PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS
A plasma processing apparatus includes a vacuum chamber, a sample table that places the sample in the vacuum chamber, and a gas supply unit faced to the sample table and having a gas supply surface with a diameter larger than that of the sample, wherein gas injection holes each having identical diameter are provided concentrically on the gas supply surface, a hole number density of the gas injection holes present in an outer diameter position of the sample or in an outside of the outer diameter position is made higher than that of the gas injection holes present inside the outer diameter position of the sample, and a diameter of the gas injection holes present in the outer diameter position of the sample or in the outside from the outer diameter position is larger than that of the gas injection holes present inside the diameter of the sample.
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The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus to manufacture semiconductor devices, and in particularly to a dry etching technique to etch semiconductor materials, such as a silicon, a silicon dioxide film, etc., along a mask pattern shape formed by a resist material etc.
The dry etching is a semiconductor micro-fabrication method in which a processing gas is introduced into a vacuum chamber having a vacuum decompression unit, the processing gas is turned into a plasma by an electromagnetic wave to apply it to a sample to be processed, a surface of the sample other than a mask portion is etched to obtain a desirable shape. A processing uniformity on an in-plane sample is affected by a plasma distribution, a temperature distribution on the in-plane of the sample, a supplied gas composition and flow rate distribution, etc.
Particularly, in the case of a parallel plate type plasma processing apparatus, the processing gas is supplied from a shower plate disposed so as to face the sample, and a gas supply distribution of the gas supplied from the shower plate has an effect on a process speed, a process shape, etc., since a distance between the sample and the shower plate is relatively short.
As to using the above-mentioned characteristic, JP-A-2006-41088 (corresponding to U.S. patent publication Nos. 2006/16559 and 2007/186972) has proposed a plasma processing apparatus which controls independently the gas composition and flow rate at a center portion and a periphery portion of the shower plate, enhancing the in-plane uniformity of the sample, such as a process shape.
Normally, the shower plate has been designed that a plurality of gas injection holes 2 are uniformly disposed on a shower plate gas supply surface 5, such that the gas composition and flow rate injected from every hole should be uniformed and a gas supply condition applied per unit area of the sample is also uniformed, basically.
Further, the gas supply amount is broadly controlled at the center portion and periphery portion of the in-plane sample to cancel an effect caused by a reactive product etc., realizing the uniformity of the processed shape.
In the case of a gas supply distribution structure disclosed in the JP-A-2006-41088, the gas composition and flow rate injected from every hole are different in the two domains: the center portion and the periphery portion, but the gas having the same gas composition and flow rate is injected from the holes present in the respective domains.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThere is a tendency for the gas supply amount at the periphery portion of the sample to relatively go down compared with the center portion and its vicinity thereof, since the gas injection holes to be formed on the shower plate are basically disposed in uniformity.
Particularly, in the case of a narrow-gap type apparatus, there sometimes arises a problem to occur a non-uniformity shape at the periphery portion of the sample by causing the non-uniformity of gas supply amount.
As shown in
As to a solution method for the problem indicated on
This is a result of the case where the wafer diameter is 300 mm, the gas injection holes are disposed uniformly on the shower plate, and the distance L between the wafer and shower plate is 24 mm (aspect ratio D/L=12.5).
As shown in
In fact, since the expansion of the gas injection domain diameter incurs a large size apparatus caused by a large-sized shower plate and the shower plate is normally exchanged regularly as a consumable supply, the cost of the consumable supply increases by causing the large size, as a problem, and the expansion is not helpful to practically solve the problem.
An object of the invention is to solve the gas supply deficiency occurred at the periphery portion of the sample when the gas is supplied from the shower plate, and to provide a plasma processing apparatus capable of enhancing the in-plane uniformity of processing accuracy on the sample.
Particularly, the invention is to provide a plasma processing apparatus having both enhancement of the in-plane uniformity of the sample in the processing characteristic and cost reduction of the consumable supply by restraining the expansion of the shower plate diameter in minimum and improving the gas supply uniformity to the in-plane sample.
According to one aspect of the invention to solve the problem, a plasma processing apparatus for applying a surface processing to a sample, includes a vacuum chamber, a sample table to place the sample in the vacuum chamber, and a gas supply unit faced to the sample table and having a gas supply surface with a diameter larger than that of the sample, in which gas injection holes each having identical diameter are provided concentrically on the gas supply surface of the gas supply unit, and a hole number density of the gas injection holes present in an outer diameter position of the sample or in an outside of the outer diameter position is made higher than that of the gas injection holes present inside the outer diameter position of the sample.
According to another aspect of the invention, a plasma processing apparatus for applying a surface processing to a sample, includes a vacuum chamber, a sample table to place the sample in the vacuum chamber, and a gas supply unit faced to the sample table and having a gas supply surface with a diameter larger than that of the sample, in which gas injection holes are provided concentrically on the gas supply surface of the gas supply unit, and a diameter of the gas injection holes present in an outer diameter position of the sample or in an outside from the outer diameter position is larger than that of the gas injection holes present inside from the outer diameter position of the sample.
According to the invention, a uniformed gas supply distribution is given to the entire surface of the sample without making the apparatus large and also making the shower plate large as a change part, realizing the uniformity of processing rate and processing shape of the sample.
The other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
Embodiment 1A first embodiment of the invention will be described with use of
The shower plate 1 is formed by silicon. The plate 8 is disposed on an upper stage of the shower plate 1, and the plate 8 has holes matched with the same position of gas injection holes 2 formed on the shower plate 1 and slightly larger than the gas injection holes 2 in diameter. The dispersion plate 11 is further disposed on the upper stage of the plate 8, and the dispersion plate 11 forms a gas dispersion layer 10 to disperse the gas supplied from a gas supply portion 9. The gas supply portion 9 is provided independently for an inside domain and an outside domain of the sample 7, and a flow rate and a gas composition can be controlled independently at the inside and outside domains of the sample 7. The inside domain and outside domain are also divided by a barrier in such that a form domain area of the respective gas injection holes 2 in the inside and outside domains is substantially equal. In the case of this embodiment, the apparatus will be described with two domains: the inside domain and outside domain, and the domain may not be divided, but also divided into more than three domains. In addition, reference numerals 18, 19 and 20 denote an automatic matching device, 6 denotes a shower plate fixing screw hole, 23 denotes a silicon-made focus ring, 25 denotes an insulation material, and 27 denotes an earth plate.
In the case of
In the case of the constitution in
According to the above-mentioned constitution, the gas injected from the gas injection holes 2 is substantially the same in the flow rate and gas composition at the inside and outside domains of the sample 7. A gas condition (flow rate and composition) distribution produced by supplying the gas to the surface of the sample 7 depends on a density of number of the gas injection holes 2. In the case of this embodiment, the apparatus will be described with a case where the gas flow rate injected from every gas injection hole 2 is equal. However, it is not necessarily to make the gas flow rate equal, injected from every gas injection hole 2, since an oxygen flow rate is sometimes changed at the inside and outside domains, for example, for a purpose of correcting a deposition distribution caused by a reactive product.
In the case of this embodiment, as to a position corresponding to an edge portion of the sample 7, a hole number density per unit length on two outermost circumferences formed with the gas injection holes 2 is set to about twice that of the other circumferences. A pitch between the gas injection holes 2 formed on the other circumferences is 10 mm, while the pitch between the holes 2 formed on the two outermost circumferences is 7 mm.
In consequence, the hole number density of the gas injection holes 2 facing to the edge portion of the sample 7 increases by about 2.85 times (density (twice) of circumferential direction×density (10 mm/7 mm) of diametrical direction), compared with the other domains.
That is, a uniformity gas supply is carried out at the inside domain of the sample 7 since the gas injection holes 2 are disposed on the inside domain with an equal density, however, a large volume gas, much more than the other domains, is supplied to the edge portion of the sample 7 at the outside domain since the density of the gas injection holes 2 formed on the edge portion of the sample 7 is high.
As shown in
In this way, by using the shower plate 1 in the invention, it is possible that the gas is supplied uniformly, therefore, it has become clear that the shower plate 1 is useful to make an etching characteristic uniformed.
Particularly, as used with a narrow-gap type opposite electrode structure, in the case of an etching mechanism (a silicon dioxide film etching by using a phlorocabon-based gas etc.) of which the etching characteristic depends largely on the supplied gas flow rate rather than a gas pressure, a difference of an etching rate and etching shape can be restrained within the in-plane wafer.
In the case of using the shower plate 1 of the invention, the gas flow rate of the outside domain is set to about twice that of the inside domain, that is, an inside flow rate is set to Ar=500 sccm, C4F8=15 sccm, O2=15 sccm, and an outside flow rate is set to Ar=1000 sccm, C4F8=30 sccm, O2=30 sccm, in accordance with a gas injection hole number ratio (about twice), since the gas supply amount injected from every gas injection hole 2 is made equal for all of the holes 2 formed on the inside and outside domains.
On the other hand, in the case of using the related shower plate, the same gas flow rate is supplied to both the inside and outside domains, that is, the inside and outside flow rates are of an Ar/C4F8/O2 mixed gas containing Ar=500 sccm, C4F8=15 sccm, O2=15 sccm, since the number of the gas injection holes at the inside domain is substantially equal to that of the outside domain.
As shown in
In the case of the invention, it is possible to select an optimal gas supply distribution in response to processing objects and processing conditions, by changing the gas-injection-hole number density so as to adapt the etching characteristic.
Next, the following description will be concerned with an optimization for the gas-injection-hole number density and an optimization for the domain on which the gas-injection-hole number density is made increased.
As shown in
On the other hand, as shown in
However, as shown in
In consequence, as shown in
Further, the increase of the gas-injection-hole number density varies in response to the processing objects and processing conditions. However, the gas-injection-hole number density increases in the range of 1.5 to 4 times to thereby optimize the uniformity of the etching characteristic, and the gas consumed amount can be restrained.
Embodiment 2A second embodiment of the invention will be described with use of
In the case of this embodiment, each diameter of gas injection holes 27 faced to the wafer edge portion and formed on the periphery portion of the shower plate 1 is 1.3 times that of the other gas injection holes 2, that is, the hole diameter at the periphery portion is 0.65 mm while the other hole diameter is set to 0.5 mm, and the gas-injection-hole number density is set to uniformity. In the case of the first embodiment, the gas supply amount to the wafer edge portion is adjusted by the gas-injection-hole number density of the gas injection holes 4 each having the same diameter and formed at the periphery portion of the shower plate 1. In the case of the second embodiment, the gas supply amount is adjusted by the hole diameter.
A conductance at a time when the gas passes through the gas injection holes 2 of the shower plate 1 increases in proportion to the 3 to 4 power of the hole diameter (3 power in the case of molecule flow, and the 4 power in the case of viscous flow). Practically, the conductance becomes a middle value (the 3.5 power in a middle flow) between the molecule flow and the viscous flow.
Therefore, it is possible to obtain the same effect as increased the gas-injection-hole number density by expanding the hole diameter, even in the same gas-injection-hole number density.
In the case of the second embodiment, the gas-injection-hole number density is the same at the periphery portion and the other portion, and the hole diameter of the periphery portion is 1.3 times that of the other portion, so that the gas supply amount at the periphery portion can be enhanced by about 2.85 times.
As with the first embodiment, the expansion amount of the hole diameter can be changed by the processing objects and processing conditions. For a purpose of increasing the gas-injection-hole number density from 1.5 to 4.0 times, that is, increasing the gas supply amount from 1.5 to 4.0 times, the hole diameter is set to a range from 1.1 times (1/3.5 power of 1.5=1.123) to 1.5 times (1/3.5 power of 4=1.486), so that the uniformity of the etching characteristic can be optimized.
Further, the domain on which the gas injection hole diameter is expanded can be ranged desirably from 1.0 to about 1.1 times, which is similar to the first embodiment.
The invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, and in particularly to a plasma etching apparatus to apply an etching processing to a semiconductor material masked with a pattern drawn by the lithography technique. According to the invention, it is possible to enhance the processing characteristic at the silicon wafer edge portion as a sample, particularly, the uniformity of the processing rate and processing shape. From the above-mentioned advantages of the invention, a non-defective product acquired rate is enhanced for the silicon wafer edge portion, and a processing yield of the etching apparatus can be enhanced.
It should be further understood by those skilled in the art that although the foregoing description has been made on embodiments of the invention, the invention is not limited thereto and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A plasma processing apparatus for applying a surface processing to a sample, comprising:
- a vacuum chamber;
- a sample table that places the sample in the vacuum chamber, and
- a gas supply unit faced to the sample table and having a gas supply surface with a diameter larger than that of the sample, wherein
- gas injection holes each having identical diameter are provided concentrically on the gas supply surface of the gas supply unit, and
- a hole number density of the gas injection holes present in an outer diameter position of the sample or in an outside of the outer diameter position is made higher than that of the gas injection holes present inside the outer diameter position of the sample.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the hole number density of the gas injection holes present in an outer diameter position of the sample or in an outside of the outer diameter position is present in a range from 1.5 to 4.0 times that of the gas injection holes present inside the outer diameter position of the sample.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the gas injection holes present in the outer diameter position of the sample or in the outside of the outer diameter position are present in a range of 1.0 to 1.1 times the diameter of the sample.
4. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein an aspect ratio (D/L) is equal to or greater than 2, where the diameter of sample is D, and a distance from the sample to the gas supply surface is L.
5. A plasma processing apparatus for applying a surface processing to a sample, comprising:
- a vacuum chamber;
- a sample table that places the sample in the vacuum chamber; and
- a gas supply unit faced to the sample table and having a gas supply surface with a diameter larger than that of the sample, wherein
- gas injection holes are provided concentrically on the gas supply surface of the gas supply unit, and
- a diameter of the gas injection holes present in an outer diameter position of the sample or in an outside from the outer diameter position is larger than that of the gas injection holes present inside from the outer diameter position of the sample.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5 wherein a diameter of the gas injection holes present in the outer diameter position of the sample or in an outside of the outer diameter position is present in a range of 1.1 to 1.5 times that of the gas injection holes present inside the outer diameter position of the sample.
7. The apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the gas injection holes present in the outer diameter position of the sample or in the outside of the outer diameter position are present in a range of 1.0 to 1.1 times the diameter of the sample.
8. The apparatus according to claim 5 wherein an aspect ratio (D/L) is equal to or greater than 2, where the diameter of sample is D, and a distance from the sample to the gas supply surface is L.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 25, 2009
Publication Date: Jul 1, 2010
Applicant:
Inventors: Kenetsu Yokogawa (Tsurugashima), Takamasa Ichino (Kudamatsu), Kazuyuki Hirozane (Kudamatsu), Tadamitsu Kanekiyo (Kudamatsu)
Application Number: 12/392,237
International Classification: C23F 1/08 (20060101);