JP3157380B2 - Processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a “wafer”) on which a semiconductor device such as an LSI is formed, a magnetron discharge is performed in various processes including sputtering and etching. Is used.

[0003] For example, a magnetron RIE apparatus is provided with a magnetic field fluctuation device having a permanent magnet rotatably mounted above a processing chamber in order to form a magnetic field region of, for example, about 100 to 120 G in parallel with the wafer. A high-density plasma is generated by using magnetron discharge by an orthogonal electromagnetic field formed in the above-described process, and a predetermined etching process is performed on a wafer to be processed.

[0004]

However, if a plurality of processing chambers configured to perform predetermined processing by utilizing magnetic field fluctuation such as the above-mentioned rotating magnetic field exist close to each other, the amount of magnetic field leakage is reduced. Was larger than the single unit. Such a magnetic field leakage from the fluctuating magnetic field is undesirable because various electronic devices (particularly magnetic field devices) are adversely affected, such as an image distorted by an electron microscope.

[0005] This is not only the case of a processing apparatus having a multi-chamber system having a plurality of processing chambers in one apparatus main body, but also a case where a plurality of apparatuses having one processing chamber are installed in close proximity. However, exactly the same problem occurs. In order to prevent this, for example, it is conceivable that the influence of the magnetic field leakage is reduced as much as possible, for example, by keeping the distance between the processing chambers large, but the size of the apparatus and the space in the installed clean room are limited. Yes, practically difficult. It is also conceivable that the entire processing chamber, including the magnetic field fluctuation device, may be shielded by a magnetic shielding material such as soft iron, but this is extremely difficult to manufacture, and if maintenance is taken into consideration, there is a problem with practicality. There is.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and as described above, when there are a plurality of magnetic field fluctuation devices, these devices can be used without using the above-described magnetic shielding material. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a processing device that does not increase the amount of magnetic field leakage due to mutual influences and does not affect various electronic devices such as an electron microscope, thereby solving the problems described above. .

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an airtight processing chamber, and a magnetic field fluctuation device provided corresponding to the processing chamber.
A processing apparatus configured to perform predetermined processing on an object to be processed in the processing chamber under the influence of a rotating magnetic field generated by the magnetic field fluctuation device, wherein the processing chamber is provided in one apparatus main body. A plurality of the processing chambers are provided in one apparatus main body, and a magnetic field fluctuation device is provided for each processing chamber.
A permanent magnet that is rotatably driven
The rotation of the permanent magnet is synchronized so that the directions of the respective magnetic fields in the magnetic field due to the rotation of n are mutually canceled. in this case,
The synchronization of the rotation of the permanent magnet is such that the magnetic poles of each permanent magnet are linear.
The poles are set so that they face each other when they are
It can also be suggested.

In such a case, as described in claim 3 ,
The processing chamber may be provided in each of a plurality of apparatus main bodies, and may be configured as a processing apparatus.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, each of the processing apparatuses configured as described above further includes a magnetic field sensor and a magnetic field generating means, and the magnetic field generating means is provided based on a detection signal of the magnetic field sensor. Is controlled so that the directions of the respective magnetic fields in the respective rotating magnetic fields of the respective processing chambers are canceled out.

[0010]

According to the first aspect, when one apparatus main body has a plurality of processing chambers, the direction of each magnetic field in each rotating magnetic field generated for each processing chamber is the same as the direction of each magnetic field fluctuation. Since the devices cancel each other out, the amount of magnetic field leakage does not increase even if they are not shielded by a special magnetic shield material.

According to the third aspect , the plurality of devices are, so to speak, one.
Permanent magnets generated in the processing chambers provided in each of a plurality of equipment main units when the processing system is considered as one processing system
Since the directions of the respective magnetic fields in the rotating magnetic field due to are canceled out by the respective magnetic field variation devices, the amount of magnetic field leakage does not increase as in the case of the first aspect.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, each of the processing devices configured as described above further includes a magnetic field sensor and a magnetic field generating unit, and the magnetic field generating unit controls the magnetic field generating unit based on a detection signal of the magnetic field sensor. Since the direction of each magnetic field in each rotating magnetic field in each processing chamber is configured to be canceled, the amount of magnetic field leakage can be further suppressed by the magnetic field generating means. Therefore, even if the amount of leakage of the magnetic field becomes large due to some reason or unexpected cause, it is possible to automatically compensate for this.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, based on a magnetron RIE apparatus configured to perform an etching process on an object to be processed, for example, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a “wafer”),
FIG. 1 shows a plan view of an entire magnetron RIE apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. This magnetron RIE apparatus 1 has two cassette chambers 2 for accommodating wafers in cassette units. 3 and gate valves 4 and 5 corresponding to the cassette chambers 2 and 3 respectively.
, And process chambers 9, 10 provided adjacent to the transfer chamber 6 via gate valves 7, 8, respectively.
And employs a so-called multi-chamber system configuration.

The cassette chambers 2 and 3 have the same configuration. As shown in FIG. 2, a predetermined number of wafers W to be processed, for example, 25, are stored in the cassette chamber 2 (3). A turntable 11 is provided on which a cassette C in which sheets are stored vertically is placed.

In the transfer chamber 6, the wafers W stored in the cassettes C in the cassette chambers 2 and 3 are taken out one by one and transferred to the process chambers 9 and 10 described above. Transfer device 12 is provided. The transfer device 12 includes a transfer arm 13 that can be extended and retracted, and a base 14 that can be moved up and down and turned.
The surface of the transfer arm 13 is coated with a conductive Teflon or the like to take measures against static electricity.

The magnetron RIE according to this embodiment
The apparatus 1 employs a multi-chamber system having two process chambers 9 and 10, and has a high throughput by itself. However, in order to perform processing more efficiently, the wafer W is held in the transfer apparatus 12. If a buffer mechanism is provided to wait for this, the throughput can be further improved.

The above-mentioned cassette chambers 2, 3
At the bottom of each of the transfer chamber 6 and each of the process chambers 9 and 10 described below, the corresponding exhaust ports 15 and
16 and 17 are provided, for example, by operating each of an exhaust device 18 such as a turbo pump and exhaust valves 19, 20 and 21, a predetermined reduced-pressure atmosphere, for example, 10 ^-5 Torr to 10 ^-1 Torr is provided in each of these chambers. Are configured to be independently evacuated to an arbitrary degree of vacuum within the range.

Since the above-mentioned process chambers 9 and 10 have exactly the same structure, for example,
Referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 schematically shows a cross section of the process chamber 9. The process chamber 9 has a wall formed of a material such as aluminum, and is electrically grounded. It is configured as a sealed airtight container.

At the center of the bottom of the process chamber 9, a susceptor support 32 is provided via an insulating plate 31 made of ceramic or the like. Further, the upper surface of the susceptor support 32 has a lower surface made of a material such as aluminum. A susceptor 33 constituting an electrode is provided. The susceptor support 3
2, a refrigerant chamber 34 is formed, and in this refrigerant chamber 34, a temperature controlling refrigerant introduced from a refrigerant introduction pipe 35 provided at the bottom and discharged from a refrigerant discharge pipe 36 circulates. The susceptor 33 can be controlled to a predetermined temperature.

A high-frequency power supply 37 for supplying high-frequency power having a frequency of, for example, 13.56 MHz to the susceptor 33 is provided outside the process chamber 9. A matching device 38 and a blocking capacitor 39 are provided.
Through the supply lead wire 40 through the susceptor 33
Is applied.

On the other hand, on the upper surface of the susceptor 33, there is provided an electrostatic chuck 41 on which a wafer W to be processed is directly mounted and held by suction. This electrostatic chuck 4
1 has a configuration in which a conductive layer 42 made of, for example, electrolytic foil copper is bonded from both upper and lower sides with an insulator such as a polyimide film interposed therebetween, and a high-voltage DC power supply 43 provided outside the process chamber 9 is used. , For example, 2.0 kV
Is applied to the conductive layer 42, the wafer W is configured to be suction-held on the electrostatic chuck 41 by Coulomb force.

An upper electrode 52 which is electrically grounded via a ground line 51 is provided above the process chamber 9. The upper electrode 52 is made of, for example, a material such as aluminum which has been subjected to surface treatment with amorphous carbon or SiC, and has a hollow structure as a whole.
A large number of gas diffusion holes 53 are provided on the surface of the upper electrode 52 facing the wafer W. At the upper center of the upper electrode 52, a gas introduction port 55 communicating with the processing gas introduction pipe 54 is provided, and a processing gas such as an etching gas supplied from the processing gas introduction pipe 54 is supplied to the gas introduction port 55. Many gas diffusion holes 53
, So as to be uniformly discharged toward the wafer W.

On the upper surface of the upper electrode 52 having such a configuration, a permanent magnet 61 having different magnetic poles at both ends is provided.
Are arranged in close proximity. The permanent magnet 61 is configured to rotate at a desired rotational speed about the processing gas introduction pipe 54 as a rotation center thereof by a driving mechanism (not shown) such as a motor.
A substantially uniform parallel magnetic field, for example, a magnetic field of an arbitrary value in the range of 10 to 1000 G can be formed on the surface of the wafer W mounted on the wafer W.

The process chamber 9 is constructed as described above. On the other hand, the other process chambers 10 are constructed in exactly the same manner. However, a permanent magnet 61 rotatably provided above the process chamber 9 is provided. The permanent magnet 61 'rotatably provided on the upper part of the process chamber 10 is arranged such that each magnetic pole repels and cancels its magnetic field, as shown in FIG.
The magnetic poles of the permanent magnet 61 and the permanent magnet 61 'are linear
The poles are set so that they face each other when they are
Ri, as further shown in FIG. 4, to rotate in exactly and in the same direction at the same rotational speed, both permanent magnets 61 and 61 '
The rotation of is synchronized. In this example,
Distance L between rotation centers of both permanent magnets 61 and 61 '
Is set to 1100 mm.

The magnetron RIE apparatus 1 according to this embodiment is configured as described above. Next, a process of performing an etching process on a wafer W by the magnetron RIE apparatus 1 will be described. The cassette C containing 25 wafers W according to FIG.
The exhaust valve 19 is opened after the gate valve 22 is closed and then the gate valve 22 is closed.
The pressure in the cassette chamber 2 is reduced to, for example, 10 ^-1 Torr. Similarly, cassette chamber 3
Another cassette containing the wafer W is loaded therein.

Thereafter, the gate valve 4 is opened,
Wafer W from the cassette C is taken out by the transfer arm 13, it is conveyed into the transfer chamber 6, after the gate valve 4 is closed, by the opening of the exhaust valve 20, in this transfer chamber 6, for example, 10 ^-3
The pressure is reduced to Torr. Next, the gate valve 7 is opened, and the wafer W taken out is transferred to the transfer arm 13.
Is transferred into the process chamber 9 and placed on the electrostatic chuck 41. After the transfer arm 13 retreats into the transfer chamber 6, the gate valve 7 is closed, and the wafer W is suction-held on the electrostatic chuck 41 by applying a high-voltage DC power supply 43.

Thereafter, the pressure in the process chamber 9 is reduced by opening the exhaust valve 21, and an etching reaction gas, for example, CF ₄ gas is supplied from the gas inlet 55 into the process chamber 9 through the gas diffusion holes 53. The pressure in the process chamber 9 is, for example, 10 ⁻⁵ Torr.
r is set and maintained.

Then, the permanent magnet 61 is driven to rotate, and a magnetic field is applied near the center of the wafer W so as to form a magnetic field of 100 G, for example.
When a high frequency power of 3.56 MHz is applied to the susceptor 33, plasma is generated between the susceptor 33 and the upper electrode 52, and anisotropic etching by the reactive ions accelerated by the sheath layer is performed on the wafer W. It is done.

At this time, in the other process chambers 10 as well, the wafers taken out of the cassette loaded in the cassette chamber 3 are subjected to the etching process in parallel through exactly the same process. The permanent magnet 61 ′ provided for forming a rotating magnetic field in the process chamber 10 and the permanent magnet 61 of the process chamber 9 are arranged such that respective magnetic poles repel and cancel the magnetic field. And are configured to rotate synchronously as they are, so that these permanent magnets 61,
The direction of each magnetic field of the magnetic field formed by 61 'is negated.

Therefore, two process chambers 9,
10, the amount of the magnetic field leaking to the periphery of the magnetron RIE apparatus 1 is extremely small, despite the fact that the fluctuating magnetic field is formed in two places as a result.

Specifically, the result shown in the graph of FIG. 5 is obtained. That is, the graph shows the relationship between the distance from the permanent magnet 61 and the magnitude of the leakage magnetic field. In the graph, a curve X represents the characteristic obtained by the present embodiment, and a curve Y represents the characteristic obtained by the present embodiment. Is different, permanent magnet 6
This shows the characteristics when the magnetic pole arrangements of the magnetic poles 1 and 61 'are set so as to attract each other.

As can be seen from this graph, it can be confirmed that this embodiment has a smaller leakage magnetic field amount. Therefore, even if an electron microscope is present around the magnetron RIE device 1 according to the present embodiment, the image is not disturbed and does not adversely affect other magnetic field electronic devices. It is.

The magnetron RI according to the above embodiment
In the E device 1, a permanent magnet 6 is used as a magnetic field fluctuation device.
1, 61 ′ is rotated. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, even in a magnetic field device configured to form a plurality of alternating magnetic fields using an electromagnet, the electromagnet is configured to cancel each magnetic field. By controlling, the same effect as that of the present embodiment can be obtained.

Further, the magnetron R according to the above embodiment is used.
A magnetic field sensor and a magnetic field generating means such as an electromagnet or a rotating permanent magnet are installed around the IE device 1, and the magnetic field generating means is controlled based on a detection signal of the magnetic field sensor to control each of the process chambers 9 and 10. If it is configured to cancel the direction of each magnetic field, it is possible to further reduce the amount of stray magnetic field, and to automatically compensate for the amount of stray magnetic field even if it increases due to some unexpected situation. Becomes possible.

The magnetron RI according to the above embodiment
Although the E apparatus 1 is a so-called multi-chamber type magnetic field processing apparatus having two process chambers, the present invention is applicable to a so-called single chamber type magnetron RIE apparatus having only one process chamber. it can.

That is, when there are a plurality of such single chamber type magnetron RIE devices, the arrangement of the rotating permanent magnets in each magnetron RIE device is changed to the position of each permanent magnet 6 in the process chambers 9 and 10 in this embodiment.
Similar to the arrangement of the magnetic poles 1 and 61 ′, if the arrangement is such that the magnetic fields are canceled each other, the rotation direction of these rotating permanent magnets is made the same, and their rotations are synchronized. In addition, it is possible to reduce the amount of the leakage magnetic field.

The processing apparatus used in the above embodiment is a magnetron RIE apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can be applied to other processing apparatuses configured to perform processing, such as a sputtering apparatus, and is not limited to a semiconductor wafer as in the above-described embodiment, and may be, for example, a processing to perform processing on an LCD substrate. The present invention is also applicable to devices.

[0038]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, even when a processing chamber having a magnetic field fluctuation device is in close proximity, the amount of magnetic field leakage can be suppressed without using a shielding means such as a magnetic shielding material. There is no adverse effect on peripheral electronic devices such as an electron microscope.

According to the third aspect , even if a plurality of apparatuses having a processing chamber provided with a magnetic field fluctuation apparatus are close to each other, the first aspect may be modified as follows.
Similarly to the case described above, the amount of magnetic field leakage can be suppressed, and there is no adverse effect on peripheral electronic devices such as an electron microscope.

According to the fourth aspect , in each of the processing apparatuses configured as described above, the amount of magnetic field leakage can be further suppressed, and the amount of magnetic field leakage increases for some reason or unexpected reason. However, it is possible to compensate for this automatically.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory plan view of a magnetron RIE apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory sectional view of a magnetron RIE apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view schematically showing a cross section of a process chamber in the magnetron RIE apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory plan view showing the arrangement of the magnetic poles of the permanent magnets and the state of rotation synchronization thereof in the magnetron RIE apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a relationship between a distance from a permanent magnet and a magnetic field leakage amount in the magnetron RIE apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Magnetron RIE apparatus 2, 3 Cassette chamber 6 Transfer chamber 9, 10 Process chamber 33 Susceptor 37 High frequency power supply 52 Upper electrode 61, 61 'Permanent magnet C Cassette W Wafer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Fumihiko Higuchi 2-3-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Inside Tokyo Electron Limited (72) Hideaki Amano 2-3-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo No. Tokyo Electron Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-6-53177 (JP, A) JP-A-4-152250 (JP, A) JP-A-2-85364 (JP, A) Jpn. 63559 (JP, U) US Patent 5,554,249 (US, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/3065 C23C 14/35 H01L 21/203

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] An airtight processing chamber, and a magnetic field fluctuation device provided corresponding to the processing chamber, wherein the processing chamber is affected by a fluctuation magnetic field generated by the magnetic field fluctuation device. A plurality of the processing chambers are provided in one apparatus main body, and each of the processing chambers is rotationally driven as a magnetic field fluctuation device. Magnetic
Stones are provided, and the rotations of the permanent magnets are synchronized so that the directions of the respective magnetic fields in the magnetic field due to the rotation of the permanent magnets cancel each other.
A processing device, characterized in that the processing device is 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rotation of the permanent magnet is synchronized with each permanent magnet.
When the magnetic poles of stones are aligned in a straight line, they will face each other
2. The processing device according to claim 1, wherein the processing device is set to: 3. The processing chamber is provided in each of a plurality of apparatus main bodies.
Characterized in that it has been, the processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. And a magnetic field generating means.
The magnetic field generating means based on the detection signal of the magnetic field sensor of
The direction of each magnetic field in each rotating magnetic field for each processing chamber is controlled.
The contractor is characterized in that
A processing device according to claim 1, 2, or 3.