JPH09186108A - Clustered tool apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize CVD(Chemical Vapor Deposition) aluminum film formation having excellent electrical characteristics and high quality. SOLUTION: A clustered tool apparatus comprises a water-removal processing member chamber 10 for heating an object W to be processed by using a heater to remove water and the like adhering to the surface of the object W, an oxide- film removal processing chamber 14 for removing, by etching, a natural oxide film formed on the surface of the object W from which the water has been removed, film-formation processing chambers 16 and 18 for performing film- formation processing on the surface of the object W, a cooling processing chamber 20 for cooling the object W from the film-formation processing, and a common transfer chamber 4, commonly connected/disconnected to/from the water- removal processing chamber 10, the oxide-film removal processing chamber 14, the film-formation processing chambers 16, 18, and the cooling processing chamber 20, to loading/unloading the object W. Thus, preprocessing and postprocessing of film formation on the subject W is performed without exposing the object W to the atmosphere.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cluster tool apparatus in which a plurality of processing chambers for performing a series of different processes on a semiconductor wafer are collected and combined.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a semiconductor device tends to have a multilayer wiring structure in response to recent demands for higher density and higher integration. In this case, a lower device and an upper aluminum wiring are required. Embedding technology such as a contact hole as a connection portion with the via and a via hole as a connection portion between the lower aluminum wiring and the upper aluminum wiring has become important in order to make an electrical connection between them. It is preferable to use a cheap and highly conductive material such as aluminum for filling the contact holes and via holes, and it is highly directional in order to prevent the occurrence of voids due to the technical limitation of filling holes. CVD (Chemi) with good step coverage instead of film formation by sputtering
It is desired to form a film by a cal vapor deposition method, and as a film forming apparatus for such a metal thin film, for example, JP-A-6-267951 and JP-A-6-267951.
A device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 283446 is known.

For example, in order to form an aluminum-CVD film, D which is an organic metal gas is generally used as a processing gas.
MAH (dimethyl aluminum hydride) is used, and this DMAH has a viscosity of 8000 to 100 at room temperature.
It is a substance that is very difficult to handle because it is extremely high at about 00 cp (centipoise) and has a syrup-like shape, and it reacts violently with moisture and oxygen in the air and ignites.

[0004]

Therefore, under the present circumstances, a technique for forming a good quality aluminum-CVD film with high mass productivity has not been sufficiently developed. In particular, an aluminum film is different from other metal films in that it forms an oxide film that is extremely easily combined with moisture and oxygen components in the air and causes characteristic deterioration. Of course, the management of the semiconductor wafer before and after the film formation process must be done with great care.
Before film formation, the water and natural oxide film adhering to the wafer surface are efficiently removed, and after film formation, the wafer temperature is efficiently lowered to the handling temperature in order to suppress the adhesion of the natural oxide film. There must be. The present invention has been devised in view of the above problems and effectively solving them. An object of the present invention is to provide a cluster tool device capable of forming a CVD aluminum film having good electrical characteristics and quality.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a moisture removing treatment chamber for heating an object to be treated with a heater to remove moisture and the like adhering to the surface thereof. An oxide film removal treatment chamber for removing a natural oxide film adhering to the surface of the object to be treated from which water has been removed by etching, and a film deposition treatment chamber for performing a film formation treatment on the surface of the object to be treated, A cooling processing chamber that cools the object to be processed after the film processing, a water removal processing chamber, the oxide film removal processing chamber, the film forming processing chamber, and the cooling processing chamber are commonly connected to each other so that they can be connected and disconnected. And a common transfer chamber for loading and unloading the object to be processed.

With the above construction, the transfer of the object to be processed between the processing chambers is carried out via the common transfer chamber which is maintained in a high vacuum state, and first, the object to be processed introduced from the outside is transferred. The treated body is heated to remove the moisture adhering to its surface in the moisture removing treatment chamber, and is then moved to the pretreatment chamber in the case of blanket aluminum CVD or the oxide film removing treatment in the case of selective aluminum CVD. Introduced into each room. . In this pretreatment chamber, for example, H ₂ gas is used as the pretreatment gas for the reason that growth in the via hole is promoted by suppressing the growth on the flat surface and good filling is achieved. In the oxide film removing chamber, for example, BCl ₃ and A are used to remove the natural oxide film (alumina) on the lower aluminum wiring surface exposed at the bottom of the via hole.
r gas is used. When H ₂ gas is used as the pretreatment gas, an aluminum-CVD film formation process is performed on the surface of the object to be processed with a process gas using, for example, a vaporized gas of DMAH (dimethyl aluminum hydride) in the film formation process. Give. When BCl ₃ and Ar gas are used as the etching gas, an aluminum-CVD film forming process is performed by a process gas using, for example, a vaporized gas of DMAH in the film forming process to selectively form an aluminum film in the via hole. Form a plug.

The object to be processed whose temperature has been increased by the aluminum-CVD film forming process is then introduced into the cooling processing chamber where it is cooled to the handling temperature. This makes it possible to form an aluminum-CVD film having good quality and electrical characteristics. On the other hand, when BCl ₃ gas is used as the etching gas, first, the object to be processed is introduced into the gas component removal processing chamber, where
For example, Cl ions adhering to the surface of the object to be processed are excited by heating and irradiation with ultraviolet rays to be separated and removed. And
Next, aluminum-CVD film formation may be performed in the film formation processing chamber as described above. Therefore, the aluminum-CVD film is not deteriorated by Cl ions.

Further, a processing chamber using a processing gas, for example, an oxide film removal processing chamber, a gas component removal processing chamber, a film forming processing chamber,
Even if the processing gas leaks out of the processing chamber, the safety is ensured by housing it individually in an airtight box that allows the introduction and discharge of gas and exhausting the inside to the factory exhaust. can do. In addition, since the mounting table including the heater and the terminal unit of the heater are integrally and detachably attached to each processing container in the moisture removal processing chamber and the gas component removal processing chamber, this maintenance work is not required. It can be easily performed.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a cluster tool device according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a cluster tool device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration view showing a moisture removal processing chamber, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a unit mounting plate of a heater unit, and FIG. 4 is a heater unit. Fig. 5 is an exploded view showing a detached state, Fig. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an oxide film removal treatment chamber, Fig. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a gas component removal treatment chamber, Fig. 7 is a configuration diagram showing a film formation treatment chamber, and Fig. 8 is a cooling treatment. It is a block diagram which shows a chamber. In the present invention, a case where a semiconductor wafer is used as an object to be processed and an aluminum film is formed on the surface by thermal CVD will be described as an example.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cluster tool device 2 has a common transfer chamber 4 in the shape of, for example, an octagonal container made of aluminum in the center thereof, and in the periphery thereof,
The first and second cassette chambers 6 and 8, the moisture removal processing chamber 10,
Gas component removal processing chamber 12, oxide film removal processing chamber 14, first
The second film forming processing chambers 16 and 18 and the cooling processing chamber 20 are connected to each other through gate valves G1 to G8 that can be opened and closed.

The moisture removal treatment chamber 10 is a treatment chamber for heating a semiconductor wafer to remove moisture and the like adhering to the surface thereof, and the oxide film removal treatment chamber 14 is formed on the wafer surface after moisture removal. This is a processing chamber for removing the existing natural oxide film by etching, and for example, H ₂ gas (in the case of blanket), BCl ₃ gas (in the case of selective) or the like is used as an etching gas depending on the type of aluminum film formation in the subsequent step. The gas component removal processing chamber 12 is a processing chamber that completely separates and removes the gas component remaining on the wafer surface by heating or ultraviolet irradiation when a processing gas is used in the above etching. Reference numeral 18 is a processing chamber for forming an aluminum CVD film on the wafer surface, and the cooling processing chamber 20 is
It is a processing chamber for cooling the wafer after film formation to the handling temperature. Gate doors GD1 and GD2 for loading and unloading a cassette C capable of accommodating, for example, 25 wafers W are provided in the first and second cassette chambers 6 and 8 so as to be opened and closed, respectively. A cassette stand (not shown) is provided in the upper and lower parts 8 and 8 so as to be able to move up and down.
Further, the cassette chambers 6 and 8 can be supplied with an inert gas such as N ₂ gas and evacuated.

In the common transfer chamber 4, a rotary positioning mechanism 22 for positioning the wafer W loaded therein, and a transfer arm 24 composed of an articulated arm mechanism capable of bending and extending and rotating while holding the wafer W. Is arranged, and the wafer can be loaded and unloaded across the respective chambers by bending and stretching it. The common transfer chamber 4 can also be supplied with an inert gas such as N ₂ gas and evacuated. The water removal treatment device 10 shown in FIG. 2 has a treatment container 26 formed of, for example, aluminum into a bottomed cylindrical body, and the ceiling portion is opened, and a ceiling plate 28 is hermetically sealed by a screw 30 there. It is removable. An O-ring 32, for example, which ensures a sealing property, is interposed in the mounting portion of the ceiling plate 28.

A mounting table mounting step portion 34 is provided on a lower side wall of the processing container 26, and three screw hole forming portions 36 are formed on the peripheral portion of the mounting step portion 34 so as to radially project. Unit mounting plate 3 made of, for example, stainless steel
8 is detachably fixed by a screw 42 inserted through a screw hole 35 formed therein, and a mounting table 40 made of graphite, the surface of which is coated with SiC, is provided on the unit mounting plate 38. The wafer W is placed on the upper surface. The mounting plate 38 is provided with three lifter pin holes 43. A heater 44 made of carbon, for example, whose entire surface is coated with SiC, is embedded in substantially the entire upper surface of the mounting table 40 so that the wafer W can be heated to a predetermined temperature, for example, about 300 ° C. ing.

Further, lifter pins 46 are provided which vertically penetrate through the unit mounting plate 38 and the mounting table 40 so as to be able to move up and down, and when the wafer W is carried in and out, the wafer is mounted on the mounting table 40. It can be moved up and down. Further, a terminal unit mounting hole 47 having a stepped opening is formed in the bottom portion 26A of the processing container 26, and a sealing member 49 is provided so as to hermetically close the mounting hole 47. The terminal unit 48 is detachably attached from below the container bottom portion 26A with a screw 50. The terminal unit 48 includes two insulated lead-out terminals 5 which are designed to penetrate inside and outside the container.
2, 52 are provided, and these terminals 52, 52 are connected to the heater terminals 54, 54 provided at the lower portion of the unit mounting plate 38 and electrically connected to the heater 44 by wiring 56.

Further, the lower ends of the lead-out terminals 52, 52 are connected to a heater power supply 60 via wirings 58, 58 made detachable by screws 62, and if necessary, the heater 44 is energized for heating. It is supposed to do. Then, the terminal unit 48 and the unit mounting plate 38
Is integrally connected by connecting connecting rods 64 and 66 extending from each other with screws 68. Therefore, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the heater 42 is fixed by removing the screw 42 fixing the unit mounting plate 38 to the container side and the screw 50 fixing the terminal unit 48 to the bottom portion 26A side.
The mounting table 40 including the terminal and the terminal unit 48 can be integrally removed from the container 26. Container 2
The mounting table mounting step portion 34 of 6 is provided with a cooling jacket 70 for flowing cooling water to cool it, for example. Also,
A gas introduction nozzle 72 for introducing an inert gas, for example, N ₂ gas into the container, and an exhaust port 73 for exhausting the atmosphere in the container are provided on the side wall of the container 26. The exhaust port 73 has an opening / closing valve 80 in the middle thereof. An exhaust system 78 including a turbo molecular pump 74, a dry pump 76, and the like is connected. Further, a wafer loading / unloading port 82 is provided on the other side wall, and the gate valve G for communicating / blocking with the common transfer chamber 4 is provided there.
3 are provided.

Next, based on FIG. 5, the oxide film removal processing chamber 1
4 will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the oxide film removal processing chamber 14 is configured as a RIE (reactive ion etching) plasma device and has a processing container 84 formed of, for example, aluminum into a bottomed cylindrical body. A mounting table 88 made of a conductive material such as aluminum supported on the bottom 84A of the container via an insulating material 86 is provided inside, and constitutes a lower electrode. A high-frequency power source 1 for generating plasma of, for example, 13.56 MHz is mounted on the mounting table 88 via a power supply line 102 provided with an opening / closing switch 98 and a matching box 100 on the way.
04. On the upper surface of the mounting table 88, for example, an electrostatic chuck 90 made of polyimide having a conductive foil embedded therein is provided.
It is connected to a high-voltage DC power supply 96 via a switch 2 and an open / close switch 94, and when necessary, the wafer W is attracted and held on the electrostatic chuck surface by Coulomb force. Further, a focus ring 106 is provided in the peripheral portion of the upper surface of the mounting table 88 so as to surround the peripheral portion of the wafer W on the same plane, so that the uniformity of the plasma processing within the wafer surface is ensured. ing.

Further, the mounting table 88 and the electrostatic chuck 9 described above.
There is provided a lifter pin 108 penetrating through 0 and capable of projecting and retracting in the vertical direction, and lifts or lowers the wafer W when carrying in and out. An expandable and contractible bellows 110 is airtightly provided on the lower surface of the mounting table 88 through a bellows hole 112 provided in the container bottom portion 84A.
10 is airtightly penetrated, and the lifter pin 108 can be moved up and down while maintaining the airtightness inside the processing container 84. Further, a ceiling plate 116 is airtightly provided on the ceiling of the processing container 84 via a seal member 114,
The ceiling plate 116 is provided with a shower head 120 having a diffusion plate 118 inside to form an upper electrode. A gas ejection surface 124 having a large number of ejection holes 122 is provided on the lower surface of the shower head 120. A cooling jacket 126 is provided on the side wall of the shower head 120 to cool the head portion by flowing cooling water, for example.

The gas inlet 128 at the upper portion of the shower head 120 has an H ₂ gas supply system 130 used when H ₂ gas is used as an etching gas and a BCl ₃ gas supply system used when BCl ₃ gas is used as an etching gas. 32 are connected to each other, and each system is connected to the H level via the mass flow controller 134 and the opening / closing valve 136 on the way.
₂ gas source 138 and BCl ₃ gas source 140 are connected. Here, H ₂ gas is used as an etching gas when a blanket aluminum film is formed in a later step, and BCl ₃ gas is used when a selective aluminum film is formed. As the carrier gas, for example, an Ar gas source 15
Ar gas from No. 4 is used, and although not shown, N ₂ gas for purging can also be supplied. Further, an exhaust port 142 is provided in the periphery of the bottom portion 84A of the processing container 84, and the exhaust port 142 has a turbo molecular pump 146 and a dry pump midway along the same way as the moisture removal processing chamber 10 shown in FIG. An exhaust system 150 provided via 148 is provided so that the inside of the container can be evacuated.

A wafer carry-in / out port 152 is provided on the side wall of the processing container 84, and the gate valve G5 for communicating with and blocking the common carrying chamber 4 is provided therein. Next, the gas component removal processing chamber 12 will be described with reference to FIG. The gas component removal processing chamber 12 separates and removes the processing gas such as BCl ₃ attached to the surface of the wafer as described above, and is different from that shown in FIG. Water removal processing chamber 1 shown in
Since the structure is exactly the same as the structure of No. 0, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals, the description thereof will be omitted, and the ultraviolet irradiation means 156 will be described.

That is, in the ceiling portion 28 of the processing container of the gas component removal processing chamber 12, a large-diameter ultraviolet ray transmitting hole 158 is provided.
The transparent plate 16 is made of a transparent material such as quartz and is transparent to ultraviolet rays.
0 is airtightly provided via the seal member 166. A lamp housing box 162 is attached and fixed to the upper surface of the ceiling portion by a screw 164 via a pressing member 168 so as to cover the entire upper part of the transmission plate 160. An ultraviolet lamp 170 is housed in the lamp housing box 162, and the semiconductor wafer W provided on the mounting table 40 is stored in the lamp 170.
Is irradiated with the ultraviolet rays UV from the above, and at the same time, it is heated to a predetermined temperature, for example, about 300 ° C. by a heater 44 provided on the mounting table 40, whereby Cl ions and the like adhering to the wafer surface are excited and the wafer surface Can be separated from. Further, in this case, N ₂ gas and H ₂ gas can be supplied from the gas introduction nozzle 72 into the processing container 26 as needed. And
At the wafer loading / unloading port 82 provided on the side wall of the processing container 26,
The common transfer chamber 4 is connected through the gate valve G4.

Next, based on FIG. 7, the film forming processing chambers 16 and 1
8 will be described. Since both film forming processing chambers 16 and 18 have exactly the same structure, the first film forming processing chamber 16 will be described as an example here, and the structure of the second film forming processing chamber 18 will be described. Omit it. The film formation processing chamber 16 is heated to heat C.
The VD film forming apparatus is provided with a processing container 172 formed of, for example, aluminum into a cylindrical body.
A feed line insertion hole 174 is formed in the center of the bottom portion 172A of the processing container 172, and a vacuum exhaust system 179 having a vacuum pump such as a turbo molecular pump 176 and a dry pump 178 is provided in the peripheral portion. A connected exhaust port 180 is provided so that the inside of the container can be evacuated.

A disk-shaped mounting table 182 made of alumina, for example, is provided in the processing container 172.
A cylindrical leg 184 extending downward at the center of the lower surface of 82.
Is integrally formed, and the lower end of the leg portion 184 is airtightly attached and fixed to the peripheral portion of the power feed line insertion hole 174 of the container bottom portion 172A with a seal member 186 such as an O ring interposed therebetween using a bolt 188 or the like. It

A resistance heating element 190 made of, for example, carbon coated with SiC is embedded in the entire upper surface of the mounting table 182, and a semiconductor wafer W as an object to be processed placed on the upper surface side thereof. It can be heated to a desired temperature. A thin ceramic electrostatic chuck 192 having a conductive plate (not shown) such as copper embedded therein is provided on the upper surface of the mounting table 182. Due to the Coulomb force generated by the electrostatic chuck 192, a thin electrostatic chuck 192 is provided. The wafer W is suction-held on the upper surface.
A mechanical clamp may be used instead of the electrostatic chuck 192 to hold the wafer W, or the wafer W may not be provided. The resistance heating element 190 includes
The insulated lead wire 194 is connected to the lead wire 1
Reference numeral 94 denotes a cylindrical leg portion 184 and a feed line insertion hole 174.
Through the open / close switch 196 and connected to the power feeding unit 198. In addition, the electrostatic chuck 192
An insulated lead wire 200 is connected to a conductive plate (not shown), and the lead wire 200 is also pulled out to the outside through the cylindrical leg portion 184 and the power feed wire insertion hole 174, and the open / close switch 202. It is connected to the high voltage DC power supply 204.

A plurality of lifter holes 206 are vertically penetrated at predetermined positions around the mounting table 182 and the electrostatic chuck 192, and the lifter holes 206 can be vertically moved up and down. The wafer lifter pins 208 are accommodated, and when the wafer W is loaded and unloaded, the lifter pins 208 are moved up and down by an elevator mechanism (not shown).
The wafer W is lifted or lowered. Generally, three such wafer lifter pins 208 are provided corresponding to the peripheral portion of the wafer.

Further, a ceiling plate 212 integrally provided with a shower head 210 is airtightly attached to a ceiling portion of the processing container 172 via a seal member 214 such as an O-ring. Table 182
Are provided facing each other so as to cover substantially the entire upper surface of the. The shower head 210 is for introducing a processing gas into the processing container 172 in a shower shape.
A large number of injection holes 216A for ejecting the processing gas are formed on the ejection surface 216 on the lower surface of the nozzle 10.

A shower head 210 is provided on the ceiling plate 212.
A gas introduction port 218 for introducing the processing gas is provided in the chamber, and a supply passage 220 for flowing the processing gas is connected to the introduction port 218. Then, in the shower head 210, a first diffusion plate 224 having a large number of diffusion holes 222 for the purpose of diffusing the processing gas supplied from the supply passage 220, and a second diffusion plate 224 located below the first diffusion plate 224. Plates 226 are provided respectively.

On the side wall of the processing container 172, for example, a cooling jacket 228 for flowing a coolant to cool the wall surface.
Is provided, and hot water of, for example, about 50 ° C. is caused to flow as a refrigerant. Also, this container 172
A wafer loading / unloading port 230 is provided on a part of the side wall of the
The gate valve G6 is provided here so as to connect and disconnect with the common transfer chamber 4.

Further, a liquid mass flow controller 240 and a vaporizer 242 which uses H ₂ gas as a vaporizing gas and a carrier gas are sequentially provided in the middle of the supply passage 220 to vaporize the liquid DMAH and process the container 172. It is designed to be supplied inside. For example, a tape heater 244 (represented by a broken line in the figure) for preventing reliquefaction is provided in the supply passage 220 on the downstream side of the vaporizer 242, and this is heated to a predetermined temperature, for example, about 45 ° C. ing. still,
Here, the stock solution of DMAH is heated to about 50 ° C.,
The viscosity may be reduced, and pressure feeding may be performed in this state.

Next, the cooling processing chamber 20 will be described with reference to FIG. The cooling processing chamber 20 is a processing chamber that cools the wafer W heated by the film forming processing in the film forming processing chamber 16 or 18 to the handling temperature. The cooling processing chamber 20 has a processing container 246, which is formed of, for example, aluminum into a bottomed tubular shape. Inside the cooling processing chamber 20, a cooling table 248 made of, for example, aluminum is provided. W can be placed. The cooling table 248 has, for example, a refrigerant of 25 ° C.,
For example, a cooling jacket 250 for flowing cooling water to cool the cooling water is provided, and the wafer W placed on the upper surface is cooled to, for example, about 50 ° C.

Further, the cooling table 248 is provided with a lifter pin 252 which penetrates through the cooling table 248 and can be vertically moved up and down. When the wafer W is carried in and out, the lifter pin 252 is moved up and down to lift the wafer W. , Take it down.

The ceiling plate 25 is provided on the ceiling of the processing container 246.
4 is airtightly and removably attached via a seal member 256, and an exhaust port 258 is provided in the periphery of the container bottom 246A, and the exhaust port 258 is provided with an exhaust gas through a turbo molecular pump 260 and a dry pump 262. System 264
The inside of the container can be evacuated by connecting.
A gas nozzle 266 for supplying an inert gas, for example, Ar gas, is formed inside one side wall of the processing container 246, and a wafer loading / unloading port 268 is installed at the other side wall, and a wafer transfer port 268 is provided between the processing container 246 and the common transfer chamber 4. The gate valve G8 for connecting and disconnecting is provided.

By the way, in the above-mentioned processing chambers, there is a risk of leaking the processing gas to the outside. Therefore, safety measures must be taken against the leakage gas. Therefore, each processing chamber, specifically, the oxide film removal processing chamber 14 using BCl ₃ as the processing gas, the first and second film forming processing chambers 16 and 18 using DMAH, and the BCl ₃ gas are used as wafers. An airtight box 270 is provided around the gas component removal processing chamber 12 to be removed from the surface as shown in FIG. 1 so as to cover each processing chamber. Each airtight box 270 has the same structure, and FIG. 9 shows the airtight box 270 provided in the oxide film removal processing chamber 14 as an example. Since the airtight box 270 is for preventing the processing gas from leaking to the surroundings, the airtightness is not required so much, and a clean gas inlet 272 for introducing clean air into a part of the airtight box 270. Is provided, and a gas exhaust port 274 is provided at a portion distant from the gas exhaust port 274, and the gas exhaust port 274 is connected to a factory exhaust duct, thereby forming an airtight box 270.
A gas flow is generated in the entire interior, and if a leaked gas should occur, the processing gas is discharged along the airflow to the factory exhaust duct side.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, the overall flow of the semiconductor wafer W will be described with reference to FIG. First, since the aluminum film formation easily reacts with air and moisture to form an oxide film, the processing chambers 10, 12, 14, including the common transfer chamber 4,
When not in use, 16, 18, and 20 are maintained at a high vacuum degree of about 5 × 10 ⁻⁶ Torr as a base pressure,
It prevents the formation of natural oxide film. When the unprocessed semiconductor wafer W is accommodated in the cassette C from the outside and is carried into the first cassette chamber 6 through the gate door 1, for example, it is hermetically sealed and the inside of the first cassette chamber 6 is pressurized to the above-mentioned base pressure. Evacuate to. When the base pressure is reached, the gate valve G1 is opened to extend the transfer arm 24 in the common transfer chamber 4, which is maintained at the base pressure in advance, and one unprocessed wafer W is taken out. 22
The wafer is aligned by detecting the orientation flat of the wafer. Wafer W after alignment
Is carried into the moisture removal processing chamber 10 whose base pressure is set in advance through the gate valve G3 which is opened again using the transfer arm 24, and the wafer W is heated here to adhere to the wafer surface. Evaporate and remove the water and other substances that are present.

The wafer W from which the water has been removed is then carried into the oxide film removal processing chamber 14 which is previously maintained at the base pressure via the gate valve G5, where it is attached to the wafer surface by etching. Remove the existing natural oxide film. Here, for example, BCl ₃ gas is used as an etching gas when a selective aluminum film is formed in a later step, and H ₂ gas is used as an etching gas when a blanket aluminum film is formed.
When BCl ₃ gas is used as the etching gas, C
Since l ions and B ions, especially Cl ions, adversely affect the electrical characteristics of the aluminum film, these ions must be completely removed from the wafer surface. Therefore, the wafer W after etching using BCl ₃ gas is
Next, it is carried into the gas component removal processing chamber 12 which has been made to have a base pressure in advance through the gate valve G4, where B ions and Cl ions are excited by heating and ultraviolet irradiation,
These are removed by separating them from the wafer surface.

The wafer W from which the gas component has been removed is then introduced into the first or second film forming processing chamber 16 or 18 which has been set to the base pressure in advance through the gate valve G6 or G7. In this way, the two film formation processing chambers 16 and 18 are
The reason for providing is to improve the throughput in view of the time required for the film forming process. Further, when H ₂ gas is used as the etching gas in the oxidation removal processing chamber 14 instead of the BCl ₃ gas, the wafer is directly passed through the gas component removal processing chamber 12 without passing through the gas component removal processing chamber 12. It will be carried into the film formation processing chamber. A gas obtained by vaporizing DMAH (dimethylaluminum hydride), for example, is used as a processing gas for the wafer carried into the film forming processing chamber 16 or 18, and an aluminum film is formed at a predetermined temperature by the CVD processing. Will be.

The wafer W on which the aluminum film has been formed is then loaded into the cooling processing chamber 20 which is maintained at the base pressure in advance via the gate valve G8, and is cooled there to a predetermined handling temperature. . Then, the processed wafer W is accommodated in the cassette C in the second cassette chamber 8 which is previously maintained at the base pressure via the gate valve G2. In this way, the unprocessed wafers are sequentially flown to be processed, and in the film forming process requiring a relatively long processing time, the vacant film forming chamber is used to improve the throughput.

Next, specific processing in each processing chamber will be individually described. First, the water removal process will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 2, the wafer W placed on the mounting table 40 is heated by energizing the heater 44 embedded in the mounting table 40 from the heater power supply 60. The heating temperature of the wafer W at this time is, for example, about 400 ° C., the internal atmosphere is an inert N ₂ gas atmosphere, and the pressure is set to, for example, about 5 × 10 ⁻⁶ Torr. Water on the wafer surface is vaporized by heating, and the vaporized water is sucked and removed by the exhaust system 78. The treatment time depends on the treatment temperature, but is set to about 180 seconds when the treatment temperature is about 400 ° C. During the processing period, the coolant is caused to flow through the cooling jacket 90 provided in the processing container 26 to prevent the processing container 26 from excessively rising in temperature and maintain safety.

When performing maintenance of the moisture removal processing chamber 10, the unit mounting plate 38 is mounted on the mounting table mounting step 34 as shown in FIG. 4 with the ceiling plate 28 of the processing container 26 removed. Attaching and fixing screws 4
When the unit mounting plate 38 is pulled up in a state in which 2 is removed and the screw 50 that attaches and fixes the terminal unit 48 to the container bottom portion 26A is removed, the connecting rods 66, 6
The terminal unit 48 integrally connected via 4 can also be taken out integrally. At this time, of course, the wiring 58 connecting the heater power supply 60 and the lead-out terminal 52 is removed beforehand. As described above, the unit mounting plate 38 supporting the mounting table 40 and the terminal unit 48 can be integrally removed, so that the maintenance work of the heater 44, the mounting table 40, or the terminal unit 48 can be easily performed. Become.

Next, the oxide film removing process will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5, the wafer W mounted on the mounting table 88 is adsorbed and held on the mounting surface by the Coulomb force generated from the electrostatic chuck 90, and in this state, the etching gas is supplied from the shower head 120 to the lower portion. 13.56M from the high frequency power source 104 on the mounting table 88 which is an electrode
A high frequency voltage of Hz is applied, and plasma is generated between this and the showerhead 120, which is the upper electrode, to perform a plasma etching process. Here, as described above, BCl ₃ and Ar gas are used as etching gases when the selective aluminum film is formed in the subsequent step, and H ₂ gas is used as the etching gas when the blanket aluminum film is formed. At this time, the etching conditions are BCl ₃ and A
When flowing r gas, 400 sccm of BCl ₃ and Ar
Of about 100 SCCM and H ₂ gas of about 100 SCCM, and the process pressure is 40 m.
˜150 mTorr, the wafer temperature is set to 60 ° C. or lower, and the etching process is performed for 60 to 240 seconds. In this case, in order to prevent the shower head 120 from being overheated, the cooling jacket 126 is cooled by flowing a coolant.

Next, the gas component removing process will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 6, the wafer W placed on the mounting table 40 is heated to a predetermined temperature, for example, about 300 ° C. by the heater 44, and at the same time, a wavelength of, for example, a wavelength is emitted from the ultraviolet lamp 170 of the ultraviolet irradiation means 156 located above the wafer W. Ultraviolet rays UV of 254 nm are emitted, and the ultraviolet rays pass through the transmission plate 160 and irradiate the wafer surface. By the synergistic effect of heating by the heater 44 and irradiation of ultraviolet rays,
BCl ₃ molecules, B ions, C adhering to the wafer surface
Gas components such as l-ions are excited to high energy levels,
This becomes more than the binding energy with the wafer surface, and is separated from the wafer surface and sucked and removed from the exhaust system 78.

At this time, the inside of the processing container 26 is filled with H ₂ gas or N ₂ gas atmosphere, and the process pressure is 5 m-1.
It is maintained at about 50 mTorr. The process time depends on the process temperature and the intensity of the UV light, but when the wavelength is 254 nm and the light intensity is 30 mW / cm ² as described above, the treatment is performed for about 180 seconds. It should be noted that, in this apparatus, the unit mounting plate 38 and the terminal unit 48 can be integrally attached to and detached from the processing container 26 to improve the maintainability. This is the same as in the case of the gas component removal processing chamber described above.

Next, the film forming process of the aluminum film will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 7, the wafer W mounted on the mounting table 182 is attracted and held by the Coulomb force from the electrostatic chuck 192. In this state, the wafer W is heated by the resistance heating element 190 to a predetermined process temperature, for example, 200 ° C., and at the same time DMAH is used as a processing gas.
Vaporized gas from the shower head 210 to the processing container 172
Introduced into the inside, a CVD film of aluminum is formed on the surface of the wafer. At this time, the process pressure is maintained at about 2 Torr, and the DMAH is, for example, 100 SCC in gas conversion.
Supply about M.

When the processing gas is supplied, the raw material liquid 23
4 is pressure-fed from the tank 232, this is vaporized by the vaporizer 242 with H ₂ gas which is a vaporized gas and carrier gas, and the vaporized gas thus generated is introduced into the processing container 172 as described above. In addition, during film formation, the processing container 172
A coolant having a temperature of, for example, about 50 ° C. is caused to flow through the cooling jacket 228 provided on the side wall of the container to cool it to a safe temperature.

Next, the wafer cooling process will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 8, the temperature of the wafer W placed on the cooling table 248 immediately after the film forming process is about 200 ° C., and the cooling jacket 250 provided on the cooling table 248 has this temperature.
By flowing a coolant whose temperature is, for example, about 25 ° C.,
The wafer W is cooled to a handling temperature of about 0 ° C. In this case, the pressure inside the processing container 246 is, for example, 1
Generation of an oxide film is suppressed by setting an atmosphere of an inert gas of about Torr, for example, Ar gas. As described above, in the present invention, when performing the pretreatment and the posttreatment required for the CVD film formation of the aluminum film, a plurality of treatment chambers corresponding to these treatments are provided collectively around the common transfer chamber 4. Since the wafers are continuously processed without being exposed to the atmosphere on the way, it is possible to form an aluminum CVD film having good quality and electrical characteristics.

Further, the processing chambers 12, 14, 16 and 18 which may use or leak the processing gas are individually housed in the airtight box 270 as shown in FIG. 9, for example. , Even if the processing gas leaks,
Since the air flow from the clean gas inlet 272 to the gas outlet 274 flows in the box 270, the processing gas is removed together with it, and the safety can be improved. In this regard, in a conventional general cluster tool device, since a structure in which a plurality of processing chambers are all housed in one airtight box is adopted,
Since the airtight box itself has a very large capacity, and therefore the suction effect of the factory exhaust duct is not fully exerted, the leaked process gas is not sufficiently sucked to the factory exhaust duct side, and in the worst case, the operator side. There was a fear of leakage.

However, since the capacity of each box is made extremely small by individually covering the processing chamber with the airtight box 270 as in the present invention, the atmosphere in the box can be efficiently made only by the suction action of the factory exhaust duct. Can be aspirated and eliminated, and thus the safety can be improved accordingly. Further, in the conventional airtight box, when performing maintenance of one processing device in the cluster tool device, it is necessary to stop the operation of all the other processing devices. When each of the processing chambers is covered with the airtight box, the operation of only the processing chamber to be maintained may be stopped, the other processing chambers can be maintained in the operating state, and the throughput can be improved. For example, when performing maintenance on the first film formation processing chamber 16, it is sufficient to stop the operation of only this processing chamber 16, and the second film forming processing chamber 18 can maintain the operating state. It is possible to continue the process of. The method of forming TiN by the CVD method is roughly divided into a method using an organic Ti compound and a method using T
Although there is a method of using an inorganic halogen compound such as iCl _4, when Al is formed by using DMAH as a source gas, the electrophilicity of Al atoms is large and impurities in TiN (about 0.1 to 3%) are used. Since the halogen atom, which is the content of (1), contains a large number of electrons, it accelerates the nucleation process in the initial stage of CVD and enables uniform film formation. The effect of membrane treatment is recognized.

In the above embodiment, the cluster tool device capable of selectively performing selective aluminum film formation and blanket aluminum film formation has been described. However, a cluster tool dedicated to blanket aluminum film formation is used. It may be a suit device. An example of such a cluster tool device is shown in FIG. 10. In the case of blanket aluminum film formation, BCl ₃ is used in the oxide film removal processing chamber 14.
Since no gas is used, it is not necessary to form an airtight box here, and further, it is not necessary to provide the gas component removal processing chamber 12 (see FIG. 1) itself for removing the BCl ₃ gas remaining on the wafer surface. Incidentally, in FIG.
Although only one is described, two may be provided as in the case shown in FIG. Further, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 10, three or more film formation processing chambers may be provided to further improve the throughput. Further, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the case of forming a film on a semiconductor wafer, and can be applied to the case of forming a film on another object to be processed such as an LCD substrate or a glass substrate. Further, as a base film, CVD-T
It is possible to use iN or TiCl ₄ which does not require pretreatment etching. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, both the first and second film forming processing chambers 16 and 18 were used as the processing chambers for forming the aluminum film. However, either one of the processing chambers is used as a base before the blanket aluminum film forming. It may be used as a processing chamber for forming a base film made of the same material as the substrate surface, for example, a TiN film or a TiW film over the entire surface. As the processing gas, T
When forming the iN film, for example, TDEAT of organic gas is used.
And TDMAT and He, NH ₃ MH, etc. can be used, and as the inorganic gas, TiCl ₄ and IPA, MMH, M
H, H ₂ or the like is used. In this way, by providing the processing chamber for forming the base film, it is possible to form the blanket aluminum film in the next aluminum film forming process chamber without exposing the base film to the atmosphere after forming the base film. Moisture and oxides in the atmosphere do not adhere, and there is no need to perform pre-etching to remove them.

As described above, according to the cluster tool device of the present invention, the following excellent operational effects can be exhibited. The processing chamber for forming the aluminum film and the processing chamber for performing the pre-processing and the post-processing required for the CVD film formation of the aluminum film are gathered and connected around the common transfer chamber so that the object to be processed is exposed to the atmosphere. It is possible to continuously perform the treatment without exposing it to an aluminum CVD film having good quality and electrical characteristics. Further, by providing the gas component removal processing chamber for removing the etching gas component, the aluminum CVD film formation suitable for the purpose can be selectively formed. Furthermore,
By providing the mounting table including the heating heater and the terminal unit of the heating heater integrally and detachably with respect to the processing container, these maintenance operations can be performed quickly. In addition, the processing gas is used during processing, or the processing chamber that is generated is individually covered with an airtight box that can suck and exhaust air, so that the atmosphere inside the box can be efficiently eliminated, which not only improves safety but also maintenance. Since the operation of only the target processing chamber can be stopped and the other processing chambers can be operated, the throughput can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a cluster tool device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a moisture removal processing chamber.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a unit mounting plate of the heater unit.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view showing a detached state of the heater unit.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an oxide film removal processing chamber.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a gas component removal processing chamber.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing a film forming processing chamber.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing a cooling processing chamber.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a state in which an airtight box is provided in the processing chamber.

FIG. 10 is a schematic configuration diagram of a cluster tool device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Cluster tool device 4 Common transfer chamber 6 First cassette chamber 8 Second cassette chamber 10 Moisture removal treatment chamber 12 Gas component removal treatment chamber 14 Oxide film removal treatment chamber 16 First film formation treatment chamber 18 Second film formation treatment Chamber 20 Cooling chamber 24 Transfer arm 44 Heater 48 Terminal unit 156 Ultraviolet irradiation means 170 Ultraviolet lamp 270 Airtight box 272 Clean gas inlet 274 Gas exhaust W W Semiconductor wafer (processed object)

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toru Ikeda 6-5-11 Hiyoshidai, Tomisato Town, Inba District, Chiba Prefecture

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A moisture removing treatment chamber for heating an object to be treated by a heater to remove moisture and the like adhering to the surface thereof, and a natural substance adhering to the surface of the object from which moisture has been removed. An oxide film removal processing chamber for removing an oxide film by etching, a film forming processing chamber for performing a film forming process on the surface of the object to be processed, a cooling processing chamber for cooling the object to be processed after the film forming process, The water removal processing chamber, the oxide film removal processing chamber, the film formation processing chamber, and the cooling processing chamber are commonly connected to each other so that they can communicate with each other and can be shut off, and a common transfer chamber for loading and unloading the object to be processed. A cluster tool device characterized in that 2. A gas component removal processing chamber for removing the etching gas component used in the oxide film removal processing chamber is connected to the common transfer chamber.
The described cluster tool device. 3. A mounting table including the heater in the moisture removal processing chamber and a terminal unit of the heating heater are integrally and detachably attached to a processing container in the processing chamber. The cluster tool device according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The cluster tool device according to claim 2, wherein the gas component removal processing chamber has a heater for heating the object to be processed and an ultraviolet irradiation means. 5. A mounting table including the heater and a terminal unit of the heater are integrally and detachably attached to a processing container of the gas component removal processing chamber. The described cluster tool device. 6. A plurality of processing chambers that use or generate a processing gas when processing an object to be processed, and a plurality of processing chambers connected to each of the chambers so that they can be communicated and cut off in common. In a cluster tool device having a common transfer chamber for loading and unloading, each processing chamber using or generating the processing gas is individually housed in an airtight box capable of introducing and discharging gas, and A cluster tool device characterized in that it is configured to discharge the atmosphere. 7. The processing chamber includes an oxide film removal processing chamber for removing a natural oxide film adhering to the surface of the object to be processed by etching using the processing gas, and a processing gas applied to the surface of the object to be processed. A film forming processing chamber for performing a film forming process using a gas, a gas component removing processing chamber for removing the etching gas used in the oxide film removing processing chamber, and a base substrate using a processing gas on the surface of the object to be processed. 7. The cluster tool device according to claim 6, further comprising at least one of a processing chamber for homogenizing the film by forming a base film of the same material over the entire surface.