Modulating temperature transients of multi-zone substrate supports to quickly adjust critical dimension non-uniformities

Abstract

A substrate processing system comprises a processing chamber; a substrate support comprising a plurality of heater zones disposed in the processing chamber; a gas delivery system configured to deliver processing gas to the processing chamber; and a controller configured to: communicate with the gas delivery system and the plurality of heater zones, initiate a first processing step of a process during a transient temperature period after a substrate is disposed on the substrate support and before the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of the substrate support, and adjust heating of each of the plurality of heater zones during the first processing step based on an average thermal function determined for a corresponding zone of the plurality of heater zones during a period corresponding to the first processing step.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 819,155, filed on March 15, 2019. The entire disclosure of the above-referenced application is incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to substrate processing systems, and more particularly, the present disclosure relates to substrate processing systems including a multi-zone substrate support. Background Art

[0004] The background description provided here is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the present disclosure. The work of the presently designated inventors is neither explicitly nor implicitly admitted to be prior art against the present disclosure to the extent that it is described in this background section and in aspects of the specification that were not determined to be prior art at the time the application was filed.

[0005] Substrate processing systems perform processing on substrates such as semiconductor wafers. Examples of substrate processing include deposition, ashing, etching, cleaning, and / or other processes. A process gas mixture may be supplied to a processing chamber to process the substrate. Plasma may be used to ignite a gas to enhance a chemical reaction.

[0006] The cycle time for processing a substrate determines the output of a substrate processing system and the cost of each substrate produced therein. When processing a substrate, certain steps such as deposition and etching may be affected by local temperature variations of portions of the substrate. Summary of the invention

[0007] A substrate processing system comprises a processing chamber; a substrate support comprising a plurality of heater zones disposed in the processing chamber; a gas delivery system configured to deliver processing gas to the processing chamber; and a controller configured to: communicate with the gas delivery system and the plurality of heater zones, initiate a first processing step of a process during a transient temperature period after a substrate is disposed on the substrate support and before the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of the substrate support, and adjust heating of each of the plurality of heater zones during the first processing step based on an average thermal function determined for a corresponding zone of the plurality of heater zones during a period corresponding to the first processing step.

[0008] In other features, the substrate processing system further includes a plasma generator configured to generate plasma in the processing chamber, and the controller is further configured to cause the plasma generator to generate plasma during the first processing step. The first processing step includes etching. The first processing step includes deposition. The controller is further configured to adjust heating during the first processing step using a first set of heater adjustment parameters.

[0009] In other features, the controller is further configured to: initiate a second process step of the process one of before or after the first process step and during the transient temperature period; and adjust heating of each of the plurality of heater zones during the second process step based on an average thermal function determined for a plurality of corresponding zones of the plurality of heater zones during a period corresponding to the second process step. The controller is further configured to adjust heating during the second process step using a second set of heater adjustment parameters different from the first set of heater adjustment parameters. The first process step includes an etching step, and the second process step includes a deposition step.

[0010] In other features, the average thermal function of one of the plurality of heater zones is based on an integration of temperatures for the corresponding zone of the plurality of heater zones during a period of the first processing step. The processing includes a multi-patterning process.

[0011] A method for processing a substrate in a processing chamber comprises: placing the substrate on a substrate support comprising a plurality of heater zones within the processing chamber; initiating a first processing step of processing during a transient temperature period after the substrate is placed on the substrate support and before the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of the substrate support; and adjusting heating of each of the plurality of heater zones during the first processing step based on an average thermal function determined for a corresponding zone of the plurality of heater zones during a first period corresponding to the first processing step.

[0012] In other features, the method further includes, before placing the substrate on the substrate support: setting a temperature of the substrate support; placing a test substrate on the substrate support; determining a temperature of the test substrate corresponding to the plurality of heater zones during the first time period; and determining the average thermal function for the corresponding zone in the plurality of heater zones during the first time period. The first processing step includes one of etching and deposition. The method further includes adjusting heating during the first processing step using a first set of heater adjustment parameters.

[0013] In other features, the method further includes: initiating a second processing step of the process one of before or after the first processing step and during the transient temperature period; and adjusting heating of each of the plurality of heater zones during the second processing step based on an average thermal function determined for a plurality of corresponding zones of the plurality of heater zones during a second period corresponding to the second processing step. The method further includes adjusting heating during the second processing step using a second set of heater adjustment parameters different from the first set of heater adjustment parameters. The first processing step includes an etching step, and the second processing step includes a deposition step.

[0014] In other features, the average thermal function of one of the plurality of heater zones is based on an integration of the temperature of the corresponding zone in the plurality of heater zones during a time period corresponding to the first processing step. The processing includes a multi-patterning process. The method also includes: after the first processing step, measuring at least one parameter of the substrate, and adjusting a first set of heater adjustment parameters used to heat the substrate during the first processing step based on the at least one parameter.

[0015] Further scope of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description, claims and drawings.The detailed description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The present disclosure will be more fully understood from the detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:

[0017] Figure 1A is a functional block diagram of an example of a substrate processing system according to the disclosure;

[0018] Figure 1B An example of a substrate including a plurality of wireless thermocouples according to the disclosure is described;

[0019] Figure 1C is a plan view illustrating an example of a substrate support having multiple heater zones according to the disclosure;

[0020] Figures 2A to 2H is a cross-sectional side view of an example of a substrate during multiple patterning according to the present disclosure;

[0021] Figures 3A to 3D Describing critical dimension imbalance during multiple patterning and other parameters used in accordance with the present disclosure;

[0022] Figure 4A graph illustrating the temperature of a heater zone of a substrate as a function of time during heating of a substrate after the substrate is placed on a substrate support until the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of the substrate support in accordance with the present disclosure;

[0023] Figure 5 A graph illustrating the temperature of a heater zone of a substrate as a function of time during a conditioning step before the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of a substrate support in accordance with the present disclosure;

[0024] Figure 6 A graph illustrating a normalized critical dimension as a function of a substrate radius for a radial portion of a substrate according to the present disclosure;

[0025] Figure 7 A graph illustrating a normalized thermal function as a function of a substrate radius for a radial portion of a substrate according to the present disclosure;

[0026] Figure 8 A flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for determining an average thermal function of a heater zone of a multi-zone substrate support during a transient period according to the present disclosure; and

[0027] Fig. 9 A flow chart is provided to illustrate an exemplary method for reducing critical dimension inconsistencies using an average thermal function to adjust heating during a processing step performed before a substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of a substrate support in accordance with the present disclosure.

[0028] Among the drawings, reference numerals may be repeated to identify similar and / or identical elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] When the substrate is initially placed on the substrate support, it may take 2-3 minutes or more before the substrate reaches the steady-state temperature of the substrate support (e.g., during the transient period). Delaying processing during the transient period can significantly increase the cycle time and manufacturing cost of the substrate. However, processing the substrate before it reaches the steady-state temperature of the substrate support may result in critical dimension non-uniformity (CDNU).

[0030] The substrate processing system and method according to the present disclosure performs one or more processing steps on the substrate during a transient temperature period. Before processing the substrate, a test substrate is placed on a substrate support, and the temperature of each position of the test substrate is recorded during a transient period after the substrate is placed on the substrate support (and the substrate has not yet reached the steady-state temperature of the substrate support) until the substrate reaches the steady-state temperature of the substrate support. For example, the test substrate may include a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermocouple) arranged on the substrate support, and the temperature of each thermocouple is recorded during the transient period. In some examples, the test substrate may not include a temperature sensor, but the temperature of the test substrate may be sensed or measured by a device in the processing chamber (for example, a thermal imaging device such as an infrared sensor).

[0031] The average thermal function of each heater zone is determined as a function of time. The average thermal function corresponds to the area under the temperature curve (e.g., the integral of the temperature during the corresponding process step). The critical dimension non-uniformity of the heater zone is closely related to the average thermal function in the heater zone when the process step is performed.

[0032] For example, a trim step can be performed on a substrate during a multiple patterning process. The trim step is performed during the transient period after the substrate is positioned on the substrate support and before the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of the substrate support. During the trim step, the average thermal function of each heater zone is used to adjust the heating in the corresponding heater zone to reduce the CD NU. A similar approach can be used for deposition or other processing steps performed during the transient period. In some examples, one set of heater adjustments is made for the trim step, and another set of heater adjustments is made for the deposition step before or after the trim step due to the difference in the impact of temperature changes on etching compared to deposition.

[0033] Now refer to Figure 1A , an example of a substrate processing system is shown. Although a particular processing chamber is shown, other types of processing chambers may be used. The substrate processing system 110 includes a processing chamber 122, which surrounds the other components of the substrate processing system 110 and contains an RF plasma (if used). The substrate processing system 110 includes an upper electrode 124 and a substrate support 126 such as an electrostatic chuck (ESC). During processing, a substrate 128 is disposed on the substrate support 126.

[0034] By way of example only, the upper electrode 124 may include a gas distribution device 129, such as a showerhead, that introduces and distributes the process gas. The gas distribution device 129 may include a rod portion, one end of which is connected to the top surface of the processing chamber. The bottom portion is generally cylindrical and extends radially outward from the opposite end of the rod portion at a position spaced apart from the top surface of the processing chamber. The surface or faceplate of the bottom portion of the showerhead that faces the substrate includes a plurality of holes through which precursors, reactants, etching gases, inert gases, carrier gases, other process gases, and / or purge gases flow. Alternatively, the upper electrode 124 may include a conductive plate, and the process gas may be introduced in another manner.

[0035] The substrate support 126 includes a bottom plate 130 that serves as a lower electrode. The bottom plate 130 supports a heater plate 132, which may correspond to a ceramic multi-zone heater plate. A thermal resistance layer 134 may be disposed between the heater plate 132 and the bottom plate 130. The bottom plate 130 may include one or more channels 136 for flowing a coolant through the bottom plate 130. Although a particular type of substrate support is shown, other types of substrate supports or heaters may also be used.

[0036] The plasma generation system 140 generates an RF voltage by outputting the RF voltage to one of the upper electrode 124 and the lower electrode, such as the bottom plate 130 of the substrate support 126. The other of the upper electrode 124 and the bottom plate 130 may be DC grounded, AC grounded, or floating. By way of example only, the plasma generation system 140 may include an RF generator 142 that generates RF plasma power that is fed to the upper electrode 124 or the bottom plate 130 by a matching and distribution network 144. In other examples, the plasma may be generated inductively or remotely.

[0037] The gas delivery system 150 includes one or more gas sources 152-1, 152-2, ..... and 152-N (collectively referred to as gas sources 152), where N is an integer greater than zero. The gas sources 152 are connected to the manifold 160 through valves 154-1, 154-2, ..... and 154-N (collectively referred to as valves 154) and mass flow controllers 156-1, 156-2, ..... and 156-N (collectively referred to as MFCs 156). A second stage valve may be used between the MFCs 156 and the manifold 160. Although a single gas delivery system 150 is shown, two or more gas delivery systems may also be used.

[0038] The temperature controller 163 may be connected to a plurality of thermal control elements (TCEs) 164 disposed in the heating plate 132. The temperature controller 163 may be used to control the plurality of TCEs 164 to control the temperature of the substrate support 126 and the substrate 128. The temperature controller 163 may be in communication with a coolant assembly 166 to control the flow of coolant through the channel 136. For example, the coolant assembly 166 may include a coolant pump, a reservoir, and one or more temperature sensors. The temperature controller 163 operates the coolant assembly 166 to selectively flow coolant through the channel 136, thereby cooling the substrate support 126.

[0039] A valve 170 and a pump 172 may be used to exhaust reactants from the process chamber 122. A system controller 180 may be used to control the components of the substrate processing system 110.

[0040] Reference now Figure 1B , measuring the substrate temperature during a transient period (occurring after the substrate is placed on the substrate support until the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of the substrate support). The test substrate 190 includes a plurality of thermocouples 192. In some examples, the plurality of thermocouples 192 are connected to one or more wireless transmitters that transmit temperature measurements at corresponding locations. In some examples, the temperature measurements are associated with one or more of a plurality of heater zones of the substrate support (e.g., Figure 1A and 1C In some examples, the test substrate 190 may not include the plurality of thermocouples 192. Instead, the temperature of the test substrate 190 may be sensed or measured by a device within the process chamber 122 (for example, a thermal imaging device such as an infrared sensor arranged to capture an image indicating the thermal distribution across the surface of the test substrate 190).

[0041] Now refer to Figure 1C , the substrate support 196 includes a plurality of heater zones 198. In this example, circular inner heater zone 1 is surrounded by annular heater zone 2. Annular heater zone 2 is then surrounded by heater zones 3-6, and heater zones 3-6 correspond to segments of annular heater zones of another annular heater zone. Although a particular number and / or orientation of the plurality of heater zones 198 is shown, other numbers of heater zones and / or orientations may be used.

[0042] Reference now Figures 2A to 2H , which shows a substrate in a multiple patterning process. Figure 2A In the embodiment, the substrate includes a target layer 210, a core layer 214, a core layer 218 and a mandrel pattern layer 222. Figure 2B In, an isotropic etching step is performed to etch the core layer 218 and define features 226 in the core layer 218 based on the mandrel pattern layer 222 (which may be subsequently removed). Figure 2C In the embodiment of the present invention, a first conformal deposition step is performed to selectively deposit layer 230 on features 226 disposed on core layer 214. In some examples, layer 230 is deposited (using selective atomic layer deposition (ALD) of a material such as silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, etc.) onto features 226. Selective deposition refers to deposition occurring more on a first exposed material than on a second exposed material different from the first exposed material.

[0043] exist Figure 2D In , an etch is performed to remove features 226 and define spacers 240. Figure 2E In , an isotropic etch is performed to define spacers (eg, square spacers) 244 in the core layer 214. Figure 2F In the embodiment of the present invention, a second conformal deposition step is performed to selectively deposit a conformal layer 248 on the square spacers 244 disposed on the target layer 210 .

[0044] exist Figure 2G In FIG. 2 , etching is performed to remove the square spacers 244 and define spacers 252 (which are spaced closer together than the square spacers 244) on the target layer 210. Figure 2H In the embodiment, an isotropic etch is performed with a critical dimension defined between features 260 to pattern features 260 - 1 , 260 - 2 , . . . , and 260 -N (collectively referred to as features 260 ) in the target layer 210 (where N is an integer).

[0045] Now refer to Figures 3A to 3D , illustrating the CD imbalance during multiple patterning and other parameters used. Figure 3A In FIG. 1 , the substrate includes a bottom layer 310. A feature 312 on the bottom layer 310 is shown before a trimming step (pre-trim). The feature 312 has a width equal to a first critical dimension (CD1). Figure 3B , a substrate 310 is shown after a trimming step (after trimming). Now, the narrower feature 314 has a width equal to the second critical dimension (CD2), where CD2 <CD1。

[0046] exist Figure 3C In the embodiment of the present invention, a conformal layer 318 is deposited on the feature 314. In some examples, the conformal layer 318 is deposited using ALD. In some examples, the conformal layer 318 includes silicon oxide. An etch is performed to remove the spacer 314 and define a feature 322 located on the bottom layer 310, such as Figure 3D shown.

[0047] The spacing in the area below the spacer 314 corresponds to the even spacing, and the other spacing corresponds to the odd spacing. The spacing is defined as (2*line spacing + even spacing + odd spacing). The critical dimension imbalance (CD IMB) is equal to the absolute value of the difference between the even spacing and the odd spacing. The odd spacing is a function of the trim rate and photoresist consumption during deposition. The line width is a function of the ALD thickness after etching. Space 2 is a function of Space 1 and line width.

[0048] Reference now Figure 4 , a graph illustrating the substrate temperature as a function of time during the substrate heating period after the substrate is placed on the substrate support until the substrate reaches the steady-state temperature of the substrate support. In order to reduce cycle time and increase throughput, the trimming and deposition steps are performed before the substrate reaches the steady-state temperature of the substrate support. In one example, the substrate does not reach the steady-state temperature of the substrate support until after 160 seconds or another instantaneous period. If the process is delayed until the substrate reaches the steady-state temperature of the substrate support, the process will be significantly slowed down.

[0049] However, both the trimming and deposition steps are affected by substrate temperature variations. The substrate support is typically maintained at a consistent temperature. Different parts of the substrate will heat up to the steady-state temperature of the substrate support at different rates. Each of these temperature variations can result in differences in the critical dimensions of features defined on the substrate, such as photoresist (PR) features. Figure 4 As can be seen in FIG. 1 , the trimming step is performed at a lower temperature than the deposition step (and both are started or performed before the substrate reaches the steady-state temperature of the substrate support).

[0050] Reference now Figure 5 , the graph illustrates the substrate temperature as a function of time during the conditioning step before the substrate reaches the steady-state temperature of the substrate support. Temperature values ​​at different locations of the test substrate 190 including the thermocouple 192 are recorded as a function of time after the substrate is placed on the substrate support until the substrate reaches the steady-state temperature of the substrate support.

[0051] For example, a portion of the temperature profile corresponds to the time when a trim or deposition step is performed. The average heating value is calculated by integrating the area under the temperature profile during the trim or deposition step. The average heating value calculation is performed for each thermocouple. Then, the average heating value for each heater zone of the multi-zone substrate support is calculated based on the thermocouples that affect the corresponding heater zone. The average heating value for each heater zone is used to adjust the heating of the heater zone to correct the CD NU of the heater zone during the trim step. This process can be repeated for other steps performed before the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of the substrate support.

[0052] Reference now Figure 6 and Figure 7 The normalized thermal function can be used to adjust the heating of the heater zone to adjust the critical dimensions of features in the heater zone during steps performed before the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of the substrate support. Figure 6 In FIG. 1 , a graph is shown showing an example of a normalized critical dimension as a function of substrate radius for a portion of a substrate support. Figure 7 , the graph shows the normalized thermal function for the same portion of the substrate support as a function of the substrate radius.

[0053] It can be seen that there is a correlation between the normalized CD and the normalized thermal function. In this case, there is an inverse correlation between the normalized thermal function and the normalized CD. In other words, when the normalized thermal function decreases at a particular location, the normalized CD increases, and vice versa. Using this information, the heating in the heater zone can be adjusted to provide a more uniform CD during processing steps performed before the substrate reaches the steady-state temperature of the substrate support.

[0054] Reference now Figure 8 , which shows a method 800 for determining an average thermal function of a heater zone of a multi-zone substrate support. As described above, the average thermal function is determined for a period occurring after a substrate is placed on a substrate support until the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of the substrate support.

[0055] The method 800 includes setting the temperature of a multi-zone substrate support to a processing temperature at 810. At 814, a test substrate 190 including a T-type thermocouple 192 is placed on the substrate support. At 818, the temperature of each thermocouple is recorded as a function of time over a predetermined period of time, the predetermined period of time including a period of time during which a trim step, a deposition step, or other processing step will be performed before the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature. At 822, an average thermal function for each heater zone of the substrate support is based on the thermocouple temperature of its corresponding heater zone during the period of time.

[0056] Reference now Fig. 9 , a method 900 for adjusting heating to reduce CD NU using an average thermal function is shown. A trimming step (or other step) is performed during a period before the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of a substrate support. The method 900 includes determining a desired substrate thickness and profile (e.g., a patterned substrate) at 910. At 914, an average thermal function is determined for each heater zone during the trimming step (or other processing step). For example, according to the previous Figure 8The average thermal function is determined based on the average thermal function determined in 918. The previously determined average thermal function can be stored in a memory or retrieved from a memory. At 918, during a trimming step (or other processing step), a set of heater parameters is adjusted based on the average thermal function of the corresponding heater zone. In other words, the thermal parameters used to control the temperature of each heater zone are adjusted based on the average thermal function. At 922, the substrate is processed using the adjusted set of heater parameters.

[0057] At 930, method 900 determines whether to process another substrate. At 934, the processed substrate can optionally be measured. For example, a critical dimension or other parameter can be measured. At 938, the measured value can be used to further adjust the heater parameter set. Alternatively, 934 and 938 can be omitted.

[0058] The foregoing description is merely illustrative in nature and is by no means intended to limit the present disclosure, its application or use. The broad teachings of the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms. Therefore, although the present disclosure includes specific examples, the true scope of the present disclosure should not be so limited, because when studying the drawings, the specification and the appended claims, other modifications will become apparent. It should be understood that, without changing the principles of the present disclosure, one or more steps in the method can be performed in different orders (or simultaneously). In addition, although each embodiment is described above as having certain features, any one or more of those features described relative to any embodiment of the present disclosure can be implemented in the features of any other embodiment and / or combined with the features of any other embodiment, even if the combination is not clearly described. In other words, the described embodiments are not mutually exclusive, and the replacement of one or more embodiments with each other remains within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0059] Various terms are used to describe the spatial and functional relationships between elements (e.g., between modules, between circuit elements, between semiconductor layers, etc.), including "connected," "engaged," "coupled," "adjacent," "next to," "on top of," "above," "below," and "disposed." Unless the relationship between a first and a second element is explicitly described as "direct," when such a relationship is described in the above disclosure, the relationship can be a direct relationship, in which there are no other intervening elements between the first and second elements, but can also be an indirect relationship, in which there are one or more intervening elements (spatially or functionally) between the first and second elements. As used herein, the phrase "at least one of A, B, and C" should be interpreted to mean a logical (A or B or C), using a non-exclusive logical OR, and should not be interpreted to mean "at least one of A, at least one of B, and at least one of C."

[0060] In some implementations, the controller is part of a system, which can be part of the above examples. Such a system can include a semiconductor processing device, which includes one or more processing tools, one or more chambers, one or more platforms for processing, and / or specific processing components (wafer substrate supports, gas flow systems, etc.). These systems can be integrated with electronic devices for controlling their steps before, during, and after the processing of semiconductor wafers or substrates. The electronic device can be referred to as a "controller", which can control various components or subcomponents of one or more systems. Depending on the processing requirements and / or system type, the controller can be programmed to control any process disclosed herein, including the delivery of process gases, temperature settings (e.g., heating and / or cooling), pressure settings, vacuum settings, power settings, radio frequency (RF) generator settings, RF matching circuit settings, frequency settings, flow rate settings, fluid delivery settings, position and step settings, wafer transfer in and out tools and other transfer tools and / or load locks connected to or connected to a specific system through an interface.

[0061] In general, a controller can be defined as an electronic device having various integrated circuits, logic, memory, and / or software that receive instructions, issue instructions, control steps, enable cleaning steps, enable endpoint measurements, etc. The integrated circuit can include a chip in the form of firmware that stores program instructions, a digital signal processor (DSP), a chip defined as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and / or one or more microprocessors, or a microcontroller that executes program instructions (e.g., software). The program instructions can be instructions sent to the controller in the form of various individual settings (or program files) that define step parameters for performing a specific process on or for a semiconductor wafer or system. In some embodiments, the step parameters can be part of a recipe defined by a process engineer to complete one or more processing steps during the manufacture of one or more (kinds of) layers, materials, metals, oxides, silicon, silicon dioxide, surfaces, circuits, and / or dies of a wafer.

[0062] In some implementations, the controller may be part of or coupled to a computer that is integrated with the system, coupled to the system, otherwise networked to the system, or a combination thereof. For example, the controller may be in the "cloud" or all or part of a wafer fab host system that may allow remote access to wafer processing. The computer may enable remote access to the system to monitor the current progress of a manufacturing step, check the history of past manufacturing steps, check trends or performance criteria for multiple manufacturing steps, change parameters of the current processing, set processing steps to follow the current processing, or start a new processing. In some examples, a remote computer (e.g., a server) may provide a process recipe to the system via a network (which may include a local network or the Internet). The remote computer may include a user interface that enables input or programming of parameters and / or settings, which are then sent from the remote computer to the system. In some examples, the controller receives instructions in the form of data that specify parameters for each processing step to be performed during one or more steps. It should be understood that the parameters may be specific to the type of process to be performed and the type of tool that the controller is configured to interface with or control. Thus, as described above, the controller may be distributed, for example, by including one or more discrete controllers networked together and working toward a common purpose (e.g., the process and control described herein). An example of a distributed controller for such a purpose is one or more integrated circuits on a chamber communicating with one or more integrated circuits remotely (e.g., at a platform level or as part of a remote computer), which combine to control the process on the chamber.

[0063] Example systems may include, but are not limited to, plasma etch chambers or modules, deposition chambers or modules, spin rinse chambers or modules, metal plating chambers or modules, cleaning chambers or modules, chamfer edge etch chambers or modules, physical vapor deposition (PVD) chambers or modules, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chambers or modules, atomic layer deposition (ALD) chambers or modules, atomic layer etch (ALE) chambers or modules, ion implantation chambers or modules, track chambers or modules, and any other semiconductor processing system that may be associated with or used in the manufacture and / or preparation of semiconductor wafers.

[0064] As described above, depending on one or more processing steps to be performed by the tool, the controller can communicate with one or more other tool circuits or modules, other tool components, cluster tools, other tool interfaces, adjacent tools, neighboring tools, tools located throughout the factory, a host computer, another controller, or tools used in material transport to transport wafer containers to and from tool locations and / or load ports in a semiconductor manufacturing facility.

Claims

1. A substrate processing system, comprising: Processing room; a substrate support including a plurality of heater zones disposed in the processing chamber; a gas delivery system configured to deliver a process gas to the process chamber; as well as A controller configured to: in communication with the gas delivery system and the plurality of heater zones; initiating a first process step of a process during a transient temperature period after a substrate is arranged on said substrate support and before said substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of said substrate support; as well as adjusting heating of each of the plurality of heater zones during the first processing step based on an average thermal function determined for a corresponding zone of the plurality of heater zones during a period corresponding to the first processing step, Wherein the average thermal function of one of the plurality of heater zones is based on an integration of temperatures for the corresponding zone of the plurality of heater zones during a period of the first processing step.

2. The substrate processing system according to claim 1, further comprising: A plasma generator is configured to generate plasma in the processing chamber, wherein the controller is further configured to cause the plasma generator to generate plasma during the first processing step.

3. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the first processing step comprises etching.

4. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the first processing step comprises deposition.

5. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to adjust heating during the first processing step using a first set of heater adjustment parameters.

6. The substrate processing system of claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to: one of before or after the first processing step and during the transient temperature period, initiating a second processing step of the processing; and Heating of each of the plurality of heater zones during the second processing step is adjusted based on an average thermal function determined for a plurality of corresponding zones of the plurality of heater zones during a time period corresponding to the second processing step.

7. The substrate processing system of claim 6, wherein the controller is further configured to adjust heating during the second processing step using a second set of heater adjustment parameters, wherein the second set of heater adjustment parameters is different from the first set of heater adjustment parameters.

8. The substrate processing system of claim 6, wherein the first processing step comprises an etching step and the second processing step comprises a deposition step.

9. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the processing comprises a multi-patterning process.

10. A method of processing a substrate in a processing chamber, the method comprising: placing the substrate on a substrate support within the processing chamber, wherein the substrate support comprises a plurality of heater zones; initiating a first process step of a process during a transient temperature period after the substrate is arranged on the substrate support and before the substrate reaches a steady-state temperature of the substrate support; and adjusting heating of each of the plurality of heater zones during the first processing step based on an average thermal function determined for a corresponding zone of the plurality of heater zones during a first time period corresponding to the first processing step, Wherein the average thermal function of one of the plurality of heater zones is based on an integration of temperatures for the corresponding zone of the plurality of heater zones during a time period corresponding to the first processing step.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising, before placing the substrate on the substrate support: setting a temperature of the substrate support; disposing a test substrate on the substrate support; determining a temperature of the test substrate corresponding to the plurality of heater zones during the first time period; as well as The average thermal function for the corresponding zone of the plurality of heater zones during the first time period is determined.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first processing step comprises one of etching and deposition.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising adjusting heating during the first processing step using a first set of heater adjustment parameters.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: one of before or after the first processing step and during the transient temperature period, initiating a second processing step of the processing; and Heating of each of the plurality of heater zones during the second processing step is adjusted based on an average thermal function determined for a plurality of corresponding ones of the plurality of heater zones during a second time period corresponding to the second processing step.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising adjusting heating during the second processing step using a second set of heater adjustment parameters, wherein the second set of heater adjustment parameters is different than the first set of heater adjustment parameters.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the first processing step comprises an etching step and the second processing step comprises a deposition step.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the processing comprises a multiple patterning process.

18. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: After the first processing step, at least one parameter of the substrate is measured, and a first set of heater adjustment parameters used to heat the substrate during the first processing step is adjusted based on the at least one parameter.

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