Applied Materials, Inc.

Advanced Micro-fabrication Equipment, Inc. Asia

Other

Advanced Micro-fabrication Equipment Inc. China

Advanced Micro-fabrication Equipment Inc, Shanghai

Gerald Zheyao Yin

Peter K Loewenhardt

Tuqiang Q Ni

Diana Xiaobing Ma

Yan Ye

Jinyuan Chen

Hiroji Hanawa

Lee Luo

Philip M Salzman

Daniel John Hoffman

Claes H Bjorkman

Steve S Mak

AiHua Chen

Brian Sy Yuan Shieh

Xueyu Qian

Avi Tepman

James S Papanu

Allen Richard Zhao

Donald J Olgado

Henry Ho

Timothy D Driscoll

Kenneth S Collins

Jennifer Y Sun

Tetsuya Ishikawa

Dan Maydan

Douglas A Buchberger, Jr

Jeffrey S Marks

David Walter Groechel

Jay D Pinson, Ii

Craig A Roderick

Matthew L Miller

Senh Thach

Masato M Toshima

Chan-Lon Yang

Shulin Wang

John R Trow

Dan Katz

Jeng H Hwang

Hongqing Shan

Peter R Keswick

Xiaoye Zhao

Ruiping Wang

Kang-Lie Chiang

Danny Chien Lu

Joseph P Caulfield

Chang-Lin Hsieh

Keshav B Prasad

Steve S Y Mak

Jerry Yuen-Kui Wong

Jie Liang

Robert B Hagen

Li Fu

Hiroshi Iizuka

Hoiman (Raymond) Hung

Lawrence Chang-Lai Lei

Raymond Gristi

Ryoji Todaka

Heng Tao

Qing Lv

Yichuan Zhang

Xingcai Su

Zhongdu Liu

Philip M Saizman

Yijun Liu

Paul Martinez

Mark Siegel

A semiconductor processing system, including: an elongated transfer chamber including a middle portion, a first end portion disposed at a first end of the middle portion and a second end portion disposed at a second end of the middle portion, wherein at least two lateral semiconductor processing modules attach to the first and second sidewall of the middle portion; the second end portion of the transfer chamber is further attached with one end portion semiconductor processing module, the end portion semiconductor processing module including two process chambers, the two process chambers of the end portion semiconductor processing module being respectively connected to an end face of the second end portion via two air-tight valves; wherein a traverse distance (D) is provided between the two air-tight valves of the end portion semiconductor processing module, the width of the end face is greater than the traverse distance, and the spacing (D) between the first and sidewall.

Semiconductor processing system

Disclosed are a plasma reactor for ultra-high aspect ratio etching and an etching method therefor, wherein the plasma reactor comprises: a reaction chamber inside which a reaction space is formed; a base disposed at the bottom of the reaction space and configured for supporting a to-be-processed substrate; a gas showerhead disposed at the top inside the reaction chamber; wherein a first radio frequency power supply outputs a radio frequency power with a first frequency to the base or the gas showerhead so as to form and maintain plasma in the reaction chamber; and a second radio frequency power supply which outputs a radio frequency power with a second frequency to the base so as to control the ion energy incident to the base; wherein the first frequency is not less than 4 MHz, and the second frequency is not less than 10 KHz but not more than 300 KHz.

Plasma reactor for ultra-high aspect ratio etching and etching method thereof

A processing apparatus for semiconductor work pieces and related methodology is disclosed and which includes a processing chamber having an internal cavity, and which has a plurality of rotatable processing stations positioned therein and wherein the rotatable processing stations each process a semiconductor work piece.

Method and apparatus for processing semiconductor work pieces

The present invention relates to a capacitive-coupled plasma processing apparatus, wherein an electric field regulating element, i.e., an 'electric field lens', is arranged in the reaction chamber to generate a regenerated electric field in a direction opposite to that of the original radio frequency electric field in the reaction chamber, so that the non-uniformity of etching rate on the surface of the substrate of the plasma incurred by the original radio frequency electric field is decreased; and the electric field regulating element, i.e., the 'electric field lens', further decreases the equivalent quality factor Q value of the reaction chamber, expands the radio frequency band, and prevents high-voltage electric arcing. The present invention further provides a method for processing the substrate using the processing apparatus.

Capacitive-coupled plasma processing apparatus and method for processing substrate

A tandem processing-zones chamber having plasma isolation and frequency isolation is provided. At least two RF frequencies are fed from the cathode for each processing zones, where one frequency is about ten times higher than the other, so as to provide decoupled reactive ion etch capability. The chamber body is ground all around and in-between the two processing zones. The use of frequency isolation enables feed of multiple RF frequencies from the cathode, without having crosstalk and beat. A plasma confinement ring is also used to prevent plasma crosstalk. A grounded common evacuation path is connected to a single vacuum pump.

Multi-station decoupled reactive ion etch chamber

A plasma chamber is constructed to have a chamber body defining therein a plurality of process stations. A plurality of rotating substrate holders are each situated in one of the process stations and a plurality of in-situ plasma generation regions are each provided above one of the substrate holders. A plurality of quasi-remote plasma generation regions are each provided above a corresponding in-situ plasma generation region and being in gaseous communication with the corresponding in-situ plasma generation region. An RF energy source is coupled to each of the quasi-remote plasma generation regions.

Multi-station plasma reactor with multiple plasma regions

A decoupled capacitive CVD reactor is described, which provides improved CVD capabilities, including processing at lower temperatures, performing alternating deposition and etching steps, and performing in situ cleaning of the chamber, without the need for a remote plasma source. Two RF frequencies are coupled to the susceptor, while the anode is grounded. The high frequency RF source is operated so as to control the plasma density, while the low frequency RF source is operated to control species bombardment on the substrate, so as to control the properties of the film being deposited. Additionally, both RF sources may be controlled, together with selection of gasses supplied to the chamber, to operate the chamber either in deposition mode, partial etch mode, etching mode, or cleaning mode.

Capacitive CVD reactor and methods for plasma CVD process

A semiconductor work piece processing reactor is described and which includes a processing chamber defining a deposition region; a pedestal which supports and moves a semiconductor work piece to be processed within the deposition region of the processing chamber; and a gas distribution assembly mounted within the processing chamber and which defines first and second reactive gas passageways which are separated from each other, and which deliver two reactant gases to a semiconductor work piece which is positioned near the gas distribution assembly.

Gas distribution assembly for use in a semiconductor work piece processing reactor

An RF power supplier is provided, that enables multiple-frequency RF power. The system uses N RF signal generators, combines the RF signals, amplify the combined signals, and then separates the amplified signal. The output of the system is then a multiple-frequency RF power. Optionally, the frequencies are switchable, so that one may select which frequencies the system outputs.

Multiple frequency plasma chamber, switchable RF system, and processes using same

A plasma reactor for processing a semiconductor workpiece, includes a reactor chamber having a chamber wall and containing a workpiece support for holding the semiconductor workpiece, an overhead electrode overlying said workpiece support, the electrode comprising a portion of said chamber wall, an RF power generator for supplying power at a frequency of said generator to said overhead electrode and capable of maintaining a plasma within said chamber at a desired plasma ion density level. The overhead electrode has a capacitance such that said overhead electrode and the plasma formed in said chamber at said desired plasma ion density resonate together at an electrode-plasma resonant frequency, said frequency of said generator being at least near said electrode-plasma resonant frequency. The reactor further includes an insulating layer formed on a surface of said overhead electrode facing said workpiece support, a capacitive insulating layer between said RF power generator and said overhead electrode, and a metal foam layer overlying and contacting a surface of said overhead electrode that faces away from said workpiece support.

Plasma reactor with overhead RF electrode tuned to the plasma with arcing suppression

An integrated in situ etch process performed in a multichamber substrate processing system having first and second etching chambers. In one embodiment the first chamber includes an interior surface that has been roughened to at least 100 Rand the second chamber includes an interior surface that has a roughness of less than about 32 R. The process includes transferring a substrate having formed thereon in a downward direction a patterned photoresist mask, a dielectric layer, a barrier layer and a feature in the substrate to be contacted into the first chamber where the dielectric layer is etched in a process that encourages polymer formation over the roughened interior surface of the chamber. The substrate is then transferred from the first chamber to the second chamber under vacuum conditions and, in the second chamber, is exposed to a reactive plasma such as oxygen to strip away the photoresist mask deposited over the substrate. After the photoresist mask is stripped, the barrier layer is etched through to the feature to be contacted in the second chamber of the multichamber substrate processing system using a process that discourages polymer formation over the relatively smooth interior surface of the second chamber. All three etching steps are performed in a system level in situ process so that the substrate is not exposed to an ambient between steps. In some embodiments the interior surface of the first chamber has a roughness between 100 and 200 Rand in other embodiments the roughness of the first chamber's interior surface is between 110 and 160 R.

System level in-situ integrated dielectric etch process particularly useful for copper dual damascene

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a plasma reactor has a capacitive electrode driven by an RF power source, and the electrode capacitance is matched at the desired plasma density and RF source frequency to the negative capacitance of the plasma, to provide an electrode plasma resonance supportive of a broad process window within which the plasma may be sustained.

Plasma reactor with overhead RF electrode tuned to the plasma

An integrated in situ etch process performed in a multichamber substrate processing system having first and second etching chambers. The process includes transferring a substrate having formed thereon in a downward direction a patterned photoresist mask, a dielectric layer, a stop layer and a feature in the substrate to be contacted into the first etching chamber to etch the dielectric layer. The substrate is then transferred from the first etching chamber to the second etching chamber under vacuum conditions and, in the second etching chamber, is exposed to an oxygen plasma or similar environment to strip away the photoresist mask deposited over the substrate. After the photoresist mask is stripped, the stop layer is etched through to the feature to be contacted in either the second or a third etching chamber of said multichamber substrate processing system. All three etching steps are performed in a system level in situ process so that the substrate is not exposed to an ambient between steps.

An oxide etching process, particularly useful for selectively etching oxide over a feature having a non-oxide composition, such as silicon nitride and especially when that feature has a corner that is prone to faceting during the oxide etch. One aspect of the invention uses one of four hydrogen-free fluorocarbons having a low F/C ratio, specifically hexafluorobutadiene (C F ), octafluoropentadiene (C F ), hexafluorocyclobutene (C F ), and hexafluorobenzene (C F ). At least hexafluorobutadiene has a boiling point below 10&deg; C. and is commercially available. Another aspect of the invention, uses an unsaturated fluorocarbon such as pentafluoropropylene (C HF ), and trifluoropropyne (C HF ), both of which have boiling points below 10&deg; C. and are commercially available. The fluorocarbon together with a substantial amount of a noble gas such as argon or xenon is excited into a high-density plasma in a reactor which inductively couples plasma source power into the chamber and RF biases the pedestal electrode supporting the wafer. Preferably, one of two two-step etch process is used. In the first, the source and bias power are reduced towards the end of the etch. In the second, the fluorocarbon is used in the main step to provide a good vertical profile and a more strongly polymerizing fluorocarbon such as difluoromethane (CH F ) is added in the over etch to protect the nitride corner. The same chemistry can be used in a magnetically enhanced reactive ion etcher (MERIE), preferably with an even larger amount of argon.

Process for etching oxide using hexafluorobutadiene or related fluorocarbons and manifesting a wide process window

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Shanghai, China

Gerald Zheyao Yin