JP2012221596A - Processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a processing apparatus which is advantageous for uniformly processing a substrate.SOLUTION: A processing apparatus comprises: a substrate support part for supporting a substrate in a processing space; partition members 30 and 42 for dividing the processing space from an exterior space; and an annular gas passage 90 for supplying gas to the processing space. An outlet of the annular gas passage 90 to the processing space is formed as an annular slit. Gas supplied to the annular gas passage 90 is supplied to the processing space through the annular slit.

Description

  The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for processing a substrate.

  2. Description of the Related Art An inductively coupled plasma processing apparatus is known in which an antenna is disposed around a bell jar and the antenna is inductively coupled to plasma in the bell jar. Patent Document 1 discloses a plasma processing apparatus in which a vacuum processing chamber is formed by a vacuum vessel (2) and a bell jar (12) that closes an upper portion of the vacuum vessel 2. Here, a gas ring (4) is disposed on the flange (24) of the vacuum vessel (2) via an O-ring, and a bell jar (12) is disposed on the gas ring (4) via an O-ring. ) Is placed. An antenna (1a, 1b) is disposed around the bell jar (12), and a high frequency power source 10 is connected to the antenna (1a, 1b) via a matching box (matching box) (3). The gas ring (4) is provided with a gas outlet (23).

JP 2004-235545 A

  In the configuration in which the gas is supplied into the processing space through the holes extending in the radial direction (radial direction) like the gas outlet (23) described in Patent Document 1, a non-uniform gas density distribution is formed in the processing chamber. As a result, the substrate is processed unevenly.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide an advantageous technique for uniformly processing a substrate.

  One aspect of the present invention relates to a processing apparatus for processing a substrate. The processing apparatus includes a substrate support portion that supports a substrate in a processing space, a partition member that partitions the processing space from an external space, and the processing space. An annular gas channel for supplying gas, and an outlet of the annular gas channel to the processing space is an annular slit, and a gas supplied to the annular gas channel passes through the annular slit. Supplied to the processing space.

  According to the present invention, an advantageous technique is provided for uniformly processing a substrate.

It is sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of the processing apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a partial enlarged view of the processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a partial enlarged view of the processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a partial enlarged view of the processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a partial enlarged view of the processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a partial enlarged view of the processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a partial enlarged view of the processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a partial enlarged view of the processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows typically the open | release operation | movement in the processing apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows typically the open | release operation | movement in the processing apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows typically removal of the components in the processing apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of the processing apparatus of other embodiment of this invention.

  A processing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The processing apparatus 1 can typically be configured as an inductively coupled plasma processing apparatus, but the present invention is also applicable to, for example, an ECR plasma processing apparatus, a microwave plasma processing apparatus, or other processing apparatuses that do not use plasma. Is possible. The processing apparatus 1 includes a first partition member (chamber) 40, a second partition member (belger) 30, and a member (enclosure) that partitions the processing space PS for processing the substrate S from an external space (for example, atmospheric environment) OS. The base part 120 is provided.

  The first partition member 40 can include, for example, an upper partition member 42 and a lower partition member 44 as at least two members that can be separated from each other. The first partition member 40 or the upper partition member 42 includes a ceiling portion 42 </ b> T having an opening 46. The second partition member 30 is attached to the first partition member 40 so as to close the opening 46 and partition the processing space PS from the external space OS together with the first partition member 40.

  The second partition member 30 moves the second partition member 30 toward the space (the processing space PS in the state of FIG. 1) toward which the lower surface LS of the ceiling portion 42T is directed (that is, toward the direction DIR). Is attached to the first partition member 40 so that the second partition member 30 can be removed from the first partition member 40. Here, since the direction DIR is the direction in which the lower surface LS of the ceiling portion 42T of the first partition member 40 or the upper partition member 42 faces, the direction DIR depends on the posture of the first partition member 40 or the upper partition member 42 ( That is, it is a relative direction with respect to the first partition member 40 or the upper partition member 42, and is not an absolute direction based on a reference plane such as a horizontal plane.

  The base portion 120 can be disposed so as to close the opening at the bottom of the first partition member 40. However, the base part 120 may be integrated with the first partition member 40 so as to constitute a part of the first partition member 40.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the first partition member 40 or the upper partition member 42 may have a mounting surface 41 around the opening 46. The second partition member 30 can be attached to the first partition member 40 or the upper partition member 42 so as to be pressed against the attachment surface 41 via a seal member (for example, an O-ring) 32. More specifically, by fastening the pressing ring 60 to the upper partition member 42 with a fastening member (for example, bolt) 64, the second partition member 30 is sealed against the mounting surface 41 by the pressing ring 60 (for example, O-ring) 32 is pressed. Here, it is preferable that the pressing ring 60 includes an elastic ring 62 and applies a pressing force to the second partition member 40 via the elastic ring 62. This is effective for preventing damage to the second partition member 30 due to pressing. In addition, the provision of the elastic ring 62 is more advantageous from the viewpoint of preventing the second partition member 30 from being damaged by the external pressure applied from the external space OS to the second partition member 30 when the processing space PS is in a vacuum state. It is effective. The elastic ring 62 is made of a material having elasticity, and is preferably made of a material having resistance to plasma, resistance to active gas, and resistance to heat. For example, the elastic ring 62 is preferably made of Teflon (registered trademark). . The elastic ring 62 is preferably composed of a single ring-shaped member from the viewpoint of reducing the number of parts. For example, the elastic ring 62 may be composed of a plurality of ring-shaped members, or on the circumference at regular intervals. The provided sheet-like member may be sufficient. The pressing ring 60 is preferably made of metal from the viewpoint of heat resistance and rigidity, but may be made of a resilient member. In this case, the pressing ring 60 has an elastic ring 62. It does not have to be.

  The configuration in which the second partition member 30 is pressed against the downward mounting surface 41 via a seal member (for example, an O-ring) 32 is excellent in that the seal can be performed with one seal member 32.

  The processing apparatus 1 includes a gas supply unit GS and an antenna 20. The antenna 20 is disposed in the external space OS in the vicinity of the second partition member 30, and supplies electromagnetic waves to the gas supplied to the processing space PS by the gas supply unit GS to excite the gas. The antenna 20 is supplied with high frequency power from a high frequency power source (RF power source) 12 via the matching unit 10. An electromagnet unit 22 for diffusing plasma generated in the space inside the second partition member 30 by the electromagnetic wave radiated from the antenna 20 toward the substrate S may be disposed outside the antenna 20. The second partition member 30 is made of an insulating material such as quartz glass or aluminum nitride in order to introduce an electromagnetic wave radiated from the antenna 20 into a space inside the second partition member 30 to generate plasma.

  The processing apparatus 1 is disposed inside the first partition member 40 (the upper partition member 42 and the lower partition member 44) so as to face the processing space PS, and protects the first partition member 40 from the plasma environment of the processing space PS. A shield 50 may further be provided. The shield 50 is disposed, for example, inside the upper partition member 42 to protect the upper partition member 42 from the plasma environment of the processing space PS, and is disposed inside the lower partition member 44 to lower the lower partition member 44. The lower shield 54 may be included to protect the plasma processing space PS from the plasma environment. The upper shield 52 can be fastened to the lower upper partition member 42 by a fastening member (not shown).

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the gas supply unit GS includes, for example, an annular gas channel 90 for supplying gas to the processing space PS, a gas supply ring 70 for supplying gas to the annular gas channel 90, A gas supply channel 160 that supplies gas to the gas supply ring 70 may be included. The outlet 92 of the annular gas channel 90 to the processing space PS is an annular slit, and the gas supplied to the annular gas channel 90 via the gas supply channel 160 and the gas supply ring 70 is an annular gas flow. An annular gas flow is supplied to the processing space PS through the passage 90. By making the outlet 92 of the annular gas flow path 90 to the processing space PS an annular slit, the gas is supplied to the processing space PS more uniformly than the structure in which the gas is directly supplied to the processing space PS from the radially arranged gas supply holes. Can be supplied. This is because the substrate S can be processed more uniformly, or the distance between the second partition member (bell jar) 30 and the substrate S (the distance required to diffuse and equalize the gas) is shortened. Means that you can.

  At least a part of the annular gas flow path 90 can be defined by the second partition member 30 and the upper shield 52. For example, the outlet (annular slit) 92 of the annular gas flow path 90 to the processing space PS is defined by the gap between the lowermost outer side surface of the second partition member (belger) 30 and the innermost side surface of the upper shield 52. Can be done. This provides a maintenance advantage that the outlet (annular slit) 92 is cleaned by cleaning the second partition member 30 and the upper shield 52. Further, since the gas supply hole 94 is not directly exposed to plasma, it is possible to reduce the contamination of the gas supply hole 94 and the secular change. On the other hand, in the conventional cleaning of the gas supply hole, it is necessary to clean the inside of the gas supply hole (that is, the portion not exposed to the surface), which is a point of certainty of cleaning and time required for cleaning. It is disadvantageous.

  In addition, the inlet 91 of the annular gas channel 90 is defined by a gap between the inner side surface of the gas supply ring 70 and the outer side surface of the channel defining portion 52 a of the upper shield 52. At least a part of the portion between the first ring and the second ring can be defined by a gap between the lower surface of the pressing ring 60 and the upper surface of the flow path defining portion 52a of the upper shield 52. The upper shield 52 includes a ceiling shield part 52b in contact with the lower surface LS of the ceiling part 42T of the upper partition member 42, and the flow path defining part 52a of the upper shield 52 is, for example, a part protruding upward from the ceiling shield part 52b. sell. In this embodiment, the annular gas passage 90 is defined by the pressing ring 60, the gas supply ring 70, the second partition member 30, and the shield 50 (upper shield 52).

  The gas supply ring 70 includes, for example, an annular diffusion groove 96 that annularly diffuses the gas supplied from the gas supply channel 160, and a gas supply hole 94 that connects the annular diffusion groove 96 and the inlet 91 of the annular gas channel 90. Can be included. The gas supply ring 70 can be fastened to the upper partition member 42 of the first partition member 40 by a fastening member (for example, a bolt) 72. In a cross section cut along a plane including the normal line of the substrate mounting surface SS of the substrate support portion 112 (FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the cross section), the annular gas channel 90 is connected to the inlet 91 of the annular gas channel 90. At least one bend 99 may be included up to the outlet 92. This is effective for increasing the path length from the inlet 91 to the outlet 92 of the annular gas flow path 90 and diffusing the gas uniformly. This contributes to uniform processing of the substrate S as a result. At this time, by arranging the gas supply holes 94 on the circumference of the gas supply ring 70 at equal intervals, the gas can be supplied more uniformly to the processing space PS.

  The gas supply ring 70 may be attached to the upper partition member 42 such that a fastening member 64 for fastening the pressing ring 60 to the upper partition member 42 is hidden by the gas supply ring 70. In other words, the pressing ring 60 is sandwiched between the upper partition member 42 and the gas supply ring 70. A seal member (for example, an O-ring) 74 may be disposed between the gas supply ring 70 and the upper partition member 42 on the outer side and the inner side of the annular diffusion groove 96. Gas supplied from the gas supply path 160 by the seal member 74 can be prevented from leaking in the gap between the gas supply ring 70 and the upper partition member 42, and gas diffusion in the annular diffusion groove 96 can be improved.

  The processing apparatus 1 includes a substrate support portion 112 that supports the substrate S in the processing space PS. The substrate support part 112 is supported by the base part 120. The substrate support 112 may include a peripheral ring 110 and a substrate placement surface SS that are disposed so as to surround the substrate S. The peripheral ring 110 is advantageous for uniformly processing the substrate S. The base unit 120 is provided with an exhaust port, and the gas in the processing space PS is exhausted by the exhaust unit 130 through the exhaust port. An exhaust baffle or the like is used between the processing space PS and the exhaust unit 130. The substrate support unit 112 includes an electrode for electrostatically attracting the substrate S or applying a bias to the substrate S. The electrode is connected to the high-frequency power source 152 and the DC power source 154 via the matching unit 150. Yes.

  Hereinafter, removal and attachment of the second partition member (belger) 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 8 which are partial enlarged views of the processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. FIG. 4 exemplarily shows a state before the operation for removing the second partition member 30 is performed. First, as shown in FIG. 5, the upper shield 52 is removed from the upper partition member 42 by moving the upper shield 52. Here, the direction in which the upper shield 52 is moved is the direction DIR facing the space where the lower surface LS of the ceiling portion 42T is facing. The direction DIR toward the space to which the lower surface LS faces is downward in FIG. 5, but upward in the state shown in FIG. 11 described later.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the fastening of the gas supply ring 70 to the upper partition member 42 by the fastening member 72 is released, and the gas supply ring 70 is moved from the upper partition member 42 by moving the gas supply ring 70 in the direction DIR. 70 is removed. Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the fastening of the pressing ring 60 to the upper partition member 42 by the fastening member 64 is released, and the pressing ring 60 is removed from the upper partition member 42 by moving the pressing ring 60 in the direction DIR. . Accordingly, the second partition member 30 can be removed from the upper partition member 42. Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the second partition member 30 is removed from the upper partition member 42 by moving the second partition member 30 in the direction DIR.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, the structure above the second partition member (belger) 30, typically, the aligner 10 that can be a part of the structure ST is connected to the first partition member 40 or The second partition member (belger) 30 can be removed from the first partition member 40 or the upper partition member 42 and replaced without being removed from the upper partition member 42. Therefore, after the operation as in the above-described prior art, that is, the aligner 10 is removed to remove the second partition member (belger) 30, and the cleaned or other clean second partition member 30 is attached, the aligner. The maintenance is easier than the operation of attaching 10 to the processing apparatus 1, and the processing conditions such as subsequent deposition or etching are easily determined.

  In order to facilitate the operation of removing the second partition member 30 and attaching the clean second partition member 30, the processing apparatus 1 includes at least the ceiling portion 42 </ b> T (in this embodiment, the ceiling portion 42 </ b> T in the first embodiment). The structure ST including the upper partition member 42 including the second partition member 30 and the second partition member 30 can be separated from the base portion 120 to open the processing space PS to the external space OS.

  9 to 11 show a mechanism for separating the structure ST from the lower partition member 44 as an example of a mechanism for separating the structure ST from the base portion 120. In the example shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, the structure ST and the lower partition member 44 are connected by the hinge portion 170, and the structure ST can be rotated with respect to the lower partition member 44. The structure ST is rotated by 180 degrees as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, and the upper shield 52 and the gas supply ring 70 are sequentially moved in the direction DIR and removed as shown in FIG. The partition member (belger) 30 can be removed by moving it in the direction DIR. As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, the structure in which the structure ST is rotated by 180 degrees is preferable from the viewpoint of preventing the upper shield 52, the gas supply ring 70, and the second partition member (belger) 30 from dropping during removal. . Further, the angle is not limited to 180 degrees, and may be any angle that can prevent the fall. Instead of the configuration illustrated in FIGS. 9 to 11, for example, a configuration in which the structure ST is moved upward may be employed.

  FIG. 12 shows a modification of the seal portion at the connection portion between the first partition member 40 or the upper partition member 42 and the second partition member 30. In the example shown in FIG. 12, the upper partition member 42 (first partition member 40) includes a mounting surface 41 that is disposed around the opening 46 of the upper partition member 42 and a fixed surface that is disposed around the mounting surface 41. 43. The processing apparatus 1 includes an attachment ring 60 for pressing the second partition member 30 against the attachment surface 41. The attachment ring 60 is fixed to the fixing surface 43 of the upper partition member 42, and a first seal member (for example, an O-ring) 64 is disposed between the attachment ring 60 and the second partition member 30, and the attachment ring 60 and the upper partition are arranged. A second seal member (for example, an O-ring) 66 is disposed between the fixed surface 43 of the member 42. An elastic ring made of an elastic material may be disposed between the mounting surface 41 and the second partition member 30 from the viewpoint of preventing the second partition member 30 from being damaged.

  Hereinafter, a device manufacturing method for manufacturing a device such as a semiconductor device using the processing apparatus 1 will be described. In this device manufacturing method, the substrate S is loaded into the processing space PS of the processing apparatus 1 and the substrate S is supported by the substrate support unit 112. The gas is supplied to the processing space PS by the gas supply unit GS and the antenna 20 is provided. And a step of supplying the electromagnetic wave to the gas to excite the substrate and processing the substrate S by the plasma generated thereby.

Claims (6)

A processing apparatus for processing a substrate,
A substrate support for supporting the substrate in the processing space;
A partition member that partitions the processing space from an external space;
An annular gas flow path for supplying gas to the processing space,
The outlet of the annular gas channel to the processing space is an annular slit, and the gas supplied to the annular gas channel is supplied to the processing space through the annular slit.
The processing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. The partition member is
A first partition member including a ceiling portion having an opening and partitioning the processing space from an external space;
A second partition member attached to the first partition member so as to close the opening and partition the processing space from the external space together with the first partition member;
The processing apparatus further includes a shield that is disposed inside the first partition member so as to face the processing space and protects the first partition member;
At least a part of the annular gas flow path is defined by the second partition member and the shield.
The processing apparatus according to claim 1. The processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the annular slit is defined by the second partition member and the shield. The first partition member has a mounting surface around the opening,
The processor is
A pressing ring that is fastened to the first partition member and presses the second partition member against the mounting surface;
A gas supply ring that is fastened to the first partition member and supplies gas to the annular gas flow path;
The gas supply ring is arranged so that the pressing ring is sandwiched between the first partition member and the gas supply ring,
The annular gas flow path is defined by the pressing ring, the gas supply ring, the second partition member, and the shield.
The processing apparatus according to claim 3. The second partition member can be removed from the first partition member by moving the second partition member toward the space where the lower surface of the ceiling portion is facing. Attached to the first partition member;
The processing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein In the cross section cut along a plane including the normal line of the substrate mounting surface of the substrate support portion, the annular gas flow path includes at least one bent portion between the inlet and the outlet.
The processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: