JPH02119132A - Plasma etching system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the deformation and destruction of photo resist of a substrate surface as the result of temperature rise of the substrate surface by providing a gas feeding pipe for introducing gas into a chamber with a temperature controller to cool the gas. CONSTITUTION:A pair of electrodes 3 and a gas feeding pipe 2 are installed in a chamber 10. The gas feeding pipe 2 is provided with a temperature controller 1 to cool gas flowing in the pipe. When the gas is introduced from the pipe 2, and passes the controller 1 part, the gas enters the chamber 10 under a cooled state at a low temperature. The cooled gas passes the surface of a semiconductor substrate 5, and takes heat away while coming into contact with the surface. The gas is discharged from an exhaust pipe 4. Thereby, the temperature rise of the substrate 5 surface is restrained, and etching at a constant temperature is enabled.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a plasma etching apparatus used for manufacturing semiconductor devices.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in plasma etching equipment, a gas is introduced into a vacuum-maintained chamber and high-frequency power is applied to a pair of electrodes to generate plasma for etching. Semiconductor substrates have been cooled, heated, etc. by temperature control.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, with the temperature control method of the conventional plasma etching equipment mentioned above, sufficient cooling cannot be achieved due to the speed of heat conduction, so the temperature of the semiconductor substrate surface, which should originally be cooled, rises rapidly due to plasma shock, etc. However, this caused deformation and destruction of the mask material covering the semiconductor substrate such as photoresist. Furthermore, a change in the applied voltage due to a change in the resistivity of a refrigerant such as pure water used for cooling has the disadvantage that it induces deterioration and fluctuation of the etching characteristics themselves.

[Means to solve the problem]

The plasma etching apparatus of the present invention is a plasma etching apparatus having a chamber for maintaining a vacuum, an electrode provided in the chamber to which high frequency power is applied, and a gas introduction pipe for introducing gas into the chamber. The gas introduction pipe is provided with a temperature controller for cooling the gas.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a first embodiment of the invention.

In FIG. 1, a chamber 10 that maintains a vacuum is provided with a pair of electrodes 3 to which high-frequency power is applied and a gas introduction pipe 2 for introducing a reaction gas into the chamber.

The gas introduction pipe 2 is provided with a temperature regulator 1 particularly for cooling the gas passing through the pipe. In FIG. 1, 4 is an exhaust pipe, and 5 is a semiconductor substrate.

In the first embodiment configured as described above, when gas is introduced from the gas introduction pipe 2, the gas enters the chamber 10 in a state where it is cooled to a low temperature when passing through the temperature controller 1 section. The cooled gas transfers heat while passing through and in contact with the surface of the semiconductor substrate 5, and is exhausted from the exhaust pipe 4. This action suppresses the rise in surface temperature of the semiconductor substrate 5, making etching possible under a constant temperature condition.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of the invention.

In a single-wafer type plasma etching apparatus, a tube 7 for introducing a cooling gas such as helium and a temperature controller 1 for cooling the tube are arranged separately from a gas introduction tube 2 for a reaction gas.

In the second embodiment configured in this way, similarly to the first embodiment, the cooled gas can be blown onto the surface of the semiconductor substrate 5 during etching to lower the surface temperature.

In this second embodiment, by providing a separate cooling gas inlet pipe, it is possible to introduce cooling gas at an optimal flow rate from an optimal position, which eliminates the problem of single-wafer etching equipment, which has a large problem of temperature rise. However, it has the advantage of enabling efficient cooling.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, when gas is introduced into the etching chamber, the temperature of the surface of the semiconductor substrate is maintained at a desired temperature by providing a temperature controller in the gas introduction pipe to adjust the temperature of the gas. Can be adjusted. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the phenomenon that the surface temperature rises due to heat when exposed to plasma and induces deformation and destruction of the photoresist on the surface of the substrate, thereby improving the yield of semiconductor devices.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are cross-sectional views of first and second embodiments of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Temperature controller, 2... Gas introduction pipe, 3... Electrode, 4... Exhaust pipe, 5... Semiconductor substrate, 7... Cooling gas introduction pipe, 10... Chamber

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a plasma etching apparatus having a chamber for maintaining a vacuum, an electrode provided in the chamber to which high-frequency power is applied, and a gas introduction pipe for introducing gas into the chamber, the gas introduction pipe includes a gas introduction pipe for cooling the gas. A plasma etching apparatus characterized by being provided with a temperature controller.