Tokyo Electron Limited

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Tokyo Electron Yamanashi Limited

Yoshio Ishikawa

Keiji Horioka

Takashi Enomoto

Alok Ranjan

Sergey Alexandrovich Voronin

Makoto Hasegawa

Koichiro Inazawa

Jason Marion

Masahito Hiratsuka

Hiroshi Kojima

Satoshi Kaneko

Makoto Aoki

Haruo Okano

Toshihisa Nozawa

Masao Ito

Masaru Hori

Makoto Sekine

Junichi Arami

Isahiro Hasegawa

Masahiro Ogasawara

Teruo Iwata

Yoshifumi Tahara

Sonam D Sherpa

Itsuko Sakai

Yukimasa Yoshida

Towl Ikeda

Nobuyuki Okayama

Yusuke Yoshida

Takaya Matsushita

Izumi Arai

Takashi Asakawa

Hiromi Sakima

Yasuo Imamura

Kazuo Eguchi

Hiromitsu Kanbara

Yutaka Osada

Masahito Hiratuka

Masato Hiratsuka

A time required to return an inside of the chamber after performing maintenance of the inside of the chamber into a state prior to the maintenance can be shortened. A seasoning method includes a first dry cleaning process of cleaning the inside of the chamber by supplying an Ogas into the chamber and generating plasma of the Ogas within the chamber; and a second dry cleaning process of seasoning, after the first dry cleaning process, the inside of the chamber by supplying a processing gas containing fluorine into the chamber and generating plasma of the processing gas within the chamber.

Seasoning method and etching method

Systems and methods are disclosed for plasma discharge ignition to reduce surface particles and thereby decrease defects introduced during plasma processing. A microelectronic workpiece is positioned on a holder within a process chamber that includes a first radio frequency (RF) power source configured to couple RF power to a top portion of the process chamber, a second RF power source configured to couple RF power to the holder, and a direct current (DC) power supply. Initially, a process gas for plasma process is flowed into the process chamber. The process gas is ignited to form plasma by activating the second RF power source to apply RF power to the holder. Subsequently, the microelectronic workpiece is clamped to the holder by applying the positive voltage to the holder with the DC power supply, and the first RF power source is activated to maintain the plasma within the process chamber.

System and method of plasma discharge ignition to reduce surface particles

A plasma processing method and apparatus are provided in which current spikes associated with application of a voltage to an electrostatic chuck (ESC) are minimized or reduced when the processing plasma is present. According to an example, the voltage is applied to the ESC after the processing plasma is struck, however the voltage is ramped or increased in a step-wise manner to achieve the desired final ESC voltage. In an alternate embodiment, the ESC voltage is at least partially applied before striking of the plasma for processing the wafer. By reducing current spikes associated with application of the voltage to the ESC during the presence of the processing plasma, transfer or deposition of particles on the wafer can be reduced.

Method and apparatus for ESC charge control for wafer clamping

The present invention relates to a plasma etching method and a plasma etching apparatus, and more particularly to a plasma etching method and a plasma etching apparatus in which the selection ration is enhanced by improving trench side-wall protecting effect.

Plasma etching apparatus

A vacuum chamber contains a first electrode for supporting a wafer, and a second electrode opposing the first electrode. A supply system and an exhaustion system are connected to the vacuum chamber. The system supplies a reactive gas into the chamber, and the system exhaust the used gas from the chamber. A radio-frequency power supply is connected to the first electrode, for supplying power between the electrodes to generate an electric field E. An annular magnet assembly is provided around the chamber, for generating a magnetic field B which has a central plane intersecting with the electric field E. The magnet assembly has a plurality of magnet elements which have different magnetization axes in the central plane of the magnetic field. Electrons drift due to a force resulting from an outer product (E.times.B) of the electric field E and the magnetic field B. The central plane of the magnetic field B is shifted upwards from the target surface of the wafer, such that the magnetic force lines of the magnetic field intersect with the target surface of the substrate.

Plasma process apparatus

An apparatus for etching a WSi film on a wafer by using a plasma of a gas containing a halogen element includes a vacuum process chamber in which upper and lower counter electrodes are provided. An electrostatic chuck is provided on a table at the center of a susceptor or the lower electrode. The wafer is held on the electrostatic chuck. A focus ring surrounding the wafer in a complementary manner is placed on a flange of the susceptor. The temperature of the wafer surface is set to be lower than that of the surface of the focus ring while the plasma is being generated. The focus ring comprises an inner part of amorphous carbon and an outer part of tungsten. While the plasma is being generated, a halide of tungsten generated from the outer part is diffused on the wafer surface, thereby correcting a distribution of the amount of the halide of tungsten on the wafer surface. Thus, the uniformity within the wafer surface of the etching rate and etching anisotropy is enhanced.

A magnetron discharge is generated by a high-frequency electric field and a magnetic field perpendicular to the electric field to generate a plasma of an etching gas, and an object to be processed having a silicon-containing layer represented by a polysilicon layer is exposed in the plasma to etch the silicon-containing layer. In this case, the etching gas mainly contains an HBr gas, a gas mixture of HBr and Cl.sub.2 gases, a gas mixture of HBr and HCl gases, or a gas obtained by adding an oxygen-containing gas such as an O.sub.2 gas to each of these gases.

Etching method for a silicon-containing layer using hydrogen bromide

A magnetron plasma etching apparatus comprises a suscepter serving as an electrode on which a silicon wafer is mounted. A carbon ring having an outer diameter larger than the diameter of the wafer and an electrical resistance lower than that of the wafer, is arranged around the suscepter. The carbon ring is electrically connected to the suscepter. The carbon ring improves uniformity of etching of the wafer.

Plasma processing apparatus

A dry etching method, wherein a multilayer film including one selected from tungsten, molybdenum, and a silicide thereof, as the first layer, and polycrystal silicon as the second layer underlying is formed on a silicon oxide insulation film, a substrate having a mask pattern on the multilayer film is placed in a vacuum container, an etching gas is introduced into the vacuum container, and an electrical discharge is induced by applying an electrical field to the vacuum container, thereby anisotropically etching the multilayered film in accordance with the mask pattern. The method comprises the first etching step for etching the first layer by use of the first gas selected from fluorine, sulfur hexafluoride, and nitrogen trifuoride, or a mixture gas containing the first gas and the second gas selected from hydrogen chloride, hydrogen bromide, chlorine, bromine, and carbon tetrachloride, as an etching gas, and the second etching step for etching the second layer by use of the second gas, or a mixture gas containing the second gas and the third gas selected from an inert gas, nitrogen gas, oxygen gas, silicon tetrachloride gas and carbon monoxide gas, as an etching gas.

Dry etching method

According to this invention, a surface-treating apparatus capable of etching an object to be treated with high accuracy, suppressing discharging of a harmful gas deposited on the etched object in the air, and preventing the surface of the object from deposition/ attachment of reaction products and droplets is disclosed. The surface-treating apparatus includes a first process chamber for etching a loaded object to be treated by an activated etching gas, an exhausting member for setting the first process chamber at a low pressure, a cooling means for cooling the object loaded in the first process chamber, a second process chamber in which the object etched by the first process chamber is loaded, an exhausting member for setting the second process chamber at a low pressure, and an heating member for annealing the object loaded in the second process chamber.

Surface-heating apparatus and surface-treating method

A substrate processing apparatus comprising a housing section for housing substrates to be processed, a first chamber for performing anisotropic etching treatment, conveyor means for conveying the substrates from the housing section to the first chamber, and a second chamber for performing at least one of isotropic etching treatment and ashing treatment with respect to a substrate which has been subjected to the anisotropic etching treatment in the first chamber. And a method of processing substrates, comprising the steps of performing anisotropic etching treatment in a first chamber with respect to the substrates, and performing at least one of isotropic etching treatment and ashing treatment in a second chamber with respect to the substrates which have been subjected to the anisotropic etching treatment in the first chamber and have been kept unexposed to the atmosphere, the isotropic etching treatment and the ashing treatment being performed simultaneously or in succession.

Apparatus and method for processing substrate

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Tokyo, Japan

Yoshio Ishikawa