KR101139821B1 - Gas nozzle for improved spouting efficiency and plasma reactor having the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a gas injection nozzle with improved distribution efficiency and a plasma reactor having the same. In the gas injection nozzle having improved distribution efficiency of the present invention, in the gas injection nozzle included in the plasma reactor, an upper surface is formed as an inclined surface so that the gas supplied from the upper part of the gas injection nozzle can be radiated into the plasma reactor. . Plasma reactor having a gas injection nozzle with improved distribution efficiency of the present invention is a plasma reactor; A coil antenna installed in the plasma reactor to induce plasma; A power supply source for supplying power to the coil antenna; And a gas injection nozzle provided in the plasma reactor and radiating the gas supplied from the outside into the plasma reactor along the upper surface formed as the inclined surface. According to the gas injection nozzle and the plasma reactor having the improved distribution efficiency of the present invention, the cleaning gas for cleaning the inside of the plasma reactor is uniformly diffused on the ceiling and sides of the plasma reactor to effectively remove the process residues attached therein. can do. In addition, since process residues are deposited on the process gas outlet provided on the lower surface of the gas injection nozzle, the process residues attached to the lower surface of the gas injection nozzle can also be removed using the cleaning gas diffused through the gas injection nozzle of the present invention. Can be. In addition, since the process gas outlet is cleaned efficiently, the process gas is smoothly sprayed to maximize process efficiency.

Plasma Reactor, Gas Injection Nozzle, Chamber Cleaning

Description

Gas nozzle for improved spouting efficiency and plasma reactor having the same}

The present invention relates to a gas injection nozzle having an improved distribution efficiency and a plasma reactor having the same, specifically, a cleaning gas supplied to the plasma reactor when the gas injection nozzle and the plasma reactor are formed to have a structure capable of efficiently diffusing gas. The present invention relates to a gas injection nozzle having an improved distribution efficiency capable of maximizing cleaning efficiency by uniformly diffusing and a plasma reactor having the same.

Plasma is a highly ionized gas containing the same number of positive ions and electrons. Plasma discharges are used for gas excitation to generate active gases containing ions, free radicals, atoms, molecules. Active gases are widely used in various fields and are used in various semiconductor manufacturing processes for manufacturing devices such as integrated circuit devices, liquid crystal displays, solar cells, etc., for example, etching, deposition, cleaning, and ashing. It is variously used for ashing.

Here, the process residue is not only deposited on the surface of the semiconductor substrate during the deposition process, but is also deposited around the semiconductor substrate and on the inner wall of the plasma reactor in which the deposition process is performed. The deposition layer formed inside the plasma reactor thickens over time and eventually acts as a major contaminant of the semiconductor substrate as particles in the plasma reactor away from the inner wall. Therefore, there is a need for a process of periodically cleaning the process residue deposited inside the plasma reactor.

As a method of cleaning the inside of the plasma reactor using plasma, a remote plasma cleaning method is mainly used. The remote plasma cleaning method is a method of forming a cleaning gas into a plasma outside the plasma reactor and then injecting the cleaning gas into the plasma reactor. At this time, the cleaning gas is injected from the side of the plasma reactor.

However, the method of injecting the cleaning gas from the side of the plasma reactor has been difficult to efficiently clean the impurities deposited in the plasma reactor because the cleaning gas is not uniformly diffused into the plasma reactor.

For more efficient cleaning, a method of cleaning by injecting a cleaning gas at the top of the plasma reactor has been proposed. In order to supply the cleaning gas to the plasma reactor, a gas injection nozzle for diffusing the cleaning gas should be provided in the plasma reactor. The conventional gas injection nozzle is formed so that the cleaning gas is injected in the lateral direction of the plasma reactor, and the cleaning gas is not smoothly brought into contact with the ceiling of the plasma reactor. In particular, the dome-type plasma reactor has a disadvantage in that it does not evenly clean the ceiling and the wall surface of the plasma reactor using a conventional gas injection nozzle.

In addition, as impurities are deposited in the process gas outlet provided in the gas injection nozzle, the gas injected through the gas outlet may not be smoothly injected.

An object of the present invention is to form an inclined surface of the inclined angle correlated with the curvature of the plasma reactor in the gas injection nozzle to form the upper surface to set the direction of the gas can be provided in the plasma reactor to efficiently clean the ceiling and sides of the plasma reactor The present invention provides a gas injection nozzle having an improved distribution efficiency and a plasma reactor having the same.

It is still another object of the present invention to improve the distribution efficiency of the gas spray nozzle, which is formed by the lower surface of the gas spray nozzle so that the lower surface of the gas spray nozzle can be cleaned using the cleaning gas diffused along the inclined surface of the gas spray nozzle. And to provide a plasma reactor having the same.

One aspect of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem relates to a gas injection nozzle with improved distribution efficiency and a plasma reactor having the same.

In the gas injection nozzle having improved distribution efficiency of the present invention, in the gas injection nozzle included in the plasma reactor, an upper surface is formed as an inclined surface so that the gas supplied from the upper part of the gas injection nozzle can be radiated into the plasma reactor. .

In one embodiment, the inclined surface is flattened from the top to the bottom of the gas injection nozzle.

In one embodiment, the gas injection nozzle is formed with a curved lower surface.

In one embodiment, the gas injection nozzle includes a gas inlet and a plurality of gas outlets to supply the process gas into the plasma reactor.

Plasma reactor having a gas injection nozzle with improved distribution efficiency of the present invention is a plasma reactor; A coil antenna installed in the plasma reactor to induce plasma; A power supply source for supplying power to the coil antenna; And a gas injection nozzle provided in the plasma reactor and radiating the gas supplied from the outside into the plasma reactor along the upper surface formed as the inclined surface.

In one embodiment, a remote plasma generator for supplying a cleaning gas from the outside of the plasma reactor.

In one embodiment, the plasma reactor includes a dielectric window formed in the ceiling openings for receiving gas; And a reactor body positioned at the bottom of the dielectric window and having a substrate support therein.

In one embodiment, the dielectric window has a curvature.

In one embodiment, the inclined plane angle of the gas injection nozzle has a correlation with the curvature of the dielectric window.

In one embodiment, an impedance matcher is configured between the power supply and the coil antenna to perform impedance matching.

In one embodiment, the substrate support is either biased or unbiased.

In one embodiment, the substrate support is biased but biased by a single frequency power supply or two or more different frequency power supplies.

In one embodiment, provided between the remote plasma generator and the plasma reactor, and includes a manifold portion provided with a cleaning gas passage to which the cleaning gas is transferred and a process gas passage to which the process gas is transferred.

In one embodiment, the gas injection nozzle includes a gas inlet and a plurality of gas outlets, the gas inlet end of the process gas passage end of the manifold portion so as to be spaced apart between the gas injection nozzle and the opening of the plasma reactor It is connected to the process gas supply.

In one embodiment, the cleaning gas delivered from the cleaning gas passage of the manifold portion is injected into the spaced space between the gas injection nozzle and the opening.

In one embodiment, the manifold portion includes a cooling channel therein.

According to the gas injection nozzle and the plasma reactor having the improved distribution efficiency of the present invention, the cleaning gas for cleaning the inside of the plasma reactor is uniformly diffused on the ceiling and sides of the plasma reactor to effectively remove the process residues attached therein. can do. In addition, since process residues are deposited on the process gas outlet provided on the lower surface of the gas injection nozzle, the process residues attached to the lower surface of the gas injection nozzle can also be removed using the cleaning gas diffused through the gas injection nozzle of the present invention. Can be. In addition, since the process gas outlet is cleaned efficiently, the process gas is smoothly sprayed to maximize process efficiency.

In order to fully understand the present invention, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiment of the present invention may be modified in various forms, the scope of the invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments described in detail below. This embodiment is provided to more completely explain the present invention to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the shapes and the like of the elements in the drawings can be exaggeratedly expressed to emphasize a clearer description. It should be noted that the same members in each drawing are sometimes shown with the same reference numerals. Detailed descriptions of well-known functions and constructions which may be unnecessarily obscured by the gist of the present invention are omitted.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a plasma reactor and a plasma reaction system having a gas injection nozzle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the plasma reaction system 10 includes a plasma reactor 12, a coil antenna 14, a power supply 20, and a gas injection nozzle 60. The plasma reactor 12 consists of a dielectric window 12a and a reactor body 12b. The coil antenna 14 is configured on top of the plasma reactor 12. The frequency power generated from the power supply 20 is supplied to the coil antenna 14 through the impedance matcher 22 to induce a plasma inductively coupled inside the plasma reactor 12. Frequency generated from the power supply source 20 is in the range of 300 ~ 500kHz, it is applied up to 1 ~ 20kHz. The gas injection nozzle 60 is provided in the plasma reactor 12 to inject the cleaning gas and the process gas into the plasma reactor 12.

The plasma reactor 12 includes a dielectric window 12a and a reactor body 12b. Dielectric window 12a may be comprised of a dielectric that can transmit electromagnetic energy, such as RF energy, for example silicon or silicon dioxide. The dielectric window 12a is formed in a shape having a curvature, such as a dome shape, and has an opening 13 for receiving a cleaning gas and a process gas from the outside into the plasma reactor 12.

The reactor body 12 is located at the bottom of the dielectric window 12a and is provided with a substrate support 16 on which the substrate 18 to be processed is placed. Reactor body 12b may be rebuilt from metallic materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, and copper. Or may be rewritten with coated metal, for example anodized aluminum or nickel plated aluminum. Or it may be rewritten as a refractory metal. Alternatively, it is possible to rewrite the reactor body in whole or in part with an electrically insulating material such as quartz, ceramic. As such, the reactor body 12b may be made of any material suitable for carrying out the intended plasma process. The structure of the reactor body 12b may have a structure suitable for the uniform generation of the plasma, for example, a circular structure, a square structure, or any other structure depending on the substrate 18 to be processed.

The substrate 18 to be processed is, for example, substrates such as wafer substrates, glass substrates, plastic substrates, and the like for manufacturing various devices such as semiconductor devices, display devices, solar cells, and the like.

In general, process residues formed on the inner surface of the plasma reactor 12 during the deposition process in the plasma reactor 12 are difficult to clean, have deposition of higher concentrations or thicker process residues, and are detrimental for subsequent wafer processing steps. Process residues may be produced. For example, this residue may be separated into flakes to contaminate the substrate 18 to be processed.

After the substrate 18 is processed, the plasma reactor 12 receives the cleaning gas through the cleaning gas supply source 30 and the remote plasma generator 40 located outside the plasma reactor 12 and receives the plasma reactor 12. Clean the process residue deposited inside. The cleaning gas branches along the upper surface 62 of the gas injection nozzle 60 and is radiated into the plasma reactor 12.

2 is a view showing a gas injection nozzle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention from above, and FIG. 3 is a view showing a gas injection nozzle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention from below.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the gas injection nozzle 60 is a plasma reactor and one gas inlet 65 to receive the process gas from the process gas source 50 located above the plasma reactor 12 A plurality of gas outlets 66 for injecting process gas into the interior of 12 are provided. The plurality of gas outlets 66 are provided at equal intervals and angles between the gas outlets 66 to induce uniform plasma in the plasma reactor 12.

In the gas injection nozzle 60, an upper surface 62 is formed as an inclined surface, and a lower surface 64 is formed as a curved surface to diffuse the cleaning gas into the plasma reactor 12. The inclined plane angle of the upper surface 62 is adjustable in the range of 90 to 180 degrees at an angle between the vertical axis of the gas injection nozzle 60 and the upper surface 62. In addition, the inclined surface angle becomes smoother from the top to the bottom of the gas injection nozzle 60 (so that the upper surface is concave to the inside of the gas injection nozzle) so that the upper surface 62 of the gas injection nozzle 60 has a concave surface. . Therefore, the cleaning gas may be uniformly diffused in the plasma reactor 12 along the concave upper surface 62 of the gas injection nozzle 60. The lower surface 64 is formed into a curved surface, and the cleaning gas diffused along the upper surface 62 is injected along the lower surface 64 formed into the curved surface. Therefore, cleaning of the process residue deposited on the lower surface 64 is performed by the cleaning gas diffused to the lower surface 64.

4 is a view showing that the cleaning gas is injected into the plasma reactor through the gas injection nozzle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the gas injection nozzle 60 is installed in the opening 13 of the plasma reactor 12. The gas injection nozzles 60 are installed to be spaced apart at predetermined intervals along the circumference of the gas injection nozzles 60 without completely closing the opening 13 of the plasma reactor 12. The cleaning gas supplied from the remote plasma generator 40 through the spaced interval is branched into the plasma reactor 12 along the upper surface 62 of the gas injection nozzle 60.

 When the cleaning gas branches into the plasma reactor 12 along the upper surface 62 of the gas injection nozzle 60, the cleaning gas is first diffused across the ceiling and the wall of the plasma reactor 12 to perform the cleaning. The cleaning gas branched along the upper surface 62 of the gas injection nozzle 60 diffuses along the lower surface 64 of the curved surface, and the lower surface 64 is also cleaned.

The inclined surface of the gas injection nozzle 60 according to the present invention has a correlation with the curvature of the plasma reactor 12. That is, it is possible to adjust the degree of diffusion of the cleaning gas by adjusting the inclined plane angle of the gas injection nozzle 60 to match the curvature of the plasma reactor 12. The gas injection nozzle 60 has an inclined surface that can achieve optimal cleaning efficiency according to various curvatures of the plasma reactor 12, thereby uniformly diffusing the cleaning gas in the plasma reactor 12 and efficiently depositing the deposited process residue. Wash with.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 4, the manifold portion 45 is provided between the remote plasma generator 40 and the opening 13 of the plasma reactor 12. Manifold 45 is formed of aluminum. The manifold portion 45 includes a process gas passage 52 for vertically transferring the process gas into the plasma reactor 12 in the central region. In addition, the manifold portion 45 includes a plurality of cleaning gas passages 54 that vertically transfer the cleaning gas into the plasma reactor 12 along the periphery of the process gas passage 52. The plurality of cleaning gas passages 54 may be integrated into one cleaning gas passage 54.

The process gas passage 52 of the manifold portion 45 has one side connected to the process gas supply source 50, and the other side connected to the gas inlet 65 of the gas injection nozzle 60. The process gas supplied from the process gas supply source 50 is supplied into the plasma reactor 12 through the manifold portion 45 and the gas injection nozzle 60. The gas injection nozzle 60 may be connected to the process gas passage 52 to be spaced apart from the gas injection nozzle 60 and the opening 13 of the plasma reactor 12. The cleaning gas passage 54 of the manifold portion 45 supplies the cleaning gas to a portion spaced apart from the opening 13 of the plasma reactor 12 and the gas injection nozzle 60. In addition, the manifold portion 45 is provided with a cooling channel 47 to prevent the manifold portion 45 from overheating due to the heat generated in the plasma reactor 12.

The substrate support 16 for supporting the substrate 18 to be processed is provided in the plasma reactor 12. The substrate support 16 is connected and biased to a bias power supply 7. For example, two bias power sources or one power source 7 supplying different frequency power sources are electrically connected and biased to the substrate support 16 via an impedance matcher 5. The dual bias structure of the substrate support 16 facilitates plasma generation inside the plasma reactor 10 and can further improve plasma ion energy control to improve process productivity. Alternatively, it may be modified to a single bias structure. Alternatively, the substrate support 16 may be modified to have a zero potential without supplying bias power. The substrate support 16 may include an electrostatic chuck (not shown). Alternatively, the substrate support may include a heater (not shown).

The coil antenna 14 is driven by a single frequency power source to induce a plasma inductively coupled inside the plasma reactor 12. The coil antenna 14 may be driven at multiple frequencies. The method of driving the coil antenna 14 at multiple frequencies may be modified in various ways.

The coil antenna 14 includes a cooling channel for preventing overheating by the frequency power supplied from the power supply 20. For example, the coolant or the coolant is circulated inside the coil antenna 14 to prevent the coil antenna 14 from overheating.

5 is a view showing the inclined plane angle of the gas injection nozzle and the gas injection angle injected to the plurality of gas outlets according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 6 is a view of the inclined plane angle of the gas injection nozzle in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention This is a graph measuring the cleaning efficiency of the plasma reactor.

As shown in FIG. 5, in one embodiment of the present invention, a plasma reactor 12 having a gas injection nozzle 60 having an inclined plane angle adjusted is formed. Plasma reactor 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention has an inner diameter radius of 210 ~ 250 mm.

As shown in FIG. 6, the horizontal axis (X axis) is time, and the vertical axis (Y axis) is the cleaning gas in a graph measuring cleaning efficiency of the plasma reactor 12 according to the inclined plane angle of the gas injection nozzle 60. The ion current value measured when a current is applied to the product produced by the same is shown. The cleaning gas may include, for example, one or more fluorine containing gases such as NF 3, C 2 F 6, C 3 F 8, CF 4 and SF 6, but in this embodiment nitrogen trifluoride (NF ₃ ) is used as the cleaning gas.

The cleaning gas diffused into the plasma reactor 12 along the upper surface 62 of the gas injection nozzle 60 is ion-bonded with silicon oxide (SIO ₂ ), which is a process residue deposited on the inner surface of the plasma reactor 12. Form the product (SIF ₄ ). When the cleaning gas is supplied to the plasma reactor 12, a large amount of product (SIF ₄ ) initially combined with the process residue is produced. During the cleaning process, the plasma reactor 12 is cleaned while gradually reducing the amount of the product SIF ₄ . The formed product SIF ₄ is discharged out of the plasma reactor 12 through an exhaust system (not shown).

From the graph, it can be seen that the measured value of the ion current appears differently according to the angle of the inclined surface. In particular, when comparing the point where the ion current measurement value is the highest, it can be seen that the ion current measurement value is large when the angle of the inclined plane is 110 to 130 degrees. That is, when the radius of the inner diameter of the plasma reactor 12 is 210 ~ 250mm it can be confirmed that the optimum cleaning efficiency when the inclined plane angle of the gas injection nozzle 60 is 110 ~ 130 degrees.

Therefore, it is possible to know the inclined plane angle of the gas injection nozzle 60 having the optimum cleaning efficiency according to the curvature of the plasma reactor 12.

Referring back to FIG. 5, the gas injection nozzle 60 is provided with a plurality of gas outlets 66, preferably at an angle of 110 to 130 degrees, such that the process gas is uniformly sprayed through the gas outlet 66, thereby providing a plasma reactor. A uniform plasma can be induced inside the (12).

Embodiments of the gas injection nozzle and the plasma reactor of the present invention described above are merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may various modifications and other equivalent embodiments therefrom. You will know well. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims. It is also to be understood that the present invention includes all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

The gas injection nozzle of the present invention and the plasma reactor having the same can be very usefully used in the cleaning process of the plasma reactor for forming various thin films such as the manufacture of semiconductor integrated circuits, the manufacture of flat panel displays, and the manufacture of solar cells.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a plasma reactor and a plasma reaction system having a gas injection nozzle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a view showing a gas injection nozzle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a view showing a gas injection nozzle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a view showing that the cleaning gas is injected into the plasma reactor through the gas injection nozzle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a view showing the inclined plane angle of the gas injection nozzle and the gas injection angle injected to the plurality of gas outlets according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a graph measuring the cleaning efficiency of the plasma reactor according to the inclined plane angle of the gas injection nozzle in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

10: plasma reaction system 12: plasma reactor

12a: dielectric window 12b: reactor body

13: opening 14: coil antenna

16: substrate support 18: substrate to be processed

20, 7; Power source 22, 5: impedance matcher

30: cleaning gas source 40: remote plasma generator

45: manifold portion 47: cooling channel

50: process gas source 52: process gas passage

54: cleaning gas passage 60: gas injection nozzle

62: upper surface 64: lower surface

65 gas inlet 66 gas outlet

Claims (16)

delete delete delete delete A reactor body having a substrate support on which the substrate to be processed is placed; A dome-shaped dielectric window installed above the reactor body and having an opening for introducing a process gas and a cleaning gas; A coil antenna installed at an upper portion of the dielectric window to induce a plasma inside the reactor body; A power supply source for supplying power to the coil antenna; A manifold portion having a cleaning gas passage and a process gas passage and connected to an opening of the dielectric window; A remote plasma generator connected to the cleaning gas passage of the manifold unit, receiving a cleaning gas from a cleaning gas supply source, and generating a plasma for cleaning and supplying the plasma to the reactor body; The dielectric to diffuse a gas inlet connected to a process gas passage of the manifold portion through an opening of the dielectric window, a plurality of gas outlets for injecting process gas into the reactor body, and a cleaning gas flowing through the cleaning gas passage; And a gas injection nozzle having an inclined surface of 110 degrees to 130 degrees from the vertical axis in relation to the curvature of the dome of the window. delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete

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