JPS6360276A - Sputtering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent sputtering particles from being flown to the outside of a sputtering treatment chamber by fixing one end of the treatment chamber to a rotary plate with a frame body which covers a base plate and can be abutted thereon and constituting the other end of a bellows joining to a vacuum system. CONSTITUTION:A sputtering treatment chamber 5 is constituted of a sputtering source 19, a turbo pump 20 and a cylindrical partition 21 and a dynamic bellows 22 wherein one end is fitted to the inner wall of a vacuum tank 1 and the free end is abutted along the circumferential outside of an aperture part 16a of a pressing plate 16 is provided to the outer periphery of the partition 21. A semiconductor wafer 7 is fixed to one of wafer supporting stations 14 of a rotary plate 13 with a crip 15 in the vacuum tank 1 and is carried to the treatment chamber 5 by rotating the rotary plate 13. Herein wafer treating operation is performed by proceeding rams 17 of a pressure plate to airtightly press-sticking the pressing plate 16, the rotary plate 13 and the inside wall face of the vacuum tank 1. At this time, the bellows 22 is made to a most elongated state, the front edge part is abutted against the pressing plate 16, thereby the treatment chamber 5 is independently evacuated, and sputtering particles are not flown to the outside.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a sputtering apparatus, and in particular, a sputtering apparatus that processes substrates one by one by arranging a plurality of substrate processing chambers in one vacuum chamber. The present invention relates to a single-wafer processing type sputtering device.

(Prior Art) In recent years, sputtering apparatuses have been widely used as thin film forming apparatuses, which form a thin film by sputtering a target and causing the flying particles to adhere to a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer.

By the way, there are many types of sputtering equipment, but in the so-called single-wafer processing type sputtering equipment, in which multiple substrate processing chambers are installed in one vacuum chamber and substrates are processed one by one, the rotary plate in the vacuum chamber is There is a method in which a plurality of substrates are arranged concentrically, and the substrates are sequentially guided to a substrate processing chamber arranged concentrically opposite the rotating plate to perform a film forming process.

The substrate processing chambers are arranged according to a series of processing operations. For example, if the substrate insertion/removal chamber, sputter etching chamber, and film forming processing chamber are arranged in sequence, a series of substrate processing operations can be completed simply by rotating the rotary plate. Can be done continuously.

In this way, single-wafer processing sputtering equipment in which multiple substrates are placed in one vacuum chamber performs a series of processing operations continuously, so the reproducibility of the film thickness distribution for each substrate is good. As the substrate remains fixed to the substrate support clips on the rotary plate as it goes through each processing step, such as the substrate heating process, reverse sputtering process, and sputtering process, there is no need for a process for attaching and detaching the substrate. This method is widely used because it has advantages such as no damage to the board and no transport errors.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned sputtering apparatus, since a plurality of sputter processing chambers are arranged in one vacuum chamber, particles generated during the film forming process, such as sputtered atoms, and from the substrate Problems such as so-called cross-contamination, where generated gases such as water vapor enter the film-forming processing chamber and adhere to the substrate, and the vacuum level of multiple film-forming processing chambers, such as argon pressure, etc., must be controlled separately. There has been a problem in that it is difficult to perform sputtering while changing the film forming conditions for each film forming processing chamber, such as introducing different reaction gases into the individual processing chambers.

The present invention was made to solve the problems mentioned above, and by making multiple substrate processing chambers vacuum-independent, cross-contamination can be eliminated, and multiple film forming processes can be performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sputtering apparatus that enables introduction of different vacuum conditions and different reaction gases into a chamber.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) According to the present invention, in a sputtering apparatus that guides a substrate to be processed into a sputtering chamber and performs a film forming process, one end of the sputtering chamber is connected to the rotating shaft. There is obtained a sputtering apparatus characterized in that the sputtering apparatus is constituted by a bellows which is fixed to a frame that can be brought into contact with a plate so as to cover the substrate, and whose other end is connected to a vacuum system.

(Function) In the present invention, by making the film forming processing chambers arranged concentrically within one vacuum chamber into independent vacuum systems, it is possible to prevent cross contamination between each substrate processing chamber, and to prevent cross contamination between each substrate processing chamber. Since it becomes possible to control the film forming conditions of the film processing chamber, such as the argon pressure value, the type of reaction gas, the amount introduced, etc. for each processing chamber, simultaneous processing steps can be performed under various processing conditions.

(Example) A sputtering apparatus according to an example of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows the arrangement of the wafer processing chamber of the sputtering apparatus of this embodiment. Inside the cylindrical vacuum chamber 1 which maintains airtightness, there is a wafer processing chamber, for example, a vacuum load lock 2,
An etching chamber 3, a wafer heating chamber 4, a first sputtering chamber 5, and a second sputtering chamber 6 are arranged concentrically. Below the vacuum chamber 1, a wafer cassette 8 containing a large number of semiconductor wafers 7 is placed on a cassette moving track 9.

Then, the semiconductor wafer 7 to be processed is taken out from the wafer cassette 8 by automatic wafer loading IJtfilO, inserted into the vacuum chamber 1 from the vacuum load lock 2, and placed in the vacuum chamber 1 to be described later. It is fixed to a rotary plate that is rotated by a chain drive means 12 about a central axis 11 .

The rotary plate rotates to sequentially send the semiconductor wafer 7 to the etching chamber 3, the wafer heating chamber 4, the first sputtering chamber 5, and the second sputtering chamber 6, where it is subjected to a predetermined treatment. On the other hand, semiconductor wafers that have been processed are sequentially taken out from the vacuum load lock seedling 2 by the wafer loading mechanism 10, and new semiconductor wafers are inserted therein.

The structure inside the vacuum chamber 1 will be explained with reference to FIG. 2. A rotary plate (hereinafter referred to as a transfer plate) 13 is installed in the vacuum chamber 1 so as to be movable in the direction of the central axis 11 for fixing the semiconductor wafer 7 inserted from the vacuum load lock 2 and rotatingly transporting it to each processing chamber. ing. A support station 14, which is a circular opening for fixing a semiconductor wafer, is concentrically formed in the transfer plate 13 so as to correspond to each wafer processing chamber, and the inserted semiconductor wafer is inserted into the support station 14. The wafer is held by a wafer fixing clip 15.

A pressure plate (hereinafter referred to as a pressure plate) 16 having approximately the same diameter as the transfer plate is attached to the back surface of the transfer plate 13 so as to be coaxial with the transfer plate 13 and movable in the direction of the central axis indicated by Y in the figure. This pressure plate 16 has a support station 14
An opening 16a having approximately the same diameter as the wafer processing chamber is formed opposite to the wafer processing chamber.

A plurality of pressing mechanisms (hereinafter referred to as pressure plate rams) 17 are provided on the back surface of the pressure plate 16 for pressing the pressure plate 16 to airtightly bond the transfer plate 13 and the inner wall surface of the vacuum chamber 1. An O-ring 18 is attached to each contact portion of the transfer plate 13, pressure plate 16, and pressure plate ram 17 for airtight maintenance.

Sputter processing chambers 5 and 6 each have one sputter source for forming a thin film on a semiconductor wafer, and this sputter source 1.
It mainly consists of a turbo pump 20 disposed on the back side of the vacuum chamber 9 and a cylindrical partition 21 extending from the inner wall surface of the vacuum chamber 1 so as to cover one side of the sputtering source.

A dynamic bellows 22 is provided on the outer periphery of the partition wall 21 so as to cover it, and has one end attached to the inner wall of the vacuum chamber and a free end abutting along the outer circumferential side of the opening 16a of the pressure plate 16. Pressure plate 16 due to the action of plate ram 17
When the transfer plate 13 and the inner wall surface of the vacuum chamber 1 are hermetically bonded, the dynamic bellows 22 is used as a side wall, and an airtight chamber is formed with the semiconductor wafer 7 on one side and the turbo pump 20 on the other side. There is. Note that the turbo pump 20 connects the inside of the sputtering chamber 5 covered with the dynamic bellows 22 to the vacuum chamber 1.
The turbo pump 23 disposed at the bottom is used to evacuate the inner wall of the vacuum chamber 1.

The operation of the sputtering apparatus having such a configuration will be explained.

The semiconductor wafer 7 inserted by the wafer loading mechanism 10 through the shield door 24 sealing the vacuum load lock 2 is attached to one of the wafer support stations 14 of the transfer plate 13 by the wafer fixing clip 15.
It is fixed at At this time, the transfer plate 13,
The pressure plate 16 and the inner wall surface of the vacuum chamber 1 are pressed by the pressure plate ram 17, and the O-ring 1
It is in a state where it is airtightly crimped through 8 (Fig. 2 (
a)).

When the semiconductor wafer 7 is fixed to the support station 14, the shield door 24 is closed, the pressure plate ram 17 is retreated, the pressure plate 16, the transfer plate 13, and the inner wall surface of the vacuum chamber 1 are separated from each other, and the transfer plate 13 is rotated. It becomes possible (FIG. 2(b)). and transfer plate 1
3 to transport the semiconductor wafer to a desired wafer processing chamber for processing. During the wafer processing operation, the pressure plate ram 17 moves forward and the pressure plate 16 and transfer plate 1
3 and the inner wall surfaces of the vacuum chamber 1 are hermetically bonded, so that it is possible to insert and remove semiconductor wafers.

During the wafer processing operation, the dynamic bellows 22 is in its most extended state and its front edge is in contact with the outer periphery of the opening 16a of the pressure plate 16, so that the sputter processing chamber 5 is an independent vacuum system. .

Incidentally, the sputtering operation in such a sputtering apparatus is performed by introducing a reactive gas such as argon gas into the vacuum chamber 1, applying electric power to the sputtering source 19 to turn the reactive gas into plasma, and using the plasma particles generated at this time to spread the sputtering source 19. A thin film is formed by sputtering the target 19a to deposit flying particles on the semiconductor wafer 7.

Now, the particles that fly during sputtering fly not only in the direction of the semiconductor wafer but also in other directions, and some of these flying particles are scattered from the gap between the partition wall 21 and the pressure plate 16 and are sent to other wafer processing chambers, such as the second wafer processing chamber. It enters the sputter processing chamber 6 etc. and causes cross contamination, but in this example, during sputtering work, the dynamic bellows 22 is in its most extended state (FIG. 1(a)) and comes into contact with the pressure plate 16. Therefore, the sputtered particles flying from the sputtering chamber 5 are blocked by the dynamic bellows 22 and do not scatter outside the sputtering chamber 5, so that cross contamination does not occur.

Furthermore, when sputtering is performed under different sputtering conditions in each sputtering chamber, for example, different reaction gases may be used in the first sputtering chamber 5 and second sputtering chamber 6, or the degree of vacuum may be changed for each chamber. In this case, it is necessary to make the atmosphere inside the processing chamber independent from the atmosphere inside other processing chambers, and in this example, the dynamic bellows 22
Since each processing chamber is vacuum-independent, it is possible to handle the above-mentioned sputtering process. Since the turbo pump 20 is provided directly in each processing chamber, the degree of vacuum can be easily changed for each processing chamber, and furthermore, the degree of vacuum can be easily finely adjusted.

By the way, semiconductor wafer materials such as silicon contain some moisture inside, and when the wafer is heated, this moisture may turn into steam and fill the processing chamber or enter other processing chambers. . However, this water vapor adheres to the semiconductor wafer during the film forming operation and causes thin film defects, so it must be promptly removed.

In this example, since the processing chamber has an airtight configuration using the dynamic bellows 22, the generated water vapor does not leak to other processing chambers, and the water vapor can be quickly removed by the turbo pump 20 provided in each processing chamber. Therefore, thin film defects will not occur due to water vapor.

Although the above-mentioned embodiment describes an example in which the present invention is applied to a plurality of sputtering processing chambers, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to any substrate processing chamber within the same vacuum chamber, such as an etching processing chamber or a heating processing chamber. It is.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the sputtering apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to prevent cross-contamination between a plurality of film-forming processing chambers, and the film-forming conditions of each film-forming processing chamber, such as vacuum It becomes possible to control the temperature, type of reaction gas, amount introduced, etc. for each processing chamber.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of a wafer processing chamber of a sputtering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2(a) shows the state inside the vacuum chamber during wafer processing and during wafer exchange in each wafer processing chamber. FIG. 2(b) is a sectional view showing the state inside the vacuum chamber when wafers are being transferred to each wafer processing chamber. 1... Vacuum chamber, 5... First sputter processing palm, 6... Second sputter ffi burial chamber, 7...
... Semiconductor wafer, 11 ... Central axis, 13
...Transfer plate, 14...
・Wafer support station, 16...pressure plate, 17...pressure plate ram, 19...sputter source, 19a...
...Target, 20...Turbo pump, 2
2...Dynamic bellows. Applicant Tokyo Electron Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Suyama Sa - Taku (b) Figure 12

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a sputtering apparatus that guides a substrate to be processed into a sputtering chamber and performs a film forming process, the sputtering chamber is fixed to a frame whose one end can be brought into contact with the rotating plate while covering the substrate; A sputtering device comprising a bellows whose other end is connected to a vacuum system. (2) The sputtering apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate to be processed is guided sequentially to an etching processing chamber, a substrate heating processing chamber, and a sputtering processing chamber.