Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Mitsuhiro Okune

Shogo Okita

Mitsuru Hiroshima

Atsushi Harikai

Noriyuki Matsubara

Toshihiro Wada

Syouzou Watanabe

Hiromi Asakura

In plasma processing, damage on a cover is prevented while thermal effect on an annular frame is suppressed. Plasma processing is applied to a substrate held by a carrier including an annular frame and a holding sheet. There are provided a chamber having a decompressible internal space, a plasma source for generating plasma in the chamber, a stage that is provided in the chamber and places the carrier thereon, and a cover that is placed above the stage to cover the holding sheet and the frame, and has a window penetrating through the thickness of the cover. The cover is made of a material having a high thermal conductivity, and a front face exposed to plasma, at least on the side of the window of the cover, is covered with a protect part made of a material having a low reactivity with plasma.

Plasma processing apparatus

In a plasma processing step that is used in the method of manufacturing the element chip for manufacturing a plurality of element chips by dividing a substrate having a plurality of element regions, the substrate is divided into element chipsby exposing the substrate to a first plasma. Therefore, element chips having a first surface, a second surface, and a side surface connecting the first surface and the second surface are held spaced from each other on a carrier. A protection film covering the element chip is formed only on the side surface and it is possible to suppress creep-up of a conductive material to the side surface in the mounting step by exposing the element chips to second plasma in which a mixed gas of fluorocarbon and helium is used as a raw material gas.

Method of manufacturing element chip and element chip

In a plasma processing step that is used in the method of manufacturing the element chip for manufacturing a plurality of element chips by dividing a substrate having a plurality of element regions, the substrate is divided into the element chips by exposing the substrate to first plasma. Therefore, the element chips having a first surface, a second surface, and a side surface on which a plurality of convex portions are formed are held spaced from each other on a carrier. A protection film is formed on the side surface of the element chip by exposing the element chip to second plasma, at least convex portions formed on the side surface are covered by the protection film in the protection film formation, and creep-up of a conductive material to the side surface is suppressed in the mounting step.

In a plasma processing step in a method of manufacturing an element chip in which a plurality of element chips are manufactured by dividing a substrate, which has a plurality of element regions, the substrate is divided into element chips by exposing the substrate to first plasma. In a protection film forming step of forming a protection film covering a side surface and a second surface by exposing the element chips to second plasma of which raw material gas is mixed gas of carbon fluoride and helium, protection film forming conditions are set such that a thickness of a second protection film of the second surface is greater than a thickness of a first protection film of the side surface.

In a plasma processing apparatus, thrust-up pins are elevated and a thrust-up force is detected when electrostatic attraction for a substrate by a substrate holding device is ceased after completion of plasma processing, the elevation of the thrust-up pins is ceased upon detection of a detection threshold, and a stepped elevating operation in which the elevation and stoppage of the thrust-up pins are repeated a plurality of times are thereafter commenced on condition that the detected thrust-up force falls to or below the detection threshold and that release of the substrate from a placement surface has not been completed. In the stepped elevating operation, operation timing of the thrust-up device is controlled so that the completion of the release of the substrate from the placement surface is detected when the thrust-up pins are stopped after being elevated and so that the stepped elevating operation is continued on condition that the release has not been completed.

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Osaka, Japan

Mitsuhiro Okune