KR100761680B1 - Apparatus for processing substrate with plasma - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus for forming a plasma in a chamber in a vacuum atmosphere to perform a predetermined treatment on an object to be processed.

The present invention provides a plasma processing apparatus for forming a plasma in a chamber in a vacuum atmosphere to perform a predetermined treatment on an object to be processed, the upper and lower electrodes being respectively provided in upper and lower sides of the chamber and to which high frequency power is applied; And a side cover provided between the side of the upper electrode and the sidewall of the chamber, and a side cover interposing a gap formed between the side of the upper electrode and the sidewall of the chamber.

Plasma, Plasma Processing Equipment, Flat Panel Display, Etch Uniformity

Description

Plasma Processing Equipment {APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING SUBSTRATE WITH PLASMA}

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the internal structure of a conventional plasma processing apparatus.

2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the internal structure of a plasma processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the internal structure of a plasma processing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

1: conventional plasma processing apparatus

100: plasma processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention

200: plasma processing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention

10, 110, 210: chamber 20, 120, 220: mounting table

30, 130, 230: upper electrode 132: reinforcing member

234: side cover S: substrate

The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus for forming a plasma in a chamber in a vacuum atmosphere to perform a predetermined treatment on an object to be processed.

In general, a plasma processing apparatus is used for various processes such as etching in the process of manufacturing a semiconductor, an LCD, and the like. Hereinafter, the structure of a conventional plasma processing apparatus will be described.

Conventional plasma processing apparatus generally includes a chamber capable of forming a vacuum atmosphere therein, a mounting table having a support surface capable of supporting a substrate to be processed therein, a gas supply system supplying a processing gas into the chamber, An electric field generating system for generating an electric field in a process chamber for plasma-forming the process gas through discharge, and an exhaust system which removes the process gas which exists in a process chamber after a predetermined process.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the internal structure of a conventional plasma processing apparatus. With reference to FIG. 1, each component of the above-mentioned plasma processing apparatus is demonstrated in detail.

First, the chamber 10 has a structure capable of completely blocking the inside and outside of the plasma processing apparatus so as to form a vacuum atmosphere necessary for forming the plasma in the plasma processing apparatus. And other components of the plasma processing apparatus are installed in the chamber 10.

Next, the mounting table 20 is a component for supporting a substrate to be loaded from the outside for a predetermined treatment. The mounting table 20 is installed below the inside of the chamber 10 and has a support surface capable of supporting the substrate S to be processed. The mount 20 serves not only to support the substrate S, but also as a lower electrode during plasma generation, and in certain cases, an electrostatic chuck may be installed therein to fix the substrate.

And a gas supply system (not shown) is a component which supplies the process gas used for plasma formation for a predetermined process to a to-be-processed substrate by the plasma processing apparatus into the chamber 10. As shown in FIG. In general, the gas supply system is provided above the chamber 10 and receives a processing gas from an upper portion of the chamber 10. The gas supply system described above includes various diffusion members therein for uniformly supplying the processing gas into the chamber 10.

Next, the electric field generating system is a component for generating an electric field necessary for plasmalizing the processing gas supplied by the gas supply system. An electric field generating system is basically a structure in which electrodes are formed on the upper and lower sides of a space in which an electric field is to be generated, and generates an electric field by applying high frequency power to one or both of the electrodes. In general, the above-described mounting table 20 serves as a lower electrode, and the upper electrode 30 is separately installed on the upper portion of the chamber 10.

Next, the exhaust system is a component that removes the processing gas already used in the processing of the substrate to be processed inside the chamber 10. Since the processing gas once used for the processing of the substrate to be processed is all removed from the chamber 10 so as not to affect the next process, the plasma processing process completely discharges the processing gas, so that the processing gas is completely discharged. It is important to let them.

However, in the plasma processing apparatus having the above-described structure, as shown in FIG. 1, the upper electrode 30 is provided to be spaced apart from the sidewall of the chamber 10 by a predetermined distance. When the upper electrode 30 is spaced apart from the side wall of the chamber 10 in this way, and a space is created, the flow of plasma increases in this space. As a result, the plasma density of each region in the chamber 10 is changed to increase the degree of etching at the edge portion.

This change in the density of the plasma is not a big problem in the case of the passive process, but the active process uses a large amount of SF ₆ gas, the plasma density is high, so that the difference in the degree of etching for each region occurs greatly. Therefore, there is a problem that the etching uniformity (etching uniformity) indicating the uniformity of the etching degree for each region of the substrate increases.

An object of the present invention to improve the structure of the upper electrode to provide a plasma processing apparatus excellent in etching uniformity.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plasma processing apparatus for forming a plasma in a chamber in a vacuum atmosphere to perform a predetermined treatment on a target object, each of which is provided above and below the inside of the chamber, and a high frequency power is applied. Upper and lower electrodes; It is provided coupled to the side of the upper electrode, the reinforcing member for reducing the gap between the side of the upper electrode and the side wall of the chamber; provides a plasma processing apparatus, characterized in that provided.

In the present invention, a shielding member is further provided on the side of the upper electrode to protect the upper electrode from the attack of the plasma, and the reinforcing member is formed of the same material as the shielding member to improve the shielding of the plasma while improving the etching uniformity. Let's do it.

At this time, the reinforcing member is made of ceramic is preferably large resistance to plasma.

In addition, in the present invention, in the plasma processing apparatus for forming a plasma in the chamber of the vacuum atmosphere to perform a predetermined treatment on the object to be processed, the upper electrode and the lower electrode which is provided on the upper and lower sides inside the chamber, respectively, to which high frequency power is applied. ; And a side cover provided between the side of the upper electrode and the sidewall of the chamber, and a side cover interposing a gap formed between the side of the upper electrode and the sidewall of the chamber.

In this case, it is preferable that the side cover is disposed at the same height as the lower surface of the upper electrode because the plasma flow can be uniform and the etching uniformity can be lowered.

In the present invention, the side cover is preferably made of anodized aluminum.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a specific embodiment of the present invention.

<Example 1>

The plasma processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a chamber 110 similarly to the conventional plasma processing apparatus 1; Mounting table 120; Gas supply system (not shown in the figure); Field generators 120 and 130; Exhaust system (not shown in the drawing); is configured to include. At this time, each component described above has the same structure and function as that provided in the conventional plasma processing apparatus 1, and thus will not be repeated here.

In the present embodiment, the structure of the upper electrode 130 constituting the field generating system is different from that of the conventional plasma processing apparatus 1. That is, as shown in Figure 2, the reinforcing member 132 is further provided on the side of the upper electrode 130. The reinforcing member 132 is provided to reduce the gap formed between the upper electrode 130 and the side wall of the chamber 110, and is attached to the side of the upper electrode 130. At this time, it is preferable to provide a wide reinforcing member in order to minimize the gap between the upper electrode 130 and the side wall of the chamber 110.

In general, a shielding member (not shown in the drawing) is attached to the side of the upper electrode 130 to protect the upper electrode 130 from the plasma, and reinforcement according to the present embodiment on the side of the shielding member. The member 132 is attached and provided. In this case, the reinforcing member 132 is preferably formed of the same material as the shielding member in order to be able to perform a plasma shielding role.

Since the above-mentioned shielding member is generally formed of a ceramic material which is excellent in plasma resistance and well resists plasma, it is preferable that the reinforcing member 132 according to the present embodiment is also made of ceramic.

<Example 2>

The plasma processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment includes a chamber 210 similarly to the conventional plasma processing apparatus 1; Mounting table 220; Gas supply system (not shown in the figure); Field generators 220 and 230; Exhaust system (not shown in the drawing); is configured to include. At this time, each component described above has the same structure and function as that provided in the conventional plasma processing apparatus 1, and thus will not be repeated here.

In the present embodiment, the structure of the upper electrode 230 constituting the field generating system is different from that of the conventional plasma processing apparatus 1. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, a side cover 234 is further provided to block a gap formed between the side of the upper electrode 130 and the sidewall of the chamber 210. The side cover 234 is provided to prevent a gap formed between the upper electrode 230 and the side wall of the chamber 210, and is provided across the side of the upper electrode 230 in the direction of the side wall of the chamber 210. .

At this time, the side cover 234 is to close the gap formed between the side of the upper electrode 230 and the side wall of the chamber 210 in order to slow the flow of the plasma in the edge region of the upper electrode 230, the upper electrode 230 ) Is preferably formed in the same manner as the lower surface of the e) extends to the side wall of the chamber 210. Therefore, the side cover 234 according to the present embodiment is preferably provided such that the height of the lower surface thereof is the same as the lower surface of the upper electrode 230. When the side cover 234 is provided in this way, the space recognized by the plasma is recognized as a space in which the upper electrode 230 extends to the side wall of the chamber 210.

In this embodiment, the side cover 234 is formed of anodized aluminum.

Experimental Example 1

As in Example 1, after forming the reinforcing member 132 on the side of the upper electrode 130 and etching by the active process, the etching uniformity is 1900 Å / min ± 33%.

Experimental Example 2

As in Example 2, the side cover 234 was provided on the side of the upper electrode 230 to close the gap, and the etching was performed by the active process, resulting in an etching uniformity of 1900 mW / min ± 12%.

<Comparative Example>

As a result of etching by an active process using the conventional plasma processing apparatus 1 as it is, the etching uniformity is 1900 mW / min ± 56%.

According to the present invention, as can be seen in the above-described experimental example and comparative example, the difference in the degree of etching in the center region and the edge region of the substrate is very small. That is, since the difference of 56% occurs in the first and second embodiments, respectively, 33% and 12%, respectively, it can be seen that the plasma processing apparatus according to the present invention has excellent etching uniformity.

Claims (6)

In the plasma processing apparatus which forms a plasma in the chamber of a vacuum atmosphere, and performs a predetermined process to a to-be-processed object, Upper and lower electrodes respectively provided on upper and lower sides of the chamber and to which high frequency power is applied; And a reinforcing member coupled to the side of the upper electrode and configured to reduce a gap between the side of the upper electrode and the side wall of the chamber. The method of claim 1, A shielding member is further provided between the side portion of the upper electrode and the reinforcing member to protect the upper electrode from the plasma. The reinforcing member is formed of the same material as the shielding member plasma processing apparatus. The method of claim 2, wherein the reinforcing member, Plasma processing apparatus comprising a ceramic. In the plasma processing apparatus which forms a plasma in the chamber of a vacuum atmosphere, and performs a predetermined process to a to-be-processed object, Upper and lower electrodes respectively provided on upper and lower sides of the chamber and to which high frequency power is applied; A side cover disposed at the same height as the lower surface of the upper electrode and provided between the side of the upper electrode and the side wall of the chamber, and a side cover which blocks a gap formed between the side of the upper electrode and the side wall of the chamber; Plasma processing apparatus characterized by. delete The method of claim 4, wherein the side cover, A plasma processing apparatus comprising anodized aluminum.

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