JPS6273707A - Semiconductor manufacturing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To rapidly form a multilayer interconnection structure of extremely thin films having stable thickness controllability by reducing the conductance of the hole of a reaction chamber, feeding inert gas from the periphery of the chamber to the interior so that reaction gases in the respective reaction chambers doe not mix with each other, and moving a substrate in reaction proceeding state. CONSTITUTION:After a substrate 13 is mounted on a disk 14 in a conveying chamber which is held in vacuum of approx. 10<-6>Torr, reaction gas injected in a strip shape by a nozzle 16 through a purging gas feeding tube 1C into the chamber 1 flows toward a reaction chamber 3 into the outer chamber 3B of the chamber 1 to be exhausted from a reaction gas exhaust tube 6. The gas flowing in a direction opposite to the chamber 3 flows to a conveying chamber exhaust mechanism 1B to be exhausted from an outlet 1A. In this state, the reaction gases necessary in the chambers 3 are fed from reaction gas inlets 7 into porous plate electrode 21 provided in the outer chamber 3A of the chambers 3, then blown into the chambers 3A, and further exhausted through the hole 8A of the chamber 3 and the chamber 3B from the reaction gas outlet 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to an amorphous semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising a plurality of reaction chambers and one substrate transfer chamber.

[Background of the invention]

Conventional manufacturing equipment of this type is, for example, the Japanese Journal Op Applied Physics (Japanese Journal Op Applied Physics).
Journal of Applied Ph1si
cs) Vol. 21, No. 5, page 413 (I9B2), by providing a reaction chamber for each combination of reaction gases used, contamination of the storehouse by gases used in other rooms can be prevented. , it was configured to stack amorphous semiconductors with high impurity control properties.

However, when creating a so-called superlattice structure in which many different types of thin films of 5 to 100 A are laminated, the reaction gas must be evacuated from each layer by a vacuum pump and transported to the next reaction chamber. Therefore, it takes a lot of time and there is a risk that a large amount of reaction gas will be exhausted unnecessarily.

Furthermore, in plasma CVD equipment (semiconductor manufacturing equipment),
The film deposited when the plasma was unstable immediately after the start of discharge was
The physical properties may differ from those deposited after the plasma has stabilized, and when extremely thin films are laminated, there is a problem that the film quality is not particularly stable.

[Purpose of the invention]

It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that can quickly create a multilayer stacked structure of ultra-thin films with stable film thickness controllability. It is something to do.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a semiconductor manufacturing system [I] comprising a plurality of reaction chambers and one substrate transfer chamber.
The conductance of the opening of the reaction chamber is reduced, an inert gas is introduced into the reaction chamber from the periphery, and the reaction gases in each reaction chamber are prevented from mixing with each other, and the progress of the reaction is controlled. The present invention is characterized in that the substrate is moved under the following conditions.

[Embodiments of the invention]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before explaining one embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings, the concept of the present invention will be explained in detail below.

As is well known, amorphous semiconductors consist of a multilayer structure such as a superlattice structure, and in order to form this structure in a short time,
The substrate may be transported between the reaction chambers while the discharge continues while the reaction gas is introduced. At this time, it is necessary to prevent reaction gases used in separate reaction chambers from mixing. In order to prevent the reaction gas from getting mixed in, an inert gas such as hydrogen, lium, or argon is introduced in a band shape into the opening of the reaction chamber to create a flow into the reaction chamber so that the reaction gas flows out from the reaction chamber. There is a means to prevent this, and a device may be installed between adjacent reaction chambers to exhaust the gas flowing out from both chambers.

On the other hand, in plasma CVD using low frequency or high frequency discharge and direct current discharge, film formation is usually performed at a reaction pressure of 0.1 to 1.0 Torr, and in this pressure range, it is necessary to prevent the mixing of reaction gases as described above. The means are sufficiently effective in practice. If the reaction chambers are separated by such means, discharge can be performed continuously and the film quality can be stabilized. The thickness of the thin film formed on the substrate can be limited by the time the substrate remains in the reaction chamber.

Further, by providing a fixed mask between the substrate transport disk mounted with the substrate and the reaction chamber, and continuously moving the substrate via the disk, the film forming time can be effectively changed. Furthermore, the deposition rate of the film varies depending on the type of reaction gas used and the film formation conditions, so in order to control each film thickness, it is necessary to change the opening area of the fixed mask and the feeding speed of the substrate as necessary. good.

Returning the inside of the vacuum device to normal pressure when attaching and detaching the substrate should be avoided as much as possible in order to maintain the cleanliness inside the device. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a preliminary chamber used for mounting and removing the substrate, and to make the preliminary chamber a load-lock type.

In addition, the reaction gases used include silicon compounds such as silane and disilane, and if necessary, carbon compounds such as methane, acetylene, and ethylene, raw materials that widen the band gap such as nitrogen compounds such as ammonia, germane, etc. Use raw materials that narrow the band gap, such as germanium compounds. Also phosphine for valence control.

A doping gas such as diborane may also be used.

A specific example based on the above-mentioned concept will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Fig. 1 is a bottom view, Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA' in Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 is a section B in Fig. 2 (reaction chamber 3).
FIG.

In the same figure, a substrate transfer chamber 1 (
A substrate transfer disk 1 (hereinafter referred to as a disk) which is rotated by a motor 19 and has a built-in heater 17 and a substrate valve 18 are provided in the transfer chamber (hereinafter referred to as a transfer chamber). A preliminary chamber 2 is integrally connected to the side of the transfer chamber 1 via a gate valve 4, and a plurality of (four in the figure) reaction chambers 3 are integrally connected to the lower part.

The preliminary chamber 2 includes a leak valve 11 and an exhaust port 10,
A lid 12 is removably attached to the top surface, and a manipulator 5 for gripping a substrate 15 is inserted inside. Further, the reaction chamber 3 is surrounded nine times by four purge gas introduction pipes 1C provided in the transfer chamber 1, and an outer chamber 5A.
The inner chamber 3A has a double structure with 3B, and a porous plate electrode 21 connected to the reaction gas introduction pipe 7 is provided in the inner chamber 3A.
It communicates with the transfer chamber 1 and the outer chamber 6B via 8B. On the other hand, the upper and lower parts of the outer chamber 3B communicate with the transfer chamber 1 and the reaction gas exhaust pipe B, respectively. Also,
A fixed mask 15 is provided in the opening 8A.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above configuration will be explained.

First, after opening the leak valve 11 of the preparatory chamber 2 to allow leakage, the lid 12 is removed and the substrate 13 is inserted into the preparatory chamber 2 and gripped by the manipulator 5.

Next, the lid 12 is attached to seal the preliminary chamber 2, and the exhaust port 10 is evacuated to increase the degree of vacuum in the preliminary chamber 2. After that, the gate valve 4 is opened and the substrate 15 is moved to the manipulator 5.
It is inserted into the circular plate 14 and fixed via the base plate valve 18. After this fixation, the manipulator 5 is moved back and the gate valve 4 is closed to complete the reaction preparation. At this time, the inside of the transfer chamber 1 is communicated with the vacuum exhaust port 1A and the reaction gas exhaust pipe 6, and when the reaction gas is not flowing, the transfer chamber 1 is 1O-
The vacuum level is maintained at approximately 6 Torr.

After the substrate 13 is attached to the disk 14 as described above, the reaction gas ejected in a band shape from the nozzle 16 into the transfer chamber 1 through the purge gas introduction pipe 1C flows toward the reaction chamber 6. The reaction gas flows through the outer chamber 5B and is exhausted through the reaction gas exhaust pipe 6. On the other hand, the gas flowing out in the direction opposite to the reaction chamber 3 flows into the transfer chamber exhaust groove IBK and is exhausted through the exhaust port 1A.

In this state, the reaction gas required for each reaction chamber 3 is introduced into the perforated plate electrode 21 provided in the inner chamber 3A of each reaction chamber 3 through each reaction gas introduction lower, and then The reactant gas is blown out into the reaction gas exhaust port 6 through the opening 8A of the inner chamber 6 and the outer chamber 3B. In this case, the reaction is performed by applying high frequency to the porous plate electrode 21 to cause glow discharge. Furthermore, by supplying power to the heater 17 via the slip ring 20,
The substrate 13 mounted on the disk 14 is heated to 400'C.

As described above, continuous discharge is performed in each reaction chamber 3, and the disk 14 is rotated while the reaction is maintained, thereby laminating the thin films of the substrate 13. The thickness of the thin film is controlled by the rotation speed of the disk 14 and the opening 8A of the reaction chamber 3 by the fixed mask 15.
The aperture area of υ is done. That is, if the rotation of the disk 14 is made faster, the film thickness becomes thinner, and conversely, if the rotation of the disk 14 is made slower, the film thickness becomes thicker. Further, the opening area formed by the fixed mask 15 can be changed for each reaction chamber, and the thickness of the thin film stack formed in the reaction chamber where the opening 8A has a large area is thick, but conversely, the thickness of the thin film stack formed in the reaction chamber where the opening 8A has a large area is large; The thickness of the thin film stack formed in the chamber is reduced.

After the reaction is completed, the discharge is stopped, the introduction of the reaction gas into the reaction chamber 6 is stopped, and after the inside of the reaction chamber 5 is evacuated, the introduction of argon gas used as a purge gas is stopped, and the transfer chamber 1 is further heated. Evacuate to vacuum. And 10-6To
After exhausting to about rr, the gate pulp 4 is opened and the manipulator 5 is moved backward, and the substrate 13 is separated from the disk 14 and returned to the preliminary chamber 2. Next, the gate valve 4 is closed and the leak valve 11 is opened to leak the inside of the preparatory chamber 2, and then the lid 12 is removed and the substrate 13 is taken out from the preparatory chamber 2.

In this example, silane gas was supplied to one reaction chamber at 1 minute rate.
At the same time, ammonia was introduced at 8 d/min and silane gas at 27 d/min into a separate reaction chamber, and a high frequency (IA56 MHz, 10 W) was applied to the porous plate electrode to carry out the reaction at a reaction pressure (15 Torr). By rotating the plate once every 6 minutes, it was possible to create a laminated structure with each layer having a thickness of approximately 30A.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, thin films having different substrate properties can be laminated easily and quickly, and mixing of components in the thin films can be prevented.

Furthermore, since the thickness of the thin film can be well controlled, it is possible to easily create a superlattice structure using an amorphous semiconductor.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a bottom view showing an embodiment of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA' in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a detailed view of section B in FIG. 2. 1... Substrate transfer chamber 1C... Purge gas introduction pipe 5... Reaction chamber 8A... Opening 13... Substrate 14... ... Substrate transport disk 15 ... Fixed mask 1゛

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus consisting of a plurality of reaction chambers and a substrate transfer chamber, the conductance of the opening of the reaction chamber is reduced, and an inert gas is introduced from the periphery of the reaction chamber into the inside. and the substrate transfer chamber is evacuated to a high vacuum to prevent the reaction gases in each reaction chamber from mixing with each other, and the substrate is moved as the reaction progresses. Features of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. 2. The above substrate is mounted on a rotatable substrate transport disk, and the disk is placed close to the opening of the reaction chamber so as to cover the opening, and the conductance of the opening of the reaction chamber is Claim 1 characterized in that it is made smaller.
Semiconductor manufacturing equipment as described in . 3. The substrate mounted on the substrate transport disk is repeatedly transported sequentially to two or more types of reaction chambers, and two or more types of thin films are repeatedly laminated on the substrate. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to scope 2. 4. A fixed mask covering a part of the substrate is interposed between the substrate transport disk on which the substrate is mounted and the reaction chamber, so that when the substrate passes through the reaction chamber, a fixed mask is placed on the substrate. 3. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the thickness of the formed thin film is controlled.