Patent Application
20220353956
Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to thermal processing of semiconductor substrates. More specifically, embodiments disclosed herein are related to windows for rapid thermal processing chambers for thermal processing of semiconductor substrates.
Rapid thermal processing (RTP) is one thermal processing technique that allows rapid heating and cooling of a substrate, such as a silicon wafer. RTP substrate processing applications include annealing, dopant activation, rapid thermal oxidation, and silicidation, among others. In some examples, peak processing temperatures can range from about 450° C. to about 1100° C. In one type of RTP chamber, heating is performed with numerous lamps disposed in a lamphead above or below the substrate being processed. The lamps may be arranged in a matrix, honeycomb, or linear formation in the RTP lamphead of the RTP chamber.
A body portion of the RTP chamber located between the lamps and the substrate includes a window to enable transmission of radiation therethrough. The body portion of the RTP chamber encloses a processing region in which the substrate is located during processing. A pressure in the processing region may be controlled during processing. For example, atmospheric pressure or vacuum pressure may be used in the processing region depending on the RTP substrate processing application. When the processing region is at vacuum pressure, a pressure differential exists between inside and outside the RTP chamber. In order to prevent damage to the RTP chamber caused by the pressure differential, RTP chambers which are capable of operating at vacuum pressures may include thicker windows compared to RTP chambers which are only capable of operating at atmospheric pressure. However, in order to accommodate the use of thicker windows, corresponding lamps may be spaced farther from the substrate which reduces temperature control uniformity.
Therefore, there is a need for improved RTP chambers operating at vacuum pressures.
Embodiments of the disclosure are generally related to rapid thermal processing chambers, and components thereof such as windows, for thermal processing of semiconductor substrates.
In one embodiment, a window assembly for a thermal processing chamber applicable for semiconductor manufacturing is provided, the window assembly including an upper window, a lower window, and a plurality of linear reflectors disposed between the upper window and the lower window. The plurality of linear reflectors extend lengthwise parallel to each other and parallel to a plane of the window assembly. The window assembly includes a pressure control region defined between the upper window, the lower window, and side surfaces of each linear reflector.
In another embodiment, a window assembly for a thermal processing chamber applicable for semiconductor manufacturing includes a window body and a plurality of lenses disposed on a surface of the window body. An optical axis of each lens is perpendicular to a plane of the window body.
In another embodiment, a thermal processing chamber applicable for semiconductor manufacturing includes one or more side walls surrounding a processing region, a substrate support within the processing region, the substrate support having a substrate supporting surface, and a window assembly disposed above the one or more side walls. The window assembly includes an upper window, a lower window, and a plurality of linear reflectors disposed between the upper window and the lower window. The plurality of linear reflectors extend lengthwise parallel to each other and parallel to a plane of the window assembly. The window assembly includes a pressure control region defined between the upper window, the lower window, and side surfaces of each linear reflector. The thermal processing chamber includes a lamphead disposed above the window assembly.
So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the disclosure, 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 disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the disclosure may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
To facilitate understanding, common words have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation.
The present disclosure relates generally to thermal processing of semiconductor substrates. More specifically, embodiments disclosed herein are related to windows for rapid thermal processing chambers for thermal processing of semiconductor substrates.
Apparatus and/or methods disclosed herein provide improved windows for vacuum pressure RTP processes. In one example process, post-nitridation anneal of silicon oxynitride (e.g., SiON) films is performed at low Torr (e.g., 0.1-5 Torr) partial pressure of oxygen. Because ultra-high dilution would be required at atmospheric pressure to achieve low Torr partial pressures of oxygen, the post-nitridation anneal process is implemented at vacuum pressure. In another example, vacuum pressure RTP is used for radical oxidation processes which use atomic oxygen radicals produced by hydrogen-oxygen combustion because the combustion only occurs at pressures of about 10 Torr or less. In yet another example, vacuum pressure RTP is used with atomic oxygen radicals produced in a remote plasma source because the atomic radicals are unstable at pressures greater than about 3 Torr. Each of the aforementioned processes, among others, benefit from the apparatus and/or methods of the present disclosure.
Embodiments disclosed herein provide a window assembly comprising a plurality of linear reflectors which reflect and provide directionality to radiation emitted by one or more linear lamps of a thermal processing chamber. The linear reflectors reduce or prevent zonal overlap of the radiation within a processing region or on a substrate surface with consequent improvement of temperature control uniformity compared to conventional reflectors.
Embodiments disclosed herein provide linear reflectors having side surfaces which are shaped and/or angled to provide improved directional control of radiation incident on the side surfaces with consequent improvement of temperature control uniformity compared to conventional reflectors.
Embodiments disclosed herein provide linear lamps and linear reflectors which are sized to generally conform to a shape of a substrate support and/or a substrate disposed thereon so that lamp power is not wasted on heating areas outside the area of the substrate.
Embodiments disclosed herein provide a window assembly comprising a plurality of lenses which improve directionality and/or focusing of radiation emitted by one or more lamps of a thermal processing chamber back towards a direction perpendicular to a plane of the window assembly with consequent improvement of zonal radiation control and temperature control uniformity compared to conventional windows.
Embodiments disclosed herein provide a window assembly comprising a plurality of linear lenses which improve directionality and/or focusing of radiation emitted by one or more linear lamps of a thermal processing chamber for improved zonal radiation control and temperature control uniformity compared to conventional windows.
The thermal processing chamber 110 includes one or more side walls 150 surrounding and/or enclosing a processing region 118 for thermally treating a substrate 112, such as a silicon substrate. The thermal processing chamber 110 includes a base 153 supporting the one or more side walls 150. The thermal processing chamber 110 includes a window assembly 120 disposed above the one or more side walls 150, a lamphead 155 disposed above the window assembly 120, and a reflector assembly 178 disposed above the lamphead 155. The window assembly 120 is transparent to enable transmission of radiation therethrough. “Radiation”, as used herein, refers to any type of electromagnetic radiation (e.g., thermal radiation which includes ultraviolet (UV) light, visible light, and infrared (IR) light). “Transparent”, as used herein, means most radiation of a given wavelength is transmitted. Thus, a “transparent” object, as used herein, is an object that transmits most incident radiation of a given wavelength of interest. As used herein, if an object is “transparent” to visible light, that object transmits most incident light of a visible wavelength. Likewise, if an object is “transparent” to infrared light, that object transmits most incident light of an infrared wavelength. Likewise, if an object is “transparent” to ultraviolet light, that object transmits most incident light of an ultraviolet wavelength.
A substrate support 111 is located within the processing region 118. The substrate support 111 is rotatable. The substrate support 111 includes an annular support ring 114 and a rotatable support cylinder 130. A rotatable flange 132 is positioned outside the processing region 118 and magnetically coupled to the support cylinder 130. An actuator (not shown) may be used to rotate the flange 132 about a centerline 134 of the thermal processing chamber 110. In one example, a bottom of the support cylinder 130 may be magnetically levitated and rotated by a rotating magnetic field produced in coils surrounding the support cylinder 130.
The substrate 112 is supported on its periphery by the annular support ring 114 of the substrate support 111. An edge lip 115 of the annular support ring 114 extends inward and contacts a portion of a backside of the substrate 112 on a substrate supporting surface 117 of the edge lip 115. The substrate 112 is oriented such that features 116 already formed on a front surface of the substrate 112 face towards the lamphead 155.
A port 113 to the processing region 118 of the thermal processing chamber 110 is used to transfer substrates to and from the thermal processing chamber 110. A plurality of lift pins 122, such as three lift pins, are extended and retracted to support the back side of the substrate 112 when the substrate 112 is disposed in, or removed from, the thermal processing chamber 110. Alternately, the plurality of lift pins 122 may remain stationary while the substrate support 111 is moved to effect extension and retraction of the lift pins 122 relative to the substrate support 111.
The processing region 118 is defined on an upper side thereof by the window assembly 120. The window assembly 120 separates the lamphead 155 from the processing region 118. The window assembly 120 is described in more detail below.
The lamphead 155 is used to heat the substrate 112 during thermal processing. The lamphead 155 includes a housing 160 and an arrangement of lamps 170 disposed within the housing 160. The housing may be formed from metal, such as stainless steel, or other suitable materials. The arrangement of lamps 170 includes a plurality of lamps 190. Examples of suitable lamps to be used as the lamps 190 can include tungsten-halogen lamps, mercury vapor lamps, infrared lamps, and ultraviolet lamps. The lamps 190 provide heat to the processing region 118 to raise the temperature of the substrate 112. As shown in
In one example, one or more of the lamps 190 may be segmented lamps which are configured to direct heat to control the temperature of a particular zone on the substrate 112, such as to a ring-shaped zone on the substrate 112 as the substrate 112 is rotated by the rotatable substrate support 111. Radiation emitting elements, for example filaments, of the segmented lamps may be arranged into zones, for example radial zones, corresponding to areas of a substrate 112 on the substrate support 111 to be heated. One or more sensors, such as pyrometers, may be used to monitor the different zones allowing separate temperature control of different regions of the substrate 112. For example, more heat may be provided to an outer edge of the substrate 112 to account for the increased surface area around the outer edge. The segmented lamps and/or the emitters of the segmented lamps, may be arranged to provide any desired shape or profile of zones, for example linear zones, across the arrangement 170 from one edge to the other edge of the arrangement 170, or square or rectangular zones, which may be concentric or acentric. The lamps 190 are described in more detail below.
A reflector assembly 178 is disposed above the housing 160 of the lamphead 155 to reflect radiation back towards the substrate 112. A surface of the reflector assembly 178 may be plated with a reflective material, such as gold, aluminum, or stainless steel, such as polished stainless steel. Each lamp 190 is disposed in a reflective cavity 176. Each reflective cavity 176 is defined on top by a reflector 175. In one example, the reflector 175 may extend on either side of the corresponding lamp 190. The reflectors 175 may direct, focus, and/or shape the radiation from the lamps 190.
In some examples, the reflector assembly 178 may include cooling channels to help remove excess heat from the lamphead 155 and to assist in cooling the substrate 112 during ramp-down through the use of a coolant, such as water. Although the reflector assembly 178 is shown having a substantially flat shape, in some other examples the reflector assembly 178 may have a concave shape.
The window assembly 120 includes an upper window 121, a lower window 123, a plurality of reflectors 124 disposed between and supporting the upper window 121 and lower window 123, and a pressure control region 125 defined between the upper window 121, the lower window 123, and side surfaces of each reflector 124. Each window may be formed from a transparent material, such as quartz or fused silica (amorphous quartz). Each reflector may be formed from or plated with a reflective material, such as gold, aluminum, or stainless steel, such as polished stainless steel. In general, the reflectors 124 reflect and provide directionality to the radiation emitted by the lamps 190 to reduce or prevent zonal overlap of the radiation within the processing region 118 and/or on the substrate surface. A pressure control line 127 is in fluid communication between the pressure control region 125 and a pressure control assembly 129. The pressure control assembly 129 may include a vacuum pump, a source of purge gas (e.g., helium or another inert gas), and a throttle valve for regulating pressure within the pressure control region 125. In one example, the pressure control region 125 may be operated at a vacuum pressure within a range of about 5 Torr to about 20 Torr.
The pressure control region 125 is formed of a plurality of interconnected (e.g., fluidly connected) sub-regions 126 which are spaced laterally from each other in a direction parallel to a plane of the window assembly 120 and in alignment with each of the corresponding lamps 190 in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the window assembly 120. As shown, the sub-regions 126 are coupled together by corresponding flow passages 131 disposed in a body of each reflector 124. The flow passages 131 shown are parallel to the plane of the window assembly 120. However, in some other examples the flow passages 131 may extend at an obtuse or acute angle relative to the plane of the window assembly 120. In some other examples, the sub-regions 126 may be coupled together by corresponding flow passages that are routed around each reflector 124 (e.g., above each reflector 124 and below the upper window 121 or below each reflector 124 and above the lower window 123).
As shown, a cooling channel 133 is formed in the body of each reflector 124 to help remove excess heat from the window assembly 120. The cooling channels 133 extend lengthwise through each reflector 124 perpendicular to the direction of the flow passages 131 and parallel to the plane of the window assembly 120. The cooling channels 133 form a continuous cooling path 135 which extends through each reflector 124 (shown in
The processing region 118 is defined on a lower side thereof by the base 135 of the thermal processing chamber 110. The base 135 includes a reflector plate 128 disposed beneath the edge lip 115 of the annular support ring 114. The reflector plate 128 extends parallel to and over an area greater than a backside surface of the substrate 112 facing the reflector plate 128. The reflector plate 128 reflects radiation emitted from the substrate 112 back towards the substrate 112 to enhance an apparent emissivity of the substrate 112. A top surface of the reflector plate 128 and the backside surface of the substrate 112 form a reflective cavity for enhancing an effective emissivity of the substrate 112 to improve the accuracy of temperature measurements. A spacing between the substrate 112 and the reflector plate 128 may be about 3 mm to about 9 mm, and an aspect ratio of a width to a thickness of the reflective cavity may be greater than about 20. The top surface of the reflector plate 128 may be formed from aluminum, and may have a surface coating formed from a different material, for example a highly reflective material such as silver or gold, or a multi-layer dielectric mirror. In some examples, the reflector plate 128 may have an irregular or textured top surface, or may have a black or other colored top surface to more closely resemble a black-body wall. The reflector plate 128 is disposed on the base 135. The base 135 may include cooling channels (not shown) to help remove excess heat from the substrate 112. The cooling channels may be used especially during ramp-down through the use of a coolant, such as water.
The base 135 includes a plurality of temperature sensors 140, shown as pyrometers, to measure the temperature across a radius of the rotating substrate 112. Each sensor 140 is coupled through an optical light pipe 142 and an aperture in the reflector plate 128 to face the backside of the substrate 112. The light pipes 142 may be formed from sapphire, metal, or silica fibers, among other materials.
A controller 144 may be used to control the temperature of the substrate 112 during processing. For example, the controller 144 may be used to supply a relatively constant amount of power to the lamps 190 during a particular step of a thermal process. The controller 144 may change the amount of power supplied to the lamps 190 for different substrates or different thermal processing steps performed on a same substrate. The controller 144 may use signals from the sensors 140 as inputs to control the temperature of different radial zones on the substrate 112. The controller 144 may adjust voltages supplied to different lamps 190 to dynamically control a radiant heating intensity and pattern during the processing. In one example, the lamps 190 may be powered with a DC power supply. In another example, the lamps 190 may be powered with an AC power supply and a rectifier, such as a silicon-controlled rectifier.
Pyrometers generally measure light intensity in a narrow wavelength bandwidth of, for example, about 40 nm within a range of about 700 nm and about 1000 nm. The controller 144, or other instrumentation, may convert the measured light intensity to a temperature reading using any suitable methods.
While the thermal processing chamber 110 shown has a top heating configuration in which the lamps 190 are disposed above the substrate 112, it is contemplated that a bottom heating configuration in which the lamps 190 are disposed below the substrate 112 may benefit from the present disclosure and may be used in addition to or in place of the illustrated top heating configuration. In some examples, the front surface of the substrate 112 with the features 116 formed thereon may face away from the lamphead 155 (i.e., facing towards the sensors 140) during processing.
As described above, the lamps 190 are linear lamps which are arranged side-to-side and extend lengthwise parallel to each other and parallel to the plane of the window assembly 120. In
As shown in the top view, the reflectors 124 and lamps 190 alternate with each other in a direction perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the reflectors 124 and parallel to the plane of the window assembly 120. In
Referring to the window assembly 120a shown in
Referring to the window assembly 120b shown in
As shown, the reflectors 124b-124f are sized according to the lengths of adjacent ones of the lamps 190b-190f. The reflectors 124b-124f shown in
Reflection of radiation incident on the side surfaces 136 of the reflectors 124 may be directionally controlled based on a shape and/or angle of each side surface 136. As shown in
The window body 321 has a plurality of lenses 325 extending upward from the upper surface 323. An optical axis 337 (shown in
As shown in
In one example, each lens 325 may be a Fresnel lens which has a succession of concentric annular rings assembled on a flat surface. Fresnel lenses may capture a greater portion of wide angle light compared to conventional lenses. Fresnel lenses may be fabricated to be much thinner than a comparable conventional lens. Therefore, one advantage of using Fresnel lenses in the window assembly 320 is that the lamps 190 can be positioned closer to the substrate 112 compared to conventional lenses which improves temperature control uniformity.
A focal length of each lens 325 may be about 5 mm to about 20 mm, such as about 5 mm to about 10 mm, such as about 5 mm, such as about 10 mm. In some examples, the window body 321 and the lenses 325 may be manufactured separately and bonded together. For example, a flat side of each lens 325 may be bonded to the flat upper surface 323. In such examples, the lenses 325 may be the same or a different material than that of the window body 321. In one example, the lenses 325 may be formed from quartz or fused silica (amorphous quartz). In some other examples, the lenses 325 may be machined into the surface of the window body 321.
In operation, the window assembly 320 is cooled by convection using a flow of forced air directed generally parallel to the plane of the window assembly 320 over the upper surface 323 of the window body 321 and over the outer surface 326 of each lens 325. The air flow may be directed between the lamps 190 and the window assembly 320.
When the window assembly 320 is configured to be used with vacuum pressure RTP, the thickness T2 measured between the upper surface 323 and the lower surface 324 may be about 20 mm to about 25 mm. In one example, a distance between the substrate 112 and the lamps 190 may be about 40 mm to about 45 mm which may be greater than a corresponding distance for atmospheric pressure RTP in which a thinner window can be used. Therefore, when a flat window is used in vacuum pressure RTP, loss of zonal radiation control may result from spreading of light rays which is more pronounced over the greater distance associated with vacuum pressure RTP. Advantageously, compared to the flat window, the window assembly 320 provides increased directionality and/or focusing of radiation (e.g., light rays) back towards the axis 337 which is perpendicular to the plane of the window assembly 320 and, consequently, improved zonal radiation control and temperature control uniformity.
As shown, each lens 427 has a convex shape, which is thicker in the center than at the edge, in order to redirect wide angle radiation back towards the axis 337. For example, a thickness T3 measured between the outer surface 326 of each lens 325 and an outer surface 429 of each lens 427 is greater than a thickness T4 measured between the upper surface 323 and the lower surface 324. As a result, the outer surface 429 of each lens 427 is closer to the substrate 112 than the lower surface 324. During processing using window assembly 420 having lenses disposed on both the upper surface 323 and lower surface 324, a greater portion of radiation from the lamps 190 may be aligned parallel to the axis 337 compared to processing using the window assembly 320 having lenses disposed on only one surface of the window body 321. For example, each set of lenses may partially redirect radiation back towards the axis 337 so that the additive effect of the upper and lower lenses is greater than the effect of either of the upper or lower lenses alone. In some other examples, the window assembly may have lenses only on the lower surface and not the upper surface.
While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present disclosure, other and further embodiments of the disclosure may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow.
This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/181,626, filed Apr. 29, 2021, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63181626 | Apr 2021 | US |
