The present invention generally relates to etching technology and more particularly to an etching apparatus used for fabrication of semiconductor devices.
Plasma etching is an indispensable technology in the production of semiconductor devices, and various etching apparatuses including parallel-plate etching apparatus are used for fabrication of general semiconductor devices.
In the fabrication process of conventional semiconductor devices, etching technology is used for patterning insulation films primarily formed of SiO2 or patterning metal films such as Al, W, Ti, or the like.
On the other hand, in the fabrication of those semiconductor devices such as recent ferroelectric memory devices (FeRAMs) having a ferroelectric film or high-K dielectric film of PZT(Pb(Zr,Ti)O3), PLZT ((Pb,La) (Zr,Ti)O3), BST (BiSrTiO3), STO (SrTiO3), and the like, and further having an electrode film of a metallic material of low vapor pressure such as Pt, Ir and Ru, and the like, there is a need of high electron density and electron energy (electron temperature) for etching these films, and thus, there is a need of using a high density plasma etching apparatus such as ECR apparatus, helicon apparatus, ICP (induction coupling) apparatus, and the like. Particularly, an ICP etching apparatus is used extensively because of relatively simple construction of the apparatus.
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In such fabrication process of FeRAM, a plasma etching process has been used in the photolithographic process that patterns the lower electrode layer 3, the ferroelectric film 4 and the upper electrode layer 5, while these films contain metallic elements of low vapor pressure, and because of this, no sufficient etching rate is obtained when the etching is conducted with the radicals formed by plasma excitation alone. Thus, there is a need of using a high density plasma etching process in which sputtering is caused in addition to the radical etching reaction.
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The coil 12 is connected to a high frequency power supply 14 via an impedance matching circuit 13, and plasma is formed in the processing vessel 11 by introducing a plasma gas such as Ar into the processing vessel 11 from a plasma gas supply port 11aand further by supplying a high frequency electric power to the coil 12 from the high frequency power supply 14. Thus, by introducing an etching gas containing halogen such as Cl or F into the processing vessel 11 from a processing gas inlet port 11b, for example, there is caused excitation of radicals of the etching gas at the surface of the substrate to be processed-with the plasma.
Further, the stage 15 is connected to a high frequency bias power supply 18 via a blocking capacitor 16 and an impedance matching circuit 17, and a negative bias potential is applied to the stage 15 by supplying thereto a high frequency bias power from the high frequency bias power supply 18.
As a result of application of the bias potential, the positive ions in the plasma such as Ar+ cause collision with the substrate on the stage 15 together with radicals formed in the plasma, and sputtering is caused at the same time to etching. Thereby, efficient anisotropic etching process acting generally perpendicularly to the substrate to be processed is attained.
However, when a plasma etching process that causes sputtering is applied to a substrate to be processed, there arises a problem in that particles sputtered out from the substrate to be processed as a result of the sputtering action as shown in
In the case of the ICP plasma etching apparatus 10 of
In the plasma etching of ordinary SiO2-base insulation films or metal films such as Al, W, Ti, and the like, it is possible to remove the deposits effectively even when such deposits are caused on the inner wall surface of the processing vessel 11, by supplying a cleaning gas to the processing vessel 11 and by causing plasma excitation in the processing vessel by supplying the high frequency power from the high-frequency source 14. In the plasma etching process of recent low-K dielectric interlayer insulation films of these days, too, it is possible to remove the deposits such as hydrocarbons adhered to the inner wall surface of the processing vessel 11 effectively by inducing oxygen plasma in the processing vessel by way of supplying an oxidation gas such as an oxygen gas to the processing vessel 11 and further driving the high frequency coil 12 with high frequency power of the high-frequency source 14.
In the case of production of a semiconductor device such as FeRAM that includes a material of low vapor pressure and thus of low etching rate, there are often the case in which the deposits adhered to the inner wall surface of the processing vessel 11 are formed of the material of low vapor pressure such as precious metal. Because of this, the foregoing plasma cleaning process is not effective, and there has been the need of conducting a wet cleaning process for the processing vessel 11 frequently by dismantling the plasma etching apparatus 10 in order to conduct the plasma etching process with high yield and high efficiency. However, such frequent maintenance causes decrease of production efficiency of the semiconductor device.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus, comprising:
a processing vessel evacuated by an evacuation system and including therein a stage for holding thereon a substrate to be processed, said processing vessel defining therein a processing space;
a processing gas supply path that introduces an etching gas into said processing vessel;
a plasma source that forms plasma in said processing space; and
a high-frequency source connected to said stage,
said processing vessel including therein a shielding plate dividing said processing space into a fist processing space part including a surface of said substrate to be processed and a second processing space part corresponding to a remaining part of said processing space,
wherein said shielding plate is formed with an opening having a size larger than a size of said substrate to be processed.
According to the-present invention, the particles emitted from the substrate held on the stage of a high density plasma processing due to the sputtering action associated with plasma etching at the time of applying such plasma etching to the substrate are captured effectively by the shielding plate, and formation of deposits on the inner wall surface of the processing vessel is suppressed. Because the shielding plate has the opening with a size exceeding the size of the substrate to be processed, there occurs no falling of the deposits on the substrate to be processed from the shielding plate even when the deposits on the shielding plate have been separated. Thus, it becomes possible with the present invention to avoid decrease of production yield of the semiconductor device by using the shielding plate. Further, by forming the opening in the shielding plate with the size exceeding the size of the substrate to be processed, it becomes possible to carry out uniform plasma etching over the entire substrate surface.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the attached drawings.
Referring to
The coil 22 is connected to a high frequency power supply 24 through an impedance matching circuit 23, and plasma is formed in the processing vessel 21 by introducing a plasma gas such as He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, and the like, into the processing vessel 21 from a plasma gas supply port 21a formed in the metal lid 21C and by supplying a high frequency electric power to the coil 22 from the high frequency power supply 24. Thus, by introducing an etching gas containing halogen such as Cl or F, the examples of which being Cl2, CCl4, CHF3, and the like, into the processing vessel 21 from a processing gas inlet port 21b provided to the main part 21D, for example, there is caused radicals of the etching gas at the surface of the substrate to be processed as a result of excitation by the plasma.
Further, the stage 25 is connected to a high frequency bias power supply 28 via the blocking capacitor 16 and an impedance matching circuit 27, and a negative bias potential is applied to the stage 25 by supplying a high frequency bias power from the high frequency bias power supply 28.
As a result of application of the bias potential, the positive ions in the plasma such as Ar+cause collision with the substrate to be processed on the stage 25 together with radicals formed in the plasma, and sputtering is caused at the same time to etching. Thereby, efficient anisotropic etching process acting generally perpendicularly to the substrate W is attained.
With the ICP plasma etching apparatus 20 of
With the plasma etching apparatus 20 of
Further, the particles sputtered out from the substrate as a result of collision of ions associated with the plasma etching and thus have scattered to the sidewall surface of the processing vessel 21 are captured by the shielding plate 26, and there is caused no formation of deposits on the sidewall surface of the processing vessel 21.
Further, because the opening 26A is formed in the shielding plate 26 directly over the substrate W with a diameter larger than the diameter of the substrate W with the plasma etching apparatus 20 of
Particularly, in the case the substrate W is a wafer of the diameter of 15-20 cm, it becomes possible to reduce the probability that the deposits separated from the shielding plate 26 fall upon the surface of the substrate W by falling along an irregular path, by setting the opening 26A to be larger than the wafer diameter by 0.5-5 cm.
In the case of conducting an etching process with the plasma etching apparatus 20 of
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By forming such projections and depressions 26a, it becomes possible to increase the surface area of the shielding plate 26 at the bottom surface thereof, and the deposits W′ sputtered from the surface of the substrate W are captured effectively by the projections and depressions 26a. Further, because of increase in the surface area of the shielding plate 26 at the bottom surface with such a construction, it becomes possible to reduce the thickness of deposits W′ per unit area.
While
Because the substrate W is held horizontally on the stage 25, loading and unloading of substrate is conducted easily with the plasma processing apparatus 20 of
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Similarly to the shielding plate 26, the shielding plate 46 has an opening 46A larger than the diameter of the substrate W, wherein it will be noted that the inner edge of the shielding plate 46 that includes the opening 46A forms a sloped surface forming a warp in the upward direction at a part 46B near the center of the opening 46A.
By forming such a sloped surface 46B warping in the upward direction in the shielding plate 46 with the plasma etching apparatus 40 of
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The temperature control unit 46H maintains the temperature of the shielding plate 46 constantly to 200° C. including loading and unloading of the substrate W, and with this, it becomes possible to avoid the problem that the temperature of the shielding plate 46 drops at the time of exchanging the substrate W and there is caused coming off of the deposits captured on the shielding plate 46 due to the difference of thermal expansion coefficient. Thereby, the problem of the deposits thus came off falling upon the substrate W is eliminated.
It should be noted that such a temperature adjustment part 46H may be provided to any of the embodiments explained previously or to be explained below.
In the present embodiment, the shielding plate 46 of quartz or alumina of the plasma etching apparatus 40 of
In the case such a metal shielding plate 86 is provided inside the processing vessel 21, plasma formation in the processing vessel 21 is influenced by the potential of such a metal shielding plate 86.
Thus, with the plasma etching apparatus 80 of
With such a construction, it becomes possible to control the deposition of the sputter particles to the inner wall of the processing vessel 21 without exerting substantial influence on the plasma formation in the processing vessel 21.
While the present invention has been explained with regard to the ICP plasma etching apparatus, the present invention is not limited to such a particular plasma etching apparatus but is applicable also to other high density plasma etching apparatuses such as ECR apparatus, or the like.
By using the plasma etching apparatus of the present invention, it becomes possible to form a ferroelectric capacitor such as the one explained previously with reference to
Further, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described heretofore, but various variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
The present invention is a continuation application filed under 35 U.S.C.111(a) claiming benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 and 365(c) of PCT application JP2004/004602 filed on Mar. 31, 2004, the entire contents of each are incorporated herein as reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP04/04602 | Mar 2004 | US |
Child | 11491544 | Jul 2006 | US |