JPH02178924A - Etching apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform highly reliable checking all the time by providing a display means which displays at least one state of etching steps druing at least the etching period. CONSTITUTION:A host computer 103 and a personal computer 105 are connected to a control part which is housed in a main body 101 of an etching apparatus. Operations are sequentially performed for every semiconductor substrate based on specified etching conditions. At the same time, processing data are stored by the personal computer 105. The desired data are computed and appropriately displayed on a CRT display part. Since the personal computer 105 is provided in the etching apparatus 101, various kinds of processing data can be automatically collected in correspondence with the demands accurately, and the highly reliable check can be performed all the time based on the various data processing.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to an etching apparatus.

(Prior art) An etching device that etches a semiconductor substrate by holding a semiconductor substrate on one opposing surface of opposing electrodes in a processing chamber that is brought to an extremely low pressure state by a vacuum pump, and applying a voltage between these opposing electrodes. Many of these devices can perform etching processes with different etching conditions depending on the type of semiconductor substrate. In such an etching apparatus, a plurality of etching conditions are preliminarily stored in a control section within the apparatus main body, and an appropriate etching condition is selected from among them to perform the etching process.

Then, it is necessary to constantly monitor and check whether or not the iE process is being performed in an appropriate etching process depending on the type of semiconductor substrate.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned etching apparatus, processing data during the etching process of each 1' conductor substrate is measured and recorded manually by the user. The types and range of data that can be stored are limited, and data errors are also likely to occur.

As a result, it takes a lot of effort to inspect the etching process.
There was also the problem of low reliability of inspection results.

The present invention was made to solve such problems,
The purpose of this invention is to provide an etching device that can automatically collect various processing data that is accurate and in accordance with demand, and that can perform highly reliable inspections at all times.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an etching apparatus that etches a target object by applying a high frequency voltage between electrodes provided in a processing chamber. , characterized in that it comprises display means for displaying at least one status of the etching process at least during the etching period.

(Operation) In the present invention, at least during the etching period, at least one state of the etching process is displayed by the display means.

(Embodiment) An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a plasma etching apparatus will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, this etching device body]0
A host computer 1.03 and a personal computer 105 are connected to a control section (not shown) built in the computer 1.

The host computer 103 is the etching apparatus main body]0
1 and personal computer 105 and performs necessary data management.

Personal computer], 05 has a storage section, a calculation section, and a CRT display section (not shown). The storage section can store etching conditions such as recipes necessary for etching, processing data during etching processing, and desired data calculated from the two-part etching conditions and the processing data. The calculation section is capable of calculating the desired data from the etching conditions and the processing data. C
The RT display section can display the desired data at any time.

The above etching conditions include, for example, each loft (for example, a lot of 50 semiconductor substrates), the etch time of each semiconductor substrate, the pressure value in the processing chamber, the amount of high-frequency power supplied, the lower electrode temperature, the electrode spacing, the name of the reactant gas supplied, the gas This is the amount introduced. The above processing items include, for example, processing start/end date and time of each lot and each semiconductor substrate, actual measurement data end point data during etching processing corresponding to each etching condition above, alarm occurrence date and time, occurrence location in the equipment, alarm This includes the recovery time after occurrence.

The above-mentioned desired data includes, for example, each of the above-mentioned etching conditions, each of the above-mentioned processing data, the maximum value, minimum value, average value, and deviation value of each of the above-mentioned processing data, the start/end time of processing for each lot and each semiconductor substrate, These include EPD waveforms and operating rates.

The processing mechanism section of the etching apparatus main body 101 is constructed as follows.

As shown in FIG. 2, a grounded disc-shaped lower electrode 3 is fixed to the second part of the support member 1, which is engaged with the rotating shaft of a motor (not shown) provided in the main body of the device. be done. A disc-shaped upper electrode 5 connected to a high frequency power source 4 is provided above the lower electrode 3 and facing the lower electrode 3 . The upper electrode 5 has a hollow structure, has a large number of gas passage holes 7 on its surface facing the lower electrode 3, and is connected to a gas supply pipe 9 via an insulating member 8.

The gas supply pipe 9 is selectively connected to the reaction gas supply device]1 and the nitrogen gas supply device]3. Reaction gas supply device]
The reaction gas supply from 1 is controlled by a reaction gas valve 15. The nitrogen gas supply from the nitrogen gas supply device 13 is controlled by opening and closing the nitrogen gas valve 17 by a nitrogen gas valve control device 18.

Around the lower electrode 3, there is an aluminum processing chamber wall 1-9.
is provided to form a lower housing.

An electromagnetic shield cover 21 made of aluminum and containing an upper electrode 5 is provided above the lower housing.
An upper housing is formed. In this etching apparatus, the upper housing can be lifted up and down by an opening/closing mechanism (not shown), thereby making it possible to easily inspect the interior of the processing chamber.

A backing 23 is provided on the upper end surface of the processing chamber wall] 9,
The lower surface of the electromagnetic shielding cover 21 is configured to be able to come into contact with it in an airtight manner.

A cylindrical sliding member 27 is provided around the gas supply pipe 9 above the upper electrode 5 . The side surface of the sliding portion A27 can slide vertically relative to the electromagnetic shielding cover 21, but airtightness is maintained by interposing two para-kinks.

Furthermore, it is even better if a conductive elastic part exhibiting electromagnetic conduction characteristics is interposed.

A rectangular flat support plate 31 is provided on the upper end surface of the sliding member 27 and around the waste supply pipe 9 . Connecting arms 33 are fixed to the four corners of the support plate 3, and motors 35 are fixed to each of the four connecting arms 33.

Three ball screws are vertically connected to a rotating shaft (not shown) of the motor 35. Each ball screw 39 passes through the support plate 31, and a hair ring 32 is interposed between the support plate 31 and the support plate 31. A ball nut 41 is formed at the bottom of each ball screw 39.

The pole nut 41 is fixedly installed through the lower part of the electromagnetic shielding cover 21. On the other hand, the thrust bear link 43 is attached around the hole screw 39 in contact with the lower surface of the support plate 3.
or may be provided. A sprocket 45 is provided around the hole screw 39 in contact with the lower surface of the thrust bearing 43. Each sprocket 45 is connected by a chain 47. Therefore, in conjunction with the rotation of the motor 35, the three four ball screws operate in synchronization.

An exhaust gas pipe 49 is provided at the lower part of the processing chamber wall 19 and is connected to a vacuum pump 52 via a pressure control valve 51 .

On the other hand, a pressure detection tube 53 for introducing the pressure inside the processing chamber is provided on the side surface of the processing chamber wall 19, and is connected to a pressure gauge 57 via a detection tube valve 55. The pressure gauge 57 is connected to the pressure control device 58 and detects the pressure inside the processing chamber when the detection tube valve 55 is released, and detects the pressure within the processing chamber to a predetermined pressure value (for example, 1.
Operate the 5 pressure control valves so that the pressure becomes 2 Torr (OX J, G 2 Torr).

Next, the operation of this etching apparatus will be explained. All of this is done automatically by the computer.

First, the motor 35 is operated by a motor control device (not shown), and the upper electrode 5 is moved in the vertical direction.
The distance between the lower electrode 3 and the lower electrode 3 is adjusted to a state suitable for etching.

Then, when the vacuum pump 52 operates, the waste gas in the processing chamber flows into the four exhaust gas pipes and is discharged from the vacuum pump 52 to the outside. For example, 1. , the pressure is reduced to OX 1.02 Torr, and during the etching process described below, the pressure control valve 5 is also discharged by the vacuum pump 52.
1 is controlled and kept at a constant pressure. Note that the atmospheric pressure value is detected by a pressure gauge 57, and the control is as follows.
This is done by pressure control device 58.

Next, the semiconductor substrate 6] is loaded onto the lower electrode 3 in the processing chamber by a transport means (not shown), such as a robot arm, from a vacuum preliminary chamber (not shown) which has been previously depressurized in the same way as the processing chamber.

Here, the reaction gas is supplied into the reaction chamber from the reaction gas supply device 1 via the gas supply pipe 9 and the gas passage hole 7.

Then, a high frequency voltage, for example, 13.58 mm Z is applied from the high frequency power supply 4 to the upper electrode 5, plasma is generated from the reaction gas, and the semiconductor substrate 61 is etched.

Thereafter, the etched semiconductor substrate 6] is transported by a transport means (not shown) to a vacuum preliminary chamber (not shown) which has been previously depressurized in the same way as the processing chamber.

Such operations are sequentially performed for each semiconductor substrate based on the predetermined etching conditions, and at the same time, the above-mentioned processing data is stored by the personal computer 105, and the desired data is calculated and displayed on the CRT display section. Displayed as appropriate.

In addition, when replacing the inside of the processing chamber with nitrogen gas during maintenance of this etching apparatus, the vacuum pump 52
The exhaust gas in the reaction chamber is discharged through the exhaust gas pipe 49, and the nitrogen gas valve 17 is opened to supply nitrogen gas from the nitrogen gas supply device 13 into the reaction chamber through the gas supply pipe 9 and the gas passage hole 7. . At this time, by monitoring and controlling the opening/closing degree of the nitrogen gas valve 7 and the pressure value in the processing chamber by the computer 105, base pressure checks and leak checks in the processing chamber can be easily and accurately performed.

In addition, the upper housing can be opened and closed by an opening/closing mechanism (not shown).
By lifting it, you can easily inspect the inside of the processing chamber.

[2] According to this embodiment, since the etching apparatus is equipped with a personal computer, it is possible to automatically collect various processing data that is accurate and in accordance with demand, and to obtain highly reliable information based on various data processing. It is possible to provide an etching device that can be inspected at all times.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail below, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically collect various processing data that is accurate and in accordance with demand, and to perform highly reliable inspection based on various data processing. always [1,
An etching device capable of performing four etching processes can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of an etching apparatus according to this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of a processing mechanism section of the etching apparatus according to this embodiment. 1, 01... Etching device main body 1, 0
5... Personal computer

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In an etching apparatus that etches a target object by applying a high frequency voltage between electrodes provided in a processing chamber, a display that displays at least one state of the etching process at least during the etching period. An etching apparatus characterized by comprising means.