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Substrate processing apparatus

a processing apparatus and substrate technology, applied in the direction of manufacturing tools, liquid/solution decomposition chemical coating, electric circuit machining, etc., can solve the problems of reducing the reliability of plated films, reducing the reliability of copper interconnections, and increasing the problem of copper interconnection defects, etc., to achieve low cost and without lowering the throughput of apparatus

Inactive Publication Date: 2005-10-27
EBARA CORP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0021] The present invention has been made in view of the above drawbacks. It is, therefore, a first object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing apparatus which can perform an additional process in addition to a plating process without lowering a throughput of the apparatus and can upgrade the additional process at a low cost.
[0022] A second object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus which can effectively reduce interconnection defects caused by plating.
[0023] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus which can perform an additional process in addition to a plating process without lowering a throughput of the apparatus and can upgrade the additional process at a low cost. The substrate processing apparatus has a plating apparatus configured to plate a substrate so as to deposit a metal on a surface of the substrate and an additional process apparatus configured to perform an additional process on the substrate. The plating apparatus has a substrate placement stage on which the substrate to be transferred to the additional process apparatus is placed. The additional process apparatus has an additional process unit configured to perform the additional process on the substrate and a substrate transfer device operable to transfer the substrate between the substrate placement stage of the plating apparatus and the additional process unit.

Problems solved by technology

Accordingly, technical issues that cannot be solved by the integration of the apparatus have newly arisen.
Thus, stress concentration may be caused at an interface between a plated film and an underlying layer so as to greatly reduce the reliability of the plated film.
Further, there have been pointed out other problems such as formation of native oxides or organic contamination on a surface of a plating feed layer (seed layer).
These problems depend on standby times from a pre-plating process to a plating process or conditions under which substrates are stored.
As interconnections become finer, defects of copper interconnections become more problematic.
Some defects may be produced by deficiency of processes other than a plating process.
However, defects resulting from a plating process tend to increase according to progress of scaledown of interconnections.
Such defects considerably inhibit improvement of a yield of products.
This is because a clean room requires a large amount of investment.
Such a change of specification has an influence on increase of defects.

Method used

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first embodiment

[0062]FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the substrate processing apparatus 1 has a rectangular plating apparatus 2 for plating a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer having fine interconnection recesses and a rectangular additional process apparatus 3 for performing an additional process such as an annealing process, an etching process, or a polishing process on the substrate. The additional process apparatus 3 is connected to a longitudinal end of the plating apparatus 2. In the present embodiment, the plating apparatus 2 is employed as a main process apparatus for performing a main process on a substrate. However, the main process apparatus is not limited to a plating apparatus.

[0063] The plating apparatus 2 includes five plating units 20 each for plating a substrate to deposit metal on a surface of the substrate, two etching and cleaning units (cleaning and drying units) 22 each for etching,...

fourth embodiment

[0105]FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a substrate processing apparatus 301 according to the present invention. The substrate processing apparatus 301 has a rectangular plating apparatus 302 and two additional process apparatuses 303a and 303b. The plating apparatus 302 includes four plating units 20, two etching and cleaning units 22, a substrate placement stage 324 having a monitoring function, a substrate transfer device 28 movable along a longitudinal direction of the plating apparatus 302, a substrate transfer device 223 for transferring a substrate from or to substrate storage containers 4, a substrate placement stage 225 disposed between the substrate transfer device 28 and the substrate transfer device 223, a substrate placement stage 326a disposed adjacent to the additional process apparatus 303a, and a substrate placement stage 326b disposed adjacent to the additional process apparatus 303b. Each of the additional process apparatuses 303a and 303b has a substrate transfer de...

fifth embodiment

[0106]FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a substrate processing apparatus 401 according to the present invention. The substrate processing apparatus 401 has a rectangular plating apparatus 302 with a recess 402a and an additional process apparatus 403 disposed within the recess 402a. The plating apparatus 402 includes four plating units 20, two etching and cleaning units 22, a substrate placement stage 424 having a monitoring function, a substrate transfer device 28 movable along a longitudinal direction of the plating apparatus 402, a substrate transfer device 223 for transferring a substrate from or to substrate storage containers 4, and a substrate placement stage 225 disposed between the substrate transfer device 28 and the substrate transfer device 223. The substrate placement stage 225 is disposed adjacent to the additional process apparatus 403. The additional process apparatus 403 has a substrate transfer device 32 for transferring a substrate between the substrate placement sta...

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Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus has a plating apparatus configured to plate a substrate to deposit a metal on a surface of the substrate and an additional process apparatus configured to perform an additional process on the substrate. The plating apparatus has a substrate placement stage on which the substrate to be transferred to the additional process apparatus is placed. The additional process apparatus has an additional process unit configured to perform the additional process on the substrate and a substrate transfer device operable to transfer the substrate between the substrate placement stage of the plating apparatus and the additional process unit. The substrate processing apparatus can perform an additional process in addition to a plating process without lowering a throughput of the apparatus and can upgrade the additional process at a low cost.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus having a plating apparatus for plating a substrate, and more particularly to a substrate processing apparatus having a plating apparatus for plating a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate, or an interposer, to form interconnections, such as large scale integrated circuits (LSI) or plugs, in a surface of the substrate. The present invention is particularly effective in reducing defects in interconnections which would be caused by a plating process. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] Materials for interconnections such as LSI have changed from aluminum-based materials to copper-based materials. Accordingly, there has been a growing tendency to employ a plating process to form interconnections instead of a dry process such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or physical vapor deposition (PVD). Thus, plating apparatuses ...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): C23C18/16C25D7/12C25D17/00C25D21/00H01L21/00H01L21/288H01L21/768
CPCC23C18/1632H01L21/2885H01L21/67017H01L21/67161H01L21/67219C25D21/04H01L21/76877C25D7/123C25D5/48C25D5/50C25D17/001H01L21/6723
Inventor MISHIMA, KOJIKANDA, HIROYUKIKATSUOKA, SEIJIHODAI, MASAOSUZUKI, HIDENAONOMURA, KAZUFUMIMATSUDA, NAOKI
Owner EBARA CORP
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