KR20030096473A - Semiconductor dry etching equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: Semiconductor dry etching equipment is provided to be capable of preventing the dielectric breakdown of an edge ring and prolonging the lifetime of an electrostatic chuck by improving the structure of the equipment. CONSTITUTION: Semiconductor dry etching equipment is provided with at least one electrostatic chuck(204-1,204-2,204-3) for loading a wafer, at least one edge ring(201,203) for enclosing the peripheral portion of each electrostatic chuck, and an insulation ring(102) installed between the edge rings. At this time, the electrostatic chuck has a larger diameter than that of the wafer. Preferably, the semiconductor dry etching equipment further includes a wafer guide(105) located at the upper portion of the edge ring for enclosing the wafer. Preferably, the wafer guide is located at the upper portion of the resultant structure between the uppermost electrostatic chuck and the uppermost edge ring.

Description

Semiconductor Dry Etching Equipment {SEMICONDUCTOR DRY ETCHING EQUIPMENT}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to semiconductor dry etching equipment, and more particularly, to a structure of an electric static chuck of semiconductor dry etching equipment.

In general, after forming or depositing a specific film quality (eg, an oxide film or a metal film) on a semiconductor substrate to form a semiconductor device, an electrical pattern (a wafer), which is a semiconductor substrate, is formed through a photo process. After mapping the pattern, the process of shaping the pattern through an etching process is repeated several times. The repeated process is referred to as a fabrication process, and a predetermined semiconductor device is formed on the semiconductor wafer.

As the equipment used in the etching process increases as the diameter of the semiconductor wafer is large (currently being applied to a wafer of 12 inches in diameter), equipment of mainly etching a single wafer is applied.

Such a single wafer process equipment repeats a method of unloading the wafer on which the etching is completed after loading the wafer into the etching chamber and performing an etching process.

One type of such dry etching equipment is LAM's Alliance equipment. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the wafer is loaded into the etching chamber of the Alliance equipment. Referring to FIG. 1, the etching chamber loads the wafer 100 onto a plurality of electrostatic chucks 104-1, 104-2, and 104-3. The electrostatic chucks 104-1, 104-2, and 104-3 are surrounded by edge rings 101 and 103 and an insulation ring 102, respectively. For convenience of description, the edge ring positioned at the top and in contact with the wafer 100 is referred to as the upper edge ring 101 and the lower edge ring located as the lower edge ring 103.

The equipment is usually maintained at a high temperature and low pressure. When the wafer is loaded into the etching chamber, a reaction gas flows into the etching chamber and an appropriate RF (Resonance Frequency) power is applied to the plasma etching process. Thus, the desired electrical pattern is shaped, followed by several additional processes to remove reaction residues and cool the hot wafer.

At this time, the diameter of the wafer 100 is larger than the diameter of the upper electrostatic chuck 104-1, and the elongation and shrinkage of the entire surface of the wafer on which the electrical pattern is formed is greater during the wafer 100 through various processes. The edge portion is inclined in the opposite direction of the upper electrostatic chuck 104-1.

Therefore, a back side helium gas, which flows into the etching chamber between the upper electrostatic chuck 104-1 and the wafer 100, is introduced into the etching chamber, and the electrostatic chuck is exposed to plasma to expose the upper edge ring ( The breakdown of the insulating film of 101 occurs.

This not only causes ancillary process problems but also results in shortening the use time of the electrostatic chuck.

The present invention provides a device to prevent the insulating film breakage phenomenon of the edge ring and to extend the use time of the electrostatic chuck by changing the structure of the electrostatic chuck and the edge ring to solve the above problems.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an upper electrostatic chuck with a diameter larger than the diameter of the wafer and changes the structure of the upper edge ring, thereby preventing the breakdown of the insulating film of the edge ring and extending the use time of the electrostatic chuck. It provides a device to.

1 is a cross-sectional view of an etching chamber of a conventional semiconductor dry etching equipment.

2 is a cross-sectional view of an etching chamber of a semiconductor dry etching apparatus according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

101, 201, 103, 203: Edge Ring

102: Insulation Ring

104, 204: Electrical Static Chuck

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an etching chamber of a semiconductor etching apparatus having at least one electrostatic chuck for loading a wafer and at least one edge ring surrounding the periphery of each electrostatic chuck, The diameter of the electrostatic chuck loading the wafer provides a semiconductor etching equipment, characterized in that more than the diameter of the wafer.

The etch chamber further includes a wafer guide surrounding the wafer adjacent to the wafer and located on the edge ring.

The wafer guide also covers between an upper electrostatic chuck loading the wafer and an upper edge ring surrounding the upper correction chuck.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a cross-sectional view of an etching chamber of a semiconductor dry etching apparatus according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the etching chamber has components similar to those of a conventional etching chamber. That is, the etching chamber includes a plurality of electrostatic chucks 204-1, 204-2, 204-3, an upper edge ring 201, an insulating ring 102, a lower edge ring 203, and a wafer guider 105. do. Among the above components, the same reference numerals as those of the existing etching chambers or components that do not need to be changed are used.

Wafer 100 is loaded onto the upper electrostatic chuck 204-1. At this time, the diameter of the upper electrostatic chuck is larger than the diameter of the wafer. The diameter of the upper electrostatic chuck 204-1 is preferably 200 mm or more when the diameter of the wafer is 12 inches.

The upper edge ring 201 is surrounded by the upper electrostatic chuck 204-1, and the width of the upper edge ring 201 is slightly reduced compared to the width of the existing edge ring 101 (see FIG. 1). .

Since the wafer guider 105 is located adjacent to the edge portion of the wafer 100, the wafer guider 105 has the same inclination toward the wafer contacting portion as compared with the conventional wafer guider. The wafer guider 105 has the same height, and the sum of the lengths of the upper electrostatic chuck 204-1 and the edge ring 201 is equal to that of the existing upper electrostatic chuck 104-1 and the upper edge ring 101. If the sum of the length is the same and the diameter of the wafer 100 is the same result is natural.

The length of the lower electrostatic chuck 204-3 and the lower edge ring 203 may be different from that of the existing lower electrostatic chuck 104-3 and the lower edge ring 103. This is due to the ease of component management of the etching chamber when the lengths of the upper electrostatic chuck 204-1 and the lower electrostatic chuck 204-3 are the same.

As described above, the diameter of the upper electrostatic chuck 204-1 is larger than the diameter of the wafer 100 so that the upper electrostatic chuck 204-1 and the upper edge ring 201 are separated from the edge of the wafer 100. When spaced apart and the wafer guider 105 is installed adjacent to the wafer 100, several additional processes are performed to remove reaction residues after etching on the wafer 100 and to cool the hot wafer. When done, it is possible to prevent plasma damage to the upper edge ring 201.

In other words, even if a backside helium gas penetrates between the wafer 100 and the upper electrostatic chuck 204-1, the upper electrostatic chuck 204-1 and the upper edge ring 201 are spaced apart from each other. Prevents plasma damage to the edge ring 201.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent process problems that may occur in the etching process and increase the use time of the electrostatic chuck.

Although the present invention has been described in detail only with respect to the described embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes are possible within the technical spirit of the present invention, and such modifications and modifications belong to the appended claims.

As described above, the structure of the electrostatic chuck of the etching chamber of the dry etching equipment according to the present invention prevents plasma damage to the edge ring when the backside helium is introduced to prevent process problems that may occur in the etching process and Can increase the time of use.

Claims (3)

In an etching chamber of a semiconductor etching apparatus having at least one electrostatic chuck for loading a wafer, and at least one edge ring surrounding the periphery of each electrostatic chuck, the diameter of the electrostatic chuck for loading the wafer is Semiconductor etching equipment, characterized in that more than the diameter of the wafer. The semiconductor etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the etching chamber further comprises a wafer guide adjacent the wafer and surrounding the wafer positioned on the edge ring. 3. The semiconductor etching apparatus of claim 2, wherein the wafer guide covers a gap between an upper electrostatic chuck loading the wafer and an upper edge ring surrounding the upper electrostatic chuck.