KR20070007681A - Equipment for manufacturing semiconductor employing a plasma creating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Semiconductor fabricating equipment using a plasma generating unit is provided to precisely detect and control the quantity of generated radicals by including a radical detection head in a plasma generating unit. A magnetron(90) receives power from a power supply part(80) to generate RF. A plasma generating unit(100) generates plasma by using the RF generated by the magnetron. The plasma is supplied from the plasma generating unit to a reaction chamber(110) to perform a process. A control part(120) controls the power supply part, the magnetron, the plasma generating unit and the process of the reaction chamber. The plasma generating unit includes the following. The plasma generating process is performed to generate radicals in a plasma chamber. Gas is supplied to the inside of the plasma chamber by a gas supply pipe. RF generated from the magnetron is transferred to the inside of the plasma chamber by a waveguide. A radical detecting head measures the quantity of the radical, installed in the plasma chamber. The plasma generated from the plasma chamber is supplied to the reaction chamber by a plasma supply pipe.

Description

Equipment for manufacturing semiconductor employing a plasma creating apparatus}

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a plasma generator adopted in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram showing a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus employing a plasma generator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing equipment and, more particularly, to semiconductor manufacturing equipment employing a plasma generator.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the semiconductor manufacturing process, in particular, in a deposition process, an etching process or an ashing process, a method of performing the above processes using plasma is widely known. Plasma is in a quasi-neutrality state composed of electrons and ions, which are charged particles, and radicals, which are neutral particles, and the particles mean a state of a substance in which collective interaction occurs mainly. That is, the plasma is in a gaseous state with electrical energy, the energy of which promotes chemical reactions and is used in ion ions in the plasma to modify and change the surface of the medium in contact with the plasma. By using this property, various processes such as an etching process are performed on the wafer. The plasma is generated using a high frequency, and there are various sources of generating the high frequency such as Capacitively Coupled Plasma (CCP), Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP), and Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma (ECR). In particular, ECR refers to a method of applying a high frequency by using a microwave.

A semiconductor manufacturing facility employing a plasma generator according to the prior art includes a power supply, a magnetron, a plasma generator, a reaction chamber and a control unit. The power supply unit supplies power to the magnetron. The magnetron receives power from the power supply to generate high frequency and supplies the high frequency to the plasma generator. The plasma generator generates a plasma by using the high frequency to supply the plasma to the reaction chamber. The reaction chamber performs a semiconductor manufacturing process using the plasma. The control unit manages and controls process progress of the power supply unit, the magnetron, and the reaction chamber. As described above, according to the related art, the controller does not perform a function of sensing and controlling the amount of plasma generated by the plasma generator, in particular, the amount of radicals. Therefore, the controller sets the value of the high frequency power obtained as a result of about 50 process tests as a default value, and analyzes and controls the high frequency power value instead of measuring the generation amount of the radicals. That is, the process is performed by adjusting the amount of radicals required in each process to the value of the high frequency power. However, if the amount of the radicals supplied to the reaction chamber is changed because the amount of radicals corresponding to the high frequency power value does not exactly match due to the change of the process independent variable during the process, the wafer size is large. Brings loss. Moreover, the loss of the wafer is noticeable after the process is completed, resulting in a significant loss of time and cost.

An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus employing a plasma generator that can accurately detect and control the amount of radicals required in the process to prevent the loss of the wafer when performing a process using a plasma.

According to the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, there is provided a semiconductor manufacturing equipment employing a plasma generator. The semiconductor manufacturing equipment includes a power supply, a magnetron, a plasma generator, a reaction chamber, and a controller. The power supply unit supplies power to the magnetron. The magnetron receives power from a power supply to generate a high frequency. The plasma generator generates a plasma by using the high frequency generated by the magnetron. The reaction chamber receives the plasma from the plasma generator and performs a process. The controller controls the process of the power supply unit, the magnetron, the plasma generator, and the reaction chamber.

The plasma generator may include a plasma chamber, a gas supply pipe, a waveguide, a radical sensing head, and a plasma supply pipe. The plasma chamber is where the plasma generation process is performed to generate radicals. The gas supply pipe supplies gas into the plasma chamber. The waveguide transmits the high frequency generated in the magnetron into the plasma chamber. The radical sensing head is provided in the plasma chamber to measure the amount of radicals. The plasma supply pipe supplies the plasma generated in the plasma chamber to the reaction chamber.

A numerical converter may be provided for converting data regarding the amount of radicals measured by the radical sensing head into numerical data recognizable and transmitting the numerical data to a controller.

The controller may be configured to analyze the numerical data transmitted from the numerical converter and generate an interlock signal when the analyzed numerical data deviate from a reference value within an allowable range.

The integrated management system may further include an integrated management system that receives the numerical data from the controller and analyzes and monitors the numerical data and generates an interlock signal when the analyzed numerical data deviate from a reference value within an allowable range.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein and may be embodied in other forms. Rather, the embodiments introduced herein are provided to ensure that the disclosed subject matter is thorough and complete, and that the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art will fully convey. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a plasma generator adopted in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a block diagram showing a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus employing a plasma generator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the plasma generator 100 includes a plasma chamber 101, a gas supply pipe 103, a waveguide 105, a radical sensing head 107, and a plasma supply pipe 109. The plasma chamber 101 is a place where a process of generating plasma is performed, where radicals are generated. The gas supply pipe 103 communicates with the plasma chamber 101 and serves as a passage for supplying gases. The waveguide 105 is a passage for transmitting the high frequency so that a high frequency is transmitted to the gases to generate a plasma. The radical sensing head 107 is provided below the portion where the radicals are concentrated in the plasma chamber 101 to sense and measure the amount of radicals. The radical sensing head 107 may be a radical detector such as a Langer Probe, Quadruple Mass Spectroscopy (QMS), Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES), or Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF). The radical sensing head 107 can accurately measure the amount of radicals required for each process. The plasma supply pipe 109 serves as a passage for supplying the plasma generated in the plasma chamber 101 to a reaction chamber to perform a process.

1 and 2, the semiconductor manufacturing equipment employing the plasma generator 100 may include a power supply 80, a magnetron 90, a plasma generator 100, a reaction chamber 110, and a controller 120. Equipped. The power supply unit 80 supplies power to the magnetron 90. The power supply unit 80 may convert AC 220V AC power into DC 360V DC power, and increase the DC power to a high voltage of DC several kV to supply power to the magnetron 90. The magnetron 90 generates a high frequency by using the power supplied from the power supply unit 80 and transmits the high frequency to the plasma generator 100. The application method of the high frequency may be a method using a microwave. The high frequency generated by the magnetron 90 is transmitted to the plasma chamber 101 through the waveguide 105 of the plasma generator 100. The plasma generator 100 receives the gas through the gas supply pipe 103 to generate a plasma using the high frequency. The plasma generator 100 supplies the plasma to the reaction chamber 110 through the plasma supply pipe 109. The reaction chamber 110 performs an etching process, a deposition process, an ashing process, or an injection process using the plasma.

The controller 120 is connected to the power supply 80, the magnetron 90, the plasma generator 100, and the reaction chamber 110 to detect and control the progress of the overall process. Conventionally, the control unit 120 is connected to the power supply unit 80 and the magnetron 90 to collect the high frequency power value and compare and analyze the process test results to adjust the generation of the radicals. In the present invention, the control unit 120 is connected to the plasma generator 100 having the radical sensing head 107 as well as the power supply unit 80 and the magnetron 90, the radical sensing head 107 It is possible to directly control the amount of the radicals detected in. Between the plasma generator 100 and the control unit 120 may further include a numerical converter 105 for converting the information detected by the radical sensing head 107 into numerical data that is easy to recognize and analyze. The controller 120 may be configured to analyze the numerical data transmitted from the numerical converter 105 and generate an interlock signal when the analyzed numerical data deviate from a reference value within an allowable range. In the present invention, the control unit 120 detects and controls both the high frequency power value and the radical generation amount so that a more accurate plasma process is performed.

The integrated management system 130 may be further connected to the control unit 120 to receive the numerical data from the control unit 120 to analyze and monitor the numerical data. In general, the Total Equipment Prediction and Analysis System (TEPAS) analyzes and predicts and monitors various data that informs the progress of equipment operation in real time in order to minimize various equipment malfunctions that may occur in the semiconductor manufacturing process. It is a system. The integrated management system 130 may generate an interlock signal when the analyzed numerical data deviate from a reference value within an allowable range.

According to the present invention made as described above, the plasma generator is provided with a radical sensing head, so that the amount of radicals can be accurately detected and controlled. In addition, the loss of the wafer can be prevented by generating an interlock signal for temporarily stopping the process when the amount of radicals is out of the reference value.

Claims (5)

A power supply unit; A magnetron generating power by receiving power from the power supply unit; A plasma generator generating plasma using the high frequency generated from the magnetron; A reaction chamber receiving the plasma from the plasma generator and performing a process; And And a control unit controlling a process of the power supply unit, the magnetron, the plasma generator, and the reaction chamber. The method of claim 1, The plasma generator A plasma chamber in which radicals are generated by performing the plasma generation process; A gas supply pipe for supplying gas into the plasma chamber; A waveguide for transmitting the high frequency generated by the magnetron into the plasma chamber; A radical sensing head provided in the plasma chamber to measure the amount of radicals; And And a plasma supply pipe for supplying the plasma generated in the plasma chamber to the reaction chamber. The method of claim 2, And a numerical converter converting the data regarding the amount of the radicals measured by the radical sensing head into numerical data recognizable and transmitting the numerical data to a control unit. The method of claim 3, wherein And the control unit is configured to analyze the numerical data received from the numerical converter and to generate an interlock signal when the analyzed numerical data deviate from a reference value within an allowable range. The method of claim 3, wherein And an integrated management system that receives the numerical data from the controller and analyzes and monitors the numerical data and generates an interlock signal when the analyzed numerical data deviate from a reference value within an allowable range. equipment.

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