Tokyo Electron Limited

Glyn J Reynolds

Michael James Grapperhaus

John Stephen Drewery

Jozef Brcka

Mirko Vukovic

Tugrul Yasar

Bruce David Gittleman

Gerrit J Leusink

Frank M Cerio, Jr

Derrek Andrew Russell

Michael James Lombardi

Joseph T Hillman

Robert F Foster

Rodney Lee Robison

Frederick T Turner

Stanislaw Kopacz

Robert Clark Rowan, Jr

Stephen D Coomer

Doug Caldwell

Jason Smolanoff

Frank Cerio

Todd Michael Visconti

Bruce David Gittelman

Frank Michael Cerio

One or more chambers of a multi-chamber vacuum processing apparatus are provided with a high gas flow conductance path to an exhaust volume of the apparatus that is maintained at high vacuum with a high vacuum pump. Separate pumps for the one or more chambers are made unnecessary by providing such chambers with a protective deposition shield or shield set that is configured to substantially protect walls of the chamber and the gas flow conductance path from deposition and to partially impede the gas flow from the chamber through the gas flow conductance path to the exhaust volume so that the chamber can be operated at a higher pressure than that of the exhaust volume and the chambers can be operated at different pressures and without cross-contamination. Preferably, a nested set of chamber shields is used. A controller is programmed to control the processing of wafers in the chambers by controlling the supply of process gas into the chambers.

Vacuum-processing chamber-shield and multi-chamber pumping method

A plasma processing system is provided with a cylindrical target, open at both ends, and with a magnet array that forms a hollow cathode magnetron (HCM). At one of the open ends is placed an inductively coupled RF energy source. A dielectric window at one end of the cylindrical target forms a seal between atmosphere and the processing system. A deposition baffle shield permits the coupling of RF energy from the coil into the chamber. The open end of the cylindrical target opposite the RF source faces the processing space. Magnetron magnets produce a magnetic trapping field having a null which acts as a mirror and separates a plasma-source from the processing space.

Sputtering source for ionized physical vapor deposition of metals

An iPVD apparatus ( ) is programmed to deposit material ( ) into high aspect ratio submicron features ( ) on semiconductor substrates ( ) by cycling between deposition and etch modes within a vacuum chamber ( ). The modes operate at different power and pressure parameters. Pressure of more than 50 mTorr, for example, is used for sputtering material from a target while pressure of less than a few mTorr, for example, is used to etch. Bias power on the substrate is an order of magnitude higher for etching, producing several hundred volt bias for etching, but only a few tens of volts for deposition. The alternating etching modes remove deposited material that overhangs edges of features on the substrate, removes some of the deposited material from the bottoms ( ) of the features, and resputters the removed deposited material onto sidewalls ( ) of the features. The substrate ( ) is cooled during deposition and etching, and particularly during etching to substantially below 0&deg; C. RF energy is coupled into the chamber ( ) to form a high density plasma, with substantially higher RF power coupled during deposition than during etching. The substrate ( ) is moved closer to the plasma source during etching than during deposition.

Ionized PVD with sequential deposition and etching

Ionized Physical Vapor Deposition (IPVD) is provided by a method of apparatus ( ) particularly useful for sputtering conductive metal coating material from an annular magnetron sputtering target ( ). The sputtered material is ionized in a processing space between the target ( ) and a substrate ( ) by generating a dense plasma in the space with energy coupled from a coil ( ) located outside of the vacuum chamber ( ) behind a dielectric window ( ) in the chamber wall ( ) at the center of the opening ( ) in the sputtering target. A Faraday type shield ( ) physically shields the window to prevent coating material from coating the window, while allowing the inductive coupling of energy from the coil into the processing space. The location of the coil in the plane of the target or behind the target allows the target-to-wafer spacing to be chosen to optimize film deposition rate and uniformity, and also provides for the advantages of a ring-shaped source without the problems associated with unwanted deposition in the opening at the target center.

Method and apparatus for ionized physical vapor deposition

A wafer handling system and a method of retrofitting the system to an existing wafer handling apparatus are provided that make possible a method of handling wafers by contacting only a narrow area of not more than two millimeters wide adjacent the edge of the wafer, which is particularly useful for backside deposition where device side contact defines an area of exclusion that renders the wafer unusable in that area. The system provides a chuck on a wafer transfer arm that holds a wafer by gravity on a segmented, upwardly facing annular surface. A compatible annular surface is provided on an aligning station chuck so that wafers can be transferred by contact only with the exclusion area of the wafer surface. A load arm has two similarly compatible chucks further provided with pneumatically actuated grippers to allow the wafer to be loaded into a vertical processing apparatus. The wafer chucks are retrofitted into a processing apparatus in place of vacuum chucks and the vacuum lines that were provided to activate them are used for wafer detection. The electrical signals that were provided for vacuum chuck commands are utilized to actuate the grippers on the transfer arm so that no control software and little hardware need be altered for the retrofit.

Reduced edge contact wafer handling system and method of retrofitting and using same

A plasma processing system efficiently couples radiofrequency energy to a plasma confined within a vacuum processing space inside a vacuum chamber. The plasma processing system comprises a frustoconical dielectric window, an inductive element disposed outside of the dielectric window, and a frustoconical support member incorporated into an opening in the chamber wall. The support member has a frustoconical panel that mechanically supports a frustoconical section of the dielectric window. The dielectric window is formed of a dielectric material, such as a ceramic or a polymer, and has a reduced thickness due to the mechanical support provided by the support member. The processing system may include a gas source positioned above the substrate support for introducing the process gas into the vacuum processing space.

Inductively-coupled plasma processing system

A plasma processing system having a plasma source that efficiently couple radiofrequency energy to a plasma within a vacuum processing space of a vacuum chamber. The plasma source comprises a dielectric trough, an inductive element, and a pair of slotted deposition shields. A chamber wall of the vacuum chamber includes an annular opening that receives the dielectric trough. The trough projects into the vacuum processing space to immerse the inductive element within the plasma. The spatial distribution of the RF energy inductively coupled from the inductive element to the plasma may be tailored by altering the slots in the slotted deposition shields, the configuration of the inductive element, and the thickness or geometry of the trough. The efficient inductive coupling of radiofrequency energy is particularly effective for creating a spatially-uniform large-area plasma for the processing of large-area substrates.

Immersed inductively&mdash;coupled plasma source

Ionized physical vapor deposition (IPVD) is provided by a method of apparatus for sputtering conductive metal coating material from an annular magnetron sputtering target. The sputtered material is ionized in a processing space between the target and a substrate by generating a dense plasma in the space with energy coupled from a coil located outside of the vacuum chamber behind a dielectric window in the chamber wall at the center of the opening in the sputtering target. Faraday type shields physically shield the window to prevent coating material from coating the window, while allowing the inductive coupling of energy from the coil into the processing space. The location of the coil in the plane of the target or behind the target allows the target to wafer spacing to be chosen to optimize film deposition rate and uniformity, and also provides for the advantages of a ring-shaped source without the problems associated with unwanted deposition in the opening at the target center.

An apparatus for processing a substrate in a processing system having multiple process chambers and a common transfer chamber comprises a process chamber having a process space to receive and process a substrate and a buffer chamber defining a buffer space. The buffer chamber is positioned beneath the process chamber and is configured for interfacing with a transfer chamber of a processing system for receiving a substrate to be processed. A passage is formed between the process and buffer chambers for moving a substrate between the process space and buffer space and a movable substrate stage in the buffer space is operable for moving vertically in said passage between a first position wherein the substrate is positioned in the buffer space and a second position wherein the substrate is positioned within the process space of the process chamber. A sealing mechanism is operable for sealing said passage to isolate the process chamber and a pumping system is coupled to the buffer chamber for purging the buffer space of contaminants which may leak from the process chamber to generally reduce the escape of the contaminants through the buffer chamber and into the common transfer chamber and other process chambers of a multiple chamber system.

Buffer chamber for integrating physical and chemical vapor deposition chambers together in a processing system

Damage to a gallium arsenide substrate during plasma ignition for PVD processing is avoided by a virtual shutter, which provides the functions without the disadvantages of a mechanical shutter to minimize the density of high energy particles created during plasma ignition from reaching the GaAs substrate. A plasma ignition process sequence uses a high pressure gas ignition gas burst in combination with the control of other parameters, such as (a) varying the plasma ignition gas composition to include xenon, krypton or fluorinated molecular gases, (b) varying target-to-substrate distance to at least double the distance during plasma ignition, (c) increasing the magnetron magnetic field strength either permanently or during plasma ignition to about 400 Gauss, (d) preconditioning the target by sputtering whenever the system has been idle for several minutes, (e) adjusting the power supply power ramping to the target over 5-6 seconds or more, and/or (f) using a simple electric circuit to drain charge build up on the GaAs substrate.

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Mesa, AZ, United States of America

Glyn J Reynolds