Process chamber and cleaning method thereof, and processing equipment of semiconductor device

Abstract

The invention provides a process chamber and a cleaning method thereof, and processing equipment of a semiconductor device. The process chamber comprises a chamber body which is at least provided with a lower substrate, and the lower substrate is used for heating a wafer and / or spraying a first reactant to the wafer so as to carry out a thin film deposition process on the wafer; the gas uniformizing lining is arranged on the inner side of the side wall of the cavity body so as to be matched with the side wall to form a gas uniformizing annular channel, and a plurality of first gas outlet holes are at least formed in the lower side of the lower base plate so as to output clean gas to the lower side of the lower base plate.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor processing technology, and in particular to a process chamber, a method for cleaning the process chamber, and a processing device for a semiconductor device. Background Art

[0002] In semiconductor processes such as plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) or plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD), contaminants in the process chamber may cause uneven film growth, thereby affecting device performance. At the same time, the contaminants may be adsorbed on the chamber wall, reducing the amount of gas-phase reactants available for deposition, thereby reducing the deposition rate. Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly clean the contaminants that may exist inside the process chamber to effectively avoid uneven film growth and improve the utilization rate of reactants.

[0003] In the prior art, cleaning gas containing fluoride ions is usually used. In PECVD equipment, the cleaning gas enters the chamber through the spray plate above the chamber, so the cleaning efficiency for the area below the heating plate is low. In another device with an inverted spray plate, the heating plate is located below the chamber, and the cleaning gas enters from the upper back of the spray plate, which will result in low cleaning efficiency in the central area of ​​the spray plate and the heating plate, and there is a cleaning blind spot. In a multi-station PECVD device, the cleaning gas enters from the center and then is input to each station around it and is extracted from the outer exhaust port. This design in which the cleaning gas enters from one side and is extracted from the other side will cause the fluorination degree of the parts to be high on one side and low on the other side. It can be seen that in the prior art, the path for the clean gas to enter the chamber does not distribute the gas path flow resistance according to the strength of the exhaust capacity at different positions in the process area, and usually cannot be evenly aligned.

[0004] In order to overcome the above-mentioned defects in the prior art, there is an urgent need in the art for a process chamber technology for eliminating the cleaning blind area and aligning the path of the cleaning gas entering the chamber evenly. Summary of the invention

[0005] A brief summary of one or more aspects is given below to provide a basic understanding of these aspects. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all conceived aspects, and is neither intended to identify the key or decisive elements of all aspects nor to define the scope of any or all aspects. Its only purpose is to give some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description that will be given later.

[0006] In order to overcome the above-mentioned defects in the prior art, the present invention provides a process chamber, a semiconductor device processing equipment, and a process chamber cleaning method for eliminating the cleaning blind area and making the path of the cleaning gas entering the chamber uniformly centered.

[0007] Specifically, the process chamber provided according to the first aspect of the present invention includes: a chamber body, which is provided with at least a lower substrate, wherein the lower substrate is used to heat the wafer and / or spray the first reactant thereon to perform a thin film deposition process thereon; and a gas uniforming sleeve, which is provided on the inner side of the side wall of the chamber body to cooperate with the side wall to form a gas uniforming ring channel, and a plurality of first gas outlet holes are provided on at least the lower side of the lower substrate to output cleaning gas to the lower side of the lower substrate.

[0008] Furthermore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the process chamber also includes: a lifting mechanism, used to lift the lower substrate above the multiple first air outlet holes to clean the lower space of the lower substrate, or to lower the lower substrate below the multiple first air outlet holes to reuse the multiple first air outlet holes to clean the upper space of the lower substrate.

[0009] Furthermore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the chamber body also includes an upper cover plate and an upper substrate, wherein the upper substrate is disposed above the lower substrate and is used to heat the wafer and / or spray the second reactant thereon to perform a thin film deposition process thereon, and the upper cover plate is disposed on the top of the chamber body and is provided with an input loop, and a plurality of second gas outlet holes are provided on the lower side of the input loop to output the cleaning gas to the upper side of the upper substrate.

[0010] Furthermore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the air inlet of the input loop is arranged on one side of the upper cover plate, wherein the size of the plurality of second air outlet holes increases with the distance from the air inlet, and / or the distribution density of the plurality of second air outlet holes decreases with the distance from the air inlet.

[0011] Furthermore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the air inlet of the input ring is arranged on one side of the upper cover plate, and the input ring also includes a plurality of third air outlet holes connected to the air uniforming ring, wherein the size of the plurality of third air outlet holes increases with the distance from the air inlet, and / or the distribution density of the plurality of third air outlet holes decreases with the distance from the air inlet.

[0012] Furthermore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the plurality of first air outlets have a plurality of different first heights and a plurality of corresponding first angles so as to respectively align with corresponding cleaning target points, wherein a line connecting the cleaning target point and its corresponding first air outlet intersects with a central axis of the chamber body.

[0013] Furthermore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the plurality of first air outlet holes at the first height have the same first angle, so that the cleaning target points corresponding to the first air outlet holes at the first height are all located at the second height where enhanced cleaning is required.

[0014] Furthermore, in some embodiments of the present invention, an exhaust port is provided on the side and / or bottom of the chamber body, and the distribution density of the cleaning target points aimed at by each of the first air outlets decreases with the distance from the exhaust port, so that the cleaning gas is evenly distributed in multiple areas inside the chamber body.

[0015] In addition, the processing equipment of the semiconductor device provided according to the second aspect of the present invention includes: a plurality of process chambers as described in any one of the first aspect of the present invention; a gas source, at least for providing a cleaning gas for cleaning the process chamber; and a gas transmission mechanism, including an input port and a plurality of output ports, wherein the gas transmission mechanism is connected to the gas source via the input port to obtain the cleaning gas, and is respectively connected to each of the process chambers via the plurality of output ports to evenly distribute the cleaning gas to each of the process chambers.

[0016] In addition, the cleaning method of the process chamber provided in accordance with the third aspect of the present invention comprises the following steps: raising the lower substrate of the process chamber as described in any one of the first aspects of the present invention to the upper side of a plurality of first gas outlet holes of its gas uniforming sleeve to output the cleaning gas to the lower side of the lower substrate through the plurality of first gas outlet holes; and lowering the lower substrate to the lower side of the plurality of first gas outlet holes to output the cleaning gas to the upper side of the lower substrate through the plurality of first gas outlet holes.

[0017] Furthermore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the cleaning method also includes the following steps: outputting the cleaning gas to the upper side of the upper substrate through a plurality of second gas outlet holes on the lower side of the upper cover plate of the process chamber; and / or extracting the cleaning exhaust gas from the inside of the process chamber through a gas exhaust port provided on the side and / or below the process chamber. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] The above features and advantages of the present invention can be better understood after reading the detailed description of the embodiments of the present disclosure in conjunction with the following drawings. In the drawings, the components are not necessarily drawn to scale, and components with similar related properties or features may have the same or similar reference numerals.

[0019] Figure 1 A schematic structural diagram of a process chamber provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown.

[0020] Figure 2A schematic diagram of the input loop structure of an upper cover plate provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown.

[0021] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the structure of the second air outlet hole on the lower side of the input loop provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown.

[0022] Figure 4 A schematic structural diagram of an air uniforming bushing provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown.

[0023] Figure 5 A schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of an air uniforming bushing provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown.

[0024] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of a process chamber for raising a lower substrate provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown.

[0025] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of a process chamber for lower substrate descending according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown.

[0026] Reference numerals:

[0027] 1. First Area

[0028] 2 Second Area

[0029] 3. Third Area

[0030] 4. The fourth area

[0031] 10 Chamber body

[0032] 11. Air-distributing bushing

[0033] 111 First vent

[0034] 112 Fourth Vent

[0035] 12 lower base plate

[0036] 13 Upper base plate

[0037] 14 Upper cover

[0038] 141 Input loop

[0039] 142 Second vent

[0040] 143 Air Inlet

[0041] 15 Air extraction port DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] The following specific embodiments illustrate the implementation of the present invention, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present invention from the contents disclosed in this specification. Although the description of the present invention will be introduced in conjunction with the preferred embodiment, this does not mean that the features of this invention are limited to this implementation. On the contrary, the purpose of introducing the invention in conjunction with the implementation is to cover other options or modifications that may be extended based on the claims of the present invention. In order to provide a deep understanding of the present invention, the following description will include many specific details. The present invention can also be implemented without using these details. In addition, in order to avoid confusion or blurring the focus of the present invention, some specific details will be omitted in the description.

[0043] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0044] In addition, the terms "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "top", "bottom", "horizontal" and "vertical" used in the following description should be understood as the directions shown in the paragraph and the related drawings. Such relative terms are only used for the convenience of description and do not mean that the device described therein must be manufactured or operated in a specific direction, and therefore should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0045] It is understood that although the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. may be used herein to describe various components, regions, layers and / or parts, these components, regions, layers and / or parts should not be limited by these terms, and these terms are only used to distinguish different components, regions, layers and / or parts. Therefore, the first component, region, layer and / or part discussed below may be referred to as a second component, region, layer and / or part without departing from some embodiments of the present invention.

[0046] As mentioned above, in traditional PECVD equipment, the cleaning gas containing fluoride ions enters the chamber from the spray plate, but the cleaning efficiency for the area below the heating plate is low. For example, in another device with an inverted spray plate, the heating plate is located below the chamber, and the cleaning gas enters from the upper back of the spray plate, which will result in low cleaning efficiency in the center area of ​​the spray plate and the heating plate. Another example: in a multi-station PECVD device, the cleaning gas enters from the center, and then is input to each station around it, and is extracted from the outer exhaust port. This design in which the cleaning gas enters from one side and is extracted from the other side will cause the fluorination degree of the parts to be high on one side and low on the other side. It can be seen from this that the path and distribution of the cleaning gas entering the chamber in the prior art are usually not evenly aligned, and there are cleaning blind spots.

[0047] In order to overcome the above-mentioned defects of the prior art, the present invention provides a process chamber, a semiconductor device processing equipment, and a process chamber cleaning method, which are used to eliminate the cleaning blind area and make the path of the cleaning gas entering the chamber uniformly centered.

[0048] In some non-limiting embodiments, the process chamber provided by the first aspect of the present invention can be configured in the semiconductor device processing equipment provided by the second aspect of the present invention. The cleaning method of the process chamber provided by the third aspect of the present invention can be implemented based on the process chamber provided by the first aspect of the present invention.

[0049] Specifically, the processing equipment of the semiconductor device includes multiple process chambers, a gas source, and a gas transmission mechanism. The gas source is at least used to provide a cleaning gas for cleaning the process chamber. The gas transmission mechanism includes an input port and multiple output ports. Here, the gas transmission mechanism is connected to the gas source via the input port to obtain the cleaning gas, and is connected to each process chamber via the multiple output ports to evenly distribute the cleaning gas to each process chamber.

[0050] In addition, the process chamber also includes a lifting mechanism for raising the lower substrate above the multiple first air outlet holes to clean the lower side space of the lower substrate, or lowering the lower substrate below the multiple first air outlet holes to reuse the multiple first air outlet holes to clean the upper side space of the lower substrate.

[0051] Please refer to Figure 1 to Figure 3 , Figure 1 A schematic structural diagram of a process chamber provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown. Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the input loop structure of an upper cover plate provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown. Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the structure of the second air outlet hole on the lower side of the input loop provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown.

[0052] like Figure 1 to Figure 3As shown, the process chamber includes a chamber body 10 and a gas-uniform sleeve 11. Specifically, the chamber body 10 is provided with at least a lower substrate 12 for heating a wafer and / or spraying a first reactant thereon to perform a thin film deposition process thereon. The gas-uniform sleeve 11 is provided on the inner side of the side wall of the chamber body 10 to cooperate with the side wall to form a gas-uniform ring channel, and at least a plurality of first gas outlet holes 111 are provided on the lower side of the lower substrate 12 to output clean gas to the lower side of the lower substrate 12. The first gas outlet holes 111 are evenly distributed on the side wall of the gas-uniform sleeve 11, and can be distributed in a ring shape or a triangle shape.

[0053] Optionally, the top wall of the gas uniforming bushing 11 may be provided with a fourth gas outlet 112 for outputting the cleaning gas to the upper side of the upper substrate 13. Here, the first gas outlet 111 and the fourth gas outlet 112 may be in the shape of a circle, a triangle or a pentagon.

[0054] Further, in some non-limiting embodiments, the chamber body 10 also includes an upper cover plate 14 and an upper substrate 13. Specifically, the upper substrate 13 is arranged above the lower substrate 12, and is used to heat the wafer and / or spray the second reactant thereon to perform a thin film deposition process on it. The upper substrate 13 faces downward, and it can be hung upside down or locked below the upper cover plate 14 and / or directly fixed on the upper cover plate 14, and a small cavity is formed between its back and the upper cover plate 14. The upper cover plate 14 is arranged at the top of the chamber body 10 and is provided with an input annulus 141. A plurality of second gas outlets 142 are provided on the lower side of the input annulus 141 to output the cleaning gas to the upper side of the upper substrate 13.

[0055] Further, in some non-limiting embodiments, the air inlet 143 of the input annular channel 141 is disposed on one side of the upper cover plate 14. The size of the plurality of second air outlet holes 142 increases with the distance from the air inlet 143, and / or the distribution density of the plurality of second air outlet holes 142 decreases with the distance from the air inlet 143. The second air outlet holes 142 may be waist holes or round holes to match the flow resistance inside the chamber, thereby adjusting the uniformity of the clean gas entering the uniform air annular channel.

[0056] Those skilled in the art will understand that the embodiments of the structural features of the input loop 141 are only some non-limiting implementation methods provided by the present invention, which are intended to clearly demonstrate the main concepts of the present invention and provide some specific solutions that are convenient for the public to implement, rather than to limit all functions or all working modes of the wafer position detection system.

[0057] Optionally, the air inlet 143 of the input annular channel 141 is disposed on one side of the upper cover plate 14, and the input annular channel 141 may further include a plurality of third air outlets connected to the air uniforming annular channel. The sizes of the plurality of third air outlets increase with the distance from the air inlet 143, and / or the distribution density of the plurality of third air outlets decreases with the distance from the air inlet 143, thereby adjusting the uniformity of the clean gas entering the air uniforming annular channel.

[0058] Please refer to Figure 4-5 , Figure 4 A schematic structural diagram of an air uniforming bushing provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown. Figure 5 A schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of an air uniforming bushing provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown.

[0059] like Figure 4-5 As shown, the plurality of first air outlet holes 111 have a plurality of different first heights and a plurality of corresponding first angles to respectively align with corresponding cleaning target points, wherein a line connecting the cleaning target point and the first air outlet hole 111 corresponding to the cleaning target point intersects with the central axis of the chamber body 10. For example, the cleaning target point is set at a position where each first air outlet hole 111 intersects 5 mm from the central axis, thereby forming an overlapping cleaning area to enhance the cleaning effect.

[0060] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the plurality of first air outlet holes 111 located at the first height have the same first angle, so that the cleaning target points corresponding to the first air outlet holes 111 located at the first height are all located at the second height where enhanced cleaning is required.

[0061] Please continue to refer to Figure 1 , an exhaust port 15 is provided on the side and / or below the chamber body 10. The exhaust port 15 may include a bottom single exhaust port 15, a bottom annular exhaust port 15 or a side annular exhaust port 15, and the side annular exhaust is achieved through the structure of the side annular channel. The exhaust port 15 may also be configured with a gas guide bushing so as to be configured in a remote plasma system (RPS). For example: a conversion bushing for matching bottom exhaust, and / or an exhaust gas channel bushing for side annular exhaust. The distribution density of the cleaning target points aligned with each first air outlet 111 decreases with the distance from the exhaust port 15, so that the cleaning gas is evenly distributed in multiple areas inside the chamber body 10.

[0062] In this way, after the cleaning gas is output through the RPS, it enters the upper input annular channel 141 from the side and surrounds the annular channel to fill the upper end of the upper cover plate 14. The cleaning gas can pass through the annular flow channel and the second gas outlet 142 or the third gas outlet below, and the cleaning gas of different quantities can be symmetrically input to different positions inside the chamber, so as to achieve uniformity and centering of cleaning.

[0063] The following will describe the working principle of the above-mentioned process chamber and the processing device of the semiconductor device in combination with some embodiments of the cleaning method of the process chamber. Those skilled in the art will understand that the embodiments of the cleaning method of these process chambers are only some non-limiting implementation methods provided by the present invention, which are intended to clearly demonstrate the main concept of the present invention and provide some specific solutions that are convenient for the public to implement, rather than to limit all functions or all working modes of the process chamber. Similarly, the process chamber is also only some non-limiting implementation methods provided by the present invention, and does not constitute a limitation on the execution subject or execution order of each step in the cleaning method of these process chambers.

[0064] Please refer to Figure 6-7 , Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of a process chamber for raising a lower substrate provided according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown. Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of a process chamber for lower substrate descending according to some embodiments of the present invention is shown.

[0065] First, if Figure 6 As shown, the process chamber can raise the lower substrate 12 of the process chamber to the upper side of multiple first gas outlet holes 111 of its gas uniforming sleeve 11 to output cleaning gas to the lower side of the lower substrate 12 through the multiple first gas outlet holes 111, thereby cleaning the first area 1, the second area 2 and the third area 3.

[0066] Afterwards, if Figure 7 As shown, the lower substrate 12 is lowered to the lower side of the plurality of first gas outlet holes 111 so that the cleaning gas is output to the upper side of the lower substrate 12 through the plurality of first gas outlet holes 111 , thereby cleaning the fourth region 4 .

[0067] Here, in some non-limiting embodiments, the process chamber may further output the cleaning gas to the upper side of the upper substrate 13 through the plurality of second gas outlets 142 on the lower side of the upper cover plate 14. Here, those skilled in the art may understand that the cleaning gas may be output through the first gas outlet 111 and / or the second gas outlet 142.

[0068] In some non-limiting embodiments, the external exhaust device can also extract clean exhaust gas from the interior of the process chamber.

[0069] In summary, the process chamber, semiconductor device processing equipment, and process chamber cleaning method provided by the present invention uniformly treat the cleaning gas entering the chamber by adding a uniform gas bushing in the chamber body, so that the path of the cleaning gas entering the chamber is uniformly centered. And by the cleaning method of lifting the lower substrate, the chamber body is fully cleaned, thereby eliminating the cleaning blind area.

[0070] Although the above methods are illustrated and described as a series of actions for simplicity of explanation, it should be understood and appreciated that these methods are not limited by the order of the actions, because according to one or more embodiments, some actions may occur in a different order and / or concurrently with other actions from those illustrated and described herein or not illustrated and described herein but understandable to those skilled in the art.

[0071] The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but should be granted the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A process chamber, characterized in that: include: A chamber body, at least provided with a lower substrate, wherein the lower substrate is used to heat the wafer and / or spray the first reactant thereon to perform a thin film deposition process thereon; and A gas uniforming bushing is arranged on the inner side of the side wall of the chamber body to cooperate with the side wall to form a gas uniforming ring channel, and a plurality of first gas outlet holes are arranged at least on the lower side of the lower substrate to output the cleaning gas to the lower side of the lower substrate.

2. The process chamber according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: The lifting mechanism is used to lift the lower substrate above the multiple first air outlet holes to clean the lower space of the lower substrate, or to lower the lower substrate below the multiple first air outlet holes to reuse the multiple first air outlet holes to clean the upper space of the lower substrate.

3. The process chamber according to claim 1, characterized in that: The chamber body further comprises an upper cover plate and an upper base plate, wherein: The upper substrate is disposed above the lower substrate and is used to heat the wafer and / or spray the second reactant thereon to perform a thin film deposition process thereon. The upper cover plate is arranged on the top of the chamber body and is provided with an input channel. A plurality of second gas outlets are arranged on the lower side of the input channel to output the cleaning gas to the upper side of the upper substrate.

4. The process chamber according to claim 3, characterized in that: The air inlet of the input loop is arranged on one side of the upper cover plate, wherein the size of the plurality of second air outlet holes increases with the distance from the air inlet, and / or the distribution density of the plurality of second air outlet holes decreases with the distance from the air inlet.

5. The process chamber according to claim 3, characterized in that: The air inlet of the input ring channel is arranged on one side of the upper cover plate, and the input ring channel also includes a plurality of third air outlet holes connected to the air uniforming ring channel, wherein the size of the plurality of third air outlet holes increases with the distance from the air inlet, and / or the distribution density of the plurality of third air outlet holes decreases with the distance from the air inlet.

6. The process chamber according to claim 1, characterized in that: The plurality of first air outlets have a plurality of different first heights and a plurality of corresponding first angles so as to be aligned with corresponding cleaning targets respectively, wherein a line connecting the cleaning target and the corresponding first air outlet intersects with a central axis of the chamber body.

7. The process chamber according to claim 6, characterized in that: The plurality of first air outlet holes at the first height have the same first angle, so that the cleaning target points corresponding to the first air outlet holes at the first height are all located at the second height where enhanced cleaning is required.

8. The process chamber according to claim 6, wherein: A gas extraction port is provided on the side and / or below the chamber body, and the distribution density of the cleaning target points aligned with each of the first gas outlets decreases with the distance from the gas extraction port, so that the cleaning gas is evenly distributed in multiple areas inside the chamber body.

9. A semiconductor device processing equipment, characterized in that: include: A plurality of process chambers according to any one of claims 1 to 8; A gas source, at least used to provide a cleaning gas for cleaning the process chamber; as well as The gas transmission mechanism comprises an input port and a plurality of output ports, wherein the gas transmission mechanism is connected to the gas source via the input port to obtain the cleaning gas, and is respectively connected to each of the process chambers via the plurality of output ports to evenly distribute the cleaning gas to each of the process chambers.

10. A method for cleaning a process chamber, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Lifting the lower substrate of the process chamber according to any one of claims 1 to 8 to the upper side of the plurality of first gas outlet holes of the gas uniforming bushing thereof, so as to output the cleaning gas to the lower side of the lower substrate through the plurality of first gas outlet holes; and The lower substrate is lowered to a lower side of the plurality of first gas outlet holes to output the cleaning gas to an upper side of the lower substrate through the plurality of first gas outlet holes.

11. The cleaning method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The following steps are also included: Outputting the cleaning gas to the upper side of the upper substrate through a plurality of second gas outlet holes on the lower side of the upper cover plate of the process chamber; and / or Clean exhaust gas is extracted from the interior of the process chamber through an exhaust port provided at the side and / or below the process chamber.

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