JP2014154326A - Plasma processing apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for changing a mode in which processed gas is supplied to a processing chamber in accordance with a supply situation of the processed gas.SOLUTION: A plasma processing device which forms plasma in a processing chamber 101 using processed gas and processes a work-piece placed on a stage 102 disposed in the processing chamber 101, includes: a pressure measurement part 125 which measures pressure of the processed gas passing through a supply port; an adjustment mechanism 126 which adjusts an aperture area of the supply port; and a control part 127 which controls the adjustment mechanism 126 on the basis of the pressure acquired from the pressure measurement part 125.

Description

  The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus and method.

  As background art in this technical field, for example, there is JP-A-6-5549 (Patent Document 1). In this publication, “ECR plasma ion generator is provided with a processing gas introduction port for introducing a processing gas into a processing chamber containing a sample substrate which is one type of irradiated object, and is arranged in parallel around the processing chamber. Introduced from the processing gas inlet using an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) phenomenon generated by the interaction between a magnetic field generated by flowing a current through a pair of magnetic coils and an electric field generated by introducing a microwave into the magnetic field. When plasma ionizing the processed gas, the processing gas introduced through the processing gas inlet is directed toward the sample substrate. The irradiation conditions such as the irradiation direction and the irradiation speed can be improved, and a good treatment state of the irradiated object can be obtained. "

  Moreover, there exists Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2007-173848 (patent document 2). In this publication, “a first channel is formed on the surface of the first diffusion plate on the gas introduction tube side, and a recess is formed on the surface on the electrode plate side. The first channel and the recess communicate with each other through a plurality of conduction ports. The first channel and the conduction port form a gas flow path L that leads from the gas introduction pipe to the recess, and the processing gas supplied from the gas introduction pipe passes through the gas flow path L. "It is supplied by being diffused into a hollow portion formed between the recess and the electrode plate."

JP-A-6-5549 JP 2007-173848 A

  Here, with the techniques described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, the mode of supplying the processing gas to the processing chamber cannot be changed according to the supply status of the processing gas.

  The objective of this invention is providing the technique for changing the aspect which supplies process gas to a process chamber according to the supply condition of process gas.

  Of the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  A plasma processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a processing chamber, a first gas reservoir space located above the processing chamber, a second gas reservoir space surrounding an outer periphery of the first gas reservoir space, A plurality of supply ports for supplying a processing gas from a second gas reservoir space to the first gas reservoir space; and a supply hole for supplying the processing gas from the first gas reservoir space into the processing chamber. Then, plasma is formed in the processing chamber using the processing gas, and the object to be processed placed on a stage disposed in the processing chamber is processed by the formed plasma. Further, based on the pressure measurement unit that measures the pressure of the processing gas passing through the supply port, the adjustment mechanism that adjusts the opening area of the supply port, and the pressure acquired from the pressure measurement unit, the adjustment mechanism is It has a control part to control.

  Moreover, the plasma processing method of other embodiment has a pressure measurement step which measures the pressure of the process gas which passes a supply port from a 2nd gas reservoir space to a 1st gas reservoir space by a pressure measurement part. In addition, the control unit includes a control step of acquiring the pressure measured in the pressure measurement step and controlling an adjustment mechanism and adjusting an opening area of the supply port based on the acquired pressure. Further, the processing gas is supplied from the first gas reservoir space into the processing chamber through the supply hole, plasma is formed in the processing chamber using the processing gas, and the formed plasma generates the plasma in the processing chamber. A processing step of processing an object to be processed placed on the stage to be arranged;

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, the mode of supplying the processing gas to the processing chamber can be changed according to the supply status of the processing gas.

It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the structural example of the plasma processing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the structural example of the gas reservoir in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the structural example of the plasma processing apparatus in Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the structural example of the gas reservoir in Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the structural example of the adjustment mechanism in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the structural example of the adjustment mechanism in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the other structural example of the adjustment mechanism in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the other structural example of the adjustment mechanism in Embodiment 1 of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that components having the same function are denoted by the same reference symbols throughout the drawings for describing the embodiment, and the repetitive description thereof will be omitted.

[Embodiment 1]
The first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

<Configuration example>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of a plasma processing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a plasma processing apparatus includes, for example, a cylindrical processing chamber 101, a stage 102 disposed in the vicinity of the cylindrical axis of the processing chamber 101, an exhaust port 109 disposed immediately below the stage 102, and a processing chamber. 101, a gas reservoir 120 installed above 101, a flow rate controller 104, a pressure measurement unit 125, an adjustment mechanism 126 (not shown), and a control unit 127.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of the gas reservoir 120 in the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the gas reservoir 120 includes a first gas reservoir space 121, a ring-shaped ring plate 123 provided along the outer periphery of the first gas reservoir space 121, and the first gas across the ring plate 123. A second gas reservoir space 122 that surrounds the outer periphery of the reservoir space 121, a plurality of supply ports 124 that supply process gas from the second gas reservoir space 122 to the first gas reservoir space 121, and the vicinity of each of the supply ports 124. A pressure measuring unit 125 and an adjusting mechanism 126 (not shown). The arrows shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 indicate the flow of the processing gas.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the processing gas supplied by the flow rate controller 104 is supplied to the second gas reservoir space 122. Then, the processing gas supplied to the second gas reservoir space 122 is then supplied to the first gas reservoir space 121 via the supply port 124. Since the distance from the flow rate controller 104 to each supply port 124 is different, there are a supply port 124 close to the flow rate controller 104 and a supply port 124 far from the flow rate controller 104.

  The bottom surface of the first gas reservoir space 121 has a disk shape, and a plurality of supply holes 103 are formed near the center of the disk. Then, the processing gas is supplied to the processing chamber 101 through the supply hole 103.

  The processing gas supplied to the processing chamber 101 is turned into plasma, and processing steps for processing the surface of the object to be processed placed on the stage 102 using plasma formed in the processing chamber 101 are performed.

  The exhaust port 109 exhausts gas and plasma in the processing chamber 101.

  The pressure measurement unit 125 performs a pressure measurement step of measuring the pressure of the processing gas supplied from the second gas reservoir space 122 to the first gas reservoir space 121 via the supply port 124.

  The control unit 127 acquires the pressure measured by each pressure measurement unit 125. And the control step which controls the adjustment mechanism 126 is performed so that each acquired pressure becomes substantially equal.

  More specifically, the control unit 127 controls the adjustment mechanism 126 so that the opening area of the supply port 124 becomes small for the supply port 124 with a high pressure of the processing gas passing therethrough, and the pressure of the processing gas passing therethrough is low. With respect to the supply port 124, the adjustment mechanism 126 is controlled so that the opening area of the supply port 124 becomes large, so that the adjustment mechanism 126 is controlled so that the pressures acquired from the pressure measurement units 125 become substantially equal. Then, as the pressure of the processing gas passing through each supply port 124 is adjusted substantially uniformly, the pressure in the first gas reservoir space 121 is adjusted substantially uniformly.

  Note that adjusting the opening area of the supply port 124 by controlling the adjustment mechanism 126 described above, for example, allows the closing member to be taken in and out from one end of the supply port 124 as shown in FIGS. The opening area of the supply port 124 may be adjusted by sliding the member in the horizontal direction. In this case, the adjustment mechanism 126 operates to reduce the opening area of the supply port 124 by sliding the closing member from the base end to the other end for the supply port 124 where the pressure of the processing gas passing therethrough is low. On the other hand, the adjustment mechanism 126 operates to increase the opening area of the supply port 124 by sliding the closing member from the other end to the base end for the supply port 124 where the pressure of the processing gas passing therethrough is high.

  Further, the adjustment of the opening area of the supply port 124 by controlling the adjustment mechanism 126 described above is, for example, by controlling the angle of a rectangular closing member as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The opening area may be adjusted. In this case, the adjustment mechanism 126 connects the end of the closing member and the rotary shaft 130 and the end of the supply port 124 and the rotary shaft 130 for the supply port 124 where the pressure of the processing gas passing therethrough is low. Control is performed so that the angle at which the straight line intersects increases. On the other hand, for the supply port 124 where the pressure of the processing gas passing therethrough is high, the angle at which the straight line connecting the end of the closing member and the rotary shaft 130 intersects with the straight line connecting the end of the supply port 124 and the rotary shaft 130. Control to make it smaller.

  Further, the adjustment of the opening area of the supply port 124 by controlling the adjusting mechanism 126 described above may be performed by adjusting the opening area of the supply port 124 by controlling the throttle valve.

<Effect of Embodiment 1>
According to the plasma processing apparatus in the first embodiment described above, the adjusting mechanism 126 that adjusts the opening area of the supply port 124 is controlled based on the pressure acquired from the pressure measuring unit 125, thereby entering the processing chamber 101. The mode of supplying the processing gas can be changed according to the supply status of the processing gas.

  Further, by controlling the adjustment mechanism 126 so that the pressure measured by each pressure measuring unit 125 becomes substantially uniform, the processing gas can be supplied from the supply ports 124 to the first gas reservoir space 121 substantially uniformly. Become. As a result, the non-uniformity that the supply amount of the processing gas from the supply port 124 close to the flow rate controller 104 is large and the supply amount of the processing gas from the supply port 124 far from the flow rate controller 104 is reduced can be suppressed. .

[Embodiment 2]
The second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG.

<Configuration example>
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of the plasma processing apparatus in the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the plasma processing apparatus includes, for example, a cylindrical processing chamber 101, a stage 102 disposed in the vicinity of the cylindrical axis in the processing chamber 101, and a cylindrical axis in the processing chamber 101 below the stage 102. An exhaust port 109 installed at a distant position, a gas reservoir 120 installed above the processing chamber 101, a flow rate controller 104 connected to the gas reservoir 120, and a gas reservoir 120 are connected. The pressure measuring unit 125, the adjusting mechanism 126 provided in the gas reservoir 120, and the control unit 127 are included.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of the gas reservoir 120 in the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the gas reservoir 120 includes a first gas reservoir space 121, a ring-shaped ring plate 123 provided along the outer periphery of the first gas reservoir space 121, and the first gas across the ring plate 123. A second gas reservoir space 122 that surrounds the outer periphery of the reservoir space 121, a plurality of supply ports 124 that supply process gas from the second gas reservoir space 122 to the first gas reservoir space 121, and the vicinity of each of the supply ports 124. A pressure measuring unit 125 and an adjusting mechanism 126 (not shown).

  In the plasma processing apparatus of the second embodiment, the exhaust port 109 is installed at a position below the stage 102 and away from the cylindrical axis in the processing chamber 101.

  In such a case, in the processing chamber 101, the atmospheric pressure above the exhaust port 109 becomes low and the atmospheric pressure distribution becomes non-uniform.

  Therefore, the control unit 127 increases the opening area of the supply port 124 positioned immediately above the exhaust port 109 in order to increase the amount of processing gas passing through the supply port 124 positioned immediately above the exhaust port 109. Thus, the adjustment mechanism 126 is controlled. Thereby, the atmospheric pressure distribution in the processing chamber 101 becomes substantially uniform, and as a result, the plasma distribution becomes substantially uniform.

<Effect of Embodiment 2>
According to the plasma processing apparatus in the second embodiment described above, the adjustment mechanism 126 is controlled so that the pressure of the processing gas passing through the supply port 124 positioned just above the exhaust port 109 is increased. In the case where the processing chamber 101 is installed at a position away from the cylindrical axis, it is possible to prevent the atmospheric pressure distribution in the processing chamber 101 from becoming uneven.

101 Processing chamber 102 Stage 103 Supply hole 104 Flow rate controller 109 Exhaust port 120 Gas reservoir 121 First gas reservoir space 122 Second gas reservoir space 123 Ring plate 124 Supply port 125 Pressure measurement unit 126 Adjustment mechanism 127 Control unit 130 Rotating shaft

Claims (4)

A processing chamber; a first gas reservoir space located above the processing chamber; a second gas reservoir space surrounding an outer periphery of the first gas reservoir space; and the second gas reservoir space to the first gas reservoir space. A plurality of supply ports for supplying a processing gas; and a supply hole for supplying the processing gas from the first gas reservoir space into the processing chamber; and forming plasma in the processing chamber using the processing gas; A plasma processing apparatus for processing an object to be processed placed on a stage disposed in the processing chamber by the formed plasma,
A pressure measuring unit for measuring the pressure of the processing gas passing through the supply port;
An adjustment mechanism for adjusting the opening area of the supply port;
And a control unit that controls the adjustment mechanism based on the pressure acquired from the pressure measurement unit. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The said control part is a plasma processing apparatus which controls the said adjustment mechanism so that the pressure which each pressure measurement part measures becomes substantially uniform. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The processing chamber has a cylindrical shape,
An exhaust port installed at a position away from the cylindrical shaft in the processing chamber;
The plasma processing apparatus, wherein the control unit controls the adjustment mechanism so that a pressure of the processing gas passing through the supply port positioned immediately above the exhaust port becomes high. A pressure measurement step of measuring the pressure of the processing gas passing through the supply port from the second gas reservoir space to the first gas reservoir space by the pressure measurement unit;
A control step of acquiring the pressure measured in the pressure measurement step by the control unit and controlling an adjustment mechanism and adjusting an opening area of the supply port based on the acquired pressure;
The processing gas is supplied from the first gas reservoir space into the processing chamber through the supply hole, plasma is formed in the processing chamber using the processing gas, and the formed plasma is disposed in the processing chamber. And a processing step of processing a target object placed on the stage.

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