Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to apparatuses and coating methods to reduce HDP-CVD chamber arcing.
Description of the Related Art
High-Density Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition (HDP-CVD) employs an inductively coupled plasma source for generation of higher density plasma at low vacuum pressures. The higher density plasma results in superior gap fill performance, high quality film deposition at lower temperatures, high throughput and easy serviceability. The reactor design and process technology of HDP-CVD enables deposition of both undoped and doped films for a wide range of applications, including shallow trench isolation (STI), pre-metal dielectric layers (PMD), interlevel dielectric (ILD) layers, intermetal dielectric (IMD) layers, and passivation. Therefore, HDP-CVD is widely used in the semiconductor industry.
Due to the low process pressure, one of the key issues reported in HDP-CVD chambers is chamber arcing. Arcing occurs when high concentrated E-field at a sharp point causes dielectric break down at the metallic chamber wall, gas ring and cathode body. The high discharge current, which takes place over a small area, vaporizes exposed metal and contaminates substrate surfaces, resulting in decreased process yield.
Various techniques have been suggested to reduce chamber arcing. For example, an external coating method may be used on a new chamber, pre-installation. However, the coating must be reapplied when the pre-installation coating cracks during transportation, installation, or maintenance, or once the coating layer becomes too thin. A seasoning layer may be deposited on metallic chamber surfaces during seasoning operations, after chamber cleaning, to alleviate the arcing. However, conventional seasoning layers provide insufficient coverage on chamber components, and thus, chamber arcing issues still exist.
Therefore, there is a need for improved apparatuses and coating methods to reduce HDP-CVD chamber arcing.
In one implementation, a ring shaped gas distributor is disclosed. The ring shaped gas distributor includes a ring shaped body having at least one gas entrance port disposed on a first side thereof and a plurality of gas distribution ports disposed on a first surface of the ring shaped body. The plurality of gas distribution ports are arranged in a plurality of evenly distributed rows. A first gas distribution port of the plurality of gas distribution ports in a first row of the plurality of evenly distributed rows is adapted to direct gas at an exit angle different from an exit angle of a second gas distribution port of the plurality of gas distribution ports in the first row of the plurality of evenly distributed rows.
In another implementation, a process chamber is disclosed. The process chamber includes a chamber body and a dome lid assembly disposed on the chamber body, a substrate support positioned in the chamber body, a gas inlet mounted on the dome lid assembly, and a ring shaped gas distributor. The ring shaped gas distributor includes a ring shaped body and a plurality of gas distribution ports disposed on a first surface of the ring shaped body.
In yet another implementation, a method is disclosed. The method includes flowing a first precursor into a process chamber through a first gas inlet, ionizing the first precursor, flowing a second precursor into the process chamber through a ring shaped body adapted to distribute the second precursor, the second precursor being different than the first precursor, ionizing the second precursor, and depositing a seasoning material from the ionized second precursor on an internal surface of the process chamber.
So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only exemplary embodiments and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, as the disclosure may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements and features of one embodiment may be beneficially incorporated in other embodiments without further recitation.
Embodiments described herein relate to apparatus and coating methods to reduce chamber arcing, for example, in HDP-CVD, PECVD, PE-ALD and Etch chambers. The apparatus include a ring shaped gas distributor suitable for in-situ deposition of coating materials, and a process chamber including the same. The ring shaped gas distributor may include one or more gas entrance ports, and plurality of gas distribution ports. The ring shaped gas distributor may be positioned in a lower portion of a process chamber, such as a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) chamber, to provide a precursor gas to the lower portion of the process chamber for deposition of a seasoning material. Embodiments described herein also include a method for seasoning a process chamber. The method includes flowing a first precursor into a process chamber through a first gas inlet, and flowing a seasoning precursor into the process chamber through a ring shaped gas distributor. The first and second precursor may be ionized and reacted to deposit a seasoning material in the process chamber.
The dome 102 defines an upper boundary of a plasma processing region 104 located within the process chamber 100. The dome 102 may be made of a ceramic dielectric material, such as aluminum, aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride. The lower boundary of the plasma processing region 104 is defined by the upper surface of a substrate support 106. During processing, a plasma or other ionized gas may be generated within the plasma processing region 104 to facilitate processing of a substrate 190. For example, a plasma may be generated in the plasma processing region 104 to deposit a material on the substrate 190 in a HDP-CVD, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) or plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) process.
An inductive assembly 112 including one or more inductive coils 114 is positioned over the dome 102 to facilitate plasma generation in the plasma processing region 104. A power source (not shown) may be coupled to the inductive assembly 112 to provide power to the one or more inductive coils 114. During operation, the plurality of inductive coils 114 may provide radio frequency (RF) power to one or more precursor or process gases located within the plasma processing region 104 to ionize the precursor or process gases. In one example, the plurality of inductive coils 114 may provide up to 5,000 watts of RF power at nominally 2 MHz. The operating frequency of the plurality of inductive coils 114 may be offset from the nominal operating frequency to improve plasma-generation efficiency. A temperature control plate 110 is positioned over the inductive assembly 112 and is thermally coupled to the dome 102 through the inductive assembly 112. The temperature control plate 110 allows for control of the dome temperature within about ±10° C. over a range of about 100° C. to 200° C. The temperature control plate 110 facilitates optimization of dome temperature for various processes. In one example, a liquid coolant may flow through the inductive coils 114 to facilitate cooling of the inductive coils in addition to or as an alternative to the temperature control provided by the temperature control plate 110.
The process chamber 100 includes a gas panel 130 adapted to store one or more precursor or process gases utilized during processing, such as a HDP-CVD, PECVD or PEALD process. The precursor or process gases may be introduced to the plasma processing region 104 through one or more gas inlets 128 (two are shown as 128a, 128b), which are mounted to the dome lid assembly 115. The one or more gas inlets 128a, 128b are coupled to the gas panel 130 through one or more gas supply lines 132 (one of which is shown). In one embodiment, the one or more gas inlets 128 may be configured as a single gas ring. In another embodiment, the one or more gas inlets 128 may be configured as a top baffle. A process gas, such as a precursor gas or other gas used during processing, or reacted byproducts thereof, may be exhausted from the process chamber 100 by a pumping system 122. The pumping system 122 is joined to a lower portion of the process chamber 100 and includes a throttle valve 124 and a pump 126. The throttle valve 124 couples the pump 126 to the chamber body 116. The throttle valve 124 may be activated to control of chamber pressure by restricting the rate of exhaust flow exiting the process chamber 100 through the pump 126.
A ring shaped gas distributor 118 is positioned in the lower portion of the chamber body 116 between the throttle valve 124 and the substrate support 106. The ring shaped gas distributor 118 includes a hollow tubular ring having one or more gas entrance ports and gas distribution ports to distribute process or precursor gasses in a lower portion of the process chamber 100. The ring shaped gas distributor 118 may be attached to an internal surface 105 of the chamber body 116 by an attachment 120. The attachment 120 may be a spring-loaded clip, bracket, fastener, or the like. Precursor or process gases are supplied from a second gas panel 140 to the ring shaped gas distributor 118 through a gas supply line 138. The gas supply line 138 may be routed through the bellows 136 adjacent the substrate support arm 108. Alternatively, the gas supply line 138 may be routed through gas inlets 128a, 128b.
A process gas, such as a precursor gas or other gas used during processing, is supplied to the ring shaped gas distributor 118 from the second gas panel 140 is distributed in the lower portion of the process chamber 100 to facilitate formation of a seasoning layer on the internal surface 105 of the chamber body 116. The ring shaped gas distributor 118 is adapted to evenly distribute gases into the lower portion of the process chamber 100 to form a more uniform seasoning layer than conventional approaches, thus reducing the likelihood of undesired arcing. The ring shaped gas distributor 118 may have a diameter that is smaller than the diameter of the internal surface 105 of the chamber body 116. In one example, the ring shaped gas distributor may have a diameter that is about 3 percent to about 20 percent smaller than the diameter of the internal surface 105. The ring shaped gas distributor 118 may be made of a metal, metal alloy, or a ceramic material. In one embodiment, the ring shaped gas distributor 118 is made of the same material as the chamber body 116, so as to prevent metal contamination. In another embodiment, the ring shaped gas distributor 118 may be made of aluminum oxide. In another embodiment, the ring shaped gas distributor 118 may be made of aluminum nitride. In yet another embodiment, the ring shaped gas distributor 118 may be made of aluminum.
The plurality of gas distribution ports 253 may be arranged in a plurality of rows 252a, 252b (two of which are labeled). Row 252a may represent a first row and row 252b may represent a second row. A plurality of rows may be evenly distributed in concentric circles around the circumference of the body 250. Lines have been included between the ports 253 of the rows 252a and 252b to show the distribution of the rows in concentric circles. The ports 253 comprising each row may also be radially aligned with a centerline of the body 250. The plurality of gas distribution ports 253 in the first row 252a is positioned to direct exiting gas at an angle different from the exit angle of adjacent rows, such as the second row 252b. In other words, each row of the plurality of gas distribution ports 252 is adapted to direct exiting gas at a different angle than adjacent rows. In another example, the gas distribution ports 253 of a particular row may be grouped into triplets, with each gas distribution port of the triplet having a different gas exit angle. The three different angles may be repeated for each triplet of gas distribution ports 253 in a single row, such as row 252a or row 252b. The variations in the exit angle between adjacent rows 252a, 252b, or between adjacent gas distribution ports 253 may be controlled by the diameter of the first surface of the gas distribution device 218. The relative difference of the exit angles may be between about 15 degrees and about 30 degrees. In one embodiment, the spacing between each gas distribution port 253 of the plurality of gas distribution ports 253 is between about 1 centimeter (cm) and about 3 cm, such as about 1 cm.
Although
At operation 366 a second precursor is introduced into the process chamber 100 through the ring shaped gas distributor 118. The introduced ring shaped gas distributor 118 directs the precursors over portions of the chamber that are generally unreachable or poorly reached if the second precursor was solely introduced through the gas inlets 128a, 128b disposed above the substrate support 106. The second precursor material may be an aluminum-containing precursor, or any other metal-containing precursor. Exemplary second precursors include, but are not limited to, trimethylaluminum (TMA) or aluminum chloride (AlCl3). The second precursor is ionized in operation 368.
At operation 370, the ionized second precursor adsorbs to or reacts with the monolayer of the first precursor formed on the internal surface 105. Absorption or reaction of the second monolayer results in formation of a seasoning material on the internal surface 105 of the chamber body 116 of the process chamber 100. The seasoning material may include any dielectric material that has one or more of the follow characteristics: (1) high breakdown voltage, such as more than 7 MV/cm, (2) is resistant to fluorine (F) radicals, (3) minimal particle contamination concern, or (4) minimal metal contamination concern. In one embodiment, the seasoning material is aluminum oxide (Al2O3). In another embodiment, the seasoning material is aluminum nitride (AlN). The seasoning material may be deposited to a thickness that prevents arcing, for example, between about 0.1 microns to about 10 microns, such as about 1 micron to about 3 microns. In one example, method 360 may be an ALD process, and the seasoning material may be deposited at a thickness of about 5 angstroms to about 10 angstroms per deposition cycle. In such an example, operations 362-370 are repeated until a seasoning material of a preferred thickness is formed.
The method 360 may be a PECVD or PE-ALD process, in one example. In a PE-ALD process, radicals are generated by an HDP RF source. PE-ALD occurs at relatively low temperatures, which are below the relative low temperature limit (<100° C.) of the chamber wall or other chamber components. The method 360 may take place during preventative maintenance, corrective maintenance, or as otherwise needed to make sure all metallic parts, such as the chamber body, are sufficiently coated to substantially prevent chamber arcing. In one example, the method 360 may occur subsequent to a thin film formation process in which a thin film is formed on the substrate 190.
The plurality of gas distribution ports 453a, 453b, 453c may be arranged in a plurality of rows. The rows may be evenly distributed around the ring shaped gas body 450, for example, across the first, curved surface 456. The gas distribution ports 453a, 453b, and 453c of
Benefits of the disclosure include the reduction of chamber arcing and arcing related defects, as well as increased chamber longevity and decreased maintenance costs through deposition of a seasoning material in portions of the chamber that are susceptible to arcing.
While the description herein has made reference to an HDP-CVD chamber, it is to be understood that the disclosures herein are applicable to other semiconductor equipment tools as well, such as PECVD process chambers, etch process chambers and PE-ALD process chambers.
While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present disclosure, other and further embodiments of the disclosure may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow.
This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/263,491, filed Dec. 4, 2015, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/299,790, filed Feb. 25, 2016, each of which is herein incorporated by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4512283 | Bonifield | Apr 1985 | A |
4664747 | Sekiguchi | May 1987 | A |
4761269 | Conger | Aug 1988 | A |
4989540 | Fuse | Feb 1991 | A |
5105761 | Charlet | Apr 1992 | A |
5169509 | Latz | Dec 1992 | A |
5188671 | Zinck | Feb 1993 | A |
5330352 | Watanabe | Jul 1994 | A |
5338363 | Kawata | Aug 1994 | A |
5522934 | Suzuki | Jun 1996 | A |
5522936 | Tamura | Jun 1996 | A |
5592581 | Okase | Jan 1997 | A |
5614055 | Fairbairn | Mar 1997 | A |
5620523 | Maeda | Apr 1997 | A |
5686151 | Imai | Nov 1997 | A |
5792272 | van Os | Aug 1998 | A |
5851294 | Young | Dec 1998 | A |
5884009 | Okase | Mar 1999 | A |
5885358 | Maydan | Mar 1999 | A |
5900103 | Tomoyasu | May 1999 | A |
6013155 | McMillin | Jan 2000 | A |
6106737 | Tomoyasu | Aug 2000 | A |
6111225 | Ohkase | Aug 2000 | A |
6132552 | Donohoe | Oct 2000 | A |
6139642 | Shimahara | Oct 2000 | A |
6143081 | Shinriki | Nov 2000 | A |
6178918 | van Os | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6206976 | Crevasse | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6270862 | McMillin | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6299725 | Donohoe | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6302962 | Nam | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6323133 | Donohoe | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6365016 | Iacovangelo | Apr 2002 | B1 |
6375750 | van Os | Apr 2002 | B1 |
6383334 | Donohoe | May 2002 | B1 |
6387816 | Donohoe | May 2002 | B2 |
6446572 | Brcka | Sep 2002 | B1 |
6478877 | Sillmon | Nov 2002 | B1 |
6497783 | Suzuki | Dec 2002 | B1 |
6613189 | Donohoe | Sep 2003 | B2 |
6617256 | Donohoe | Sep 2003 | B2 |
6666920 | Sillmon | Dec 2003 | B1 |
6676758 | Sillmon | Jan 2004 | B2 |
6716289 | Sillmon | Apr 2004 | B1 |
6808567 | Takeshita | Oct 2004 | B2 |
6815370 | Han | Nov 2004 | B2 |
6835277 | Park | Dec 2004 | B2 |
6837967 | Berman et al. | Jan 2005 | B1 |
6846364 | Pyo | Jan 2005 | B2 |
6890596 | Sarigiannis | May 2005 | B2 |
6914007 | Ma et al. | Jul 2005 | B2 |
6972055 | Sferlazzo | Dec 2005 | B2 |
7109114 | Chen et al. | Sep 2006 | B2 |
7303141 | Han | Dec 2007 | B2 |
7468104 | Mardian | Dec 2008 | B2 |
7745350 | Wang et al. | Jun 2010 | B2 |
7749326 | Kim | Jul 2010 | B2 |
7806078 | Yoshida | Oct 2010 | B2 |
7846291 | Otsuki | Dec 2010 | B2 |
7862683 | Fukiage | Jan 2011 | B2 |
7879183 | Yousif | Feb 2011 | B2 |
7887669 | Satou | Feb 2011 | B2 |
8277561 | Kim | Oct 2012 | B2 |
8298338 | Kim | Oct 2012 | B2 |
8329593 | Yousif | Dec 2012 | B2 |
8450191 | Wang et al. | May 2013 | B2 |
8683943 | Onodera | Apr 2014 | B2 |
9175394 | Yudovsky | Nov 2015 | B2 |
9410247 | Lee | Aug 2016 | B2 |
9951421 | Lind | Apr 2018 | B2 |
20010003271 | Otsuki | Jun 2001 | A1 |
20040099378 | Kim | May 2004 | A1 |
20080057740 | Munro et al. | Mar 2008 | A1 |
20080069966 | Otsuki | Mar 2008 | A1 |
20080102208 | Wu | May 2008 | A1 |
20090165713 | Kim | Jul 2009 | A1 |
20090260569 | Kim | Oct 2009 | A1 |
20090260572 | Kim | Oct 2009 | A1 |
20110240598 | Okayama | Oct 2011 | A1 |
20130098293 | Lee | Apr 2013 | A1 |
20130098455 | Ng | Apr 2013 | A1 |
20140166618 | Tadigadapa | Jun 2014 | A1 |
20160168705 | Lind | Jun 2016 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
0965655 | Dec 1999 | EP |
2000277509 | Oct 2000 | JP |
2003328135 | Nov 2003 | JP |
2009-070948 | Apr 2009 | JP |
2009302324 | Dec 2009 | JP |
2010-118462 | May 2010 | JP |
1020050042701 | May 2005 | KR |
WO-9715698 | May 1997 | WO |
Entry |
---|
International Search Report and Written Opinion dated Jan. 31, 2017 for Application No. PCT/US2016/058923. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20170159176 A1 | Jun 2017 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62299790 | Feb 2016 | US | |
62263491 | Dec 2015 | US |