JPH05171432A - Sputtering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To continuously form plural thin films constituted of different kinds of materials in the same vacuum vessel in the structure of a sputtering device. CONSTITUTION:The inside of a vacuum vessel 11 is provided with a prismatic target holder 13 supported rotatably in a vacuum vessel 1. Plural target plates 14 are fixed along the outer circumference of the target holder 13. One piece among them is opposed against a substrate 1 arranged in the vacuum vessel 11 and the materials of the target plates 14 are formed on the substrate 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the structure of a sputtering apparatus. Sputtering equipment collides ions such as argon with a cathode target at high speed in a vacuum container to knock out atoms of a target material to the outside and attach them to a substrate on a counter electrode. It is used in a wide range of fields to form thin films of metals and the like.

In recent years, in order to meet the demand for high density and high integration of semiconductor devices, miniaturization of wiring patterns has been advanced. As a result, stress migration and electromigration occur in the wiring of aluminum and aluminum alloys that have been widely used in the past.
The problem of reliability has arisen, and as a countermeasure against this, wiring in which a plurality of metals are laminated has been adopted. Therefore, a sputtering device capable of efficiently forming this laminated structure is desired.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional sputtering apparatus, one target is arranged in one vacuum container. Therefore, when stacking a plurality of metal thin films on a substrate by the sputtering method, use a plurality of sputtering devices in which targets of different materials are arranged, or in an in-line manufacturing line, targets of different materials are used. An apparatus having a configuration in which a plurality of vacuum containers in which the above are arranged are connected by a vacuum transfer path is used.

[0004]

However, when a plurality of metal thin films are laminated on a substrate in such a conventional apparatus,
Loss time due to substrate attachment / detachment / transportation caused by moving the substrate between multiple vacuum chambers reduces the throughput of the device, and exposes the substrate to the atmosphere during film formation, impairing film quality (multiple sputtering devices). When using),
There was a problem.

An object of the present invention is to solve such problems and to provide a sputtering apparatus capable of efficiently laminating a plurality of metal thin films on a substrate with high quality.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a target holder, which is rotatably supported in a vacuum container and has a plurality of target plates fixed along the outer periphery thereof. By rotating the holding body as necessary, one desired target plate is made to face a substrate arranged in the vacuum vessel, and the material of the target plate is deposited on the substrate. It is achieved by using a sputtering device characterized by

[0007]

[Operation] After setting the substrate in one vacuum container, it is possible to continuously deposit thin films of different metals on the metal by simply rotating the target holder, so it is necessary to attach / detach / transfer the substrate on the way. There is also no exposure to the atmosphere. Therefore, the loss time for attaching / detaching / transporting the substrate is eliminated during the process, the throughput of the apparatus is improved, and the film quality is prevented from being impaired.

[0008]

EXAMPLE An example of a sputtering apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and schematically shows a vacuum container part of a sputtering apparatus incorporated in an in-line type production line. In the figure, 1 is a substrate (semiconductor wafer or the like) of the object to be processed, 11 is a vacuum container serving as a processing chamber, 12 is a substrate support,
Reference numeral 13 is a target holder, 14 is a target plate, 15 is a shield plate, and 16 is a shutter.

The vacuum container 11 is provided with a vacuum exhaust port 11a and a gas inlet port 11b, communicates with a vacuum exhaust means (not shown) through the vacuum exhaust port 11a, and a gas such as argon is supplied through the gas inlet port 11b. It communicates with a supply source (not shown).
The substrate support 12 fixes the substrate 1 and uses it as an anode.

The target holder 13 has a prismatic shape (eg, regular hexagonal prism), and one target plate is provided on each side surface.
Stick 14 The target holder 13 is supported by the vacuum container 11 so as to rotate about its center line as a rotation axis, and one desired target plate 14 is made substantially parallel to the substrate 1 by rotation / positioning means (not shown). It can be fixed by rotating to the position.

Inside the target holder 13, cooling water flow paths (not shown) are provided along each side surface, and cooling water can be flowed to cool the side surfaces. Further, a magnetic field generating means (not shown) made of a permanent magnet or the like is arranged inside thereof to generate a magnetic field in the vicinity of the target plate 14.
The shield plate 15 is for sputtering only one desired target plate 14, is fixed to the vacuum container 11, and is a target plate 14 other than the target plate 14 facing the substrate 1.
Are covered in the immediate vicinity thereof and have the same potential as the anode. Plasma is not generated in the portion surrounded by this.

In order to stack a plurality of kinds of metal thin films on the surface of the substrate 1 by this sputtering apparatus, a plurality of target plates 14 made of those metals are fixed to different side surfaces of the target holder 13 and these are successively placed on the substrate 1. Sputter facing the. Therefore, when the target holder 13 is, for example, a regular hexagonal prism, it is possible to continuously form thin films of up to six different metals. As a result, a metal thin film having a laminated structure could be formed extremely efficiently.

The present inventor has obtained favorable results by using this sputtering apparatus for forming a thin film of an alloy or a metal silicide, in addition to forming the above-mentioned laminated structure. That is, first, the target plates 14 of the respective elements constituting these are fixed to different side surfaces of the target holder 13, and these are successively opposed to the substrate 1 and sputtered for a short period of time to form a stack of extremely thin thin films on the substrate 1. Form a structure. This is repeated until the film has a predetermined thickness. After that, the substrate 1 was taken out of the sputtering apparatus and separately heat-treated to obtain a desired alloy or metal silicide. According to this method, the composition of the alloy or metal silicide can be controlled with high accuracy by controlling the sputtering time of each element.

Further, the sputtering apparatus was also used for forming a single metal thin film, and good results were obtained. That is, a plurality of target plates 14 of the same material are fixed to different side surfaces of the target holder 13, one of them is used, and if consumed, the target holder 13 is rotated to switch to another target plate 14. Depending on the method of use, the operating rate of the device could be improved. The target plate is gradually consumed by use and needs to be replaced. However, since the vacuum of the vacuum container 11 must be broken at the time of replacement, the apparatus is stopped for a long time. Due to such usage of the device, the down time of the device is reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but can be implemented with various modifications. For example,
The shielding plate 15 is not provided, each target plate 14 and the target holder 13 are electrically insulated, and only the target plate 14 facing the substrate 1 is connected to the cathode. Alternatively, only one desired target plate 14 may be sputtered. Further, the target holder 13 may have a cylindrical shape instead of the prismatic shape.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a sputtering apparatus capable of efficiently laminating a plurality of metal thin films on a substrate with high quality, which contributes to improvement in productivity in manufacturing semiconductor devices and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 substrate 11 vacuum container 11a vacuum exhaust port 11b gas inlet 12 substrate support 13 target holder 14 target plate 15 shielding plate 16 shutter

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum container (11) is rotatably supported in the container,
A target holder (13) having a plurality of target plates (14) fixed along the outer periphery is provided, and one desired target plate (14) is provided by rotating the target holder (13) as necessary. Is arranged so as to face the substrate (1) arranged in the vacuum container (11), and the material of the target plate (14) is applied to the substrate (1). Sputtering equipment.