Method and apparatus for infilm defect reduction for electrochemical copper deposition

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide a method and apparatus for processing a substrate. The apparatus includes a substrate rinse cell configured to dispense a heated processing fluid onto the substrate prior to an annealing process. The method includes plating a conductive layer onto a substrate, heating the substrate in a cleaning cell via application of a heated cleaning fluid to the substrate, drying the substrate in the cleaning cell, and annealing the substrate at an annealing station at a temperature of between about 150° C. and about 450° C.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] Embodiments of the invention are generally related to a method for minimizing defects resulting from thermal shock encountered by a substrate during transfer from a fluid processing cell into an annealing chamber. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] Metallization of sub-quarter micron sized features is a foundational technology for present and future generations of integrated circuit manufacturing processes. More particularly, in devices such as ultra large scale integration-type devices, i.e., devices having integrated circuits with more than a million logic gates, the multilevel interconnects that lie at the heart of these devices are generally formed by filling high aspect ratio, i.e., greater than about 4:1, interconnect features with a conductive material. The most common conductive material used in large scale integration devices is copper. Copper is generally deposited into the high aspect ratio f...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] Embodiments of the invention generally provide a semiconductor processing apparatus and method configured to minimize voids and cracks in films resulting from rapid anneal temperature ramping. The apparatus of the invention includes a fluid processing cell configured to preheat the substrate prior to the substrate being transferred to the annealing chamber. The fluid processing cell that is used to preheat the substrate is generally an SRD cell. The method of the invention generally includes supplying a heated fluid to an SRD cell on a semiconductor processing platform. The heated fluid is used to increase the temperature of the substrate to a temperature between room temperature and the annealing temperature prior to the substrate being transferred to the annealing chamber. Further, the heated fluid is applied as part of a previously required processing step, i.e., a rinsing step, and as such, the application of the heated fluid does not have a negative impact on the throughput of the system. Preheating prior to anneal may also be used to shorten the required anneal time, and as such, increase throughput of the processing system.

Problems solved by technology

However, one challenge with conventional plating systems is that the rapid increase in the temperature of the substrate in the annealing chamber has been shown to cause voids and cracking in the plated layer and between the plated layer and the adjoining dielectric layer.

Voids and cracks in the plated layer may be reduced by slowing the anneal temperature ramp, however, slowing the temperature ramp inherently slows the throughput of the ECP process, which is critical to semiconductor processing.

Images