KR20020041542A - A thin-film evaporation methode for wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A deposition method of thin film of wafer is provided to considerably improve a through-put by decreasing a processing time of a heat treatment. CONSTITUTION: A wafer fixed on a wafer cassette(5) of a chamber(10) having a room pressure is firstly mounted on a table(15) of a loading chamber(20). The surface of the wafer on the table(15) is secondly applied with a heat at a process temperature in advance. The pre-heated wafer is thirdly fixed on a first process chamber(30), or on a heating block unit(25) of a second process chamber(40) and another heat treatment is then performed on the wafer at a process temperature. A thin film is fourthly deposited on the entire surface of the heated wafer. The wafer deposited with the thin film is lastly transferred on an unloading chamber(50) and the wafer is then fixed on a wafer cassette(6).

Description

A thin-film evaporation methode for wafer

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing process. Specifically, the heating time for a wafer is shortened by preheating the wafer prior to the heating step in which the wafer is heated during the thin film deposition process of the wafer constituting the semiconductor. It is configured to increase the productivity of the thin film deposition process of the wafer.

In general, in the semiconductor manufacturing process, a thin film deposition process for depositing oxide (oxide), nitride (oxynitride), oxynitride (oxynitride), etc. in a vacuum state is essentially performed. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) for depositing materials using chemical reactions and Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) using physical energy are known.

On the other hand, the thin film deposition process as described above involves a heating process for uniformly heating the entire surface of the wafer to facilitate the deposition of the thin film, such a heating process is to determine the uniformity of the thin film deposited on the surface of the wafer Strict process control is required.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wafer thin film deposition apparatus 200 which heats a surface of the wafer to be uniformly deposited prior to the deposition process, while the thin film deposition process of the wafer is performed as described above. As a schematic diagram, such a wafer thin film deposition apparatus 200 includes a normal pressure chamber 110 including a wafer cassette 105 on which a wafer is mounted, and a conveying means of a wafer (not shown) inside; A loading chamber (120) for loading the wafer moved from the atmospheric pressure chamber (110) with a moving means (not shown) in a vacuum state; A first process chamber 130 and a second process chamber 140 for heating the wafer supplied from the loading chamber 120 to a constant temperature and depositing a thin film on the outside of the wafer; An unloading chamber 150 accommodating the wafer on which the thin film deposition is completed via the first process chamber 130 or the second process chamber 140 therein; Located between the loading chamber 120, the first process chamber 130, the second process chamber 140, and the unloading chamber 150, the unloading chamber 150, the loading chamber 120, and the first process. The chamber 130, the second process chamber 140, and the interior of the unloading chamber 150 are maintained in a vacuum, and the vacuum chamber 160 which provides an installation space of a conveying device (not shown) is mainly made.

In addition, a first gate A and a sixth gate F are respectively provided between the atmospheric pressure chamber 110, the loading chamber 120, and the unloading chamber 150, and the loading chamber 120 and the vacuum chamber ( The second gate (B) is provided between the 160, the third gate (C) and the fourth gate (D) is provided between the first process chamber 130 and the second process chamber 140 and the vacuum chamber Since the fifth gate E is provided between the unloading chamber 150 and the vacuum chamber 160, the corresponding gate is opened in the proximity of the wafer, and the open gate is closed in the state where the movement is completed.

Such a wafer thin film deposition apparatus 200 includes a loading chamber (via a first gate A) by means of a carrier (not shown) in a wafer cassette 105 of an atmospheric pressure chamber 110 during a thin film deposition process of a wafer. 120 is transferred to 120 and seated on the table 115 of the loading chamber 120, while the wafer is picked up by the moving means by maintaining the wafer at a constant height according to the operation of the lift pins embedded in the table 115. Make it easy.

When this process is completed, the first gate (A) is closed, while the second gate (B) is opened, the air of the loading chamber 120 is discharged to the outside through the vacuum chamber 160 to the loading chamber 120 Allow the inside of the to switch to vacuum.

Subsequently, when the above process is completed, the wafer located in the loading chamber 120 is moved to the heating block unit 125 of the first process chamber 130 or the second process chamber 140 having the structure of FIG. Will move to the top.

The heating block unit 125 is coupled to the lower portion of the first process chamber 130 and the second process chamber 140, as shown in FIG. 2, the inner side according to the operation of the elevating device 121 A lifting pin 123 for elevating the wafer is provided radially, and the heater is provided as a contact surface with the wafer to heat the wafer at a temperature of 400 ° C. or 600 ° C. for several seconds to more time depending on a required process.

In addition, when the surface temperature of the wafer is heated to a predetermined temperature according to the above process, a process of depositing a thin film on the surface of the wafer is performed. When the process is completed, the wafer placed in the heating block unit 125 is the fifth gate. The wafer, which is moved to the unloading chamber 150 through E, is placed on the table 145 of the unloading chamber 150 again from the unloading chamber 150 through the sixth gate F. 110 is mounted on the wafer cassette 106 of 110.

On the other hand, since the vacuum deposition process as described above requires a time required for vacuum deposition and a time for raising the surface temperature of the wafer to a constant temperature, in a typical wafer thin film deposition apparatus 200, a plurality of process chambers are installed to install a vacuum of the wafer. Increase productivity in the deposition process.

However, in the conventional wafer thin film deposition apparatus 200 in which the heating of the wafer is performed only in the first process chamber 130 or the second process chamber 140 as described above, the wafer having a constant temperature is cooled before the thin film is deposited. That is, according to the required process of the wafer must be raised to a state close to 400 ℃, or 600 ℃ because it requires a lot of waiting time in the first process chamber 130 or the second process chamber 140, such as low productivity A problem occurs.

On the contrary, when a plurality of process chambers are additionally installed in the wafer thin film deposition apparatus 200 in order to increase productivity, a lot of installation costs are required, and along with this, the apparatus becomes complicated and the size increases.

The present invention is to solve the conventional problems as described above, the technical problem of the present invention is to shorten the time required for heating the wafer by preheating the wafer prior to the heating step in which the heating is performed to the wafer during the thin film deposition process of the wafer On the other hand, it is to provide a means that can significantly increase the productivity of the wafer without additional equipment for the wafer thin film deposition apparatus by significantly shortening the required time required for the process made in the process chamber.

An object of the present invention as described above, in the thin film deposition process of the wafer,

Loading the wafer mounted on the wafer cassette of the atmospheric chamber on a table of the loading chamber;

Preheating the surface of the wafer seated on the table according to the above process to a temperature equal to the process temperature;

A heating step of placing the wafer preheated by the preheating step on the heating block unit of the first process chamber or the second process chamber and heating the wafer to a process temperature;

A thin film deposition step of depositing a thin film on the surface of the wafer whose surface is heated by the heating step;

By providing a thin film deposition method of the wafer comprising the step of transferring the wafer is completed the deposition of the thin film according to the above process to the unloading chamber, and mounting the wafer placed on the table of the unloading chamber to the wafer cassette Is achieved.

Hereinafter, the thin film deposition method of the wafer according to the present invention will be described in detail with the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic view showing an example of a wafer thin film deposition apparatus having a conventional structure;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of principal parts of the wafer thin film deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

3 is a block diagram of a thin film deposition method of a wafer according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a schematic diagram of a wafer thin film deposition apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing>

5,6 weight cassette 10: atmospheric chamber

20: loading chamber 15,45: table

25: heating block unit 30: the first process chamber

40: second process chamber 50: unloading chamber

3 is a block diagram of a thin film deposition method of a wafer according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a wafer thin film deposition apparatus 100 to which the present invention is applied, the thin film deposition method of a wafer according to the present invention A loading step of seating the wafer on the table 15 of the loading chamber 20, a preheating step of preheating the surface of the wafer to the same temperature as the process temperature, a heating step of heating the preheated wafer back to the process temperature, A thin film deposition step of depositing a thin film on the surface of the wafer and an unloading step of mounting the wafer on which the thin film deposition is completed in accordance with the above process to the wafer cassette (6).

Here, in the loading step in which the wafer mounted on the wafer cassette 5 of the atmospheric pressure chamber 10 is seated on the table 15 of the loading chamber 20, the atmospheric pressure chamber 10 of the atmospheric pressure chamber 10 is similar to a wafer thin film deposition apparatus having a conventional structure. The wafer embedded in the wafer cassette 5 is transferred to the loading chamber 20 through the first gate A by a conveying means (not shown) and seated on the table 15 of the loading chamber 20.

At this time, when the wafer is seated on the table 15 as described above, by holding the wafer at a constant height in accordance with the operation of the lifting pin to facilitate the pickup of the wafer by the moving means.

When the loading step is completed according to the process as described above, the first gate (A) is closed, the second gate (B) is opened, the air of the loading chamber 20 is discharged to the outside through the vacuum chamber 60 The interior of the loading chamber 20 is converted into a vacuum state, and with this, a preheating step is performed in the interior of the loading chamber 20.

The preheating step may be performed before the wafer placed on the table 15 of the loading chamber 20 is transferred to the first process chamber 30 or the second process chamber 40 by moving means, not shown. The wafer may be heated to 400 ° C. at the same temperature as that of the process proceeding in the process chamber 30 or the second process chamber 40, that is, inside the first process chamber 30 or the second process chamber 40. In this case, the surface of the wafer is heated to 400 ° C. as described above, and when the wafer is heated to 600 ° C. in the first process chamber 30 or the second process chamber 40, the surface of the wafer is 600 ° C. The heating time is reduced to shorten the time required for wafer heating in the heating step described later.

Meanwhile, as described above, a heater is installed in the table 15 of the loading chamber 20 for preheating the wafer in the preheating step. The heater is installed in the first process chamber 30 or the second process chamber 40. Since it is made of the same structure as the heater of the heating block unit 125, its configuration and detailed description will be omitted.

Subsequently, when the preheating of the wafer is completed according to the above-described process, the heating block unit 25, in which the surface is heated to a constant temperature, is installed in the first process chamber 30 or the second process chamber 40 by a moving device. ) Is moved to the upper part, and heating is performed at a temperature of 400 ° C. or 600 ° C. according to the required process of the wafer by a heater built in the heating block unit 25. When the temperature is heated to a constant temperature, a process of depositing a thin film on the surface of the wafer proceeds.

In particular, the thin film deposition method of the wafer according to the present invention is a table 15 of the loading chamber 20 prior to heating by the heating block unit 25 installed in the first process chamber 30 or the second process chamber 40. Since the heating is performed by the heating block unit installed in the process chamber of the conventional structure because it has a preheated state by the heating step proceeds inside the first process chamber 30 or the second process chamber 40 The process proceeds quickly.

After the deposition of the thin film is completed according to the above-described process, the wafer placed in the heating block unit 25 moves to the unloading chamber 50 through the fifth gate E, and then the table of the unloading chamber 50 again. The wafer placed in 45 is mounted to the wafer cassette 6 of the atmospheric chamber 10 from the unloading chamber 50 through the sixth gate F, and the thin film deposition process of the wafer is repeated according to the above-described process. This proceeds continuously.

As described above, the present invention accelerates the thin film deposition process of the wafer since the heating step, which takes the most time in the thin film deposition process of the wafer, is greatly shortened by the preheating step performed in the loading chamber 20.

As described above, in the present invention, since the preheating of the wafer prior to the heating step of the wafer during the thin film deposition process of the wafer, the heating step process that requires the most processing time in the thin film deposition process of the wafer proceeds quickly, thus adding equipment. Without using the device of the same specification it is possible to significantly increase the productivity of the thin film deposition process of the wafer.

While the invention has been shown and described with respect to certain preferred embodiments, the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, it is common in the art to which the invention pertains without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed in the claims. Anyone with knowledge will be able to make various variations.

Claims (1)

In the thin film deposition process of the wafer, A loading step of mounting the wafer mounted on the wafer cassette 5 of the atmospheric pressure chamber 10 to the table 15 of the loading chamber 20; A preheating step of preheating the surface of the wafer seated on the table 15 according to the above process to the same temperature as the process temperature; A heating step of placing the wafer preheated by the preheating step on the heating block unit 25 of the first process chamber 30 or the second process chamber 40 and heating the wafer to a process temperature; A thin film deposition step of depositing a thin film on the surface of the wafer whose surface is heated by the heating step; According to the above process, the wafer having completed the deposition of the thin film is transferred to the unloading chamber 50, and an unloading step of mounting the wafer placed on the table 45 of the unloading chamber 50 to the wafer cassette 6. Thin film deposition method of the wafer, characterized in that.