Tokyo Electron Limited

Other

Yasuhiro Horiike

Research Development Corporation of Japan

Tokyo Electron Kabushiki Kaisha

Tokyo Electron Yamanashi Limited

Kohei Kawamura

Takayuki Fukasawa

Yasuo Kobayashi

Masuhiro Kogoma

Satiko Okazaki

In an ECR plasma generator, radio frequency ranging from 3 to 300 MHz is applied from a radio frequency power supply to an electrode which is provided in a chamber having an exhaust system and which serves as a shower head for gas introduction, and power is supplied to a coil provided at the outer periphery of the chamber, so as to form a magnetic field an integer number of times as large as a resonant magnetic field corresponding to the applied radio frequency, parallel with the direction of an electric field and to generate ECR plasma in an atmosphere of the supplied process gas.

ECR plasma generator and an ECR system using the generator

A target and a wafer are opposed to each other in a processing vessel in the form of a quartz tube whose internal pressure can be reduced. A low bias voltage is applied to the wafer while Helicon wave plasma of high density is generated between the target and the wafer by an antenna disposed on the circumference of the processing vessel. The wafer is positioned near and outside a lower boundary of a region of the plasma. Deposition seeds from the target are ionized in the plasma region and accelerated vertically to be incident on the wafer and are deposited first on the bottoms of the grooves in a surface of the wafer. In burying deposition seeds in grooves and holes of high aspect ratios which are formed in the surface of the wafer, the deposition seeds can be deposited first on the bottoms without occurrence of voids.

Sputtering method and a sputtering apparatus thereof

Plasma processing gas is introduced into an upper portion of a processing vessel and a film-formation gas is simultaneously introduced into the vicinity of a substrate to be processed. The plasma processing gas is ionized to form a first plasma and any of the plasma processing gas that has temporarily recombined in locations close to the substrate to be processed is re-ionized as a second plasma. As a result, the density of etchant ions used for cutting away overhangs around the openings of grooves can be increased. In other words, the number of etchant ions can be increased. This makes it possible to reduce the bias voltage applied to the substrate to be processed, preventing damage thereto.

Plasma process method and apparatus

A semiconductor wafer plasma treatment apparatus comprising a processing vessel whose interior is maintained at a predetermined degree of vacuum; a plasma generation means which is arranged on an upper surface of the processing vessel and generates radio-frequency waves into the interior thereof, to cause the generation of a plasma in the process gas within the processing vessel; and a holder for holding a semiconductor wafer that is to be subjected to a predetermined treatment by the plasma generated from the process gas by the action of the plasma generation means, a supply means which supplies process gas into the processing vessel comprises first gas supply pipes that are arranged at positions equidistant in the peripheral direction around the processing vessel and a second gas supply pipe that is arranged at the center of an upper surface of the processing vessel, and gas exhaust means from exhaust gases from the processing vessel is arranged at positions equidistant in the peripheral direction around the processing vessel. This configuration counters any drop in the plasma density at the central portion of the processing vessel to obtain a uniformly high-density plasma, making it possible to subject large-diameter semiconductor wafers to uniform, rapid treatment.

Plasma treatment apparatus

An apparatus for processing the surface of an Si wafer includes a vacuum cleaning chamber in which said Si wafer is housed. He gas is supplied into the cleaning chamber and micro-wave and magnetic field are applied to the He gas to generate excited species which emit vacuum ultraviolet. The vacuum ultraviolet is radiated onto the wafer surface to enable its energy to cut bonds between Si atoms of said wafer and O atoms and forming a natural oxide film on the wafer surface. Ar gas is also supplied into the cleaning chamber to create ions of said Ar gas due to energy added from said excited species. Said ions are supplied onto the wafer surface to form floating potential above said wafer surface. Said ions collide against said wafer surface to eliminate O atoms from said wafer surface. A process chamber is connected to the cleaning chamber through a load lock chamber. Al film is formed on the wafer surface, from which the natural oxide film has been eliminated, in the process chamber.

Method and apparatus for processing surface of semiconductor layer

A dielectric film of a capacitor is formed using the plasma CVD apparatus. A thin Ta layer is deposited on a semiconductor wafer by using Ta(N(CH.sub.3).sub.2).sub.5 gas and H.sub.2 radicals. The thin Ta layer is then oxidized by O.sub.2 radicals to form a thin Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 layer. An Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 layer is then formed on the Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 layer by using SiH.sub.4 and NH.sub.3 gases. The Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 layer and the Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 layer are alternately laminated one upon the other several times to form a dielectric film of laminated structure. The dielectric film can thus have a composition close to the stoichiometric composition and it can be made high in dielectric constant and excellent in withstand voltage.

Method of forming dielectric film for semiconductor devices

This invention provides an atmospheric plasma reaction method characterized by introducing a mixed gas of rare gas and reactive gas into a reaction vessel having a dielectric-coated electrode wherein the surface of two or more electrodes located parallel therewith are provided with solid dielectrics, exciting said mixed gas with plasma at atmospheric pressure, then transporting the active species to the downstream of the plasma and treating the surface of a substrate. This invention also provides an atmospheric plasma reaction apparatus.

Growing community of inventors

Hiroshima, Japan

Yasuhiro Horiike