JPH10223499A - Method and system for manufacture of product as well as operating method for a plurality of working and treatment devices - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To specify the cause of a defect so as to be improved by a method wherein the operating situation and the working and treatment state of a plurality of working and treatment operations are inspected, a product after its working and treatment operation is inspected, inspection data is stored, the data is processed and a working and treatment state and a working and treatment result by a plurality of working and treatment devices are compared. SOLUTION: When a wafer is conveyed to plasma etching devices 10a, 10b, 10c, a device-operation control part 51 etches the wafer according to a treatment procedure and a treatment condition. At this point, the state of a plasma is monitored by spectroscopic analyzers 21, the temperature on the wall surface of a treatment chamber is monitored by temperature sensors 22, and the state of particles is monitored by particle monitors 23. Then, the wafer is sent to an inspection device unit 30, a pattern shape is inspected by a visual inspection device 31, the number of deposited particles is inspected by a measuring device 32, and data is sent to a data storage and processing part 52 at a computer 50 so as to be stored. The data storage and processing part 52 creates interdevice comparison data and etching-treatment data so as to be stored, and a judgment part 53 grasps a treatment condition factor.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an article, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a manufacturing system is constituted by a combination of a processing apparatus (manufacturing apparatus) corresponding to a processing and an inspection apparatus as required. Here, in order to secure productivity, it is common to use a plurality of processing apparatuses for the same processing. In this case, the results of each processing performed by the plurality of processing apparatuses need to be in a range that does not cause a problem in quality control in subsequent processing. Therefore, the processing conditions preset in each processing device are monitored, and it is confirmed that the processing conditions are controlled within the set range,
Confirm that the processing equipment is operating normally. Also, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-16475, the processing history of an article is grasped from a monitor of processing and an inspection device for the processing, and simulation, statistical data, AI
It also shows a control method for the entire line in which the variation in the previous process is detected by the function and the influence of the variation is corrected online in the next process and thereafter.

[0003]

However, even if the above-described operation management is performed and the processing conditions are within the set range or the processing apparatus is operating normally, defective processing may occur.

[0004] In particular, setting conditions such as gas pressure, flow rate, and input power of a plasma processing apparatus or the like can be controlled. Cannot fully understand
The above problems are likely to occur. In such a case,
Since it is difficult to identify the cause of the defective processing, there is a problem that measures take time by trial and error, and the productivity is reduced. Further, the occurrence of defective processing lowers the yield of articles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a manufacturing method and a manufacturing system which operate and control a plurality of processing apparatuses so as to prevent defective processing from occurring, thereby manufacturing articles with high productivity and high yield. Is to obtain an operation method and an operation system of a plurality of processing apparatuses that can identify and improve the cause.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the operation status of a plurality of processing apparatuses and the processing state thereof are inspected, the article after the processing is inspected, the inspection data is stored, and the data processing is performed. To compare the processing state and the processing result by the plurality of processing apparatuses. Based on this,
The processing states of the plurality of processing apparatuses are managed so that the processing results of the articles by the plurality of processing apparatuses are within a range that does not affect quality control on subsequent processing. Further, when a failure process occurs, the cause of the failure is specified and improved based on the result of the comparison.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention and shows a method of etching a wafer by a plurality of plasma etching apparatuses.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a line management system, which manages, controls, and communicates data with a computer that manages a processing apparatus for the entire line.

Reference numerals 10a to 10c denote plasma etching apparatuses, each of which has a monitor for monitoring processing conditions such as gas pressure, flow rate, input power, voltage, current, wafer temperature, processing time, and operating conditions such as apparatus operating time. I have.

Reference numerals 20a to 20c denote monitor units for inspecting the etching processing state of the plasma etching apparatuses 10a to 10c.
2. It is composed of a particle monitor 23. The spectroscopic analyzer 21 monitors the plasma state during the etching, the wall surface temperature sensor 22 monitors the wall surface temperature in the processing chamber of the etching apparatus, and the particle monitor 23 monitors the particle state in the etching apparatus.

Reference numeral 30 denotes an inspection device unit for inspecting the wafer after the processing, and comprises an appearance inspection device 31, and an attached particle counter 32.

Reference numeral 40 denotes an analyzer unit which comprises a scanning electron microscope 41, an FTIR 42, a nuclear power microscope 43, and a total reflection X-ray fluorescence apparatus 44, and analyzes the shape of a wiring pattern on a wafer and the surface condition. Do.

These inspection and analysis equipment units may have different configurations, such as adding a device such as a film thickness measuring device as needed, or removing an infrequently used device. Instead, it may be attached to the etching apparatus and integrated. In addition, it is not necessary to inspect and analyze all the wafers that have been subjected to the etching process, but may perform inspection and analysis as needed.

Reference numeral 50 denotes a computer, at least a device operation control unit 51, a data storage / processing unit 52, and a judgment unit 5
There are three. The apparatus operation control unit 51 controls an etching procedure and processing conditions of the plasma etching apparatuses 10a to 10c.

The data accumulating / processing unit 52 is provided with data from monitors for monitoring the processing conditions and operating conditions of the plasma etching apparatuses 10a to 10c, and data sent from the monitors 20a to 20c, the inspection unit 30, and the analyzer unit 40. This section collects, accumulates, searches for necessary data, and processes data as needed from the accumulated data. The data storage / detection processing unit 52 includes not only data such as the above processing conditions, but also the history of the apparatus, the chemical constants and ionization energy of the gas used, the shape / dimensions / surface roughness / materials of consumable parts and their physical constants / chemicals. Data such as characteristics, usage time, replacement frequency, material and structure of the processing chamber, failure processing that occurred in the past and examples of improvement, and plasma density and distribution obtained from experiments are accumulated. These data can be output in a format easily understood by humans. In addition, a process simulator is provided, and a process simulation using each parameter can be performed.

As the data processing, based on accumulated data and data sent from a monitor or the like, comparison data between apparatuses for comparing the difference in the etching state of each apparatus, and relating the etching state to the etching result. Create etching process data. In the creation of these data, correlation, statistical analysis such as mean, standard deviation, median, mode, variance, kurtosis, skewness, minimum, maximum, histogram, correlation analysis, and regression analysis are performed. The processed data is composed of a plurality of formulas or numerical data,
The data is stored in the data storage / processing unit. A threshold value is set in the inter-apparatus comparison data, and when the threshold value is exceeded, the etching process is regarded as defective. This threshold is updated sequentially based on the accumulated data.

The judgment section 53 is a section for judging the operation of the etching apparatuses 10a to 10c based on the result of the data processing. Specifically, the setting of processing conditions is determined so that a defect does not occur in the etching process. If there is a defect in the etching process, the cause of the defect processing is specified and an instruction for improvement thereof is given, or it cannot be performed. In some cases, the result of the cause or improvement is presented to the worker as much as possible.

For example, as shown in Table 1, the result of comparison data between apparatuses and the result of data of an inspection apparatus unit are as shown in Table 1.

[0020]

[Table 1]

In the case (1), a search is made from the defective processing cases stored in the data storage / processing section 52 for the same or similar cases. If there are identical or similar failure cases, the contents of the countermeasures are instructed to the etching apparatus or the operator.

If the same failure processing is not found, a condition having a large deviation is extracted from the comparison data between the apparatus which normally performs the processing and the apparatus which has performed the failure processing. Also,
Extract different parts depending on the shape, dimensions, surface roughness, material of the consumable parts and their physical constants, chemical properties, usage time, replacement frequency, processing chamber material and structure, etc. A simulation is performed by a process simulation using the extracted data as a parameter to specify which parameter causes the failure processing. Based on the result, countermeasures such as instructing a worker to replace a consumable part or changing processing conditions of an etching apparatus are taken.

In the case of (2), there is a possibility that a defect cannot be detected by the inspection after the etching process. Therefore, the inspection result of the subsequent process is collected for the wafer and it is confirmed whether or not there is really a defective process. . If there is no defect, the setting of the threshold value for judging the defect is calibrated from the inter-apparatus comparison data. If there is a defect, the sensitivity of the inspection device is reviewed and calibrated.

In the case of (3), there is a possibility that a problem has occurred in the process before the etching process. Therefore, it is instructed to check whether a defective process has occurred in the process before the etching process. If there is no failure processing in the previous process, the setting of the threshold value for determining good from the comparison data between apparatuses is calibrated. The designer is instructed whether there is any problem in the design itself.

The above processing is performed. Of course, this is a simple example, and more advanced processing can be performed based on the aging of the etching processing data and the stored data.

Next, a method of plasma etching a wafer according to the present embodiment will be described.

Plasma etching apparatus 10a or 10
When the wafer is transported to b or 10c, the apparatus operation control section 51 etches the wafer according to the processing procedure and processing conditions input automatically or manually. At this time, the etching apparatus monitors processing conditions such as gas pressure and input power, and operating conditions such as the operating time of the apparatus. Also,
The state of plasma is monitored by a spectroscopic analyzer 21, the temperature of the wall surface of the etching chamber is monitored by a wall surface temperature sensor 22, and the state of particles in the processing chamber is monitored by a particle monitor 23. The wafer after the etching process is inspected by the inspection unit 30.
Then, the pattern shape and the like are inspected by the appearance inspection device 31 and the number of adhered particles is inspected by the adhered particle measuring device 32 to check whether the etching process has been performed well. The processing conditions of the apparatus, the results of monitoring the status, and the results of inspection by the inspection apparatus are stored in the data of the computer 50 via a communication line.
It is sent to the processing unit 52 and stored. Data storage / processing unit 5
In step 2, from the transmitted data and the stored data, comparison data between apparatuses for comparing the difference in the etching state between the apparatuses and etching processing data for relating the etching state to the etching result are created. The created data is also accumulated sequentially. Then, based on the result of the processing data, the determining unit 53 grasps the processing condition factors that have a great influence on the etching processing, and by controlling this with high precision, the defective processing can be reduced, and the etching processing with higher precision is performed. I can do it. When a failure process occurs, the analyzer unit 40 is used to check the details of the failure process in more detail.
The wafer is transferred to and analyzed. A process simulation is performed based on the result, the accumulated data, and the comparison data between apparatuses, the cause of the defective processing is specified, and an improvement method is instructed to the etching apparatus or the operator. If the cause cannot be identified only by the process simulation, priorities are assigned to the parts that can be considered as causes so that the improvement can be performed at an early stage, and presented to the operator in an easy-to-understand format. The cause of the failure and the details of the improvement are sequentially accumulated in the data accumulation / processing unit 52, and are used when another etching apparatus or the same failure processing occurs thereafter.

The computer 50 is connected to the management system 1 that manages the manufacturing apparatus line through a communication line, and can transmit the data stored in the computer 50 to another processing apparatus via the management system 1. Conversely, the result of another processing apparatus, the flow of wafer processing, and the like can be known via the line management system 1.

As described above, by comparing the state of the etching process and the results of the plurality of etching devices, the state of the etching process can be analyzed in more detail than in the case where the etching device is managed alone. Even in such a case, the cause can be easily identified and improved, and the productivity and the yield can be improved. In addition, processing condition factors that greatly affect the etching process can be grasped, and by better controlling the processing condition factors, defective processes can be reduced, and more accurate etching can be performed.

In this embodiment, all the etching apparatuses are provided with monitors, but it is not necessary to provide monitors for all the etching apparatuses. When the number of monitors is smaller than the number of etching apparatuses, it is possible to monitor the etching state of all the etching apparatuses by setting the monitors in a detachable structure and changing them periodically. Further, a plurality of etching apparatuses are managed and controlled by one computer. However, distributed processing may be performed by using a plurality of computers, or a line management system may have a computer function.

Although the present invention has been described with respect to a method of etching a wafer by using an etching apparatus, other manufacturing methods have the same effects as those of the above-described embodiment.

[0032]

By comparing the processing state and the processing result by a plurality of processing apparatuses, it is possible to analyze the processing state in more detail than managing the processing apparatus by itself, and it is possible to analyze the defective processing. Cause identification and countermeasures are easy,
Productivity and yield can be improved. In addition, processing condition factors that greatly affect the processing can be grasped, and by controlling these factors better, defective processing can be reduced, and processing with higher accuracy can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Line management system, 10a, 10b, 10c ... Etching apparatus, 20a, 20b, 20c ... Monitor unit, 30 ... Inspection apparatus unit, 31 ... Appearance inspection apparatus, 32 ... Adhered particle measuring instrument, 40 ... Analysis apparatus unit, 41 ... scanning electron microscope, 42 ... FTIR, 43 ... atomic microscope, 44 ... total reflection fluorescent X-ray device, 50 ... computer, 51 ... device operation control unit, 52 ... data accumulation / processing unit, 53 ... determination unit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] In the method of manufacturing an article, when the same processing is performed by using a plurality of processing apparatuses, the operation status of the plurality of processing apparatuses and the processing state thereof are inspected, and the processing is completed. After the inspection of the article, the result of the inspection data is stored, data processing is performed, the processing state and the processing result by the plurality of processing apparatuses are compared, and based on this, the processing is performed by the plurality of processing apparatuses. A method for manufacturing an article, wherein a plurality of processing apparatuses are managed so that a result of the processing of the article is within a range in which quality control does not affect subsequent processing. 2. A monitor for inspecting the operation status of a processing apparatus and a processing state when the same processing is performed using a plurality of processing apparatuses, and inspecting an article during or after the processing. In a manufacturing system composed of an inspection device and a computer that controls them, the results of the inspection data are accumulated and processed, and the processing statuses and processing results by a plurality of processing devices are compared. Based on the above, a plurality of processing apparatuses are managed so that the processing result of the article by the plurality of processing apparatuses is in a range that does not affect quality control on subsequent processing. Manufacturing system. 3. In the case where the same processing is performed using a plurality of processing apparatuses, the operation status of the plurality of processing apparatuses and the processing state thereof are inspected, and the inspection of the article after the processing is completed. The results of the above inspection data are accumulated, data processed, and the processing statuses and processing results of the plurality of processing devices are compared. If a defect occurs in the processing result of the article, a defect is determined from the comparison result. An operation method of a plurality of processing apparatuses, wherein a cause of processing is specified and improvement is performed. 4. A monitor for inspecting the operation status of a processing apparatus and a processing state when the same processing is performed using a plurality of processing apparatuses, and inspecting an article during or after the processing. In a manufacturing system composed of an inspection device and a computer that controls them, the results of the inspection data are accumulated and processed, and the processing states and the processing results by a plurality of processing devices are compared, and the article is processed. An operation system of a plurality of processing apparatuses, characterized in that when a defect occurs in the processing result of (1), the cause of the defective processing is specified and improved from the comparison result.