with one end opening and the other end closed made of a material having high heat resistance such as quartz glass. A process chamber 4 in which the wafer 3 is accommodated is formed in the process tube 2, and a furnace port 5 for taking in and out the wafer 3 is formed in the lower end opening of the process tube 2. A heater 6 for uniformly heating the entire processing chamber 4 is installed outside the process tube 2 in a concentric manner so as to surround the periphery of the process tube 2. It is in the state installed vertically by being supported by (not shown). One end of an exhaust pipe 7 is connected to a part of the side wall of the process tube 2, and the other end of the exhaust pipe 7 is connected to an exhaust device (not shown) so that the processing chamber 4 can be exhausted. ing. A seal cap 8 that closes the lower end opening is formed in a disk shape on the lower end surface of the process tube 2, and is lifted and lowered in the vertical direction by an elevator (not shown) vertically installed outside the process tube 2. It is configured. A rotation shaft 9 is inserted on the center line of the seal cap 8, and the rotation shaft 9 moves up and down together with the seal cap 8 and is rotated by a rotation driving device (not shown). A boat 10 for holding a wafer 3 as an object to be processed is vertically supported on the upper end of the rotating shaft 9. The plurality of wafers 3 are held horizontally on the boat 10 and aligned with each other in the center. A partition wall 14 forming a plasma chamber 13 is installed on the inner periphery of the process tube 2 so as to surround both the protective tubes 11 in an airtight manner, and a plurality of air outlets 15 are formed in the partition wall 14. Further, a gas supply pipe 16 is provided at a position where gas can be supplied to the plasma chamber 13 at the lower side of the process tube 2. After supplying the processing gas 17 to the plasma chamber 13 and maintaining it at a predetermined pressure, when high frequency power is applied between the electrodes 12 by a high frequency power source and a matching unit (not shown), plasma 20 is formed in the plasma chamber 13. Then, the processing gas 17 is activated. Then, the activated electrically neutral particles 21 are supplied to the blowout processing chamber 4 from the blowout port 15 provided in the partition wall 14, thereby coming into contact with each wafer 3 held in the boat 10. The active particles 21 in contact with the surface process the surface of the wafer 3.
Japanese Patent No. 3979849

  In this conventional apparatus, the process tube 2 shown in FIG. 5 is long in the vertical direction and the conductive electrode 12 for generating the plasma 20 is provided in the protective tube 11 provided along the inner wall surface of the process tube 2. Need to be inserted into. The protective tube 11 has a curved shape 11 a below the process tube 2, and the conductive electrode 12 inserted into the protective tube 11 needs to use a mesh structure electrode 12 that can be bent softly. When the performance of the wafer processed by the apparatus was investigated, as shown in FIG. 6, when the number of processing was repeated, the in-plane uniformity and the inter-surface uniformity between the wafers were deteriorated. In the figure, RUN1 to RUN18 indicate the number of processes from process 1 to process 18. As a result of examining the above phenomenon in detail, as a result of oxidation of the electrode 12 having a mesh structure due to a long-term plasma film formation caused by reaction with residual oxygen in the protective tube 11, the electrode 12 contracts due to oxidation. Therefore, the plasma state of the plasma chamber 13 installed in the process tube 2 changes due to the contraction of the electrode 12, and this is caused by the number of treatments as shown in FIG. There are various problems such as a deterioration in uniformity and inter-surface uniformity between wafers, and a decrease in yield due to the deterioration in uniformity.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and suppresses electrode shrinkage due to oxidation of the conductive electrode in a low-pressure vapor phase growth apparatus having a conductive electrode for generating plasma included in a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, and reduces the film thickness of the processed wafer. An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus capable of suppressing in-plane uniformity and further deterioration in uniformity between wafers.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus including a low pressure vapor phase growth apparatus using plasma, a processing chamber, a heater formed around the processing chamber, and an interior of the processing chamber. The conductive electrode is inserted into a protective tube and sealed in a substantially vacuum state.

  Since the oxidation of the conductive electrode can be suppressed by using the semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, the thickness of the processed wafer, the in-plane uniformity, and the inter-surface uniformity between the wafers are prevented from deteriorating. It becomes possible.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a low pressure vapor phase growth apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. The same parts as those in the conventional low pressure vapor phase growth apparatus shown in FIG. 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. In the figure, 18 is high-frequency power, 19 is a matching unit, 22 is an electrode end, 23 is sealing, and 24 is a protective cap.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a pair of protective tubes 11 and 11 provided vertically along the inner wall surface of the process tube 2 are disposed below the process tube 2 as shown in FIG. The protective tube 11 has a bar-like electrode 12 using a conductive material or a mesh-structured electrode 12 sealed in the protective tube 11 in a vacuum. The electrode 11 has an integral structure in which the inside of the protective tube 12 can be completely held in vacuum by the electrode end 22. Further, when the process tube 2 is cleaned, the process tube 2, the protective tube 11, and the electrode 12 are integrated by adopting a structure in which the protective cap 24 can be tightened and sealed with a sealing 23 that can completely seal the electrode end 22. Even so, it can be cleaned.

  According to this configuration, the electrode 12 is vacuum-sealed in the protective tube 11, and the oxidation of the electrode 12 due to residual oxygen in the protective tube can be suppressed, the electrode shrinkage due to the oxidation of the conductive electrode can be suppressed, and the processing wafer Deterioration of film thickness, in-plane uniformity, and inter-surface uniformity between wafers can be suppressed. Further, by adopting a structure capable of protecting the electrode end 23, even if the electrode 12, the protective tube 11 and the process tube 2 are integrated, the process tube can be cleaned by sealing the electrode end 23 with the protective cap 24. Is possible.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of the low pressure vapor phase growth apparatus in the second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, as a pair of conductive electrodes 11 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a pair of conductive electrodes 12A is glass-sealed in the process tube 2, and the protective tube 11A and the electrodes 12A are completely integrated. With the structure, the electrode 12A is hermetically sealed in the protective tube 11, and as in the first embodiment, the oxidation of the electrode 12 due to residual oxygen in the protective tube can be suppressed, The contraction of the electrode due to the oxidation of the conductive electrode can be suppressed, and the film thickness and in-plane uniformity of the processed wafer and the deterioration of the uniformity between the wafers can be suppressed.

  FIG. 4 shows a modification of that shown in FIG. 3, in which a pair of electrodes 12B formed in an elongated flat plate shape is glass-sealed in the process tube 2, and the protective tube 11A and the electrode 12B are completely connected. It has an integrated structure and has the same characteristics as described above.

  The present invention is applied to a vertical reduced pressure vapor phase growth apparatus using plasma in a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, and is implemented as a means for inhibiting oxidation of a conductive electrode. This makes it possible to suppress the deterioration of uniformity and inter-surface uniformity between wafers, and is effective in improving the quality and reducing the defect rate in semiconductor manufacturing.

1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a reduced pressure vapor phase growth apparatus according to a first embodiment of a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus of the present invention. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the main part of the low pressure vapor phase growth apparatus shown in FIG. Longitudinal sectional view of the main part of the reduced pressure vapor phase growth apparatus in the second embodiment of the semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus of the present invention FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a modification of the reduced pressure vapor phase growth apparatus shown in FIG. Longitudinal sectional view of the main part of a low pressure vapor phase growth apparatus in a conventional semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus The graph which shows the relationship between the frequency | count of a process and the film-forming result in the conventional low pressure vapor phase growth apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Apparatus 2 Process tube 3 Wafer 4 Processing chamber 5 Furnace 6 Heater 7 Exhaust pipe 8 Seal cap 9 Rotating shaft 10 Boat 11 Protection pipe 12 Conductive electrode 13 Plasma chamber 14 Partition 15 Outlet 16 Gas supply pipe 17 Process gas 18 High frequency Electric power 19 Matching device 20 Plasma 21 Active particle 22 Electrode end 23 Sealing 24 Protective cap

Claims (4)

In a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus including a low pressure vapor phase growth apparatus using plasma,
The reduced pressure vapor phase growth apparatus comprises:
A processing chamber;
A heater formed around the processing chamber;
A conductive electrode installed inside the processing chamber;
The semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, wherein the conductive electrode is inserted into a protective tube and sealed in a substantially vacuum state. In a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus including a low pressure vapor phase growth apparatus using plasma,
The reduced pressure vapor phase growth apparatus comprises:
A processing chamber;
A heater formed around the processing chamber;
A conductive electrode installed inside the processing chamber;
2. The semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conductive electrode has an integrated structure covered with glass.   The semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conductive electrode has a flat plate shape.   The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the conductive electrode is attached to a detachable protective cap capable of completely sealing the processing chamber with respect to the process tube. Manufacturing equipment.

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