Substrate processing system, gas supply unit, method of substrate processing, computer program, and storage medium

Abstract

The present invention is to provide a technique for uniformly processing a substrate surface in the process of processing a substrate by supplying a gas. The inside of a shower head having gas-jetting pores for supplying a gas to a substrate is partitioned into a center section from which a gas is supplied to the center portion of a substrate, and a peripheral section from which a gas is supplied to the peripheral portion of the substrate, and the same process gas is supplied to the substrate from these two sections at flow rates separately regulated. The distance from the center of the center section of the gas supply unit to the outermost gas-jetting pores in the center section is set 53% or more of the radius of the substrate. Moreover, an additional gas is further supplied to the peripheral portion of the substrate.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application for patent enjoys the benefit of the right to Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-221675 filed on Aug. 15, 2006 and U.S. Patent Provisional Application No. 60 / 875,538 filed on Dec. 19, 2006. The whole description in the aforesaid applications is incorporated herein by.reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to a technique for processing a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, by supplying gases to it, and to a unit for supplying the gases. [0004] 2. Background Art [0005] In semiconductor device production processes, processing of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as a wafer), e.g., etching or CVD, is conducted by placing a substrate in a processing vessel, and injecting, onto the substrate, process gases from a gas supply unit called a gas shower head, set in parallel with the substrate. [0006] On the other h...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a substrate processing system and method that can uniformly process a substrate surface by supplying gases to it. The system includes a gas supply unit with a center section and a peripheral section, and a first-gas supply means of supplying a common gas to both sections at separate flow rates. Additionally, a second-gas supply means is included to supply an additional gas to the peripheral section. The system also includes a means of evacuating the processing vessel. The method involves supplying the common gas and the additional gas to the substrate from the center and peripheral sections of the gas supply unit, respectively, and evacuating the processing vessel. The technical effects of the invention include improved substrate processing uniformity and efficiency.

Problems solved by technology

On the other hand, the recent trend toward small-sized, higher-density patterns has brought to some processes such a problem that patterns formed on substrate surfaces by the processes are apt to be non-uniform in size.

For example, in a process of making a line-shaped gate electrode for a transistor by etching a gate electrode material layer covered with a resist mask, it is not easy to ensure a high selective etching ratio, and the resist mask disappears before the etching of the gate electrode material layer has been completed.

Since a depositing material is easily deposited on SiN film, the non-uniformity of depositing gas distribution on a substrate surface readily affects the amount of a material to be deposited on the sides of the lines.

On the other hand, since it is more difficult to exhaust a gas from the center of a wafer than from the edge, and the gas pressure is slightly higher in the center of a wafer than at the edge, the amount of the deposit is greater in the center of a wafer than at the edge, and this difference in the amount of the deposit is considered to affect the within-wafer distribution of line widths greatly.

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