Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi-high-technologies Corporation

Hitachi High-tech Corporation

Other

Opnext Japan, Inc.

Tatehito Usui

Shigeru Nakamoto

Tetsunori Kaji

Takashi Fujii

Satomi Inoue

Motohiko Yoshigai

Kazue Takahashi

Hideyuki Yamamoto

Tetsuo Ono

Takeshi Ohmori

Kousuke Fukuchi

Soichiro Eto

Ken Yoshioka

Toshio Masuda

Mitsuru Suehiro

Nobuyuki Mise

Kenetsu Yokogawa

Ryoji Nishio

Saburo Kanai

Hiromichi Enami

Miyako Matsui

Hiroshi Kanekiyo

Hiroyuki Kobayashi

Masaru Izawa

Seiichiro Kanno

Kenji Maeda

Naoyuki Kofuji

Toru Otsubo

Masaru Kurihara

Masahito Togami

Hyakka Nakada

Youichi Itou

Kenichi Kuwahara

Kosa Hirota

Tsubasa Okamoto

Kazuhiro Jyouo

Shizuaki Kimura

Junichi Kobayashi

Yohei Kawaguchi

Atsushi Sekiguchi

Kazunori Shinoda

Tsutomu Tetsuka

Masato Ikegawa

Nobuya Miyoshi

Kazuhiro Joo

Kousa Hirota

Daisuke Satou

Hiroyuki Minemura

Kouji Nishihata

Akira Kagoshima

Tomoyuki Watanabe

Shinichi Tachi

Naoki Yasui

Hironobu Kawahara

Shoji Ikuhara

Kazuo Nojiri

Kazunori Tsujimoto

Makoto Satake

Yutaka Kouzuma

Kazuyuki Tsunokuni

Takao Kumihashi

Ryoji Asakura

Satoshi Ito

Kazutami Tago

Masafumi Kanetomo

Tomoji Watanabe

Ichiro Sasaki

Mitsuru Nagasawa

Tsuyoshi Matsumoto

Shunji Sasabe

Satoshi Sakai

Tsuyoshi Yoshida

Ryoji Hamasaki

Yoshimi Torii

Satoru Muto

Shigeru Shirayone

Takehiko Ooshima

Naohiro Kawamoto

A process of detecting a thickness of a film layer to be processed or a depth of etching by using a result of detection of a signal indicating intensity of interference light having a plurality of wavelengths formed by being reflected on a surface of a wafer at a plurality of time instants from when plasma is formed to when the etching is completed. A start time instant is detected by using an amount of change in the intensity of the interference light. Then, a remaining film thickness or the etching amount at an arbitrary time instant is detected from a result of comparing actual data indicating the intensity of the interference light at the arbitrary time instant during the processing after the start time instant with a plurality of pieces of data for detection of the intensity of the interference light obtained in advance and associated with values of the film thicknesses or the depths of etching.

Plasma processing method and plasma processing apparatus

A plasma processing method to detect and process a thickness of the processing target film with high accuracy when a fine shape of the semiconductor wafer surface varies, including detecting a state of a processing target film of a processing target material that is processed inside a vacuum processing chamber; detecting light emission of the plasma; obtaining a differential waveform data of the light emission of the plasma; storing a plurality of pieces of differential waveform pattern data in advance; calculating an estimated value of the film thickness of the processing target film processed on the processing target material by weighting based on differences between the differential waveform data obtained and the plurality of pieces of differential waveform pattern data stored; and determining an end point of processing using the plasma based on the estimated value of the film thickness of the processing target film calculated.

Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method

This invention provides a wafer processing method comprising a process of irradiating a wafer to be processed placed on the upper surface of a sample table arranged in a processing chamber with light or electromagnetic waves to heat and remove a compound layer of a film layer that is preliminarily formed on the upper surface of the film layer of the upper surface of the wafer, wherein in the process, by receiving the light or electromagnetic waves reflected by the upper surface of the wafer, a signal indicating a temporal change in intensity using the wavelength of the light or electromagnetic waves as a parameter is corrected using information of the intensity of the light or electromagnetic waves detected by receiving the light or electromagnetic waves at a position on the circumferential side of the upper surface of the sample table.

Wafer processing method and plasma processing apparatus

A plasma processing apparatus includes a stage disposed in a processing chamber for mounting a wafer, a plasma generation chamber disposed above the processing chamber for plasma generation using process gas, a plate member having multiple introduction holes, made of a dielectric material, disposed above the stage and between the processing chamber and the plasma generation chamber, and a lamp disposed around the plate member for heating the wafer. The plasma processing apparatus further includes an external IR light source, an emission fiber arranged in the stage, that outputs IR light from the external IR light source toward a wafer bottom, and a light collection fiber for collecting IR light from the wafer. Data obtained using only IR light from the lamp is subtracted from data obtained also using IR light from the external IR light source during heating of the wafer. Thus, a wafer temperature is determined.

Plasma processing method

A plasma processing apparatusthat performs, on a waferin which a multilayer film in which an insulating film and a film to be processed containing a metal are alternately laminated is formed on a substrate, plasma etching of the film to be processed, includes: a processing chamberwhich is disposed inside a vacuum container; a sample stagewhich is disposed inside the processing chamber and on which the wafer is placed; a detection unitwhich detects reflected light obtained by the wafer reflecting light emitted to the wafer; a control unitwhich controls plasma processing on the wafer; and an end point determination unitwhich determines an etching end point of the film to be processed based on a change in an amplitude of vibration in a wavelength direction of a light spectrum of the reflected light, and the control unit receives determination of the end point made by the end point determination unit and stops the plasma processing on the wafer.

To provide a wavelength selection method or a plasma processing method to achieve accurate detection of residual thickness or etching amount, there is provided a plasma processing method, in which a processing object wafer is disposed within a processing chamber in the inside of a vacuum container, and plasma is generated by supplying a processing gas into the processing chamber and used to process a processing-object film layer beforehand formed on a surface of the wafer, and at least two wavelengths are selected from among wavelengths with large mutual information in emission of a plurality of wavelengths of plasma generated during processing of the processing-object film layer, and a temporal change in the emission of at least the two wavelengths is detected, and an endpoint of the processing of the film layer is determined based on a result of the detection.

Plasma processing method and wavelength selection method used in plasma processing

Provided is a plasma processing method for plasma etching an etching target film formed on a sample. The method includes a protective film forming step of selectively forming a protective film on an upper portion of a pattern formed on the sample and adjusting a width of the formed protective film such that a distribution of the width of the formed protective film in a surface of the sample becomes a desired distribution, and a step of plasma etching the etching target film after the protective film forming step.

A plasma processing apparatus including a processing state detection unit having: a light emission detection unit to detect light emission of the plasma; a calculation unit to obtain a differential waveform data of the light emission of the plasma; a database unit that stores a plurality of pieces of differential waveform pattern data in advance; a film thickness calculation unit to calculate an estimated value of the film thickness of the processing target film processed on the processing target material by weighting based on differences between the differential waveform data obtained by the calculation unit and the plurality of pieces of differential waveform pattern data stored in the database unit; and an end point determination unit to determine an end point of processing using the plasma based on the estimated value of the film thickness of the processing target film calculated by the film thickness calculation unit.

A plasma processing apparatus includes: a detector configured to detect a change in an intensity of light emission from plasma formed inside a processing chamber; and a unit configured to adjust conditions for forming the plasma or processing a wafer arranged inside the processing chamber using an output from the detector, wherein the detector detects a signal of the intensity of light emission at plural time instants before an arbitrary time instant during processing, and wherein the adjusting unit removes the component of a temporal change of a long cycle of the intensity of light emission from this detected signal and detects the component of a short temporal change of the intensity of light emission, and adjusts the conditions for forming the plasma or processing a wafer arranged inside the processing chamber based on the short temporal change of the detected intensity of light emission.

Plasma processing apparatus and operational method thereof

A computer for determining a control parameter of processing to be performed on a sample includes: a memory unit configured to store a first model indicating a correlation between a first processing output obtained by measuring a first sample used for manufacturing, on which the processing is performed and a second processing output obtained by measuring a second sample that is easier to measure than the first sample and on which the processing is performed, and a second model indicating a correlation between a control parameter of the processing performed on the second sample and the second processing output; and an analysis unit configured to calculate a target control parameter of the processing performed on the first sample based on a target processing output as the target first processing output, the first model, and the second model.

Computer, method for determining processing control parameter, substitute sample, measurement system, and measurement method

In thickness/depth measurement of a wafer in etching, variation occurs in detected light quantity due to fluctuation of light quantity of a light source or fluctuation of air in a region through which light passes, and measurement accuracy of thickness/depth is reduced, and thus the total light quantity or average light quantity of an arbitrary wavelength is calculated from an optical spectrum measured at each time instant during etching, estimated total light quantity or estimated average light quantity at the present time, which is estimated using total light quantity or average light quantity measured prior to the present time, is calculated, a change rate, as a ratio of the total light quantity at the present time to the estimated total light quantity or a ratio of the average light quantity to the estimated average light quantity, is calculated, the calculated change rate is used to correct light quantity of each wavelength at the present time, and the corrected light quantity of each wavelength is used to perform thickness/depth measurement.

Etching apparatus and etching method and detecting apparatus of film thickness

A sample simulates a processing state of a semiconductor sample and is measured by a measurement device. The sample includes: a first surface formed at a first height when viewed from a sample surface; a second surface formed at a second height higher than the first height; and a plurality of inflow parts which allow a particle for performing processing on the first surface to flow between the first surface and the second surface. The processing by the particle flowing from the inflow parts is superimposed in at least a part of a region to be processed on the first surface, and the region where the processing is superimposed on the first surface is measured by the measurement device.

Substitute sample, method for determining control parameter of processing, and measurement system

A system for determining a processing procedure including a plurality of processes for controlling an object, the system includes a learning unit for performing a learning process for determining a processing condition of each of a plurality of processes, and the learning unit acquires a physical quantity correlating with a state of the object on which a process has been performed under a predetermined processing condition, from a device for controlling the object on the basis of the processing procedure, calculates a pseudo state corresponding to the state of the object on the basis of the physical quantity, performs a learning process using a value function, and determines a processing condition of each of the plurality of processes to achieve a target state of the object.

System and method of determining processing condition

In cycle etching in which a depo process and an etching process are repeated, a depo film thickness over a pattern is controlled precisely, and etching is executed to have a desired shape stably for a long time. There are included the depo process (S) of introducing a reactive gas having a deposit property to a processing chamber and forming a deposit layer over the surface of a pattern to be etched of a substrate to be etched, the etching process (S) of removing a reaction product of the deposit layer and the surface of the pattern to be etched, and a monitoring process (S) of irradiating light to the pattern to be etched at the time of the depo process of cycle etching for executing two processes alternately and working a fine pattern and monitoring a change amount of the film thickness of the deposit layer by change of a coherent light having a specific wavelength reflected by the pattern to be etched, the depo process being for forming the deposit layer, in which a processing condition of processes for forming the deposit layer of the next cycle and onward of cycle etching is determined so that an indicator of the depo film thickness calculated from the change amount of the film thickness of the deposit layer monitored falls in a predetermined range compared to reference data.

A plasma apparatus of processing a wafer disposed in a processing chamber using plasma includes one window, another window, a light receiving unit, a light source, and an optical branching unit which is disposed between the light source and the other window, branches light emitted by the light source to an optical path toward the processing chamber and an optical path in other direction, and reflects light in the processing chamber from the other window, and a detection unit which detects the light having been emitted from the plasma and received by the light receiving unit using one branched light and other branched and reflected light. The apparatus processes the wafer according to a condition for the processing which is adjusted based on a result of the detection.

Plasma processing apparatus and operation method thereof

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Chiyoda, Japan

Tatehito Usui