Various embodiments in accordance with the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, in which:
a) and (b) illustrate an exemplary processing system that can be used in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
a) and (b) illustrate a first pump liner portion that can be used in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
a) and (b) illustrate a second pump liner portion that can be used with the first pump liner portion of
Systems and methods in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention overcome the aforementioned and other deficiencies in existing anneal, cure, and other processing systems by providing a removal mechanism for outgassed species before those species can collect on the surfaces of the processing chamber. In some embodiments, a pump liner or other component for generating a flow of purge gas can be used in a chamber such as a vacuum chamber to direct a substantially laminar flow of gas across the surface of a wafer or other workpiece during a process such as a UV cure process. Such a flow can carry away any species outgassed by the workpiece. The liner can be passively heated by the convection in the chamber as well as the curing light source, such that the species do not collect on the liner and can be efficiently exhausted from the chamber. In one embodiment, the pump liner is anodized to increase the absorption efficiency of the liner. A window between the workpiece and the curing light source also can have a sufficient diameter to allow light from the source to fall directly onto the liner, in order to provide additional energy to heat the liner. The liner can be formed to have minimal contact with the bulk of the processing chamber body, which typically is kept at around 75° C. in one embodiment, in order to minimize heat flow (and thus loss) from the liner to the chamber body. The liner also can have slits of varying shape, width, and/or height in order to control the flow of gas across the workpiece surface, so that the flow direction is substantially laminar and so that the velocity of the gas across the wafer is substantially uniform from one side of the wafer to the other.
a) and (b) shows an exemplary curing system 100 that can be used in accordance with one embodiment, although aspects of the present invention can be used advantageously in a number of other systems and applications as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the description and suggestions contained herein. This system 100 includes a light source 102 for the curing process, such as a UV or IR lamp as known in the art. A reflector 104 is positioned between the lamp 102 and a substrate support 104, in order to focus light from the lamp toward the substrate support. The reflector can also be used to shape the footprint of the light on the substrate support. The substrate support 104 can be any appropriate device operable to support workpieces such as semiconductor wafers in place during a cure process. In one example, the workpiece support is a cylindrical chuck operable to support semiconductor wafers. The chuck can be translatable in order to position a wafer relative to the lamp, and can have a vacuum port or other apparatus for maintaining the wafer in position on the chuck during processing.
The lamp 102 is positioned inside a processing chamber 122, which can include a window 108 to separate a lamp housing portion of the chamber from the substrate housing portion of the chamber. The window 108 can be any appropriate window, such as a dielectric window (e.g., quartz) that is transparent to the curing radiation from the lamp 102. The window may be of any appropriate dimension, so long as the window is strong enough to prevent fracture during operation and is thin enough so that substantially all of the radiation from the lamp passes through the window. The window 108, as well as any seal used between the window and the chamber walls, for example, separates the lamp 102 and reflector 104 from the substrate support 106, such that any materials outgassed from a workpiece during a cure procedure do not collect on or contaminate the lamp, reflector, or other optical components of the lamp housing portion of the processing chamber. The window also can have a shape that matches the area to be cured. For example, if the workpiece to be processed is a 300 mm semiconductor wafer, the window can be shaped to have a cylindrical cross-section (parallel to the surface of the wafer to be cured) of about 300 mm in cross section in order to expose the entire surface of the wafer to the radiation. The reflector also can ensure that the footprint of the light substantially matches this shape, so that substantially all of the light is focused for processing and does not contact the chamber walls or other components, which could undesirably heat these components.
Even though the window 108 can substantially prevent any outgassed species or other contaminants or particles from entering the lamp housing portion and contaminating the lamp, the window itself is still subject to deposition, condensation, or collection of the species on the exposed surface of the window (near the workpiece). Further, other surfaces in the substrate housing portion still can be exposed to these species. In the embodiment of
The gas source 114 can be any appropriate source operable to provide a flow of an appropriate gas. A number of various gasses and gas combinations are known for use as purge gases, and can be used in such an implementation. In one embodiment, the purge gas used is primarily (or pure) argon due to the large molecular mass, which increases the momentum and energy of the gas “curtain.” In another embodiment, a combination of argon and helium was found to provide sufficient heat transfer while having sufficient mass and momentum to carry away the outgassed residue. Other suitable gases can include, for example, He, Ar, N2, O2, O3, H2, NH3, N2O, H2O (vapor), and NO.
The pump liner can be any device, element, or component operable to direct a laminar flow of gas across a workpiece, such as a rectangular element directing a flow across the chamber, a pair of parallel liners, or a series of gas ports directing a series of input gas flows that combine to create a single gas flow across the wafer. Many of these designs can be problematic, however, as the gas flow patterns can be irregular, and can create turbulence or recirculation zones, such that the species are not evenly carried away, and can even be allowed to accumulate on the window or other components near these turbulent zones. For these reasons, as well as heating and other reasons discussed herein, various embodiments utilize a ring-shaped pump liner as will be discussed with respect to
The flow controller 116 and/or light source 102 can be monitored and/or controlled by a system controller 120 using control and other signals as known in the art. En one example, an intensity monitor (not shown) in the chamber can feed a monitor signal to the system controller 120, which can then display or relay this information to a user or operator via a user interface device. If the intensity is not sufficient, the system controller can generate a control signal instructing the lamp apparatus to increase the intensity used to expose the workpiece. If the system controller notices that the intensity cannot be maintained above a minimum intensity threshold, such as may be stored in a data storage device 126 for the system, then the system controller can generate an alert signal indicating that the lamp apparatus is not functioning properly, and may require maintenance such as the replacement of the bulb. The system controller can send this alert signal to an appropriate device, such as an alarm that alerts an operator of the system. In this example, the signal is sent to a user interface device 124, such as a personal computer or wireless-enabled PDA, which allows a user or operator of the system to be notified that the lamp assembly requires attention. The user interface also can allow the user or operator to observe the various monitored parameters and components of the system, and can allow the user or operator to adjust or control various settings and parameters for operation of the system as known in the art.
As would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, the system controller can monitor various aspects of the overall system, such as the flow rate, pressures, temperatures, gas component levels, etc., by receiving signals from the appropriate sensors, and can alert operators and/or control components to adjust parameters or perform maintenance as necessary. For example, the system controller can monitor the flow rate of gas through the pump liner, and can adjust the input flow in response thereto. Various other uses and applications of the system controller, user interface, and data storage would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the descriptions and suggestions contained herein.
As shown in
In some embodiments, the light source may comprise two or more individual light sources. In one such tool, first and second UV lamps generate a flood pattern for a single chamber. The UV lamps include a UV source (e.g., an elongated UV bulb) and a primary reflector, with a secondary reflector being positioned between the UV lamps and the chamber. The two UV lamps can be mounted at an angle to each other. In some embodiments the opposing angles are between 5-25 degrees relative to vertical. The inclusion of two lamps can result in a higher intensity of UV radiation being generated within the flood pattern, which in turn can result in faster curing times.
A pump liner can be a single piece, or can include upper and lower liner portions that are mated together to form a single structure. For example,
As shown in
As will be discussed later herein, it also can be seen that the upper and lower portions include contact members 212, 308, such as cylindrical feet or pads, that provide minimal contact between the pump liner and the surrounding chamber body. The chamber pumping liners also can have a minimum contact flange to reduce parasitic pumping away from the laminar flow path.
The opposing slits 202 in the liner when assembled provide for a uniform, laminar gas purge between the wafer and the vacuum window. An example of such a flow is illustrated in the plot 400 of
Another way to minimize the occurrence of turbulence is to ensure substantially even flow rates across the wafer. Because the gas does not need to travel as far need the edges of the workpiece as near the middle, evenly sized slits can tend to cause uneven flow rates across the wafer. As such, a pump liner in accordance with various embodiments can include slits having a number, width, height, and/or spacing selected to provide a substantially even flow across the workpiece. In one example, the slit sizes at the first channel (having the inlet) are relatively small, on the order of about 0.020″, to increase the gas exit velocity and provide a uniform pressure distribution upstream of the inlet slits. The slit sizes near the second channel (having the outlet plenum) are larger (e.g., 3× to 5×) than the depth of the inlet slits in order to reduce pressure drop across the exhaust slits. The exhaust slits also can be deeper near the edge of the workpiece to increase gas flow at the sides of the workpiece (as opposed to the center).
In another example, a total of six slits were used across the pump liner, varying in width from 1.0 to 2.0 inches and in height from 0.045 to 0.200 inches. The spacing between slits varied from 0.40 to 1.00 inches. The flow rate of Ar/He gas in this example was approximately 16 slm/16 slm. Further, although the slits are described to be rectangular in cross-section, it should be understood that other shapes can be used as well to help facilitate even flow across workpieces for various systems and applications.
When designing the pump liner, it can be desirable to optimize various factors such as slit size and chamber pressure. For example, for a 16 slm Ar/16 slm He flow, slit sizes of 0.045 and 0.060 inches were found to have more recirculation of gas inside the wafer than slit sizes of 0.075 and 0.090 inches. Further, a chamber pressure of 3 Torr was found to have more recirculation than a chamber pressure of 6 Torr. Therefore, in this example it was found that larger slit sizes of 0.075 inches and 0.090 inches, along with a higher chamber pressure of 6 Torr, were desirable in order to minimize recirculation of gas and obtain a higher uniformity of flow.
One particular contaminant of concern is porogen outgassed from a wafer during a UV curing process, which can deposit on the vacuum window. Porogen is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,171,945 and 6,451,367, both of which are incorporated herein by reference. Any such buildup on the window can block the UV light from reaching the wafer, resulting in a continual degradation of the source efficiency. The gas purge created by the slits in the chamber pumping liner can effectively shield the window from the outgassed material, and can carry the material out of the chamber before the material can collect on the window. In order to optimize the removal of such outgassed materials, the gas flow can be maintained relatively close to the surface of the wafer. In one embodiment, the gas flow was kept at less than about 0.150″ above the surface of the wafer, although any separation in a range of from about 0.0 to about 1.00 inches would be acceptable in such an application. Other ranges may be utilized as appropriate for the system and/or application. Keeping the flow close to the wafer can help to minimize the gas volume needs to be swept away, and can help to raise the temperature. Also, the velocity increases at a constant pressure with a smaller volume, and the increased momentum of the purge gas helps to remove the outgassed species.
Outgassed porogen also can collect in other areas of the chamber, resulting in particle generation and eventual contamination of the substrate. Since the gas flows between the inlet and outlet channels of the pump liner, the majority of such buildup can occur near the receiving slits of the liner. One way to reduce the amount of buildup on the liner is to raise and maintain the temperature of the liner so that the contaminants are less likely to adhere to, or condense on, the surface of the liner.
Further, a heated liner can be more easily cleaned during a cleaning process. In one example, ozone is used as the cleaning agent for a post-cure clean so that it is not necessary to interrupt the vacuum integrity of the chamber. The ozone can be activated through the build-up or application of heat to dissociate and bond with the organic buildup. In one application, the ozone reacts with carbon based buildup and is subsequently pumped out of the chamber. It then can be desired to maintain the temperature of the liner is in the temperature range needed to activate the ozone reaction as evidenced by ozone etch rate data, such as a temperature range of 120 to 200° C. In one embodiment, the temperature range across a liner varied from about 120° C. to about 75° C. Thermal modeling of a design can be used to assist in selecting the position, shapes, and sizes of the slits, for example, in order to improve the MWBC of the system.
In one embodiment, a liner temperature of at least 120° C. was found to be sufficient for a CIP aluminum liner, in a chamber where the liner otherwise remains between about 60° C. and 70° C. during processing (as measured near the exhaust and pumping port). The efficiency of the ozone clean is drastically increased at these temperatures, such that wet cleaning of the chamber is significantly delayed. In one example, the wet cleaning interval was increased from every 200 wafers to every 2000 wafers. In another example, the residue found on a liner after 100 wafers was substantially eliminated.
In one embodiment the window was heated via application of heat from a heating element. Appropriate heating elements and methods for heating a window or other such element are known in the art and will not be discussed herein in detail. Heating the window can increase the cleaning interval up to after about every 10,000 wafers in one example. The additional cost and complexity to sufficiently heat the window while maintaining optimal processing conditions, however, may not be acceptable for all applications or manufacturers.
In one embodiment, the temperature of the liner is raised via passive heating. The liner can receive heat energy from the cure light source, as well as the gas passing over the wafer being cured. While much of the heat energy will come from convection, the additional heat energy from the UV radiation can help increase the temperature of the liner during processing. In order to further improve the heating of the liner, the physical design of the liner and/or the chamber can be modified.
In a first example, the amount of the liner coming into contact with the chamber body can be minimized. As shown in
In another example, at least a portion of the exterior surface of a chamber pumping liner can be anodized or otherwise coated or treated to drastically increase the emissivity of the external surface, thereby allowing for increased radiation heat transfer from already existing power sources, such as a ceramic heater and/or UV lamp. In one embodiment, an anodized pumping liner has an emissivity in the range of 0.9 versus that of 0.3 for polished aluminum. The increased emissivity of the aluminum allows the liner to capture radiant energy from existing energy sources, such as a ceramic heater or a UV lamp source. While an aluminum liner, for example, might reflect up to 70% of the light radiation from the light source, an anodized liner can absorb approximately 85-90% of the light energy, allowing for a significant increase in heating of the liner due to the light energy. The thickness of the anodized layer can be minimized, to be on the order of about 0.001 to 0.003 inches, for example, to increase the thermal conduction from the external anodized layer to the rest of the aluminum liner. The liner can be anodized using any appropriate anodizing process known or used in the art. In one example, the aluminum is cleaned by etching or use of a solvent, then placed in a solution such as a sulfuric or oxalic acid solution wherein the application of current causes a thick oxide layer (on the order of about 0.002 inches) to form on the liner, which has a consistency and thickness much greater than would be formed without the anodizing process.
In still another example, the dielectric window between the lamp and the substrate support can be expanded in width/diameter so that light from the light source can impinge directly onto at least a portion of the liner. This provides additional heat energy to the liner, without the need for any components not already involved in the process. This wider window can be particularly effective when used with an anodized liner that is able to absorb a majority of the impinging light energy.
In an exemplary system, the diameter of the dielectric window was increased from 13.25 to 14.75 inches, where the process chamber is designed to cure wafers having a diameter of 12.0 inches. This increased the heating of the liner by allowing more IR from UV curing source to reach the pumping liner. The inner diameter of the pumping liner can be selected such that the main gas flow volume is between the window on top, the wafer heater (and thus the wafer) on the bottom, and within the inner diameter of the pumping ring. Other areas of the chamber are effectively dead volumes where materials such as porogen cannot significantly condense before being pumped out.
A workpiece to be processed is placed in the chamber 604. In this example, a semiconductor wafer is placed in a UV curing chamber. The pump liner, in this example a ring-shaped liner, is positioned about a periphery of a wafer. A source of purge gas then is directed to a pumping port of the liner in order to direct a flow of purge gas into a channel of the liner 606. The source of purge gas can be selected such that the flow of purge gas across the wafer has sufficient mass and/or momentum to carry away any species or contaminants outgassed from the wafer during curing. The radiation source, such as a UV lamp, can be activated in order to direct radiation onto the wafer for curing 608. The radiation source also can be positioned to direct radiation to at least a portion of the pump liner, in order to further heat the liner during the curing process.
During curing of the wafer, a flow of purge gas can be directed across, and a small distance from, the surface of the wafer being cured 610. The pump liner can be designed such that the flow exits the liner from a series of slits or other injection ports that are positioned, shaped, and sized to provide a substantially even flow across the surface of the wafer with minimal turbulence in the flow. After the purge gas has flowed across the surface of the wafer, and collected any species outgassed from the wafer, the contaminated purge gas can be directed back into the pump liner through a plurality of receiving ports 612. These ports, or slits, can again be designed to allow for a substantially even flow across the wafer surface, and to provide for a minimal amount of turbulence near the receiving slits of the liner. The contaminated flow of purge gas can be exhausted from the liner via at least one exhaust plenum, and directed out of the system 614. The wafer then is removed from the system at the end of the curing process 616. If there are additional wafers to process 618, then another wafer is placed in the chamber. If not, then the process can end 620. In one embodiment, the contaminated gas is collected from the exhaust port of the liner and passed through at least one particulate filter than can remove substantially all of the outgassed species in the contaminate flow of purge gas. This filtered flow then can be directed back through the pump liner and across the wafer, reducing the amount of source gas used and reducing the exhaust requirements for the facility. The recirculation of gas can reduce operating costs, but can reduce MWBC in some embodiments as there can be some level of contaminants in the re-circulated purge gas that can collect on the pump liner.
Although passive heating of the pumping liner can be an effective an relatively cost effective approach, there still is some time required near startup of the processing chamber before the liner reaches the desired temperature. As shown in
After reading the above description, other recipes that use center-fast deposition will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Other variations will also be apparent without departing from the spirit of the invention. These equivalents and alternatives are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of this invention should not be limited to the embodiments described, but should instead be defined by the following claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/816,706, entitled “Increased Tool Utilization/Reduction in MWBC for UV Curing Chamber,” ATTY DOCKET NO. A11051/T75100, filed Jun. 26, 2006, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60816706 | Jun 2006 | US |