Tokyo Electron Limited

Hideaki Amano

Yasuharu Sasaki

Mitsuaki Komino

Nobuo Ishii

Satoru Kawakami

Makoto Hasegawa

Tsuyoshi Saito

Toshiaki Fujisato

Shosuke Endo

Makoto Toraguchi

Keiki Ito

Kyo Tsuboi

Takashi Tozawa

Yoko Naito

Fumihiko Higuchi

Yoshinobu Kawai

Tatsuya Nakagome

Yoko Ueda

Genichi Katagiri

Kouji Suzuki

Katsunori Naitoh

A susceptorincludes a heaterdisposed in a planar state, upper and lower ceramic-metal compositesA andB disposed so as to sandwich the heaterfrom above and from below, and a ceramic electrostatic chuckfor attracting and holding an object to be treated, W. The electrostatic chuck is joined to an upper surface of the upper ceramic-metal compositeA. The electrostatic chuckhas nearly the same coefficient of linear thermal expansion as that of the upper ceramic-metal compositeA. Thus, peeling or cracking of the electrostatic chuckdue to the difference in thermal expansion and contraction between the electrostatic chuckand the upper ceramic-metal compositeA can be prevented.

Electrode, susceptor, plasma processing apparatus and method of making the electrode and the susceptor

An electrode structure used in a plasma processing apparatus which performs a predetermined process on an object (W) to be processed by using a plasma in a process chamber () in which a vacuum can be formed. An electrode unit () has a heater unit () therein. A cooling block () having a cooling jacket () is joined to the electrode unit () so as to cool the electrode unit. A heat resistant metal seal member (A,B) seals an electrode-side heat transfer space () formed between the electrode unit and the cooling block. Electrode-side heat transfer gas supply means () supplies a heat transfer gas to the electrode-side heat transfer space. Accordingly, a sealing characteristic of the electrode-side heat transfer space does not deteriorate even in a high temperature range such as a temperature higher than 200&#xb0; C. and, for example, a range from 350&#xb0; C. to 500&#xb0; C., and the heat transfer gas does not leak.

Plasma processing apparatus, and electrode structure and table structure of processing apparatus

In a plasma CVD apparatus for applying a film deposition process to a semiconductor wafer (W), a wafer placement stage ( ) is provided at a center of a vacuum chamber ( ). The placement stage ( ) is mounted to a side wall ( ) via a support part ( ). An exhaust port ( ) having a diameter equal to or smaller than a diameter of the placement stage ( ) is provided under the placement stage ( ). A center axis (C ) of the exhaust port ( ) is displaced from a center axis of the placement stage ( ) in a direction opposite to an extending direction of the support part ( ), thereby achieving an efficient exhaust.

Vacuum processing apparatus

The vacuum processing chambers of the plasma processing units A and B are connected to the transfer chamber and the wafer W in the positioned state is transferred from the transfer chamber to the mounting stages in the vacuum processing chambers . The volume and length of the wave guide are the same between the plasma processing units A and B. The location relationship of the wave guide to the transfer directions M and M of the transfer arm is the same between the plasma processing units A and B. As a result, the location relationship of the wave guide to the wafer W mounted on the mounting stage in a predetermined direction is the same between the plasma processing units A and B.

Device and method for plasma processing

A semiconductor wafer (W) is mounted on top of a mounting stand ( ) within a vacuum vessel of a vacuum processing apparatus such as a vacuum film-formation apparatus or an etching apparatus for semiconductor wafers. A heat-transfer gas such as helium is supplied to a gap between the wafer and the mounting stand, and film-formation or etching is performed while the wafer is held at a predetermined temperature. To ensure a simple and reliable detection of any leakage of the helium from between the wafer and the mounting stand during this process because of an abnormal state, the surface of a dielectric material such as aluminum nitride that configures the mounting stand ( ) is given a mirror finish and the wafer (W) is attracted to the surface of the mounting stand ( ) by an attractive force of at least 1 kg/cm , whereby the helium from the gas supply path ( ) is sealed in on the rear surface side of the wafer (W). A flowmeter ( ) is provided in the gas supply path ( ), a flowrate measured by this flowmeter is compared by a comparator ( ) against a threshold value, which corresponds to a flowrate that occurs when a leakage is generated between the rear surface side of the wafer (W) and the surface of the mounting stand ( ) in a normal state, and an abnormality signal is generated if the measured flowrate exceeds the threshold value. This ensures that the temperature of the wafer can be maintained accurately.

Vacuum processing method and apparatus

There is provided a method capable of shortening a preheat time when a thin film is deposited after a preheat is carried out. The current values of a main electromagnetic coil and an auxiliary electromagnetic coil during a preheat and during a thin-film deposition are set to be different from each other to change the shape of an obtained magnetic field so that the magnetic field has a small magnetic flux density although it has higher uniformity during the thin-film deposition, whereas the magnetic field has a large magnetic flux density although it has lower uniformity during the preheat. As a result, a substantially uniform plasma is produced in the plane of a wafer during the thin-film deposition, so that it is possible to carry out a uniform thin-film deposition. On the other hand, during the preheat, a plasma having a larger density than that during the thin-film deposition is produced although the uniformity thereof is lower. Therefore, the heat gain into the wafer is greater than that during the thin-film deposition, so that it is possible to shorten the preheat time.

Plasma processing method

It is an object to enhance the degree of freedom for the shape of an obtained magnetic field to enhance the inplane uniformity of thickness of first and second films when the first and second films are continuously formed on a substrate to be treated. A main electromagnetic coil,is provided outside of a plasma chamber,so as to be movable vertically by a lifting shaft,When plasma is produced in a vacuum vessel,by the electron cyclotron resonance between a microwave and a magnetic field to continuously deposit a film of a two-layer structure, which comprises an SiOF film and an SiO,film, on a wafer W with the produced plasma, a process for forming the SiOF film is carried out while the main electromagnetic coil,is arranged so that the lower surface of the coil,is positioned at a lower position than the lower surface of a transmission window,by 139 mm, and a process for forming the SiO,film is carried out while the main electromagnetic coil,is arranged so that the lower surface of the coil,is positioned at a lower position than the lower surface of the transmission,by 157 mm.

Plasma treatment system and method

An electron density at an ECR point, which is spaced from a substrate to be treated and which faces the substrate, is set to be higher than or equal to 0.46 nc (nc: an upper limit side cut-off density of an X wave) and lower than nc. Thus, a high chevron distribution of electron density is formed in end portions of a magnetic field forming region, and a distribution of electron density having a lower peak value than those in the end portions is formed in a central portion of the magnetic field forming region. In this case, the periphery of a magnetic field crosses the inner wall of a vacuum chamber once between the ECR point and the substrate, and a space of one fourth or more of the wavelength of the X wave is formed between the periphery of the magnetic field and the inner wall of the vacuum chamber as the magnetic field runs downstream. Thus, it is possible to achieve an inplane uniform treatment when carrying out a treatment, such as a thin film deposition or etching, with ECR plasmas for a wafer.

Plasma treatment method and system

A plasma generating gas and a reactive gas are fed into a vacuum container. A magnetic field and microwaves for plasma generation are applied to the vacuum container, whereupon plasma is generated by ECR, and whereupon, for example, an SiO.sub.2 or SiOF film is formed on aluminum wiring. In the initial phase of film deposition, the level of the radio-frequency power for plasma lead-in applied to the stage is adjusted, for example, to zero (first value includes zero) in advance. Then, after the SiO.sub.2 or SiOF film has been deposited to a thickness of tens of nanometers, for example, the radio-frequency power for plasma lead-in is adjusted to a normal power level (second value) and applied to the stage. Thereupon, an intensive anisotropic plasma is generated, and a potential distribution corresponding to the self-bias is formed in the plane direction of the wafer. Since the thin SiO.sub.2 film is formed on the wafer surface, however, the voltage applied to any existing gate oxide film is lowered by this insulating film. Thus, the gate oxide film can be prevented from being damaged.

Plasma deposition method and an apparatus therefor

A magnetron plasma etching system has a plurality of processing chambers connected to a common transfer chamber. Each processing chamber has a pair of counter electrodes for generating an electric field and a magnet mechanism for generating a magnetic field having an N-S axis crossing the electric field. All magnetic fields are rotated in the same plane. The rotation of the magnetic fields is controlled by a controller. When one of the magnetic fields is rotated, the other magnetic fields are rotated at equal speed such that the directions of N-S axes thereof are parallel and identical to that of the one of the magnetic fields.

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Zama, Japan

Hideaki Amano