JPH11354503A - Etching device and method for operating the same and manufacture of semiconductor device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an etching device equipped with a handling arm for reducing any foreign matter accumulated on the surface of the handling arm and for easily removing the foreign matter, and a method for operating the etching device, and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. SOLUTION: This is an etching device equipped with a handling arm 1 for carrying a wafer to an etching chamber. A heater 2 and a thermometer 3 are embedded in a handling arm main body 1a of the handling arm 1. Also, a method for operating the etching device includes an operating process for cleaning the handling arm 1 in a state that the handling arm 1 is set at a carrying arm driving body 4 without being removed from the carrying arm driving body 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an etching apparatus, a method for operating the same, and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to an etching apparatus provided with a handling arm, which reduces foreign matter deposited on the surface of the handling arm. The present invention relates to an etching apparatus, a method of operating the same, and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which is capable of removing foreign matter easily.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The present inventor has studied an etching apparatus for etching a silicon oxide film or the like used in a semiconductor device manufacturing technique. The following is a technique studied by the present inventors, and the outline is as follows.

That is, in a dry etching apparatus for etching a silicon oxide film or the like used in a semiconductor device manufacturing technique, a load lock chamber is sometimes called an etching chamber (an etching chamber, a reaction chamber, or an etching reaction chamber). Some of them are provided with a handling arm that carries the wafer to a certain position.

[0004] The handling arm is inserted into the etching chamber when a wafer is placed on the surface of the lower electrode in the etching chamber of the dry etching apparatus or when the wafer placed on the surface of the lower electrode is taken out.

[0005] Documents describing an etching apparatus such as a dry etching apparatus include, for example, those described in “Etching Apparatus Dictionary”, p184 to p194, published by Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun on September 28, 1991. There is.

[0006]

However, the present inventors have found that the dry etching apparatus described above has various problems as described below.

That is, when the above-described dry etching apparatus is used to etch a silicon oxide film or the like used in a semiconductor device manufacturing technique, a reactive gas is used as an etching gas. Foreign matter composed of a reaction by-product is deposited in the chamber, and a phenomenon of peeling of the foreign matter has occurred.

In this case, the separated foreign matter falls not only on the surface of the wafer but also on the surface of the handling arm.
Therefore, the foreign matter adhering to the surface of the handling arm falls again on the surface of the wafer and the surface of the lower electrode, thereby lowering the production yield of the semiconductor device and causing a handling trouble of the handling arm. A point has occurred.

In addition, foreign substances are deposited on the surface of the handling arm by inserting the handling arm into the etching chamber in a state where a reactive gas for etching a silicon oxide film or the like is present in the etching chamber. That phenomenon has occurred. Therefore, the foreign matter deposited on the surface of the handling arm falls again on the surface of the wafer and the surface of the lower electrode, thereby lowering the production yield of the semiconductor device and causing a handling trouble of the handling arm. Has occurred.

[0010] Further, in a method of cleaning a handling arm for removing foreign substances adhering to the surface of the handling arm from the handling arm, the handling arm installed in the etching apparatus is removed from the etching apparatus to clean the handling arm. That's the way you are. Therefore, in the cleaning operation of the handling arm for removing foreign substances adhered to the surface of the handling arm from the handling arm, for example, the number of operations such as once / month increases and the etching apparatus is used for a time including the cleaning operation. Therefore, there are various problems in cleaning the handling arm.

An object of the present invention is an etching apparatus provided with a handling arm, which can reduce foreign substances deposited on the surface of the handling arm and can easily remove the foreign substances, and an operating method thereof. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of a representative one will be briefly described.
It is as follows.

(1) The etching apparatus of the present invention is an etching apparatus provided with a handling arm for transferring a wafer to an etching chamber, wherein a heater and a thermometer are provided in a handling arm body of the handling arm. It is embedded.

(2) The etching apparatus according to the present invention is an etching apparatus provided with a handling arm for transferring a wafer to an etching chamber, wherein a separate chamber mechanically connected to the etching chamber is provided. A quartz window is provided in the upper part of the separate room, and a heating function body is provided on the quartz window.

(3) The method of operating an etching apparatus according to the present invention is an operation method of an etching apparatus provided with a handling arm for transferring a wafer to an etching chamber, without removing the handling arm from a transfer arm drive. The method includes an operation step of cleaning the handling arm in a state where the handling arm is installed on the transfer arm driving body.

(4) The method of operating an etching apparatus according to the present invention is an operation method of an etching apparatus provided with a handling arm for transferring a wafer to an etching chamber, and is embedded in a handling arm body of the handling arm. The operation of heating the handling arm is performed by using a heater provided and / or a heating function body installed on another chamber mechanically connected to the etching chamber.

(5) The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present invention comprises:
A manufacturing process of performing an etching process on a wafer for manufacturing a semiconductor device using an etching apparatus in which the operation of the etching apparatus described in (3) or (4) is performed.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In all the drawings for describing the embodiments, components having the same function are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a partially sectioned etching apparatus used in a method of operating an etching apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the etching apparatus of this embodiment is a parallel plate type RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) apparatus as a dry etching apparatus, and a handling arm 1 which is a feature of the present invention is installed. Is what is being done.

The handling arm 1 has a function for transferring a wafer. The handling arm 1 is provided with a wafer non-slip portion 1b on the surface of the handling arm 1. The handling arm 1 is installed on a transfer arm drive unit 4. ing.

The etching apparatus of the present embodiment is characterized in that a handling arm 1 is provided, and the other components are the same as those of the conventional etching apparatus. An etching device having a component can be used.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 6 denotes an inner wall of an etching apparatus, 7 denotes an upper electrode (an electrode having a gas supply hole on a wafer), and 8 denotes a quartz susceptor for installing the upper electrode 7. Reference numeral 9 denotes an RF (Radio Frequency) power supply electrically connected to the upper electrode 7,
Reference numeral 10 is a gas supply body.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a quartz susceptor for installing the lower electrode 12, reference numeral 13 denotes a PF power supply electrically connected to the lower electrode 12 via a capacitor 14, and reference numeral 15 denotes a wafer set. An electrostatic chuck,
Reference numeral 16 denotes a wafer lifting pin, and reference numeral 17 denotes a cooling gas pipe.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a gate valve.
Is an electromagnet, and 20 is an exhaust boat.

In the method of operating the etching apparatus of the present embodiment, the wafer to be etched is transferred to the etching chamber (etching chamber) of the etching apparatus using the handling arm 1.

Next, a gas used for etching is introduced from the gas supply body 10 into the vacuum etching chamber through the gas inlet. In this case, the pressure of the etching chamber in a vacuum state is adjusted to several tens to several hundreds mTorr. The wafer to be etched is the lower electrode 12
It is installed above and operates at a frequency of 800 kHz to 80 MHz.
By the RF power supplies 9 and 13 having a power of about 1 to 3 kW,
A power of about 1 to 3 kW is applied to the lower electrode 12 and the upper electrode 7 independently or simultaneously to generate plasma and perform processing for etching the wafer.

Thereafter, the wafer subjected to the etching process is carried out of the etching chamber of the etching apparatus using the handling arm 1.

In the method of operating the etching apparatus according to the present embodiment, the handling arm 1 is
The cleaning operation step is included in a state in which the apparatus is installed on the transfer arm driving body 4 without being removed from the apparatus. In this case, the cleaning of the handling arm 1 is a mode of removing foreign substances such as reaction by-products generated at the time of etching a wafer deposited on the surface of the handling arm 1.

In the operation step of cleaning the handling arm 1 in the method of operating the etching apparatus of the present embodiment, first, the handling arm 1 is transported to the etching chamber.

Next, a cleaning gas is introduced from the gas supply body 10 into the etching chamber, and an operation for converting the cleaning gas introduced into the etching chamber into plasma is performed. An operation of cleaning the surface of the handling arm 1 in an atmosphere and removing foreign matter from the handling arm 1 is performed.

In this case, the cleaning gas is O ₂ ,
Gases such as CF ₄ , SF ₆ , NF ₃ , C ₂ F _6, etc. are used alone or in combination of two or more. The flow rate when the cleaning gas is introduced into the etching chamber is about 100 to 1000 sccm. The pressure in the etching chamber is set to about 10-500 mTorr using a pressure regulator.

The conditions for converting the cleaning gas introduced into the etching chamber into plasma are as follows: a frequency of 800 kHz to 80 MHz and a frequency of 0.1 to 3 kW.
0.1 to 3 kW by RF power supplies 9 and 13
A certain amount of power is applied to the lower electrode 12 and the upper electrode 7 independently or simultaneously to generate plasma.

According to the operation method of the etching apparatus of the present embodiment, the handling arm 1 is
An operation step for cleaning is included in a state where the wafer is mounted on the transfer arm driving body 4 without being removed from the cleaning arm. The cleaning operation of the handling arm 1 occurs during etching of a wafer deposited on the surface of the handling arm 1. Foreign matter such as reaction by-products can be cleaned on the surface of the handling arm 1 using a plasma-based cleaning gas in the etching chamber, and the foreign matter can be removed from the handling arm 1.

Therefore, according to the method of operating the etching apparatus of the present embodiment, when cleaning the handling arm 1, it is not necessary to remove the handling arm 1 from the transfer arm driver 4 as in the related art, and the etching chamber is not required. Since the surface of the handling arm 1 is cleaned using the cleaning gas converted into plasma in the inside, the handling arm 1 is cleaned.
Since the time including the time of the cleaning operation can be reduced, the reduction of the use time of the etching apparatus due to the cleaning operation of the handling arm 1 can be reduced.

Further, according to the method of operating the etching apparatus of the present embodiment, when cleaning the handling arm 1, it is not necessary to remove the handling arm 1 from the transfer arm driver 4 as in the conventional case, and the etching chamber is not required. Since the surface of the handling arm 1 is cleaned using the cleaning gas converted into plasma in the inside, foreign substances such as reaction by-products generated during etching of the wafer deposited on the surface of the handling arm 1 can be removed. Since the wafer and the handling arm 1 can be easily removed from the handling arm 1, it is possible to reduce trouble in transporting the wafer and the handling arm 1. Also,
Since the phenomenon that foreign matter from the handling arm 1 adheres to the wafer can be reduced, a reduction in the manufacturing yield of a semiconductor device having a wafer etching step can be prevented.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing a partially sectioned etching apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a cross section and an enlargement of the handling arm in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the etching apparatus of the present embodiment has the same components as the above-described etching apparatus of the first embodiment except for the handling arm 1 and the transfer arm driving body 4. This is a parallel plate type RIE apparatus as a dry etching apparatus, in which a handling arm 1 and a transfer arm driving body 4 which are features of the present invention are installed.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the handling arm 1 according to the present embodiment has a function for transferring a wafer, and has a wafer non-slip portion 1b on the surface of the handling arm 1. The handling arm 1 is installed on the transfer arm drive 4.

In the handling arm 1 of this embodiment, the handling arm main body 1a is composed of an aluminum layer having a thickness of 2 mm and an aluminum oxide (alumina) layer having a thickness of 100 μm formed on the surface of the aluminum layer. It has a laminated structure with layers.

In this case, as a result of the study by the present inventors, the aluminum oxide layer in the handling arm main body 1a
During the operation of cleaning the handling arm 1,
Etching is not performed by a plasma gas as a cleaning gas. The aluminum oxide layer in the handling arm body 1a is
Even if foreign substances such as reaction by-products generated during the etching of the wafer come into contact, the adhesive force is reduced. Furthermore, since the aluminum oxide layer in the handling arm body 1a is an oxide of aluminum, the adhesion to the aluminum layer is excellent. Therefore, the handling arm 1 of the present embodiment is a high-performance and highly reliable handling arm.

Further, in the handling arm 1 of the present embodiment, a heater 2 and a thermometer 3 are embedded in the handling arm main body 1a, and the handling arm 1 is heated by the heater 2 to a temperature of about 100 to 200 ° C. This is a mode in which heating can be performed. Also,
In this embodiment, the temperature of the handling arm 1 can be measured by the thermometer 3 when the handling arm 1 is heated.

In this case, the heater 2 is a heater made of a high melting point metal such as tungsten.
As the thermometer, a thermocouple thermometer having a thermocouple attached to ends of two electric wires is used.

On the other hand, the transfer arm drive 4 of this embodiment
, The arm stopping and extending function part 4a
And a rotation function unit 4c that can rotate the handling arm 1 as needed.

Further, in the etching apparatus of the present embodiment, a separate chamber 5 such as a load lock chamber mechanically connected to the etching chamber (etching chamber) is provided. A quartz window 5a is provided above the separate room 5, and a heating function body 5b such as a lamp heater is provided above the quartz window 5a.

In this case, a vacuum processing body is installed in the separate room 5 in accordance with the design specifications, so that the separate room 5 can be in a vacuum state. Separate room 5
It has a function of heating the handling arm 1 conveyed therein by using a heating function body 5b such as a lamp heater to bring the handling arm 1 into a heating state at a temperature of about 100 to 200 ° C.

The operating method of the etching apparatus of the present embodiment is similar to the operating method of the etching apparatus of the above-described first embodiment. Then, the wafer is etched, and then the etched wafer is transported out of the etching chamber of the etching apparatus using the handling arm 1.

The operating method of the etching apparatus according to the present embodiment is similar to the operating method of the etching apparatus according to the first embodiment described above, without removing the handling arm 1 from the transfer arm drive 4. 4 includes a cleaning operation step.

The handling arm 1 of the present embodiment uses a transfer arm drive 4 provided with a rotation function section 4c capable of rotating the handling arm 1 as required, and the surface of the handling arm 1 is used. An operation step for cleaning is included. In this case, after the upper portion (front surface) of the handling arm 1 is cleaned, the handling arm 1 is rotated using the transfer arm driver 4 so that the lower portion (back surface) of the handling arm 1 is disposed below the upper electrode 7. With the handling arm 1
An operation process for cleaning the lower portion (back surface) of the device is performed.

On the other hand, the method of operating the etching apparatus of the present embodiment includes an operation of heating the handling arm 1, which is an operation other than the operation of the etching apparatus of the first embodiment.

The operation step of heating the handling arm 1 in the method of operating the etching apparatus according to the present embodiment includes:
Since the heater 2 and the thermometer 3 are embedded in the handling arm main body 1a, an operation of heating the handling arm 1 to a temperature of about 100 to 200 ° C. by the heater 2 is provided.

In the operation step of heating the handling arm 1 in the method of operating the etching apparatus according to the present embodiment, a separate chamber 5 is provided in the etching apparatus, and the separate chamber 5 has a vacuum in accordance with the design specifications. Since the processing body is installed and the separate chamber 5 can be made into a vacuum state, the handling arm 1 being transported therein by the separate chamber 5 can be used as a heating function body 5b such as a lamp heater. The heating arm is used to heat the handling arm 1 to a temperature of about 100 to 200 ° C.

According to the etching apparatus of this embodiment and the method of operating the same, the handling arm 1 can be heated, so that the handling arm 1 is transferred into the etching chamber (etching chamber) for transferring the wafer. Even in the state, the handling arm 1 is kept at a high temperature, so that a phenomenon that foreign substances such as reaction by-products generated during etching of the wafer adhere to the handling arm 1 can be extremely reduced.

According to the etching apparatus and the operation method of the present embodiment, after the upper part (surface) of the handling arm 1 is cleaned, the handling arm 1 is rotated by using the transfer arm drive 4 to handle the workpiece. With the lower portion (back surface) of the arm 1 disposed below the upper electrode 7, an operation process for cleaning the lower portion (back surface) of the handling arm 1 can be performed. Since foreign substances such as reaction by-products generated during etching of the wafer deposited on the (back side) can be easily removed from the handling arm 1, trouble in transporting the wafer and the handling arm 1 can be reduced. Further, since the phenomenon that foreign matter from the handling arm 1 adheres to the wafer can be reduced, it is possible to prevent a reduction in the manufacturing yield of a semiconductor device having a wafer etching step.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present embodiment uses a MOSF
ET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Trans
is a method of manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit device having an istor). The method for manufacturing the semiconductor device according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

First, a field insulating film 2 made of a silicon oxide film is formed on a device isolation region of a semiconductor substrate (wafer) 21 made of, for example, p-type silicon single crystal by using a thermal oxidation process.
Form 2 Next, a MOSFET is formed in the element formation region of the semiconductor substrate 21.

That is, after a field insulating film 22 made of a silicon oxide film is formed in a device isolation region of a semiconductor substrate (wafer) 21 by thermal oxidation,
A gate insulating film 2 made of, for example, a silicon oxide film
3, a polysilicon film containing, for example, phosphorus as an impurity is formed thereon as a gate electrode 24, and an insulating film 25 made of, for example, a silicon oxide film is formed thereon. And a selective etching technique to form a pattern such as a gate electrode.

After that, the CVD is performed on the semiconductor substrate 21.
After forming a silicon oxide film (insulating film) using a (Chemical Vapor Deposition) method, a sidewall spacer 26 is formed on the side wall of the gate electrode 24 using a lithography technique and a selective etching technique. Next, an n-type impurity such as phosphorus is ion-implanted into the semiconductor substrate 21 by ion implantation using the gate region including the gate electrode 24 as a mask, and then thermal diffusion processing is performed. Semiconductor region 27 to be
To form

Next, a silicon oxide film (insulating film) 28 is formed on the semiconductor substrate 21 by using the CVD method. In this case, since the gate electrode 24 and the like are formed on the semiconductor substrate 21, a step is formed on the surface of the silicon oxide film 28. Therefore, the polishing of the silicon oxide film 28 is performed using a polishing method. Then, the plane of the silicon oxide film 28 is flattened to form the flattened silicon oxide film 28.

Next, through holes (connection holes) 29 are formed in the silicon oxide film 28 using the lithography technique and the selective etching technique using the etching apparatus of the first embodiment.

In this case, as the selective etching technique for the silicon oxide film 28, the effect of the foreign matter is extremely reduced by using the etching apparatus in which the operation of the etching apparatus of the first or second embodiment is performed. Since the etching characteristics can be stabilized and the etching characteristics can be stabilized, highly reliable and high performance etching can be performed. Therefore, it is possible to form the through hole 29 having a fine structure and preventing the occurrence of a defect, and to form the MOSFE.
The semiconductor element such as T can be prevented from being damaged.

Next, a tungsten layer (metal layer) for forming a plug is formed on the semiconductor substrate 21 by using the CVD method. In this case, since the through hole 29 is formed in the silicon oxide film 28, a step is formed on the surface of the tungsten layer.

Thereafter, the tungsten layer is polished by using a polishing method, the tungsten layer on the silicon oxide film 28 is removed, and a plug 30 made of the tungsten layer embedded in the through hole 29 is formed.

Next, a copper layer (metal layer) 31 as a wiring layer is formed on the semiconductor substrate 21 by using a sputtering method. In this case, the metal layer as the wiring layer is the copper layer 3
An aluminum layer or the like, which is another mode different from the first embodiment, can be used.

Next, a pattern as a wiring layer is formed on the copper layer 31 by using a lithography technique and a selective etching technique, and the copper layer 31 as a patterned wiring layer is formed.
To form

Thereafter, an interlayer insulating film is formed on the semiconductor substrate 21 as necessary by using the above-described manufacturing process of the silicon oxide film 28 as the insulating film and the manufacturing process of the copper layer 31 as the wiring layer. After laminating the wiring layers, a passivation film is formed, thereby completing the manufacturing process of the semiconductor integrated circuit device.

According to the above-described method for manufacturing a semiconductor device of the present embodiment, as the selective etching technique for the silicon oxide film 28, the etching apparatus in which the operation of the above-described etching apparatus of the first or second embodiment is performed is used. With the use, the influence of foreign matter can be extremely reduced and the etching characteristics can be stabilized, so that a highly reliable and high-performance etching process can be performed.

Therefore, it is possible to form the through hole 29 having a fine structure and preventing occurrence of a defect and to prevent damage to a semiconductor element such as a MOSFET, so that a semiconductor device can be manufactured with a high manufacturing yield. .

Although the invention made by the inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications may be made without departing from the gist of the invention. Needless to say, it can be changed.

For example, in the operation step of cleaning the handling arm in the method of operating the etching apparatus of the present invention, the handling arm may be cleaned while the handling arm is installed on the transfer arm drive without being removed from the transfer arm drive. When performing the operation step of performing the operation, a mode of performing an operation of cleaning the handling arm using a rotating brush can be applied.

Further, the etching apparatus of the present invention is not limited to an etching apparatus for etching a silicon oxide film, but also an etching apparatus for etching an insulating film such as a silicon nitride film and an etching apparatus for etching an insulating film and a wiring layer. And other various etching apparatuses.

In addition to the parallel plate type RIE apparatus as a dry etching apparatus, the etching apparatus of the present invention
The present invention can be applied to various etching apparatuses such as an ECR (Electron Cyclotron Resonance) etching apparatus and a plasma etching apparatus.

The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present invention
A semiconductor substrate (wafer) for forming a semiconductor element is formed by SOI
(Silicon on Insulator) Substrates such as substrates can be changed, and MOSFET, CMOSF
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit device in which various semiconductor elements such as an ET and a bipolar transistor are combined can be provided.

Further, the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present invention comprises a MOSFET, a CMOSFET, a BiCMOSFE.
DRAM (Dynamic Random Acc.)
ess Memory), SRAM (Static Random Access Memor)
The present invention can be applied to various methods for manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit device having a memory system such as y) or a logic system.

[0076]

Advantageous effects obtained by typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described.
It is as follows.

(1). According to the operation method of the etching apparatus of the present invention, when cleaning the handling arm, it is not necessary to remove the handling arm from the transfer arm driver as in the related art, and the cleaning gas converted into plasma in the etching chamber is eliminated. Since the surface of the handling arm is cleaned by using, the time including the time of the cleaning operation of the handling arm can be reduced, so that the use time of the etching apparatus due to the cleaning operation of the handling arm is reduced. be able to.

(2). According to the operation method of the etching apparatus of the present invention, when cleaning the handling arm, it is not necessary to remove the handling arm from the transfer arm driver as in the related art, and the cleaning gas converted into plasma in the etching chamber is eliminated. By cleaning the surface of the handling arm by using, it is possible to easily remove foreign substances such as reaction by-products generated during etching of the wafer deposited on the surface of the handling arm from the handling arm. Transfer troubles of the wafer and the handling arm can be reduced. Further, since the phenomenon that foreign matter from the handling arm adheres to the wafer can be reduced, it is possible to prevent a reduction in the manufacturing yield of a semiconductor device having a wafer etching step.

(3). ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to the etching apparatus and its operating method of this invention, the operation which heats a handling arm can be performed, and even if the handling arm is conveyed in the etching chamber for wafer conveyance, the handling arm of a high temperature state Therefore, the phenomenon that foreign substances such as reaction by-products generated during etching of the wafer adhere to the handling arm can be extremely reduced.

(4). ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to the etching apparatus of this invention and its operating method, after cleaning the upper part (front surface) of a handling arm, a handling arm is rotated using a conveyance arm drive, and the lower part (back surface) of a handling arm is raised. Since the operation step of cleaning the lower part (back side) of the handling arm can be performed in a state where it is arranged below the electrode, the etching process of the wafer deposited on the upper part (front side) and the lower part (back side) of the handling arm can be performed. Since foreign substances such as generated reaction by-products can be easily removed from the handling arm, it is possible to reduce transfer troubles of the wafer and the handling arm. Further, since the phenomenon that foreign matter from the handling arm adheres to the wafer can be reduced, it is possible to prevent a reduction in the manufacturing yield of a semiconductor device having a wafer etching step.

(5). According to the method for manufacturing a semiconductor device of the present invention, as a selective etching technique for a silicon oxide film,
By using the etching apparatus in which the above-described operation of the etching apparatus is performed, the influence of foreign matter can be extremely reduced, and the etching characteristics can be stabilized, so that a highly reliable and high-performance etching process is performed. be able to.

Therefore, it is possible to form a through-hole having a fine structure and capable of preventing the occurrence of defects and to prevent damage to a semiconductor element such as a MOSFET, so that a semiconductor device can be manufactured with a high manufacturing yield.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing, partially in section, an etching apparatus used in a method for operating an etching apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing a partially sectioned etching apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a cross section and an enlargement of a handling arm in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a manufacturing step of the semiconductor device according to the third embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Handling arm 1a Handling arm main body 1b Wafer non-slip part 2 Heater 3 Thermometer 4 Transfer arm driver 4a Arm expansion / contraction function part 4b Installation stop function part 4c Rotation function part 5 Separate room 5a Quartz window 5b Heating function body 6 Inner wall 7 Upper electrode Reference Signs List 8 quartz susceptor 9 RF power supply 10 gas supply body 11 quartz susceptor 12 lower electrode 13 RF power supply 14 capacitor 15 electrostatic chuck 16 wafer push-up pin 17 cooling gas pipe 18 gate valve 19 electromagnet 20 exhaust boat 21 semiconductor substrate (wafer) 22 Field insulating film 23 Gate insulating film 24 Gate electrode 25 Insulating film 26 Sidewall spacer 27 Semiconductor region 28 Silicon oxide film (Insulating film) 29 Through hole 30 Plug 31 Copper layer (metal layer)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Nobuo Tsumaki 502, Kachimachi, Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaraki Pref.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An etching apparatus provided with a handling arm for transferring a wafer to an etching chamber, wherein a heater and a thermometer are embedded in a handling arm body of the handling arm. Etching equipment. 2. The etching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the handling arm body has an aluminum oxide layer formed on a surface of an aluminum layer, and has a laminated structure of the aluminum layer and the aluminum oxide layer. An etching apparatus, characterized in that: 3. The etching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a rotation function unit capable of rotating the handling arm as necessary is provided in an arm expansion / contraction function unit of the transfer arm drive unit that drives the handling arm. An etching apparatus characterized in that: 4. The etching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein another chamber mechanically connected to the etching chamber is provided, and quartz is provided on an upper portion of the another chamber. An etching apparatus, wherein a window is provided, and a heating function body is provided on the quartz window. 5. An operating method of an etching apparatus provided with a handling arm for transferring a wafer to an etching chamber, wherein the handling arm is installed on the transfer arm drive without removing the handling arm from the transfer arm drive. An operation method for an etching apparatus, comprising an operation step of cleaning the handling arm in a state. 6. The method for operating an etching apparatus according to claim 5, wherein in the operation step of cleaning the handling arm, a cleaning gas is introduced into the etching chamber from a gas supply and the etching chamber is cleaned. An operation method of an etching apparatus, wherein an operation of converting a cleaning gas introduced into the inside into a plasma is performed. 7. The method for operating an etching apparatus according to claim 5, wherein in the operation step of cleaning the handling arm, an operation of cleaning the handling arm using a rotating brush is performed. How to operate the etching equipment. 8. The operating method for an etching apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a heater embedded in a handling arm main body of the handling arm and / or a mechanically installed etching chamber is provided. An operation of heating the handling arm using a heating function body installed on a separate chamber connected to the etching apparatus. 9. A manufacturing process for performing an etching process on a wafer for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the etching apparatus in which the operation of the etching apparatus according to claim 5 is performed. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: