JP4673578B2 - Semiconductor manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that can prevent foreign matters from adhering to a wafer stage and improve the yield of the semiconductor device.

  In the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, it is important to prevent entry of foreign matters such as dust and particles in order to improve the stability and yield of the semiconductor device. For example, in a dry etching apparatus, when a semiconductor substrate is placed on a wafer stage with dust attached to the wafer stage, the temperature of the semiconductor substrate locally increases during the etching process of the semiconductor substrate. When such a local temperature rise occurs, abnormality such as resist burning occurs. As a result, a semiconductor device as designed cannot be manufactured, resulting in a decrease in yield.

In Patent Document 1, foreign matters dropped on the stage are automatically detected and removed, abnormal etching mainly caused by apparatus abnormalities caused by foreign matters on the stage is prevented, and the etching process is stabilized. A semiconductor device is disclosed. Here, when a foreign substance is detected on the stage, the inert gas injection nozzle is moved above the stage to inject the inert gas onto the stage for a predetermined time or more.
JP 2001-44177 A

  However, as in the prior art, it has been difficult to remove foreign matter on the stage simply by injecting gas from above.

According to the present invention, the wafer stage on which the semiconductor substrate is placed and the central portion of the wafer stage are provided so as to be movable up and down, and the position of the upper part of the injection port becomes lower than the upper surface of the wafer stage while processing the semiconductor substrate. , possess a gas blow pin to inject gas in a direction substantially parallel to the surface of the wafer stage, a gas blowing pins, semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is provided which is characterized by injecting the gas between the transfer of the semiconductor substrate The

  Here, the gas blowing pins can eject the gas radially from the center of the wafer stage in a state where the gas is moved to a position where the gas is ejected onto the surface of the wafer stage. In this way, it is possible to prevent foreign matters from adhering to the wafer stage and improve the yield of the semiconductor device.

  The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention can further include a gas blowing plate for injecting gas from above the wafer stage toward the wafer stage.

  In this way, by ejecting the gas from above the wafer stage, the foreign matter moved to the side surface of the wafer stage by the gas ejected from the gas blowing pin can be removed from the wafer stage.

  The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention may further include a chamber that accommodates the wafer stage, a gas discharge port provided below the wafer stage, and a pump that discharges gas in the chamber from the gas discharge port.

  Thus, by discharging the gas from the gas discharge port provided below the wafer stage, the foreign matter moved to the side surface of the wafer stage by the gas injected from the gas blowing pin can be removed from the wafer stage. . Further, the foreign matter can be further prevented from adhering by discharging the foreign matter out of the chamber.

  The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention can further include an ionizer that ionizes the gas, and the ionized gas can be injected from the gas blowing pin.

  As described above, by using the ionized gas, even when the wafer stage is charged, it is possible to remove the charge and easily remove the foreign matter.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the yield of semiconductor devices by preventing foreign matters from adhering to the wafer stage.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention. Here, a dry etching apparatus is shown as an example.
The dry etching apparatus 100 includes a chamber 102, a wafer stage 104 provided in the chamber 102, a gas blowing plate 106, a gas blowing pin 108, an ionizer 110, a vacuum pump 112, a pressure adjusting valve 114, a gas It has an introduction pipe 116 and a gas introduction pipe 118. A discharge port 119 for discharging the gas in the chamber 102 is provided below the wafer stage 104. The vacuum pump 112 discharges the gas in the chamber 102 from the discharge port 119 to make the chamber 102 vacuum. The pressure adjustment valve 114 keeps the pressure in the chamber 102 at a predetermined value.

  Etching gas and inert gas are introduced into the chamber 102 from the gas introduction pipe 118, and these gases are dispersed in the chamber 102 by the gas blowing plate 106.

  The ionizer 110 ionizes a gas such as an inert gas introduced from the gas introduction pipe 116. The gas blowing pin 108 is movably provided up and down at the center of the wafer stage 104. The gas blowing pin 108 has an injection port for injecting ionized gas.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the gas blowing pin 108 in detail.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the gas blowing pin 108 includes an introduction pipe 120, an umbrella part 122, and a holding member that holds the umbrella part 122 with a gap between the injection port 121 of the introduction pipe 120. 124. In this way, by providing the umbrella part 122 at an upper portion of the injection port 121 of the introduction pipe 120 with an interval, the ionized ionized gas flows upward from below the introduction pipe 120 as shown in FIG. After that, the gas is ejected from the ejection port 121 in the horizontal direction in the figure. Thereby, ionized gas can be injected in a direction substantially parallel to the surface of the wafer stage 104. FIG. 2C is a top view of the gas blowing pins 108 and the wafer stage 104. Thus, by providing the gas blowing pin 108 at the center of the wafer stage 104, ionized gas can be ejected radially from the center of the wafer stage.

  FIG. 3 is a view showing a modification of the gas blowing pin 108 shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the introduction pipe 120 is also configured to move up and down. However, as shown in FIG. 3, only the umbrella portion 122 can move up and down.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the dry etching apparatus 100.
Although not shown here, the dry etching apparatus 100 further includes a vacuum chamber provided adjacent to the chamber 102 and an arm installed in the vacuum chamber. In the dry etching apparatus 100, a semiconductor substrate is carried into or out of the chamber 102 using an arm. Similarly, although not shown in the figure, a lift pin that drives up and down in order to place the semiconductor substrate on the wafer stage 104 is provided at the center of the wafer stage 104. In the present embodiment, the lift pins can be provided in parallel with the gas blowing pins 108.

  While the semiconductor substrate is transported by an arm (not shown), an inert gas is introduced into the gas introduction pipe 118 and the inert gas is ejected from the gas blowing plate 106. At this time, the gas in the chamber 102 is exhausted by the vacuum pump 112, whereby an inert gas flow 130 as shown by a broken line is formed in the chamber 102.

  Subsequently, the upper part of the injection port 121 of the gas blowing pin 108 is raised so as to protrude above the upper surface of the wafer stage 104, gas is introduced into the gas introduction pipe 116, and ionized gas ionized by the ionizer 110 is gas blowing pin 108. It is made to inject from the injection port 121. As a result, ionized gas is jetted from the gas blowing pins 108 in a direction parallel to the wafer stage 104, and an ionized gas flow 132 as shown by a broken line is formed.

  By such an inert gas flow 130 and an ionized gas flow 132, foreign matters such as dust and particles adhering to the wafer stage 104 are discharged to the outside of the chamber 102 by the vacuum pump 112. In the present embodiment, since the gas ionized by the ionizer 110 is used, the charge of the wafer stage 104 can be removed, and the effect of removing foreign substances adhering to or about to adhere to the wafer stage 104 is enhanced. be able to.

  After the above-described processing for removing foreign substances is performed for a predetermined time, the introduction of gas into the gas introduction pipe 116 is stopped, and the upper part of the injection port 121 of the gas blowing pin 108 is positioned below the upper surface of the wafer stage 104. Then, the gas blowing pin 108 is lowered.

  The processing for removing foreign substances can be performed while the semiconductor substrate subjected to the dry etching process is discharged from the chamber 102 and while the semiconductor substrate to be subjected to the dry etching process is carried into the chamber 102 from now on.

  In FIGS. 1 and 4, the configuration of parts not related to the essence of the present invention is omitted, and for example, a high-frequency power source or the like is not shown. After the above processing for removing foreign matter, the semiconductor substrate to be processed is placed on the wafer stage 104, a process gas (etching gas) is introduced into the chamber 102, and the pressure in the chamber 102 is set to a predetermined value. Keep on. Next, the process gas is changed to a plasma state by a high-frequency power source, and the film formed on the semiconductor substrate is removed by etching.

  As described above, according to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in the present embodiment, foreign substances can be adhered to the wafer stage while the semiconductor substrate is being transported, and the adhered foreign substances can be removed. The yield can be improved. Further, by performing such a process, it is possible to prevent foreign matter from adhering to the wafer stage, so that it is not necessary to open the chamber for removing the foreign matter and perform wet cleaning, thereby improving productivity.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that those skilled in the art can modify the above-described embodiments within the scope of the present invention.

  In the above embodiment, the dry etching apparatus has been described as an example. However, the present invention can be applied to various apparatuses that perform processing on a wafer stage, such as a plasma processing apparatus that performs film formation.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a gas blowing pin in detail. It is a figure which shows the other example of a gas blowing pin. It is a figure which shows operation | movement of a dry etching apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Dry etching apparatus 102 Chamber 104 Wafer stage 106 Gas blowing plate 108 Gas blowing pin 110 Ionizer 112 Vacuum pump 114 Pressure adjustment valve 116 Gas introducing pipe 118 Gas introducing pipe 120 Introducing pipe 121 Injection port 122 Umbrella part 124 Holding member

Claims (4)

A wafer stage on which a semiconductor substrate is placed;
In the central portion of the wafer stage, vertically provided on the movable, the position of the upper portion of the injection port during processing the semiconductor substrate becomes less top surface of the wafer stage, in a direction substantially parallel to the surface of the wafer stage A gas blowing pin for injecting gas,
I have a,
The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gas blowing pin injects a gas while transporting the semiconductor substrate . The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1,
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, further comprising a gas blowing plate for injecting gas from above the wafer stage toward the wafer stage. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
A chamber containing the wafer stage;
A gas outlet provided below the wafer stage;
A pump for discharging the gas in the chamber from the gas discharge port;
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus further comprising: The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
It further includes an ionizer that ionizes the gas,
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, wherein ionized gas is ejected from the gas blowing pin.

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