Hitachi, Ltd.

Toru Otsubo

Susumu Aiuchi

Tetsunori Kaji

Katsuya Watanabe

Ichirou Sasaki

Minori Noguchi

Katsuhiko Mitani

Takashi Kamimura

Yasuhiro Yamaguchi

Kazuhiro Ohara

Junichi Tanaka

Tatehito Usui

Shinichi Tachi

Ichiro Sasaki

Toshio Masuda

Hitoshi Tamura

Junzou Azuma

Mitsuo Tokuda

Teru Fujii

Seiichi Watanabe

Yasumichi Suzuki

Makoto Koizumi

Mineo Nomoto

Shinji Sasaki

Muneo Furuse

Hideshi Fukumoto

Katsuhiro Iwashita

Shigeru Shirayone

Hirohisa Usuami

Takahiko Takeuchi, Deceased

Minoru Noguchi

Jyunichi Tanaka

Jun'ichi Tanaka

Mitsuko Imatake

A method of plasma-processing is provided which includes placing a sample on one of electrodes provided in a vacuum processing chamber and holding the sample onto the electrodes by an electrostatic attracting force. A processing gas is introduced into an environment in which said sample is placed, and the environment is evacuated to a pressure condition for processing said sample. The processing gas is then formed into a plasma under the pressure condition, the sample is processed by the plasma, and a pulse bias voltage having a pulse cycle of 0.1 &#x3bc;m to 10 &#x3bc;m is applied to the sample.

Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method

A measuring apparatus includes an irradiator which irradiates measuring light from a back of a substrate as the measuring light is totally reflectable from both first and second surfaces formed on the surface sides of the substrate, and a measurement unit which causes reflected lights of the measuring light irradiated by the irradiator means and reflected from the first and second surfaces to interfere with each other to thereby measure a distance between the first and second surfaces.

Processing apparatus with measuring unit and method

A dry processing apparatus includes a processing chamber provided with a measurement window having a reflection portion which totally reflects light on the side of an inner surface thereof and a transmission portion. When a layer is not deposited, measurement light is irradiated so that the light is totally reflected by the reflection portion. A deviation between the measurement light reflected by a surface of the deposited layer and the measurement light reflected by the reflection portion is measured to determine a thickness of the deposited layer. A quantity of light reflected by the surface of the deposited layer is compared with the light quantity in case where irregularities are not formed in the surface of the deposited layer to evaluate a state of irregularities of the surface. The thickness of the deposited layer and a state of the surface of the layer are monitored separately.

Apparatus for monitoring thickness of deposited layer in reactor and dry processing method

A film formation monitor of a plasma CVD apparatus includes a light source for generating measuring light. Measuring light generated from the light source is guided to an optical system having lenses and mirrors, and is irradiated to a silicon substrate at a plurality of angles of incidence with the back of the silicon substrate being substantially a focus. Reflected light from the substrate is incident into a spectroscope. An intensity of measuring light is detected for each wavelength. A calculation apparatus calculates an etching depth. Reflected light from the back of the substrate interferes with reflected light from an etchd surface. To reduce influences of reflected light from the back of the substrate, measuring light is irradiated while its angle of incidence is varied.

Measuring apparatus and film formation method

A plasma processing apparatus has plasma generating means including a means for generating capacitive coupled discharge and a means for radiating electromagnetic waves, so that the energy state of electrons is independently controlled by a combination of a plasma due to capacitive coupled discharge and a plasma due to radiation of electromagnetic waves of a high-frequency, to thereby control the occurrence of radical species, and thereby establishing a compatibility, for example, between high selective etching and high accuracy and high speed in etching or between film quality and film formation rate. Since the density distribution of the plasma can be controlled without any change in hardware configuration by adjusting distributions of the power for capacitive coupled discharge and the power for radiation of electromagnetic waves, the entire surface of a large-sized substrate can be etched at a high accuracy into a fine pattern. The apparatus is also intended to prevent the occurrence of dust caused by plasma processing and changes in characteristics of plasma processing, and hence to enhance productivity of semiconductor devices and/or liquid crystal display elements.

A plasma processing apparatus and a method therefor which can achieve a preferred process rate, a fine pattern process capability, a selectivity and uniformity of processing at the same time compatibly for a large size wafer, which effects are achieved by controlling the plasma state and the dissociation state of etching gas through control of the electron resonance through application of a magnetic field thereto. A high frequency power at 20-300 MHz is applied across a pair of electrodes in a vacuum process chamber, and a magnetic field is formed parallel to the plane of the electrodes in the space between the electrodes. By controlling the intensity of the magnetic field in a range of 100 gauss or smaller, formation of electron cyclotron resonance and electron sheath resonance occurring from interaction between the electrical field and the magnetic field in the electrode sheath portion is controlled. Thereby, the plasma state, i.e., the electron density, electron energy distribution and dissociation state of the process gas in the plasma, can be controlled. The magnetic field is generated by a plurality of coils, an outer shield, and pendant yoke to form magnetic field parallel to the plane of the electrodes in the space between the upper and the bottom electrodes.

Plasma processing system and plasma processing method

A plasma processing apparatus comprising a vacuum processing chamber, a plasma generating means including a pair of electrodes, a sample table for mounting a sample to be processed inside the vacuum processing chamber and also serving as one of the electrodes, and a evacuating means for evacuating the vacuum processing chamber, which further comprises a high frequency electric power source for applying an electric power of a VHF band from 50 MHz to 200 MHz between the pair of electrodes; and a magnetic field forming means for forming a static magnetic field or a low frequency magnetic field larger than 10 gausses and smaller than 110 gausses in a direction intersecting an electric field generated between the pair of electrodes and the vicinity by the high frequency electric power source; therein the magnetic field forming means being set so that a portion where a component of the magnetic field in a direction along the surface of the sample table becomes maximum is brought to a position in the opposite side of the sample table from the middle of the both electrodes; an electron cyclotron resonance region being formed between the both electrodes by the magnetic field and the electric field.

In a plasma processing method and apparatus, microwaves are radiated from a slot antenna set at the bottom of a resonator, a plasma is generated using the microwave and a sample is processed by the plasma. A plasma having a ring-form is generated by the microwaves radiated from the slot antennas, which are disposed at an angle which is neither in parallel to nor perpendicular to a surface current flowing on a slot antenna plate. Thereby, the sample is uniformly processed.

Plasma processing method and apparatus

A plasma processing apparatus and method are provided which are capable of easily performing precise working of a fine pattern on a large sized sample having a diameter of 300 mm or larger, and also capable of improving selectivity during micro processing. The apparatus includes a vacuum processing chamber, a plasma generating arrangement including a pair of electrodes, a sample table for mounting a sample to be processed inside the vacuum processing chamber and also serving as one of the electrodes, and an evacuating means for evacuating the vacuum processing chamber. The apparatus further includes a high frequency electric power source for applying an electric power of VHF band from 50 MHz to 200 MHz between the pair of electrodes. A magnetic field forming structure is also provided for forming a static magnetic field or a low frequency magnetic field larger than 10 gauss and smaller than 110 gauss in a direction intersecting an electric field generated between the pair of electrodes and in the vicinity thereof by the high frequency electric power source. The magnetic field forming structure is set so that a portion where a component of the magnetic field in a direction along the surface of the sample table becomes maximum is brought to a position on the opposite side of the sample table from the middle of the two electrodes. As a result, an electron cyclotron resonance region is formed between the upper and lower electrodes by the magnetic field and the electric field.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma processing chamber having a stage for placing a substrate to be plasma processed, an exhaust port and a gas introduction nozzle for plasma processing coupled therewith, and a cavity resonator for closing the plasma processing chamber in vacuum manner and coupled through a microwave introducing window through which microwaves are introduced and having slots for radiating microwaves to the plasma processing chamber. Microwaves having increased intensity of an electromagnetic field is supplied to the processing chamber to produce plasma to effect processing of the substrate. An area in which diffusion of plasma is suppressed to reduce loss is formed only in the vicinity of an inner wall of the processing chamber.

Plasma processing method and apparatus using plasma produced by

A plasma processing apparatus is provided with a processing chamber having at least a pair of opposing windows to allow observation of the interior thereof, a plasma generation unit for generating a plasma in the processing chamber, a plasma light emission monitoring unit arranged externally of the processing chamber for monitoring the light emission of the plasma through one of the pair of opposing windows, a reference light irradiation unit for irradiating a reference light to the plasma light emission monitoring unit from that window of the pair of opposing windows which is opposite to the plasma light emission monitoring unit through the pair of opposing windows, and a control for controlling a plasma processing state of the substrate to be processed by comparing the data on the light emission of the plasma monitored by the plasma light emission unit and the reference light.

Plasma processing apparatus and processing method

A method of and apparatus removes foreign particles in a vacuum or in a dry atmosphere before and in continuation to performing a dry process, such as a dry etching or a sputtering process. For this purpose, the foreign particles are separated from a substrate by subjecting the foreign particles to a force for separating the foreign particles from the substrate and a vibrating force for vibrating the foreign particles at the same time, and then the frequency of vibration is changed to match the resonant frequency of a vibration system formed by each of the foreign particles and the substrate, thereby applying a vibration energy to the foreign particles due to resonance. The separated foreign particles floating in a plasma are drawn to an electrode having a potential which is controlled such that a flowing-in of electrons is reduced, and the particles are discharged from the inside of the plasma. In this way, the foreign particles can be reduced and the yield of the product in manufacturing semiconductors and TFTs can be promoted. Further, a cleaning step, a film forming operation, an etching process and the like can continuously be processed, thereby achieving a reduction in steps and a promotion in productivity.

Method of and apparatus for removing foreign particles

Plasma processing apparatus using plasma produced by microwaves

Disclosed herein are an insulating film forming method for semiconductor device interconnection and a plasma treatment system for use in the method. The method comprises (i) a step of forming an insulating film free of void, on a substrate having an interconnection pattern, in which a mixed gas of a film forming source gas and an etching gas comprising a fluorine compound is used to perform both deposition of an insulating film by plasma CVD and reactive etching of the insulating film, simultaneously, and (ii) a step of planarizing the surface of the insulating film formed by the step (i) and comprised of, for example, silicon oxide, in which a gas of a material decomposable by a reactive gas capable of decomposing the insulating film is supplied onto the substrate so as to deposit a solid film of the material, e.g. Si(OCH.sub.3).sub.4, on the insulating film on the substrate, the temperature of the substrate is then raised to liquefy the deposited material film, thereby planarizing the surface of the material film, the substrate temperature is again lowered to solidify the planarized liquid material film, and thereafter the insulating film together with the Si(OCH.sub.3).sub. 4 solid film is subjected to plasma etching with, for instance, CF.sub.4 gas as an etching gas. According to the invention, an insulating film which is planar and free of voids can be formed on an interconnection pattern of a substrate, without affecting the characteristics of devices provided on the substrate.

Insulating film forming method for semiconductor device interconnection

Disclosed is a plasma CVD apparatus and a method therefor, the apparatus comprising: a microwave generating portion; a coaxial cavity resonator for making a microwave supplied from the microwave generating portion resonate; a plurality of gas leading inlets provided in under portions of an axis of the cavity resonator and in peripheral wall portions of the cavity resonator for leading-in a supplied CVD gas; and a plasma generating chamber in which the CVD gas lead into the plasma generating chamber through the gas leading inlets and made to flow uniformly onto a surface of a substrate is subject to the microwave made intensive through resonance in the cavity resonator and radiated through a coupling plate so that uniform plasma is generated to thereby form a thin film on the surface of the substrate. Further disclosed is a plasma processing apparatus and a method therefor, the apparatus comprising; a plasma chamber for maintaining plasma generated in the inside of the plasma chamber so as to perform plasma processing; a first microwave accumulating and intensifying cavity resonance chamber connected with the plasma chamber through a first slot plate; a second microwave accumulating and intensifying cavity resonance chamber connected with the first cavity resonance chamber through a second slot plate parallel to the first slot plate; and a microwave generator for leading a microwave into the second cavity resonance chamber through a waveguide.

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Fujisawa, Japan

Toru Otsubo