JP2010092909A - Method of manufacturing soi wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of manufacturing an SOI wafer, capable of reducing the thickness of an SOI layer at a low cost without reducing the accuracy of the thickness of the SOI layer. <P>SOLUTION: The method of manufacturing an SOI wafer sequentially executes a step of preparing an SOI wafer having an SOI layer formed on at least an insulating layer; a step of forming a thermal oxide film formed on the surface of the SOI layer; a step of measuring the thickness of the SOI layer while the thermal oxide layer is formed; a step of removing the thermal oxide film by an HF-containing solution; and a step of immersing the SOI layer in a cleaning liquid having etching property for the SOI layer without drying the surface of the SOI layer to etch the SOI layer, thereby reducing the thickness to a predetermined thickness. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an SOI (Silicon on Insulator) wafer, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing an SOI wafer in which the thickness of an SOI layer is adjusted.

  Conventionally, as one method of thinning the SOI layer of an SOI wafer, a method of removing the surface oxide film after heat-treating the SOI wafer and converting the silicon on the surface of the SOI layer into an oxide film by oxidation (see FIG. Sacrificial oxidation) is known.

  In order to reduce the thickness of the SOI layer (also simply referred to as the SOI film thickness) to the target value with high accuracy by this method, the thickness of the oxide film (also simply referred to as the oxide film thickness) is accurately set to the target value. It is necessary to control. However, in the thickness of the oxide film that is actually grown by heat treatment, the oxidation rate changes due to fluctuations in atmospheric pressure during the oxidation time, and it is very difficult to accurately control the thickness of the surface oxide film. .

Therefore, as an alternative to adjusting the thickness of the SOI layer by sacrificial oxidation, attention is focused on the etching action of SC-1 cleaning liquid (mixed aqueous solution of NH ₄ OH and H ₂ O ₂ ) that is mainly used as a cleaning liquid for semiconductor wafers. However, a method of using this for adjusting the thickness of the SOI layer may be used (see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2). Furthermore, as described in (e) of paragraph [0018] of Patent Document 3, a two-stage thinning method in which etching is performed by SC-1 cleaning after performing sacrificial oxidation may be used.

  Such a two-stage SOI layer thickness adjustment by sacrificial oxidation + SC-1 cleaning is inevitably applied to the surface of the SOI layer in the SOI wafer manufacturing process as described in paragraph [0028] of Patent Document 4, for example. In particular, it can be suitably used when an oxide film is formed. In this case, the thickness of the SOI layer after sacrificial oxidation (thickness of the SOI layer immediately before performing SC-1 cleaning) is reduced by sacrificial oxidation so that it is slightly thicker than the target value. A method is employed in which the etching time is controlled so that the target value is obtained by thinning the SC-1 cleaning liquid by etching. At this time, as shown in paragraph [0028] of Patent Document 4, after removing the oxide film formed on the surface of the SOI layer, the thickness of the SOI layer is measured, and the next level is measured based on the measured value. A method of setting a machining allowance for the etching process is used.

A conventional method for reducing the thickness of the SOI layer will be described with reference to FIG.
First, as shown in FIG. 2A, an SOI wafer 210 in which an SOI layer 213 is formed on a support layer 211 with an insulating layer 212 interposed therebetween is prepared.
Next, as shown in FIG. 2B, a thermal oxide film 221 is formed on the surface of the SOI layer 213. The thermal oxide film 221 may be one in which an oxide film is necessarily formed on the surface of the SOI layer in the SOI wafer manufacturing process as described above.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2C, the thermal oxide film 221 is removed with an HF aqueous solution. Thereby, the thinned SOI layer 213 is exposed. Then, drying is performed by performing a drying process such as IPA drying, suction drying, and spin drying in order to measure the next SOI film thickness.
Next, as shown in FIG. 2D, the thickness of the SOI layer 213 is measured. Thus, the etching amount of the SOI layer 213 in the next process is determined.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 2E, the SOI layer 213 is etched and reduced to a predetermined thickness by immersing the SOI layer in a cleaning solution having etching properties with respect to the SOI layer 213. Thereafter, pure water cleaning or the like is performed to obtain an SOI wafer 230 in which the thickness of the SOI layer 213 is reduced to a predetermined thickness.

JP 2000-173976 A JP 2001-168308 A JP 2004-31526 A JP 2007-266059 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide an SOI wafer manufacturing method capable of reducing the thickness of an SOI layer at a low cost without reducing the accuracy of the thickness of the SOI layer.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention is a method for manufacturing an SOI wafer, comprising at least a step of preparing an SOI wafer having an SOI layer formed on an insulating layer, and forming a thermal oxide film on the surface of the SOI layer. A step of measuring the thickness of the SOI layer in a state where the thermal oxide film is formed, and after removing the thermal oxide film with an HF-containing aqueous solution, without drying the surface of the SOI layer, A method of manufacturing an SOI wafer, comprising sequentially performing a step of etching the SOI layer to a predetermined thickness by immersing the SOI layer in a cleaning solution having an etching property with respect to the SOI layer. (Claim 1).

  In this way, the thickness of the SOI layer is measured in a state where the thermal oxide film is formed, and after removing the thermal oxide film with the HF-containing aqueous solution, the SOI layer is continuously formed without drying the surface of the SOI layer. If the SOI wafer manufacturing method is reduced to a predetermined thickness by etching, the thickness of the SOI layer can be accurately controlled even if the SOI layer thinning process is shortened. The overall cost of the SOI layer thinning process can be reduced without degrading the accuracy. In addition, since the SOI layer surface is not exposed and is not dried, the surface of the SOI layer is less likely to be scratched or contaminated with impurities, and the quality and manufacturing yield of the final SOI wafer can be improved. .

In this case, in the method for manufacturing an SOI wafer of the present invention, the step of bonding the prepared SOI wafer to at least a bond wafer having a microbubble layer formed by ion implantation and a base wafer serving as a support substrate; An SOI wafer manufactured by an ion implantation separation method including a step of peeling a bond wafer with the microbubble layer as a boundary to form a thin film on a base wafer (claim 2). The prepared SOI wafer may be a SIMOX wafer.
As described above, the SOI wafer manufacturing method of the present invention is suitable when the SOI wafer to be thinned is an SOI wafer manufactured by an ion implantation separation method or a SIMOX wafer (an SOI wafer manufactured by a SIMOX method). Can be used.

In addition, it is preferable that the cleaning liquid having etching properties with respect to the SOI layer is a mixed aqueous solution of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide.
Thus, if the cleaning liquid used in the method for manufacturing an SOI wafer of the present invention is a mixed aqueous solution of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide, the thickness of the SOI layer can be controlled with higher accuracy.

  As described above, according to the method for manufacturing an SOI wafer of the present invention, the thickness of the SOI layer can be accurately controlled even if the process of thinning the SOI layer is shortened. The overall cost of the SOI layer thinning process can be reduced without lowering the accuracy of the process. In addition, since the SOI layer surface is not exposed and is not dried, the surface of the SOI layer is less likely to be scratched or contaminated with impurities, and the quality and manufacturing yield of the final SOI wafer can be improved. .

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
As described above, in the conventional method of thinning an SOI layer of an SOI wafer by two-stage thinning, in order to thin the SOI layer, after preparing the SOI wafer to be thinned, (1) surface At least five steps of the oxidation step, (2) oxide film removal step, (3) wafer drying step, (4) SOI film thickness measurement step, and (5) SOI layer etching + cleaning step are required in this order. All processes were long and process costs were increasing.

  In addition, the conventional method is for the purpose of measuring the thickness of the SOI layer with high accuracy, after drying the oxide layer in a state where the surface of the SOI layer is exposed after the removal of the oxide film or in a state where a thin natural oxide film is formed. Since the SOI film thickness is measured, the surface of the SOI layer is likely to be scratched, contaminated with impurities, and the like, which has been a factor in reducing the quality and manufacturing yield of the final SOI wafer.

  The present invention provides a method for shortening the thinning process in a two-stage thinning process by sacrificial oxidation + etching cleaning (hereinafter, this etching cleaning may be referred to as SOI film thickness adjustment cleaning). After oxidizing the SOI wafer, measure the thickness of the SOI layer with the thermal oxide film on the surface of the SOI layer, and set the etching amount of the SOI layer based on the measured value of the SOI layer thickness. In this method, the film removal and the etching cleaning process are performed in the same process.

  As a result, the entire thinning process is shortened, and the process cost can be reduced. Furthermore, since the thickness of the SOI layer is measured in a state where a thermal oxide film is formed, the surface of the SOI layer is protected, the risk of scratches and impurity contamination is reduced, and the quality and production of the final SOI wafer are reduced. Yield can be improved.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
1A to 1D are flowcharts showing an example of a method for manufacturing an SOI wafer according to the present invention.

First, as shown in FIG. 1A, an SOI wafer 110 having an SOI layer 113 formed on an insulating layer 112 is prepared (step a).
Note that the SOI wafer 110 prepared here may be a wafer having an SOI structure in which the SOI layer 113 is formed on at least the insulating layer 112. For example, as shown in FIG. 1A, a structure in which an insulating layer 112 (embedded insulating layer) is formed on a support layer 111 made of single crystal silicon or the like, and an SOI layer 113 is formed on the embedded insulating layer 112. And the like.
In addition, the SOI layer in this specification means “a silicon layer on an insulating layer (Silicon on Insulator)”.

  The manufacturing method and the like of the SOI wafer 110 prepared in the step a are not particularly limited. For example, an SOI wafer or a SIMOX wafer manufactured by an ion implantation delamination method can be suitably used as the SOI wafer 110 to be prepared. it can. The ion implantation separation method includes a step of bonding a bond wafer having a microbubble layer formed by ion implantation and a base wafer serving as a support substrate, and peeling the bond wafer with the microbubble layer as a boundary. This is an SOI wafer manufactured by a process of forming a thin film on a base wafer, and in the peeling process, a method of peeling by applying a heat treatment or a heat treatment by joining a plasma-treated surface to increase the bonding strength. Any method of mechanically peeling without adding can be applied. A SIMOX wafer is an SOI wafer manufactured by the SIMOX method in which oxygen ions are implanted from the surface layer of a single silicon wafer and a silicon oxide film is formed between two silicon single crystal layers by subsequent heat treatment. .

Next, as shown in FIG. 1B, a thermal oxide film 121 is formed on the surface of the SOI layer 113 (step b).
This thermal oxide film 121 is a film in which a portion of silicon close to the surface in the SOI layer 113 is transformed into an oxide film by oxidation.
The formation of the thermal oxide film 121 can be particularly suitably used when an oxide film is inevitably formed on the surface of the SOI layer in the SOI wafer manufacturing process. However, it is not limited to this, You may provide another process.
When an oxide film is inevitably formed on the surface of the SOI layer in the SOI wafer manufacturing process, for example, in an SOI wafer manufacturing process by bonding using two wafers such as an ion implantation separation method, This is the case, for example, when the thermal oxide film 121 is formed during the bonding heat treatment for increasing the bonding force. In the case of using a SIMOX wafer, the thermal oxide film 121 may be formed during a heat treatment after oxygen ions are implanted into the silicon wafer.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1C, the thickness of the SOI layer 113 is measured with the thermal oxide film 121 formed (step c).
At this stage, the SOI layer 113 is covered with the thermal oxide film 121, but the thickness of the SOI layer 113 can be measured by an appropriate measurement method. Note that a method for measuring the thickness of the SOI layer is not particularly limited, but a measurement method using an ellipsometer is preferable because the thickness of the SOI layer 113 can be accurately measured. Note that the thickness of the SOI layer 113 measured at this time does not include the thickness of the thermal oxide film 121 on the surface.
Since the thickness of the SOI layer 113 is measured in a state where the thermal oxide film 121 is formed, the surface of the SOI layer 113 is protected and the risk of scratches and impurity contamination is reduced.
Then, based on the thickness value of the SOI layer 113 measured in this step, the etching amount of the SOI layer 113 to be performed in the next step is set.

Next, the thermal oxide film 121 is removed with an HF-containing aqueous solution. As a result, the SOI layer 113 is exposed. At this time, a cleaning liquid (etching) having an etching property with respect to the SOI layer 113 without drying the surface of the SOI layer 113 through a drying process such as IPA drying, suction drying, or spin drying. The SOI layer 113 is immersed in the cleaning solution) to etch the SOI layer and reduce it to a predetermined thickness (step d). Thereafter, cleaning with pure water rinse or SC-2 (mixed aqueous solution of HCl and H ₂ O ₂ ) is performed as appropriate to obtain a final SOI wafer 130.
That is, the removal of the thermal oxide film 121 and the etching cleaning of the SOI layer 113 are performed in a continuous process. These steps may be either single wafer processing or batch processing (same processing for a plurality of sheets).

The etching amount of the SOI layer 113 performed in this step is determined by the thickness value of the SOI layer 113 measured in step c as described above. Further, the etching amount of the SOI layer 113 can be controlled by appropriately setting the composition of the cleaning liquid having etching properties, the etching temperature, the etching time, and the like.
In this etching cleaning, it is sufficient to immerse at least only the SOI layer 113 in the etching cleaning liquid, but the entire SOI wafer may be immersed.

  As the cleaning liquid having etching properties for the SOI layer 113, for example, a mixed aqueous solution of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide (so-called SC-1 cleaning liquid) can be used. This is preferable because the thickness of the SOI layer can be controlled with higher accuracy.

  If it is the manufacturing method of the SOI wafer which passes through the above processes, since the removal of the thermal oxide film 121 and the etching cleaning process of the SOI layer 113 can be performed continuously, it can also be performed especially in the same batch. As a result, the entire SOI layer thinning process is shortened, and the process cost can be reduced. Furthermore, since the measurement of the SOI layer 113 is performed in a state where a thermal oxide film is formed, the surface of the SOI layer 113 is protected, the risk of scratches and impurity contamination is reduced, and the quality and production of the final SOI wafer are reduced. Yield can be improved.

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although an Example and comparative example of this invention are given and this invention is demonstrated more concretely, this invention is not limited to these.

(Example)
An SOI wafer was manufactured according to the SOI wafer manufacturing method of the present invention shown in FIG. As the target film thickness, the thickness of the SOI layer 113 was set to 70 nm, and the thickness of the buried insulating layer 112 was set to 150 nm.

First, an SOI wafer 110 was prepared by an ion implantation separation method according to the following procedure (step a).
First, a silicon single crystal wafer (mirror polishing, diameter 300 mm, crystal orientation <100>) was prepared as a bond wafer and a base wafer for producing an SOI wafer.
Next, an oxide film having a thickness of 150 nm was formed on the surface of only the bond wafer.
Next, hydrogen ions were implanted only into the bond wafer at a dose of 5 × 10 ¹⁶ / cm ² .
Next, after performing the pre-bonding cleaning, the bond wafer and the base wafer were bonded at the room temperature using the above-described ion-implanted surfaces as the bonding surfaces.
Next, peeling heat treatment for peeling the bond wafer was performed under conditions of a heat treatment temperature of 500 ° C., a heat treatment time of 30 minutes, and a nitrogen atmosphere.
In this way, the SOI wafer 110 in which the buried insulating layer 112 is formed on the support layer 111 and the SOI layer 113 is further formed thereon (with the peeled surface immediately after peeling exposed, the thickness of the SOI layer 113 being 150 nm). The buried insulating layer (buried oxide film) 112 has a thickness of 150 nm).
Twenty-five such SOI wafers 110 were prepared.

Next, the bonding heat treatment of the SOI wafer 110 was performed at 950 ° C. for 1 hour under a pyrogenic oxidizing atmosphere.
As a result, the surface portion of the SOI layer 113 inevitably changed into the thermal oxide film 121, and the thermal oxide film 121 was formed on the surface of the SOI layer 113 (step b).

Next, using an ellipsometer, the thickness of the SOI layer 113 of the SOI wafer was measured (step c). The average value of the measured thickness of the SOI layer 113 of the 25 SOI wafers was 75.3 nm. Based on the value of the thickness of the SOI layer 113 measured here, conditions for the SOI film thickness adjustment cleaning (SC-1 cleaning) described later were determined.
At the same time, the thickness of the thermal oxide film 121 on the surface was measured, and the average thickness was 160 nm.

Next, the SOI wafer on which the thermal oxide film 121 was formed was immersed in a 15% HF aqueous solution for 100 seconds to remove the thermal oxide film 121.
Subsequently, SC-1 is performed as the SOI film thickness adjustment cleaning under the condition that the SOI layer determined based on the thickness value of the SOI layer 113 measured above is etched by 5 nm without drying the surface of the SOI layer 113. Washing was performed. Specifically, using SC-1 cleaning liquid (mixed aqueous solution of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide, NH ₄ OH aqueous solution (29%): H ₂ O ₂ aqueous solution (30%): water = 1: 1: 5), SC-1 cleaning was performed at 76 ° C. for 560 seconds (step d).

The thickness of the SOI layer 113 of the 25 SOI wafers 130 subjected to such a series of processes was measured using an ellipsometer.
As a result, the average of the measured values was 70.4 nm.

(Comparative example)
An SOI wafer was manufactured according to the conventional SOI wafer manufacturing method shown in FIG. As the target film thickness, the thickness of the SOI layer 213 was set to 70 nm and the thickness of the buried insulating layer 212 was set to 150 nm as in the example.

First, in the same manner as in the example, an SOI wafer 210 in which an insulating layer 212 is formed on a support layer 211 and an SOI layer 213 is further formed thereon (a state in which the peeled surface immediately after peeling is exposed, the SOI layer 213 is formed). 150 nm in thickness and 150 nm in thickness of the insulating layer (embedded oxide film) 212 were manufactured.
Twenty-five such SOI wafers 210 were prepared.

Next, the bonding heat treatment of the SOI wafer 210 was performed in a pyrogenic oxidizing atmosphere at 950 ° C. for 1 hour in the same manner as in the example.
As a result, a thermal oxide film 221 was inevitably formed on the surface of the SOI layer 213.

  Next, using an ellipsometer, the thickness of the thermal oxide film of the monitor wafer (silicon single crystal wafer) for measuring the thermal oxide film thickness was measured. The thickness of the thermal oxide film on the monitor wafer was 160 nm.

Next, the SOI wafer on which the thermal oxide film 221 was formed was immersed in a 15% HF aqueous solution for 100 seconds to remove the thermal oxide film 221.
Next, in order to measure the thickness of the exposed SOI layer 213, the surface of the SOI layer 213 was dried using IPA (isopropyl alcohol).

  Next, the thickness of the SOI layer 213 of 25 SOI wafers was measured using an ellipsometer. The average thickness of the SOI layer 213 was 74.4 nm. Based on the thickness value of the SOI layer 213 measured here, conditions for the next SOI film thickness adjustment cleaning (SC-1 cleaning) were determined.

Next, SC-1 cleaning was performed as SOI film thickness adjustment cleaning under the condition that the SOI layer determined based on the thickness value of the SOI layer 213 measured in the previous stage was etched by 5 nm. Specifically, using SC-1 cleaning liquid (mixed aqueous solution of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide, NH ₄ OH aqueous solution (29%): H ₂ O ₂ aqueous solution (30%): water = 1: 1: 5), SC-1 cleaning was performed on the SOI wafer at 76 ° C. for 560 seconds.

The thickness of the SOI layer 213 of the SOI wafer 230 subjected to such a series of processes was measured using an ellipsometer.
As a result, the average of the measured values was 70.1 nm.

  Table 1 below summarizes the conditions and measurement results of each step after the bonding heat treatment of each of the examples and comparative examples in order of time series, focusing on the differences.

  In both the example and the comparative example, an SOI wafer close to the thickness of the SOI layer having the target film thickness set in advance was obtained. The overall process time was about 25% shorter in the examples than in the comparative examples.

  In addition, as a result of inspecting the surface of each of the 25 manufactured SOI wafers in the final example and the comparative example using an optical surface inspection apparatus, one of the 25 comparative examples was subjected to thermal oxide film removal. A defect (LPD) that was attributed to the process between the SOI film thickness measurement and the SOI film thickness measurement was discovered. On the other hand, such defects were not observed on the 25 sheets of the examples.

  Since the film thickness can be controlled with high accuracy even if the process of thinning the SOI layer in the manufacture of the SOI wafer is shortened as in the embodiment, the process cost can be reduced without reducing the accuracy of the SOI film thickness. It became clear that it was possible. In addition, in the embodiment, since the drying process is reduced with the surface of the SOI layer exposed, the chance of generating scratches or impurity contamination on the surface of the SOI layer is reduced, so that the quality and manufacturing of the final SOI wafer can be reduced. The effect of improving the yield is obtained.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The above embodiment is merely an example, and the present invention has the same configuration as that of the technical idea described in the claims of the present invention, and any device that exhibits the same function and effect is the present invention. It is included in the technical scope of the invention.

It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the manufacturing method of the SOI wafer of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the manufacturing method of the conventional SOI wafer.

Explanation of symbols

110 ... SOI wafer to be prepared, 111 ... Support layer,
112 ... (embedded) insulating layer, 113 ... SOI layer, 121 ... thermal oxide film,
130: An SOI wafer manufactured according to the present invention.

Claims (4)

A method for manufacturing an SOI wafer, comprising:
Preparing an SOI wafer having an SOI layer formed on an insulating layer;
Forming a thermal oxide film on the surface of the SOI layer;
Measuring the thickness of the SOI layer with the thermal oxide film formed;
After removing the thermal oxide film with an HF-containing aqueous solution, the SOI layer is etched by immersing the SOI layer in a cleaning solution having an etching property to the SOI layer without drying the surface of the SOI layer. And a step of reducing the thickness to a predetermined thickness in order.   The SOI wafer to be prepared is bonded to at least a bond wafer having a microbubble layer formed by ion implantation and a base wafer serving as a support substrate, and the bond wafer is peeled off using the microbubble layer as a boundary. 2. The method for manufacturing an SOI wafer according to claim 1, wherein the SOI wafer is manufactured by an ion implantation separation method including a step of forming a thin film on a base wafer.   The method for manufacturing an SOI wafer according to claim 1, wherein the prepared SOI wafer is a SIMOX wafer.   4. The method for manufacturing an SOI wafer according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning liquid having an etching property with respect to the SOI layer is a mixed aqueous solution of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. 5.

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