Patent Application
20090162259
1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to an ultraviolet (UV) cure chamber. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to a tandem UV chamber for performing cure processes of dielectric films on substrates and clean processes of surfaces within the tandem chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
Silicon oxide (SiO), silicon carbide (SiC) and carbon doped silicon oxide (SiOC) find extremely widespread use in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. One approach for forming silicon containing films on a semiconductor substrate is through the process of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) within a chamber. Organosilicon supplying materials are often utilized during CVD of the silicon containing films. As a result of the carbon present in such a silicon supplying material, carbon containing films can be formed on the chamber walls as well as on the substrate.
Water is often a by-product of the CVD reaction of organosilicon compounds and can be physically absorbed into the films as moisture. Moisture in the air inside the substrate fab provides another source of moisture in un-cured films. The ability of the film to resist water uptake while in queue for subsequent manufacturing processes is important in defining a stable film. The moisture is not part of stable films, and can later cause failure of dielectric material during device operation.
Accordingly, undesirable chemical bonds and compounds such as water are preferably removed from a deposited carbon containing film. More importantly, thermally unstable organic fragments of sacrificial materials (resulting from porogens used during CVD to increase porosity) need to be removed. It has been suggested to utilize ultraviolet radiation to aid in the post treatment of CVD silicon oxide films. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,566,278 and 6,614,181, both to Applied Materials, Inc. and incorporated herein in their entirety, describe use of UV light for post treatment of CVD carbon-doped silicon oxide films.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a UV curing chamber which can be used to effectively cure films deposited on substrates. A further need exists for a UV curing chamber that can increase throughput, consume a minimum of energy and be adapted for in situ cleaning processes of surfaces within the chamber itself.
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to an ultraviolet (UV) cure chamber for curing a dielectric material disposed on a substrate. In one embodiment, a tandem process chamber provides two separate and adjacent process regions defined by a body covered with a lid having bulb isolating windows aligned respectively above each process region. The bulb isolating windows are implemented with either one window per side of the tandem process chamber to isolate one or many bulbs from the substrate in one large common volume, or with each bulb of an array of bulbs enclosed in its own UV transparent envelope which is then in direct contact with the substrate treating environment. One or more UV bulbs per process region are covered by housings coupled to the lid and emit UV light that is directed through the windows onto substrates located within the process regions.
The UV bulbs can be an array of light emitting diodes or bulbs utilizing any of the state of the art UV illumination sources including but not limited to microwave arcs, radio frequency filament (capacitively coupled plasma) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) lamps. Additionally, the UV light can be pulsed during a cure process. Various concepts for enhancing uniformity of substrate illumination include use of lamp arrays which can also be used to vary wavelength distribution of incident light, relative motion of the substrate and lamp head including rotation and periodic translation (sweeping), and real-time modification of lamp reflector shape and/or position.
Residues formed during the curing process are organic/organosilicon and are removed using an oxygen radical and ozone based clean. Production of the necessary oxygen radicals can be done remotely with the oxygen radicals transported to the curing chamber, generated in-situ or accomplished by running these two schemes simultaneously. Since the oxygen radicals generated remotely recombine very rapidly back into molecular oxygen (O2), the key to remote oxygen based clean is to generate ozone remotely and to transfer this ozone into the curing chamber where the ozone is then allowed to dissociate into oxygen radicals and oxygen molecules when it comes into contact with heated surfaces inside the curing chamber. Consequently, the ozone is essentially a vehicle for transporting oxygen radicals into the curing chamber. In a secondary benefit of the remote ozone clean, ozone that does not dissociate in the cure chamber can also attack certain organic residues thereby enhancing the oxygen radical clean. Methods of generating the ozone remotely can be accomplished using any existing ozone generation technology including, but not limited to dielectric barrier/corona discharge (e.g., Applied Materials Ozonator) or UV-activated reactors. According to one embodiment, the UV bulbs used for curing the dielectric material and/or additional UV bulb(s) that can be remotely located are used to generate the ozone.
So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, 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 typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
Each of the tandem process chambers 106 includes two processing regions for processing the substrates (see,
In an alternative embodiment where not all of the tandem process chambers 106 are configured as UV curing chambers, the system 100 can be adapted with one or more of the tandem process chambers having supporting chamber hardware as is known to accommodate various other known processes such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), etch, and the like. For example, the system 100 can be configured with one of the tandem process chambers 106 as a CVD chamber for depositing materials, such as a low dielectric constant (K) film, on the substrates. Such a configuration can maximize research and development fabrication utilization and, if desired, eliminate exposure of as-deposited films to atmosphere.
In general, embodiments of the invention contemplate any UV source such as mercury microwave arc lamps, pulsed xenon flash lamps or high-efficiency UV light emitting diode arrays. The UV lamp bulbs 302 are sealed plasma bulbs filled with one or more gases such as xenon (Xe) or mercury (Hg) for excitation by the power sources 214. Preferably, the power sources 214 are microwave generators that can include one or more magnetrons (not shown) and one or more transformers (not shown) to energize filaments of the magnetrons. In one embodiment having kilowatt microwave (MW) power sources, each of the housings 204 includes an aperture 215 adjacent the power sources 214 to receive up to about 6000 W of microwave power from the power sources 214 to subsequently generate up to about 100 W of UV light from each of the bulbs 302. In another embodiment, the UV lamp bulbs 302 can include an electrode or filament therein such that the power sources 214 represent circuitry and/or current supplies, such as direct current (DC) or pulsed DC, to the electrode.
The power sources 214 for some embodiments can include radio frequency (RF) energy sources that are capable of excitation of the gases within the UV lamp bulbs 302. The configuration of the RF excitation in the bulb can be capacitive or inductive. An inductively coupled plasma (ICP) bulb can be used to efficiently increase bulb brilliancy by generation of denser plasma than with the capacitively coupled discharge. In addition, the ICP lamp eliminates degradation in UV output due to electrode degradation resulting in a longer-life bulb for enhanced system productivity. Benefits of the power sources 214 being RF energy sources include an increase in efficiency.
Preferably, the bulbs 302 emit light across a broad band of wavelengths from 170 nm to 400 nm. The gases selected for use within the bulbs 302 can determine the wavelengths emitted. Since shorter wavelengths tend to generate ozone when oxygen is present, UV light emitted by the bulbs 302 can be tuned to predominantly generate broadband UV light above 200 nm to avoid ozone generation during cure processes.
UV light emitted from the UV lamp bulbs 302 enters the processing regions 300 by passing through windows 314 disposed in apertures in the lid 202. The windows 314 preferably are made of an OH free synthetic quartz glass and have sufficient thickness to maintain vacuum without cracking. Further, the windows 314 are preferably fused silica that transmits UV light down to approximately 150 nm. Since the lid 202 seals to the body 200 and the windows 314 are sealed to the lid 202, the processing regions 300 provide volumes capable of maintaining pressures from approximately 1 Torr to approximately 650 Torr. Processing or cleaning gases enter the process regions 300 via a respective one of two inlet passages 316. The processing or cleaning gases then exit the process regions 300 via a common outlet port 318. Additionally, the cooling air supplied to the interior of the housings 204 circulates past the bulbs 302, but is isolated from the process regions 300 by the windows 314.
In one embodiment, each of the housings 204 include an interior parabolic surface defined by a cast quartz lining 304 coated with a dichroic film. The quartz linings 304 reflect UV light emitted from the UV lamp bulbs 302 and are shaped to suit both the cure processes as well as the chamber clean processes based on the pattern of UV light directed by the quartz linings 304 into the process regions 300. For some embodiments, the quartz linings 304 adjust to better suit each process or task by moving and changing the shape of the interior parabolic surface. Additionally, the quartz linings 304 preferably transmit infrared light and reflect ultraviolet light emitted by the bulbs 302 due to the dichroic film. The dichroic film usually constitutes a periodic multilayer film composed of diverse dielectric materials having alternating high and low refractive index. Since the coating is non-metallic, microwave radiation from the power sources 214 that is downwardly incident on the backside of the cast quartz linings 304 does not significantly interact with, or get absorbed by, the modulated layers and is readily transmitted for ionizing the gas in the bulbs 302.
In another embodiment, rotating or otherwise periodically moving the quartz linings 304 during curing and/or cleaning enhances the uniformity of illumination in the substrate plane. In yet another embodiment, the entire housings 204 rotate or translate periodically over the substrates 308 while the quartz linings 304 are stationary with respect to the bulbs 302. In still another embodiment, rotation or periodic translation of the substrates 308 via the pedestals 306 provides the relative motion between the substrates 308 and the bulbs 302 to enhance illumination and curing uniformity.
For cure processes for carbon containing films, the pedestals 306 are heated to between 350° C. and 500° C. at 1-10 Torr, preferably 400° C. The pressure within the processing regions 300 is preferably not lower than approximately 0.5 Torr in order to enhance heat transfer to the substrate from the pedestals 306. Substrate throughput increases by performing the cure processes at low pressure in order to accelerate porogen removal as evidenced by the fact that the rate of shrinkage of the deposited films increases as pressure decreases. Further, the stability of the resulting dielectric constant upon exposure to moisture in the ambient atmosphere of the fab improves when the cure process occurs at a lower pressure. For example, under the same conditions a cure process at 75 Torr created a film with a dielectric constant, κ, of 2.6 while a cure process at 3.5 Torr created a film with a κ of 2.41. After completion of a standard accelerated stability test, the dielectric constant of the film cured at 75 Torr increased to 2.73 while the κ of the film cured at 3.5 Torr increased approximately half as much to 2.47. Thus, the lower pressure cure produced a lower dielectric constant film with approximately half the sensitivity to ambient humidity.
A cure process for a carbon doped silicon oxide film includes introduction of fourteen standard liters per minute (slm) of helium (He) at eight Torr for the tandem chamber 106 (7 slm per side of the twin) via each inlet passage 316. For some embodiments, the cure processes use nitrogen (N2) or argon (Ar) instead or as mixtures with He since primary concern is absence of oxygen unless other components are desired for reactive UV surface treatments. The purge gas essentially performs two main functions of removing curing byproducts and promoting uniform heat transfer across the substrate. These non-reactive purge gases minimize residue build up on the surfaces within the processing regions 300.
Additionally, hydrogen can be added to beneficially remove some methyl groups from films on the substrates 300 and also scavenge oxygen which is released during curing and tends to remove too many methyl groups. The hydrogen can getter residual oxygen remaining in the chamber after the oxygen/ozone based clean and also oxygen out-gassed from the film during the cure. Either one of these sources of oxygen can potentially damage the curing film by photo-induced reactions of oxygen radicals formed by the short wavelength UV potentially used in the cure and/or by binding with methyl radicals to form volatile byproducts that can leave the final film poor in methyl, yielding poor dielectric constant stability and/or excessively high film stress. Care must be exercised in the amount of hydrogen introduced into the cure process since with a UV radiation wavelength less than approximately 275 nm the hydrogen can form hydrogen radicals that can attack carbon-carbon bonds in the film and also remove methyl groups in the form of CH4.
Some cure processes according to aspects of the invention utilize a pulsed UV unit which can use pulsed xenon flash lamps as the bulbs 302. While the substrates 308 are under vacuum within the processing regions 300 from approximately 10 milliTorr to approximately 700 Torr, the substrates 308 are exposed to pulses of UV light from the bulbs 302. The pulsed UV unit can tune an output frequency of the UV light for various applications.
For clean processes, the temperature of the pedestals 306 can be raised to between about 100° C. and about 600° C., preferably about 400° C. With the UV pressure in the processing regions 300 elevated by the introduction of the cleaning gas into the region through the inlet passages 316, this higher pressure facilitates heat transfer and enhances the cleaning operation. Additionally, ozone generated remotely using methods such as dielectric barrier/corona discharge or UV activation can be introduced into the processing regions 300. The ozone dissociates into O− and O2 upon contact with the pedestals 306 that are heated. In the clean process, elemental oxygen reacts with hydrocarbons and carbon species that are present on the surfaces of the processing regions 300 to form carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide that can be pumped out or exhausted through the outlet port 318. Heating the pedestals 306 while controlling the pedestal spacing, clean gas flow rate, and pressure enhances the reaction rate between elemental oxygen and the contaminants. The resultant volatile reactants and contaminants are pumped out of the processing regions 300 to complete the clean process.
A cleaning gas such as oxygen can be exposed to UV radiation at selected wavelengths to generate ozone in-situ. The power sources 214 can be turned on to cause UV light emission from the bulbs 302 in the desired wavelengths, preferably about 184.9 nm and about 253.7 nm when the cleaning gas is oxygen, directly onto the surfaces to be cleaned and indirectly by focusing with the quartz linings 304. For example, UV radiation wavelengths of 184.9 nm and 253.7 nm optimizes cleaning using oxygen as the cleaning gas because oxygen absorbs the 184.9 nm wavelength and generates ozone and elemental oxygen, and the 253.7 nm wavelength is absorbed by the ozone, which devolves into both oxygen gas as well as elemental oxygen.
For one embodiment, a clean process includes introduction of 5 slm of ozone and oxygen (13 wt % ozone in oxygen) into the tandem chamber, split evenly within each processing region 300 to generate sufficient oxygen radicals to clean deposits from surfaces within the processing regions 300. The O3 molecules can also attack various organic residues. The remaining O2 molecules do not remove the hydrocarbon deposits on the surfaces within the processing regions 300. A sufficient cleaning can occur with a twenty minute clean process at 8 Torr after curing six pairs of substrates.
The array of UV lamps 502 can be designed to meet specific UV spectral distribution requirements to perform the cure process and the clean process by selecting and arranging one, two or more different types of individual bulbs within the array of UV lamps 502. For example, bulbs may be selected from low pressure Hg, medium pressure Hg and high pressure Hg. UV light from bulbs with a wavelength distribution particularly suited for cleaning can be directed to the entire process region while UV light from bulbs with a wavelength distribution particularly suited for curing can be directed specifically to the substrate. Additionally, bulbs within the array of UV lamps 502 directed specifically at the substrate may be selectively powered independently from other bulbs within the array of UV lamps 502 such that select bulbs are turned on for either the clean process or the cure process.
The array of UV lamps 502 can utilize highly efficient bulbs such as UV light emitting diodes. UV sources powered by microwave or pulsed sources have a conversion efficiency of five percent compared to low power bulbs, such as 10 W-100 W, that can be in the array of UV lamps 502 to provide a conversion efficiency of about twenty percent. With the microwave power source ninety five percent of the total energy is converted to heat that wastes energy and necessitates extra cooling requirements while only five percent of the energy is converted to UV emission. The low cooling requirement of the low power bulbs can allow the array of UV lamps 502 to be placed closer to the substrate (e.g., between one and six inches) to reduce reflected UV light and loss of energy.
Furthermore, the bottom surface 500 of the lid assembly can include a plurality of gas outlets 504 interleaved within the array of UV lamps 502. Accordingly, curing and cleaning gases can be introduced into a process region within a chamber from above (see,
Any of the embodiments described herein can be combined or modified to incorporate aspects of the other embodiments. While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow.
This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/124,908 (APPM/009433), filed May 9, 2005.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11124908 | May 2005 | US |
| Child | 12393851 | US |
