Claims
- 1. A particle measuring system comprising:
a laser beam irradiator, a scattered light detector and a beam stopper, the particle measuring system being provided in a processing system which generates an atmosphere by exhausting air or a gas in a processing chamber with a vacuum pump and which applies a process concerning semiconductor device manufacture to an object to be processed in the atmosphere, and the particle measuring system being attached to an exhaust pipe connecting an exhaust opening of the processing chamber to the vacuum pump to measure the number of particles included in an exhaust gas.
- 2. The particle measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam irradiator is provided so as to emit a laser beam into the exhaust pipe along a line segment connecting a center point in a lateral cross section of the exhaust pipe with a central axis running through a center of the processing chamber in the vertical direction, and
the scattered light detector is provided in a direction substantially orthogonal to an irradiation direction of the laser beam.
- 3. The particle measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam irradiator emits the laser beam to a part having a high density of the particles included in the exhaust gas in an area on an outer side away from the center of the exhaust pipe which is exhausted in the exhaust pipe.
- 4. The particle measuring system according to claim 2, wherein the scattered light detector is provided in a direction away from the central axis of the processing chamber and directs a detection direction to a part having a high density of the particles included in the exhaust gas exhausted in the exhaust pipe.
- 5. The particle measuring system according to claim 4, wherein a center of the scattered light detector is set so as to face a point which is offset by a predetermined distance from the center point in the cross section of the exhaust pipe in a direction opposite to a direction along which the central axis running through the center of the processing chamber in the vertical direction is positioned.
- 6. The particle measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam irradiator is provided to emit the laser beam so as to pass through the part having the high density of the particles included in the exhaust gas exhausted on a wall side of the exhaust pipe away from the center point in the cross section of the exhaust pipe, and
the scattered light detector is provided in a direction substantially orthogonal to the irradiation direction of the laser beam to direct a detection direction to the part having the high density of the particles included in the exhaust gas exhausted in the exhaust pipe.
- 7. The particle measuring system according to claim 5, wherein a maximum value of the predetermined distance to be offset is 0.75 time as much as a radius of the exhaust pipe.
- 8. The particle measuring system according to claim 1, wherein an attachment position on the exhaust pipe of the particle measuring system is determined as a position where the density of the particles included in the exhaust gas in the exhaust pipe is variable at a minimal distance to the processing chamber which lights generated in the processing chamber do not reach.
- 9. A particle measuring system comprising:
a laser beam irradiator, a scattered light detector and a beam stopper, the particle measuring system being provided in a processing system which generates an atmosphere by exhausting air or a gas in a processing chamber with a vacuum pump and which applies a process concerning semiconductor device manufacture to an object to be processed in the atmosphere, and the particle measuring system being attached to an exhaust pipe connecting an exhaust opening of the processing chamber to the vacuum pump to emit a laser beam from the laser beam irradiator to a part having the high density of particles included in an exhaust gas on an outer side away from a center of the exhaust pipe which is exhausted in the exhaust pipe, thereby detecting scattered light from the particles by the scattered light detector, and measuring the number of the particles included in the exhaust gas.
- 10. A particle measuring system comprising:
a laser beam irradiator, a scattered light detector and a beam stopper, the particle measuring system being arranged in an exhaust duct which exhausts a fluid from a processing space, and the particle measuring system emitting a laser beam from the laser beam irradiator to a part having a high density of particles included in the fluid exhausted on a wall side of the exhaust duct to detect scattered light from the particles by the scattered light detector, thereby measuring the number of the particles included in the fluid.
- 11. A particle measuring system comprising:
a laser beam irradiator, a scattered light detector and a beam stopper, the particle measuring system being provided in a processing system which generates an atmosphere by exhausting a fluid in a processing space and which applies a process to an object to be processed in the atmosphere, and the particle measuring system being attached in an exhaust duct connecting to the space to emit a laser beam from the laser beam irradiator to a part having a high density of particles included in an exhaust gas exhausted to an outer side away from an axial center of the exhaust duct, thereby detecting scattered light from the particles by the scattered light detector, and measuring the number of the particles included in the exhaust gas.
- 12. A method of measuring particles exhausted through an exhaust duct of a processing system which generates an atmosphere by exhausting a fluid in a processing space and which applies a process to an object to be processed in the atmosphere, comprising:
a step of modeling a parameter concerning a mechanism which generates the particles and a parameter indicative of a characteristic of the particles to be generated; a step of simulating a numeric value indicative of a track of a particle included in the fluid flowing through an exhaust duct; a step of simulating numeric values of tracks of the fluid and the particles; a step of confirming an optimum particle position; a step of determining a sensor attachment position; a step of attaching the sensor; and a step of evaluating particles measurement, wherein a track that the particles generated in the space and exhausted flows through the exhaust duct is simulated, an area where the density of the particles becomes highest in the exhaust duct direction is selected, a laser beam irradiator is arranged at a position where a measurement laser beam passes through the area, and a scattered light detector is arranged in a direction orthogonal to the laser beam to measure the particles.
- 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the modeling of the parameter comprises:
modeling of an exhaust structure based on a chamber shape and a structure of the exhaust duct; modeling of process conditions including a gas type, a pressure, a quantity of flow and a temperature; modeling of particle conditions including a composition, a density and a particle diameter of the particles to be generated; and modeling of a constituent part which generates the particles and a generation position.
- 14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the simulation of the numeric value of the track is obtained by a number, a shape and arrangement positions of exhaust ducts provided in the processing space, and a flow velocity distribution of the fluid.
- 15. A particle measuring system which generates a duct atmosphere in which a fluid flows from a processing space and which is mounted in the duct, comprising:
a sensor manifold which is attached to the duct connected to the processing space and which has a swiveling mechanism; a laser beam irradiator which is attached to the sensor manifold and has a drive mechanism which can move in a radial direction of the exhaust pipe; a beam stopper which is attached to the sensor manifold so as to be opposite to the laser beam irradiator and which has a drive mechanism movable so as to face the laser beam irradiator and which receives an emitted laser beam; a scattered light detector which is attached to the sensor manifold so as to be substantially orthogonal to an irradiation direction of the laser beam and which has a two-dimensionally movable drive mechanism and which detects light obtained by scattering the laser beam with particles; and a controller which performs movement control of the laser beam irradiator, the scattered light detector and the beam stopper.
- 16. The particle measuring system according to claim 15, further comprising
a position controller which operates the drive mechanism of the laser beam irradiator and the beam stopper in such a manner that a laser beam passes through an area having the high density of the particles in the sensor manifold assumed by simulation to move the scattered light detector to a position where the scattered light from the area having the high density is detected.
- 17. The particle measuring system according to claim 15, further comprising
a controller/processor which controls the laser beam irradiator and the scattered light detector and which processes an obtained measurement result.
- 18. The particle measuring system according to claim 15, wherein the drive mechanism has a motor or a linear motor as a drive source.
- 19. The particle measuring system according to claim 15, wherein the sensor manifold is air-tightly connected to the exhaust pipe so as to be capable of swiveling by a magnetic fluid seal.
- 20. A particle measuring method by a system having a laser beam irradiator, a scattered light detector and a beam stopper in order to measure the number of particles by emitting a laser beam to the particles flowing through a duct through which a fluid flows in a processing space, comprising:
a step of selecting an area having a high density of the particles in accordance with information including the processing space and concerning the inside thereof, information concerning the duct and simulation based on the information concerning the duct; a step of performing positional adjustment in such a manner that the laser beam irradiator emits a laser beam to the area having the high density of the particles based on the simulation; a step of performing positional adjustment in such a manner that the beam stopper is opposite to the laser beam irradiator in order to receive the laser beam which has passed through the area having the high density; a step of performing positional adjustment of the scattered light detector so as to detect scattered light based on the laser beam which has passed through the area having the high density; a step of emitting the laser beam to the area having the high density of the particles by the laser beam irradiator; a step of detecting the scattered light of the laser beam which has passed through the area having the high density by the scattered light detector; and a step of calculating the number of the particles from the detected scattered light.
- 21. A method of measuring particles flowing through a duct by using a particle measuring system with a laser position adjusting unit in the duct through which a fluid in a processing space flows, comprising:
a step of determining an optimum sensor attachment position by simulation, and inputting attachment position information to a position controller of the laser position adjusting unit; a step of inputting process conditions to the position controller of the laser position adjusting unit; a step of adjusting a laser beam irradiator, a scattered light detector, a beam stopper and a sensor manifold to optimum positions by the position controller; and a step of measuring the particles generated in the processing chamber by the sensor.
- 22. The method of measuring particles according to claim 12, wherein the exhaust duct is provided at an arbitrary position in the space, and the exhaust duct is formed in any direction of a vertical direction, a horizontal direction or an oblique direction to simulate a particle track relative to each exhaust duct direction.
- 23. A processing system comprising:
a processing chamber which can maintain a vacuum state; a mounting table which is provided in the processing chamber to mount an object to be processed thereon; a gas supply portion which supplies a gas including a process gas to the processing chamber; and an exhaust system which is connected to the processing chamber through an exhaust pipe and a vacuum valve to exhaust a gaseous matter including the gas from the processing chamber, thereby making it possible to maintain a desired pressure, the processing system further comprising:
a particle measuring portion provided in the exhaust system in order to measure the number of the particles included in the gas to be exhausted; and a process end point determination portion which determines an end point of the process based on a measured value measured in the particle measuring portion when performing an etching process by flowing the process gas into the processing chamber to terminate the process.
- 24. The processing system according to claim 23, wherein the process end point determination portion comprises:
a particle number judgment portion which judges whether the measured value obtained in the particle measuring portion is not more than a predetermined particle threshold value; a low particle number duration measuring portion which measures a duration in which the measured value is not more than the particle threshold value based on an output from the particle number judgment portion; a just etch timing determination portion which determines a just timing based on an output from the low particle number duration measuring portion; an over-etching period determination portion which determines an over-etching period in which over-etching is carried out based on an etching process period from start of the etching process to the just etch timing; and an etching end point determination portion which determines an end point of the etching process based on the over-etching period to terminate the etching processing.
- 25. The processing system according to claim 23, wherein the etching processing includes a cleaning process to remove unnecessary films respectively deposited on an inner wall surface of the processing chamber and a surface of an internal structure including the mounting table mounted in the processing chamber.
- 26. A particle measuring system mounted in a duct through which a fluid in a processing space flows, comprising:
a sensor manifold which is attached in the duct connected to the processing space and which has a swiveling mechanism; a laser beam irradiator which is attached to the sensor manifold and which has a drive mechanism movable in a radial direction of the exhaust pipe; a beam stopper which is attached to the sensor manifold so as to be opposite to the laser beam irradiator and which has a drive mechanism movable so as to face the laser beam irradiator and which receives an emitted laser beam; a scattered light detector which is attached to the sensor manifold so as to be substantially orthogonal to an irradiation direction of the laser beam and which has a two-dimensionally movable drive mechanism and which detects light obtained by scattering the laser beam by particles; and a controller which performs positional control of the laser beam irradiator, the scattered light detector and the beam stopper,
wherein the drive mechanisms included in the laser beam irradiator, the beam stopper and the scattered light detector can move in such a manner that a measuring point reaches a measuring position where a maximum value of a detected detection signal can be obtained.
- 27. The particle measuring system according to claim 26, wherein the respective drive mechanisms in the laser beam irradiator, the beam stopper and the scattered light detector are driven by a motor or a linear motor along guide mechanisms attached to the sensor manifold.
- 28. A method of cleaning the inside of a processing chamber in a processing system comprising:
a processing chamber which can maintain a vacuum state; a mounting table which is provided in the processing chamber to mount an object to be processed thereon; a gas supply portion which supplies a gas including an etching gas to the processing chamber; an etching process portion which is mounted in the processing chamber to which the etching gas is supplied and which applies an etching process to the object to be processed; an exhaust system which is connected to the processing chamber through an exhaust duct and a vacuum valve to exhaust a gaseous matter including the gas from the inside of the processing chamber, thereby making it possible to maintain a desired pressure, the method comprising:
a process of continuously measuring the number of the particles included in the gas which is exhausted from the inside of the processing chamber and which flows in the exhaust system when causing a cleaning gas to flow into the processing chamber from the gas supply portion; and a process of determining termination as an end point of a cleaning process based on a measured value of the number of the particles.
- 29. The cleaning method according to claim 28, wherein the process of determining the end point of the etching process comprises:
a step of measuring a duration in which the number of particles included in the gas exhausted from the inside of the processing chamber is not more than a predetermined threshold value; a step of determining a just etch timing based on the duration; a step of determining an over-etching period based on a cleaning process period to the just etch timing; and a step of determining a finish time of the over-etching period as the end point and determining this end point as a cleaning finish time.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
11-168968 |
Jun 1999 |
JP |
|
2001-392703 |
Dec 2001 |
JP |
|
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a Continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/594,479, filed Jun. 14, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
[0002] This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Applications No. 11-168968, filed Jun. 15, 1999, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09594479 |
Jun 2000 |
US |
Child |
10321646 |
Dec 2002 |
US |