KR20050057818A - Apparatus for detecting leak of gas - Google Patents

Abstract

A gas leak detection apparatus for detecting gas leakage through a pedestal connected to a chamber is disclosed. The gas leakage device provides a space for accommodating a pedestal for supporting a wafer, and includes a leak detection chamber in which a first hole for coupling the pedestal and a second hole for coupling the vacuum line are formed below. do. A vacuum chamber is connected to the vacuum line and forms a vacuum inside the chamber. The gas detector is provided at one side of the chamber and detects a leaking gas to determine whether the gas leaks from the connection portion of the pedestal. A separate leak detection chamber may be used to detect the leak of the pedestal, and the leaking pedestal may be fixed and tested.

Description

Apparatus for detecting leak of gas

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a pedestal leak detection apparatus for detecting leakage of a pedestal supporting a semiconductor substrate in a process chamber.

In recent years, with the rapid development of the information communication field and the widespread use of information media such as computers, semiconductor devices are also rapidly developing. In terms of its function, the semiconductor device is required to operate at a high speed and to have a large storage capacity. Accordingly, the manufacturing technology of the semiconductor device has been developed to improve the degree of integration, reliability, and response speed.

The semiconductor device is generally manufactured by sequentially performing a series of unit processes for film formation, pattern formation, metal wiring formation, and the like. In performing the unit processes, a manufacturing apparatus suitable for the process conditions of the unit processes is used.

These processes are emerging as a requirement for precise control of the process atmosphere such as pressure and temperature in order to improve the quality and yield of semiconductor devices.

In general, the processing of semiconductor substrates for manufacturing semiconductor devices is carried out using various process gases and maintaining a very low vacuum compared to atmospheric pressure to prevent the semiconductor substrate from reacting with air.

However, if a leakage occurs in the process chamber in which the above process is performed, the process chamber may not maintain a low vacuum state and adversely affect the semiconductor device manufacturing process. Therefore, detecting the leakage of the process chamber is very important.

Leakage of the process chamber is frequently generated at the site where the pedestal for supporting the semiconductor substrate is coupled to the process chamber is provided in the process chamber. As described above, when the leakage occurs at the site where the pedestal is coupled to the process chamber, it is difficult to inspect the exact cause of leakage, and only the operation of replacing the pedestal itself has been performed. Therefore, a problem arises in that the cost of exchanging the pedestal is very high.

An object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to provide a gas leak detection device that is easy to detect whether the pedestal itself leaks, and to repair and test the leak of the pedestal itself.

In order to achieve the object of the present invention, the present invention provides a space for detecting the leakage of the pedestal supporting the wafer during a predetermined semiconductor manufacturing process and is in communication with the first hole and the vacuum line to which the pedestal is mounted A chamber each having a second hole formed therein, a vacuum pump connected to the vacuum line and vacuuming the inside of the chamber, a gas providing unit for providing a gas for detection to a region adjacent to a pedestal mounted to the chamber; And a gas detector configured to communicate with the chamber and detect a gas for detection penetrating into the chamber through the mounting portion of the pedestal to determine whether the pedestal mounting portion is leaking gas. It provides a detection device.

The gas leak detection apparatus further includes a plurality of supports provided along the bottom edge of the chamber and spaced apart from the ground to allow the pedestal and the vacuum line to be easily coupled to the chamber.

The gas leak detection apparatus according to the present invention configured as described above separately configures a chamber for detecting the leak of the pedestal, so that the leak of the pedestal can be easily detected. The chamber can also be used to repair leaking pedestals and test the results prior to mounting in the process chamber.

Hereinafter, a gas leak detection apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a gas leak detection apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a gas leak detection apparatus provides a space for accommodating a pedestal 140 for supporting a wafer during a predetermined semiconductor manufacturing process, and a first hole for coupling the pedestal 140 to a lower portion thereof. A chamber 110 in which a second hole 120 for coupling the 130 and the vacuum line 150 is formed, and a vacuum for connecting the vacuum line 150 to the inside of the chamber 110. The pump 160, the gas providing unit 170 for providing a gas for detection to a portion adjacent to the process chamber 110, and the chamber 110, are provided to communicate with each other, and whether or not the pedestal 140 is coupled to the gas leakage portion is detected. It is provided along the edge of the lower surface of the gas detector 200 and the chamber 110 for detecting the gas penetrated through the coupling portion of the pedestal 140 to determine, the pedestal 140 and the vacuum line 150 and the chamber The chamber 110 is connected to the floor to facilitate the coupling of the 110. And a plurality of supports 112 for that interval.

The pedestal 140 is provided in a process chamber in which a predetermined semiconductor manufacturing process is performed to support a semiconductor substrate. The predetermined semiconductor manufacturing process corresponds to a film forming step of forming a film on the semiconductor substrate or an etching step of forming a pattern by etching a film formed on the semiconductor substrate. The processing step includes a processing step of forming the film or pattern using a plasma reaction.

Due to the deposition gas, the etching gas and the plasma inside the process chamber, the pedestal 140 and the connection portion of the process chamber or the pedestal 140 itself are damaged by the high temperature and the high pressure process state inside the process chamber. The gas leaks through the damaged part.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view illustrating the gas leak detection chamber illustrated in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the chamber 110 provides a space for checking whether the damaged pedestal 140 is leaked during the semiconductor manufacturing process as described above, or inspecting the pedestal 140 repaired due to leakage.

Chamber 110 preferably has a cylindrical shape and sized to accommodate pedestal 140. The first hole 120 for connecting the vacuum line 150 is formed at one side of the lower surface of the chamber 110. A second hole 130 is formed in the center of the lower surface of the chamber 110 to receive and couple the pedestal 140.

Three supports 112 are formed along the bottom edge of the chamber 110. The three supports 112 are formed spaced apart from each other by the same distance. The support part 112 may allow the chamber 110 to be spaced apart from the bottom by a predetermined distance so that the pedestal 140 and the vacuum line 150 may be easily coupled to the chamber 110.

The vacuum pump 160 is connected to the vacuum line 150 connected to the chamber 110. The vacuum pump 160 makes the inside of the chamber 110 in a vacuum state and maintains the vacuum state.

The vacuum pump 160 is a low vacuum pump is used, the pressure inside the chamber 110 is about 760 torr to 10 ^-3 torr. The low vacuum pump includes a rotary pump, a suction pump and a dry pump.

It is difficult to use a high vacuum pump as the vacuum pump 160. The reason is that in order to make the chamber 110 in a high vacuum state by using the high vacuum pump, a low vacuum pump is required to assist the high vacuum pump to make the chamber 110 in a low vacuum state, and also to make the chamber 110 in a high vacuum state. It takes a lot of time to make.

The detection gas providing unit 70 is for supplying helium gas, but is connected to the helium gas storage unit although not shown. The detection gas providing unit 105 is a gun type and injects helium gas to a portion of the process chamber 110 where leakage is expected. Helium is used as the detection gas because helium ions have the smallest mass and are easy to detect when ionized.

When the connection portion of the pedestal 140 leaks, the gas detection unit 200 checks whether the leakage occurs. The gas detection unit 200 provides gas to the connection portion of the pedestal 140 and enters the chamber 110 through the connection portion. Detect the gas that has penetrated. Helium is used as the gas for detecting leakage.

3 is a schematic cross-sectional view for describing the gas detector illustrated in FIG. 1.

The gas detector 200 is for detecting helium gas that has penetrated along the connection portion of the pedestal 140, and a spectrometer is used.

Referring to Figure 3, the configuration of the spectrometer body 210 is provided, one side of the body 210 is provided with a communication unit 220 in communication with the chamber 110, through the communication unit 220 Helium gas delivered from the leaked part flows in. On the other hand, the opposite side of the communication unit 220 is provided with an ion source unit 230 for ionizing the gas introduced through the communication unit 220, the ion between the communication unit 220 and the ion source unit 230 An analyzer 240 for analyzing the mass using the mass is provided. On the other hand, the other side of the body 210 is provided with an ion focusing unit 250 for connecting the helium ions separated from the analyzer 240 is delivered. In addition, an amplifier 260 is provided to amplify a signal by measuring the mass of helium ions concentrated by the ion focusing unit 250.

 The ion source unit 230 is a portion for ionizing the gas introduced by the leakage in the process chamber 110. The analyzer 240 is a magnetic field provided in the passage of the ion beam that is ionized and transferred from the ion source unit 230. Only helium ions are ionized by using the property that the force received while the helium ions pass through the magnetic field is proportional to the mass. It is to be delivered to the focusing unit (250).

In the figure, reference numeral 270 denotes a ground slit, and 280 denotes a heater.

Looking at the operation of the gas leak detection device, if the leak of the pedestal 140 is suspected in the process chamber in which a predetermined process is performed, the pedestal 140 is separated from the process chamber and coupled to the leak inspection chamber 110. Next, a vacuum is formed inside the chamber 110 by the vacuum pump 160.

While the inside of the chamber 110 maintains a vacuum state, when helium gas is injected into the connection portion of the pedestal 140 where leakage is expected, the helium gas may flow due to the nature of the gas flowing from a high place to a low place. Penetrates to 110. That is, since the chamber 110 is formed in a vacuum state formed by the vacuum pump 160, that is, a low pressure state, helium gas penetrates into the chamber 110.

The helium gas penetrated into the chamber 110 is evenly distributed in the chamber 110, and a part of the dispersed helium gas is introduced into the gas detector 200, that is, the spectrometer, and the helium ions are operated by the operation of the spectrometer 200. (He +) is detected so that leakage can be detected.

On the other hand, when the process of detecting the leakage of the chamber 110 by the operation of the spectrometer 200 will be described, various types of gas flowing from the expected leakage portion through the communication unit 220 is delivered, the gas They are ionized in the ion source unit 230 and discharged through the ground slit 270. Ions discharged as described above are separated according to mass in the analyzer 240 and transferred to the ion concentrator 250. At this time, only the lightest helium ions are transferred to the ion focusing unit 250.

In this way, by measuring the mass of helium ions focused on the ion focusing unit 250, it is determined whether the leakage. In addition, the signal for the mass of helium ions connected and measured by the ion focusing unit 250 is amplified by the amplifier 260 and displayed on a display unit (not shown).

As described above, since the gas leak detection apparatus according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention uses a chamber for detecting the leak of the pedestal, it is possible to accurately detect whether the pedestal is leaking, and after repairing the leaking pedestal, the repair is performed correctly. Can be used to verify that it is done.

While the foregoing has been described with reference to preferred embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art will be able to variously modify and change the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. It will be appreciated.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a gas leak detection apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view illustrating the gas leak detection chamber illustrated in FIG. 1.

3 is a schematic cross-sectional view for describing the gas detector illustrated in FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols on main parts of drawing

110: chamber 112: support

120: first hole 130: second hole

140: pedestal 150: vacuum line

160: vacuum pump 170: gas providing unit

200: gas detection unit 210: body

220: communication portion 230: ion source portion

240: analyser 250: ion focusing unit

260 amplifier 270 ground slit

280: heater

Claims (2)

A chamber for providing a space for detecting leakage of a pedestal for supporting a wafer during a predetermined semiconductor manufacturing process, the chamber having a first hole in which the pedestal is mounted and a second hole in communication with a vacuum line; A vacuum pump connected to the vacuum line and for vacuuming the inside of the chamber; A gas providing unit for providing a gas for detection to a portion adjacent to the pedestal mounted in the chamber; And And a gas detector configured to communicate with the chamber, and to detect a gas for detection penetrating into the chamber through the mounting portion of the pedestal to determine whether the pedestal mounting portion is leaking gas. Leak detection device. According to claim 1, It is provided along the lower edge of the chamber, and further comprising a plurality of supports for separating the chamber from the ground to facilitate the coupling of the pedestal and the vacuum line and the chamber Gas leak detection device characterized in that.