KR20070012953A - Apparatus for automatic compensating a temperature and humidity compensator sensor module - Google Patents

Abstract

An automatic temperature and humidity compensating device is provided to prevent a reaction fluid from being conglomerated in a reaction fluid supply line by maintaining the reaction fluid at a predetermined temperature and humidity. An automatic temperature and humidity compensating device includes an anti-heat/anti-humidity unit(110), first sensing modules(120), a second sensing module(140), and a compensating unit(150). The anti-heat/anti-humidity unit adjusts a temperature and humidity of a reference fluid, which circulates in a tube. The first sensing modules measure the temperature and humidity of the reference fluid. The second sensing module measures the temperature and humidity of the reference fluid at higher accuracy than the first sensing modules. The compensating unit compares reference data from the second sensing module with the measured data from the first sensing modules to calculate compensation data. The compensating unit compensates for the first sensing modules according to the compensation data.

Description

{APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATIC COMPENSATING A TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY COMPENSATOR SENSOR MODULE}

1 is a block diagram illustrating an automatic temperature and humidity correction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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

100: Automatic temperature and humidity correction device 110: Constant temperature and humidity unit

115: controller 120: first sensing module

122,142 ： temperature sensor 124,144 ： humidity sensor

125: output terminal 130: filtering unit

140: second sensing module 150: correction unit

155: Jack connector 157: Communication line

160: display unit 165: channel selector switch

The present invention relates to a calibration device for temperature and humidity sensors. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for calibrating temperature and humidity sensors for measuring temperature and humidity of a reaction fluid supplied to a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus so as to accurately measure temperature and humidity of a reaction fluid.

In general, a semiconductor device can be manufactured by performing a number of processes on a semiconductor wafer used as a substrate. For example, a film forming process is performed to form a film on the substrate, and an oxidation process is performed to form an oxide film on the substrate or to oxidize a film formed on the substrate, and a photolithography process Is performed to form films formed on the substrate into desired patterns, and a planarization process is performed to planarize the film formed on the substrate.

Various films are formed on the substrate through chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), and the like. For example, the silicon oxide film is used as a gate insulating film, an interlayer insulating film, or the like of a semiconductor device, and may be formed through a CVD process. The silicon nitride film is used to form a mask pattern, a gate spacer, and the like, and may be formed through a CVD process. In addition, a metal film used as a metal wiring, an electrode, or the like, a metal nitride film used as a barrier film, a metal oxide film used as a dielectric film, and the like may be formed on a semiconductor substrate through a CVD process, a PVD process, or an ALD process.

In the case of forming a film on a substrate using the CVD or ALD, various reactants may be used. The reactants are generally supplied to the reaction chamber in gaseous state and react with the substrate surface to form a film on the substrate.

On the other hand, when the reactants are in a liquid state at room temperature, the reactants may be formed in a gaseous state through a gas supply system. For example, the liquid reactant may be formed into a reactant gas through a bubbler system. Specifically, an inert gas used as a carrier gas is bubbled in the reaction liquid in the container, and as a result, part of the reaction liquid may be vaporized.

In the case of a liquid delivery system (LDS) comprising an injection valve, the reaction liquid is formed in an aerosol mist state and the aerosol mist is vaporized to obtain a reaction gas. In this case, the flow rate of the reaction solution is measured by a liquid mass flow meter (LFM), and the flow rate of the reaction solution is controlled by the operation of an injection valve based on the measured flow rate. .

Alternatively, the liquid delivery system vaporizes the aerosol mist and a liquid mass flow controller (LCC or LMFC) for controlling the flow rate of the reaction liquid, an atomizer for forming the reaction liquid as an aerosol mist. Vaporizers for vaporizing the gas.

Various reaction fluids are required to perform the semiconductor substrate processing process, and the reaction fluids must be formed at a constant temperature and humidity and supplied to the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus. To this end, conventionally, supply lines of reaction fluids have been equipped with temperature and humidity measuring sensors for monitoring the temperature and humidity of the reaction fluids. The temperature and humidity of the reaction fluid were then adjusted according to the temperature and humidity measured from the temperature and humidity measurement sensors.

Regular calibration of temperature and humidity measurement sensors is essential to accurately measure the temperature and humidity of the reaction fluid. However, conventionally, by managing the temperature and humidity measurement sensors individually, significant time and financial losses have occurred. In more detail, after separating both the temperature and humidity measuring sensors from the reaction fluid supply line, connect each temperature and humidity measuring sensor to a digital multimeter and compare the readings with the indicated value of the thermo-hygrostat. Was performed. As such, in the related art, the temperature and humidity measurement sensors are individually calibrated, which takes considerable time and reliability is not so high. Therefore, the reaction fluid could not be adjusted to have the correct temperature and humidity, resulting in a problem that the reaction fluid is stuck to the reaction fluid supply line, or the semiconductor substrate is processed into a reaction fluid having an incorrect temperature and humidity. Reaction fluid stuck to the reaction fluid supply line flows into the process chamber as particles to damage the semiconductor substrate. In addition, fine structures or thin films may be poorly formed on a semiconductor substrate processed with a reaction fluid having an incorrect temperature and humidity, thereby causing problems of reprocessing or discarding. Considering that the price of semiconductor substrates is steadily rising, it is obvious that enormous time and financial loss will occur if the semiconductor substrate is reprocessed and disposed of. Therefore, it is urgent to prepare countermeasures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic temperature and humidity control apparatus capable of automatically and automatically correcting temperature and humidity sensors.

In order to achieve the above object of the present invention, the automatic temperature and humidity correction device according to an aspect of the present invention, a constant temperature and humidity unit for adjusting the temperature and humidity of the reference fluid moving along the pipe, the temperature of the reference fluid and First sensing modules for measuring humidity, a second measurement module for measuring temperature and humidity of a reference fluid having a higher measurement accuracy than the first sensing modules, and reference data and first data provided from the second sensing module. And a correction unit for comparing the measurement data provided from the sensing modules to calculate correction data, and correcting the first sensing modules according to the correction data. In this case, a display unit for displaying the reference data, the measurement data and the correction data may be further provided. In addition, a filtering unit for removing a noise component included in the measurement data may be further provided.

According to the present invention, the first sensing modules can be corrected quickly and accurately and automatically, thereby greatly improving the reliability of the first sensing modules. Therefore, the semiconductor substrate can be processed accurately, and as a result, excellent semiconductor devices can be manufactured.

Hereinafter, embodiments of an automatic temperature and humidity correction apparatus according to various aspects of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and is generally known in the art. Those skilled in the art will be able to implement the invention in various other forms without departing from the spirit of the invention.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining an automatic temperature and humidity correction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the automatic temperature and humidity correction device 100 includes a constant temperature and humidity unit 110, first sensing modules 120, filtering units 130, second sensing modules 140, and correction units 150. ) And display unit 160.

The constant temperature and humidity unit 110 is a device for artificially adjusting the reference fluid to have a predetermined temperature and humidity, and the pipe (not shown) through which the reference fluid is circulated, and the temperature and humidity of the reference fluid passing through the pipe. Controller 115 to adjust.

The controller 115 is an apparatus for artificially setting the temperature and humidity of the band to be calibrated, and information on the temperature and humidity set from the controller 115 is provided to the correction unit 150 to be described below.

The thermo-hygrostat unit 110 is provided with a space for accommodating several tens of first sensing modules 120 and at least one second sensing module 140. The first sensing modules 120 and the second sensing module 140 are both connected to the pipe. The first sensing modules 120 and the second sensing module 140 respectively measure temperatures and humidity of substantially the same reference fluid.

The first sensing modules 120 are mounted on a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus (not shown) to measure temperature and humidity of a reaction fluid. The first sensing modules 120 may periodically measure temperature and humidity to accurately measure temperature and humidity of the reaction fluid. Calibration of the measuring sensors is essential. It is separated from the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus for the correction process and disposed in the constant temperature and humidity unit 110.

Each first sensing module 120 includes a temperature sensor 122 and a humidity sensor 124 for measuring temperature and humidity. Each first sensing module 120 has an output terminal 125 for outputting data on temperature and humidity measured by the temperature sensor 122 and the humidity sensor 124. It is preferable to select the temperature sensor 122 having a measurement range of -50 to 200 ° C, and the humidity sensor 124 to have a measurement range of 0 to 100 RH (relative humidity). Measurement data measured from each first sensing module 120 is provided to the correction unit 150 through an independent line.

Measurement data obtained by measuring each reference sensing fluid that is substantially the same as each of the first sensing modules 120 may be different from each other. This is due to a number of factors, such as its own error, environmental impact of each first sensing module 120. Therefore, it is necessary to correct the first sensing modules 120 to have the same reference value, which is performed by the automatic temperature and humidity correction apparatus 100. Correction of the first sensing modules 120 is performed based on the data measured by the second sensing module 140.

The second sensing module 140 has a measurement accuracy of several to several tens of times higher than that of the first sensing modules 120. The second sensing module 140 also includes a temperature sensor 142 and a humidity sensor 144. It is preferable that the temperature sensor 142 has a measurement range of -50 to 200 ° C, and that the humidity sensor 144 has a measurement range of 0 to 100 R.H. The temperature sensor 142 has a temperature resolution in units of about 0.01 ° C., and the humidity sensor 144 preferably has a humidity resolution in units of about 0.01 R · H. More developmentally, the temperature sensor 142 has a temperature resolution in units of about 0.001 ° C., and the humidity sensor 144 has a humidity resolution in units of about 0.001 R.H.

The data measured from the second sensing module 140 is almost 100% reliable. The reference data measured from the second sensing module 140 is used as a reference value for correcting the first sensing modules 120. As the deviation between the measurement data measured by the first sensing module 120 and the second sensing module 140 is smaller, the measurement accuracy of the first sensing module 120 is improved. The reference data measured from the second sensing module 140 is provided to the correction unit 150 through an independent line.

The correction unit 150 is provided with jack connectors () for receiving measurement data from the first sensing modules 120, respectively. The correction unit 150 receives the measurement data from the first sensing modules 120 through the independent communication line 157, and compares the measured data with the reference data provided from the second sensing module 140, respectively. Compensation data of 120 are respectively calculated.

In order to remove the noise component included in the measurement data, the measurement data is preferably provided to the correction unit 150 via the filtering unit 130. In general, the measurement data is generated as a current or voltage value, and the filtering unit 130 is used to refine the current or voltage waveform when it is not clear. For example, the first sensing modules 120 may generate measurement data with a current of 4 to 20 mA or a voltage value of 0 to 5V.

The filtering unit 130 processes to have a low impedance with respect to the noise located in the high frequency band so that the noise is returned to the ground to prevent the noise from being passed to the output side or exhausted by heat generation. That is, the low frequency power is supplied directly to the correction unit 150, but the high frequency noise component is supplied to the capacitor of the filtering unit 130, so that only the excellent measurement data without the noise component is provided to the correction unit 150.

Compared to the measurement data output from the first sensing modules 120, the reference data provided from the second sensing module 140 has a relatively low noise component. This is because the performance of the second sensing module 140 is relatively superior to the first sensing modules 120. Therefore, although the noise component included in the reference data is not substantially removed, the noise component may be removed from the reference data using the filtering unit 130 as described above.

The correction unit 150 converts the analog measurement data provided from the first sensing modules 120 into a digital signal, and converts the analog reference data provided from the second sensing module 140 into a digital signal. As a result, temperature and pressure values (hereinafter, referred to as measurement values) measured from each first sensing module 120 are calculated, and temperature and pressure values (hereinafter, referred to as reference values) measured from the second sensing module 140. Is calculated).

The correction unit 150 calculates correction values of the first sensing modules 120 by comparing the measured values with the reference values. In this case, the correction unit 150 may calculate the correction values by integrating the deviation between the measured values and the reference value, the average, the uncertainty, and the like. As a result, each of the correction values for several to tens of first sensing modules 120 is calculated quickly and accurately.

The correction values calculated from the correction unit 150 are fed back to the first sensing modules 120 and used to correct the first sensing modules 120. In this case, the correction unit 150 may have a function for setting the first sensing modules 120, which is the communication lines 157 to which the first sensing modules 120 are connected to the correction unit 150. It can be performed through. That is, the correction unit 150 may calculate the correction values of the calculated first sensing modules 120 and correct the first sensing modules 120 according to the calculated correction values. As a representative calibration operation, there is a zero adjustment operation for setting the first sensing modules 120 to have the same reference point as the second sensing module 140. As such, the calibration operation may be performed relatively simply, and a person skilled in the art may easily implement the calibration unit 150 that may automatically correct the first sensing modules 120.

The correction values calculated from the correction unit 150 may be fed back to the first sensing modules 120 and displayed on the display unit 160. In the above description, the correction data of the first sensing modules 120 has been briefly described, but in fact, many correction data may include many factors. These factors may be displayed through the display unit 160.

The display unit 160 is interlocked with the correction unit 150 to measure the values provided to the correction unit 150 from each of the first sensing modules 120 and the correction unit 150 from the second sensing module 140. Measurement values provided in In addition, the display unit 160 represents correction values calculated by comparing and calculating the measured values and the reference value. It is practically difficult to display all of this data on one screen. Therefore, in order to display this more effectively, the display unit 160 may further include a channel selection switch 165 that can select and display data according to conditions. In this way, it is possible to easily identify and cope with the correction process stagnation performed in the automatic temperature and humidity correction apparatus 100.

Further, all data that can be displayed on the display unit 160, that is, data generated from the correction unit 150, are stored in a memory unit (not shown) and can be checked at any time even after the correction process is completed.

According to the present exemplary embodiment, the first sensing modules 120 are compared and corrected with the second sensing module 140 with respect to substantially the same reference fluid. By substantially calibrating the first sensing modules 120 and automating much of the calibration process, the first sensing modules 120 are individually connected to a digital multimeter and calibrated. Significant time and financial costs can be saved. Naturally, the calibration reliability may be greatly improved as compared with the related art, and by adjusting the reaction fluid to have the correct temperature and humidity using the accurately corrected first sensing modules 120, the reaction fluid may be fixed to the reaction fluid supply line, The problem that the semiconductor substrate is processed into a reaction fluid having an incorrect temperature and humidity can be effectively suppressed. In addition, the reaction fluid adhered to the reaction fluid supply line may be introduced into the process chamber as particles to substantially damage the semiconductor substrate, thereby effectively forming a fine structure or a thin film on the semiconductor substrate.

According to the embodiments of the present invention as described above, the calibration operation of the sensor modules for measuring the temperature and humidity of the reaction fluid supplied to the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus can be performed quickly, accurately, easily and automatically. Therefore, the malfunction of the sensor modules prevents the reaction fluid from being adjusted to have the correct temperature and humidity, the reaction fluid is stuck to the reaction fluid supply line, or the semiconductor substrate is processed into the reaction fluid having an incorrect temperature and humidity. can do. As a result, the semiconductor substrate can be excellently processed, and the enormous time and financial loss in the related art can be greatly reduced.

Although described above with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art will be variously modified and changed within the scope of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described in the claims below I can understand that you can.

Claims (3)

Constant temperature and humidity unit for adjusting the temperature and humidity of the reference fluid moving along the pipe; First sensing modules for measuring temperature and humidity of the reference fluid; A second sensing module having a higher measurement accuracy than the first sensing modules, and configured to measure temperature and humidity of the reference fluid; And Compensation data are calculated by comparing the reference data provided from the second sensing module and the measurement data provided from the first sensing modules, respectively, and having a correction unit for correcting the first sensing modules according to the correction data. Automatic temperature and humidity correction device, characterized in that. The automatic temperature and humidity correction apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a display unit for displaying the reference data, the measurement data, and the correction data. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a filtering unit for removing a noise component included in the measurement data.

Images