KR20100003708A - Plasma processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to prevent the exhaust flow from concentrating on a plurality of exhaust ports formed in the processing chamber, and to uniform the flow of exhaust gas in the processing chamber. A baffle portion 350 is provided between the plasma generation region in the processing chamber 200 and an exhaust path exhausting the processing chamber, and the baffle portion is downstream from the upstream side baffle plate disposed so as to surround the periphery of the mounting table 300. Each baffle plate, and each of the baffle plates is provided with a plurality of openings communicating with the plasma generation region and the exhaust path, and the openings of the downstream baffle plate 360 become larger as they move away from each exhaust port 208. A slit-shaped opening 364 was used.

Description

Plasma Processing Equipment {PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS}

The present invention exhausts the process gas while introducing the process gas into the process chamber, thereby generating a plasma of the process gas, and converting the substrate to a target substrate (for example, a liquid crystal display or an electroluminescence display). The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus that performs a predetermined plasma processing on a substrate for a flat panel display.

In this type of plasma processing apparatus, when a predetermined plasma processing such as etching or film formation is performed on an FPD substrate conventionally disposed in a processing chamber, a processing gas is introduced onto the FPD substrate in the processing chamber and is converted into plasma. In such a plasma processing apparatus, for example, a shower head having a plurality of gas discharge holes for discharging a processing gas is provided in a ceiling of a processing chamber, and the processing chamber is evacuated by a vacuum pump such as a turbo molecular pump, for example.

By the way, FPD substrates are increasingly large in size, and in recent years, large FPD substrates having one side of 2 m or more have emerged. Accordingly, the process chamber is also enlarged, and a large amount of processing gas needs to be supplied to such process chambers. have. As a result, the displacement from the processing chamber also increases. For this reason, for example, a plurality of exhaust ports may be provided in the processing chamber, and a vacuum pump such as a turbo molecular pump may be connected to each exhaust port to exhaust a large amount of gas.

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1998-22263

[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1999-40398

However, in the plasma processing apparatus, the position of the exhaust port formed in the processing chamber is usually limited by, for example, mounting positions of the plurality of turbomolecular pumps and the like, and arrangement positions of the respective sections. In this case, the flow of exhaust gas in the processing chamber is concentrated in the vicinity of the exhaust port, causing variation in the uniformity of the exhaust gas. For this reason, there existed a problem which the deviation generate | occur | produces in the process result (for example, an etching rate, a film-forming rate, etc.) in the surface of an FPD board | substrate.

From such a viewpoint, in the plasma processing apparatus which processes a semiconductor wafer etc., the exhaust ring is provided around the mounting table, and the flow of exhaust gas is adjusted (refer patent document 1, 2). For example, the exhaust ring in Patent Literature 1 has an upper exhaust ring that forms a fin portion that protrudes outwardly from the mounting table and surrounds its surroundings from a side wall of the processing chamber. It consists of a lower exhaust ring which forms the fin part which protrudes. In addition, the exhaust ring (ring-shaped shielding plate) in patent document 2 is formed so that a some exhaust hole may not overlap with both the upper exhaust ring and the lower exhaust ring, respectively.

However, all of them are semiconductor wafer processing apparatuses, and since the size of the processing chamber is smaller than that of the FPD substrate processing apparatus, the amount of exhaust gas is small, so that only one turbomolecular pump is sufficient, and one exhaust port is sufficient. Even if the exhaust ring applied to the relatively small processing apparatus is applied to the large processing apparatus for processing the FPD substrate as it is, the variation in the exhaust flow cannot be sufficiently solved.

That is, in the large processing apparatus which processes large board | substrates, such as a FPD board | substrate, since it has a large amount of exhaust gas as mentioned above, it is comprised so that it can exhaust in large quantities from several exhaust ports. For this reason, since a suction force becomes strong in each exhaust port vicinity, exhaust flow concentrates not only in one exhaust port but each exhaust port. In this case, for example, as in Patent Literature 1, only the fins are provided in the upper and lower exhaust rings irrespective of the arrangement positions of the exhaust ports, so that the flow of exhaust gas may change depending on the arrangement positions of the respective exhaust ports. In addition, as in Patent Literature 2, even if the exhaust holes are formed in both the upper and lower exhaust rings in the same manner regardless of the arrangement positions of the exhaust ports, there is no fear that the flow of the exhaust will change depending on the arrangement positions of the respective exhaust ports. Can not.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a plasma processing apparatus which can prevent the flow of exhaust gas from concentrating on each exhaust port irrespective of the arrangement position of each exhaust port provided in the processing chamber. Is to provide.

In order to solve the said subject, according to some aspect of this invention, the process chamber which performs a plasma process to a to-be-processed substrate, the process gas supply part which supplies the process gas for generating a plasma to the said process chamber, and the said process chamber are provided. And a mounting table on which the substrate to be processed is mounted, a baffle portion interposed between a plasma generation region in the processing chamber and an exhaust path for exhausting the processing chamber, and a downstream side of the baffle portion in the exhaust path. And a plurality of exhaust ports arranged around the mounting table, wherein the baffle portion comprises an upstream baffle plate spaced apart to surround the mounting table and a downstream baffle plate disposed downstream of the upstream baffle plate. Each of the baffle plates is provided with a plurality of openings communicating with the plasma generation region and the exhaust path, respectively. At least each of the openings of one of the baffle plates is provided with a plasma processing apparatus, characterized in that either or both of the number and shape are changed depending on the arrangement position of the respective exhaust ports.

According to the present invention, the process gas supplied from the process gas supply unit toward the plasma generation region in the process chamber is guided through the baffle unit to the exhaust port and exhausted. At this time, since each opening of at least one of the upstream baffle plate and the downstream baffle plate changes one or both of the number and shape according to the arrangement position of each exhaust port, the upstream baffle plate and the downstream baffle plate The flow of exhaust gas passing through the plate can be prevented from always concentrating on each exhaust port, regardless of the arrangement position of each exhaust port.

In this case, the plurality of openings of the upstream baffle plate are formed to be identically disposed in the entirety, and the plurality of openings of the downstream baffle plate are formed so as to be larger in number or larger in shape as they move away from the respective exhaust ports. Also good. As a result, it is possible to prevent the exhaust flow from concentrating in the vicinity of the exhaust port, and to make the exhaust flow more even. That is, in general, the closer to the exhaust port, the larger the suction force, and the farther from the exhaust port, the weaker the suction force. Therefore, the number of openings increases or the shape increases, thereby exhausting the processing gas from each opening almost equally. can do.

Specifically, for example, the plurality of openings of the upstream baffle plate may be formed in a circular hole shape, and the plurality of openings of the downstream baffle plate may be formed in a slit shape. In this case, it is preferable to form each opening of the said slit-shaped opening of the said downstream baffle plate so that it may become wider, so that it goes away from each said exhaust port.

Unlike the above, the plurality of openings of the upstream baffle plate and the downstream baffle plate may be formed in a circular hole shape. In this case, it is preferable to form so that the number of the said circular-hole openings of the said downstream baffle plate may increase so that it moves away from each said exhaust port.

The upstream baffle plate may be formed horizontally outward from the mounting table, and the downstream baffle plate may be inclined outward from the mounting table. According to this, irrespective of the arrangement position of each exhaust port, the upstream baffle plate and the downstream baffle plate can be arrange | positioned so that the space between them and the space between a downstream baffle plate and an exhaust port may become substantially the same. As a result, the flow of exhaust gas can be made uniform, and more stable.

For example, when the exhaust port is formed on the side wall of the processing chamber, the side wall side of the processing chamber cannot mount the baffle plate at the position of the exhaust port. Even in such a case, the downstream baffle plate is formed to be inclined upward from the lower side of the mounting table toward the side wall of the processing chamber, for example, so that the space between each baffle plate and the space between the downstream baffle plate and the exhaust port are It can arrange so that it may become substantially the same.

Moreover, you may provide the opening degree adjustment member which adjusts the opening degree of these openings in the said upstream baffle plate and the said downstream baffle plate, respectively. According to this, the opening degree of the opening of the said upstream baffle board and the said downstream baffle board can be fine-tuned according to the suction force from an exhaust port, for example. Thereby, it can adjust so that exhaust stream may become more optimal.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a plasma processing apparatus which can prevent the exhaust flow from concentrating on each exhaust port irrespective of the arrangement position of each exhaust port provided in the processing chamber.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Preferred embodiment of this invention is described in detail, referring an accompanying drawing below. In addition, in this specification and drawing, duplication description is abbreviate | omitted by attaching | subjecting the same code | symbol about the component which has substantially the same functional structure.

(Configuration example of plasma processing device)

First, an embodiment in the case where the present invention is applied to a multi-chamber type substrate processing apparatus including a plurality of plasma processing apparatuses will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is an external perspective view of the substrate processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. The substrate processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes three plasma processing apparatuses for performing plasma processing on a flat panel display substrate (FPD substrate) G. As shown in FIG.

Each plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber 200 capable of reducing pressure, respectively. Each processing chamber 200 is connected via the gate valve 102 to the side surface of the conveyance chamber 110 which has a polygonal cross section (for example, rectangular shape), respectively. In addition, the load lock chamber 120 is connected to the transfer chamber 110 via the gate valve 104. The substrate loading / unloading mechanism 130 is provided adjacent to the load lock chamber 120 via the gate valve 106.

Two indexers 140 are provided adjacent to the substrate loading / unloading mechanism 130, respectively. The cassette 142 which accommodates the board | substrate G for FPD is mounted in the indexer 140. As shown in FIG. The cassette 142 is configured to accommodate a plurality of sheets (for example, 25 sheets) of the FPD substrate G.

When the plasma processing is performed on the FPD substrate G by the substrate processing apparatus 100, first, the FPD substrate G in the cassette 142 is loaded into the load lock chamber 120 by the substrate loading / unloading mechanism 130. Bring in At this time, if the processed FPD board | substrate G exists in the load lock chamber 120, the processed FPD board | substrate G is carried out from the load lock chamber 120, and the unprocessed FPD board | substrate G is carried out. Replace. When the FPD substrate G is loaded into the load lock chamber 120, the gate valve 106 is closed.

Next, after depressurizing the inside of the load lock chamber 120 to a predetermined degree of vacuum, the gate valve 104 between the transfer chamber 110 and the load lock chamber 120 is opened. After the FPD substrate G in the load lock chamber 120 is brought into the transfer chamber 110 by a transfer mechanism (not shown) in the transfer chamber 110, the gate valve 104 is closed.

The gate valve 102 between the conveyance chamber 110 and the process chamber 200 is opened, and the unprocessed FPD board | substrate G is carried in to the mounting table in the process chamber 200 by the said conveyance mechanism. At this time, if there is a processed FPD substrate G, the processed FPD substrate G is taken out and replaced with an untreated FPD substrate G.

In the processing chamber 200, a processing gas is supplied onto the FPD substrate G to perform predetermined processing such as etching and ashing film formation. Moreover, the process chamber 200 which concerns on this embodiment is comprised so that a process gas may be supplied from above and it exhausts from several exhaust ports below.

(Configuration example of the processing chamber)

Next, a specific structural example of the processing chamber 200 of each plasma processing apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. Here, in the case where the plasma processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) etching apparatus for etching an insulating substrate (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "substrate") G for FPD, such as a glass substrate, for example, The structural example of a process chamber is demonstrated. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of the processing chamber 200.

The processing chamber 200 is constituted by, for example, a substantially cylindrical processing vessel made of aluminum whose surface is anodized (alumite treatment). The processing chamber 200 is grounded to ground. At the bottom of the processing chamber 200, a mounting table 300 having a susceptor 310 constituting the lower electrode is disposed. The mounting table 300 functions as a substrate holding mechanism for holding and holding the rectangular substrate G, and is formed in a rectangular shape corresponding to the rectangular substrate G. As shown in FIG.

The mounting table 300 includes an insulating base member 302 and a rectangular block-shaped susceptor 310 made of a conductor (for example, aluminum) provided on the base member 302. On the susceptor 310, an electrostatic holding part 320 for holding the substrate G on the substrate holding surface is provided. The electrostatic holding unit 320 is configured by, for example, sandwiching the electrode plate 322 between the lower dielectric layer and the upper dielectric layer. The mounting table 300 constitutes an outer frame thereof, and has a rectangular frame shape made of, for example, an insulating member made of ceramic or quartz so as to surround the base member 302, the susceptor 310, and the electrostatic holding part 320. The outer frame part 330 of is arrange | positioned.

The direct current (DC) power supply 315 is electrically connected to the electrode plate 322 of the static electricity holding unit 320 via the switch 316. The switch 316 can switch the DC power supply 315 and ground potential with respect to the electrode plate 322, for example. When the switch 316 is switched to the DC power supply 315 side, the DC voltage from the DC power supply 315 is applied to the electrode plate 322, and the substrate G is mounted on the mounting table 300 by the electrostatic attraction force (coulomb force). Adsorption is maintained on the phase. When the switch 316 is switched to the ground side, the electrode plate 322 is discharged, and thus, the substrate G is also discharged to release the electrostatic attraction force.

The output terminal of the high frequency power supply 314 is electrically connected to the susceptor 310 via a matcher 312. A relatively high frequency such as 13.56 MHz is selected as the output frequency of the high frequency power supply 314, but there may be a two frequency superimposed with a relatively low frequency such as 3.2 MHz.

A coolant flow path 317 is provided inside the susceptor 310, and a coolant adjusted to a predetermined temperature from a chiller device (not shown) flows through the coolant flow path 317. By such a coolant, the temperature of the susceptor 310 can be adjusted to a predetermined temperature.

The mounting table 300 includes a heat transfer gas supply mechanism for supplying a heat transfer gas (for example, He gas) at a predetermined pressure between the substrate holding surface of the electrostatic holding unit 320 and the back surface of the substrate G. The heat transfer gas supply mechanism supplies the heat transfer gas at a predetermined pressure to the back surface of the substrate G via the gas flow passage 318 inside the susceptor 310.

In addition, when carrying in and out of the board | substrate G with respect to this mounting table 300, the process chamber 200 and conveyance are carried out by opening and closing the board | substrate carrying in / out port 204 formed in the side wall of the process chamber 200 by the gate valve 102. FIG. It communicates between the yarns 110.

The shower head 210 is disposed on the ceiling of the processing chamber 200 so as to face the mounting table 300. The shower head 210 constitutes a processing gas discharge unit for discharging the processing gas into the processing chamber 200. The shower head 210 has a buffer chamber 222 therein, and a plurality of processing gas discharge holes 224 for discharging the processing gas are formed in the discharge surface (lower surface) facing the mounting table 300.

Moreover, the shower head 210 is arrange | positioned so that it may face in parallel with the susceptor 310 of the mounting table 300, and also functions as the upper electrode. That is, the showerhead 210 is grounded to, for example, the ground, and together with the susceptor 310 constitute a pair of parallel plate electrodes. Thus, when the processing gas is supplied to the substrate G and the high frequency power from the high frequency power source 314 is applied to the susceptor 310, the plasma of the processing gas is generated in the plasma generating space on the substrate G. Active species such as ions and radicals in the plasma act on the upper surface (the surface to be treated) of the substrate G, and a predetermined etching treatment is performed on the substrate G.

The shower head 210 is connected to a process gas supply mechanism 230 for supplying a process gas. Specifically, the processing gas supply mechanism 230 includes a processing gas supply source 232, and the processing gas supply source 232 is provided on the upper surface of the shower head 210 via the processing gas supply pipe 233. 226 is connected. In the middle of the process gas supply pipe 233, a mass flow controller (MFC) 234 for controlling the flow rate of the process gas, an opening / closing valve 235 for starting or stopping the supply of the process gas, and the like are provided.

The processing gas from the processing gas supply source 232 is introduced into the buffer chamber 222 of the showerhead 210 through the processing gas inlet 226, and the substrate G from the processing gas discharge hole 224. Discharged toward. As the processing gas, for example, halogen-based gas such as fluorine gas, O ₂ gas, Ar gas, or the like is used as the etching gas.

A plurality of exhaust ports 208 are arranged at the bottom of the processing chamber 200. These exhaust ports 208 are arranged around the mounting table 300, for example, as shown in FIG. An exhaust mechanism constituted by a vacuum pump is connected to each exhaust port 208 via an exhaust pipe 402, respectively, and exhaustion in the processing chamber 200 is performed through each exhaust port 208. In FIG. 2, the case where the exhaust mechanism is comprised by the turbo molecular pump (TMP) 410 connected to each exhaust port 208 and the dry pump (DP) 420 respectively provided in the exhaust side is taken as an example. . In addition, the pipes on the exhaust side of each dry pump DP join and are connected to an exhaust facility such as a clean room in which the substrate processing apparatus 100 is installed, for example.

Thus, by providing the turbo molecular pump (TMP) 410 in each of the plurality of exhaust ports 208, a large amount of gas in the processing chamber 200 for processing the large substrate (G) is exhausted to process chamber 200 The interior can be kept at high vacuum (eg 1.3 Pa).

In addition, the exhaust mechanism is not limited to what is shown in FIG. For example, instead of providing a dry pump (DP) 420 on the downstream side of each turbo molecular pump (TMP) 410, instead of joining the downstream side of each turbo molecular pump (TMP) 410, It is also possible to provide one mechanical booster pump (MBP) with an exhaust speed in the conduit.

On the side of the mounting table 300 according to the present embodiment, a baffle plate 340 is disposed in the processing chamber 200 to block the plasma generation region S to which the substrate G is processed and the exhaust path V. have. The baffle plate 340 in this embodiment is arrange | positioned so that the ring-shaped upstream baffle plate 350 which surrounds the periphery of the mounting table 300 may be spaced apart downstream from this upstream baffle plate. The ring-shaped downstream baffle plate 360 is formed. These upstream baffle plates 350 and downstream baffle plates 360 are each fixed by fastening members, such as bolts and screws, not shown, for example, between the outer frame portion 330 and the side walls of the processing chamber 200.

A plurality of openings are formed in each of the baffle plates 350 and 360 to communicate the plasma generation region S and the exhaust path V, and the openings of at least one of the baffle plates are arranged according to the arrangement positions of the respective exhaust ports 208. It is a structure which changed one or both of the number and shape. As a result, when the atmosphere in the processing chamber is exhausted through the exhaust path, the exhaust gas can be prevented from being concentrated at the arrangement position of each exhaust port 208.

(Configuration example of each baffle plate)

Hereinafter, specific structural examples of such an upstream baffle plate 350 and a downstream baffle plate 360 will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the upstream baffle plate 350, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the downstream baffle plate 360. 4 is a view of the mounting table 300 viewed from above with the upstream baffle plate 350 mounted, and FIG. 5 illustrates the downstream baffle plate 360 with the upstream baffle plate 350 removed. It is the figure seen from the upper side.

The upstream baffle plate 350 shown in FIG. 4 is provided so as to close the entire periphery of the mounting table 300. The upstream baffle plate 350 shown in FIG. 4 is comprised by dividing into four plate-shaped members. Specifically, two long rectangular plate-shaped members 352 extending in parallel from one end of the side wall of the processing chamber 200 to the other end around the mounting table 300, and the plate-shaped members 352 It consists of arranging two pairs of short rectangular members 354 extending in a right angle direction. In these plate members 352 and 354, a plurality of circular hole openings 356 are formed in the same manner (for example, in a lattice shape). In addition, arrangement | positioning of each circular-hole opening 356 is not limited to what is shown in FIG.

The downstream baffle plate 360 shown in FIG. 5 consists of four plate-shaped members 362 provided between each side surface of the mounting table 300 and the side wall of the processing chamber 200. Slit-shaped openings 364 are formed in these plate members 362, respectively. Each slit-shaped opening 364 is formed to extend almost vertically from the mounting table 300 toward the side wall of the processing chamber 200. Further, the respective slit-shaped openings 364 are arranged to be wider as they move away from the vicinity of the exhaust port 208 where the suction force is the strongest.

Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, the slit-shaped opening 364b far from the exhaust port 208 has a larger width than the slit-shaped opening 364a close to the exhaust port 208. As a result, the widths of the slit-shaped openings 364a and 364b increase in order from the exhaust port 208, and holes are formed in the outer corners thereof, but the holes are larger than the slit-shaped openings 364b. It functions as a shape opening 364c.

Further, the downstream baffle plate 360 is formed such that two plate members 362, which are parallel to the upstream baffle plate 350 shown in FIG. 4, are extended to four corners, and the four corners are formed at four corners. As in the case shown in Fig. 6, the slit-shaped opening 364c may be formed. This can prevent the exhaust flow from concentrating in the vicinity of the exhaust port 208. Further, since the suction force becomes weaker from the exhaust port 208, the width of the slit-shaped opening 364 can be increased accordingly, so that the processing gas can be exhausted from the respective slit-shaped openings 364 in almost the same way.

(Flow of exhaust in processing chamber)

Next, the flow of the exhaust gas in the case where the baffle plate 340 in the present embodiment is provided will be described with reference to the drawings. 7A to 10A and 7B to 10B are views for explaining an outline of the flow of exhaust gas. 7B to 10B are schematic views when the A-A cross section shown in FIGS. 7A to 10A is seen in the transverse direction. 7A and 7B show no baffle plate 340 provided. FIGS. 8A and 8B show only a downstream baffle plate 360. FIGS. 9A and 9B show a downstream baffle plate 360. And the upstream side baffle plate 350 are provided, and FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B show the case where only one downstream baffle plate 363 without a slit is provided as a comparative example of this embodiment.

As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, when the baffle plate 340 is not provided at all, the flow of exhaust gas in the processing chamber 200 is concentrated at each exhaust port 208. That is, the processing gas supplied from the shower head 210 toward the plasma generating region S on the mounting table 300 passes through the exhaust path V between the mounting table 300 and the side wall of the processing chamber 200. Head (208). At this time, since there is no baffle plate 340, the flow of exhaust gas is concentrated in each exhaust port 208 by the action of the suction force of each exhaust port 208. Here, compilation of the uniformity of exhaust occurs, and as a result, a variation occurs in the etching rate in the plane of the substrate G. In particular, in the plasma processing apparatus for processing the FPD substrate, since the processing chamber 200 is also large, there is a problem that the deviation increases when the exhaust flow is concentrated at each exhaust port 208.

In contrast, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, by providing the downstream baffle plate 360, the width of the slit-shaped opening 364 is narrower as it is closer to each exhaust port 208. The conductance is small, and the farther from each exhaust port 208, the wider the width of the slit-shaped opening 364 is, thereby increasing the conductance. For this reason, the flow of the exhaust flows closer to each exhaust port 208, so that the portion having a stronger suction force is less likely to flow, and the farther portion from the exhaust port 208, the weaker suction force flows. This can prevent the exhaust flow from concentrating on the respective exhaust ports 208.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the upstream baffle plate 350 and the downstream baffle plate are provided by providing the upstream side baffle plate 350 in addition to the downstream side baffle plate 360. The flow of exhaust can be formed more uniformly toward the space between the 360. Thereby, since uniformity of exhaust gas can be improved more, the uniformity of the etching rate in surface inside of the board | substrate G can also be improved as a result.

Here, considering the case where the downstream baffle plate 363 without a slit is provided, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the exhaust flows concentrated in the four corner holes, and each exhaust port 208 is provided. ), A large deviation occurs in the uniformity of the exhaust gas. Therefore, also in order to prevent this, it is preferable to form an opening (for example, the above-described slit-shaped opening 364) in the downstream baffle plate 360.

The upstream baffle plate 350 and the downstream baffle plate 360 are preferably arranged such that the space therebetween and the space between the downstream baffle plate 360 and the exhaust port 208 are substantially the same. . As a result, the flow of the exhaust gas that has passed through each of the circular hole openings 356 of the upstream baffle plate 350 is efficiently guided to each of the slit-shaped openings 364 of the downstream baffle plate 360, thereby providing a flow of exhaust gas. It can be stabilized more.

In addition, in the said embodiment, although the case where the upstream baffle plate 350 and the downstream baffle plate 360 were provided so that it may become horizontal from the mounting table 300 to the outer side was demonstrated, it is not necessarily limited to this. . For example, the downstream baffle plate 360 may be inclined outward from the mounting table 300.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the case where the baffle plate 340 was provided in the plasma processing apparatus which provided the some exhaust port 208 in the bottom wall of the process chamber 200 was demonstrated, it is not necessarily limited to this, for example, As shown to FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B, the baffle plate 340 may be provided in the plasma processing apparatus in which the some exhaust port 208 was formed in the side wall of the process chamber 200. FIG. In the case where the exhaust port 208 is formed on the side wall of the processing chamber 200, for example, as illustrated in FIGS. 11A and 11B, a pipe is provided outside the side wall of the processing chamber 200 so as to surround the exhaust port 208. A mounting frame 209 for mounting is provided. The turbo molecular pump (TMP) 410 and the dry pump (DP) 420 are connected to the hole 209a formed in the bottom part of this mounting frame 209 via piping.

In the case where the exhaust port 208 is formed on the side wall of the processing chamber 200 in this manner, both the upstream baffle plate 350 and the downstream baffle plate 360 may be provided horizontally. By the way, depending on the arrangement position of the exhaust port 208, the space above the mounting table 300 and the space above the exhaust port 208 (space for mounting the baffle plate 340) may become narrow. Also in this case, when both the upstream baffle plate 350 and the downstream baffle plate 360 are horizontally arranged, the space between the upstream baffle plate 350 and the downstream baffle plate 360 is the downstream baffle plate ( There may be a narrower space than the space between 360 and the exhaust port 208.

In this case, for example, as shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B, the downstream baffle plate 360 is disposed to be inclined upwardly from the lower side of the mounting table 300 toward the side wall of the processing chamber 200. It is preferable. As a result, even if the space above the exhaust port 208 is narrower, the space between the upstream baffle plate 350 and the downstream baffle plate 360, and the downstream baffle plate 360 and the exhaust port 208, for example. It can be arrange | positioned so that the space of may become substantially the same. This can prevent the exhaust flow from concentrating and at the same time stabilize the exhaust flow more.

Moreover, although the case where the opening 364 formed in the downstream baffle plate 360 in this embodiment was made into the slit shape was demonstrated, it is not limited to this. For example, the downstream baffle plate 360 may be provided with a circular hole opening instead of the slit opening 364. In this case, as in the case of the slit-shaped openings 364a, 364b, and 364c, the hole diameter may be increased or the number of holes may be increased as the distance from the vicinity of the exhaust port 208 is increased. This also prevents the exhaust flow from concentrating on each exhaust port 208.

In the downstream baffle plate 360 according to the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 5, a short slit-shaped opening 364a near the hole edge of the exhaust port 208, just above the exhaust port 208. Although it forms, it is not limited to this. Since the flow of exhaust becomes strong just above the exhaust port 208, for example, the slit-shaped opening 364 may not be provided over the entire hole of the exhaust port 208. As a result, the entire hole of the exhaust port 208 can be closed immediately above the exhaust port 208.

In addition, in the upstream baffle plate 350 and the downstream baffle plate 360 according to the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 13A and 13B, these circular hole openings 356 and each slit shape, for example. The opening degree adjustment members 358 and 368 which adjust the opening degree of the opening 364 may be provided. According to this, the opening degree of each circular-shaped opening 356 and each slit-shaped opening 364 in an upstream baffle plate and the said downstream baffle plate is fine-adjusted according to the suction force from the exhaust port 208, for example. Can be. Thereby, it can adjust so that exhaust stream may become more optimal.

The opening degree adjustment member 358 shown in FIG. 13A slidably mounts the plate-shaped member 359 on the surface of the upstream baffle plate 350, and the circular-shaped opening 356 is mounted on the plate-shaped member. The adjusting hole 359a for adjusting the opening degree is formed in the same arrangement as the circular hole opening 356. According to this, the opening degree of each circular hole opening 356 can be adjusted simultaneously by sliding the plate member 359 which comprises the opening degree adjustment member 358. As shown in FIG. In addition, the structure of the opening degree adjustment member 358 is not limited to what is shown to FIG. 13A.

The opening degree adjustment member 368 shown in FIG. 13B is provided with a plate-like member 369 that adjusts the opening degree of each slit-like opening 364 in the vicinity of each slit-shaped opening 364. According to this, the opening degree of each slit-shaped opening 364 can be adjusted separately by sliding each plate-shaped member 369 of the opening degree adjustment member 368. In addition, the structure of the opening degree adjustment member 368 is not limited to what is shown to FIG. 13B.

As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to this example. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications can be made within the scope described in the claims, and that they naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus in which a plurality of exhaust ports 208 are arranged between two side surfaces of the processing chamber 200 and four side surfaces of the mounting table 300 as shown in FIG. 3. Although the application case was demonstrated, the number and arrangement | positioning of the some exhaust port 208 are not limited to this. In addition, the plurality of exhaust ports 208 do not necessarily need to be formed evenly, and for example, two or three or more exhaust ports 208 may be formed in close proximity to a part of them.

Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where it applied to the plasma processing apparatus of the type which grounds an upper electrode and applies a high frequency electric power only to a lower electrode, it is not limited to this. For example, the present invention may be applied to a plasma processing apparatus of a type that applies high frequency power to both the upper electrode and the lower electrode, and may be applied to a plasma processing apparatus of the type or inductive coupling type that applies, for example, two kinds of high frequency powers having different high frequencies only to the lower electrode. You may also

(Industrial availability)

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is applicable to a plasma processing apparatus which exhausts while introducing a processing gas into a processing chamber, generates a plasma of the processing gas, and performs a predetermined plasma processing on the substrate to be processed.

1 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a substrate processing apparatus including a plasma processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a configuration example of a processing chamber in the embodiment;

3 is a view for explaining an arrangement position of each exhaust port in the embodiment;

4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an upstream baffle plate according to the embodiment;

5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a downstream baffle plate according to the embodiment;

6 is an enlarged view of a part of the downstream baffle plate shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7A is a diagram for explaining the flow of exhaust gas in the processing chamber in the above embodiment, and in the case where there is no baffle plate; FIG.

7B is a cross-sectional view along the line A-A in FIG. 7A;

FIG. 8A is a view for explaining the flow of exhaust gas in the processing chamber in the embodiment, in which only a downstream baffle plate is provided;

8B is a cross-sectional view along the line A-A in FIG. 8A;

FIG. 9A is a diagram for explaining the flow of exhaust gas in the processing chamber in the embodiment, in which both an upstream baffle plate and a downstream baffle plate are provided;

FIG. 9B is a sectional view taken along the line A-A in FIG. 9A; FIG.

FIG. 10A is a view for explaining the flow of exhaust gas in the processing chamber in the embodiment, in which only a downstream baffle plate without an opening is provided; FIG.

10B is a cross-sectional view along the line A-A in FIG. 10A;

FIG. 11A is a longitudinal cross-sectional view for explaining the flow of exhaust gas when the exhaust port is formed on the side wall of the processing chamber in the embodiment;

FIG. 11B is a sectional view along the line B-B in FIG. 11A, FIG.

12A is a longitudinal sectional view for illustrating a modification of the downstream baffle plate in the embodiment;

12B is a sectional view taken along the line B-B in FIG. 12A,

13A is a partial cross-sectional view for explaining the opening degree adjustment member of the upstream baffle plate in the embodiment;

Fig. 13B is a partial cross sectional view for explaining the opening degree adjustment member of the downstream baffle plate in the embodiment;

Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

100: substrate processing apparatus 102, 104, 106: gate valve

110: transfer room 120: load lock room

130 substrate import and export mechanism 140 indexer

142: cassette 200: processing chamber

204: substrate inlet and outlet 208: exhaust port

209: mounting frame 209a: hole

210: shower head 222: buffer chamber

224 process gas discharge hole 226 process gas inlet

230: process gas supply mechanism 232: process gas supply source

233 process gas supply pipe 234 mass flow controller (MFC)

235: valve opening 300: mounting table

302: base member 310: susceptor

312: matching device 314: high frequency power supply

315: power 316: switch

317: refrigerant passage 318: gas passage

320: electrostatic holding unit 322: electrode plate

330: outer frame portion 340: baffle plate

350: upstream baffle plate 352, 354: plate-shaped member

356: circular hole opening 358: opening degree adjustment member

360: downstream baffle plate 362: plate-shaped member

363: downstream baffle plate 364 (364a to 364c) without opening: slit-shaped opening

368: opening degree adjustment member 402: exhaust pipe

410: turbo molecular pump (TMP) 420: dry pump (DP)

G: FPD board

Claims (9)

A processing chamber in which plasma processing is performed on the substrate to be processed; A processing gas supply unit supplying a processing gas for generating plasma to the processing chamber; A mounting table provided in the processing chamber and on which the substrate to be processed is mounted; A baffle portion interposed between the plasma generation region in the processing chamber and an exhaust path exhausting the processing chamber; In the exhaust path, a plurality of exhaust ports arranged around the mounting table downstream from the baffle portion are provided. The baffle portion includes an upstream baffle plate disposed to be spaced around the mounting table and a downstream baffle plate disposed downstream of the upstream baffle plate, and each of the baffle plates includes the plasma generation region and A plurality of openings communicating with the exhaust path are formed, and each opening of the at least one baffle plate is changed to one or both of the number and shape according to the arrangement position of the respective exhaust ports. Plasma processing apparatus. The method of claim 1, The plurality of openings of the upstream baffle plate are formed to be identically disposed in the entirety, and the plurality of openings of the downstream baffle plate are formed so as to be larger in number or larger in shape as they move away from each exhaust port. By Plasma processing apparatus. The method of claim 2, The plurality of openings of the upstream baffle plate are formed in a circular hole shape, and the plurality of openings of the downstream baffle plate are formed in a slit shape. Plasma processing apparatus. The method of claim 3, wherein The slit-shaped openings of the downstream baffle plate are formed to be wider as they move away from the respective exhaust ports. Plasma processing apparatus. The method of claim 2, The plurality of openings of the upstream baffle plate and the downstream baffle plate are all formed in a circular hole shape. Plasma processing apparatus. The method of claim 5, wherein The number of the openings of the circular hole shape of the downstream baffle plate is formed so as to be larger away from each exhaust port Plasma processing apparatus. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, The upstream baffle plate is formed to be horizontally outwardly from the mounting table, and the downstream baffle plate is formed to be inclined outwardly from the mounting table. Plasma processing apparatus. The method of claim 7, wherein The exhaust port is formed on the side wall of the processing chamber, and the downstream baffle plate is formed to be inclined upward from the lower side of the mounting table toward the side wall of the processing chamber. Plasma processing apparatus. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, The upstream baffle plate and the downstream baffle plate are each provided with an opening degree adjustment member for adjusting the opening degree of these openings. Plasma processing apparatus.

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