KR20070111383A - Plasma cvd apparatus equipped with plasma blocking insulation plate - Google Patents

Abstract

A plasma CVD apparatus is provided to effectively minimize a floating potential of a substrate by effectively restricting plasma generated in a chamber over a substrate. An upper electrode is installed in a vacuum chamber with inner walls. A heater(10) is prepared in a susceptor functioning as a lower electrode. The susceptor has a substrate support region on which a substrate(11) is placed, confronting the upper electrode and located in a process position for processing the substrate. The susceptor has an interval between its outer circumference and its inner wall, surrounded by the inner wall. At least one plasma blocking insulation plate is disposed in the interval near the susceptor, or disposed in the interval while coming in contact with the susceptor. The plasma blocking insulation plate surrounds the entire circumference of the susceptor when in the process position, having an upper surface, a lower surface and an outer circumference wherein the lower surface is not higher than the upper surface of the susceptor in the axial direction of the susceptor and is not lower than the lower end of the susceptor. The outer circumference is positioned closer to the inner wall of the chamber than to the circumference of the susceptor when the plasma blocking insulation plate is located in the process position. The insulation plate can have an inner circumference having a greater diameter than that of the substrate support region disposed on the susceptor.

Description

Plasma CVD apparatus equipped with plasma blocking insulation plate

1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional plasma CVD apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a plasma CVD apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the plasma blocking insulation plate is disposed on an upper plate having an annular step portion to which the plasma blocking insulation plate is fitted.

3 is a schematic diagram of a plasma CVD apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a plasma blocking insulating plate is disposed on an upper plate having no lip portion, and the insulating plate serves as a lip portion.

4 is a schematic diagram of a plasma CVD apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a plasma blocking insulation plate is disposed between an upper plate and a heating block, and one of the upper plate and the heating block is an annular groove in which the insulating plate is fitted. Figure showing having a wealth.

5 is a schematic diagram of a plasma CVD apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a plasma blocking insulation plate is disposed on the side of the heating block.

6 is a schematic diagram of a plasma CVD apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the plasma blocking insulation plate is disposed on the side of the heating block and has a complex shape.

7 is a schematic diagram of a plasma CVD apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the plasma blocking insulation plate is fixed to the bottom of the reactor at a position higher than the heating block.

8 is a schematic diagram of a plasma CVD apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a plurality of plasma blocking insulating plates are disposed.

9 is a graph showing a change in floating potential charged on a substrate in a conventional plasma CVD apparatus and a plasma CVD apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

10 (a) and 10 (b) are schematic diagrams of a plasma CVD apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. (A) is a schematic front view, FIG. 10 (b) is sectional drawing cut along the B-B line.

11 (a) -11 (c) are schematic diagrams of three types of susceptors usable in embodiments of the present invention.

12 is a schematic diagram of a plasma CVD apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention (improved Eagle®-10, ASM Japan, Tokyo).

13 is a schematic view of a plasma CVD apparatus with an insulating plate disposed too low.

14 is a schematic representation of a system for measuring the floating potential of a substrate.

This application claims the benefit of US Provisional Application No. 60 / 800,670, filed May 16, 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a plasma CVD apparatus, and more particularly, to a single wafer processed plasma CVD apparatus.

In manufacturing lines using semiconductor devices, dry etching, plasma CVD, and other plasma processes are widely used. The plasma CVD apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is one example of an apparatus used to perform such plasma processes. A plasma CVD apparatus for forming a film on a semiconductor substrate 11 includes a reactor chamber 1 and a susceptor 15 located inside the reactor chamber 1 and used to place the semiconductor substrate 11 thereon. (Having a top plate 9 and a heating block 10) and a showerhead 7 facing the susceptor and connected to a gas supply pipe 6 which is used to uniformly inject the reaction gas onto the semiconductor substrate. And an outlet port 4 for discharging the inside of the reactor chamber, an outlet pipe 5 connected to the outlet port, an opening 2 for transferring the semiconductor substrate 11 into and out of the reactor chamber, and a gate valve. (3) and a high frequency power supply 8 located outside the reactor chamber and used to apply a specific voltage to the showerhead.

The showerhead 7 and susceptor 15 also serve as electrodes and their surfaces are covered by anodized film.

Other parts, such as the inner wall of the reactor chamber, are not covered with any insulating material, and aluminum and other conductive materials are exposed.

Floating potential is generated in the semiconductor substrate by electrons generated during the plasma process, and high floating potential can cause charging damage or pickup problems.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, plasma process conditions can be adjusted to reduce the floating potential. In many cases, however, adjusting the plasma process conditions is not effective enough, and reducing the floating potential using this method presents numerous problems such as film quality and other requirements are not met. For this reason, it is necessary to change the structure of the device for reducing the floating potential applied to the semiconductor substrate.

In conventional devices, conductive materials that make up the inner wall of the reactor and the like are exposed and the plasma is not insulated from the grounded member. These are factors that are likely to increase the floating potential applied to the semiconductor substrate.

Help to solve floating potential problems, such as producing the entire reactor using ceramic or other insulating materials or enclosing the reactor interior with an insulator (US Patent No. 5,336,585 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6-298596). These methods are known. However, these techniques do not reduce the floating potential, but have other purposes, such as preventing contamination. In addition, enclosing the reactor inner wall with an insulating material requires many modifications to the device structure, and this method is not applicable to current devices. For these reasons, other measures are needed that can be easily applied to current devices.

In order to solve at least one of the above-mentioned problems, one embodiment of the present invention has an insulating plate disposed around the susceptor.

In this way, the area where the plasma is generated may be limited. Through various other embodiments, the present invention also prevents the plasma from contacting the sides of the heating block, the inner walls of the reactor and other locations where the conductive members are exposed, and consequently low floating on the target to be treated. The potential is to be applied. As a result, the occurrence of charging damage and pick-up problems due to the plasma can be reduced.

In order to summarize the present invention and its advantages over the related art, certain objects and advantages of the invention have been described above. Of course, it will be understood that not all such objects or advantages may necessarily be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment of the present invention. Thus, for example, one of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the present invention may be embodied in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages taught herein without necessarily achieving another object or advantage that may be taught or presented herein. You will realize that you can run it.

Further aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.

These and other features of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings of preferred embodiments, which illustrate the invention but do not limit the invention. The drawings are too simplified for proportional purposes and are not to scale.

The present invention will be described with reference to preferred embodiments. However, the above preferred embodiments are not intended to limit the invention.

In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a vacuum chamber comprising (i) a vacuum chamber having an inner wall; (Ii) an upper electrode (eg, shower plate) installed in the vacuum chamber; (Iii) a heater is provided and serves as a lower electrode, has a substrate support area for placing the substrate, faces the upper electrode (eg, conductively mated), its outer periphery and the inner wall A susceptor surrounded by the inner wall with a gap therebetween and positioned at a processing position for processing the substrate; And (iii) disposed at said spacing near said susceptor or at said spacing in contact with said susceptor, surrounding said entire circumference of said susceptor when in said processing position, and having a top, bottom and outer circumference thereof. Wherein the lower surface is not higher than the upper surface of the susceptor in the axial direction of the susceptor, the upper surface is not lower than the lower end of the susceptor, and the outer circumference is greater than the circumference of the susceptor when in the processing position. Provided is a plasma CVD apparatus for processing a substrate (e.g., forming a thin film), comprising at least one plasma blocking insulating plate located closer to the inner wall of the chamber.

According to this embodiment, despite the simplicity of the structure, the plasma generated in the chamber can be effectively confined on the upper side of the substrate, whereby the plasma contacts the exposed conductive portions such as the sides of the susceptor and the inner wall of the chamber. To block. As a result, the floating potential of the substrate can be effectively minimized, and the change in the floating potential when the plasma is generated can be suppressed. Thus, the problem of charging damage and / or the problem of the substrate sticking to the susceptor can be effectively alleviated.

In one such embodiment, the spacing between the inner wall and the susceptor may be at least about 4 cm (eg, 4-10 cm). The spacing may vary depending on the type and size of the device. For example, a PECVD apparatus that handles an 8 inch diameter substrate may have a spacing of approximately 6 cm, while a PECVD apparatus that handles a 12 inch diameter substrate may have a spacing of approximately 5 cm.

Exposed conductive portions, which can be effectively protected by an insulating plate, include an inner wall of a chamber typically made of aluminum, sides of a susceptor, ring ducts, and the like.

The distance A from the outer circumference of the susceptor to the outer circumference of the insulation plate and the distance B from the outer circumference of the insulation plate to the inner wall of the chamber can satisfy the following equation: A / (A + B) = 50-99% (including 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, and may be in the range between any two numbers of those mentioned above, preferably 70-98 %, More preferably at least 90%). The distance is measured along the direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the susceptor.

The insulating plate may have an inner circumference having a diameter larger than the diameter of the substrate support region disposed above the susceptor. When the insulating plate is attached to the top surface of the susceptor, the inner diameter of the insulating plate is larger than the diameter of the substrate supporting region (or substrate).

The insulating plate may be ring shaped and may be attached to the susceptor or secured to the chamber. First, the susceptor may have an annular lip portion on the top surface outside the substrate support region. Alternatively, the top plate may not have an annular lip on the top surface outside the substrate support region, and the insulating plate may be disposed on the top surface outside the substrate support region.

The susceptor may be a single member with a built-in heater, or may be two members (top plate and heating block). The top surface of the top plate may be anodized to cover the top surface with an anodization film. 11 (a) to 11 (c) show three types of susceptors. The susceptor shown in FIGS. 11 (a) and 11 (b) is composed of a top plate 100 and a heating block 101, and the susceptor shown in FIG. 11 (c) is composed of a single member 103. . The heating block of the susceptor shown in Fig. 11A does not have an anodization film and exposes a surface made of aluminum. Therefore, in this case, the insulating plate may be disposed above the boundary portion 111 between the top plate 100 and the heating block 101. The heating block of the susceptor shown in FIGS. 11 (b) and 11 (c) is coated with an anodization film 102. Therefore, the insulating plate may be disposed below the boundary portion 111. However, even if the susceptors shown in Figs. 11 (b) and 11 (c) are used, in order to block the plasma from entering below the susceptor (see Fig. 13), the insulating plate may be a heating block 101 or It may be disposed above the bottom 112 of the susceptor. The insulating plate may also be disposed below the upper surface 110 of the susceptor (the lower surface of the insulating plate is lower than the upper surface of the susceptor).

The foregoing includes the following embodiments without being limited by the following embodiments: The susceptor has a top plate and a heating block on which the top plate is placed, wherein the insulation plate is ring shaped and attached to the top plate. . The susceptor has a heating block on which the top plate and the top plate are placed, and the insulating plate is ring-shaped and is inserted between the top plate and the heating block. The susceptor has a top plate and a heating block on which the top plate is placed, and the insulating plate is ring-shaped and attached to the side of the heating block. The susceptor has a top plate and a heating block on which the top plate is placed, the insulating plate has a ring portion and an annular vertical circumference portion, and the ring portion is attached to the side of the heating block. The susceptor has a top plate and a heating block on which the top plate is placed, the insulating plate being ring-shaped and fixed to the bottom of the chamber by a support and at the boundary between the top plate and the heating block when in the processing position or It is placed near the boundary.

In addition, the at least one insulating plate may be composed of two insulating plates installed at different positions. One of the insulating plates may be attached to the top surface of the susceptor, and the other may be fixed to the bottom of the chamber by the support.

The insulating plate may be made of any one material selected from the group consisting of oxides, nitrides and fluorides of aluminum, magnesium, silicon, titanium and zirconium.

In all of the foregoing embodiments, any component used in either embodiment can be used interchangeably with other embodiments provided that replacement does not produce a suitable or opposite effect. In addition, the present invention is equally applicable to apparatuses and methods.

In another embodiment, the present invention provides a vacuum chamber comprising (i) a vacuum chamber having an inner wall; (Ii) an upper electrode (eg, a shower plate) installed in the vacuum chamber; (Iii) a heater is provided and serves as a lower electrode, has a substrate support area for placing the substrate, faces the upper electrode (eg, conductively mated), its outer periphery and the inner wall A susceptor surrounded by the inner wall with a gap therebetween and positioned at a processing position for processing the substrate; And (iii) means for minimizing the floating potential charged to the substrate when the plasma is generated.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a substrate including: (I) disposing the substrate on the top of the susceptor; (II) generating a plasma in the chamber; And (III) minimizing the floating potential charged on the substrate by limiting the plasma on the substrate using the insulating plate, and treating the substrate using any of the plasma CVD apparatuses described above. Provide a method for In addition, the present invention comprises the steps of: (I) placing a substrate on a susceptor installed in a chamber of a plasma CVD apparatus; (II) generating a plasma in the chamber; And (III) forming a thin film on the substrate by minimizing the floating potential charged on the substrate.

If conditions and / or structures are not specified in the disclosure herein, one of ordinary skill in the art may readily provide such conditions and / or structures in accordance with routine experimentation in light of the disclosure herein.

The invention will be explained with reference to the drawings. However, the drawings are not intended to limit the invention.

Structure of the device

In manufacturing lines using semiconductor devices, dry etching, plasma CVD, and other plasma processes are widely used. The plasma CVD apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is one example of an apparatus used to perform such plasma processes. However, the present invention is not limited to this type of apparatus, but may also be applied to apparatuses in which the plasma region is expanded to protect the gap between the susceptor and the inner wall of the reactor.

[Overall overview]

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a plasma CVD apparatus for forming a film on a semiconductor substrate includes a reactor chamber 1 and a susceptor 15 (top plate 9) for arranging the semiconductor substrate 11 thereon. Heating head (10), a showerhead (7) connected to the gas supply pipe (6) facing the susceptor and used for uniformly injecting reaction gas onto the semiconductor substrate, An outlet 4 for discharging the inside, an opening 2 for transferring the semiconductor substrate into and out of the reactor chamber, and a high frequency power supply 8 for applying a specific voltage.

[Opening]

The opening 2 is provided on the side of the reactor chamber 1. The reactor chamber 1 is connected via a gate valve 3 to a transfer chamber (not shown) used to transfer the semiconductor substrate into and out of the reactor chamber.

[outlet]

The outlet 4 is provided inside the reactor chamber 1, and the outlet 4 is connected to a discharge pump (not shown) via a pipe 5. A mechanism (not shown) for sensing and adjusting the pressure inside the reactor chamber is provided between the outlet 4 and the vacuum pump, which can be used to control the interior of the reactor chamber at a certain pressure.

[Upper electrode]

The showerhead 7 is arranged to face the aforementioned susceptor, which is inside the reactor chamber 1.

The shower head 7 is connected to a reaction gas supply pipe 6 for supplying a reaction gas, which is provided with a number of pores provided in the bottom surface of the shower head 7 to inject the reaction gas onto the substrate. Is injected into the reactor chamber through a field (not shown). The showerhead 7 is also electrically connected to the high frequency power supply 8, constituting one of the electrodes for performing the plasma discharge.

Lower electrode

The susceptor 15 located inside the reactor chamber 1 and used for placing the semiconductor substrate thereon comprises a placement block 9 (top plate) composed of a placement surface covered with an anodized film and on which the substrate is placed. And a heating block 10 (heater) for heating the semiconductor substrate using a heating element embedded therein.

The heating block 10 is grounded, and the susceptor constitutes one of the electrodes for performing plasma discharge.

The arrangement block 9 is detachably attached to the heating block 10 using a screw or the like. However, the arrangement block 9 may also be connected to the heating block 10 in a non-separable manner.

The heating block 10 is connected to a drive mechanism (not shown) for moving the susceptor 15 in the vertical direction through a support.

A resistive heating element connected to an external power supply (not shown) and a temperature controller is embedded within the heating block 10. The heating element is controlled by the temperature controller and the susceptor 15 is heated to a desired temperature (any temperature between 300 ° C. and 650 ° C.).

In the above, the structure of the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has been described. Embodiments of the present invention have the following characteristics.

[Insulation Plate]

In a representative embodiment of the invention specified in this patent application, an insulating plate is disposed around the susceptor.

The insulation plate may, in one embodiment, be attached inside the reactor or disposed on the susceptor to move with the susceptor.

The position where the insulating plate is disposed will be described. When the insulating plate is disposed on the surface of the top plate, it is sufficient that the bottom portion of the insulating plate is located at the same height as the surface of the top plate or below the surface of the top plate. If the insulating plate is disposed below the surface of the top plate, it is sufficient that the top of the insulating plate is located at the same height as the bottom surface of the heating block or above the bottom surface of the heating block. In other words, as long as substantially no gap is formed between the susceptor and the insulating plate, the insulating plate may be disposed at any position, and the plasma generating region may be limited. In general, a ring-shaped member of constant thickness is used to construct the insulating plate, but may be configured to have a raised circumference, otherwise, to have a plurality of thicknesses.

The insulator is mainly made of ceramic or quartz, but the material is not limited to the two materials. In particular, the insulating plate is made of at least one of materials including oxides, nitrides and fluorides of aluminum, magnesium, silicon, titanium and zirconium. Specific embodiments of the invention are described below. However, it is apparent that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments.

However, the floating potential can be measured using the method illustrated in FIG. Specifically, the voltage measuring electrode is connected to the wafer 134 and an AC component filter 132 that is grounded and installed outside the reactor, and then the DC voltage to measure the voltage using the measuring device 131. Is output. For reference, in theory, the substrate is charged by negative electricity during plasma discharge, so the floating potential should always be negative. However, in the processes of forming the actual film, sometimes the substrate is charged by positive electricity. Therefore, in the present invention, reducing the floating potential means reducing the absolute value of the floating potential, regardless of whether the potential has a negative value or a positive value.

Example 1

2 shows the best mode of embodiment 1. FIG. In this embodiment, the insulating plate 21 is disposed on the susceptor 15 and moves with the susceptor 15, as shown in FIG. 2.

The insulating plate 21 has a thickness in the range of about 1 mm to about 10 mm (or preferably in the range of 1 mm to 5 mm, or more preferably in the range of 2 mm to 4 mm), The inner diameter is larger than the semiconductor substrate 11, and the outer diameter is provided with a ceramic disk, which is 95% or more of the distance from the upper plate 29 to the inner wall 16. In other words, the insulating plate should not be in contact with the semiconductor substrate 11, and its inner diameter should be larger than the semiconductor substrate 11 so that the insulating plate does not overlap with the semiconductor substrate 11. FIG. 10 (b) shows a B-B cross section of the structure shown in FIG. 10 (a). The gap between the substrate 11 and the ribs 27 is not shown. The insulating plate 21 may be attached to the outer circumference of the lip portion 27 on the upper surface of the upper plate 29 so that the gap between the susceptor 15 and the inner wall 16 of the reactor 1 may be sealed. .

The step portion 25 is provided around the upper plate 29 for arranging the insulating plate 21. The insulating plate 21 is placed in the step portion and moves with the upper plate 29.

Due to the insulating plate 21, an area under the insulating plate 21 where the conductive member is exposed may be insulated from the plasma.

Experiment with Modified Example 1

9 shows the measured floating potential values applied to the semiconductor substrate when the conventional device and the device shown in the modified embodiment 1 are used, respectively. Eagle®-10 (ASM Japan, Tokyo) was used as a conventional device, and made of an insulating plate 211 (ceramic, which is fitted to the outer circumference of the upper plate 215 of Eagle®-10, is 5 mm thick. A device having an inner diameter of 246 mm and an outer diameter of 370 mm was used as the device according to the modified embodiment 1, as shown in FIG. 12 (top surface and top plate 215 of the insulating plate 211). There is practically no height difference between the top surfaces of the planes). Reference numerals used in this figure indicate the following. Reference numeral 202 denotes a ring duct (made of aluminum), reference numeral 207 denotes an opening, reference numeral 208 denotes a reactor body, reference numeral 210 denotes an upper body, reference numeral 211 denotes an insulating plate, and reference. Reference numeral 212 denotes a shower plate, reference numeral 214 denotes a top plate, reference numeral 215 denotes a heater, and reference numeral 216 denotes a shielding plate (made of ceramic).

Applicable conditions are specified below.

Various conditions

 Heater temperature (℃)  Showerhead temperature (℃)  Wall temperature (℃)  Electrode spacing (mm)  400  130  110  10

TEOS film formation conditions

 TEOS (sccm)  N2O (sccm)  Pressure (Torr)  High Frequency (HRF) (W)  Low Frequency (LRF) (W)  Film formation time (sec)  86  800  3.00  285  250  60

As apparent from the graph of FIG. 9, the floating potential on the order of -70V, applied to the semiconductor substrate when the conventional device is used, decreases to -4V when the device according to the present invention is used. In addition, in the apparatus according to the present invention, the fluctuation of the floating potential was minimized, and the floating potential remained approximately constant near zero while the substrate was processed. Therefore, by using the insulating plate, the floating potential applied to the semiconductor substrate can be drastically reduced.

Other variations of example 1

In Example 1, the outer diameter of the insulating plate 21 was 95% or more of the distance from the upper plate 29 to the inner wall 16. However, as long as the outer diameter is at least half of the distance from the top plate 29 to the inner wall 16, the intended effect can be achieved.

In addition, if the thickness of the insulating plate 21 is sufficient to block the plasma, the thickness does not have to be in the range of 1 mm to 10 mm as specified in the first embodiment.

In Example 1, the height of the insulating plate 21 and the height of the upper surface of the upper plate 29 were approximately the same. However, the insulating plate 21 and the upper plate 29 may be located at different heights.

In Example 1, the insulating plate 21 was simply placed on the step portion. However, it is preferable to attach the insulating plate 21 to the upper plate 29 by a screw or the like.

When arranging the insulating plate 21 on the susceptor, it is not necessary to provide a step portion on the upper plate 29. Instead, the insulating plate may be attached to the susceptor to be movable with the susceptor, as shown in FIGS. In Fig. 3, the insulating plate 31 is disposed on the flat top plate 39 in the absence of the lip portion (the insulating plate is preferably attached by screws or the like). In this figure, the insulating plate 31 also serves as a lip. At this time, the inner diameter of the insulating plate 31 is larger than the substrate 11. In FIG. 4, the insulating plate 41 is disposed between the upper plate 49 and the heating block 10. In this case, the insulating plate may be disposed by providing a groove in the upper plate 49 or the heating block 10. In this case, the inner diameter of the insulating plate 49 is not controversial. In FIG. 5, the insulating plate 51 is supported by the heating block 10. The heating block 10 has a protrusion 52 for disposing the insulating plate 51. In FIG. 5, the insulating plate 51 is positioned near the boundary between the top plate 59 and the heating block 10, so that the side surfaces of the heating block 10 are not exposed to the plasma. Therefore, the sides of the heating block 10 need not be coated with an anodized film. In this case, the inner diameter of the insulating plate 51 is set to be approximately equal to the outer diameter of the heating block 10 in order to prevent a gap formed substantially between the heating block 10 and the insulating plate 51. .

In addition, the insulating plate may not be flat. As shown in FIG. 6, it may have a stepped portion and an elevated circumference, or else it may have multiple thicknesses. Specifically, in FIG. 6, the insulator 61 extends from the side of the heating block 10, and the insulator 61a extends vertically from the outer circumference of the insulator 61. In this way, the insulator 61a can more effectively define a plasma region, thereby limiting the propagation of plasma to the lower sections of the heating block and the lower sections of the reactor inner wall. The length of this vertical insulator 61a is in the range of approximately 5 mm to 50 mm (or preferably in the range of 20 mm ± 5 mm). In FIG. 6, the insulator 61 is supported on the side of the heating block, as in FIG. 5. However, since the protrusion 62 is provided near the bottom surface of the heating block, the other sides of the heating block are exposed to the plasma. Therefore, in such a structure, it is preferable that the sides of the heating block are coated with an anodized film.

By attaching the insulating plate to the heating block in this manner, no gap between the heating block and the insulating plate will be formed. In addition, by attaching the insulating plate to the heating block in a movable manner, the insulating plate may be disposed in an area that is impossible under the manner in which the insulating plate is attached to assist in the transfer of the semiconductor substrate.

Example 2

In Example 2, the insulating plate is attached. As shown in FIG. 7, the insulating plate 71 is attached to the support 72 at the bottom of the reactor 1 so that its position is aligned with the height of the bottom edge of the top plate (for example, the insulating plate is a heating block). (10) is positioned so that it is not exposed).

In this case, the insulating plate 71 may be preferably disposed on the bottom surface of the heating block 10. FIG. 13 shows an embodiment where the insulator 120 is aligned under the bottom surface of the heating block 101. According to this structure, since the plasma enters the space between the heating block 101 and the insulator 120, it is not preferable.

Preferably, the spacing between the susceptor and insulator can be minimized. Even when the insulator is attached to the bottom of the reactor, the spacing from the susceptor can preferably be kept below 2 mm.

The inner diameter of the insulating plate 71 is approximately equal to the outer diameter of the susceptor, while the outer diameter of the insulating plate is 95% of the distance from the upper plate 79 to the inner wall, as described in Example 1. Corresponds to the value.

Variants of Example 2

In Example 2, the height of the insulating plate 71 was equal to the height of the bottom edge of the top plate. However, unless the gap is substantially formed between the susceptor and the insulating plate, the heights of the insulating plate and the upper plate need not be the same.

If the insulating plate is disposed above the bottom edge of the top plate 79, it is sufficient that the bottom of the insulating plate 71 is located at the same height as the surface of the top plate 79 or below the surface of the top plate 79. If the insulating plate is disposed below the surface of the upper plate 79, it is sufficient that the upper portion of the insulating plate 71 is located at the same height as the bottom surface of the heating block or above the bottom surface of the heating block.

The thickness, the outer diameter of the insulating plate 71 and the material follow those described in the first embodiment.

By attaching the insulating plate to the reactor in this manner, the temperature of the insulating plate will not rise as it is when the insulating plate is attached to the susceptor, which is advantageous when a low heat resistant material is used.

Example 3

In Example 3, a plurality of insulating plates are used. 8 shows one embodiment of such a structure. This structure is characterized by disposing two or more insulating plates shown in the first and second embodiments. The desired pattern of combination or quantity of insulating plates can be selected depending on the device.

In FIG. 8, one insulating plate 81 (movable insulating plate) is attached to the susceptor (top plate 89), while the other insulating plate 83 (fixed insulating plate) is attached to the reactor 1. The two insulating plates are arranged in positions where the insulating plates do not contact each other even if the susceptor moves in the vertical direction. At this time, the movable insulating plate is located on the upper side, while the fixed insulating plate is located on the lower side. Thus, the gap between the susceptor and the fixed insulating plate located below does not cause any problem since the plasma is shielded by the movable insulating plate located above.

In order to achieve a greater effect when using one insulation plate is not sufficiently effective, the positions and shapes of the insulation plates can be set in a more flexible manner when multiple insulation plates are used as such.

Those skilled in the art will understand that many various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, it should be clearly understood that the forms of the present invention are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

The present invention can effectively limit the plasma generated in the chamber above the substrate, thereby preventing the plasma from contacting exposed conductive portions such as the sides of the susceptor and the inner wall of the chamber. As a result, the floating potential of the substrate can be effectively minimized, and the change of the floating potential when the plasma is generated can be suppressed. Thus, the problem of charging damage and / or the problem of the substrate sticking to the susceptor can be effectively alleviated.

Claims (19)

A vacuum chamber having an inner wall; An upper electrode installed in the vacuum chamber; A heater is provided and serves as a lower electrode, has a substrate support area for placing a substrate, faces the upper electrode, is surrounded by the inner wall with a gap between its outer circumference and the inner wall, A susceptor located at a processing position for processing the substrate; And Disposed in the gap near the susceptor or in the gap while in contact with the susceptor, surrounding the entire perimeter of the susceptor when in the processing position, having a top, bottom, and outer perimeter; Is not higher than the upper surface of the susceptor in the axial direction of the susceptor, the upper surface is not lower than the lower end of the susceptor, and the outer periphery is in the chamber than the periphery of the susceptor when in the processing position. And at least one plasma blocking insulation plate located closer to the sidewalls. The method of claim 1, And the insulating plate has an inner circumference having a diameter larger than the diameter of the substrate support region disposed on the susceptor. The method of claim 1, The distance A from the outer circumference of the susceptor to the outer circumference of the insulation plate and the distance B from the outer circumference of the insulation plate to the inner wall of the chamber are A / (A + B) = 70 A plasma CVD apparatus characterized by satisfying an equation of -99%. The method of claim 1, And the insulating plate is ring-shaped and attached to the susceptor. The method of claim 1, And the insulating plate is ring shaped and fixed to the chamber. The method of claim 4, wherein The susceptor has an annular lip portion on an upper surface outside of the substrate support region, The insulating plate is disposed on the upper surface of the outer side of the lip portion. The method of claim 4, wherein The susceptor does not have an annular lip portion on an upper surface outside of the substrate support region, And the insulating plate is disposed on an upper surface of the outer side of the substrate support region. The method of claim 1, The susceptor has a top plate and a heating block on which the top plate is placed, And the insulating plate is ring-shaped and attached to the top plate. The method of claim 1, The susceptor has a top plate and a heating block on which the top plate is placed, And the insulating plate is ring-shaped and inserted between the top plate and the heating block. The method of claim 1, The susceptor has a top plate and a heating block on which the top plate is placed, And the insulating plate is ring-shaped and attached to the side of the heating block. The method of claim 1, The susceptor has a top plate and a heating block on which the top plate is placed, The insulating plate has a ring portion and an annular vertical circumference portion, And the ring portion is attached to the side of the heating block. The method of claim 1, The susceptor has a top plate and a heating block on which the top plate is placed, And the insulating plate is ring-shaped and is fixed to the bottom of the chamber by a support and is disposed at or near the boundary between the top plate and the heating block when in the processing position. The method of claim 1, At least one insulating plate is composed of two insulating plates provided at different positions. The method of claim 13, Any one of the insulating plates is attached to the top surface of the susceptor, and the other insulating plate is fixed to the bottom of the chamber by a support. The method of claim 1, And the insulating plate is arranged to minimize the floating potential charged on the substrate when the plasma is generated. The method of claim 1, And the insulating plate is made of any one material selected from the group consisting of oxides, nitrides and fluorides of aluminum, magnesium, silicon, titanium and zirconium. A vacuum chamber having an inner wall; An upper electrode installed in the vacuum chamber; A heater is provided and serves as a lower electrode, has a substrate support area for placing a substrate, faces the upper electrode, is surrounded by the inner wall with a gap between its outer circumference and the inner wall, A susceptor located at a processing position for processing the substrate; And Means for minimizing the floating potential that is charged to the substrate when a plasma is generated. A vacuum chamber having an inner wall; An upper electrode installed in the vacuum chamber; A heater is provided and serves as a lower electrode, has a substrate support area for placing a substrate, faces the upper electrode, is surrounded by the inner wall with a gap between its outer circumference and the inner wall, A susceptor located at a processing position for processing the substrate; And Disposed in the gap near the susceptor or in the gap while in contact with the susceptor, surrounding the entire perimeter of the susceptor when in the processing position, having a top, bottom, and outer perimeter; Is not higher than the upper surface of the susceptor in the axial direction of the susceptor, the upper surface is not lower than the lower end of the susceptor, and the outer periphery is in the chamber than the periphery of the susceptor when in the processing position. A method for processing a substrate using a plasma CVD apparatus for processing a substrate, comprising: at least one plasma blocking insulating plate located closer to the sidewall, Disposing the substrate on an upper surface of the susceptor; Generating a plasma in the chamber; And Minimizing the floating potential charged on the substrate by limiting the plasma on the substrate using the insulating plate. Placing a substrate on a susceptor installed in a chamber of the plasma CVD apparatus; Generating a plasma in the chamber; And Processing the substrate by minimizing the floating potential charged on the substrate.

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