Patent Application
20240222089
This disclosure generally relates to devices and systems for electrostatic wafer chucks.
In semiconductor fabrication, Ajinomoto build-up film (ABF) is added to semiconductors as an insulating material. The ABF may include a series of dielectrics, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), to provide the insulation. When laminating a dielectric material into a copper pattern, a PET or other protective film may be used to help avoid material being stuck to a tool. Cleaning and desmearing of a via of a semiconductor may result in rough surfaces that may undermine subsequent manufacturing processes.
The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, algorithm, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.
In semiconductor fabrication, Ajinomoto build-up film (ABF) as a dielectric material may form an isolation between layers. Protective films, for example, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) may be laminated onto a chip as protective layers to prevent ABF material from sticking to a tool during lamination of the ABF material. Some via cleaning/desmearing processes (e.g., to establish interconnects between layers) may result in rough surfaces of the chip that may be undermine subsequent manufacturing processes such as sputtering.
Some roughness may be preferred, however, so a clean semiconductor via with minimal non-zero roughness of the ABF may be ideal. For example, a surface too smooth may have poor adhesion to a subsequent conductive (e.g., copper) seed layer. In general, balancing surface etching with via cleanliness is a challenge for dry desmearing/etching. Achieving clean vias while having low surface roughness may require the use of extended dry desmearing or expensive chemistries/gases (e.g., C3F8).
Some existing techniques may process the chip with the PET film on the panel, and some existing techniques may perform post-etching after PET peeling. Processing dielectric material with PET film may protect surface etching. However, having to performing multiple etch steps for via cleaning and surface roughness adds significant cost, equipment, and runtime. In addition, post-PET peel may result in a smooth surface may cause adhesion issues, and PET adhesive/release layer residue may be another concern requiring additional cleaning.
In one or more embodiments, dry desmear equipment with an electrostatic chuck (e.g., typically used to hold and heat wafers) may be used for PET peeling. Doing so may incorporate via cleaning (e.g., dry desmear), PET peeling, and surface roughening into a single tool relying on a polarized PET and an electrostatic stage (chuck) that can produce enough force to peel a PET.
In one or more embodiments, as a result of the dry desmear equipment with an electrostatic chuck used for PET peeling, the dry desmear, PET peeling, and surface roughening may be combined into a same tool and step. Other benefits may include providing some surface roughness while having a residue-free surface without significant impact to equipment run rate, and reducing cost of dry desmear processing while maintaining strong adhesion and seed layer.
In one or more embodiments, the enhanced tool's configuration may include etch chambers for dry desmear and surface roughening, a chamber having a high-electrostatic stage for generating sufficient electrostatic force to separate a PET layer from a dielectric surface, high electrostatic force stages to peel a PET surface (e.g., 3500 Volts or so), a motor-driven electrostatic stage or bottom table/stage to ensure direct contact between panel and electrostatic stage, a cluster configuration in which the tool may include separate chambers for an etch tool, PET peeling, and etching, and the electrostatic stage being larger than the PET coverage area to remove/peel the PET layer. When the size of the PET is about 486×491 millimeters, for example, the electrostatic stage may be at least 500 mm×500 mm.
In one or more embodiments, the electrostatic chuck may peel the PET layer after via cleaning is performed with the PET layer on, then mild surface roughening and cleaning may be applied by a tool having the electrostatic chuck before the tool transfers out the panel. The tool and process may rely on a polarized PET (e.g., antistatic) so that the surface resistivity is very low and will respond to electrostatic forces of the electrostatic chuck. For example, electrostatic chucks may include an electrode that provides an electrostatic force with which to hold an object (e.g., in this context, the panel). The polarized PET allows for the PET to be peeled away by the electrostatic force provided by the electrostatic chuck. By performing the via cleaning while the PET layer is on, more aggressive techniques (e.g., in terms of power and gases) for the cleaning may not damage the surface.
The above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting. Numerous other examples, configurations, processes, algorithms, etc., may exist, some of which are described in greater detail below. Example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures.
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In one or more embodiments, high electrostatic force stages may be used for the electrostatic stage 121, such as around 3500 Volts or more. The stage/table 124 may be used to ensure that direct contact is made between the protection layer 110 and the electrostatic stage 121. The electrostatic stage 121 may be larger than the coverage area of the protection film 110 to ensure peeling of the protection layer 110. For a protection layer area of around 486 mm×491 mm, the electrostatic stage 121 may be at least 500 mm×500 mm, for example.
In one or more embodiments, the protection layer 110 may be a PET, and may be polarized. For example, Tables 1 and 2 below show differences in surface and volume resistivity between polarized PET and other dielectric materials.
Referring to
Sputtering refers to ejecting particles of a material from its surface. Referring to
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At block 502, a system (e.g., including the electrode 106, the bottom electrode 118, the electrostatic stage 121, and the stage/table 124 of
At block 504, the system may peel, using an electrostatic force generated by an electrostatic stage (e.g., the electrostatic stage 121 of
At block 506, the system may roughen, using the electrode, a surface of the dielectric material after peeling the dielectric protective film from the semiconductor.
It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.
Examples, as described herein, may include or may operate on logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangible entities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations when operating. A module includes hardware. In an example, the hardware may be specifically configured to carry out a specific operation (e.g., hardwired). In another example, the hardware may include configurable execution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computer-readable medium containing instructions where the instructions configure the execution units to carry out a specific operation when in operation. The configuring may occur under the direction of the execution units or a loading mechanism. Accordingly, the execution units are communicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium when the device is operating. In this example, the execution units may be a member of more than one module. For example, under operation, the execution units may be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a first module at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set of instructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.
Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also be implemented as program code or instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices and media. In some embodiments, the robotic machine 600 may include one or more processors and may be configured with program code instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device memory. Program code and/or executable instructions embodied on a computer-readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium including, but not limited to, wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Program code and/or executable instructions for carrying out operations for aspects of the disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object-oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code and/or executable instructions may execute entirely on a device, partly on the device, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the device and partly on a remote device or entirely on the remote device or server.
The machine 600 may include at least one hardware processor 602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 604, and a static memory 606. The machine 600 may include drive circuitry 618. The machine 600 may further include an inertial measurement device 632, a graphics display device 610, an alphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 614 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the graphics display device 610, the alphanumeric input device 612, and the UI navigation device 614 may be a touch screen display. The machine 600 may additionally include a storage device 616, a film control device (e.g., capable of controlling the electrode 106 and/or the electrode stage 121 of
The drive circuitry 618 may include a motor driver circuitry that operates various motors associated with the axes of the machine 600. Motors may facilitate the movement and positioning of the robotic machine 600 around the respective axes for a plurality of degrees of freedom (e.g., X, Y, Z, pitch, yaw, and roll). The motor driver circuitry may track and modify the positions around the axes by affecting the respective motors.
The inertial measurement device 632 may provide orientation information associated with a plurality of degrees of freedom (e.g., X, Y, Z, pitch, yaw, roll, roll rate, pitch rate, yaw rate) to the hardware processor 602. The hardware processor 602 may in turn analyze the orientation information and generate, possibly using both the orientation information and the encoder information regarding the motor shaft positions, control signals for each motor. These control signals may, in turn, be communicated to motor amplifiers to independently control motors to impart a force on the system to move the system. The control signals may control motors to move a motor to counteract, initiate, or maintain rotation.
The hardware processor 602 may be capable of communicating with and independently sending control signals to a plurality of motors associated with the axes of the machine 600.
The storage device 616 may include a machine-readable medium 622 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 624 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 624 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 604, within the static memory 606, or within the hardware processor 602 during execution thereof by the machine 600. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 602, the main memory 604, the static memory 606, or the storage device 616 may constitute machine-readable media.
The antenna(s) 630 may include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for the transmission of RF signals. In some embodiments, instead of two or more antennas, a single antenna with multiple apertures may be used. In these embodiments, each aperture may be considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated for spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result between each of the antennas and the antennas of a transmitting station.
The film control device 619 may carry out or perform any of the operations and processes (e.g., the process 500) described and shown above.
It is understood that the above are only a subset of what the film control device 619 may be configured to perform and that other functions included throughout this disclosure may also be performed by the film control device 619.
While the machine-readable medium 622 is illustrated as a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 624.
Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in software and/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but not limited to read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media' a flash memory, etc.
The term “machine-readable medium” may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the robotic machine 600 and that cause the robotic machine 600 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limiting machine-readable medium examples may include solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media. In an example, a massed machine-readable medium includes a machine-readable medium with a plurality of particles having resting mass. Specific examples of massed machine-readable media may include non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.
The instructions 624 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 626 using a transmission medium via the network interface device/transceiver 620 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communications networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), plain old telephone (POTS) networks, wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the network interface device/transceiver 620 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas (e.g., antennas 630) to connect to the communications network 626. In an example, the network interface device/transceiver 620 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the robotic machine 600 and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible media to facilitate communication of such software. The operations and processes described and shown above may be carried out or performed in any suitable order as desired in various implementations. Additionally, in certain implementations, at least a portion of the operations may be carried out in parallel. Furthermore, in certain implementations, less than or more than the operations described may be performed.
Some examples may be described using the expression “in one example” or “an example” along with their derivatives. These terms mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example is included in at least one example. The appearances of the phrase “in one example” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same example.
Some examples may be described using the expression “coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, descriptions using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” may indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, yet still co-operate or interact with each other.
In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, various features are grouped together in a single example to streamline the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed examples require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, the inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed example. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate example. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and so forth, are used merely as labels and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.
As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinal adjectives “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., to describe a common object, merely indicates that different instances of like objects are being referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.
The following examples pertain to further embodiments.
Example 1 may include a system for peeling a dielectric protective film from a semiconductor, the system comprising: a first electrode configured to generate plasma associated with cleaning vias by etching a residual material associated with smearing; an electrostatic stage configured to generate an electrostatic force associated with peeling the dielectric protective film from the semiconductor; and a stage on which the semiconductor is positioned while the electrostatic stage peels the dielectric protective film from the semiconductor, wherein the plasma is further associated with roughening a surface of the semiconductor after peeling the dielectric protective film from the semiconductor.
Example 2 may include the system of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the dielectric protective film comprises polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Example 3 may include the system of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the dielectric protective film is polarized.
Example 4 may include the system of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the electrostatic stage is an electrostatic wafer chuck comprising a second electrode configured to generate the electrostatic force.
Example 5 may include the system of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein an area of the electrostatic stage is greater than an area of the dielectric protective film.
Example 6 may include the system of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the peeling occurs when the electrostatic stage is in direct contact with the dielectric protective film.
Example 7 may include the system of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein a height of the electrostatic stage is adjustable.
Example 8 may include a system for peeling a dielectric protective film from a semiconductor, the system comprising: a first electrode configured to clean vias formed by etching a residual material associated with smearing; an electrostatic stage configured to generate an electrostatic force associated with peeling the dielectric protective film from the semiconductor; and a stage on which the semiconductor is positioned while the electrostatic stage peels the dielectric protective film from the semiconductor, wherein the first electrode is further configured to roughen a surface of the semiconductor after peeling the dielectric protective film from the semiconductor.
Example 9 may include the system of example 8 and/or any other example herein, wherein the dielectric protective film comprises polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Example 10 may include the system of example 8 and/or any other example herein, wherein the dielectric protective film is polarized.
Example 11 may include the system of example 8 and/or any other example herein, wherein the electrostatic stage is an electrostatic wafer chuck comprising a second electrode configured to generate the electrostatic force.
Example 12 may include the system of example 8 and/or any other example herein, wherein an area of the electrostatic stage is greater than an area of the dielectric protective film.
Example 13 may include the system of example 8 and/or any other example herein, wherein the peeling occurs when the electrostatic stage is in direct contact with the dielectric protective film.
Example 14 may include the system of example 8 and/or any other example herein, wherein a height of the electrostatic stage is adjustable.
Example 15 may include a method for peeling a dielectric protective film from a semiconductor, the method comprising: cleaning, using a first electrode, vias formed by etching a residual material associated with smearing; peeling, by an electrostatic force generated by an electrostatic stage, the dielectric protective film from the semiconductor; and roughening, by the first electrode, a surface of the semiconductor after peeling the dielectric protective film from the semiconductor.
Example 16 may include the method of example 15 and/or any other example herein, wherein the dielectric protective film comprises polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Example 17 may include the method of example 15 and/or any other example herein, wherein the dielectric protective film is polarized.
Example 18 may include the method of example 15 and/or any other example herein, wherein the electrostatic stage is an electrostatic wafer chuck comprising a second electrode configured to generate the electrostatic force.
Example 19 may include the method of example 15 and/or any other example herein, wherein an area of the electrostatic stage is greater than an area of the dielectric protective film.
Example 20 may include the method of claim 15, wherein the peeling occurs when the electrostatic stage is in direct contact with the dielectric protective film.
Embodiments according to the disclosure are in particular disclosed in the attached claims directed to a method, a storage medium, a device and a computer program product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claim category, e.g., method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g., system, as well. The dependencies or references back in the attached claims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, any subject matter resulting from a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (in particular multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that any combination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can be claimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims. The subject-matter which can be claimed comprises not only the combinations of features as set out in the attached claims but also any other combination of features in the claims, wherein each feature mentioned in the claims can be combined with any other feature or combination of other features in the claims. Furthermore, any of the embodiments and features described or depicted herein can be claimed in a separate claim and/or in any combination with any embodiment or feature described or depicted herein or with any of the features of the attached claims.
The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.
Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain implementations could include, while other implementations do not include, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or more implementations or that one or more implementations necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to be performed in any particular implementation.
Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific implementations disclosed and that modifications and other implementations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
