1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an etchant for controlling a silicon wafer surface shape and a method for manufacturing silicon wafers using the etchant, which are capable of reducing workloads of a both-side simultaneous polishing process, and achieving both of the high flatness and the reduction in front side roughness.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a manufacturing process of semiconductor silicon wafers is composed of processes of chamfering, mechanically polishing (lapping), etching, mirror-polishing (polishing) and cleaning wafers obtained by cutting and slicing a pulled silicon single crystal ingot, and produces wafers having highly precise flatness. The silicon wafers, which have passed through mechanical manufacturing processes, such as block cutting, outer diameter grinding, slicing, and lapping, have damaged layers, namely, work-affected layers, on the surface thereof. Since the work-affected layer causes crystal defects, such as a slip dislocation or the like during device manufacturing processes, reduces mechanical strength of the wafer and adversely influences on electrical characteristics thereof, it must be completely removed.
An etching process is performed in order to remove the work-affected layer. Either of an acid etching method and an alkali etching method is employed for the etching process. In this etching process, the work-affected layer is chemically removed by immersing a plurality of wafers in an etching bath that containing the etchant.
The acid etching has advantages that there is no selective etching characteristic to the silicon wafer, micro shape-precision is improved because of a small front side roughness, and etching efficiency is high. An etchant due to three components in which mixed acid of hydrofluoric acid (HF) and nitric acid (HNO3) is diluted with water (H2O) or acetic acid (CH3COOH) is mainly used for the etchant of this acid etching. It is considered that the reason why the above-mentioned advantages are obtained by the acid etching is that etching progresses on based on diffusion-controlled conditions by the above-mentioned etchant, and reaction velocity does not depend on a plane orientation of a crystal front side, a crystal defect, or the like under these diffusion-controlled conditions, but diffusion on the crystal front side has a major effect. In this acid etching, however, although the work-affected layer can be etched while improving the front side roughness of the silicon wafer, an outer circumferential portion of the wafer becomes dull as the acid etching progresses on, and the flatness which is a macroscopic shape precision obtained by the lapping is impaired, causing problems that unevenness called waves or peels in a range of mm order on an etched surface. Further, there have been disadvantages that a cost of a chemical liquid is high, and in addition to that, it is difficult to control and maintain the composition of the etchant.
The alkali etching has features that the flatness is superior and the macroscopic shape precision is improved, and metallic contamination is low, and there is no problem of harmful by-products such as NOx in the acid etching and no danger in handling thereof. KOH and NaOH are used as the etchant of this alkali etching. It is considered that the reason why the above-mentioned features are obtained by the alkali etching is that this etching basically progresses on based on conditions of surface diffusion control. In the alkali etching, however, although the work-affected layer can be etched while maintaining the flatness of the silicon wafer, pits (Hereinafter, these are called facets.) with a partial depth of several micrometers and a size of about several to several tens of micrometers are generated, causing problems that the wafer front side roughness is deteriorated.
As measures for solving the above-mentioned problems in the alkali etching, there is disclosed an etching method for silicon wafers using an etchant in which hydrogen peroxide of 0.01-0.2 weight percent is added to caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) aqueous solution of 100 weight percent (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.). According to the etching method disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, it is described that problems caused in the alkali etching due to a caustic soda aqueous solution is solved by adding hydrogen peroxide to the caustic soda aqueous solution at a predetermined ratio. Specifically, the size of the etch pit on the backside of the silicon wafer is made finer as compared with etching using an NaOH aqueous solution, generation of micro etch pits on the backside of the silicon wafer is also suppressed, and a desired etching rate can be adjusted easily and in a wide extent, thereby resulting in an increase in etching rate.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H7-37871 (claims 1 through 4, paragraph [0021])
In the conventional methods including the method shown in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, however, although the etched wafer is subjected to a both-side simultaneous polishing process or a single-side polishing process to thereby make the front side thereof into a mirror plane the wafer flatness upon completing a flattening process cannot be maintained and the desired wafer front side roughness is not obtained, either, on front and back sides of a silicon wafer which has been subjected to an etching process, and thus in order to improve the wafer flatness and the wafer front side roughness, it is necessary to take large polishing removal allowances in the both-side simultaneous polishing process or the single-side polishing process, thereby high workload has been imposed on the both-side simultaneous polishing process or the single-side polishing process.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an etchant for controlling a silicon wafer surface shape and a method for manufacturing the silicon wafers using the etchant, which are capable of reducing workloads of a both-side simultaneous polishing process and a single-side polishing process, and achieving both of the maintenance of the wafer flatness and the reduction in wafer front side roughness upon completing a flattening process.
The invention in accordance with claim 1 is an etchant for controlling a silicon wafer surface shape, wherein a fluorochemical surfactant is uniformly mixed in an alkaline aqueous solution.
In the invention in accordance with claim 1, since the etchant in which the fluorochemical surfactant is mixed uniformly in the alkaline aqueous solution can control the front side roughness and the texture size of the wafer before polishing, etching the silicon wafer with an work-affected layer, to which a flattening process has been subjected, using this etchant makes it possible to achieve both the maintenance of the wafer flatness and the reduction in wafer front side roughness upon completing the flattening process while reducing the polishing removal allowances on front and back sides of the wafer in a both-side simultaneous polishing process or a single-side polishing process, respectively.
The invention according to claim 2 is the etchant in accordance with claim 1, wherein the alkaline aqueous solution is a sodium hydroxide aqueous solution of 20-50 weight percent, and an addition ratio of the fluorochemical surfactant to be added to the alkaline aqueous solution is 0.0015-15 g/L to sodium hydroxide.
In the invention in accordance with claim 2, adding the fluorochemical surfactant to the sodium hydroxide aqueous solution with the above-mentioned concentration range at a predetermined ratio makes it possible to further reduce the front side roughness and the flatness of the wafer to which the etching process has been subjected.
The invention in accordance with claim 3 is a method for manufacturing silicon wafers as shown in
In the invention in accordance with claim 3, since the front side roughness and the texture size of the wafer before polishing can be controlled by the etching process 14 using the adjusted etchant in which the fluorochemical surfactant is added to the alkaline aqueous solution, it is possible to achieve both of the maintenance of the wafer flatness and the reduction in wafer front side roughness upon completing the flattening process while reducing the polishing removal allowances on the front and back sides of the wafer in the both-side simultaneous polishing process 16, respectively.
The invention according to claim 4 is the method in accordance with claim 3, wherein the alkaline aqueous solution is a sodium hydroxide aqueous solution of 20-50 weight percent, and an addition ratio of the fluorochemical surfactant to be added to the alkaline aqueous solution is 0.0015-15 g/L to sodium hydroxide.
The invention in accordance with claim 5 is a method for manufacturing silicon wafers, sequentially including a flattening process of grinding or lapping front and back sides of a thin disc-shaped silicon wafer obtained by slicing a silicon single crystal ingot, an etching process of immersing the silicon wafer in an etchant obtained by mixing a fluorochemical surfactant uniformly in an alkaline aqueous solution to thereby etch the front and back sides of the silicon wafer, and a single-side polishing process of polishing the front and back sides of the etched silicon wafer for every side.
In the invention in accordance with claim 5, since the front side roughness and the texture size of the wafer before polishing can be controlled by the etching process using the adjusted etchant in which the fluorochemical surfactant is added to the alkaline aqueous solution, it is possible to achieve both of the maintenance of the wafer flatness and the reduction in wafer front side roughness upon completing the flattening process while reducing the polishing removal allowances on the front and back sides of the wafer in the single-side polishing process, respectively.
The invention according to claim 6 is the method in accordance with claim 5, wherein the alkaline aqueous solution is a sodium hydroxide aqueous solution of 20-50 weight percent, and an addition ratio of the fluorochemical surfactant to be added to the alkaline aqueous solution is 0.0015-15 g/L to sodium hydroxide.
The etchant for controlling a silicon wafer surface shape of the present invention is an etchant in which the fluorochemical surfactant is uniformly mixed in the alkaline aqueous solution, and this etchant can control the front side roughness and the texture size of the wafer before polishing, so that etching the silicon wafer with the work-affected layer, to which the flattening process has been subjected, using this etchant, makes it possible to achieve both of the maintenance of the wafer flatness and the reduction in wafer front side roughness upon completing the flattening process while reducing the polishing removal allowances on the front and back sides of the wafer in a both-side simultaneous polishing process or a single-side polishing process, respectively.
Moreover, in the method for manufacturing the silicon wafers according to the present invention, since the front side roughness and the texture size of the wafer before polishing can be controlled by the etching process using the adjusted etchant in which the fluorochemical surfactant is added to the alkaline aqueous solution, it is possible to achieve both of the maintenance of the wafer flatness and the reduction in wafer front side roughness upon completing the flattening process while reducing polishing removal allowances on the front and back sides of the wafer in a both-side simultaneous polishing process or a single-side polishing process, respectively.
Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described based on the drawings.
An etchant for controlling a silicon wafer surface shape of the present invention is an etchant in which a fluorochemical surfactant is uniformly mixed in an alkaline aqueous solution. This etchant in which the fluorochemical surfactant is uniformly mixed in this alkaline aqueous solution acts on metal impurities or the like in a chemical liquid by adding the fluorochemical surfactant thereto and suppresses selectivity peculiar to an alkali etching, thereby can control the front side roughness and the texture size of the wafer before polishing, and thus etching the silicon wafer with the work-affected layer, to which the flattening process has been subjected, using this etchant, makes it possible to achieve both of the maintenance of the wafer flatness and the reduction in wafer front side roughness upon completing the flattening process while reducing the polishing removal allowances on front and back sides of the wafer in a both-side simultaneous polishing process or a single-side polishing process, respectively.
The etchant of the present invention is obtained by adding the fluorochemical surfactant to the alkaline aqueous solution adjusted to a predetermined concentration at a predetermined ratio, stirring this added liquid, and mixing the fluorochemical surfactant uniformly in the alkaline aqueous solution. While potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide are listed as the alkaline aqueous solution included in the etchant of the present invention, especially among them, a sodium hydroxide aqueous solution in which sodium hydroxide concentration is 20-50 weight percent, preferably 40-50 weight percent is superior in reduction of front side roughness and suppression of texture size of the wafer before polishing. Moreover, it is preferable that an addition ratio of the fluorochemical surfactant to be added to this sodium hydroxide aqueous solution of 20-50 weight percent is in a range of 0.0015-15 g/L to the sodium hydroxide since the wafer front side roughness and the wafer flatness after an etching process can be further reduced. Particularly, it is preferable that the addition ratio is in a range of 0.15-1.5 g/L to the sodium hydroxide. The fluorochemical surfactant used for the etchant of the present invention includes 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8-pentadecafluoro-1-octanesulfonic acid (C8F17SO3H), Potassium perfluoro octanesulfonate (C8F17SO3K) Sodium perfluoro octanesulfonate (C8F17SO3Na) Ammonium perfluoro octanesulfonate (C8F17SO3NH4), Lithium perfluoro octanesulfonate (C8F17SO3Li) Potassium N-[(perfluorooctyl) sulfonyl]-N-propylglycinate (C8F17SO2N(C3H7)CH2COOK), N-(2-hydroxylethyl)-N-propyl perfluorooctane sulfonamide (C8F17SO2N(C3H7)CH2CH2OH), N-polyoxyethylene-N-propyl perfluorooctane sulfonamide (C8F17SO2N(C3H7) (C2H4O)nH; n=3, 10, 20), Phosphorous acid ester ([C8F17SO2N(C3H7) (C2H4O)]2PO(OH)), Phosphorous acid ester ammonium salt ([C8F17SO2N(C3H7) (C2H4O)]2PO(ONH4)), N-[3-(perfluorooctanesulfonamide)propyl]-N,N,N-trimethylammonium iodide (C8F17SO2NHCH2CH2CH2N+(CH3)3I−), copolymer of acrylicacidpolyoxyalkylene (C2-3) alkyl etherandacrylic acid N-perfluoro octyl sulformyl-N-alkyl amino ethyl, copolymer of acrylic acid polyoxyalkylene glycolmonoester acrylic acid N-perfluoro octyl sulformyl-N-alkyl amino ethyl, copolymer of acrylic acid polyoxyethylene alkyl ether and acrylic acid N-perfluoro octyl sulformyl-N-alkyl aminoethyl (50% ethyl acetate), Copolymer of acrylic acid polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether acrylic acid N-perfluoro octyl sulformyl-N-alkyl amino ethyl (50% ethyl acetate), copolymer of acrylic acid polyoxyalkylene glycolmonoester and acrylic acid N-perfluoro octyl sulformyl-N-alkyl amino ethyl, Pentadecafluorooctanoic acid (C7F15COOH), Pentadecafluorooctanoic acid ammonium (C7F15COONH4), Perfluoro butanesulfonate (C4F9SO3H), Potassium perfluoro butanesulfonate (C4F9SO3K), Lithium perfluoro butanesulfonate (C4F9SO3Li), or the like. Especially, C8F17SO3K and C8F17SO3Na are preferable since they exhibit effects to act during reaction with the silicon interface in the alkali etching to thereby weaken selectivity peculiar to the alkali etching.
Next, a manufacturing method of the silicon wafer using the etchant for controlling the silicon wafer surface shape of the present invention will be described.
First, a grown silicon single crystal ingot is made into a block shape by cutting a top portion and a bottom portion thereof, and in order to make a diameter of the ingot uniform, the outside diameter of the ingot is ground to be made into a block body. In order to indicate a specific crystal orientation, orientation flats and orientation notches are formed in this block body. After this process, the block body is sliced with a predetermined angle to a direction of a rod axis as shown in
Subsequently, uneven layers on the front and back sides of the thin disc-shaped silicon wafer caused at the slicing process or the like are flattened to increase the flatness of the front and back sides of the wafer and the parallel accuracy of the wafer (step 13). In this flattening process 13, the front and back sides of the wafer are flattened by grinding or lapping.
A method for flattening the wafer by grinding is carried out by a grinding apparatus 20 as shown in
In addition, a method for flattening the wafer by lapping is carried out by a lapping apparatus 30 as shown in
Next, returning to
In this etching process 14, as shown in
Next, returning to
A method of performing the both-side simultaneous polishing is carried out by a both-side simultaneous polishing apparatus 50 as shown in
Incidentally, although the front and back sides of the wafer have been simultaneously polished by the both-side simultaneous polishing in this embodiments, it will be obvious that a similar effect may be obtained even when the wafer is polished by the single-side polishing in which the front and back sides of the wafer are polished for every side instead of this both-side simultaneous polishing.
Next, examples of the present invention will be described in detail with comparative examples.
First, a plurality of silicon wafers of 200 mm diameter are prepared, and the front and back sides of the silicon wafers are subjected to lapping using the lapping apparatus shown in
The flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar to those of the examples 1 through 5 other than replacing the alkaline aqueous solution used for the etchant in the etching process with 40 weight percent aqueous sodium hydroxide solution.
Five types of chemical liquids which consist of only of 50 weight percent aqueous sodium hydroxide solution are prepared as the alkaline aqueous solution, and the flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar those of the example 1 other than using these chemical liquids as the etchant in the etching process as they are. Namely, any fluorochemical surfactant is not added to the etchant.
Five types of chemical liquids which consist of only of 40 weight percent aqueous sodium hydroxide solution are prepared as the alkaline aqueous solution, and the flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar those of the example 1 other than using these chemical liquids as the etchant in the etching process as they are. Namely, any silica powder is not added to the etchant.
The flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar to those of the examples 1 through 10 other than performing etching while immersing the silicon wafers into the etchant for 3.5 minutes to 4.5 minutes to set the etching removal allowances in this etching to be 2.5 micrometers for one side of the wafer and 5 micrometers for both sides of the wafer in this etching process.
<Comparative Testing 1>
For the silicon wafers obtained from the examples 1 through 20 and the comparative examples 1 through 10, respectively, the wafer front side roughness is measured using a non-contact front side roughness gauge (made by CHAPMAN company) to calculate Ra and Rmax which are fundamental parameters of wafer surface shapes, respectively. The arithmetic mean roughness Ra which is an amplitude average parameter in a height direction is expressed by an average of absolute values of Z (x) in a reference length as shown in following Equation 1, when the reference length is defined as lr on the wafer surface shown in
Meanwhile, the maximum cross sectional height Rmax of a roughness curve which is a parameter of a peak and a bottom in the height direction is expressed by a sum of the maximum value of a peak height Zp of an outline curve in an evaluation length ln and the maximum value of the bottom depth Zv, on the wafer surface shown in
(Equation 2)
Rmax=max(Zpi)+max(Zvi) (2)
The results of Ra and Rmax in the silicon wafers obtained from the examples 1 through 20 and the comparative examples 1 through 10 are shown in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively.
As is clear from Table 1, when comparing the examples 1 through 10 in which the fluorochemical surfactant is added to the alkaline aqueous solution with the comparative examples 1 through 10 in which the fluorochemical surfactant is not added to the alkaline aqueous solution, it turns out that the results of Ra and Rmax in the examples 1 through 20 are reduced among the wafers to which the flattening process is subjected under similar conditions. According to these results, there is obtained a result that the wafer front side roughness and the wafer flatness are improved, respectively, by using the etchant in which the fluorochemical surfactant is added to the alkaline aqueous solution, allowing reduction in polishing removal allowance in the following both-side simultaneous polishing process. Meanwhile, when comparing the results of the examples 1 through 10 with each other, there is obtained a tendency that the higher the fluorochemical surfactant added to the alkaline aqueous solution is, the further the results of Ra and Rmax decrease, respectively.
As is clearer from Table 2, when comparing the results of the examples 11 through 20 with each other, unlike the above-mentioned Table 1, there is obtained a tendency that the lower the fluorochemical surfactant added to the alkaline aqueous solution is, the further the results of Ra and Rmax decrease, respectively, when a removal allowances by etching is so small as 5 micrometers.
First, a plurality of silicon wafers of 200 mm diameter are prepared, and as the flattening process, lapping is subjected to the front and back sides of the silicon wafers in a manner similar to that of the example 1. Subsequently, for the wafers after lapping, finish grinding is subjected to the front side of the silicon wafer using the grinding apparatus shown in
The flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar to those of the examples 21 through 25 other than replacing the alkaline aqueous solution used for the etchant in the etching process with 40 weight percent aqueous sodium hydroxide solution.
The flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar to those of the examples 21 through 25 other than replacing the alkaline aqueous solution used for the etchant in the etching process with 30 weight percent aqueous sodium hydroxide solution.
The flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar to those of the examples 21 through 25 other than replacing the alkaline aqueous solution used for the etchant in the etching process with 20 weight percent aqueous sodium hydroxide solution.
Five types of chemical liquids which consist of only of 50 weight percent aqueous sodium hydroxide solution are prepared as the alkaline aqueous solution, and the flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar those of the example 21 other than using these chemical liquids as the etchant in the etching process as they are. Namely, any fluorochemical surfactant is not added to the etchant.
Five types of chemical liquids which consist of only of 40 weight percent aqueous sodium hydroxide solution are prepared as the alkaline aqueous solution, and the flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar those of the example 21 other than using these chemical liquids as the etchant in the etching process as they are. Namely, any silica powder is not added to the etchant.
Five types of chemical liquids which consist of only of 30 weight percent aqueous sodium hydroxide solution are prepared as the alkaline aqueous solution, and the flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar those of the example 21 other than using these chemical liquids as the etchant in the etching process as they are. Namely, any fluorochemical surfactant is not added to the etchant.
Five types of chemical liquids which consist of only of 20 weight percent aqueous sodium hydroxide solution are prepared as the alkaline aqueous solution, and the flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar those of the example 21 other than using these chemical liquids as the etchant in the etching process as they are. Namely, any silica powder is not added to the etchant.
The flattening process and the etching process are performed in a manner similar to those of the examples 21 through 40 other than performing etching while immersing the silicon wafers into the etchant for 3.5 minutes to 4.5 minutes to set the etching removal allowances in this etching to be 2.5 micrometers for one side of the wafer and 5 micrometers for both sides of the wafer in this etching process.
For the silicon wafers obtained from the examples 21 through 60 and the comparative examples 11 through 30, respectively, the wafer front side roughness is measured using the non-contact front side roughness gauge (made by CHAPMAN company) in a manner similar to that of the above-mentioned comparative testing 1 to calculate Ra and Rmax which are the fundamental parameters of the wafer front side shapes, respectively. The results of Ra and Rmax in the silicon wafers obtained from the examples 21 through 60 and the comparative examples 11 through 30 are shown in Table 3 through Table 5, respectively.
As is clearer from Table 3 and Table 4, when comparing the examples 21 through 40 in which the fluorochemical surfactant is added to the alkaline aqueous solution with the comparative examples 11 through 30 in which the fluorochemical surfactant is not added to the alkaline aqueous solution, it turns out that the results of Ra and Rmax of the examples 21 through 40 decrease, respectively. According to this result, there is obtained a result that the wafer front side roughness and the wafer flatness are improved, respectively, by using the etchant in which the fluorochemical surfactant is added to the alkaline aqueous solution, allowing a reduction in polishing removal allowance in the following both-side simultaneous polishing process. Meanwhile, when comparing the results of the examples 21 through 40 with each other, there is obtained a tendency that the higher the fluorochemical surfactant added to the alkaline aqueous solution is, the further the results of Ra and Rmax decrease, respectively.
As is clear from Table 5, when comparing the results of the examples 41 through 60 with each other, unlike the above-mentioned Table 3, there is obtained a tendency that the lower the fluorochemical surfactant added to the alkaline aqueous solution is, the further the results of Ra and Rmax decrease, respectively, when the removal allowances by etching is so small as 5 micrometers.