The present invention relates to an SiC member containing SiC and a manufacturing method thereof.
An SiC member containing silicon carbide (SiC) has excellent properties such as high durability, high acid resistance, and low specific resistance, and is widely used as a component for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 discuss techniques of using the SiC member as an etcher ring or an electrode in a plasma etching apparatus.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-000836
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-252045
In the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a product defect may occur in a wafer due to even a slight processing variation. In addition, since the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is used to treat a large number of wafers in a factory, a problem of the product defect of the wafer may spread to a large number of wafers without limiting to only a single wafer. Therefore, a user of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus strictly controls the quality of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and components used therefor. The SiC member used in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus requires a strict specification such as high durability and high purity. For this reason, the CVD-SiC formed through chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which has superior physical and chemical properties to those of sintered SiC, is used as the SiC in some cases. However, the CVD-SiC may form a pattern derived from a crystal structure or a layer structure on the surface of the SiC member in some cases. Such a pattern impairs appearance as a product, and in some cases, may concern the user of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
In view of such problems, the present invention provides a technology for securing favorable appearance of the SiC member.
In order to address the aforementioned problems, according to the first aspect of the invention, there is provided an SiC member including: an SiC substrate having a front face and a back face; and a first SiC coat provided on the front face of the SiC substrate, wherein the SiC substrate has first polycrystalline layers and second polycrystalline layers stacked alternately across a plurality of layers as polycrystalline layers having film properties different from each other, at least one of the first polycrystalline layers and at least one of the second polycrystalline layers appear on the front face, and the first SiC coat is a polycrystalline layer having a film property similar to that of any one of the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer or a film property different from any of the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer.
In this aspect, since the first SiC coat is provided on the front face of the SiC substrate, it is possible to secure favorable appearance of the SiC member. Specifically, the SiC substrate includes the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer appearing on the front face. The first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer form a pattern caused by a difference of the film property on the front face of the SiC substrate in some cases. Meanwhile, the first SiC coat has the same film property as that of any one of the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer or a film property different from any of the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer. That is, since the first SiC coat has a uniform film property, they do not form a pattern caused by the difference of the film property on the front face. Therefore, the pattern does not appear on the front face of the SiC member, and it is possible to secure favorable appearance of the SiC member.
According to the second aspect, it is conceivable that the first SiC coat has a specific resistance smaller than that of the SiC substrate.
The specific resistance of the entire SiC member is determined to a certain value as a user's requirement of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in some cases. In the second aspect, it is possible to appropriately adjust the specific resistance of the entire SiC member by appropriately adjusting the film thicknesses of the first SiC coat and the SiC substrate. As a result, it is possible to set the specific resistance of the entire SiC member to satisfy the user's requirement.
Since the SiC member is repeatedly used, the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer appearing on the front face of the SiC substrate may affect a crystal structure of the first SiC coat, so that the front face of the first SiC coat may be influenced.
For this reason, according to the third aspect, it is conceivable that the second polycrystalline layer has a film thickness larger than that of the first polycrystalline layer, and the first SiC coat has a film thickness larger than that of the first polycrystalline layer.
In this aspect, since the film thickness of the first SiC coat is at least larger than the first polycrystalline layer, it is possible to reduce a possibility that the front face of the first SiC coat is affected by the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer.
Note that, since a plurality of the first polycrystalline layers are provided, each of the first polycrystalline layers may have different film thicknesses. This similarly applies to the second polycrystalline layer. In addition, the first SiC coat, the first polycrystalline layer, and the second polycrystalline layer may have different film thicknesses depending on places. Herein, it is assumed that the film thickness refers to a film thickness in a representative place or an average of the film thicknesses in a plurality of representative places.
The deposition rate of the first polycrystalline layer may be slower than the deposition rate of the second polycrystalline layer. As a result, the first polycrystalline layer may become denser than the second polycrystalline layer.
In this regard, according to the fourth aspect, it is conceivable that the first SiC coat has a film property similar to that of the first polycrystalline layer, and the first polycrystalline layer has a film thickness smaller than that of the second polycrystalline layer.
According to this aspect, since the second polycrystalline layer has a large film thickness, it is possible to reduce a manufacturing time of the SiC substrate. In addition, since the first SiC coat has the same film property as that of the first polycrystalline layer, it is possible to densify the outer surface of the SiC member.
Note that the difference of the film property between the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer may include those described below.
According to the fifth aspect, each of the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer contains a plurality of crystal grains, and has an average grain size different depending on a difference of the film property.
According to the sixth aspect, the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer are formed as polycrystalline layers having colors different depending on the difference of the film property.
Note that, for convenience purposes, the average grain size may be set to a suitable value. The suitable average grain size may be obtained from an electron micrograph of the cross section of the SiC member. For example, a plurality of crystal grains having the representative size are selected from the polycrystalline layer appearing on the electron micrograph. The particle diameters of the selected crystal grains are measured. An average of the obtained particle diameters is regarded as a suitable average grain size.
The colors of the polycrystalline layers are different depending on the film property in some cases. In the case of chromatic color, the color is specified by three elements of chromaticity, saturation, and brightness. In the case of achromatic color, the color is specified by only the brightness. The color of the polycrystalline layer may be obtained from an electron micrograph of the cross section of the SiC member. Since the electron micrograph is typically expressed in grayscale, the color of the polycrystalline layer becomes achromatic. Therefore, in this case, each color of the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer is specified only by the brightness.
According to the seventh aspect, it is conceivable that at least one of the first polycrystalline layers and at least one of the second polycrystalline layers obliquely intersect the front face.
Specifically, a normal direction of the first polycrystalline layer and a normal direction of the second crystal layer have an angle range of 0° to 90° with respect to a normal direction of the front face of the SiC substrate. Note that this angle may be smaller than 45°, 30°, or 15° in some cases.
According to the eighth aspect, it is conceivable that the SiC member further includes a second SiC coat provided on the back face of the SiC substrate, at least one of the first polycrystalline layers and at least one of the second polycrystalline layers appear on the back face, and the second SiC coat is a polycrystalline layer having a film property similar to that of the first SiC coat.
According to this aspect, since the second SiC coat is provided on the back face of the SiC substrate, it is possible to secure favorable appearance of the SiC member. The principle thereof is similar to that of the case where the first SiC coat is provided on the front face of the SiC substrate.
According to the ninth aspect, it is conceivable that the SiC member is an etcher ring.
The etcher ring refers to a ring-shaped component used in plasma etching. Such a component includes, for example, a focus ring. The focus ring has an upper surface, a lower surface, an inner circumferential surface, and an outer circumferential surface, and is a component for holding an etching target wafer in a chamber.
According to the tenth aspect, it is conceivable that the SiC substrate and the first SiC coat are formed of CVD-SiC.
The CVD-SiC refers to SiC formed through chemical vapor deposition. The CVD-SiC has physical and chemical properties superior to those of the sintered SiC. The sintered SiC refers to SiC formed through sintering. In this aspect, it is possible to obtain an SiC member having excellent physical and chemical properties. Therefore, it is possible to prevent particles that may be generated, for example, when the SiC member is used in a plasma etching apparatus.
According to the eleventh aspect, there is provided a manufacturing method of an SiC member, including: forming an SiC substrate having a front face and a back face and having first polycrystalline layers and second polycrystalline layers stacked alternately across a plurality of layers as polycrystalline layers having film properties different from each other, at least one of the first polycrystalline layers and at least one of the second polycrystalline layers appearing on the front face; and forming a first SiC coat on the front face of the SiC substrate, the first SiC coat being a polycrystalline layer having a film property similar to that of any one of the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer.
In this aspect, it is possible to obtain the SiC member of the first aspect.
According to the twelfth aspect, there is provided an SiC member including: an SiC substrate having a front face and a back face; and a first SiC coat provided on the front face of the SiC substrate, wherein the SiC substrate has first polycrystalline layers and second polycrystalline layers stacked alternately across a plurality of layers as polycrystalline layers having film properties different from each other, the first SiC coat is a polycrystalline layer having a film property similar to that of any one of the first polycrystalline layer and the second polycrystalline layer, and the first SiC coat has a specific resistance smaller than that of the SiC substrate.
In this aspect, it is possible to appropriately adjust the specific resistance of the entire SiC member to a wide adjustment range.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
(1) General Configuration
As illustrated in
All of the SiC substrate 13, the first SiC coat 23, and the second SiC coat 25 are formed of CVD-SiC.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The first SiC coat 23 has the same film property as that of any one of the first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21 or a film property different from that of any of the first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21. In addition, the second SiC coat 25 has the same film property as that of the first SiC coat 23 or a film property different from that of any of the first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21. According to this embodiment, the first SiC coat 23 and the second SiC coat 25 have the same film property as that of the first polycrystalline layer 19.
The second polycrystalline layer 21 has a film thickness larger than that of the first polycrystalline layer 19. The first SiC coat 23 has a film thickness larger than that of the first polycrystalline layer 19. Similarly, the second SiC coat 25 has a film thickness larger than that of the first polycrystalline layer 19.
The second SiC coat 25 may have the same film thickness as that of the first SiC coat 23. As described below, according to this embodiment, the first SiC coat 23 and the second SiC coat 25 are formed through the same process. By forming the first SiC coat 23 and the second SiC coat 25 with the same film thickness, it is possible to efficiently use the SiC material.
Both the first SiC coat 23 and the second SiC coat 25 may have film thicknesses smaller than that of the SiC substrate 13. Conversely, both the first SiC coat 23 and the second SiC coat 25 may have film thicknesses larger than that of the SiC substrate 13.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The difference of the film property between the first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21 appears as a color difference in appearance. That is, the first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21 are formed as polycrystalline layers having colors different depending on the film property. Although the CVD-SiC exhibits different colors depending on film formation parameters such as a source gas concentration, a temperature, and a deposition rate, it generally exhibits a gray-based color. In the case of the gray-based color, the color difference appears as a brightness difference. As shown in the appearance photographs of
The difference of the film property between the first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21 also appears as a color difference in the electron micrograph of the cross section of the SiC substrate 13. Since the electron micrograph is expressed in grayscale, the color difference appears as a brightness difference. As illustrated in the electron micrographs of
As illustrated in the electron micrographs of
In the case of plasma etching, the etcher ring 1 is electrically charged by receiving electric charges from plasma. If the etcher ring 1 is excessively charged, a discharge from the etcher ring 1 to the wafer may occur, so that the wafer may be defected. In order to prevent such a defect, the etcher ring 1 is required to have an appropriate specific resistance for discharging the charges of the etcher ring 1 to the ground. According to this embodiment, the first SiC coat 23 and the second SiC coat 25 have specific resistances different from that of the SiC substrate 13. Specifically, the first SiC coat 23 and the second SiC coat 25 have specific resistances smaller than that of the SiC substrate 13. As a result, it is possible to obtain an etcher ring 1 having a desired specific resistance by appropriately adjusting the film thicknesses of the first SiC coat 23, the second SiC coat 25, and the SiC substrate 13.
Specifically, the specific resistance of the etcher ring 1 is determined by the respective specific resistances and film thicknesses of the first SiC coat 23, the second SiC coat 25, and the SiC substrate 13 as described below.
R=(R1×T1/T)+(R2×T2/T)+(R3×T3/T)
Here, “R” and “T” denotes a specific resistance and a film thickness, respectively, of the etcher ring 1. “R1” and T1” denotes a specific resistance and a film thickness, respectively, of the first SiC coat 23. “R2” and T2” denotes a specific resistance and a film thickness, respectively, of the second SiC coat 25. “R3” and T3” denotes a specific resistance and a film thickness, respectively, of the SiC substrate 13. The specific resistance R and the film thickness T are determined by the requirement. The specific resistances R1, R2, and R3 are determined depending on the film properties suitable for the first SiC coat 23, the second SiC coat 25, and the SiC substrate 13, respectively. The film thicknesses T1, T2, and T3 can be arbitrarily adjusted. Therefore, it is possible to obtain any specific resistance R by adjusting the film thicknesses T1, T2, and T3.
(2) Manufacturing Method
The etcher ring 1 may be manufactured as follows. First, the SiC substrate 43 is formed. This SiC substrate 43 has the front face 15 and the back face 17, and includes the first polycrystalline layers 19 and the second polycrystalline layers 21 stacked alternately across a plurality of layers as polycrystalline layers having different film properties. At least one of the first polycrystalline layers 19 and at least one of the second polycrystalline layers 21 appear on the front face 15.
For this purpose, an annular graphite substrate 27 is prepared as illustrated in
Then, as illustrated in
Then, as illustrated in
As described above, the CVD-SiC film 29 is formed while alternately passing through the first region 55 and the second region 57 inside the chamber 47. In the first region 55, the first polycrystalline layer 19 is formed. In the second region 57, the second polycrystalline layer 21 is formed. That is, a process of forming the first polycrystalline layer 19 in the first region 55 containing the source gas 53 having the first concentration and a process of forming the second polycrystalline layer 21 in the second region 57 containing the source gas 53 having the second concentration different from the first concentration are alternately repeated. For this reason, the CVD-SiC film 29 has a multilayered structure in which the first polycrystalline layers 19 and the second polycrystalline layers 21 are alternately stacked. Furthermore, as described above, the crystal growth rate of the CVD-SiC film 29 is different between the inner circumferential portion 31, the center portion 33, and the outer circumferential portion 35. That is, both the first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21 have film thicknesses different between the inner circumferential portion 31, the center portion 33, and the outer circumferential portion 35. The SiC substrate 43 is obtained by being cut out from such a multilayered SiC block 37. That is, the front face 15 and the back face 17 of the SiC substrate 43 are formed by processing the front face 39 and the back face 41 of the multilayered SiC block 37. Therefore, as illustrated in
The first SiC coat 23 as a polycrystalline layer having the same film property as that of any one of the first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21 is formed on the front face 15 of the SiC substrate 43. In addition, the second SiC coat 25 as a polycrystalline layer having the same film property as that of the first SiC coat 23 is formed on the back face 17 of the SiC substrate 43.
For this purpose, as illustrated in
Then, the etcher ring 1 is formed by processing the SiC substrate 43 and the CVD-SiC film 45 as illustrated in
(3) Modifications
Needless to say, various forms may be possible within the technical scope of the invention without limiting the embodiments of the invention to the aforementioned examples.
For example, in the aforementioned embodiment, an annular member having an opening in the center, such as the etcher ring 1, has been exemplified as the SiC member. However, the shape of the SiC member is not limited to the annular shape, and a disc member having no opening in the center may also be employed. Furthermore, without limiting to the circular shape, a polygonal shape may also be employed.
(4) Advantages and Effects
In this configuration, since the first SiC coat 23 is provided on the front face 15 of the SiC substrate 13, it is possible to secure favorable appearance of the SiC member. Specifically, the SiC substrate 13 includes the first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21 appearing on the front face, respectively. The first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21 form patterns having different film properties on the front face 15 of the SiC substrate 13 in some cases. On the other hand, the first SiC coat 23 has the same film property as that of any one of the first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21. That is, since the first SiC coat 23 has a uniform film property, it does not form a pattern caused by different film properties on the front face thereof. Therefore, no pattern appears on the front face of the SiC member, and it is possible to secure favorable appearance of the SiC member.
In the aforementioned configuration, since the second SiC coat 25 is provided on the back face 17 of the SiC substrate 13, it is possible to secure favorable appearance of the SiC member.
In the aforementioned configuration, since a certain level of film thickness is secured for the first SiC coat 23, it is possible to reduce a possibility that the front face of the first SiC coat 23 is influenced by the first polycrystalline layer 19 and the second polycrystalline layer 21.
In the aforementioned configuration, it is possible to appropriately adjust the specific resistance of the entire SiC member by appropriately adjusting the film thicknesses of the first SiC coat 23 and the SiC substrate 13. As a result, it is possible to satisfy a user's requirement for the specific resistance of the entire SiC member.
Note that the specific resistance of the CVD-SiC has a meaningful relationship with the deposition rate thereof as illustrated in
If only the CVD-SiC indicated by the data group G2 is employed to manufacture the SiC member, it takes a lot of time in manufacturing. Conversely, if only the CVD-SiC indicated by the data group G1 is employed, a stripe pattern appears on the front or back face of the SiC member. In this regard, in the aforementioned configuration, the CVD-SiC indicated by the data group G1 is employed for the SiC substrate 13, and the CVD-SiC indicated by the data group G2 is employed for the first SiC coat 23 and the second SiC coat 25. As a result, it is possible to reduce a manufacturing time and obtain favorable appearance.
If only one of the data groups G2 and G1 is employed to manufacture the SiC member, design freedom for the specific resistance of the entire SiC member is narrowed. In the aforementioned configuration, the CVD-SiC indicated by the data group G1 is employed for the SiC substrate 13, and the CVD-SiC indicated by the data group G2 is employed for the first SiC coat 23 and the second SiC coat 25. As a result, it is possible to broaden the design freedom for the specific resistance of the entire SiC member.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2018-121517 | Jun 2018 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2019/013822 | 3/28/2019 | WO | 00 |