JPH0982493A - Plasma processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plasma processing device which can eliminate ill influence of plasma and can perform cleaning satisfactorily. SOLUTION: Electron cyclotron resonance is generated by the interaction of microwaves and a magnetic field in a processing chamber 2 to which a vacuum pump 106 is attached directly, and thereby a plasma is produced, and a specified processing is applied to a work to be processed W which is placed on a stage 4. The mounting surface S1 for the vacuum pump 106 is located apart from the plasma region A, not confronting it, and below the horizontal level H1 of the placing face of the stage 4. At processing, the vacuum pump is prevented from attachment of films, etc., resulting from the plasma, and at cleaning, the gas flow is directed down aslant so that an effective cleaning can be conducted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus for processing a semiconductor wafer or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a plasma processing apparatus has been used for processing such as film formation, etching, ashing, and the like in a semiconductor product manufacturing process in accordance with high density and high miniaturization of a semiconductor product. , 0.1 to 10 mTorr
Microwave plasma devices that generate high-density plasma by combining microwaves and a magnetic field from a ring-shaped coil tend to be used because plasma can be stably generated even in a high vacuum state with relatively low pressure. It is in. Conventionally, as a microwave plasma apparatus of this type, for example, a microwave introduction port is provided in a plasma generation chamber having a magnetic field forming means to form an electron cyclotron resonance space, ions are extracted from the plasma generation chamber, and a processing gas in the reaction chamber is extracted from the plasma generation chamber. It is known to perform a film forming process or the like by activating with plasma.

As such a plasma processing apparatus, for example, one having a structure shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-230020 is known. FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing such a conventional plasma processing apparatus. For example, a mounting for mounting a semiconductor wafer W as an object to be processed in a processing container 2 that is partitioned in a sealed state by aluminum or the like. A table 4 is provided. An electrostatic chuck (not shown) is provided on the mounting surface of the mounting table 4, and a bias power source 18 for outputting a high frequency bias containing a DC component is connected to the electrostatic chuck to hold the wafer by a Coulomb force. A waveguide 8 connected to the high frequency generation source 6 is arranged above the processing container 2 so that microwaves can be introduced into the processing container 2. Further, an upper electromagnetic coil 10 is provided on the upper side of the processing container 2, and a lower electromagnetic coil 12 is provided on the lower part of the mounting table 4, and an electron cyclotron resonance is generated between a magnetic field generated by these and a microwave. Is created.

A plasma gas, for example, an argon gas is turned into plasma in the plasma chamber 14 by the input microwave power, and the processing gas supplied to the reaction chamber 16 below the plasma gas, for example, a silane gas as a film forming gas. And oxygen is activated and reacted to form a film on the wafer surface. When performing a film forming process on a wafer, there are microscopically large irregularities such as when forming a film on a relatively microscopically flat wafer surface and when forming an interlayer insulating film or the like. In some cases, film formation is performed on the wafer surface, and when film formation is performed on the uneven surface, contradictory operations such as performing film formation and embedding while performing etching so that voids do not occur in the recesses are performed at the same time.

In this case, the lower the process pressure, the longer the free path of the particles and the better the directionality, which is preferable, but it is desired to maintain the deposition rate high and increase the plasma amount. The flow rates of the film gas and the plasma gas must also be increased. Therefore, while supplying a large amount of gas, the processing container 2 is operated by a large-capacity vacuum pump.
The inside must be evacuated. In order to realize such a requirement, a large-capacity vacuum pump 20 made of, for example, a turbo molecular pump or the like is directly attached to the side wall of the processing container 2 to maximize the exhaust conductance. There is. Similarly, the vacuum pump 22 is also directly attached to the bottom side of the processing container 2 so as to maximize the exhaust conductance.

[0006]

By the way, when the vacuum pump 20 is directly attached to the side wall of the processing container 2 as described above, the exhaust resistance is small and the exhaust conductance is large, so that the supply gas amount is large. Can maintain a high vacuum state, but the mounting surface of the vacuum pump 20 is the reaction chamber 1
Since it is close to the plasma region A in 6 so as to be almost in contact therewith, there is a risk of being affected by this. For example, the first effect is that a film may be formed on the structural parts inside the vacuum pump 20, and if the film is attached to the component parts, the maintenance work becomes difficult and particles are expected to be generated. The second effect is that a sensor for detecting the center position of the rotating shaft of the magnetically levitated rotary blade is provided in the vacuum pump, but when this sensor generates noise due to the influence of plasma. There is a possibility that the center of rotation cannot be controlled to an appropriate position. For this reason, the rotating shaft may be eccentric or may cause resonance, and in the worst case, the pump may be destroyed.

Further, in order to remove the unnecessary film deposited on the inner wall of the processing container, a cleaning gas such as NF ₃ is periodically or irregularly flowed to perform a dry cleaning operation. In this case, the process is performed. Processing pressure is 1mT
Although the cleaning operation is performed at a relatively low pressure of about 1 torr, a viscous flow is generated because the cleaning operation is performed at a relatively high pressure of about 1 Torr, and therefore the cleaning gas tends to flow horizontally toward the vacuum pump 20 side provided on the side wall. Becomes For this reason, the vacuum pump 2 with the wafer W at the center is used.
It is conceivable that it becomes difficult for the cleaning gas to come into contact with the side wall opposite to the mounting surface of 0, and it becomes impossible to sufficiently clean this portion. 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 plasma processing apparatus which can eliminate the adverse effects of plasma and can sufficiently perform cleaning processing.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a plasma by generating electron cyclotron resonance in a processing container to which a vacuum pump is directly attached by an interaction between a microwave and a magnetic field. In the plasma processing apparatus, which is configured to perform a predetermined process on the object to be processed placed on the mounting table, the mounting surface of the vacuum pump is installed so as to be separated from the plasma region so as not to face it. In addition, the mounting surface is arranged below the horizontal level of the mounting surface of the mounting table.

Since the present invention is configured as described above, since the mounting surface of the vacuum pump is separated from the plasma region and the mounting surface is located below the horizontal level of the mounting surface, the process is performed during the process. The effect of plasma can be eliminated without lowering the exhaust conductance, and during cleaning, the gas flow does not flow horizontally, but rather flows obliquely downward from the top of the mounting table toward the peripheral edge. A cleaning operation can be performed. In order to facilitate the mounting of this large capacity vacuum pump, the processing container is provided with an auxiliary container on its side part or an auxiliary vent pipe bent downward, and the vacuum pump is directly attached thereto.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a plasma processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG.
2 is a schematic perspective view showing a multi-chamber processing apparatus using the plasma processing apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the appearance of the plasma processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view when cut at a right angle along a line III. The same parts as those of the conventional device will be described with the same reference numerals. In this embodiment, a case where the plasma processing apparatus is applied to a sputter CVD apparatus will be described as an example.

First, a multi-chamber processing apparatus incorporating the plasma processing apparatus of the present invention will be described.
As shown in FIG. 2, the multi-chamber processing apparatus 22 includes two plasma processing apparatuses 24, 24 according to the present invention and a transfer chamber 26 commonly connected to the processing apparatuses 24, 24.
And two cassette chambers 28 that are commonly connected to the transfer chamber 26, and are entirely covered with a box-shaped housing 30. In front of the cassette chamber 28, an I / O port 34 for loading / unloading a cassette 32 containing a plurality of, for example, 25 semiconductor wafers W to be processed into / out of the housing 30, is provided. In the illustrated example, a maximum of four cassettes 32 can be placed. This cassette chamber 28
For example, it is formed in a box shape from aluminum or the like, and has a size capable of vertically moving the cassette 32 housed therein at least by the height of one cassette.

A cassette 32 is provided in the cassette chamber 28.
A cassette mounting table (not shown) on which the wafer is mounted is provided so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and the height level of the wafer can be adjusted as necessary. Further, a gate door 36 of a size capable of loading and unloading the cassette 32 is provided on the side wall of the cassette chamber 28 on the I / O port side so as to be opened and closed airtightly, and one wafer W is provided on the opposite side wall. A gate valve (not shown) having a size capable of carrying in and out is provided so as to be airtightly openable and closable, and the transfer chamber 26 is connected via the gate valve. Further, at the bottom of the cassette chamber 28, a vacuum exhaust system (not shown) for evacuating the internal atmosphere, or for introducing N ₂ gas or the like into the cassette chamber 28 in a vacuum state to return it to the atmospheric pressure. N ₂ gas supply system (not shown) is connected.

Between the cassette chamber 28 and the I / O port 34, a cassette articulated arm 38 for transferring the cassette 32 between the I / O port 34 and the cassette chamber 28 can be bent and extended. It is provided. This arm 38
Is movably provided along the length direction of the I / O port 34 so that it can be stopped at a desired position.
On the other hand, the transfer chamber 26 is formed of aluminum or the like into a thin box shape, and a multi-joint arm for wafer 40 supported by the bottom of the transfer chamber is flexibly provided inside the transfer chamber 26. And
The rotation shaft provided at the base end of the multi-joint arm 40 is rotationally controlled by a drive unit 42 such as a motor, so that the wafer multi-joint arm 40 is oriented and bent and extended.

A vacuum exhaust system (not shown) for evacuating the internal atmosphere and an N ₂ gas supply system for introducing N ₂ gas, for example, are also connected to the bottom of the transfer chamber 26. Then, the transfer chamber 26 is provided in each of the processing devices 2
Gate valve 4 that can be opened and closed airtightly with 4, 24
They are connected via 3, 43.

On the other hand, the two processing devices 24 and 24 have the same structure, and are configured as an ECR (electron cyclotron) CVD device here. 2 shows a schematic perspective view of this device, and FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the device of FIG. 2 taken along line III-III. As shown, this processing device 24
Has a processing container 2 which is formed of, for example, aluminum into a tubular shape having a substantially rectangular cross section, and one processing surface of the processing container 2 has a substantially half cross section, which is a feature of the present invention. A pair of circular or semi-elliptical auxiliary containers 44,
Reference numeral 44 is connected to the inside of the processing container 2 by welding or the like in a communication state. An opening is provided in the bottom of the container, and a mounting table 4 made of, for example, aluminum for mounting the semiconductor wafer W is installed in the opening so as to be vertically movable.
An electrostatic chuck 48 made of, for example, alumina and having a disk-shaped copper foil 46 embedded therein is attached and provided on the upper surface, and a DC power source 50 connected to the electrostatic chuck 48 via an opening / closing switch 68. By applying a higher DC voltage, the wafer W can be attracted and held by the Coulomb force. Further, a high frequency bias power supply 54 of, for example, 13.56 MHz is connected to the copper foil 46 via a matching box 52 so that ions can be effectively attracted as will be described later.

Further, the wafer W is placed in the mounting table 4 during processing.
Is provided with a cooling jacket 56 for cooling the wafer W to prevent it from being overheated and a heater 58 for heating the wafer W when necessary, and are connected to a coolant source 60 and a heating source 62, respectively. ing. The bottom of the container is provided with a cylindrical bottom side wall 64 that extends downward so as to surround the mounting table 4.
The table 4 is moved up and down in the side wall 64 by an elevating means (not shown). The lower end of the side wall 64 and the space between the mounting bases 4 are connected by a ring-shaped bellows 66, so that the mounting bases 4 can be moved up and down while keeping the container airtight. And this bottom side wall 64
A gate valve 43 for airtightly opening and closing the transfer chamber 26 is provided in a part of the transfer chamber 26 so that the wafer can be loaded and unloaded from the transfer chamber 26 with the mounting table 4 being depressed. ing. The upper portion of the processing container 2 is narrowed in a stepped shape, and this portion is defined as a plasma chamber 14, and the lower portion thereof is defined as a reaction chamber 16, which divides the processing container 2 into upper and lower parts. A plate-shaped dielectric 70 made of, for example, alumina or the like is airtightly provided on the ceiling of the plasma chamber 14 through a sealing member 72 such as an O-ring in order to transmit microwaves.
The microwave introduction window 74 is configured.

A tapered waveguide 76 for smoothly changing a circular opening having a triangular cross section into a rectangular opening is connected to the microwave introduction window 74, and the tapered waveguide 76 is connected to the rectangular waveguide 8. It is connected to the microwave generator 6 via the so that microwaves can be introduced into the plasma chamber 14. The stepped plasma chamber 14
A ring-shaped upper electromagnetic coil 10 is provided on the side of the above so as to surround it, and the magnetic field lines are formed by penetrating the plasma chamber 14 and the reaction chamber 16 from above to below.
A ring-shaped lower electromagnetic coil 12 is arranged below the bottom of the container, which is substantially symmetrical to the upper electromagnetic coil 10 with the reaction chamber 16 interposed therebetween.
Generate a downward magnetic force line in the same direction as the above magnetic force line,
Due to the interaction of the lines of magnetic force, a substantially spindle-shaped mirror magnetic field M is formed to efficiently confine ions and the like.
Then, the mirror magnetic field M and the introduced microwave generate electron cyclotron resonance, so that the introduced gas can be turned into plasma.

A plasma gas introduction nozzle 78 is provided on the side wall defining the plasma chamber 14, and this nozzle 78 is provided with an Ar gas source 8 through a gas passage 80.
2, an enzyme gas (O ₂ ) 84 and a cleaning gas, for example, an NF ₃ gas source 86 and an N ₂ source 87 are connected, and open / close valves 88A, 88B, 88C, 88E and mass flow controllers 90A, 90B, 90C, respectively. 90
The flow rate is controlled by E. In addition, a processing gas introduction nozzle 92 is provided on the side wall that partitions the reaction chamber 16.
A processing gas, for example, a silane source 96 is connected to the nozzle 92 via a gas passage 94. The flow rate of this gas is controlled by an opening / closing valve 88D and a mass flow controller 90D provided in the middle of the gas passage 94. Then, on the side wall of the processing container 2,
Sidewall heater 98 for heating the sidewall itself during the process
Embedded therein, which is connected to the heating source 100.

On the other hand, the height of the auxiliary container 44, which is characteristic of the present invention and is symmetrically connected to the side portion of the processing container 2, is formed to be substantially equal to the height of the processing container 2, and the auxiliary container 4 is provided.
The flow resistance of the gas to the 4 side is made as small as possible.
A relatively large diameter exhaust port 102 is formed in the bottom portion 44A of the auxiliary container 44, and a large capacity vacuum pump, for example, a turbo molecular pump 106 is directly attached to the exhaust port 102 via a flange 104. ing. in this case,
As described above, in this type of device for performing film formation while performing etching and filling holes on a wafer without generating voids, a large amount of gas is supplied into the processing container 2 and 1 mTorr. Since it is necessary to create a high vacuum of a certain degree, it is necessary to draw a vacuum with high efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to use the large-capacity turbo molecular pump 106 as described above, and the exhaust port 102
The diameter of the above must also be set relatively large in order to maintain a large exhaust conductance, and therefore the auxiliary container 44 is provided in order to increase this mounting area. For example, 3.
Turbo molecular pump 10 with an exhaust capacity of 000 liters / second 10
When 6 is used, the diameter of the exhaust port 102 is 400
Therefore, the size of the auxiliary container 44 in the horizontal direction is set to at least about 400 mm, for example.

By directly attaching the turbo-molecular pump 106 to the bottom portion 44A of the auxiliary container 44 in this way, the mounting surface S1 of the pump 106 is attached to the processing container without lowering the exhaust conductance as compared with the conventional device. It is separated from the plasma region A in 2 to prevent the adverse effect of plasma. Moreover, the pump mounting surface S1 is placed on the mounting table 4
It is positioned below the horizontal level of the mounting surface, that is, below the horizontal level of the electrostatic chuck 48, so that the viscous flow during cleaning is inclined downward. The flange 104 is provided with a butterfly valve 108 that opens and closes the exhaust port 102. A roughing pump 112 such as a dry pump is connected to the outlet of the turbo molecular pump 106 via an exhaust passage 110.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, a cassette containing unprocessed product wafers is transferred from the outside, and is transferred to the I / O.
It is installed in the port 34 (see FIG. 1). And this I /
When the cassette articulated arm 38 located between the O port 34 and the cassette chamber 28 is telescopically driven,
The cassette 32 installed in the / O port 34 is taken into the cassette chamber 28 through the opened gate door 36, and this is installed on a cassette mounting table (not shown). And
After the gate door 36 is closed to seal the inside of the cassette chamber 28, the inside of the cassette chamber 28 is evacuated, and when a predetermined degree of vacuum is reached, it is partitioned from the transfer chamber 26 which is in a vacuum state in advance. The gate valve is opened to connect the two chambers to each other, one wafer W is taken into the transfer chamber 26 by using the multi-joint arm for wafer 40 in the transfer chamber 26, and this is transferred via the opened gate valve 44. It is mounted on a mounting table 4 in a predetermined processing container 2 and is electrostatically held by an electrostatic chuck 48 (see FIG. 2). At the time of this transfer, the mounting table 4 is sunk in the downward direction, and the mounting surface is set to the gate valve 43.
It is located at the same horizontal level as. After the transfer, the mounting table 4 is raised to a predetermined process position.

After the inside of the processing container 2 is closed, the inside of the processing container 2 is evacuated to a predetermined process pressure, for example, about 1 mTorr, while supplying argon gas, oxygen and silane gas as a source gas into the processing container 2. maintain.
At the same time, the microwave generated from the microwave generator 6 is introduced into the plasma chamber 14 through the microwave introduction window 74, and the upper electromagnetic coil 10 and the lower electromagnetic coil 12 are driven to enter the processing chamber 2. A mirror magnetic field M directed downward is formed. Electron cyclotron resonance occurs due to the interaction between the mirror magnetic field and the introduced microwaves, and argon gas is turned into plasma in the plasma chamber 14, and the ions generated here are supplied to the reaction chamber 16 side along the magnetic field. A plasma region A is formed above the mounting table 4. Oxygen and silane gas are activated and reacted by this plasma energy, and Si is sputtered onto the wafer surface.
A film of O ₂ is formed. At this time, a bias voltage is applied from the bias high frequency power source 54 to the electrostatic chuck 48 to favorably attract the ions to the wafer surface. In this way, a predetermined film forming process such as filling holes in the wafer is performed.

By the way, in the present embodiment, since the film formation is performed while the etching is performed to prevent the generation of voids and the holes and the like are buried, the supply gas amount per unit time becomes very large and high. A high vacuum process pressure must be maintained to enable the generation of a density plasma and the large capacity turbo molecular pump 106 must continue to be driven. Therefore, the turbo molecular pump 106 is directly attached to the processing container 2 side because it is necessary to increase the exhaust conductance, but in the present embodiment, the processing container 2 is used.
The auxiliary container 44 is connected to the
Since the turbo molecular pump 106 is directly attached to the pump, unlike the conventional apparatus, the pump mounting surface S1 is separated from the plasma region A, and it is possible to prevent the pump 106 from being adversely affected by the plasma. FIG. 4 is a view showing the state at this time, and in this example, the state is shown when the auxiliary vessels 44, 44 and the processing vessel 2 are cut linearly so as to traverse them.

As shown in the drawing, a plasma region A is formed above the mounting table 4 and obliquely above, but the mounting surface S1 of the turbo molecular pump 106 is exhausted from the plasma region A due to the existence of the auxiliary container 44. The pumps 106 are spaced apart from each other so that the conductance does not decrease, and the plasma is not adversely affected in the pump 106. Therefore, for example, it is possible to prevent the film formation from adhering to the structure inside the pump, especially the surface of the rotary blade, and to prevent noise from getting on the sensor that detects the center of rotation of the rotary blade. Center position control can be performed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of resonance or the like due to poor control of the center position of the rotary blades, and this damage can be prevented in advance. In the present embodiment, the pair of pumps 106 are provided symmetrically with respect to the processing container 2 so as to evacuate uniformly.
Another container, the auxiliary container 44, and the turbo molecular pump 106 may be provided on the side wall of the container opposite to the gate valve 43 so that the vacuum can be drawn more uniformly.
In FIG. 4, the symbol M indicates a mirror magnetic field.

After the predetermined film forming process is performed on the wafer W in this manner, the processed wafer W is taken out, and the processed wafer W is accommodated through the route opposite to the above. The wafer is stored in a cassette, and a new unprocessed wafer is similarly processed. Then, when the film forming process of a plurality of wafers, for example, 10 wafers is completed in succession, a considerable amount of unnecessary film adheres to, for example, the inner wall of the processing chamber 22 to cause particles. Remove by cleaning process. During this cleaning process, a dummy wafer for cleaning is placed on the mounting table 4 and held by the electrostatic chuck 48, and during the cleaning process, the electrostatic chuck 4 is cleaned with a cleaning gas.
Prevents 8 from being damaged.

While the nitrogen gas is mixed with the NF ₃ gas as a cleaning gas in the processing container 2 and is made to flow, a plasma having a characteristic (microwave) different from that at the time of film formation is generated by the action of the microwave and the magnetic field as described above. The unnecessary film formed on the inner wall of the container and the internal structure is removed by etching. Here, unlike in the process, the pressure in the container is high at the time of cleaning, and is performed at, for example, about 1 Torr, so that the flow of the air flow becomes a viscous flow and the flow A2 of the air flow toward the exhaust port 102 is formed. In this case, in the conventional apparatus, since the pump was directly attached to the side wall of the processing container, the gas flow becomes a horizontal flow and the film deposited on the inner wall of the processing container cannot be effectively removed. Although it is conceivable, in the case of the present embodiment, since the mounting surface S1 of the pump 106, that is, the exhaust port 102 is located below the horizontal level H1 of the mounting surface, the flow A2 of the air flow is at the center of the reaction chamber 16. The flow will be directed more obliquely downward, so that it is possible to sufficiently remove unnecessary film deposition that adheres to the peripheral portion of the mounting table 4 or the like. The apparatus in which the pump is directly attached to the side wall of the processing container can be provided with another exhaust line for cleaning, but there is a problem that the apparatus becomes complicated.

Further, if the pumps 106, 106 are arranged symmetrically with the processing container sandwiched therebetween as in this embodiment, the gas flow will flow substantially evenly over the entire inner circumference of the container and adhere to the inner wall of the processing container 2. The unnecessary film formation can be sufficiently removed. In this embodiment, the mounting surface S1 is positioned much below the horizontal level H1 of the mounting surface, but the height of the auxiliary container 44 is reduced and the mounting surface S1 is positioned at substantially the same level as the horizontal level H1. By doing so, the size of the auxiliary container 44 may be made as small as possible. Incidentally, in the above embodiment, the auxiliary container 4 for mounting the turbo molecular pump 106 is used.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. 5, for example, the downward auxiliary vent pipe 1 having the same size as the opening of the mounting surface of the pump 106 or having a diameter larger than that.
14 may be provided on the side wall of the processing container 2 and the pump 106 may be directly connected thereto. Also by this, the same effect as the above can be exhibited.

Further, although the plasma CVD apparatus using the mirror magnetic field has been described as an example in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and the plasma CVD apparatus using the cusp magnetic field, and further,
The present invention can be applied not only to the CVD device but also to various devices such as an etching device, a sputtering device, and an ashing device.

[0029]

As described above, according to the plasma processing apparatus of the present invention, the following excellent operational effects can be exhibited. Attach the vacuum pump directly to the processing container,
When plasma processing is performed under a high degree of vacuum while supplying a large amount of gas, the mounting surface of the vacuum pump is separated from the plasma region and is positioned below the horizontal level of the mounting surface. Sometimes it is possible to prevent the vacuum pump from being adversely affected by plasma, and at the time of cleaning, the gas flow can be made to incline downward, so that unnecessary film deposition on the inner wall of the processing container or the structure is effectively removed. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a multi-chamber processing apparatus using a plasma processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the appearance of the plasma processing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the plasma processing apparatus shown in FIG. 2 taken along a line III-III at a right angle.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state when a processing container and two auxiliary containers are cut linearly across the same.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional plasma processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 processing container 4 mounting table 6 microwave generator 8 waveguide 10 upper electromagnetic coil 12 lower electromagnetic coil 14 plasma chamber 16 reaction chamber 22 multi-chamber processing device 24 plasma processing device 26 transfer chamber 28 cassette chamber 44 auxiliary container 44A bottom 46 Electrostatic chuck 96 Silane source 102 Exhaust port 104 Flange 106 Turbo molecular pump (vacuum pump) 112 Roughing pump 114 Auxiliary vent pipe A Plasma area A2 Air flow H1 Horizontal level S1 Mounting surface W Semiconductor wafer (processing target)

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] December 21, 1995

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Brief description of drawings

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a multi-chamber processing apparatus using a plasma processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the appearance of the plasma processing apparatus shown in FIG.

[Figure 3] FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state when a processing container and two auxiliary containers are cut linearly across the same.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional plasma processing apparatus.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 2 processing container 4 mounting table 6 microwave generator 8 waveguide 10 upper electromagnetic coil 12 lower electromagnetic coil 14 plasma chamber 16 reaction chamber 22 multi-chamber processing device 24 plasma processing device 26 transfer chamber 28 cassette chamber 44 Auxiliary container 44A Bottom 46 Electrostatic chuck 96 Silane source 102 Exhaust port 104 Flange 106 Turbo molecular pump (vacuum pump) 112 Roughing pump 114 Auxiliary vent pipe A Plasma region A2 Airflow flow H1 Horizontal level S1 Mounting surface W Semiconductor wafer Processing body)

Front page continued (72) Inventor Katsunobu Miyagi 1-24-1 Machiya, Shiroyama-cho, Tsukui-gun, Kanagawa Inside the Tokyo Electron Tohoku Co., Ltd. Sagami Business Office (72) Genichi Katagiri, Tanabe Shinden, Kawasaki-ku, Kanagawa No. 1 in Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An electron cyclotron resonance is generated by interaction between a microwave and a magnetic field in a processing container to which a vacuum pump is directly attached to generate plasma, and a predetermined amount is applied to an object to be processed mounted on a mounting table. In the plasma processing apparatus adapted to perform the treatment, the mounting surface of the vacuum pump is installed so as to be separated from the plasma region so as not to face it, and the mounting surface is set to a level higher than the horizontal level of the mounting surface of the mounting table. The plasma processing apparatus is also characterized in that it is positioned below. 2. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing container has an auxiliary container for mounting the vacuum pump. 3. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing container has a bent auxiliary vent pipe for mounting the vacuum pump.