JP3996002B2 - Vacuum processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus for performing predetermined vacuum processing, for example, plasma etching processing, film forming processing, and the like on a substrate to be processed.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, vacuum processing apparatuses that perform a predetermined vacuum processing by storing a substrate to be processed in a vacuum chamber have been widely used. For example, in the field of semiconductor device manufacturing, when forming a fine circuit structure of a semiconductor device, a substrate to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer is accommodated in a vacuum chamber, and vacuum processing such as plasma is applied in a predetermined vacuum atmosphere. Etching processing and film formation processing are performed.
[0003]
In such a vacuum processing apparatus, since it is necessary to periodically perform maintenance in the vacuum chamber, for example, the vacuum chamber can be opened and closed freely with a container-like vacuum chamber main body having an upper opening and the upper opening. In addition, there is known a structure that is configured from a lid-like upper portion that is airtightly closed, and that allows the maintenance inside the vacuum chamber to be performed from the upper opening by opening the upper portion.
[0004]
Among the vacuum processing apparatuses, for example, in a so-called parallel plate type apparatus in which an upper electrode and a lower electrode are provided in a vacuum chamber and plasma is generated by supplying high-frequency power between the upper electrode and the lower electrode. In order to supply the processing gas uniformly to the entire surface of the substrate to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer mounted on the lower electrode, the upper electrode is provided with a large number of gas supply holes so that the processing gas is supplied in a shower shape. There are many things.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the apparatus for supplying the processing gas in the shower shape as described above, it is necessary to provide a shower mechanism (processing gas introducing portion) for supplying the processing gas in the shower shape in the upper portion described above. As described above, since it is necessary to be able to open and close, if the processing gas supply pipe from the processing gas supply source is directly connected to the upper part, it becomes necessary to attach and detach the processing gas supply pipe every time the upper part is opened and closed. End up.
[0006]
For this reason, the attachment portion for attaching the treatment gas supply pipe from the treatment gas supply source is provided on the vacuum chamber main body side, and the treatment gas flow path connection mechanism for connecting this attachment portion and the upper shower mechanism, that is, the upper side A process gas flow path connection mechanism configured to allow the attachment part and the shower mechanism to communicate with each other when the part is closed and to disconnect the communication when the upper part is opened is performed.
[0007]
However, in order to ensure that the mounting portion and the shower mechanism communicate in an airtight state when the upper portion is closed by such a processing gas flow path connection mechanism, fine position adjustment or the like is required. There is a problem that it is necessary and its maintenance becomes complicated. In addition, in order to perform such a fine position adjustment, it is necessary to use many screws for position adjustment, etc., so these screws are loosened during transportation, etc. There was a problem that the holding force was reduced, and the vacuum chamber could not be held when transported in a vacuum chamber.
[0008]
The present invention has been made in response to such a conventional situation, and the connection state in the processing gas flow path connection mechanism can be reliably maintained in a good state, and the labor required for maintenance can be reduced as compared with the conventional case. An object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum processing apparatus that can handle the above-described problem.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In other words, the vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1 has a container-shaped vacuum chamber main body having an upper opening and an upper portion closing the upper opening, and accommodates a substrate to be processed and performs a predetermined vacuum processing. And an outlet side block connected to a processing gas introduction unit for introducing the processing gas into the vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber is connected to a processing gas supply source for supplying a predetermined processing gas. And a processing gas flow path connection mechanism for connecting the processing gas supply source and the processing gas introduction part, wherein the processing gas flow path connection mechanism is the vacuum guides provided on one of the chamber body or the upper part, is formed in a container shape, at least one of the inlet side block or outlet side block is locked in a state capable of moving within the inserted , Interposed between the bottom of the guide and the inlet side block or outlet side block, elastically biasing the inlet side block or outlet side block toward the other, the inlet side block and the outlet side Located between the elastic member that elastically abuts the block , the inlet side block or outlet side block, and the bottom of the guide, the inlet side block or outlet side block is prevented from falling out of the guide. And a plurality of O-rings concentrically provided at a contact portion between the inlet-side block and the outlet-side block, and a vacuum exhaust passage for evacuating from between the plurality of O-rings It was characterized by comprising.
[0010]
The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 2 is the vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1,
In the state where the inlet side block and the outlet side block are positioned at a predetermined position, the abutment portion between the inlet side block and the outlet side block is fitted into one concave portion with the other convex portion. It is configured to abut.
[0011]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the vacuum processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the vacuum chamber includes a container-shaped vacuum chamber main body having an upper opening, and the upper opening can be freely opened and closed. The inlet side block is provided in the vacuum chamber main body part, and the outlet side block is provided in the upper part.
[0012]
The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 4 is the vacuum processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the elastic member is a coil spring that biases the inlet side block toward the outlet side block. It is configured.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments in which the present invention is applied to an etching apparatus will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0015]
FIG. 1 schematically shows an overall schematic configuration of an etching apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is made of, for example, aluminum and is configured to be airtightly closed. A cylindrical vacuum chamber is shown. The vacuum chamber 1 is composed of a container chamber having an upper opening, that is, a bottomed cylindrical vacuum chamber body 1a, and an upper portion 1b that closes the upper opening of the vacuum chamber body 1a. 1b can be freely opened and closed by rotating around a locking shaft 1c as indicated by an arrow in the figure.
[0016]
The vacuum chamber 1 is provided with a substrate mounting table 2 that is formed in a substantially disc shape and also serves as a lower electrode. The substrate mounting table 2 is provided via an insulating plate 3 made of ceramic or the like. Is supported from the bottom.
[0017]
An electrostatic chuck (not shown) is provided on the surface of the substrate mounting table 2, and a temperature adjusting medium flow for circulating a cooling insulating fluid, for example, as a temperature adjusting medium in the substrate mounting table 2. A gas flow path 5 for supplying a temperature control gas such as helium is formed between the path 4 and the mounting surface and the back surface of the semiconductor wafer W, and is arranged on the substrate mounting table 2 by these mechanisms. The temperature of the semiconductor wafer W is adjusted to a predetermined temperature.
[0018]
Further, a focus ring 6 formed in an annular shape from a conductive material or an insulating material is provided so as to surround the periphery of the mounting surface of the semiconductor wafer W of the substrate mounting table 2.
[0019]
In addition, a power supply line 7 for supplying high-frequency power is connected to substantially the center of the substrate mounting table 2. A matching box 8 and a high-frequency power source 9 are connected to the feeder line 7, and a high-frequency power having a predetermined frequency, for example, a range of several MHz to several tens of MHz, is supplied from the high-frequency power source 9 to the substrate mounting table 2. It has become so.
[0020]
Further, an exhaust ring 10 having an annular shape and formed with a large number of exhaust holes is provided outside the focus ring 6, and an exhaust system 12 connected to an exhaust port 11 through the exhaust ring 10. Thus, the processing space in the vacuum chamber 1 is evacuated.
[0021]
On the other hand, on the top wall portion of the vacuum chamber 1 above the substrate mounting table 2, that is, on the lower surface side of the above-described upper portion 1 b, the upper electrode 13 constituting the shower head faces the substrate mounting table 2 in parallel. The upper electrode 13 and the substrate mounting table (lower electrode) 2 function as a pair of electrodes.
[0022]
The upper electrode 13 is provided with a number of gas discharge holes 14 on the lower surface thereof. Further, the peripheral edge portion of the upper electrode 13 is supported on the lower surface side of the upper portion 1b by an insulator ring 15 formed in an annular shape from an insulating material such as Al ₂ O _3. Is formed with a gas diffusion gap 16. In addition, a gas introduction port 17 is provided in the ceiling portion of the gas diffusion gap 16, and a shower mechanism (processing gas introduction portion) for introducing a gas into the vacuum chamber 1 in a shower shape is configured by these. .
[0023]
One end of a processing gas pipe 18 for introducing a processing gas is connected to the gas introduction port 17, and the other end of the processing gas pipe 18 is connected to a processing gas flow path provided in a side wall portion outside the vacuum chamber. It is connected to the mechanism 19. The configuration of the processing gas flow path connection mechanism 19 will be described later.
[0024]
On the other hand, an annular magnetic field forming mechanism (ring magnet) 20 is disposed around the outside of the vacuum chamber 1 concentrically with the vacuum chamber 1, and is disposed in a processing space between the substrate mounting table 2 and the upper electrode 13. A magnetic field is formed. The entire magnetic field forming mechanism 20 can be rotated around the vacuum chamber 1 at a predetermined rotational speed by a rotating mechanism 21.
[0025]
Next, the configuration of the processing gas flow path connection mechanism 19 described above will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the processing gas flow path connection mechanism 19 has an inlet side block 30 provided on the vacuum chamber body 1a side and an outlet side block 50 provided on the upper side 1b side. The process gas pipe 18 described above is connected to the outlet side block 50.
[0026]
In the outlet side block 50, an outlet side gas flow path 51 extending from the upper surface side to which the processing gas pipe 18 is connected to the lower surface side is formed, and the lower surface 52 is in contact with the inlet side block 30. It is considered as a surface. A lower surface 52 which is a contact surface with the inlet side block 30 is circular.
[0027]
On the other hand, an inlet side gas passage 31 is formed in the inlet side block 30 corresponding to the outlet side gas passage 51, and the upper surface 32 of the inlet side block 30 is in contact with the outlet side block 50. It is said to be a contact surface.
[0028]
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the upper surface 32 of the inlet side block 30 has a shape in which a circular region is recessed according to the shape of the lower surface 52 of the outlet side block 50 described above. Then, by fitting the bottom portion of the outlet side block 50 into this recessed portion, the inlet side block 30 and the outlet side block 50 are brought into contact with each other at a predetermined position, and the inlet side gas flow path 31 and the outlet side are contacted. The side gas flow path 51 is configured to communicate with no deviation.
[0029]
Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of, in this embodiment, three O-rings 33, 34, and 35 are inserted into the grooves 36, 37, and 38 on the upper surface 32 of the inlet side block 30. Arranged in a state. The inlet-side gas flow path 31 is disposed so as to be located inside the O-ring 33 disposed in the center, and between the O-ring 33 and the O-ring 34 disposed outside thereof, A vacuum exhaust passage 39 for performing vacuum exhaust is opened.
[0030]
As shown in FIG. 2, the vacuum exhaust passage 39 is connected to an exhaust pipe 40 connected to a vacuum exhaust device, and the inlet side gas passage 31 is connected to a processing gas supply source. A processing gas supply pipe 41 is connected.
[0031]
Further, the inlet side block 30 is locked in a state of being inserted into a container-shaped guide 42 having an inner shape that matches the outer shape of the inlet side block 30, and the bottom of the guide 42 and the inlet side block Between the lower surface of 30, an elastic member, such as a coil spring 43, that biases the inlet side block 30 toward the outlet side block 50 is provided.
[0032]
The coil spring 43 is provided so as to protrude from the bottom of the guide 42 and is inserted and locked in the spring locking member 44. Further, a stopper 46 is fixed (screwed) to the lower surface of the inlet side block 30 through a plurality of through holes 45 provided in the bottom of the guide 42, and the inlet side block 30 is predetermined by the stopper 46. It is configured to prevent it from rising upward from the position or coming off the guide 42.
[0033]
According to the processing gas flow path connection mechanism 19 configured as described above, the inlet side block 30 and the outlet side block 50 are fitted in a state where they are positioned at predetermined positions, and the elastic force of the coil spring 43 is used. The inlet side block 30 and the outlet side block 50 are kept in contact with each other with a predetermined pressure. In this state, by performing exhaust between the O-ring 33 and the O-ring 34, the crushing amount of the O-rings 33, 34, and 35 can be uniformly set to a predetermined amount.
[0034]
Therefore, it is possible to maintain the connection state satisfactorily without performing these fine alignments, that is, fine adjustment of the height position and fine adjustment of the surface alignment (the contact surfaces are made parallel to each other). In addition, since it is not necessary to provide screws or the like for aligning these positions, even if the vacuum chamber 1 is transported in a vacuum state, the vacuum holding state is not impaired, and a desired vacuum can be obtained. It can be transported while maintaining the state.
[0035]
In the processing gas flow path connection mechanism 19 described above, the case where the inlet side block 30 is elastically biased toward the outlet side block 50 by the coil spring 43 has been described. The side block 50 may be configured to be elastically biased toward the inlet side block 30, or may be configured to elastically bias both of them.
[0036]
Next, an etching procedure using the etching apparatus configured as described above will be described.
[0037]
First, an opening / closing mechanism (not shown) provided in the vacuum chamber 1 is opened, and a semiconductor wafer W is loaded into the vacuum chamber 1 by a transfer mechanism (not shown) and placed on the substrate platform 2. The semiconductor wafer W is attracted by a Coulomb force or the like by an electrostatic chuck (not shown).
[0038]
Thereafter, after the transfer mechanism is retracted out of the vacuum chamber 1, the opening / closing mechanism is closed, and the inside of the vacuum chamber 1 is exhausted through the exhaust port 11 by the vacuum pump of the exhaust system 12. After the inside of the vacuum chamber 1 reaches a predetermined degree of vacuum, the processing gas supply source 41, the processing gas flow path connection mechanism 19, the processing gas piping 18, and the gas inlet 17 are connected to the vacuum chamber 1 from the processing gas supply source. A predetermined etching gas is introduced at a predetermined flow rate and the like, and the inside of the vacuum chamber 1 is maintained at a predetermined pressure, for example, 1.33 to 133 Pa (10 to 1000 mTorr).
[0039]
In this state, high frequency power of a predetermined frequency (for example, several MHz to several tens of MHz) is supplied from the high frequency power supply 9 to the substrate mounting table 2.
[0040]
In this case, a high-frequency electric field is formed in the processing space between the substrate mounting table 2 as the lower electrode and the upper electrode 13, and a magnetic field is formed by the magnetic field forming mechanism 20. The etching process is performed.
[0041]
During this etching process, a cooling insulating fluid is circulated through the temperature control medium flow path 4 of the substrate mounting table 2, and the mounting surface of the substrate mounting table 2 and the semiconductor wafer are passed through the gas flow path 5. A temperature control gas such as helium is supplied between the back surface of W and the semiconductor wafer W is maintained at a predetermined temperature.
[0042]
Then, when the predetermined etching process is executed, the etching process is stopped by stopping the supply of the high-frequency power from the high-frequency power source 9, and the semiconductor wafer W is removed from the vacuum chamber 1 by a procedure reverse to the procedure described above. Take it out.
[0043]
When the above etching process is repeated, it is necessary to perform maintenance in the vacuum chamber 1 at a predetermined maintenance cycle. In this case, as described above, the upper portion 1b is moved around the locking shaft 1c. The upper opening of the vacuum chamber body 1a is opened by rotating. At this time, since the outlet side block 50 of the processing gas flow path connection mechanism 19 rises together with the upper portion 1b, the inlet side block 30 and the outlet side block 50 are separated from each other, and the connection of the processing gas flow path is once opened. .
[0044]
After the maintenance is completed, the upper portion 1b is rotated around the locking shaft 1c to again close the upper opening of the vacuum chamber main body 1a. Since the 19 inlet-side blocks 30 and the outlet-side block 50 are in contact with each other at a predetermined pressure while being positioned at predetermined positions, as described above, these fine alignments, that is, heights The connection state can be maintained well without fine adjustment of the position or fine adjustment of the surface.
[0045]
In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the present invention is applied to an etching apparatus that supplies high-frequency power to the lower electrode has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to such a case, for example, the upper electrode. The present invention can be applied to any vacuum processing apparatus such as an etching apparatus that supplies high-frequency power to both the lower electrode and the lower electrode, and a film forming apparatus that performs film formation.
[0046]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention, the connection state in the processing gas channel connection mechanism can be reliably maintained in a good state, and the labor required for maintenance can be reduced as compared with the conventional case. it can.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of a vacuum processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an enlarged view showing a schematic configuration of a main part of the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a view showing a configuration of an upper surface of the entrance side block of FIG. 2;
[Explanation of symbols]
W ... Semiconductor wafer, 1 ... Vacuum chamber, 2 ... Substrate mounting table, 13 ... Upper electrode, 14 ... Gas ejection hole, 16 ... Gas diffusion gap, 17 ... Gas introduction port, 18 ... Process gas piping, 19 ... Process gas flow path connection mechanism, 30 ... Inlet side block, 31 ... Inlet side gas flow path, 33, 34, 35 ... O-ring, 39 ... Vacuum exhaust path, 40 ...... Exhaust piping, 41... Processing gas supply piping, 43... Coil spring, 50... Outlet side block, 51.

Claims (4)

A vacuum chamber body having a container-like vacuum chamber having an upper opening, and an upper part closing the upper opening, and a vacuum chamber for accommodating a substrate to be processed and performing a predetermined vacuum process;
An inlet side block connected to a processing gas supply source for supplying a predetermined processing gas and an outlet side block connected to a processing gas introduction part for introducing the processing gas into the vacuum chamber are brought into airtight contact with each other, A vacuum processing apparatus comprising a processing gas flow path connecting mechanism for connecting the processing gas supply source and the processing gas introduction unit;
The processing gas flow path connection mechanism is
A guide provided in either the vacuum chamber main body or the upper part, formed in a container shape, and inserted into at least one of the inlet side block or the outlet side block and locked in a movable state inside. When,
Interposed between the bottom of the guide and the inlet-side block or outlet-side block, elastically biasing the inlet-side block or outlet-side block toward the other, the inlet-side block and the outlet-side block An elastic member that elastically abuts with
A stopper that is located between the inlet side block or the outlet side block and the bottom of the guide, and prevents the inlet side block or the outlet side block from coming out of the guide,
A plurality of O-rings provided concentrically at the contact portion between the inlet side block and the outlet side block;
A vacuum processing apparatus comprising: an evacuation flow path for evacuating from between the plurality of O-rings. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
In the state where the inlet side block and the outlet side block are positioned at a predetermined position, the abutment portion between the inlet side block and the outlet side block is engaged with the other convex portion in one concave portion. A vacuum processing apparatus configured to abut. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The vacuum chamber includes a container-shaped vacuum chamber main body having an upper opening and an upper part that closes and opens the upper opening in an airtight manner, and the inlet side block is provided in the vacuum chamber main body. The vacuum processing apparatus is characterized in that the outlet side block is provided in the upper part. In the vacuum processing apparatus of any one of Claims 1-3,
The vacuum processing apparatus, wherein the elastic member includes a coil spring that urges the inlet side block toward the outlet side block.

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