JP2019517736A - Vacuum platform with processing chamber for removing carbon contaminants and surface oxides from semiconductor substrates - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to an improved vacuum processing system. In one embodiment, a vacuum processing system is disposed between a first transfer chamber coupled to the at least one epitaxy processing chamber, a second transfer chamber, and the first transfer chamber and the second transfer chamber. A transfer station, a first plasma cleaning chamber coupled to the second transfer chamber for removing oxides from the surface of the substrate, and a load lock chamber coupled to the second transfer chamber. The transfer station connects the first transfer chamber and the second transfer chamber, and the transfer station includes a second plasma cleaning chamber for removing carbon-containing contaminants from the surface of the substrate. [Selected figure] Figure 3

Description

  Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to an apparatus and method for cleaning a surface of a substrate.

  Integrated circuits are formed in and on silicon and other semiconductor substrates. In the case of single crystal silicon, the substrate is made by growing an ingot from a molten silicon bath and then cutting the solidified ingot into multiple substrates. An epitaxial silicon layer may then be formed on the monocrystalline silicon substrate to form a defect free silicon layer which may or may not be doped. Semiconductor devices, such as transistors, can be fabricated from epitaxial silicon layers. The electrical properties of the epitaxial silicon layer formed are generally superior to the properties of single crystal silicon substrates.

  The surfaces of single crystal silicon and epitaxial silicon layers are susceptible to contamination when exposed to the ambient conditions of a typical substrate fabrication facility. For example, handling of the substrate and / or exposure to the surrounding environment within the substrate processing facility may result in the formation of a native oxide layer on the monocrystalline silicon surface prior to deposition of the epitaxial layer. In addition, foreign contaminants such as carbon and oxygen species present in the surrounding environment can be deposited on the single crystal surface. The presence of the native oxide layer or contaminant on the monocrystalline silicon surface adversely affects the quality of the epitaxial layer subsequently formed on the monocrystalline surface. Therefore, it is desirable to preclean the substrate to remove surface oxides and other contaminants prior to growing the epitaxial layer on the substrate. However, pre-cleaning processes are often performed in one or more stand-alone vacuum processing chambers, which can increase the substrate handling time and the opportunity to expose the substrate to the surrounding environment.

  Thus, there is a need in the art to provide an improved substrate processing system for cleaning substrate surfaces that minimizes substrate handling time and exposure to the surrounding environment prior to performing epitaxial deposition processing. is there.

  Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to an improved vacuum processing system and method for removing contaminants and native oxides from the surface of a substrate. In one embodiment, a vacuum processing system is disposed between a first transfer chamber coupled to the at least one processing chamber, a second transfer chamber, and the first transfer chamber and the second transfer chamber. A transfer station coupled thereto, including a first plasma cleaning chamber, a second plasma cleaning chamber coupled to the second transfer chamber, and a load lock chamber coupled to the second transfer chamber including.

  In another embodiment, a vacuum processing system includes a first transfer chamber including a first substrate handling mechanism, and a first plasma cleaning chamber coupled to the first transfer chamber and coupled or disposed therein. A transfer station having at least one processing chamber coupled to the first transfer chamber and being an epitaxy chamber.

  In yet another embodiment, a method is provided for processing a substrate in a vacuum processing system. A method is to transfer a substrate from a load lock chamber to a first cleaning chamber using a first robotic transfer mechanism disposed in the first transfer chamber, the first cleaning chamber being The plasma is formed from a cleaning gas comprising a hydrogen-containing gas and a fluorine-containing gas to remove oxides from the surface of the substrate, transferring the substrate by the first robotic transport mechanism. Transferring from the cleaning chamber to the transfer station, the transfer station having a second cleaning chamber disposed therein, the second cleaning chamber using a hydrogen-containing plasma, and Removing and removing carbon-containing contaminants from the surface, and using a second robotic transfer mechanism disposed within the second transfer chamber to transfer the second transfer chamber from the second cleaning chamber Transferring the substrate to at least one epitaxy processing chamber coupled to the chamber, wherein the transfer station is coupled to the first transfer chamber and the second transfer chamber to break the vacuum (disrupt the vacuum processing system) The substrate is transferred between the load lock chamber, the first transfer chamber, the first cleaning chamber, the second cleaning chamber, the second transfer chamber, and the epitaxy processing chamber.

  The embodiments of the present disclosure briefly summarized above and described in more detail below can be understood by reference to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure illustrated in the attached drawings. However, as the present disclosure may tolerate other equally effective embodiments, the accompanying drawings only show typical embodiments of the present disclosure, and therefore should be considered as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Please note that it is not.

7 shows a processing sequence according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a cleaning chamber used to perform the cleaning process of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a cleaning chamber used to perform the reduction process of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. 2 illustrates a vacuum processing system that can be used to complete the processing sequence of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

  For ease of understanding, where possible, the same reference numerals have been used to indicate identical elements that are common to more than one figure. The figures are not drawn to scale and may be simplified for clarity. It is contemplated that elements and features of one embodiment may be beneficially incorporated into other embodiments without further description.

  FIG. 1 shows a processing sequence 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. At box 102, a cleaning process is used to remove oxides from the surface of the semiconductor substrate. The substrate comprises a silicon containing material, and the surface may comprise a material such as silicon (Si), germanium (Ge) or silicon germanium alloy (SiGe). In some implementations, the Si, Ge, or SiGe surface may have an oxide layer, such as a native oxide layer, and contaminants disposed thereon. Surface contamination resulting from exposure to the most typical cleaning room environment for several hours is due to the susceptibility of the epitaxial deposition process to oxides and contaminants such as carbon containing contaminants resulting in the deposition of oxidized Substances and contaminants can be serious enough to affect the quality of the subsequently formed epitaxial layer.

The substrate surface may be cleaned by performing an oxide removal process and a contaminant removal process. In one embodiment, a cleaning process is used to remove oxides from the surface of the substrate (box 102) and a reduction process is used to remove contaminants such as carbon-containing contaminants from the surface of the substrate (box 104). The cleaning process may include a plasma etching process. The plasma etching process is formed from a cleaning gas comprising hydrogen (H ₂ ), helium (He), argon (Ar), ammonia (NH ₃ ), a fluorine containing gas such as NF ₃ , or any combination of these gases Plasma can be used. The plasma may be inductively coupled or capacitively coupled, or the plasma may be excited by a microwave source in the processing chamber. The processing chamber may be a remote plasma chamber spatially separated from the processing region in which the substrate is disposed. The term "spatial separated" as described herein separates from the substrate processing area by one or more chamber components such as the blocker plate 228 and the gas supply plate 230 shown in FIG. It may refer to a defined plasma generation region, or even a conduit between the remote plasma chamber and the substrate processing chamber.

  In one embodiment, the plasma is generated using a capacitively coupled plasma source. Radicals from the plasma may pass through a gas supply plate located above the substrate positioned on the support at a temperature of about 25 ° C. to about 100 ° C. The processing pressure may be sub-atmospheric pressure, for example, about 20 mTorr to about 25 mTorr. The radicals reach the substrate and then react with the surface oxide. An exemplary processing chamber that can be adapted to perform a plasma etching process is available from Applied Materials, Inc. of Santa Clara, California. , Siconi (R) or Selectra (R) chamber available from Also, chambers from other manufacturers may be used.

In an exemplary embodiment, plasma etching is a remote plasma assisted dry etching process that includes simultaneous exposure of the substrate to NF ₃ and NH ₃ plasma by-products. In one embodiment, the plasma etch process is performed by Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, California. , Similar to the SiCoNi® etch process available from, or may include a SiCoNi® etch process. Remote plasma etching is generally conformal and selective to the silicon oxide layer, so it is easy to etch silicon regardless of whether it is amorphous, crystalline or polycrystalline. do not do. Remote plasma processing generally results in the production of solid byproducts that grow on the surface of the substrate as the substrate oxide material is consumed. The solid by-products can then be removed by sublimation as the temperature of the substrate is raised. The plasma etch process results in a substrate surface having silicon-hydrogen (Si-H) bonds thereon.

In box 104, after removing the oxide from the surface of the substrate, any contaminants remaining on the surface of the substrate are removed. In one embodiment of box 104, contaminants such as carbon or hydrocarbons are removed from the surface of the substrate using a reduction process. The reduction process may use a hydrogen-containing plasma to remove contaminants. The plasma may be formed from a cleaning gas comprising hydrogen gas (H ₂ ), helium (He), argon (Ar), ammonia (NH ₃ ), or any combination of these gases. The plasma may be inductively coupled or capacitively coupled, or the plasma may be excited by a microwave source in the processing chamber. The processing chamber may be a remote plasma chamber physically separated from the processing chamber in which the substrate is disposed.

  In one embodiment, the plasma is generated using an inductively coupled plasma source, which is a remote plasma source (RPS) for performing the reduction process 104. The radicals from the plasma may pass through the passage tube and the gas supply plate which are arranged above the substrate. The substrate is positioned on the support at a temperature of about 25 ° C to about 400 ° C. The processing pressure may be sub-atmospheric pressure, for example about 20 mTorr to about 300 Torr, for example about 100 mTorr to about 300 mTorr, for example about 150 mTorr. The radicals reach the substrate and then react with surface contaminants. An exemplary processing chamber that can be adapted to perform the reduction process is available from Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, California. , AKTIV Pre-Clean (R), Siconi (R), PCxT Reactive Preclean (R), or Selectra (R) chambers available from Also, chambers from other manufacturers may be used.

  In box 106, an epitaxial layer is formed on the surface of the substrate. If previously cleaned as described above, the surface of the substrate is free of oxides and contaminants, which improves the quality of the subsequently formed epitaxial layer on the surface of the substrate. An exemplary epitaxial process may be a selective epitaxial process performed at a temperature of less than about 800 ° C., such as about 450 ° C. to 650 ° C. The epitaxial layer can be formed using a high temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. The epitaxial layer may be any suitable semiconductor material, such as crystalline silicon, germanium or silicon germanium or a group III-V compound. In one exemplary thermal CVD process, process gases such as dichlorosilane, silane, disilane, germane, hydrogen chloride, or combinations thereof are used to form the epitaxial layer. The processing temperature is below 800 ° C., and the processing pressure is between 5 Torr and 600 Torr. An exemplary processing chamber that can be used to perform the epitaxial deposition process is Applied Materials, Inc. of Santa Clara, California. , A Centura® Epi chamber available from Also, chambers from other manufacturers may be used.

  Boxes 102, 104 and 106 may be implemented in one processing system, such as the vacuum processing system shown in FIG. It is contemplated that the processing described in boxes 102 and 104 may be reversed. In addition, the processes described in boxes 102 and 104 may be repeated as many times as necessary.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a processing chamber 200 adapted to perform at least some of the processing found in box 102, thereby removing oxides from the surface of the substrate. The processing chamber 200 may be particularly useful to perform thermal or plasma based cleaning processes and / or plasma assisted dry etching processes. The processing chamber 200 includes a chamber body 212, a lid assembly 214, and a support assembly 216. The lid assembly 214 is disposed at the upper end of the chamber body 212 and the support assembly 216 is at least partially disposed within the chamber body 212. A vacuum system can be used to remove gas from the processing chamber 200. The vacuum system includes a vacuum pump 218 coupled to a vacuum port 221 disposed within the chamber body 212. Processing chamber 200 also includes a controller 202 for controlling processing within processing chamber 200.

The lid assembly 214 includes at least two stacked components configured to form a plasma volume or cavity. The first electrode 220 is disposed vertically above the second electrode 222 to define a plasma space. The first electrode 220 is connected to a power source 224, such as a radio frequency (RF) power supply, and the second electrode 222 is connected to ground or a reference potential and between the first electrode 220 and the second electrode 222 Form a capacitance. The lid assembly 214 also includes one or more gas inlets 226 for supplying cleaning gas to the substrate surface via the blocker plate 228 and the gas supply plate 230, such as a showerhead or the like. The cleaning gas is formed from a cleaning gas comprising hydrogen (H ₂ ), helium (He), argon (Ar), ammonia (NH ₃ ), a fluorine containing gas such as NF ₃ , or any combination of these gases Plasma radicals may be used.

Alternatively, different cleaning processes may be used to clean the substrate surface. For example, remote plasma containing He and NF ₃ is introduced into the processing chamber 200 via the gas supply plate 230, while NH ₃ is via a separate gas inlet 225 located on the side of the chamber body 212. It can be directly injected into the processing chamber 200.

  The support assembly 216 can include a substrate support 232 for supporting the substrate 210 thereon during processing. The substrate support 232 may be coupled to the actuator 234 by a shaft 236 extending through a centrally located opening formed in the bottom of the chamber body 212. The actuator 234 may be flexibly sealed to the chamber body 212 by a bellows (not shown) that prevents vacuum leakage around the shaft 236. The actuator 234 allows the substrate support 232 to move vertically within the chamber body 212 between the processing position and the loading position. The loading position is slightly below the opening of the slit valve formed in the side wall of the chamber body 212.

  The substrate support 232 has a flat or substantially flat substrate support surface for supporting a substrate to be processed thereon. The substrate support 232 may be vertically moved within the chamber body 212 by an actuator 234 coupled to the substrate support 232 by a shaft 236. In operation, the substrate support 232 may be raised to a position in close proximity to the lid assembly 214 to control the temperature of the substrate 210 during processing. Thus, the substrate 210 may be heated via the radiation or convection emitted from the supply plate 230.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a processing chamber 300 adapted to perform at least some of the processing found in box 104, thus removing contaminants such as carbon or hydrocarbons accumulated on the surface of the substrate. . The processing chamber 300 has a chamber body 310 that includes a chamber enclosure 316, a processing kit housing 318, and a lid 340. Chamber enclosure 316 and lid 340 may be made of aluminum, stainless steel, or other suitable material. The processing kit housing 318 may be manufactured from an aluminum alloy or other suitable material. The lid 340 is removably coupled to the chamber enclosure 316 via the processing kit housing 318.

  The processing kit housing 318 may be a ring shaped housing having a top surface coupled to the lid 340 and a bottom surface coupled to the chamber enclosure 316. The processing kit housing 318 has a shield portion 329 extending downwardly from the inner surface 331 of the processing kit housing 318. The inner surface 331 of the processing kit housing 318 surrounds and supports the gas supply plate 326 in contact with the inner surface 331. The gas supply plate 326 may be a quartz shower head. A plenum 348 is defined between the gas supply plate 326 and the lid 340. The gas supply plate 326 includes a plurality of apertures 327 formed through the thickness of the gas supply plate 326 to allow gas to flow into the plenum 348 through the port 342. The apertures 327 are evenly distributed across the diameter of the gas supply plate 326 to ensure uniform distribution of gas or radicals to the substrate 308. Gas flowing through the apertures 327 is distributed across the substrate 308 disposed within the processing region 330 defined between the gas supply plate 326 and the heater 314. Shield portion 329 also helps to confine electrically neutral radicals within processing region 330. In one example, shield portion 329 extends to a position adjacent to or below the edge of heater 314.

  Processing chamber 300 includes a remote plasma source 350 coupled to port 342 by a passage tube 360. A port 342 is formed in the lid 340. The passage tube 360 defines a conduit 356 that can have a first inner diameter and a second inner diameter larger than the first inner diameter. The first inner diameter may be disposed adjacent to the remote plasma source 350 and the second inner diameter may be disposed adjacent to the lid 340. In one example, the first inner diameter is about 12 mm to about 30 mm, for example about 20 mm, and the second inner diameter is about 35 mm to about 60 mm, for example about 40 mm.

  Passage tube 360 allows electrically neutral radicals to enter processing region 330 while filtering ions generated by remote plasma source 350 prior to entering processing region 330. Thus, the relative concentration of ions in the processing region 330 is reduced. In one embodiment, the gas flowing through conduit 356 is filtered by the magnetic field generated by one or more magnets disposed adjacent to the passage tube 360. The magnet generates a magnetic field across the passage tube 360 to filter charged particles entrained with reactive radicals flowing from the remote plasma source 350.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a first magnet 352 and a second magnet 354 are disposed adjacent to the passage tube 360. The first magnet 352 and the second magnet 354 may be permanent magnets or electromagnets. The magnets 352, 354 may be disposed on opposite sides of the first inner diameter of the passage tube 360. For example, the magnets 352, 354 may be glued or fixed to the opposite side of the perimeter of the passage tube 360. It is also contemplated that the magnets 352, 354 may be secured to the chamber lid 340 or other components of the chamber body 310. The relative distance between the opposing magnet and the conduit 356 formed in the passage tube 360 affects the strength of the magnetic field passing through the conduit 356, thereby affecting the filtering efficiency. The magnetic field may also be adjusted by using different magnets, ie replacing the magnets 352, 354 with different strengths. The charged particles passing through are attracted to and in contact with the inner surface 370 of the passage tube 360 to become an electrically neutral non-ionic species. As such, filtered electrically neutral radicals are provided to the surface of the substrate to react with and clean up contaminants thereon.

  In some embodiments, ions may be further filtered by providing a quartz surface within the flow path of process gas (ie, radicals) passing through the chamber body 310. For example, the inner surface 370 of the passage tube 360 defining the conduit 356 may be fully or partially coated or may be made of quartz. In addition, the surfaces defining the plenum 348 and / or the gas supply plate 326 may also be fully or at least partially coated or made of quartz. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the upper liner 324 may be disposed along the inner surface 331 of the processing kit housing 318. The upper liner 324 has a ring-shaped body surrounding the plenum 348, the inner surface of which defines the outer boundary of the plenum 348. The upper liner 324 may be made of quartz. Top liner 324 may be mounted on gas supply plate 326 or may be supported by any other suitable fastening technique.

  The liner plate 344 may be disposed along the bottom of the lid 340. The liner plate 344 may be coated with quartz or made of quartz. Liner plate 344 defines an upper boundary of plenum 348. Thus, liner plate 344, upper liner 324, and gas supply plate 326 define a plenum 348 therein. The lower liner 325 can be disposed along the inner surface 331 of the processing kit housing 318. The lower liner 325 has a ring-shaped body surrounding the processing area 330, the inner surface of which defines the outer boundary of the processing area 330. The lower liner 325 may be coated with quartz or may be made of quartz. Lower liner 325 may be supported by shield portion 329. In one example as shown, a ledge 303 extends radially inward at the end of the shield portion 329 to support the lower liner 325. Thus, the passage tube 360, the liner plate 344, the upper liner 324, the lower liner 325, and the gas supply plate together provide a quartz surface within the process gas flow path. These components reduce radical recombination as compared to other chamber materials (eg, aluminum). Thus, only electrically neutral radicals are flowing through the gas supply plate or within the processing area defined between the gas supply plate and the substrate support of the processing chamber. These electrically neutral radicals maintain reactivity when they reach and react with the surface of the substrate disposed on the substrate support, and unwanted materials from the surface of the substrate, such as native oxides Etc will be removed.

  A heater (or substrate support) 314 is disposed within the processing region 330 of the chamber body 310. The heater 314 is coupled to the bottom of the chamber enclosure 316 via a central axis 341. The heater 314 has a substrate support surface to support the substrate 308 during processing, such as the processing described above for the boxes 102 and 104. An optional focus ring 338 may be disposed on the heater 314 around the perimeter of the substrate support surface. Focus ring 338 traps the plasma or neutral species in the area above substrate 308 during processing. Focus ring 338 may be manufactured from quartz.

  The heater 314 is bare aluminum with a plurality of sapphire contacts (not shown) disposed on the substrate support surface to minimize the contact between the substrate support surface and the substrate disposed on the sapphire contact. It can be manufactured from The heater 314 is actuated by the drive unit 337 to move vertically between the loading position and the processing position. The heater 314 can have one or more heating elements 335 embedded therein to provide uniform thermal energy to the substrate support surface. Suitable heating elements 335 may include, among other heating devices, a resistive heater, a thermoelectric device, or a conduit for flowing a heat transfer fluid. The heating element 335 has a temperature of the substrate 308 of about 200 ° C. to about 700 ° C., or higher, such as about 300 ° C. to about 350 ° C., about 350 ° C. to about 450 ° C., about 450 ° C. to about 550 ° C., about 550 ° C. To about 650.degree. C., or from about 650.degree. C. to about 750.degree. C. or the like. In some implementations, the heater 314 is formed through the peripheral edge of the substrate support surface so that the substrate handler (not shown) can manipulate the substrate 308 from the edge of the substrate when the heater 314 is positioned in the loading position. It may have a cut out. During the cleaning process, the heater 314 with the substrate 308 disposed thereon is positioned at the processing position, which is the desired position to process the substrate 308.

  The processing chamber 300 has a pump 317. The pump 317 is connected to the chamber body 310 through a foreline 361. The foreline 361 connects to the chamber body 310 at an opening 315 formed in the bottom of the enclosure 316. Chamber 300 also includes a throttle valve 363 disposed in the foreline 361. Throttle valve 363 is operated to open and close as necessary to maintain the pressure in processing chamber 300 within the desired vacuum range for the plasma cleaning process being performed. The pump 317 and the throttle valve 363 control the pressure in the chamber body 310 to about 0.005 Torr to 750 Torr, for example, about 40 Torr to about 500 Torr. In one example, the pump 317 is a dry pump that maintains the pressure in the processing chamber 300 in an exemplary pressure range of about 0.1 Torr to about 40 Torr, for example about 30 Torr. In one example, pump 317 is a low pressure pump that maintains the pressure in processing chamber 300 in an exemplary pressure range of about 100 mTorr to about 500 mTorr, such as about 150 mTorr. In some examples, pump 317 is a turbo pump that maintains the pressure in processing chamber 300 in an exemplary pressure range of about 20 mTorr to 50 mTorr.

  FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary vacuum processing system 400 that may be used to complete the processing sequence 100 shown in FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of processing chambers 402 a, 402 b, 402 c, 402 d are coupled to the first transfer chamber 404. Processing chambers 402a-402d are used to perform any substrate related processing such as annealing, chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, epitaxial processing, etching processing, thermal oxidation or thermal nitridation processing, outgassing etc. It can be done. In one embodiment, the processing chamber 402a can form crystalline silicon or silicon germanium, such as Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, California. , An Epitaxy deposition chamber such as the Centura® Epi chamber available from Processing chamber 402b may be a rapid thermal processing chamber (RTP). The processing chamber 402c is a plasma etching chamber. The processing chamber 402d may be a degassing chamber. The first transfer chamber 404 is also coupled to at least one transition station, eg, a pair of pass stations 406, 408. Passage stations 406, 408 maintain a vacuum while allowing substrates to be transported between the first transfer chamber 404 and the second transfer chamber 410. The first transfer chamber 404 has a robotic substrate handling mechanism (not shown) for transferring substrates between the pass stations 406, 408 and any of the processing chambers 402a-402d.

  One end of the pass station 406, 408 is coupled to the second transfer chamber 410. Thus, the first transfer chamber 404 and the second transfer chamber 410 are separated and connected by the pass station 406, 408. The second transfer chamber 410 is coupled to a first plasma cleaning chamber 414, which is one of the processes found in box 102 for removing oxides from the surface of the substrate. It may be a plasma chamber, such as a processing chamber 200 (FIG. 2) adapted to perform at least some. In one embodiment, the first plasma cleaning chamber 414 is manufactured by Applied Materials, Inc. of Santa Clara, California. Siconi® or Selectra® chamber available from

  In one embodiment, at least one transition station, eg, one of the pass stations 406, 408, is configured to be a plasma cleaning chamber. Alternatively, the plasma cleaning chamber may be coupled to one of the pass stations 406, 408 to remove contaminants from the surface of the substrate. Thus, the processing system 400 may have a second plasma cleaning chamber that is or is coupled to one of the passage stations 406, 408. In one embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the pass station 406 includes a second plasma cleaning chamber 416. The second plasma cleaning chamber 416 is a version of the processing chamber 300 (FIG. 3) adapted to perform at least some of the processing found in box 104 for removing contaminants from the surface of the substrate. It can be. Although only one plasma cleaning chamber 416 is shown coupled to the passage station, in this case passage station 406, a plasma cleaning chamber (e.g., a version of processing chamber 300) may be associated with both passage stations 406 and 408. It should be noted that they may be combined.

  The second transfer chamber 410 is also a robotic substrate handling mechanism (not shown) for transferring substrates between the set of load lock chamber 412 and the first plasma cleaning chamber 414 or the second plasma cleaning chamber 416. Have). The factory interface 420 is coupled to the second transfer chamber 410 by the load lock chamber 412. The factory interface 420 is coupled to one or more pods 430 opposite the load lock chamber 412. The pod 430 is typically a front opening unified pod (FOUP) accessible from the wash room (not shown).

  Although two transfer chambers are shown, it is contemplated that any of the transfer chambers may be omitted. In one embodiment in which the second transfer chamber 410 is omitted, the second plasma cleaning chamber 416 is disposed within the first transfer chamber 404 at the position currently shown to be occupied by the pass station 406 or 408. Or coupled to the first transfer chamber 404. The first transfer chamber 404 may be an epitaxy chamber, such as Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, California. , And may be coupled to one or more processing chambers capable of forming crystalline silicon or silicon germanium, such as the Centura® Epi chamber available from Alternatively, the first transfer chamber 404 may be omitted and the second plasma cleaning chamber 416 may be disposed within or coupled to the pass station 406 coupled to the second transfer chamber 410. In such cases, the second transfer chamber 410 may be configured to couple with one or more processing chambers capable of forming crystalline silicon or silicon germanium.

  In operation, substrates are conveyed from the pod 430 to the vacuum processing system 400 in a transport cassette (not shown) positioned in one of the load lock chambers 412. A robotic transfer mechanism within the second transfer chamber 410 transports the substrates from the load lock chamber 412 one at a time to the first plasma cleaning chamber 414, where oxide is removed from the surface of the substrate Then, a cleaning process, for example the process found in box 102 is performed. Once the oxide is removed from the substrate surface, a robotic transfer mechanism disposed within the second transfer chamber 410 transfers the substrate from the first plasma cleaning chamber 414 to the second plasma cleaning chamber 416, where In order to remove contaminants such as carbon or hydrocarbons from the substrate surface, a reduction treatment, for example the treatment found in box 104, is performed. The steps here may also be performed in the reverse order, ie using a robotic transfer mechanism to transfer the substrate from the second plasma cleaning chamber 416 to the first plasma cleaning chamber 414 . In any case, the cleaning substrate may then be removed from the second plasma cleaning chamber 416 (or first plasma cleaning chamber 414) by a robotic transport mechanism disposed within the first transfer chamber 404. It is transferred to the processing chambers 402a-402d. The one or more processing chambers 402 a-402 d may include an epitaxy processing chamber in which a layer forming process such as epitaxial deposition described in box 106 is performed.

  Once processing in one or more of the processing chambers 402 a-402 d is complete, a robotic transport mechanism disposed in the first transfer chamber 404 passes the substrate from any one of the processing chambers 402 to the transit station 408. Move to The substrate is then removed from the pass station 408 by a robotic transfer mechanism disposed within the second transfer chamber 410, transferred to the other load lock chamber 412, and withdrawn therefrom through the vacuum processing system 400. .

  Because the processing of all three boxes 102, 104 and 106 is performed within the same vacuum processing system 400, the vacuum is not broken as the substrate is transferred between the various chambers, reducing the chance of contamination. The quality of the deposited epitaxial film is improved. It should be understood that the movement of the substrate is described herein for illustrative purposes. A controller (not shown) may be used to schedule the movement of the substrate through the vacuum processing system 400 according to the desired ordering program, which may vary depending on the application.

  Advantages of the present disclosure include an improved vacuum processing system that integrates two different types of preclean processing chambers with an epitaxial processing chamber on the same vacuum processing system. The pre-cleaning process chamber may include a first plasma cleaning process chamber and a second plasma cleaning process chamber. The coexistence of two surface material removal chambers on the same vacuum processing system allows the substrate to be kept vacuum between surface preparation and epitaxial deposition, thereby reducing the time the substrate is exposed to the environment There is no need to prepare the substrate on another processing chamber or system. This architecture also maximizes the number of processing chambers on the vacuum system as the pass station between the two transfer chambers also functions as a pre-clean processing chamber, which also reduces the overall processing time of the substrate.

  While the above is directed to the embodiments of the present disclosure, other further embodiments of the present disclosure may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof.

Claims (15)

A first transfer chamber coupled to the at least one processing chamber that is an epitaxy processing chamber;
A second transfer chamber,
A transition station disposed between and coupled to the first transfer chamber and the second transfer chamber and including a first plasma cleaning chamber;
A second plasma cleaning chamber coupled to the second transfer chamber;
A load lock chamber coupled to the second transfer chamber.   The vacuum processing system of claim 1, wherein the first plasma cleaning chamber comprises an inductively coupled plasma source. The first plasma cleaning chamber
A chamber body having a chamber enclosure surrounding a substrate support including one or more heating elements;
A drive unit coupled to the substrate support for vertically moving the substrate support;
A remote plasma source,
A passage tube coupling the remote plasma source to the chamber body;
At least one magnet disposed adjacent to the passage tube;
A gas supply plate disposed within the chamber body and having a plurality of apertures formed through the thickness of the gas supply plate, wherein the gas supply plate and the substrate support are between them A gas supply plate defining one plenum;
A pump coupled to the chamber enclosure;
The vacuum processing system of claim 1, comprising a throttle valve disposed between the pump and the chamber enclosure.   The vacuum processing system of claim 3, wherein the one or more heating elements are capable of heating the object to a temperature range of about 450 ° C to about 650 ° C.   The vacuum processing system according to claim 3, wherein the inner surface of the passage tube is coated with or manufactured from quartz.   4. The vacuum processing system of claim 3, wherein the pump and the throttle valve are capable of maintaining the pressure inside the first plasma cleaning chamber in a pressure range of about 0.005 Torr to about 500 Torr during processing. The chamber body is
With the lid,
A liner plate disposed along the bottom of the lid and coated with or manufactured from quartz;
A processing kit housing disposed between the lid and the chamber enclosure, the inner surface of the processing kit housing supporting the gas supply plate;
An upper liner disposed along the inner surface of the process kit housing and coated with quartz or manufactured from quartz, the upper liner, the liner plate, and the gas supply plate therein. An upper liner defining a second plenum;
4. The vacuum processing system of claim 3, further comprising: a lower liner disposed on the inner surface of the processing kit housing and coated with quartz or manufactured from quartz and surrounding an outer boundary of the first plenum. .   The vacuum processing system of claim 1, wherein the second plasma cleaning chamber comprises a capacitively coupled plasma source. The second plasma cleaning chamber
A chamber body,
A lid assembly including two electrodes coupled to the chamber body and defining a plasma space between the two electrodes;
A substrate support disposed within the chamber body;
A gas supply plate disposed between the lid assembly and the substrate support;
The vacuum processing system of claim 1, further comprising: a vacuum pump coupled to the chamber body.   The vacuum processing system of claim 1, wherein the transition station comprises a first passage station and a second passage station, and the first plasma cleaning chamber is disposed within the first passage station.   The vacuum processing system according to claim 1, wherein the transition station comprises a first passage station and a second passage station, and the first plasma cleaning chamber is coupled to the first passage station. A first transfer chamber including a first substrate handling mechanism;
A transition station coupled to the first transfer chamber, the transition station having a first plasma cleaning chamber coupled to or disposed within the transition station;
A vacuum processing system comprising: at least one processing chamber coupled to the first transfer chamber and being an epitaxy chamber. The first plasma cleaning chamber
A chamber body having an enclosure surrounding a substrate support including one or more heating elements;
A drive unit coupled to the substrate support for vertically moving the substrate support;
A remote plasma source,
A passage tube coupling the remote plasma source to the chamber body;
At least one magnet disposed adjacent to the passage tube;
A gas supply plate disposed within the chamber body and having a plurality of apertures formed through the thickness of the gas supply plate, wherein the gas supply plate and the substrate support are between them A gas supply plate defining one plenum;
13. The vacuum processing system of claim 12, comprising a pump coupled to the chamber body. A second transfer chamber coupled to the first transfer chamber and the transfer station and including a second substrate handling mechanism;
A second plasma cleaning chamber coupled to the second transfer chamber;
13. The vacuum processing system of claim 12, further comprising: a load lock chamber coupled to the second transfer chamber. The second plasma cleaning chamber
A chamber body surrounding a substrate support having a substrate support surface;
A first electrode, and a second electrode, wherein the first electrode is disposed vertically above the second electrode, and the first and second electrodes define a plasma space therebetween , A lid assembly including a second electrode,
A gas supply plate disposed between the lid assembly and the substrate support;
15. The vacuum processing system of claim 14, further comprising: a pump coupled to the chamber body.

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