JPH10147879A - Plasma treatment system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system in which working manhour is reduced, a production cost is inexpensive, and the change of the discharging characteristics of shower plates is small even when insulation film is deposited in a plasma treating device in which reaction gases are fed from shower plates to a plasma generating region. SOLUTION: In a plasma treating device in which reaction gases are fed from shower plates 25 to a plasma generating region, the shower plates are composed of plural shower plates 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31, slits 33, 34, 35 and 36 are formed on the space between each shower plate, and by using the slits instead of fine and many pores for feeding reaction gases, the working manhour is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In one of plasma processing steps, a CV for forming a predetermined film on a surface of a substrate to be processed such as a wafer or a glass substrate is used.
D (Chemical Vapor Depositi
on) There is a film forming step, and the film forming step is performed by a plasma CVD apparatus.

A conventional plasma CVD apparatus for performing a CVD film forming process will be described with reference to FIG.

An airtight processing chamber 3 is defined by the outer tank 1 and the lid 2, and a reaction chamber 5 is defined by the inner tank 4 and the lid 2 in the processing chamber 3. The outer tank 1 is provided with a gate valve (not shown) so that a substrate to be processed can be loaded and unloaded by an external transfer device (not shown). The inner tank 4 is composed of an upper wall 6 fixed to the lid 2 and an inner tank lower part 7 which is continuous with the upper wall 6 and defines a lower part of the reaction chamber 5. It can move up and down together with the lower electrode 16.

[0005] An upper electrode 8 is provided on the ceiling of the reaction chamber of the lid 2 in contact with the reaction chamber 5 via an insulating material 9, and a high frequency power supply 20 is connected to the upper electrode 8. An upper heater 10 is embedded in the upper electrode 8, and a reaction gas introduction pipe 11 connected to a reaction gas supply source (not shown) is connected to the upper electrode 8. A shower plate 13 that defines a reaction gas storage chamber 12 is provided below the upper electrode 8. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the shower plate 13 has a rectangular shape of, for example, 400 × 500 mm and a hole diameter of 0.5.
A large number (100 to 1000) of shower holes 14 having a pitch of 10 to 20 mm are formed. The shower plate 13 is made of aluminum.

The reaction gas introduction pipe 11 communicates with the reaction gas storage chamber 12, and the reaction gas storage chamber 12 communicates with the reaction chamber 5 through the shower hole 14. The gas introduced from the reaction chamber 11 passes through the reaction gas storage chamber 12 and the shower holes 14 through the reaction chamber 5.
It is designed to be dispersed and flow in.

The lower electrode 16 is provided so as to face the upper electrode 8, a lower heater 17 is embedded in the lower electrode 16, and a substrate mounting table 18 is provided above the lower electrode 16. An exhaust pipe 19 that hermetically penetrates the outer tank 1 communicates with the reaction chamber 5, and the exhaust pipe 19 is connected to an exhaust device (not shown).

The lower part 7 of the inner tank is lowered, and the reaction chamber 5 is lowered.
Is opened, a gate valve (not shown) is opened, the substrate 22 to be processed is placed on the substrate placing table 18 by an external transfer device (not shown), the inner tank lower part 7 is raised, and the reaction chamber 5 is closed. Then, the gate valve (not shown) is closed.

A reaction gas is introduced through the reaction gas introduction pipe 11. The reaction gas once flows into the reaction gas storage chamber 12, is rectified, and is uniformly dispersed and flows into the reaction chamber 5 from the shower hole 14. A high-frequency power is applied between the upper electrode 8 and the lower electrode 16 to ionize the reaction gas to generate plasma, thereby generating a predetermined thin film on the surface of the substrate 22 to be processed. The gas after the reaction is exhausted from the exhaust pipe 19.

[0010]

Since the shower plate 13 is manufactured by forming a large number of shower holes 14,
There is a problem that processing cost increases. Also, the substrate to be processed 22
When the film forming process is performed, insulating reaction by-products adhere to the shower plate 13 to deposit a film. However, since the shower plate 13 is made of an aluminum material, the discharge characteristics change when an insulating film is formed. Have a problem. Therefore, at present, a cleaning process for removing the insulating film of the shower plate 13 is performed every required operating time or periodically. Since the plasma processing apparatus must be stopped during the cleaning process, the operation rate is reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a plasma processing apparatus provided with a shower plate having a small number of processing steps, a low manufacturing cost, and a small change in discharge characteristics even when an insulating film is deposited. It is.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided a plasma processing apparatus for supplying a reaction gas from a shower plate to a plasma generation area, wherein the shower plate is constituted by a plurality of shower plates, and a slit is provided between each shower plate. The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus in which holes are formed, relates to a plasma processing apparatus in which the slit holes are inclined, and further relates to a plasma processing apparatus in which the shower plate is made of a ceramic material. The reaction gas is supplied through the hole, the discharge in the slit hole is prevented by the slant of the slit hole, and the discharge characteristics even if the reaction by-product insulator adheres because of the ceramic material Does not change.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show a shower plate 25 of the present embodiment, and the configuration of the entire plasma processing apparatus is the same as that shown in FIG.

The frame 26 is made of alumina (AlO ₃ ).
Shower plates 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 made of steel, are fitted into the shower plates 28, 29 and the shower plate 3 with respect to the central shower plate 27.
0 and 31 are arranged symmetrically.

The shower plates 27, 28, 29,
The outer shape of each of the shower plates 30 and 31 is rectangular, and extends over the frame 26 in the width direction.
The width end portions of 7, 28, 29, 30, 31 are engaged with the frame 26.

Both side surfaces of the shower plate 27 are symmetrically inclined, and the cross-sectional shape is an inverted trapezoidal shape. or,
Both side surfaces of the shower plate 28 are inclined in the same direction,
The cross-sectional shape is a parallelogram, and both side surfaces are parallel to one side surface (the left side surface in FIG. 2) of the shower plate 27, and the side surfaces adjoining the shower plate 27 side are slightly receded except at both ends. ing. Thus, a slit 33 is formed between the shower plate 27 and the shower plate 28 so as to have a required gap, for example, a gap of 0.3 mm.

The shower plate 29 has a symmetrical shape with the shower plate 28, and a slit 34 for reactant gas outflow is formed between the shower plate 29 and the shower plate 27. The shower plate 30 is formed such that only the side surface facing the shower plate 28 is inclined in parallel with the side surface of the shower plate 28, and a portion excluding both end portions of the side surface of the shower plate 30 is recessed. A slit hole 35 for reactant gas outflow is formed between the slit hole 35 and the slit 28. The shower plate 31 has a symmetrical shape with the shower plate 30, and a slit 36 for outflow of the reaction gas is formed between the shower plate 31 and the shower plate 29.

When processing a substrate to be processed, a reaction gas flows into the reaction chamber through the slit holes 33, 34, 35, 36.

As described above, each slit hole is inclined, but this inclination prevents the slit opening on the outflow source side and the slit opening on the outflow destination side from overlapping, thereby preventing discharge in the slit holes. That's why. Therefore, the inclination of the slit hole changes in accordance with the thickness of the shower plate, or in order to make the inflow state of the reaction gas uniform, the inclined surface is gradually inclined from the central slit hole toward the peripheral side. Needless to say, it can be appropriately changed according to the inflow condition of the reaction gas and the structural condition of the shower plate. Further, by increasing the number of shower plates, the number of slit holes can be increased, or if the protrusions formed on the side surfaces of the shower plate are formed not only at both ends but also at the center, the slit holes are divided into two or more. can do. Further, the gap between the slit holes may be changed according to the supply state of the reaction gas. For example, the gap between the slit holes on the center side is increased corresponding to the central portion where the consumption of the reaction gas is large.

As described above, since the slit holes are formed by slightly retreating the side surfaces by a required means such as cutting,
Compared to drilling many small holes, processing is easier and can be performed in a shorter time. For this reason, the manufacturing cost of the shower plate is greatly reduced.

Furthermore, since the material of the shower plate is alumina, the discharge characteristics hardly change even if an insulator is deposited, so that the interval between cleaning operations can be greatly extended, and maintainability is improved. At the same time, the downtime of the plasma processing apparatus is shortened, and the operation rate is improved.

Next, in the cleaning operation, the shower plate can be individually washed, and the inside of the slit hole is exposed by disassembly, so that the washing is easy, and in combination with the small size of the shower plate. The cleaning workability is improved and the cleaning time is shortened.

The insulating material used for the shower plate is not limited to alumina. It is also possible to use aluminum nitride, quartz or the like.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the reaction gas outflow hole of the shower plate is not a large number of small holes but slit holes, the processing is easy, the processing cost is reduced, and the cost of the ceramic material is reduced. It is possible to use it, and it is possible to manufacture a product of stable quality with no change in discharge characteristics even if an insulating film is deposited. Further, when washing a shower plate, it can be disassembled into small pieces of the shower plate and washed, thereby improving workability. Demonstrate excellent effects such as.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a shower plate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a front bottom view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a shower plate according to a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the shower plate.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional plasma CVD apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 25 shower plate 27 shower plate 28 shower plate 29 shower plate 30 shower plate 31 shower plate 33 slit hole 34 slit hole 35 slit hole 36 slit hole

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kazumasa Makiguchi 3-14-20 Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo Inside Kokusai Denki Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plasma processing apparatus for supplying a reaction gas from a shower plate to a plasma generation region, wherein the shower plate includes a plurality of shower plates, and slit holes are formed between the shower plates. Plasma processing equipment. 2. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said slit hole is inclined. 3. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said shower plate is made of a ceramic material.