Cleaning apparatus of a high density plasma chemical vapor deposition chamber and cleaning thereof

Abstract

A cleaning apparatus of a high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition chamber, and a cleaning method thereof, uniformly and sufficiently supplies a cleaning gas into a chamber to uniformly clean the chamber. The cleaning apparatus includes a chamber, an upper electrode provided in an upper portion of the chamber and applied with radio frequency energy, a lower electrode provided below the upper electrode and applied with radio frequency energy, a chuck provided below the upper electrode and formed thereon with the lower electrode to fix a wafer thereon, and three or more cleaning gas nozzles provided at regular intervals on the sidewall of the chamber around the chuck.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1) Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus of a high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition chamber and a cleaning method thereof, and more particularly, to a cleaning apparatus of a high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition chamber and a cleaning method thereof by which a cleaning gas supplied from a radio frequency generator that is provided at a side wall of a chamber is uniformly sprayed into the chamber, thereby effectively performing a cleaning process. [0003] 2) Description of the Related Art [0004] Generally, the high-density plasma (HDP) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process is performed to form insulating layers such as SiO2 or BiN films between metal layers by a vapor deposition method in processes for fabricating semiconductor devices in the range of approximately 0.5 μm and less. The CVD process is generally performed together with a chemical mechanical polishing process, thereby form...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a cleaning apparatus and method for a high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition chamber. The cleaning apparatus includes a chamber, electrodes, a chuck for fixing a wafer, and cleaning gas nozzles. The cleaning gas nozzles are positioned at regular intervals on the sidewall of the chamber around the chuck. The cleaning gas is supplied into the chamber through the nozzles and the amount of gas supplied is controlled based on the thickness of polymer deposited on the chamber's internal sidewall. The cleaning gas is ejected with a predetermined elevation angle towards the center of the chamber from the sidewall. The technical effects of this invention include uniform cleaning of the chamber, increased uniformity in processes, prevention of contamination and damage of the wafer, extended period between cleanings of the chamber, increased productivity, operation efficiency, quality of semiconductor device fabricated, and reducing working hours.

Problems solved by technology

While such processes are performed in a HDP CVD chamber, polymers in a powder state, which are by-products produced during the course of the processes, are deposited to a predetermined thickness on the internal surface of a chamber and the deposited polymers come off from the internal surface and are accumulated on a wafer, thereby causing defects in the wafer.

However, in the conventional prior art, there is a problem that since only one cleaning gas nozzle for supplying a cleaning gas into the chamber is provided at one side of the chamber, the cleaning gas being supplied through the nozzle cannot be uniformly sprayed into the chamber.

Such an incomplete cleaning process causes a decrease in uniformity of the processes after the cleaning process and causes contamination and defects in a wafer because polymers concentrated on the one side of the chamber easily fall off the side wall of the chamber onto the wafer.

As a result, the period of time between the cleaning processes gradually is decreased, thereby decreasing the rate of operation of the facility and, accordingly,. the productivity.

In addition, there is a problem that the elements of the chamber should be disjointed and assembled in order to clean the internal side of the chamber after a predetermined period lapses, thereby increasing working hours and decreasing operation efficiency.

In addition, the center portion of the upper electrode is remote from the cleaning nozzle, such that the cleaning gas cannot reach as much to clean the center portion of the electrode as the other portions of the chamber.

Accordingly, the polymer on the center portion of the chamber falls off onto a wafer more than that on the other portions, thereby causing a failure in process and a defect in a wafer.

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