WO2020070214A1 - Dispositif de traitement au plasma et procédé de délivrance d'impulsions de puissance électrique à au moins une chambre de traitement - Google Patents

Dispositif de traitement au plasma et procédé de délivrance d'impulsions de puissance électrique à au moins une chambre de traitement

Info

Publication number
WO2020070214A1
WO2020070214A1 PCT/EP2019/076754 EP2019076754W WO2020070214A1 WO 2020070214 A1 WO2020070214 A1 WO 2020070214A1 EP 2019076754 W EP2019076754 W EP 2019076754W WO 2020070214 A1 WO2020070214 A1 WO 2020070214A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
arc
pulse
process time
power
interventions
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2019/076754
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Sebastian Hubertus SCHULZ
Thomas Pernau
Original Assignee
centrotherm international AG
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by centrotherm international AG filed Critical centrotherm international AG
Priority to CN201980064712.0A priority Critical patent/CN112912989A/zh
Publication of WO2020070214A1 publication Critical patent/WO2020070214A1/fr

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
    • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
    • H01J37/32917—Plasma diagnostics
    • H01J37/32935—Monitoring and controlling tubes by information coming from the object and/or discharge
    • H01J37/32944—Arc detection
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
    • C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
    • C23C14/00—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material
    • C23C14/22—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the process of coating
    • C23C14/54—Controlling or regulating the coating process
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
    • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
    • H01J37/32009—Arrangements for generation of plasma specially adapted for examination or treatment of objects, e.g. plasma sources
    • H01J37/32082—Radio frequency generated discharge
    • H01J37/32137—Radio frequency generated discharge controlling of the discharge by modulation of energy
    • H01J37/32146—Amplitude modulation, includes pulsing
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
    • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
    • H01J37/34—Gas-filled discharge tubes operating with cathodic sputtering
    • H01J37/3464—Operating strategies
    • H01J37/3467—Pulsed operation, e.g. HIPIMS

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a plasma treatment device and a method for outputting pulses of electrical power to at least one process chamber for the plasma-assisted treatment of substrates.
  • wafers are loaded into so-called wafer boats, some of which consist of electrically conductive plates and placed in appropriate process chambers.
  • An electrical power with a frequency of at least 40 kHz is then applied to the wafer boats in order to generate a plasma from a suitable process gas between the plates and between wafers received on the plates.
  • An example of such a plasma treatment device is shown in DE 10 2015 004 419 A1 by the applicant.
  • Such plasma treatment devices generally consist of a single process chamber to which a single plasma generator is assigned. With the adjacent arrangement of several process chambers, the sharing of gas cabinets and other peripheral devices was sometimes considered, but so far each process chamber had a single plasma generator.
  • a plasma generator generally has a controllable power supply unit with an output which is suitable for outputting a direct current with a predetermined voltage and / or strength at its output, a converter which is suitable for converting an alternating current with a predetermined frequency from a direct current at the input at least 40KHz as an off to form the output signal and apply the output signal to the connected process chamber
  • the electrical power is usually made available periodically as a pulse by the respective plasma generator, a duty cycle (quotient of pulse duration and period duration) of less than 0.1 being generally set here over long time periods.
  • a duty cycle (quotient of pulse duration and period duration) of less than 0.1 being generally set here over long time periods.
  • Such a pulsed operation of a plasma in the process chamber has proven to be particularly advantageous.
  • 90% of the available continuous power of a plasma generator therefore remains unused over long stretches of the processes.
  • the power supply unit and the converter are usually controlled via a controller which, depending on a process recipe (the required power), determines a corresponding pulse sequence for the process chamber over a process duration and generates corresponding control signals.
  • the process duration and the pulse sequence are usually defined in advance and are no longer changed.
  • Plasma generators usually also have an arc suppression unit (also known as an arc suppression unit) which is suitable for obtaining current process data about processes in the process chamber and current data from the power supply unit and / or the switch, and evaluating them in real time in order to impact or an impending rollover (also called Are).
  • arc suppression unit also known as an arc suppression unit
  • Ares can lead to locally burned, melted or unevenly coated wafers.
  • the wafer carrier can also be damaged, which can lead to production downtime or high service costs. Ares should therefore be avoided if possible.
  • the arc suppression unit can be connected to the power supply unit and / or the switch, for example, in order to control them in response to the detection of a rollover or an impending rollover, in order to avoid or quickly suppress rollovers in the process chamber.
  • Plasma generator manufacturers usually specify suitable settings for arc suppression management (also known as arc management), which can also be changed by the system operator if necessary.
  • modern treatment plants can use arc suppression values to decide on a process termination if, for example, too many arc events have occurred within a period of time, or if power, current and / or voltage are outside the tolerance.
  • Plasma generator manufacturers in particular offer arc management or arc suppression software solutions that intervene in the process by reducing current / voltage and forcing process breaks.
  • a reduction in current / voltage and process breaks can increase the process times accordingly and thus affect the throughput of a process plant.
  • the current process is interfered with in this way, this leads to a low mean power over the process time. This can result in the deposited layer thicknesses being less than desired, since, for example in PECVD processes, the deposition thickness is proportional to the power input. Lesser
  • Layer thicknesses can lead to problems in later machining processes or even to a complete failure of the deposited layer.
  • Plant operators also define process termination criteria such as voltage, current, power or number of ares. This allows you to cancel the process before the workpiece carrier is damaged. To do this, the plant operator must select the termination criteria so that the Are Management System has little chance of reacting. A process termination followed by a search for the cause of the arc is time-consuming, reduces the system throughput and leads to material loss. The plant operator would therefore like to avoid any process interruptions, no damage to the wafer and / or workpiece carrier caused by Ares, and also no layers that were deposited too thinly,
  • the present invention is therefore based on the object of making the provision of electrical power more efficient in order to avoid or reduce at least one of the problems mentioned above as far as possible. According to the invention, this object is achieved by a plasma treatment device according to claim 1 and a method for outputting pulses of electrical power to at least one process chamber according to claim 9. Further refinements of the invention result, inter alia, from the subclaims.
  • the plasma treatment device has a plasma generator which is configured to output pulses of electrical power to at least one process chamber, the plasma generator being configured to generate and output the pulses over a process time in accordance with a predetermined pulse sequence, and the plasma generator being an arc -Units that are suitable for recognizing a rollover or an upcoming rollover, also called an arc event, and in response responding, abort, change and / or drop a pulse that is output to the process chamber or is to be output what is known as arc intervention.
  • the plasma treatment device also has at least one control unit that is configured to receive and evaluate process data about processes in the at least one process chamber and, based on the process data, at least one process time and one over the process time through the plasma generator To determine the pulse sequence to be made available, or to receive a specific process time and pulse sequence, the pulse sequence configured to bring a predetermined power into the process chamber via the process time, to control the plasma generator and to output the pulse sequence over the process time.
  • the at least one control unit is also configured to receive data about arc interventions and to use the data to determine a process time extension with a corresponding pulse sequence in order to at least partially compensate for a power reduction caused by the arc interventions.
  • Such Plasma treatment devices offer the possibility to compensate for loss of power occurring at least steeply due to arc events, which improves the homogeneity of processes and enables more aggressive arc management.
  • the plasma treatment device preferably has a unit that is configured to determine the number of arc interventions and to transmit them to the at least one control unit.
  • the simply ascertainable number of interventions alone can provide a basis for determining an approximate power loss for determining a process time extension with a corresponding pulse sequence.
  • the unit can be configured to recognize at least two different types of arc interventions, for Determine the number of each type of arc intervention and to transmit the number to the at least one control unit. By differentiating between the Arc interventions, a better assessment of the loss of performance can be made.
  • the unit can be part of the arc unit that performs the arc interventions.
  • the arc unit is configured to recognize at least two different types of arc events and to select different predetermined arc interventions in accordance with the arc event.
  • the arc unit can be configured to recognize at least two of the following arc events: an Imax event which indicates an overcurrent, ie a current above a threshold, and thus the occurrence of an ares; a U * l event which, before reaching an overcurrent, indicates an excessive current rise at a given voltage (Uxl) in such a way that an overcurrent would be expected if further power was supplied; a micro-arc, which is indicated by a current peak at a given voltage.
  • the arc unit can be configured, in particular when the Imax event is detected, to abort the current pulse completely and then slow the output increase so that the following pulse may not be fully output; when a U * l event is detected, interrupt the current pulse and restart as far as possible within the planned pulse time with an increasing power ramp; and when a micro-arc is detected, interrupt the current pulse and continue to output it after a short waiting time.
  • control unit is configured to control the plasma generator when a certain number of arc events are reached within the process time or a process section, to reduce the power output per pulse of the remaining pulse sequence and to reduce the power accordingly when determining the Process time extension with corresponding pulse sequence must be taken into account.
  • the average power of the pulses can be chosen to be lower than the average power of the pulses during the previous process time in order to reduce the probability of Ares during the process time extension.
  • the method for outputting pulses of electrical power to at least one process chamber has the following: determining or receiving a process time and pulse train for the process chamber in / on a control unit, controlling a plasma generator in order to output the pulse train over the determined process time, recognizing one Arc events, which indicate a rollover or an upcoming rollover, in response to the detection of an arc event, performing an arc intervention which has the aborting, changing and / or dropping out of a pulse which is output or is to be output to the process chamber , Obtaining data about Arc interventions and determining on the basis of the data a process time extension with a corresponding pulse sequence in order to reduce the power caused by the Arc interventions. least partially to compensate, and control of the plasma generator in order to output the corresponding pulse sequence after the specific process time over the duration of the specific process time extension.
  • the data on arc interventions preferably have the number of arc interventions, which is easy to determine. It is preferably possible to carry out different types of arc interventions and the data about arc interventions then have at least the types of arc interventions and the respective number of arc interventions.
  • the detection of arc events comprises the detection of at least two different types of arc events, the performing of the arc intervention selecting a predetermined arc intervention from a plurality of predetermined arc interventions corresponding to the arc Event and performing the selected arc intervention. In this way, specific events can be addressed more specifically.
  • the detection of arc events has the detection of at least two of the following arc events: an Imax event which indicates an overcurrent, ie a current above a threshold value, and thus the occurrence of an ares, a U * 1 Event which, before reaching an overcurrent, indicates an excessive current rise at a given voltage in such a way that an overcurrent would be expected when further power is supplied, and / or a micro-arc which is indicated by a current peak at a given voltage.
  • performing the arc intervention can have the following effects: if an Imax event is detected, the current pulse is aborted completely and the output is then slowly increased, so that the subsequent pulse may not be fully output if a U * l event is detected the current one Interrupt pulse and restart as far as possible within the planned pulse time with increasing power ramp, and / or interrupt the current pulse when a micro-arc is detected and continue to output normally after a short waiting time.
  • the advantages of the different arc interventions have already been explained above.
  • the plasma generator when a certain number of arc events are reached within the process time and / or a process section, the plasma generator is controlled to reduce the power output per pulse of the remaining pulse sequence, with a corresponding power reduction when determining the process time extension with a corresponding pulse sequence is taken into account.
  • the power reduction for the remaining pulses is at least 10%, preferably at least 20%.
  • the average power per pulse can be chosen lower than the average power per pulse during the process time in order to reduce the probability of Ares in the process time extension.
  • the average power per pulse during the process time extension can be selected to be at least 10%, preferably at least 20% lower than the average power per pulse during the process time.
  • FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of an exemplary embodiment of a plasma treatment device
  • FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of a desired pulse sequence as it is to be emitted by a plasma generator over a period of time
  • FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of an exemplary pulse sequence corresponding to FIG. 1, as it was actually emitted by the plasma generator;
  • 4 shows a schematic illustration of an individual pulse in which a first error was detected and a correction corresponding to the error was carried out
  • 5 shows a schematic illustration of an individual pulse in which a second error was detected and a correction corresponding to the error was carried out
  • 6 shows a schematic representation of three pulses of the desired pulse sequence, in which a third error was detected and a correction corresponding to the error was carried out;
  • FIG. 7 shows a schematic illustration of an exemplary pulse sequence, as it was emitted by a plasma generator over a predetermined period, with an example of an extension of the emitting period;
  • FIG. 8 shows a schematic illustration of an exemplary pulse sequence, as it was emitted by a plasma generator over a predetermined period, with an alternative example of an extension of the emitting period;
  • FIG. 9 shows a schematic illustration of an exemplary pulse sequence, as it was emitted by a plasma generator over a predetermined period, with a further example of an extension of the emitting period.
  • FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of an exemplary embodiment of a plasma treatment device 1 with two process units 3a, 3b and a plasma generator 5.
  • two process units 3a, 3b with a plasma generator 5 are shown in the embodiment, the person skilled in the art will recognize that only a single process unit can be provided and the plasma generator can be simplified accordingly.
  • the process units 3a and 3b can each have the same structure and each have a process chamber for receiving one or more substrates, in particular semiconductor wafers or PV substrates.
  • the process chambers can be closed tightly and the process units 3a and 3b have various means, not shown, for setting a desired gas atmosphere within the respective process chambers, such as pumps and a gas cabinet. While each process chamber is usually assigned its own pump, a gas cabinet can supply several process chambers if necessary.
  • Means for generating a plasma are also provided in the process chambers, some of which can be formed by a wafer boat which, for example, is introduced into the process chamber together with the substrates and is electrically contacted there, as described, for example, in the above DE 10 2015 004 419 A1 is described, which in this respect is made the subject of the present disclosure.
  • the process units 3a, 3b are connected to the plasma generator 5 via power lines 7a and 7b and data connections 8a and 8b. Via the power lines 7a, 7b, the plasma generator 5 supplies electrical power with a frequency greater than 40 kHz to the respective process units 3a and 3b. Data can be exchanged between the process units 3a, 3b and the plasma generator 5 via the data connections 8a and 8b.
  • the data connections 8a and 8b can be wired or wireless.
  • the process units 3a, 3b can supply the plasma generator 5 with different process data about processes in the respective process chambers. In particular, actual data relating to the actually incoming electrical power, the presence of a plasma, etc. can be transmitted, but also corresponding target data, as is also the case with known plasma treatment devices with a single process unit and a single plasma generator .
  • the plasma generator 5 has a controllable power supply unit 10, a switching unit 12 and a control unit 14.
  • the power supply unit has an input (not shown) and an output which is connected via a power line 15 to an input of the switching unit 12.
  • the power supply unit 10 is suitable in response to a control signal from the control unit 14 at its output to output a direct current with a predetermined voltage and / or strength, as is known in the art.
  • the switching unit 12 has the input already mentioned, which is connected to the power line 15 for receiving direct current from the power supply 10, and two separate outputs, one output being connected to the power line 7a and the other output being connected to the power lines 7b .
  • the switching unit 12 has a converter circuit which can form an alternating current with a predetermined frequency of at least 40 kHz as an output signal from a direct current at the input.
  • the converter circuit can have, for example, a bipolar transistor, which forms a quasi-sinusoidal signal (step-shaped signal) from the direct current provided by the power supply unit 10.
  • the switching unit 12 has a switching part which applies the output signal shaped in this way in response to a control signal from the control unit 14 to one or the other output, and consequently to the process unit 3a or the process unit 3b.
  • the output signals (pulses) must be coordinated in such a way that the respective requirements of the process chamber are met.
  • a corresponding pulse coordination is explained in more detail, for example, in the unpublished DE 10 2018 204 585 by the same applicant, which in this respect is made the subject of the present application by reference. With only one process unit, corresponding coordination is not necessary and the switch can be omitted, for example, or used to interrupt and / or redirect the output signal to an absorber.
  • the control unit 14 in turn has two separate controllers 16a, 16b, as well as an arc suppression unit 18, which is also referred to as an arc unit.
  • the controllers 16a, 16b are connected to the process units 3a and 3b via the data connections 8a and 8b.
  • the controllers 16a, 16b are each designed in a known manner to determine performance requirements for the process units 3a, 3b on the basis of actual data and target data about the respective processes in the process units 3a, 3b. From these, the controllers 16a, 16b (or a downstream unit) then generate control data for the power supply unit 10 and the switching unit 12.
  • controllers 16a, 16b are shown as separate units, they can also be designed as a single unit, which is a Essentially parallel processing of process data units 3a and 3b.
  • the controllers 16a, 16b can be designed as separate software routines which can be executed essentially in parallel and are executed on a processor.
  • the performance requirements of the individual process units are generally specified for a particular process and consist of a specific pulse sequence that is to be output over a specific process time.
  • the performance requirements can be made available from a memory of a corresponding system controller (not shown) from a memory, but they can also be determined by the system controller, where appropriate, in the case of a PECVD, for example, an operator specifies a layer thickness to be achieved on substrates in the process chamber and the system controller determines the corresponding parameters, including the performance requirements in the form of a specific pulse sequence that is to be output over a process time.
  • the pulse sequence generally consists of a sequence of pulses of the same duration, the same distance between the pulses and the same power, even if this is not necessary and can vary.
  • the total output over the process time essentially determines the process result achieved.
  • the deposited layer thickness is proportional to the output power.
  • Corresponding pulse sequences can, depending on the layer type and layer thickness, consist of a few hundred or fewer, up to several thousand or even tens of thousands of pulses. The number is of course determined by the power and the pulse length. In order to obtain short process times, there is a tendency to provide as much power as possible per pulse, but this increases the risk of arcs or ares.
  • corresponding outputs of the controllers are connected to corresponding inputs of the arc unit 18.
  • the arc unit 18 can thus receive the performance requirements of the individual process units from the controllers 16a, 16b, or also directly the control data for the power supply unit 10 and the switching unit 12, which are created therefrom.
  • the arc unit 18 can also receive unprocessed data directly from the respective process units 3a, 3b.
  • Such data are in particular those which enable real time to evaluate whether a flashover has occurred in one of the process units 3a and 3b or is imminent, which is referred to below as an arc event.
  • the data required for this are known to the person skilled in the art and also the corresponding detection algorithms, which are therefore not initially explained in more detail.
  • the arc unit 18 can adapt the control signals to the power supply unit 10 and the switching unit 12 and change the provision of the power to the respective process unit by canceling or changing and / or drop a pulse. Such an intervention is also known as an arc intervention.
  • the arc unit 18 can also be designed such that it generates control data for the power supply unit 10 and the switching unit 12 when it receives power request data from the individual process units. Of course, this is not necessary if these control data are already created by the controllers 16a, 16b.
  • the arc unit 18 is designed in such a way that it coordinates its own control data, or the control data for the power supply unit 10 and the switching unit 12, which is created by the controllers 16a, 16b.
  • the control data for the power pack 10 and the switching unit 12 are to be coordinated in such a way that power is made available to the respective process units 3a, 3b according to their performance requirements.
  • control data for the power supply unit 10 and the switching unit 12 must also be coordinated in terms of time, since power can only be made available at one of the outputs of the switching unit at any time.
  • the power is provided to the respective process units 3a, 3b as a pulse with a predetermined pulse duration.
  • the respective pulses are therefore to be coordinated via the control data for the power supply unit 10 and the switching unit 12 in such a way that the pulses do not overlap, but the process chambers can nevertheless be operated simultaneously.
  • Such a pulse coordination is of course not necessary for a single process unit.
  • the arc unit 18 can optionally differentiate between different types of arc events and accordingly different arc interventions. to take. Furthermore, the arc unit is able to count the number of arc interventions as a whole, but also according to the respective type. As the person skilled in the art recognizes, each intervention in a requested pulse causes a difference between the requested power and the actually output power.
  • control unit 14 (or the system controller) is configured to receive data about the arc interventions and to use the data to determine a process time extension with a corresponding pulse sequence in order to determine a process caused by the arc interventions At least partially compensate for power reduction. After the normal process time, a corresponding additional process time with a corresponding pulse sequence can then be added. Of course, the rest of the process components, such as gas supply, pump, heating, etc., are informed about a corresponding process time extension and activated accordingly for a longer time.
  • 2 shows an exemplary pulse sequence that is to be output by a plasma generator 5 to a process chamber
  • FIG. 3 shows the corresponding actually output pulse sequence.
  • the pulses actually desired are shown in dashed lines in FIG. 3.
  • the desired or requested pulse sequence according to FIG. 2 consists of a certain number of pulses that are to be output over a certain process time in order to introduce a desired electrical power into a process.
  • a real process usually has several hundred to several thousand or even tens of thousands of pulses. To simplify matters, only 12 pulses are shown in the illustration, which should be output over a process time.
  • Each pulse is an AC pulse with a frequency of at least 40 kHz and a predetermined power (P) to be output over the pulse duration.
  • P predetermined power
  • There is a pulse pause followed by another pulse In the illustration, all pulses are the same, ie they each have the same pulse duration and the same amplitude (power).
  • the pulse pauses are also shown to be the same length.
  • the pulse pauses are approximately twice as long long as a pulse (ratio 2: 1). In real processes, however, the ratio is often much larger, such as 9: 1, which would result in a duty cycle of 0.1.
  • the pulse duration, the pulse pauses and / or the amplitude of the pulses can vary over the process time, however, the same pulses with the same pulse pauses are generally requested over a main section. .
  • the average power of the pulse over the pulse duration is displayed.
  • the incomplete pulse output is based on arc interventions by the arc unit 18.
  • the application takes into account that the arc unit 18 is capable of at least two, preferably three or more different arc events recognize and perform different arc interventions accordingly. Examples of this are a micro arc event, a U * l arc event and an imax arc event, which are also explained in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6 with their corresponding interventions.
  • 3 shows a micro-arc event with a corresponding arc intervention
  • FIG. 4 shows a U * 1 arc event with a corresponding arc intervention
  • FIG. 6 shows an Imax arc event with a corresponding arc intervention.
  • An Imax Arc event occurs when an overcurrent occurs, i.e. a current above a threshold that indicates the occurrence of an ares.
  • a micro-arc event is indicated by a current (power) peak at a given voltage, a U * l event by an excessive current (power) increase at a given voltage, the current being below the overcurrent, but with further power delivery the occurrence of an overcurrent would be expected.
  • Micro-Arc events usually occur at the beginning of a pulse and are characterized by a small peak in performance. But you can also go to anyone Time of the pulse occur.
  • Fig. 4 shows schematically a single pulse with a micro-arc event with corresponding intervention. As can be seen, there is a peak in performance at the beginning of the pulse, whereby, for example, Trahsients in the range from micro to nanoseconds can be taken into account.
  • the power drops back to its normal level, the power supply is interrupted for a short time shortly after the peak occurs and is then continued as normal. The delay after the peak is due to the reaction time of the system. The interruption is only of a short, predetermined duration and is achieved, for example, by redirecting the power to an absorber.
  • the interruption is approximately 1/10 of the pulse duration, so that approximately 10% of the power of the pulse is lost as a result of the interruption.
  • the actual lack of power depends on the duration of the interruption and the length of the pulse.
  • another micro-arc event or another event can occur in the same pulse, which would lead to another arc intervention within the same pulse.
  • an appropriate intervention can be advantageous here, since they often occur before another arc event and thus announce this. The intervention can possibly avoid a following, possibly more serious arc event.
  • U * l-Arc events can occur at any point in time of a pulse and are characterized by an excessive increase in current (the power at constant voltage), the current being below the threshold value for an overcurrent. The increase, however, indicates that an overcurrent would likely occur if the power was added.
  • Fig. 5 shows schematically an individual pulse with a U * l arc event with appropriate intervention.
  • the arc unit Upon detection of a corresponding increase in power (corresponding to a current rise with a constant voltage), the arc unit interrupts the power output within the pulse and begins after a predetermined interruption period again with the power output, but the power is increased like a ramp.
  • the duration of the interruption is significantly longer than with the micro-arc intervention and is four times as long, for example.
  • the missing power depends primarily on the duration of the interruption, the ramp and the length of the pulse.
  • the time of the interruption might also have to be taken into account, but this would be too complex.
  • the missing power of the pulse can be averaged and in the embodiment shown it is assumed that it is 50%.
  • the intervention criteria for an intervention can be freely determined, the increase rate and / or an increase duration usually being taken into account.
  • Imax Arc events can record a pulse at any point in time and are characterized by an overcurrent (oversized power with constant voltage), the current being above a threshold value that indicates the occurrence of a flashover or ares.
  • 6 schematically shows three successive pulses of a conventional pulse sequence with an Imax arc event in the first pulse and a corresponding intervention.
  • the arc unit interrupts the power output within the pulse and starts outputting again after a predetermined interruption period, the power being increased in a ramp-like manner, however.
  • the duration of the interruption is significantly longer than with the other interventions and is usually longer than a pulse period consisting of pulse duration and pulse duration. In the representation, the interruption duration is approximately twice a pulse duration.
  • the first pulse in the three-way sequence is only partially output
  • the second pulse in the three-way sequence shown is in any case completely absent
  • the third pulse in the three-way sequence is also only partially output.
  • the missing power of the first and third pulse depends, among other things, on the time of the interruption in the first pulse.
  • the total missing power over the sequence of three essentially depends on the interruption duration, the pulse period and the ramp, which are essentially known to the system.
  • the power not brought in by the Imax intervention can be averaged and at The embodiment shown is assumed to be 200%, ie the power of two full pulses is not brought in during an Imax intervention.
  • a corresponding control unit can determine a process time extension with a corresponding pulse sequence that can be appended to the normal process time in order to at least partially increase the faulty performance compensate. This allows process results to be homogenized across several processes.
  • the provision of a process time extension can also depend on whether a significant number of Arc interventions have taken place. In other words, if arc events occur below a threshold, the process can also be ended normally.
  • control unit can also carry out a corresponding analysis of arc events and attacks for the attached process time and determine a further process time extension. It is also possible to output pulses with a lower output during the process time extension than during the normal process time. In this way, the probability of further arc events can be reduced even if the attached process time is extended as a result.
  • FIGS. 7 and 8 show the above variants, the figures each showing an output pulse sequence (requested pulses are shown in dashed lines) within a process time (normal process end is shown by a dashed line), to which another pulse sequence (pulses with hatching) within are attached to an extension of the process time. As can be seen, some pulses are not complete due to an intervention by the arc unit, and a pulse is not output at all). It is assumed that the operations were carried out as described above or in a similar manner.
  • the respective interventions are as Arc-Type1 (corresponds to Micro-Arc-Event with corresponding intervention), Arc-Type2 (corresponds to U * l-Arc-Event with corresponding intervention) and Arc-Type3 (corresponds to Imax-Arc-Event with corresponding intervention), and indicated for each pulse.
  • the control unit can use the number of interventions per type ((6 * Arc-Type1, 4 * Arc-Type2 and 1 * Arc-Type3) to determine that the output of approximately 4.6 pulses was under-output .
  • the process control has therefore determined the process time by a process time extension with a pulse sequence of 4 identical pulses corresponding to the pulses of the normal process time and added it directly to the normal process time. While here from 4.6 was rounded down to the last whole number, it is of course also possible to round up normally or to always round up to the next higher whole number. It is also possible, for example, to output the last pulse with a power of 60% of the power of the other pulses. In this case, an exact assignment of the faulty performance to the attached one with additional service is not necessary and, as described above, is not possible due to the lack of knowledge of the precisely occurring faulty performance.
  • the process controller has determined the process time by a process time extension with a pulse sequence of 9 identical pulses, each with half the power of the pulses of the normal process time, and added it directly to the normal process time.
  • the choice of pulses with lower power per pulse has the advantage that the probability is reduced that Ares occur during the process time extension.
  • the resulting increase in process time is generally not essential.
  • control unit took note of the arc events and determined only one process time extension. In one embodiment, however, it is also possible for the control unit to intervene in the normal pulse sequence via arc interventions. For example, it is known and possible for a control unit to abort a process completely if too many arc events occur, although no distinction has been made here between arc types in the past. As a result, the batch of substrates in the process was generally completely discarded or the substrates were processed (the partially applied layer was removed, for example by etching), inspected and again exposed to a coating).
  • the pulse sequence instead of aborting a process, it is considered to change the pulse sequence when a certain number of arc events occur in such a way that the power per pulse is reduced in order to increase the probability of arc events for the remaining pulse sequence to decrease.
  • the total number of arc events in the previous process or the number of arc events per arc type can be used to decide whether to reduce the performance.
  • a frequent occurrence of arc events within a shorter period of the process sequence can lead to a corresponding decision.
  • this can quickly lead to a corresponding decision to reduce the power Lead pulses of the pulse train to protect the substrates and / or the substrate carrier.
  • the pulse sequence is then continued with lower power per pulse until the end of the process time. Based on the number of arc events and the number of pulses with reduced power (and knowledge of the reduced power), a process time extension can then in turn be determined with a corresponding pulse sequence and appended to the normal process time.
  • FIG. 9 A corresponding example is shown in FIG. 9 that again shows an output pulse sequence (requested pulses are shown in dashed lines) within a process time (normal process end is shown by a dashed line) to which another pulse sequence (pulses with hatching) ) are attached within a process time extension.
  • Ares of types 2 and 3 appear in quick succession in the pulse sequence (four events within a pulse sequence of 10), whereupon the control for subsequent pulses reduces the power to half, which means that no further arc events occur , but within the process time a much lower output is brought in than planned.
  • the controller determines a corresponding process time extension with a pulse sequence with pulses that each output 50% less power compared to a normal pulse .
  • the specified values with regard to the number of arc events that lead to an intervention beyond an arc intervention are of course only to be seen as examples. This also applies to the 50% power reduction. Rather, it is of course possible to first reduce the performance by a lower value (for example 10%), in order to then see whether the reduction in performance is sufficient to reduce the arc events sufficiently. If this is not the case, another (or more) reduction (s) can occur within the process sequence. Due to the fact that the control unit is able to at least partially compensate for a resulting malfunction through a process time extension with a pulse sequence, substrate batches can possibly be processed successfully despite major problems in the process.
  • the arc interventions could also be adapted, for example by extending the respective interruption times and / or Ramps for the U * l-Arc-E intervention or the Imax intervention should be made flatter. While these have so far been designed so that the intervention generates as little failure as possible, it can now be designed so that it reduces the probability of subsequent ares. The resulting faulty performance can be estimated and at least partially compensated for by the process time extension with a corresponding pulse sequence.
  • arc interventions can primarily be designed to reduce the risk of subsequent ares (longer breaks, flatter ramps), since greater loss of performance can be compensated for.
  • criteria for when an intervention takes place can also be adapted so that it can be intervened earlier or more frequently in order to avoid the Imax Arc events as far as possible. This applies in particular to U * l events but also to micro-arc events.
  • the power not fed in due to arcing can be fed in at the end of the normal pulse sequence.
  • the process duration is no longer stored as a fixed value, but is essentially controlled by the power fed in. This enables a significantly better integration of the plasma generator with the coating system and modified recipes.
  • New recipes would no longer need to define process duration and performance, but could count the amount of energy with a target performance.
  • the target output could be defined with further tolerances than usual with current recipes.
  • the process controller could simply stop using an if query or while loop as soon as the desired amount of energy has been reported. This further change could be seen as an alternative to the process of querying the number of ares and then at the end of the deposition to calculate the extra time. It would be advantageous to calculate the correct active power (amount of energy delivered in the workpiece carrier).
  • Modern plasma generators can determine the active power with the fed-in, the dissipated power and the phase shift of the current. Inaccuracies should be kept as small as possible here, since the performance correction can otherwise lead to a greater deviation than if it is not made.
  • the plasma generator can also be used only for one plasma unit. This can involve a wide variety of plasma units in which the process result depends largely on the power input.
  • the number of plasma units to be supplied by a plasma generator can also differ from the number shown (here two).

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Abstract

L'invention concerne un dispositif de traitement au plasma et un procédé de délivrance d'impulsions de puissance électrique à au moins une chambre de traitement. Le dispositif de traitement au plasma comporte un générateur de plasma pour délivrer des impulsions de puissance électrique à au moins une chambre de traitement, le générateur de plasma étant conçu pour générer et délivrer les impulsions sur une durée de traitement conformément à une séquence d'impulsions prédéterminée. Le générateur de plasma comporte une unité d'arc qui est appropriée pour détecter une formation d'arc ou une formation d'arc imimente, également appelée événement d'arc, et en réponse à cette détection, pour interrompre, modifier et/ou supprimer une impulsion qui est délivrée ou doit être délivrée à la chambre de traitement, ce qui est connu sous le nom d'intervention sur l'arc. En outre, au moins une unité de commande est prévue qui est conçue pour mettre en œuvre un procédé qui comprend les étapes suivantes : déterminer ou recevoir un temps de traitement et une séquence d'impulsions destinée à la chambre de traitement dans/sur une unité de commande, commander un générateur de plasma pour délivrer la séquence d'impulsions durant le temps de traitement déterminé, détecter un événement d'arc qui indique une formation d'arc ou une formation d'arc iminente, en réponse à la détection d'un événement d'arc, effectuer une intervention sur l'arc qui interrompt, modifie et/ou supprime une impulsion qui est délivrée ou doit être délivrée à la chambre de traitement, obtenir des données sur des interventions sur l'arc et déterminer sur la base des données une extension de temps de traitement avec une séquence d'impulsions correspondante pour compenser au moins partiellement une réduction de puissance provoquée par les interventions sur l'arc, et commander le générateur de plasma afin de délivrer, à la suite du temps de traitement déterminé, pendant la durée de l'extension de temps de traitement déterminé, la séquence d'impulsions correspondante.
PCT/EP2019/076754 2018-10-03 2019-10-02 Dispositif de traitement au plasma et procédé de délivrance d'impulsions de puissance électrique à au moins une chambre de traitement WO2020070214A1 (fr)

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DE102009002684A1 (de) * 2009-04-28 2010-11-18 Hüttinger Elektronik GmbH & Co. KG Verfahren zur Leistungsversorgung einer Plasmalast
DE102015004419A1 (de) 2015-04-02 2016-10-06 Centrotherm Photovoltaics Ag Waferboot und Plasma-Behandlungsvorrichtung für Wafer
DE102018204585A1 (de) 2017-03-31 2018-10-04 centrotherm international AG Plasmagenerator, Plasma-Behandlungsvorrichtung und Verfahren zum gepulsten Bereitstellen von elektrischer Leistung

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ATE493749T1 (de) * 2007-03-08 2011-01-15 Huettinger Elektronik Gmbh Verfahren und vorrichtung zum unterdrücken von bogenentladungen beim betreiben eines plasmaprozesses
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DE102013110883B3 (de) * 2013-10-01 2015-01-15 TRUMPF Hüttinger GmbH + Co. KG Vorrichtung und Verfahren zur Überwachung einer Entladung in einem Plasmaprozess
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DE19651615C1 (de) * 1996-12-12 1997-07-10 Fraunhofer Ges Forschung Verfahren zum Aufbringen von Kohlenstoffschichten durch reaktives Magnetron-Sputtern
DE102006002333A1 (de) * 2006-01-18 2007-07-19 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Löschen von Bogenentladungen
WO2009065039A2 (fr) * 2007-11-16 2009-05-22 Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. Procédés et appareil pour un dépôt par pulvérisation à l'aide d'un courant continu
DE102009002684A1 (de) * 2009-04-28 2010-11-18 Hüttinger Elektronik GmbH & Co. KG Verfahren zur Leistungsversorgung einer Plasmalast
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DE102018204585A1 (de) 2017-03-31 2018-10-04 centrotherm international AG Plasmagenerator, Plasma-Behandlungsvorrichtung und Verfahren zum gepulsten Bereitstellen von elektrischer Leistung

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