JP4436098B2 - Semiconductor manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that processes a substrate using, for example, plasma, and more particularly to the structure of the substrate processing chamber.

  In recent years, processing using plasma has been actively performed in the manufacturing processes of various semiconductor devices, liquid crystal displays, solar cells, and the like. For example, in the etching of a silicon oxide film formed on a silicon semiconductor, etching is performed by utilizing the action of active species or ions generated in plasma as one of dry etching techniques. Further, as the integration of semiconductor devices becomes higher, the wiring also becomes multilayer wiring, and an insulating film (interlayer insulating film) must be provided between the wirings. There is also a method of introducing a reactive gas into the reaction chamber where the process is performed, applying heat to react the gas, and forming a film on the substrate surface. However, this method requires a relatively high temperature, so the device Recently, a plasma CVD method in which energy necessary for activation of reaction is given by plasma generated through glow discharge has been widely used. Furthermore, the plasma CVD method is also used for film formation of solar cells and the like.

  As a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for processing a substrate using plasma, a modified magnetron high-frequency discharge type plasma processing apparatus in which a cylindrical electrode is disposed outside a vacuum vessel forming a chamber of a reaction chamber has attracted attention.

  This plasma processing apparatus is a plasma processing furnace using a modified magnetron type plasma source, and a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer is installed in a processing chamber that ensures airtightness, and a reactive gas is supplied to the processing chamber. Introduce. Maintaining the processing chamber at a certain pressure, supplying high frequency power to the discharge electrode to form an electric field, applying a magnetic field to generate a magnetron discharge to generate plasma, and processing the substrate using this plasma It has become.

  FIG. 7 shows a cross section of this conventional plasma processing apparatus. The processing vessel 10 forming the chamber of the reaction chamber is composed of a metal lower vessel 1 and a dome-like upper vessel 2 made of an insulating material (alumina in this case), and can be opened and closed for internal component replacement and cleaning. It has a structure. Usually, an O-ring is provided as a sealing member between the lower part of the upper container 2 to be opened and closed and the lower container 1, whereby the processing container 10 is hermetically sealed so that the inside can be kept in a vacuum. A reaction chamber (processing chamber) 20 which is a plasma processing region is formed inside the container 10.

  The upper container 2 is provided with a shower plate 3 for supplying a reaction gas in a shower shape at the upper part, and a metal upper lid 4 is installed on the upper container 2 via an O-ring. The upper lid 4 can also be used as an electrode and can supply a high frequency. When two or more kinds of gases are used, the gases can be mixed in the gas dispersion chamber 12 formed between the shower plate 3 and the upper lid 4 of the upper container 2.

  On the outer wall of the processing vessel 10, for example, a cylindrical discharge electrode 15 that forms a high-frequency electric field for magnetron discharge and discharges the gas supplied into the processing vessel 10 is provided. The discharge electrode 15 is connected to a high frequency power source so that a high frequency is supplied to the electrode.

  Similarly, a pair of upper and lower permanent magnets 16 formed in a ring shape is provided on the outer wall of the processing vessel 10. The permanent magnet 16 is arranged in a ring shape so as to surround the cylindrical discharge electrode 15. The pair of permanent magnets 16 are magnetized in the radial direction and magnetized in opposite directions. Thereby, magnetic lines of force having a magnetic field having a component substantially parallel to the axial direction of the cylindrical discharge electrode 15 are formed in the cylindrical axial direction along the inner surface of the cylindrical discharge electrode 15.

  Plasma is generated inside the dome-shaped upper container 2 by introducing a predetermined gas in a vacuum state in the chamber and applying a high frequency to the cylindrical electrode 15 by the apparatus having the above configuration. A susceptor 5 serving as a substrate mounting table is disposed in the lower container 1, and a substrate 6 to be processed such as a silicon wafer is disposed thereon. The plasma generated inside the upper container 2 is diffused to obtain a substantially uniform plasma density on the substrate 6 to be processed, so that uniform processing is possible.

  In this plasma processing furnace, if the shower plate 3 has a gas outlet having a metal corner where the electric field tends to concentrate, the corner of the round hole of the gas outlet provided in the shower plate 3 is directed to the shower plate 3. Because the ions in the plasma collide with the corners of the round holes, the corners are sputtered by the ions, and the repelled material falls onto the wafer as particles, causing the wafer to be contaminated with metal. There is. In view of this, it is also considered that the shower plate 3 is made of a dielectric material such as quartz instead of metal to reduce spatter at the gas outlet (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  As described above, the reaction chamber 20 serving as a substrate processing chamber includes a metal lower container 1, an insulating dome-shaped upper container 2, a shower plate 3 for introducing gas from above the upper container 2, and an upper container. 2 has a structure in which the vacuum is maintained by the upper lid 4 for maintaining the vacuum above 2.

  In the reaction chamber 20, a susceptor 5 serving as a substrate mounting table having a mounting portion for setting a substrate 6 to be processed such as a silicon wafer, lift pins (substrate lifting pins) 8 for separating the substrate from the susceptor 5 during substrate transfer, A block 7 for fixing the lift pin 8 to the lower container 1 is disposed. The susceptor 5 has a built-in heater, and has a temperature of about 400 to 600 ° C. when the substrate is processed.

On the other hand, the lift pins 8 for separating the substrate from the susceptor 5 are usually composed of three and fixed to the lower container 1 via the block 7. And the susceptor 5 is provided so that raising / lowering is possible, and the through-hole 5a for inserting the said three lift pins 8 is provided in three places in the mounting part which mounts the board | substrate. Then, when the substrate is transported, the susceptor 5 is lowered as shown in the figure, whereby the lift pin 8 penetrates the through hole 5a in a non-contact state with the susceptor 5, and the substrate is pushed up from the upper surface of the susceptor 5.
JP 2001-196354 A

  By the way, the same reactor may be used by switching between wafers having a diameter of 200 mm and a diameter of 300 mm, for example. In such a case, at present, the susceptors for the 200 mm diameter wafer and the 300 mm diameter wafer must be exchanged, and the lift pin positions need to be changed to different positions. Specifically, for a susceptor for a 200 mm diameter wafer, three circumferences are arranged at 134 mm, and for a susceptor for a 300 mm diameter wafer, three circumferences are arranged at 280 mm. Since the block 7 is fixed to the lower container 1 with a screw and there is a margin in the stop hole, the position of the lift pin (both blocks) is adjusted so that the lift pin and the susceptor do not interfere with each other.

  Here, the block 7 that supports the lift pins 8 is made of quartz or alumina, and the material of the lift pins 8 is quartz or alumina. The material of the susceptor 5 is aluminum nitride or quartz.

  However, although the temperature of the lower container 1 is about 80 ° C. due to the radiant heat of the susceptor 5, the susceptor lift pins are different during the assembly at room temperature because the thermal expansion of the susceptor 5 and the thermal expansion of the lower container 1 are different. Even if the lift pin 8 is adjusted so that it comes to the center of the hole (through hole 5a), the lift pin 8 interferes with the susceptor 5 when the temperature of the susceptor 5 is raised during vacuum.

  Although it is conceivable to increase the lift pin hole of the susceptor, if the lift pin hole is enlarged, the temperature of the substrate becomes non-uniform in the surface and affects the film formation, and therefore the lift pin hole cannot be increased excessively.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, to easily check interference between a lift pin and a susceptor of a substrate processing apparatus, and to form a semiconductor processing apparatus having a structure of a substrate processing chamber (reaction chamber) that can be easily assembled. Is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention includes a substrate processing chamber for processing a substrate, and a substrate mounting table in which a through hole is provided in a mounting portion for mounting the substrate. And a substrate raising / lowering pin inserted into the through hole, and a transparent portion is disposed at least on the upper wall of the substrate processing chamber so that the through hole can be seen from the outside of the processing chamber.

  According to the present invention, in an actual environment where the temperature of the susceptor is raised by evacuating the processing chamber, the lift pin and the susceptor can be visually confirmed and the interference between the two can be easily confirmed. Correct positioning can be easily performed without spending time.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. The plasma processing furnace constituting the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment is a substrate processing furnace (hereinafter referred to as an MMT apparatus) that performs plasma processing on a substrate such as a wafer using a modified magnetron type plasma source capable of generating high-density plasma by an electric field and a magnetic field. Called).

[Embodiment 1]
A schematic configuration of Embodiment 1 of the present invention is shown in FIG. This MMT apparatus has a structure in which an upper lid 12 is provided as a temporary jig instead of the upper lid 4. FIG. 2 shows the structure of the original MMT apparatus as a premise, and basically has the same configuration as the apparatus of FIG. 7 except for the structure of the upper lid 4.

  First, a basic MMT apparatus as a premise will be described with reference to FIG. The MMT apparatus includes a processing container 10 composed of a first container and a second container. A processing chamber (reaction chamber) 20 for processing the substrate 6 is formed from the lower container 1 as the second container and the upper container 2 as the first container placed on the lower container 1. . The upper container 2 is formed in a dome shape with a dielectric of aluminum nitride, aluminum oxide or quartz, and the lower container 1 is formed of aluminum. Further, the susceptor 5 which is a heater-type substrate holding means described later is made of aluminum nitride, ceramics or quartz, thereby reducing metal contamination taken into the film during processing.

  A shower head 236 is provided above the upper container 2. A gas inlet 234 that is an inlet for introducing gas is provided in the upper part of the shower head 236, and a gas outlet 239 that is an outlet hole for blowing gas into the processing chamber 20 is provided in the lower part of the shower head. The gas introduction port 234 is connected to a gas cylinder (not shown) of the reaction gas 230 via a gas supply pipe 232 which is a supply pipe for supplying gas, via a valve 243a which is an on-off valve and a mass flow controller 241 which is a flow control means. ing.

  The shower head 236 includes a buffer chamber 237, an opening 238, a shielding plate 240, and a gas outlet 239. The buffer chamber 237 is provided as a gas dispersion space into which gas is introduced into the upper portion of the processing chamber 20. The buffer chamber 237 includes a cap-shaped upper lid 4 that closes the opening 238, an opening peripheral portion 229, and a shielding plate 240 that covers the opening 238. Since the shielding plate 240 is provided in the buffer chamber 237, the gas dispersion space is substantially a space formed between the upper lid 4 and the shielding plate 240. The upper lid 4 is made of aluminum separate from the upper container 2 made of a dielectric, and is set to a ground potential for plasma stabilization. The opening 238 is provided in the ceiling of the processing chamber 20 facing the main surface of the substrate 6 and is configured to communicate the buffer chamber 237 and the processing chamber 20. The opening diameter may be substantially the same as or larger than that of the substrate 6. Details will be described later.

  Exhaust gas is supplied to the processing chamber 20 from the shower head 236 described above, and exhausts the gas to the side wall of the lower container 1 so that the gas after substrate processing flows from the periphery of the susceptor 5 toward the bottom of the processing chamber 20. A gas exhaust port 235 which is a port is provided. The gas exhaust port 235 is connected to a vacuum pump 246, which is an exhaust device, via an APC (Automatic Pressure Controller) 242, which is a pressure regulator, and a valve 243b, which is an on-off valve, by a gas exhaust pipe 231 which is an exhaust pipe for exhausting gas. ing.

  The above-described mass flow controller 241, valve 243a, gas supply pipe 232, gas inlet 234, and shower head 236 constitute a gas supply unit 251. The gas exhaust port 235, the gas exhaust pipe 231, the APC 242, the valve 243b, and the vacuum pump 246 constitute a gas exhaust unit 252.

  The plasma generation means 280 that forms the plasma generation region 224 in the processing chamber 20 includes discharge means that excites the supplied reaction gas and magnetic field formation means that traps electrons. The discharging means includes a cylindrical electrode 15, a matching unit 272, and a high frequency power source 273. The magnetic field forming means is composed of a cylindrical magnet 16. The cylindrical electrode 15 has a cylindrical cross section, and is preferably composed of a cylindrical first electrode. The cylindrical electrode 15 is installed on the outer periphery of the processing chamber 20 and surrounds the plasma generation region 224 near the cylindrical electrode 15 in the processing chamber 20. A high frequency power supply 273 that applies high frequency power is connected to the cylindrical electrode 15 via a matching unit 272 that performs impedance matching. The matching device 272 and the high frequency power source 273 described above constitute high frequency power application means for applying high frequency power to the cylindrical electrode 15.

  The cylindrical magnet 16 has a cylindrical cross section, and is preferably formed of a cylindrical cylindrical magnet 16. The cylindrical magnet 16 is composed of a cylindrical permanent magnet. The material of the permanent magnet is, for example, a neodymium rare earth cobalt magnet. The cylindrical magnets 16 are arranged in two steps near the upper and lower ends in the cylindrical axis direction on the outer surface of the cylindrical electrode 15. The upper and lower cylindrical magnets 16, 16 have magnetic poles at both ends (inner peripheral end and outer peripheral end) along the radial direction of the processing chamber 20, and the magnetic poles of the upper and lower cylindrical magnets 16, 16 are set in opposite directions. Has been. Therefore, the magnetic poles in the inner peripheral portion are different from each other, and thereby, magnetic lines of force are formed in the cylindrical axis direction along the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical electrode 15. Further, since the cylindrical magnets 16 are provided in two stages, the magnetic lines of force can be extended to the center in the processing container 10, and the plasma can be efficiently diffused in the central part of the substrate 6.

  In the center of the bottom side of the processing chamber 20, a susceptor 5 serving as a substrate mounting table is disposed as a substrate holding means for holding the substrate 6 serving as a substrate. The susceptor 5 can heat the substrate 6. The susceptor 5 is made of, for example, aluminum nitride, and a heater (not shown) as a heating unit is integrally embedded therein. The heater can heat the substrate 6 to about 600 ° C. by applying high-frequency power.

  The susceptor 5 is also equipped with a second electrode that is an electrode for changing the impedance, and the second electrode is grounded via the impedance changing mechanism 274. The impedance variable mechanism 274 is composed of a coil and a variable capacitor, and can control the potential of the substrate 6 via the electrode and the susceptor 5 by controlling the number of coil patterns and the capacitance value of the variable capacitor. . The second electrode provided inside the susceptor 5 and the impedance variable mechanism 274 are also included in the discharge means described above.

  A processing furnace 202 for processing the substrate 6 by magnetron discharge in a magnetron type plasma source includes at least the processing chamber 20, the susceptor 5, the cylindrical electrode 15, the cylindrical magnet 16, the shower head 236, and the exhaust port 235. Thus, the substrate 6 can be subjected to plasma processing in the processing chamber 20.

  An electric field is formed around the cylindrical electrode 15 and the cylindrical magnet 16 so that the electric field and magnetic field formed by the cylindrical electrode 15 and the cylindrical magnet 16 do not adversely affect the external environment and other processing furnaces. And a shielding box 223 that effectively shields the magnetic field.

  The susceptor 5 is insulated from the grounded lower container 1 and is provided with a susceptor elevating mechanism 268 that is an elevating means for elevating and lowering the susceptor 5. Further, a through hole 5a is provided in the substrate mounting portion of the susceptor 5 serving as a substrate mounting table, and three lift pins (substrate lifting pins) 8 as substrate protruding means for protruding the substrate 6 are provided on the bottom surface of the lower container 1. It is provided in the place. The through hole 5a and the lift pin 8 are provided so that the lift pin 8 penetrates the through hole 5a without contacting the susceptor 5 when the susceptor 5 is lowered by the susceptor elevating mechanism 268.

  In addition, a gate valve 244 serving as a gate valve is provided on the side wall of the lower container 1. When the gate valve 244 is open, the substrate 6 is carried into or out of the processing chamber 20 by a conveying means (not shown), and when closed, the processing chamber is closed. 20 can be hermetically closed.

  The controller 121, which is a control means, turns on and off the high-frequency power supply 273, adjusts the matching units 272 and 274, opens and closes the valve 243a, the flow rate of the mass flow controller 241, the valve opening of the APC 242, the opening and closing of the valve 243b, and the vacuum Control of starting / stopping the pump 246, raising / lowering operation of the susceptor raising / lowering mechanism 268, opening / closing of the gate valve 244, and power ON / OFF to a high-frequency power source (not shown) for applying high-frequency power to the heater embedded in the susceptor. is doing.

A method for performing a predetermined plasma process on the surface of the substrate 6 or the surface of the base film formed on the substrate 6 in the plasma processing furnace configured as described above will be described.
The substrate 6 is carried into the processing chamber 20 by a transfer means (not shown) that transfers the wafer from the outside of the processing chamber 20 that constitutes the processing furnace 202, and is transferred onto the susceptor 5. The details of the transfer operation are as follows. First, the susceptor 5 is lowered, and the tip of the lift pin 8 passes through the through-hole 5a of the susceptor 5 and protrudes by a predetermined height from the surface of the susceptor 5. Then, the gate valve 244 provided in the lower container 1 is opened, the substrate 6 is placed on the tip of the lift pin by the conveying means not shown in the figure, and when the conveying means is retracted out of the processing chamber 20, the gate valve 244 is closed and the susceptor When 5 is raised by the susceptor elevating mechanism 268, the substrate 6 can be placed on the upper surface of the susceptor 5, and further raised to a position where the substrate 6 is processed.
The controller 121 preheats the heater embedded in the susceptor 5 and heats the loaded substrate 6 to a wafer processing temperature within a range of room temperature to 600 ° C. The pressure of the processing chamber 20 is maintained within a range of 1 to 260 Pa using the vacuum pump 246 and the APC 242.

The film forming conditions in the processing chamber in this embodiment are as follows, for example, in the case of forming a SiN film.
Wafer temperature 300-500 ° C,
Gas type A N2 500-1000 sccm,
Processing pressure 10 Pa to 260 Pa,
Applied high frequency power 0.1-0.5kW,
The chamber inner wall temperature is about 80 ° C.

  Magnetron discharge is generated under the influence of the magnetic field of the cylindrical magnets 16, 216, charges are trapped in the space above the substrate 6, and high density plasma is generated in the plasma generation region 224. Then, the surface of the substrate 6 on the susceptor 5 is subjected to plasma treatment by the generated high density plasma. The substrate 6 that has been subjected to the surface treatment is transported out of the processing chamber 20 using a transport means (not shown) in the reverse order of substrate transport.

  By the way, for the MMT apparatus described above, the shower head 236 for supplying gas to the processing chamber is important for plasma processing. In particular, in the present embodiment, the shower head 236 is configured as follows. The shower head 236 includes a buffer chamber 237, an opening 238, a shielding plate 240 that covers the opening 238, and a gas outlet 239. Of these, the shielding plate 240 has a disk shape with smooth upper and lower surfaces as shown in FIG. The diameter is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the buffer chamber 237 so as to fit in the buffer chamber 237. The shielding plate 240 is formed of a dielectric material such as quartz instead of metal so as not to be affected by the sputtering due to the plasma atmosphere as much as possible. A pair of notches 301 that do not penetrate are provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the outer periphery of the disc-shaped shielding plate 240. The notch 301 on the upper surface is configured to collect gas that has flowed radially outward along the upper surface of the shielding plate 240. The notch 301 on the lower surface is accumulated in the notch 301 on the upper surface, and the gas flowing down through the side surface of the shielding plate 240 is blown out into the processing chamber 20 from the opening 238. A plurality of notches 301 are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the shielding plate 240. The notch shape is substantially semicircular in the illustrated example, but is not limited thereto. If the gas flow path in which the gas outlet is formed is formed, the shape of the notch is arbitrary. In the illustrated example, a pair of notches 301 are provided on both the upper surface and the lower surface, but may be provided only on the lower surface. Further, the notch 301 may be provided by shifting the circumferential position between the upper surface and the lower surface.

  In order to cover the opening 238 with such a shielding plate 240, the following is performed. As shown in FIG. 4, an opening 238 having a diameter substantially the same as the wafer diameter or larger than the wafer diameter is provided in the ceiling of the processing chamber 20. The opening peripheral portion 229 is formed with a shielding plate supporting step 302 that is recessed toward the processing chamber 20 by shaving the ceiling wall of the processing chamber. The shielding plate 240 is dropped toward the opening 238 before being closed by the upper lid 4, and the outer peripheral portion of the shielding plate 240 where the notch 301 is not formed is supported by the bottom surface 302 b of the shielding plate supporting step 302. The opening 238 is covered with a shielding plate 240. At this time, a part of the notch 301 on the lower surface of the shielding plate 240 protrudes from the shielding plate supporting step 302 so that a gap through which gas flows is formed between the shielding plate 240 and the opening peripheral portion 229. This gap becomes the gas outlet 239. The number of gas outlets 239 matches the number of cutouts on the lower surface of the shielding plate. After the opening 238 is covered with the shielding plate 240, the opening 238 is closed with the upper lid 4.

  A plurality of gas outlets 239 are arranged in the buffer chamber 237 deeper than the opening surface of the opening 238 exposed to the plasma, and a plurality of gas outlets 239 are formed along the periphery of the opening 238. A gas flowing from the gas outlet 239 to the peripheral portion 229 of the opening is ejected into the processing chamber 20 by the shielding plate 240. In order to form the gas outlet 239 at a location deeper than the opening surface, the opening peripheral portion 229 needs to protrude radially inward, and for this reason, the opening peripheral portion 229 is shielded by denting the processing chamber 20 side. The plate supporting step 302 is projected inward in the radial direction.

  The cap-shaped upper lid 4 has its inner wall 233 a aligned with the inner wall 302 a of the shielding plate supporting step 302 and covers the ceiling of the processing chamber 20 to close the opening 238. As a result, a buffer chamber 237 that is partitioned from the processing chamber 20 by the cap-shaped upper lid 4 and the shielding plate 240 is formed on the processing chamber 20. Since the opening 238 on the ceiling of the processing chamber is covered with the shielding plate 240, the gas introduced into the buffer chamber 237 is not supplied into the processing chamber 20 from the main opening region of the opening 238. The gas introduced into the buffer chamber 237 is supplied only from the peripheral region of the opening 238 provided with the gas outlet 239.

  According to the said structure, compared with the thing of a prior art example, there are few generation | occurrence | production of a particle and it can reduce the probability that a particle will fall on a wafer. That is, in the embodiment, the shielding plate 240 covering the opening 238 is made of a dielectric material such as quartz, and the gas outlet 239 formed by the notch 301 is provided only in the periphery of the opening 238. The shielding plate 240 prevents the upper lid 4 grounded from the plasma generation region 224 through the gas outlet 239 from being seen. Even in this case, the ions constituting the plasma generated in the plasma generation region 224 move toward the grounding upper cover 4 disposed outside the shielding plate 240 and facing the shielding plate. However, since the upper lid 4 grounded from the plasma generation region 224 through the gas outlet 239 cannot be seen, ion bombardment to the gas outlet 239 is suppressed. At this time, even if the lower surface of the shielding plate 240 that is in contact with the plasma generation region 224 is sputtered by ions, the lower surface of the shielding plate 240 is a smooth surface and is thus only sputtered uniformly. Therefore, compared to the case where a gas outlet having a large number of corners exists on the entire surface of the shielding plate 240, the shielding plate 240 is less likely to be sputtered as a whole, and particles are not generated in such a large amount. Further, since the particles are dielectrics, they are not a metal contamination source.

  Further, since the shielding plate 240 is made of a dielectric, the substrate 6 is placed more than the number of electric lines of force E directed upward from the cylindrical electrode 15 as compared with the case where the shielding plate 240 is made of metal. It is possible to increase the number of downward lines of electric force E toward the susceptor 5. Therefore, since the plasma generation efficiency on the substrate 6 increases, the plasma processing speed can be improved. Further, since the opening 238 is covered with the shielding plate 240 from the buffer chamber side, the shielding plate 240 can be attached in the buffer chamber 237 by a simple operation of dropping the shielding plate 240 toward the opening. Attachment of the shielding plate 240 is facilitated.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, since the notch 301 is also provided on the upper surface of the shielding plate 240, the gas flowing along the shielding plate 240 can be accumulated in the notch 301 on the upper surface. The gas can flow smoothly into the notch 301 on the lower surface corresponding to the notch on the upper surface without being disturbed. Therefore, the in-plane uniformity of the plasma processing of the wafer can be improved.

  Returning to FIG. 1, Embodiment 1 will be described. The MMT apparatus of FIG. 1 has a structure in which an upper lid 12 is provided as a temporary jig instead of the upper lid 4. The upper lid 12 is provided with a window 11 that is a transparent portion as large as possible so that the positional relationship between the through hole 5a of the internal susceptor 5 and the lift pin can be easily recognized. The window 11 is made of a transparent insulating material such as quartz or sapphire, and the lid 12 is installed on the dome-shaped upper container 2 as a member for holding the window 11.

  As already described, when the reactor is used by switching between wafers having a diameter of 200 mm and a diameter of 300 mm, for example, at present, the susceptor 5 must be replaced and the positions of the lift pins 8 must be changed to different positions. Don't be. Therefore, once the apparatus is assembled, the lid 12 with the window 11 as a jig as shown in FIG. 1 is placed, and the lift pin 8 exists in the through hole 5a from the upper part of the reaction chamber and does not interfere with the susceptor 5. This is what I checked.

  After the temperature is raised to the normal use state, the block 7 is shifted and positioned while visually confirming the position of the lift pin 8 through the window 11, so that the positioning can be performed very easily and correctly.

[Embodiment 2]
In FIG. 1, when the reactor is switched between wafers having a diameter of 200 mm and a diameter of 300 mm, a lid 12 with a window 11 as a jig is placed, and lift pins (substrate lifting pins) 8 penetrate from the upper part of the processing chamber 20. It was confirmed whether it exists in the hole 5a and does not interfere with the susceptor 5.
However, the confirmation of the interference of the lift pins 8 is an operation for checking the temperature of the susceptor 5 by raising the vacuum in the chamber after setting the jig. Therefore, in order to remove the jig, the susceptor temperature is lowered again, and the inside of the processing chamber 20 is opened to the atmosphere. And the operation | work of installing the shower plate 3 or the shielding plate 240, and the upper cover 4 is needed. This series of operations consumes a great deal of time because the heating rate and cooling rate of the ceramic heater are about 5 to 10 ° C./min. Therefore, there is a further throughput technical problem in the apparatus of FIG.

  5 to 6 show a second embodiment of the present invention that solves this problem. The configuration of this MMT apparatus is basically the same as that described with reference to FIG. 3, but the configuration of the upper lid 4 is different.

That is, similarly to FIG. 2, a shower head 236 is provided on the upper portion of the upper container 2, and the shower head 236 includes a buffer chamber 237, an opening 238, a shielding plate 240, and a gas outlet 239. . The buffer chamber 237 includes a cap-shaped upper lid 4 that closes the opening 238, an opening peripheral portion 229, and a shielding plate 240 that covers the opening 238.
The upper lid 4 is made of aluminum separate from the upper container 2 made of a dielectric, and is set to a ground potential for plasma stabilization. The opening 238 is provided in the ceiling of the processing chamber 20 facing the main surface of the substrate 6 and is configured to communicate the buffer chamber 237 and the processing chamber 20 as in the apparatus of FIG.

  However, unlike the case of FIG. 2, in the apparatus of FIG. 5, the shielding plate 240 is made of a transparent quartz plate, and the positional relationship between the through holes 5 a of the internal susceptor 5 and the lift pins 8 can be easily visually confirmed. In order to be able to do so, a window 13 which is a transparent part is provided.

  The window 13 is made of a transparent insulating material such as quartz or sapphire, and the shielding plate 240 therebelow is also made of transparent quartz or sapphire. In the apparatus of FIG. 5, the shielding plate 240 is made of a transparent quartz plate. As shown in FIG. 3, this quartz plate has gas supply holes only in the periphery. That is, the central portion of the quartz plate is a simple plate-like body and is transparent. Therefore, the lift pin 8 can be seen from the window 13 through the shielding plate 240 (transparent quartz plate).

  FIG. 6 is an enlarged detailed view of the window 13, and a window hole (opening) is provided in the upper lid 4 made of aluminum, and a transparent member 14 having a T-shaped cross section is fitted into the window hole 17. The presser and window frame 17 are fixed to the upper lid 4 with screws 18. In order to prevent the transparent member 14, which is a window member, from coming into strong contact with the metal upper lid 4 in the tightening direction by the screw 18, the stepped portion in the window hole of the upper lid 4 and the outer periphery of the T-shaped cross section of the transparent member 14 An O-ring 40 and Teflon (registered trademark) 41 are provided between the lower surface and a Teflon (registered trademark) 42 is provided between the window frame 17 and the outer periphery of the upper surface of the transparent member 14.

  As described above, in the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, the shower plate or the shielding plate at the upper part of the substrate processing chamber is made of a transparent material, and the upper cover is provided with a window made of a transparent material. The interference between the lift pins of the substrate processing apparatus and the susceptor can be easily confirmed, and the apparatus can be easily assembled.

The number of lift pins 8 is three. Therefore, it is preferable that the window 13 is provided in the vicinity immediately above the lift pins 8. For example, when switching between wafers having a diameter of 200 mm and a wafer having a diameter of 300 mm, the mounting position of the lift pins 8 is changed according to this, so it is preferable to provide the window 13 near the middle of the mutual pin positions.
However, if at least one small window 13 is provided on the upper lid 4, the effect that the position of the lift pin 8 can be visually recognized from the window 13 can be obtained.

It is the figure which showed the structure which provided the window in the substrate processing furnace (MMT apparatus) which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure where it uses for description of the structure of the substrate processing furnace (MMT apparatus) which concerns on embodiment. The structure of the shielding plate which concerns on embodiment of this invention is shown, (a) is a top view, (b) is a principal part perspective view. It is principal part explanatory drawing of the shower head which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the structure of the substrate processing furnace (MMT apparatus) which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is an enlarged detail view of the window portion of FIG. 5. It is the figure which showed the structure of the conventional substrate processing furnace (MMT apparatus).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Lower container 2 Upper container 4 Upper lid 5 Susceptor 5a Through-hole 6 Substrate 7 Block 8 Lift pin 10 Processing container 11 Window 12 Upper lid 13 Window 14 Transparent member 15 Electrode 16 Magnet 17 Window frame 18 Screw 20 Reaction chamber (processing chamber)

Claims (2)

A substrate processing chamber for processing the substrate;
A substrate mounting table provided in the substrate processing chamber and having a through hole in a mounting portion for mounting the substrate;
A substrate lifting pin inserted through the through hole ;
An upper lid made of aluminum that closes an opening provided in the upper portion of the substrate processing chamber;
A gas inlet provided in the upper lid and connected to a gas supply pipe;
A transparent shielding plate is formed inside the upper lid to form a buffer chamber, and a gas introduced from the gas introduction port is dispersed by the shielding plate, so that the opening peripheral portion of the opening enters the substrate processing chamber. A shower head that blows out,
A transparent window provided at a position near at least the through hole of the upper lid;
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising: The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate elevating pin is provided on the bottom surface of the substrate processing apparatus so that the position of the substrate elevating pin can be adjusted in a non-contact manner when the substrate mounting table is lowered. .

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