JPH04308089A - Operation controller for plasma treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize various operation control functions with high speed and reliability, to reduce the downtime resulting from the modification of a program and to improve the working rate of a plasma treating device by using this operation controller. CONSTITUTION:This operation controller is formed with a process programmable controller 18 for controlling a microwave power source 1 constituting a plasma producing means, a solenoid power source 5, an RF power source 9, mass flow controllers 16 and 17 for a raw gas feed line, etc., an exhaust programmable controller 19 for controlling vacuum pumps 13, 14 and 15 as the evacuating means, a transport programmable controller 20 for controlling the door valve 11 of a spare vacuum chamber 10 as a wafer traveling means, a robot, etc., a personal computer 22 for overall control connected to the programmable controllers through a line 21 of communication, etc., and the devices to be controlled are subjected to decentralized control and centralized control.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation control device for a plasma processing apparatus that performs processes such as film deposition and etching on semiconductor wafers.

0002

[Prior Art] Generally, ECR (Electron Cyclotron Resonance)
A type of plasma processing equipment is used. As is well known, such an ECR plasma processing apparatus is connected to a vacuum processing chamber in which wafer processing is performed, and includes a plasma generation means including a microwave generation power source, a microwave waveguide, a solenoid coil, an RF power source, etc., a raw material gas supply means, and a vacuum. It is configured with an additional exhaust means and wafer transport means.

On the other hand, conventionally, as an operation control system for such an ECR plasma processing apparatus, a personal computer is used to control the plasma generation means, raw material gas supply means, evacuation means, and wafer transport means of the plasma processing apparatus through a dedicated input/output card. are controlled directly by a personal computer. Further, the control program used in this case is generally in compiled machine language format.

0004

However, the conventional operation control system described above has the following operational problems. In other words, if you want to partially modify the operation control program after the plasma processing equipment has started operating, it is necessary to modify the source program on the personal computer and then compile and link it again, which takes a lot of effort and time. It takes. In addition, since program modifications are carried out using the shared resources of a personal computer, unforeseen situations may occur such as the program running out of control significantly beyond the expected range or part of the program not functioning properly as a side effect of modifying the program. may cause. Furthermore, since the operation of the plasma processing apparatus has to be completely stopped during program correction work, the downtime associated with stopping and starting increases, and the operating rate of the plasma processing apparatus decreases. In addition, the most frequent partial modifications to programs are changes in input/output levels related to various power supplies, and changes in DI.
/DO (DI stands for digital input, DO stands for digital output), fine adjustments to various PID control constants, and slight changes to the wafer transfer procedure.

[0005] The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems with conventional operation control systems, significantly reduces downtime associated with partial modification of programs, and further improves reliability by minimizing side effects of modification. An object of the present invention is to provide an operation control device for a plasma processing apparatus that enables the following.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an operation control device for a plasma processing apparatus that includes a microwave power source, a solenoid power source, and an R
A process system programmable controller that controls the F power source and source gas supply means, an exhaust system programmable controller that controls the vacuum evacuation means, and a transfer system programmable controller that controls the wafer transfer means;
It is assumed that the system includes a personal computer for general control connected to each of the programmable controllers described above via a communication line.

[0007] Furthermore, in the above-mentioned operation control device, the operating system of the personal computer includes:
It is preferable to set at least an abnormality processing task, an operation control task, and a data processing task for constantly monitoring the plasma processing apparatus, and to manage the tasks so that the respective tasks are processed in parallel in a time-sharing manner.

Furthermore, for a multi-chamber type plasma processing apparatus that combines a plurality of vacuum processing chambers, each vacuum processing chamber is equipped with a plasma generation means and a dedicated programmable controller for controlling each individual vacuum processing chamber. It can be implemented.

[0009]

[Operation] In the above operation control device, various programmable controllers are operated in parallel by commands from a personal computer. In this case, the operation of the operation control device is programmed in advance so that communication words are determined and executed for each function. In response to external requests, each programmable controller determines whether or not it is possible to execute based on the operational status of the plasma processing equipment, answers OK or NG, and, if necessary, provides operational information such as completion of wafer processing. Notify the personal computer.

[0010] In addition, the above-mentioned input/output level change of the power supply,
Partial modification of the program, such as changing the wafer transfer procedure, is performed for each programmable controller. In this case, unlike a personal computer, modifying the program in the programmable controller that is the target of modification does not require compiling work like modifying the source program, and only requires modification of the part to be modified, so the modification work requires little effort and time. It can be processed with In addition, by separating the programmable controllers for the plasma processing equipment into separate control systems as described above, there is no risk of interference or runaway between the controllers, and it is possible to keep the side effects of modifications to a minimum. Become. Furthermore, partial modification of the program only needs to be done for the programmable controller that is the target of modification, and other programmable controllers can continue to operate as they are, so there is no need to stop the plasma processing equipment each time. There is no need for downtime and the operating rate is greatly improved.

[0011] Furthermore, regarding the personal computer that centrally controls each programmable controller, the operation system is provided with an operation control task, an abnormality monitoring/processing task, a data processing task, and a screen/keyboard input/output processing task, so that multiple tasks can be performed in a time-sharing manner. By performing this processing, for example, when modifying driving control, it is possible to respond by simply modifying and compiling the source program of the target task and linking between each task, and side effects associated with modification can be handled on a task-by-task basis. This is advantageous because it can be kept to a minimum range. Furthermore, by managing each task to be processed in parallel in a time-sharing manner, for example, by starting a data processing task during continuous processing of wafers in automatic operation, data processing and past data searches can be performed in real time. Further, by providing the abnormality monitoring task independently of the operation control, it is possible to avoid the trouble of providing a monitoring program at various places in the operation control program when creating the operation control program.

On the other hand, when performing the same wafer processing in a multi-chamber type plasma processing apparatus that combines a plurality of vacuum processing chambers, a plasma generation means attached to each vacuum processing chamber and a dedicated control programmable device attached to each vacuum processing chamber are used. By providing a controller, the reliability of operation control can be expected to improve, and the same program can be applied to each programmable controller, which is advantageous.

[0013]

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be explained below with reference to FIG. In the figure, 1 is a microwave power source (2.45GHz,
1500W), 2 is impedance matching means, 3
is a microwave waveguide, 4 is a plasma generation chamber, 5 is a solenoid coil, 6 is a solenoid power supply, 7 is a vacuum processing chamber,
8 is a wafer holding base, 9 is an RF power source (400KHz
), 10 is a vacuum preliminary chamber for wafer transfer, 11 is a door valve equipped in the vacuum preliminary chamber 10, and 12 is a vacuum preliminary chamber 10.
12a is a drive motor for the robot; 13 is an exhaust vacuum pump connected to the vacuum preliminary chamber 10;
5 is an exhaust vacuum pump connected to the vacuum processing chamber 7; 16;
Reference numeral 17 denotes a mass flow controller that adjusts the supply flow rate of the raw material gas, and collectively constitutes the main body of the ECR plasma processing apparatus and its peripheral equipment. The illustrated vacuum preliminary chamber 10 has a rectangular shape with door valves 1 on its four sides.
1, with the vacuum preliminary chamber 10 as the core and the surrounding area 3
It is possible to configure a multi-chamber type plasma processing apparatus by combining three vacuum processing chambers 7 on one side.

On the other hand, the operation control device for the plasma processing apparatus is a process system programmable controller (
P) 18 and exhaust system programmable controller (V)
19, and transport system programmable controller (H) 20
and a personal computer 22 connected to these programmable controllers via a data communication line (communication capacity 5 Mbit/sec) 21. Here, the process system programmable controller (P)
Reference numeral 18 designates components of the plasma generating means such as the microwave power source 1, impedance matching means 2, solenoid power source 6, and RF power source 9, as well as a mass flow controller 16 serving as a raw material gas supply means and valves attached thereto. control, manage. In addition, the exhaust system programmable controller (V) 19 includes exhaust vacuum pumps 13, 14, 1 connected to the vacuum processing chamber 7 and the vacuum preliminary chamber 10.
5 and the valves attached to these vacuum pumps. In addition, the transport system programmable controller (
H) 20 controls and manages the door valve 11 of the vacuum preliminary chamber, the wafer transfer robot 12, and the like. The programmable controller 19 has not only the control and management functions of the exhaust system but also the functions of detecting abnormalities in the plasma processing apparatus and processing the same. Further, the personal computer 22 controls the overall operation of the plasma processing apparatus via the programmable controllers 18, 19, and 20 according to instructions from the operator.

[0015] The operation modes of the plasma processing apparatus include a manual operation mode, an automatic start-up mode for exhaust and transport, and
A program for automatic operation mode is available. Here, the manual operation mode is a real-time operation mode that enables individual operation of various devices such as individual power supplies, pumps, and valves in the device, and when the operator keys in the personal computer 22, the personal computer
Each programmable controller 18, 19, 20 from 2
A state transition request for the controlled object corresponding to each programmable controller is issued to the programmable controller, and each programmable controller performs an interlock check to see if the instruction can be executed, and if it is normal, executes the instruction. If there is an abnormality, the operator is notified of the reason via the personal computer 22. In the exhaust/transport automatic start-up mode, the programmable controllers 19 and 20 for the exhaust system and the transport system are activated by key-in by the operator, and their programs are executed, and their status is monitored by the personal computer 22. Furthermore, in the automatic operation mode, wafers are automatically processed by sequentially executing operation programs registered as recipes by the operator.

In addition to the operating mode described above, the operating system of the personal computer 22 also has data processing modes such as recipe creation and editing modes,
Tasks such as logging data output mode are provided, and these processes can be performed even during automatic operation or automatic start-up operation using a time-sharing processing method.

[0017] Each programmable controller is
In addition to the above-mentioned operation modes, it also monitors the status of the controlled equipment under its control and detects whether or not an abnormality has occurred cyclically (approximately 3
If an abnormality is detected, emergency measures are taken immediately to the controlled device, and at the same time, the abnormality is notified to other programmable controllers, and based on this, each programmable controller detects an abnormality. It is designed to perform corresponding processing.

[0018]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, in the plasma processing apparatus operation control device of the present invention, the operation of the plasma processing apparatus is controlled by combining centralized control by a personal computer and distributed control by each programmable controller. Compared to conventional control methods that directly control the operation of plasma processing equipment using only a personal computer, it is possible to implement a variety of functions faster and with higher reliability. moreover,
Operational management aspects include being able to complete program corrections during operation in a short time, reducing downtime associated with stopping and starting up, and significantly improving the operating rate of plasma processing equipment. You can also get the benefits of

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

[Figure 1] System flow diagram of an embodiment of the present invention

[Explanation of symbols]

18 Process system programmable controller 1
9 Exhaust system programmable controller 20
Transport system programmable controller 21 Communication line 22 Personal computer

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claim 1: A plasma generating means connected to a vacuum processing chamber;
An operation control device for an ECR plasma processing apparatus equipped with a raw material gas supply means, a vacuum evacuation means, and a wafer transport means, which includes a microwave power source, a solenoid power source, an RF power source, and a raw material gas supply, which are the components of the plasma generation means. A process system programmable controller that controls the means, an exhaust system programmable controller that controls the vacuum evacuation means, a transfer system programmable controller that controls the wafer transfer means, and a general control controller that is connected to each of these programmable controllers via a communication line. An operation control device for a plasma processing device, characterized in that it is configured with a personal computer. 2. The operation control device according to claim 1,
A plasma processing system characterized in that an operating system of a personal computer is set with at least an abnormality processing task for constantly monitoring a plasma processing device, an operation control task, and a data processing task, and each task is processed in parallel in a time-sharing manner. Operation control device for processing equipment. 3. The operation control device according to claim 1,
Plasma processing characterized in that a multi-chamber plasma processing apparatus that combines a plurality of vacuum processing chambers is equipped with a plasma generation means attached to each vacuum processing chamber and a programmable controller dedicated for controlling each individual vacuum processing chamber. Equipment operation control device.