Low cost semiconductor manufacturing equipment and process

Abstract

This invention provides a low-cost semiconductor manufacturing equipment and process. The equipment includes: a process chamber, an exhaust pipe, a vacuum pump, a first protective gas supply device for supplying a first protective gas, a second protective gas supply device for supplying a second protective gas, and a controller. The two ends of the exhaust pipe are connected to the process chamber and the vacuum pump, respectively. The controller controls the supply of the first and second protective gases. When gas is emitted from the exhaust pipe, the first protective gas, which does not react with the process gas, is introduced into the vacuum pump. When no process gas is emitted from the exhaust pipe, the second protective gas, which is less expensive than the first protective gas, is introduced into the vacuum pump through a straight inlet channel and a spiral inlet channel, respectively. This invention helps to improve the cleaning ability of the vacuum pump while reducing the amount of high-cost first protective gas used, extending the service life of the vacuum pump, reducing equipment operating costs, and increasing output.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of integrated circuit manufacturing equipment, in particular to a low-cost semiconductor manufacturing equipment and process. BACKGROUND

[0002] Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a process of introducing gaseous or liquid reaction agents containing elements of thin film and gases such as carrier gas into a reaction chamber, and then depositing a thin film on the surface of a substrate by a chemical reaction. In the process of chemical vapor deposition, a vacuum needs to be maintained, so the vacuum pump connected to the deposition chamber needs to be kept in a pumping state during the process. During pumping, the residual process gas and reaction by-products in the deposition chamber are pumped into the vacuum pump. Depending on the chemical vapor deposition equipment and process, the amount of deposited product will vary. In order to reduce the amount of deposited product and prevent the vacuum pump from being stuck, nitrogen gas needs to be continuously introduced into the vacuum pump as a protective gas to blow away the deposited product in the vacuum pump and prevent the vacuum pump from being stuck. When the equipment is in a non-process running state, the vacuum pump also needs to be in a working state to prevent gas backflow and chamber contamination. Therefore, nitrogen gas needs to be continuously introduced for protection, resulting in a large amount of nitrogen gas consumption and increased production cost. Moreover, the protective gas in the prior art is directly introduced into the rotor part of the vacuum pump through a single straight pipeline, which can only clean the rotor. Even the impurities on the rotor can be blown onto the inner wall of the vacuum pump body, affecting the service life of the vacuum pump.

[0003] In addition to the vapor deposition equipment, the vacuum pump of the dry etching equipment is also in a similar working state. It should be noted that the above introduction of the technical background is only for the convenience of clearly and completely describing the technical scheme of the present application and facilitating the understanding of those skilled in the art. The above technical scheme cannot be considered as known to those skilled in the art just because it is described in the background section of the present application. SUMMARY

[0004] In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art, the present application aims to provide a low-cost semiconductor manufacturing equipment and process to solve the problems of the prior art, such as the chemical vapor deposition equipment, which continuously introduces nitrogen gas as a protective gas regardless of whether it is in a process running state or not, resulting in an increase in nitrogen gas consumption, an increase in production cost, and difficulty in cleaning the inner wall of the vacuum pump.

[0005] To achieve the above object and other related objects, the present application provides a low-cost semiconductor manufacturing equipment, comprising a process cavity, an exhaust pipeline, a vacuum pump, a first protective gas supply device for supplying a first protective gas, a second protective gas supply device for supplying a second protective gas, and a controller; two ends of the exhaust pipeline are connected with the process cavity and the vacuum pump respectively; the controller controls the supply of the first protective gas and the second protective gas, so that when there is gas discharge in the exhaust pipeline, the first protective gas which does not react with the process gas is introduced into the vacuum pump, and when there is no process gas discharge in the exhaust pipeline, the second protective gas which is lower in cost than the first protective gas is introduced into the vacuum pump through a linear inlet channel and a spiral inlet channel respectively.

[0006] Optionally, the first protective gas comprises nitrogen, and the second protective gas comprises CDA.

[0007] Optionally, the semiconductor manufacturing equipment further comprises a gas switching module and a flow controller, the first protective gas supply device and the second protective gas supply device are connected with the controller through the gas switching module, the controller controls the operation of the gas switching module to realize the on-off of the first protective gas and the second protective gas, and the flow controller is connected with the gas switching module and the controller.

[0008] Optionally, the semiconductor manufacturing equipment further comprises a gas detector for detecting the type and flow of the discharged gas in the exhaust pipeline, the controller is connected with the gas detector, and the supply of the first protective gas and the second protective gas is controlled according to the detection result of the gas detector.

[0009] Optionally, the controller further adjusts the flow of the first protective gas according to the gas flow in the exhaust pipeline detected by the gas detector.

[0010] Optionally, the process cavity comprises a vapor deposition chamber and / or a dry etching chamber.

[0011] Optionally, the semiconductor manufacturing equipment further comprises a temperature control device connected with the first protective gas supply device, and the temperature control device adjusts the temperature of the first protective gas according to the gas temperature in the exhaust pipeline.

[0012] Optionally, the exhaust pipeline is a U-shaped pipeline comprising two branched pipelines which are detachably connected, the branched pipelines are provided with dust removal devices near the bottom of the vacuum pump, the branched pipelines are provided with one-way check valves near the upper part of the process cavity, and the controller is connected with the one-way check valves to control the conduction of the branched pipelines as needed.

[0013] Optionally, the exhaust pipeline is partially made of a detachable metal hose with a corrugated structure. The application also provides a low-cost semiconductor manufacturing process based on the semiconductor manufacturing equipment of any of the above-mentioned solutions.

[0014] As described above, the low-cost semiconductor manufacturing equipment provided by the application has the following beneficial effects: when there is gas discharge in the exhaust pipeline, the low-cost semiconductor manufacturing equipment provided by the application introduces a first protective gas that does not react with the process gas into the vacuum pump; when there is no process gas discharge in the exhaust pipeline, the low-cost semiconductor manufacturing equipment introduces a second protective gas with a lower cost than the first protective gas into the vacuum pump through a linear gas inlet channel and a spiral gas inlet channel. Through such an improved design, the amount of high-cost first protective gas can be effectively reduced while the cleaning capacity of the vacuum pump is improved, and the adverse effects of the attachment of contaminants on the inner wall of the vacuum pump are avoided, which helps to prolong the service life of the equipment, improve the equipment utilization rate, and reduce the production cost. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 FIG. 1 shows an exemplary cross-sectional structure of a low-cost semiconductor manufacturing equipment provided by the application.

[0016] Figure 2 FIG. 2 shows a partial structure of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment of the application in another example. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] The embodiments of the application are described below by way of specific examples, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the application from the disclosure. The application can also be implemented or applied by different specific embodiments, and the details in the specification can be modified or changed based on different views and applications without departing from the spirit of the application. When describing the embodiments of the application, the cross-sectional views of the device structure are partially enlarged without general proportion, and the schematic views are only examples, which should not limit the scope of protection of the application. In addition, three-dimensional spatial dimensions including length, width, and depth should be included in actual production.

[0018] For the convenience of description, spatial relationship words such as "under", "below", "lower", "underneath", "above", "upper", etc. may be used to describe the relationship of one element or feature with other elements or features shown in the drawings. It will be understood that these spatial relationship words are intended to include other directions of the device in use or operation in addition to the directions depicted in the drawings. In addition, when a layer is referred to as "between" two layers, it can be the only layer between the two layers, or one or more intervening layers can also be present.

[0019] In the context of the present application, the structure in which the described first feature is "on" the second feature can include embodiments in which the first and second features are formed in direct contact, and can also include embodiments in which additional features are formed between the first and second features, such that the first and second features can not be in direct contact.

[0020] It should be noted that the diagrams provided in the embodiments only schematically illustrate the basic concepts of the present application, and thus only the components related to the present application are shown in the diagrams, rather than being drawn according to the number, shape and size of the components in actual implementation. The shapes, number and proportions of the components in actual implementation can be arbitrarily changed, and the layout pattern of the components can be more complex. In order to make the diagrams as simple as possible, not all the structures are labeled in each of the drawings.

[0021] The vacuum pumps used in the semiconductor field are mostly high-precision equipment that is relatively expensive. In order to prevent the rotor from being blocked during operation, the existing method is to continuously introduce a constant flow of nitrogen or other non-reactive protective gas into the rotor part of the vacuum pump through a straight pipe to clean the vacuum pump. This not only leads to an increase in the use of protective gas and an increase in production costs, but also makes it difficult to effectively clean the inner wall of the vacuum pump. For example, the impurity particles blown out of the rotor can be attached to the inner wall of the vacuum pump. For this reason, the present inventors have long studied and proposed an improvement scheme. Embodiment One

[0022] As shown in Figure 1 The present application provides a low-cost semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which comprises a process cavity 11, an exhaust pipe 12, a vacuum pump 13, a first protective gas supply device 14 for supplying a first protective gas, a second protective gas supply device for supplying a second protective gas, and a controller 16.

[0023] The semiconductor manufacturing equipment can be an equipment with high requirement for vacuum degree during the process, such as CVD, PVD, dry etching, etc. The equipment can include more than one process cavity 11. When the number of process cavities 11 is more than two, different process cavities 11 are preferably connected to different vacuum pumps 13. The process cavity 11 is usually a metal cavity in a substantially cylindrical shape, such as an aluminum alloy or stainless steel cavity, and the inner wall of the cavity can be coated with a high-temperature-resistant and anti-pollution coating, such as ceramic. The internal structure of the process cavity 11 varies according to different processes. For example, in some examples, the process cavity 11 is a CVD cavity, and the top of the cavity is provided with a gas distribution plate or other gas inlet device. A susceptor for placing a wafer is arranged below the gas inlet device. A baffle plate for preventing the cavity from being contaminated is arranged inside the cavity. The cavity or the baffle plate can be grounded. A gate valve or other wafer inlet and outlet passage can be arranged on the side wall. An exhaust port can be arranged on the side wall or the bottom of the cavity. In other examples, the process cavity 11 is a PVD cavity, and the top of the cavity is provided with a target material and a magnetron sputtering device. In addition, a radio frequency device can be arranged inside and / or outside the process cavity 11. Alternatively, the process cavity 11 can also be a MOCVD or other type of vapor deposition cavity. In other examples, the process cavity 11 can be a dry etching cavity. The type of equipment is not limited in the present embodiment. Any semiconductor equipment that requires the vacuum pump 13 to continuously supply protective gas during the operation of the equipment is suitable for the present application.

[0024] The exhaust pipeline 12 is connected to the process cavity 11 and the vacuum pump 13 at both ends, so that the process cavity 11 is continuously pumped by the vacuum pump 13. The process gas, residual gas, carrier gas, and cleaning gas used to clean the process cavity 11 are all discharged into the vacuum pump 13 through the exhaust pipeline 12, and finally discharged to the factory end through the exhaust end of the vacuum pump 13, such as discharged into the tail gas treatment device 21, and then discharged into the atmosphere after harmless treatment, such as combustion, water washing, acid-base neutralization, etc.

[0025] The first protective gas supply device 14 and the second protective gas supply device are used to supply the first protective gas and the second protective gas, respectively. Both include a corresponding gas source and a gas supply pipeline, and the gas supply pipeline can be provided with an electric valve, a manual valve, and a flow control valve, etc. The storage mode of the gas source varies according to the type of gas. In the present embodiment, considering that the vacuum pump 13 is continuously working, the required amount of gas is relatively large, and therefore the gas source is recommended to have a large storage tank.

[0026] The controller 16 controls the supply of the first and second protection gases so that when there is gas discharge in the exhaust pipeline 12, the first protection gas which does not react with the process gas is supplied into the vacuum pump 13, and when there is no process gas discharge in the exhaust pipeline 12, the second protection gas which is cheaper than the first protection gas is supplied into the vacuum pump 13 through the linear inlet channel 151 and the spiral inlet channel 152 respectively. That is, in the embodiment, the second protection gas supplied by the second protection gas supply device is divided into two paths, one of which is supplied into the vacuum pump 13 through the linear inlet channel 151, and the other of which is supplied into the vacuum pump 13 through the spiral inlet channel 152 (preferably supplied synchronously). For example, during the process, the residual gas and reaction by-products of the process gas are continuously discharged from the process chamber 11. In this process, in order to prevent the deposition of impurities and reaction by-products generated by the mutual reaction of residual gases on the vacuum pump 13 from causing the vacuum pump 13 to be blocked and causing the equipment to be abnormal, a large flow of the first protection gas is continuously supplied into the vacuum pump 13 through the gas supply pipeline independent of the exhaust pipeline 12 (a small amount of protection gas may enter the exhaust pipeline 12), and the protection gas is dispersedly flowed through the pipeline inside the vacuum pump 13 to blow and protect the rotor of the vacuum pump 13, preventing the rotor from being blocked by the deposits. The first protection gas is a gas which does not react with the process gas and does not pollute the pipeline, and nitrogen gas which is preferably treated by purification and cleaning is recommended. In addition, according to different processes, hydrogen gas can also be used, and in necessary cases, inert gases such as argon gas can also be used. Since there may be a certain lag in the discharge of the gas, that is, after the process is completed, a certain amount of residual reaction gas and by-products still exist in the exhaust pipeline 12, and therefore the first protection gas needs to be continuously supplied. Until there is no process gas discharge in the exhaust pipeline 12, the second protection gas which does not react with the process gas and also does not pollute the exhaust pipeline 12 and which is relatively cheap (the cost of which is lower than that of the first protection gas) is supplied into the vacuum pump through the linear inlet channel 151 and the spiral inlet channel 152 respectively to continuously blow the vacuum pump 13. The gas in the two channels can be connected to the same inlet of the vacuum pump 13 or connected to different inlets. In a preferred example, the two are supplied into the vacuum pump through different inlets, for example, the inlet of the linear inlet channel 151 is located in the middle of the vacuum pump 13, the second protection gas enters the vacuum pump 13 through the channel to directly blow the rotor of the vacuum pump 13, and the inlet of the spiral inlet channel 152 is located on one side of the linear inlet, the second protection gas enters the vacuum pump 13 in a spiral inlet manner through the channel, thereby forming a spiral gas flow in the vacuum pump 13.The spiral gas flow will diffuse along the wall due to the collision with the inner wall of the vacuum pump 13 during the flow process, thereby diffusing the gas to other directions such as the inner wall of the vacuum pump 13, not only cleaning the inner wall of the vacuum pump, but also colliding with the straight gas flow, which can further increase the impact force and coverage of the protective gas, and can more comprehensively and thoroughly purge the interior of the vacuum pump 13, preventing impurity particles from adhering to the inner wall of the vacuum pump 13 and thereby falling onto the rotor.

[0027] The gas flow in the straight gas inlet channel 151 and the spiral gas inlet channel 152 can be as required, for example, the same as the first protective gas flow in the process, which has the advantage of stronger cleaning of the vacuum pump, but can increase the exhaust pressure of the vacuum pump, so the power of the vacuum pump needs to be adjusted accordingly during the process. In some other examples, the total gas flow into the vacuum pump 13 through the straight gas inlet channel 151 and the spiral gas inlet channel 152 can be the same as the flow of the first protective gas in the process, so that the vacuum pump 13 maintains a constant power, while reducing the adverse effects of repeated adjustments of process parameters on the equipment. The second protective gas can use CDA (compressed air) or a mixture of CDA and other gases. Although there is gas discharge in the exhaust pipeline 12, there is no process gas in the discharged gas, for example, during the cleaning process of the process chamber 11, nitrogen is usually introduced for cleaning, so the exhaust pipeline 12 discharges nitrogen, in this case, the same flow of low-cost second protective gas as in the process can be introduced into the vacuum pump 13. In some other examples, even if the process gas is discharged during the process, as long as the protective gas does not react with the process gas or reaction byproducts, the low-cost second protective gas can be introduced during the process gas discharge.

[0028] The improved structure and process design of the present application can effectively reduce the use of high-cost first protective gas while improving the cleaning ability of the vacuum pump, avoiding the adverse effects of the vacuum pump caused by the attachment of contaminants on the inner wall of the vacuum pump, and helping to prolong the service life of the equipment, improve the equipment operation rate, and reduce production costs.

[0029] The straight-line gas inlet channels of the first and second protective gases can be connected to the vacuum pump 13 through two completely independent gas lines. In this case, a plurality of sets of devices for controlling the on-off and flow rate of the gases are required, i.e., a control valve and a flow rate controller 18 are required for each line. In other examples, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus further comprises a gas switching module 17 and a flow rate controller 18, the first and second protective gas supply devices 14 and 15 are connected to the controller 16 through the gas switching module 17, the controller 16 controls the operation of the gas switching module 17 to realize the on-off of the first and second protective gases, and the flow rate controller 18 is connected to the gas switching module 17 and the controller 16, and the controller 16 controls the flow rate of the corresponding gas through the gas switching module 17 and the flow rate controller 18. For example, the controller 16 is an upper computer or the like device comprising a storage and logic operation function, and the process parameters (recipe) can be stored therein, the switching of the two gases is controlled according to the process parameters, and thus only one set of flow rate controllers 18 can be used to control the supply flow rate of the two gases.

[0030] As described above, the controller 16 can control the first protective gas to be introduced into the vacuum pump 13 during the process and the second protective gas to be introduced into the vacuum pump 13 during the non-process. However, due to the hysteresis of gas discharge or equipment failure, there can be a case that residual gas of the process gas remains in the exhaust line 12 during the non-process, and thus in a preferred example, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus further comprises a gas detector 19 for detecting the type and flow rate of the discharged gas in the exhaust line 12, and the controller 16 is connected to the gas detector 19 and controls the supply of the first and second protective gases according to the detection result of the gas detector 19, so as to ensure that the first protective gas is continuously introduced into the exhaust line 12 when the process gas remains in the exhaust line 12, prevent the reaction between the protective gas and the process gas, and prevent the protective gas from being affected by the high temperature of the process gas discharge to cause adverse effects on the line and reduce the deposition of the deposits. Thus, the vacuum pump 13 can be better protected by providing the gas detector 19. In further examples, the controller 16 further adjusts the flow rate of the first protective gas according to the flow rate of the gas in the exhaust line 12 detected by the gas detector 19. For example, when it is detected that the flow rate of the process gas in the exhaust line 12 is large, the flow rate of the first protective gas is appropriately increased to ensure that the deposits are completely blown off, and vice versa.

[0031] In the prior art, the protective gas is always in a constant temperature state when being introduced into the vacuum pump. For example, the protective gas is generally at room temperature, or in other words, the protective gas is introduced into the vacuum pump 13 in a room temperature state. In a preferred example provided by the present application, the semiconductor manufacturing equipment further comprises a temperature control device 20 connected to the first protective gas supply device 14, which adjusts the temperature of the first protective gas according to the temperature of the gas in the exhaust pipeline 12. The temperature control device 20, for example, comprises a resistance heater or an electromagnetic heating ring, which is wrapped around the gas outlet pipeline of the first protective gas device. When the temperature of the gas in the exhaust pipeline 12 is too high, the temperature of the first protective gas is appropriately lowered, which can appropriately lower the temperature of the vacuum pump 13, preventing the vacuum pump 13 from malfunctioning due to overheating; when the temperature of the gas in the exhaust pipeline 12 is too low, the temperature of the first protective gas is appropriately increased, which can appropriately increase the temperature of the vacuum pump 13, increase the momentum of the by-products and other impurities in the exhaust pipeline 12, and reduce the low-temperature deposition of the deposits. In other examples, the protective gas can also be heated to heat the vacuum pump 13 to a temperature that is conducive to the decomposition of the deposits (provided that the temperature is controlled within the temperature range that the vacuum pump 13 can withstand).

[0032] The exhaust pipeline 12 can be made of a hard metal material throughout, i.e., it has the same material and volume at any position. In other examples, a portion of the exhaust pipeline 12 is made of a detachable metal hose with a corrugated structure, which can absorb a certain amount of deposits by using its corrugated structure, reduce the impurities discharged into the vacuum pump 13, and maintain the cleanliness of the exhaust pipeline 12 by regularly cleaning this section of the pipeline. At the same time, the flexible air passage cross section of the metal hose can be variable, which can prevent the pipeline from being blocked due to the adsorption of impurities, thereby improving the safety of the equipment. In other examples, a portion of the exhaust pipeline 12 can be provided with an electrostatic adsorption device (not shown) to adsorb charged particles in the exhaust gas, preventing the charged particles from adversely affecting the vacuum pump 13. A water vapor adsorption device can also be provided in the exhaust pipeline 12 to prevent water vapor from entering the vacuum pump 13. Embodiment Two

[0033] As Figure 2As shown, the present embodiment provides a semiconductor device with another structure. The main difference between the present embodiment and embodiment one is that the exhaust pipeline 12 of the semiconductor device in embodiment one is a single pipeline, or in other words, the process cavity 11 is connected to the vacuum pump 13 through a single exhaust pipeline 12. In the present embodiment, the exhaust pipeline 12 is a U-shaped pipeline including two branched pipelines 121 connected detachably, or in other words, the two branched pipelines 121 are connected detachably between the process cavity 11 and the vacuum pump 13, and the two branched pipelines 121 can be connected to the interface pipeline at the gas inlet of the vacuum pump 13. The corner of the exhaust pipeline 12 forms a U-shaped curve, which helps to avoid the accumulation of particulate impurities at the corner. The branched pipeline 121 close to the upper part of the process cavity 11 is provided with a one-way check valve 123 to ensure that the one-way exhaust from the process cavity 11 to the vacuum pump 13 can only be performed in the branched pipeline 121, preventing gas backflow. The single or two branched pipelines 121 close to the bottom of the vacuum pump 13 can be further provided with a dust removal device 122, and a valve can also be provided on the pipeline between the dust removal device 122 and the vacuum pump 13. The controller 16 is connected to the one-way check valve 123 to control the conduction of the branched pipeline 121 as needed. The dust removal device 122, for example, includes a filter to filter dust particles in the gas passing through the branched pipeline 121. The filter can be of a type that does not affect exhaust, such as a metal filter screen, or other adsorption type filter. In some other examples, the branched pipeline 121 can be provided with a conical-shaped baffle with an opening, and the opening angle of the baffle can be adjusted. One end of the baffle is connected to the inner wall of the branched pipeline 121, and forms a certain angle with the pipe wall of the branched pipeline 121. The other end is a free end. The space corresponding to the angle is towards the process cavity 11, and becomes a space for accommodating particulate impurities. The opening size can be adjusted according to the process needs, so as to adjust the size of the accommodation space, or the opening surface can be provided with a filter screen, and the particulate impurities in the exhaust are intercepted through the cooperation of the conical-shaped baffle and the filter screen. In further examples, the filter screen is elastic, and the filtering surface of the filter screen adjusts accordingly with the change of the opening of the baffle, which can effectively improve the filtering capacity of the impurities, while avoiding the risk of the filter screen being completely blocked in extreme cases. There can be more than one filter screen, for example, a plurality of filter screens are distributed along the gas inlet direction of the branched pipeline 121, and the meshes of different filter screens are staggered. The filter screen and / or conical-shaped baffle in the present embodiment can also be applied to the exhaust pipeline 12 of embodiment one. That is, in the scheme of embodiment one, the exhaust pipeline 12 can also be provided with the aforementioned conical-shaped baffle and / or filter screen with an elastically variable filtering area. The dust removal device 122 / filter can be cleaned regularly, or the filter can be cleaned by monitoring the exhaust state in the branched pipeline 121 to determine whether the filter needs to be cleaned. When the dust removal device 122 in one of the branched pipelines 121 needs to be cleaned, the valve is closed and the other branched pipeline 121 is enabled.In some other examples, the branch pipe 121 can be partially provided with the aforementioned flexible pipe with a pleated structure, for example, the pipe between the one-way stop valve 123 and the dust removal device 122 is partially provided with the flexible pipe with a pleated structure, in the state that one of the branch pipes 121 is closed, the cleaning of the pipe can be realized by vibrating the flexible pipe with a pleated structure to remove the impurity particles adhered to the surface of the pipe. Through such a setting, the deposition in the vacuum pump 13 can be further reduced without stopping the equipment, and the service life of the vacuum pump 13 can be prolonged. Except for the above-mentioned differences, the other structures and settings of the semiconductor equipment of the present embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the specific description is referred to the description in the first embodiment, which is not repeated here for the purpose of brevity.

[0034] The present application also provides a low-cost semiconductor manufacturing process based on the semiconductor manufacturing equipment described in any of the above-mentioned schemes. Therefore, the foregoing description of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment can be fully quoted here, which is not repeated here for the purpose of brevity. For example, the semiconductor manufacturing process can be a chemical vapor deposition process or a dry etching process, and the common point of the two is that the vacuum pump is continuously opened in the state that the equipment is opened (including the state that the equipment is running or idle), when the gas is discharged in the exhaust pipe, the first protective gas which does not react with the process gas is introduced into the vacuum pump, when there is no process gas discharged in the exhaust pipe, the second protective gas with lower cost than the first protective gas is introduced into the vacuum pump through the straight gas inlet channel and the spiral gas inlet channel. For example, during the process and a period of time after the end of the process, the first protective gas with the required flow rate of the vacuum pump is continuously introduced, when the process is completed for a period of time, the second protective gas with the required flow rate of the vacuum pump is switched to, so that the vacuum pump can maintain a constant working state, while avoiding the accumulation of deposits, the adverse effects caused by the parameter adjustment of the vacuum pump are minimized. During the cleaning process of the process chamber, the low-cost second protective gas is continuously introduced at a constant flow rate during the process of discharging the cleaning gas such as nitrogen in the exhaust pipe.

[0035] The semiconductor manufacturing process provided by the present application is used in processes such as vapor deposition and dry etching, which can improve the cleaning ability of the vacuum pump, prolong the service life of the vacuum pump, and reduce the production cost under the condition of reducing the amount of the first protective gas.

[0036] The low-cost semiconductor manufacturing equipment and process provided by the application can effectively reduce the amount of the first protective gas while improving the cleaning ability of the vacuum pump, avoiding the adverse effects caused by the attachment of the contaminants on the inner wall of the vacuum pump, prolonging the service life of the equipment, improving the equipment operation rate, and reducing the production cost.

[0037] The above embodiments only exemplarily illustrate the principles and effects of the application, and are not used to limit the application. Any person skilled in the art can modify or change the above embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Therefore, all equivalent modifications or changes completed by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical thought disclosed by the application should be covered by the claims of the application.

Claims

1. A low-cost semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, characterized by comprising: The semiconductor manufacturing equipment comprises a process cavity, an exhaust pipeline, a vacuum pump, a first protective gas supply device for supplying a first protective gas, a second protective gas supply device for supplying a second protective gas, and a controller; two ends of the exhaust pipeline are connected with the process cavity and the vacuum pump respectively; the controller controls the supply of the first protective gas and the second protective gas, so that when there is process gas discharge in the exhaust pipeline, the first protective gas which does not react with the process gas is introduced into the vacuum pump, and when there is no process gas discharge in the exhaust pipeline, the second protective gas which is cheaper than the first protective gas is introduced into the vacuum pump through a linear inlet channel and a spiral inlet channel; the inlet of the linear inlet channel is located in the middle of the vacuum pump, and the second protective gas enters the vacuum pump through the channel to directly purge the rotor of the vacuum pump; the inlet of the spiral inlet channel is located on one side of the inlet of the linear inlet channel, and the second protective gas enters the vacuum pump in a spiral inlet mode after passing through the channel and forms a spiral gas flow, which collides with the inside of the vacuum pump during the flow process and diffuses along the wall surface, and the diffused gas flow collides with the linear inlet gas flow. The first protective gas comprises nitrogen, and the second protective gas comprises CDA.

2. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein The semiconductor manufacturing equipment further comprises a gas switching module and a flow controller, the first protective gas supply device and the second protective gas supply device are connected with the controller through the gas switching module, the controller controls the operation of the gas switching module to realize the on-off of the first protective gas and the second protective gas, and the flow controller is connected with the gas switching module and the controller.

3. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein The semiconductor manufacturing equipment further comprises a gas detector for detecting the type and flow of the discharged gas in the exhaust pipeline, the controller is connected with the gas detector, and the supply of the first protective gas and the second protective gas is controlled according to the detection result of the gas detector.

4. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein The controller further adjusts the flow of the first protective gas according to the gas flow in the exhaust pipeline detected by the gas detector.

5. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein The process cavity comprises a vapor deposition chamber and / or a dry etching chamber.

6. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein The semiconductor manufacturing equipment further comprises a temperature control device connected with the first protective gas supply device, which adjusts the temperature of the first protective gas according to the gas temperature in the exhaust pipeline.

7. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein The exhaust pipeline is a U-shaped pipeline comprising two branched pipelines which are detachably connected, the branched pipelines are provided with dust removal devices near the bottom of the vacuum pump, and the branched pipelines are provided with one-way check valves near the upper part of the process cavity, and the controller is connected with the one-way check valves to control the conduction of the branched pipelines as needed.

8. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein The exhaust pipeline locally adopts a detachable metal hose with a corrugated structure.

9. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized by The semiconductor manufacturing process is based on the semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

10. A low cost semiconductor manufacturing process, characterized by, ​

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