JP6069874B2 - Plasma processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus that generates plasma in a vacuum chamber to generate a thin film on a surface to be processed or performs etching.

  Conventionally, the plasma processing apparatus (plasma CVD apparatus) shown by patent documents 1-3 is known. These plasma processing apparatuses include a vacuum chamber having a processing chamber that can be depressurized in a vacuum state, and a plurality of connectors electrically connected to a high-frequency power source are disposed on the ceiling of the vacuum chamber. . An array antenna unit having a plurality of electrode bars is provided in the processing chamber, and the electrode bars of the array antenna unit are connected to the plurality of connectors.

  Then, the substrate transport carriage for holding the substrate to be processed is transported into the processing chamber whose pressure is reduced to a vacuum state, and the reaction gas is introduced into the vacuum chamber with the substrate facing the array antenna unit. While supplying, high-frequency power is supplied to the electrode rod. As a result, plasma is generated in a vacuum atmosphere, components of the reaction gas decomposed by the plasma adhere to the surface of the substrate, and a thin film such as an amorphous silicon film or a microcrystalline silicon film is generated on the substrate surface. It becomes.

JP 2007-262541 A JP 2003-86581 A JP 2003-109798 A

  In a conventional plasma processing apparatus, a plurality of electrode bars are arranged in parallel. Therefore, when the surface to be processed is planar, plasma processing such as thin film generation or etching can be uniformly performed on the surface to be processed. However, for example, depending on the shape of the processing target and the position of the processing surface, such as a processing target in which a hole or a concave target space is formed in the main body and a portion facing the target space is a processing target, the plasma processing Cannot be applied.

  In particular, an object of the present invention is to provide a plasma processing apparatus capable of performing plasma processing on a processing target having a surface to be processed that faces a hole-shaped or recessed space.

In order to solve the above-described problems, a plasma processing apparatus of the present invention is a plasma processing apparatus for performing plasma processing on a processing target having a processing target surface facing a hole-shaped or concave target space, and is in a vacuum state. A vacuum chamber in which a reaction gas is supplied from a gas supply source to a depressurizable processing chamber, a linear power supply side electrode rod provided in the processing chamber and connected to the power supply side of the AC power supply, and the ground side of the AC power supply A connecting member for connecting a power supply side electrode rod and the tip of the ground side electrode rod to each other such that a ground side electrode rod having a linear shape and a cylindrical shape, and having a reaction gas supply path formed therein, can be energized. are connected together is opposed by, a and the antenna to generate a plasma around the two electrode rod by the power supply from the AC power source, the center of the space that is surrounded by the target surface of the processing target In a state in which advancing the container body, characterized by comprising a processing object holding means for holding an object to be processed to the processing chamber, the.

  According to the present invention, in particular, a plasma treatment can be performed even on a processing target having a surface to be processed that faces a hole-shaped or recessed space.

(A) is sectional drawing of a vacuum chamber, (b) is a top view of a vacuum chamber. It is a fragmentary sectional view of the 1st electrode bar and the 2nd electrode bar. It is a figure which shows the relative positional relationship of an antenna body and a process target. It is a figure explaining plasma processing. It is a figure explaining another process target. It is a figure which shows the relative positional relationship of the antenna body and process target in a modification.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The dimensions, materials, and other specific numerical values shown in the embodiments are merely examples for facilitating the understanding of the invention, and do not limit the present invention unless otherwise specified. In the present specification and drawings, elements having substantially the same function and configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted, and elements not directly related to the present invention are not illustrated. To do.

  The plasma processing apparatus of the present embodiment can be used as a plasma CVD apparatus that generates a thin film on a processing target surface or a plasma etching apparatus that etches a processing target surface. A case where the plasma processing apparatus is used as a plasma CVD apparatus will be described.

  FIG. 1A is a sectional view of a vacuum chamber, and FIG. 1B is a top view of the vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber 1 includes a housing 2. The housing 2 includes a ceiling portion 2a, a side surface portion 2b, and a bottom surface opening portion 2c provided at the lower end of the side surface portion 2b.

  Further, below the vacuum chamber 1, a transfer chamber 100 for transferring the workpiece W to be processed is provided. The transfer chamber 100 is for transferring the transfer carriage 101 on which the workpiece W is placed. The transfer carriage 101 is guided by the guide rail 102 and is transferred to the lower part of the vacuum chamber 1.

  The vacuum chamber 1 and the transfer chamber 100 are connected via a bottom opening 2c of the vacuum chamber 1. A gate valve 103 is provided at the connection between the chambers 1 and 100 so that the chamber can be opened and closed. When the gate valve 103 is in the open state, the chambers 1 and 100 communicate with each other, and the gate valve 103 is illustrated. Thus, in the closed state, the communication between both chambers 1 and 100 is blocked. As described above, when the gate valve 103 is closed, the processing chamber 3 provided in the vacuum chamber 1 is completely sealed from the outside. Accordingly, when the vacuum pump 4 connected to the vacuum chamber 1 is driven, the processing chamber 3 is decompressed and maintained in a vacuum state.

  The transfer chamber 100 is provided with an elevating device 104 that raises and lowers the transfer carriage 101, and the workpiece W transferred to the lower side of the vacuum chamber 1 is raised together with the transfer carriage 101 by the elevating device 104. To do. On the other hand, the vacuum chamber 1 is provided with a work holding device 5, and the work W carried into the processing chamber 3 from the bottom opening 2 c is held at a predetermined processing position by the work holding device 5. It will be.

  The ceiling portion 2 a of the vacuum chamber 1 is provided with a first ceiling-side connector 6 and a second ceiling-side connector 7, and the upper end of the first electrode rod 8 is connected to the first ceiling-side connector 6. The upper end of the second electrode rod 9 is connected to the second ceiling-side connector 7. The first ceiling side connector 6 and the second ceiling side connector 7 are provided one by one at the center of the ceiling portion 2a, as is apparent from FIG. Accordingly, the first electrode rod 8 and the second electrode rod 9 are also supported by hanging from the ceiling portion 2 a at the central position of the processing chamber 3.

  Note that the lower ends of both the electrode rods 8 and 9 are connected by the connecting member 10 so as to be energized, and the antenna body A is constituted by the first electrode rod 8, the second electrode rod 9 and the connecting member 10. It becomes.

  The first ceiling-side connector 6 is connected to the supply side (feeding side) of the high-frequency power source 21 that supplies high-frequency power (85 MHz AC power in this embodiment), and the second ceiling-side connector 7 is connected to the high-frequency power source 21. Is connected to the ground side. Further, a gas supply source 22 is connected to the second ceiling-side connector 7, and the reaction gas supplied from the gas supply source 22 is supplied from the second electrode rod 9 connected to the second ceiling-side connector 7. It can be ejected into the processing chamber 3.

  FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the first electrode rod 8 and the second electrode rod 9. A first antenna-side connector 12 that can be connected to the first ceiling-side connector 6 provided on the ceiling portion 2 a of the vacuum chamber 1 is fixed to the upper end portion of the first electrode rod 8. A second antenna-side connector 13 that can be connected to the second ceiling-side connector 7 provided on the ceiling 2 a of the vacuum chamber 1 is fixed to the upper end of the second electrode rod 9.

  The first antenna-side connector 12 includes a cylindrical main body 12a, and is fixed to the bottom surface portion 12b of the main body 12a with the first electrode rod 8 penetrating therethrough. The second antenna-side connector 13 also includes a cylindrical main body 13a, and is fixed to the bottom surface portion 13b of the main body 13a with the second electrode rod 9 penetrating therethrough.

  The first electrode rod 8 includes a covering member 14 made of a dielectric material such as ceramic or resin on the outer periphery thereof. On the other hand, the second electrode rod 9 has a cylindrical shape, and a gas supply path 9a extending in the longitudinal direction is formed inside. The second electrode rod 9 is provided with an ejection hole 9b that communicates vertically with the gas supply path 9a. As described above, the second electrode rod 9 is connected to the second ceiling-side connector 7 when suspended in the processing chamber 3, and the gas supply source 22 and the gas supply path 9a described above are connected. It has a communication relationship. Therefore, when the reaction gas is supplied from the gas supply source 22 in a state where the second electrode rod 9 is suspended and supported in the processing chamber 3, the reaction gas is ejected from the ejection hole 9 b toward the processing chamber 3. It becomes.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a relative positional relationship between the workpiece W carried into the processing chamber 3 and the antenna body A. As shown in this figure, in this embodiment, the workpiece W to be processed is configured in a cylindrical shape, and when the workpiece W is carried into the processing chamber 3, the antenna body A is placed inside the workpiece W. The target space X to be formed is inserted. The workpiece W has an inner peripheral surface facing the target space X as the processing target surface W1, and the antenna body A is disposed in the center of the target space X surrounded by the processing target surface W1.

  FIG. 4 is a view for explaining plasma processing by the plasma processing apparatus of the present embodiment. First, the processing chamber 3 of the vacuum chamber 1 is sealed, and the vacuum pump 4 is driven to depressurize the processing chamber 3 to a vacuum state. In this state, in the transfer chamber 100 in which the inside is maintained in a vacuum state, the transfer carriage 101 on which the workpiece W is placed is transferred to the lower side of the vacuum chamber 1. Then, the gate valve 103 is opened to allow the chambers 1 and 100 to communicate with each other, and the lifting / lowering device 104 is driven to raise the transport carriage 101 to carry the workpiece W into the processing chamber 3.

  Thereafter, as shown in the figure, the workpiece W is held in the processing chamber 3 by the workpiece holding device 5 and the gate valve 103 is closed to shut off the communication between the vacuum chamber 1 and the transfer chamber 100 and to seal the processing chamber 3. To do. In this state, the reaction gas is supplied from the gas supply source 22 to the second electrode rod 9 to cause the reaction gas to be ejected into the vacuum chamber 1 from the ejection hole 9b, and the high frequency power is supplied to the antenna body A by the high frequency power source 21. To do. As a result, plasma is generated around the antenna body A, that is, the electrode rods 8 and 9, and the components of the reaction gas decomposed by the plasma adhere to the surface W1 of the workpiece W. In this way, a thin film such as an amorphous silicon film or a microcrystalline silicon film is formed on the surface to be processed W1.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reliably perform the plasma processing on the workpiece W including the processing target surface W1 facing the hole-shaped target space X.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where a thin film is generated on the surface to be processed W1 has been described. However, the same effect as described above can be realized when etching is performed on the surface to be processed W1. it can.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the process target was a cylindrical shape and the inner peripheral surface was made into the to-be-processed surface, the shape of a process target was not restricted to this, For example, as shown in FIG. In addition, even with a bottomed cylindrical body whose bottom surface to be processed is closed, uniform plasma processing can be performed according to the above embodiment.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the case where a plasma process was performed to the process target provided with the to-be-processed surface curved in an annular | circular shape, as for the plasma processing apparatus of the said embodiment, a part of to-be-processed surface is predetermined. The present invention can also be applied to a processing object that bends at an angle. In any case, the processing target includes a processing target surface that faces the target space having a hole shape or a concave shape, and may have any configuration as long as the antenna body can enter the target space. In the above embodiments, both electrode rods 8 and 9 are arranged along the vertical direction. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, both electrode rods 8 and 9 are arranged along the horizontal direction. The direction of both electrode rods 8 and 9 is not particularly limited.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to this embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. Is done.

  The present invention can be used in a plasma processing apparatus that generates plasma in a vacuum chamber and performs plasma processing on a surface to be processed.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vacuum chamber 3 Processing chamber 5 Work holding | maintenance apparatus 8 1st electrode rod 9 2nd electrode rod 10 Connection member 21 High frequency power supply 22 Gas supply source A Antenna body W Workpiece W1 Processed surface X Target space

Claims (1)

A plasma processing apparatus for performing plasma processing on a processing target having a processing target surface facing a hole-shaped or concave target space,
A vacuum chamber in which a reaction gas is supplied from a gas supply source to a processing chamber that can be decompressed to a vacuum state;
A linear power supply side electrode rod provided in the processing chamber and connected to the power supply side of the AC power source, and a linear and cylindrical shape connected to the ground side of the AC power source, and the reaction gas inside the supply channel is grounded electrode rod is formed, is connected with the opposed by the connection member connecting the energizable the tips of the power feeding side electrode rod and the ground-side electrode rod, from said AC power source An antenna body that generates plasma around both electrode rods by supplying power; and
Processing target holding means for holding the processing target in the processing chamber in a state in which the antenna body is entered in the center of the target space surrounded by the processing target surface of the processing target. A plasma processing apparatus.

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