Solid surface treatment device and method

Abstract

The present application relates to a solid surface treatment device and method for planarizing the surface of a solid by means of a gas cluster ion beam, the solid surface treatment device being configured so as to first perform a prescribed filtering process on the film thickness of the solid; a surface profile simulation step for simulating the surface profile of the solid body on the basis of the result of the predetermined filtering process of the solid body and the modified profile of the gas cluster ion beam obtained by the removal quantity function; performing a surface treatment of the solid on the basis of the result of the surface profile simulation of the solid; measuring the result of the surface treatment (Trimming); comparing the result of the measured surface treatment with a target value (Target); and repeating the above treatment until the result of the surface treatment is consistent with the target value. According to the solid surface treatment apparatus of the present application, when a solid such as a thin film is trimmed by GCIB, high-precision and sufficient surface treatment can be performed with a small trimming amount.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to a solid surface treatment device and method for irradiating a gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) onto the surface of a solid such as an optical film or a semiconductor wafer to perform surface processing on the solid. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, film thickness and surface roughness have been recognized as device parameters that determine the functionality of metal electrodes in RF filters, MEMS, optoelectronic devices, etc.

[0003] Among them, post-processing is required, that is, surface treatment (finishing) to make the thickness of the solid uniform, so that the solid surface can reach nanometer-level smoothness and achieve the target film thickness.

[0004] Gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) has attracted much attention as a trimming source because, unlike a single ion beam, atoms in the irradiated area are not only sputtered but also move laterally parallel to the wafer surface, which is called the lateral sputtering effect, making the surface easy to flatten.

[0005] On the other hand, although the beam diameter after focusing by a single lens or the like is about several millimeters, the ion current in the beam cross section is not uniform, but presents a profile with a peak at the center of the beam. Therefore, it can be seen that the etching rate distribution in the beam cross section roughly reflects the current profile.

[0006] Therefore, in solids such as optical films, in order to achieve a uniform and desired film thickness in the area to be trimmed, it is necessary to scan the beam and / or the solid while taking into account the ion current profile of the beam and / or the trimming profile.

[0007] Related patent document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 52312382. Summary of the invention

[0008] Technical problems to be solved by this application Traditionally, as a method to achieve uniform and desired film thickness, the beam is sequentially irradiated on the areas that need to be etched, and the film thickness is measured after completion. If there are higher areas, further etching is performed to reduce the film thickness distribution. This process of trimming and measuring is repeated until the desired film thickness distribution is achieved.

[0009] Another existing method is to change the scanning speed and acceleration to make the entire trimming area uniform, but still improve the film thickness distribution by repeating trimming and measurement.

[0010] That is, in the past, the distribution was adjusted only based on the actual measurement results, which required repeated trimming and measurement, which not only consumed a lot of processing time, but also had the problem of the risk of over-trimming.

[0011] Furthermore, as described above, the film thickness distribution must be measured before trimming. However, if the film thickness profile has steep indentations, it is difficult to determine the beam dwell time and scanning speed through experiments, and trimming and measurement must be repeated to gradually make the film thickness distribution uniform.

[0012] This may cause the process to become complicated, requiring an increased number of repetitions, or the film thickness distribution may differ from the expected distribution.

[0013] Furthermore, since beam parameters such as pressing pressure, processing pressure, and acceleration voltage are closely related to the beam trimming distribution, the trimming scheme must be adjusted from scratch through experiments every time the parameters are changed, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

[0014] Therefore, the present application is completed with a focus on the problems of the above-mentioned prior art, and aims to provide a solid surface treatment device and method, which applies denoising and / or smoothing processing to the film thickness distribution measured before trimming, so that the surface treatment can be performed efficiently and precisely to make the thickness of the solid uniform.

[0015] In addition, the solid surface treatment device and method provided in the present application optimizes the scanning method of the ion beam on the solid through simulation before trimming, so that high-precision flattening processing and film thickness processing can be performed through scanning with less trimming.

[0016] The technical solution of this application In order to solve the above technical problems, according to one aspect of the present application, a solid surface treatment device is provided, which performs surface treatment for making the thickness of a solid uniform by a gas cluster ion beam, and has a control unit for controlling the surface treatment of the solid, and the control unit controls the following steps: (a) performing a predetermined filtering process on the film thickness of the solid; (b) simulating the surface profile of the solid based on the result of the predetermined filtering process of the solid and the trimming profile of the gas cluster ion beam obtained by a removal amount function; (c) performing surface treatment (Trimming) of the solid based on the result of the surface profile simulation of the solid; (d) determining the result of the surface treatment (Trimming); (e) comparing the measured surface treatment result with a target value (Target); and (f) Repeating the treatments of (a) to (e) until the result of the surface treatment matches the target value.

[0017] According to another aspect of the present application, a solid surface treatment method is provided, wherein the surface treatment of the solid is performed in a solid surface treatment device, wherein the solid surface treatment device performs surface treatment for making the thickness of the solid uniform by a gas cluster ion beam based on the control of a control unit, and the solid surface treatment method comprises the following steps: (a) performing a predetermined filtering process on the film thickness of the solid by the control unit; (b) performing, by the control unit, a surface profile simulation of the solid based on a result of the predetermined filtering process of the solid and a trimming profile of the gas cluster ion beam obtained by a removal amount function; (c) performing surface treatment (Trimming) of the solid based on the result of the surface profile simulation of the solid by the control unit; (d) measuring the result of the surface treatment (Trimming) by the control unit; (e) comparing the measured result of the surface treatment with a target value (Target) through the control unit; and (f) The control unit repeatedly performs the processes (a) to (e) until the result of the surface treatment matches the target value.

[0018] Beneficial effects of this application Compared with the prior art, the present application has the advantage that when a solid is subjected to surface treatment (trim) by GCIB, sufficient flattening and film thickness processing with good accuracy can be performed with fewer trimming scans. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Figure 1 It is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of a solid surface treatment device 1 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0020] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 A block diagram showing the internal structure of the control unit 33 is shown.

[0021] Figure 3 Is Figure 1 Flow chart of solid surface treatment performed by the solid surface treatment device 1 shown.

[0022] Figure 4 This is a functional block diagram of the surface treatment of the solid body 27 performed by the control unit 33 .

[0023] Figure 5 This is a functional block diagram of the pre-processing 48 of the thin film 27 as a sample and the surface profile simulation processing of the thin film 27 which are realized by the surface profile simulation program.

[0024] Figure 6 1 and 2 are explanatory diagrams respectively showing an example of preprocessing by the preprocessing unit 55 , an example of stay time map creation processing by the stay time map creation unit 61 , and an example of GCIB plan creation processing by the GCIB plan creation unit 63 .

[0025] Figure 7 It is a conceptual presentation Figure 4 A conceptual diagram of the selection process in the surface profile simulation process 51 is shown.

[0026] Figure 8 This is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing how a residence time map is calculated based on the residence time (Dwell time) of charged particles.

[0027] Description of Reference Numerals 1-solid surface treatment device, 3-raw material gas, 5-nozzle, 7-cluster generation chamber, 9-separator, 11-gas cluster beam, 13-ion generator, 17-accelerating electrode, 19-magnetic field concentrator, 21-sputtering chamber, 23-neutralizer, 25-pinhole, 27-thin film (target, solid), 28-Faraday cup, 33-control unit, 35-RAM, 37-ROM, 39-display screen, 41-keyboard, 43-mouse, 45-CPU, 48-pretreatment, 51-surface profile simulation processing, 52-surface treatment, 54-measurement processing, 55-pretreatment unit, 56-target value, 57-selection processing unit, 59-residence time algorithm design unit, 61-residence time map production unit, 63-GCIB program production unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings of the present application. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative work are within the scope of protection of the present application. Unless otherwise defined, the technical terms or scientific terms used herein should be the usual meanings understood by people with general skills in the field to which the present application belongs. "Including" and similar words used in this article mean that the elements or objects appearing before the word cover the elements or objects listed after the word and their equivalents, without excluding other elements or objects. Unless otherwise specified, the "connection" described in this article can be a direct connection or an indirect connection, that is, connected through an intermediate.

[0029] Hereinafter, the solid surface treatment device and the solid surface treatment method using the same according to the present application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0030] Figure 1 It is a diagram schematically showing the structure of a solid surface treatment device for implementing the present application.

[0031] It should be noted that the solid surface treatment apparatus performs surface treatment for making the thickness of a solid uniform, and the solid is an optical film used in an optical device, a semiconductor wafer used in a semiconductor device, or the like.

[0032] In this embodiment, as a surface treatment for making the thickness of a solid uniform, a case where the surface of an optical thin film is treated and flattened to a desired film thickness is described. The surface treatment of the thin film is composed of three processing elements: (a) removing surface roughness, (b) aligning to a target thickness, and (c) patterning.

[0033] It should be noted that the present application can also be used for planarizing the surface of semiconductor wafers used in semiconductor devices, and is not limited to surface treatment of optical films, and can also be used for fine patterns of any shape formed on solids.

[0034] in addition, Figure 1 The solid surface processing device shown is an example, and any configuration may be adopted as long as it is a solid surface processing device capable of executing a solid surface processing program including a surface profile simulation process described later.

[0035] like Figure 1 As shown, in the solid surface treatment device 1 of this embodiment, the raw material gas 3 is injected into the vacuum cluster generation chamber 7 through the nozzle 5, and the gas molecules of the raw material gas 3 are condensed in the cluster generation chamber 7 to generate clusters.

[0036] The size of the cluster is determined by the particle size distribution based on the size and shape of the nozzle 5 and the gas pressure and temperature at the nozzle outlet 5a.

[0037] The clusters generated in the cluster generation chamber 7 are introduced as a gas cluster beam 11 after passing through a separator 9 , and are irradiated with thermal electrons by an ion generator 13 to ionize neutral clusters to form an ionized gas cluster beam (GCIB) 15 .

[0038] The GCIB 15 is accelerated by the accelerating electrode 17 , focused by the magnetic field concentrator 19 , and then injected into the sputtering chamber 21 .

[0039] The GCIB 15 injected into the sputtering chamber 21 is positively charged. The positively charged GCIB 15 is electrically neutralized by the neutralizer 23, formed into a predetermined beam diameter by the pinhole 25, and then irradiated onto the surface of the target object 27 composed of a solid.

[0040] In this embodiment, an optical thin film is provided as a solid.

[0041] Behind the thin film 27 as a solid target, a Faraday cup 28 is provided at a predetermined distance behind the thin film 27 to detect charged particles. The Faraday cup 28 is a metal cup that captures charged particles in a vacuum and detects the charged particles.

[0042] It should be noted that the solids, films and targets mentioned in this specification belong to the same technical features in the solid surface treatment process.

[0043] It should be noted that the sputtering chamber 21 is filled with a rare gas such as Ar, and by using a chemically active gas (such as SF6, etc.), the surface of the target film 27 can be treated (trimmed).

[0044] A target 27 as a thin film to be irradiated with GCIB is fixedly mounted on a target support 29 provided in the sputtering chamber 17 via a turntable.

[0045] It should be noted that the target support 29 may be installed in such a manner that the GCIB 15 is irradiated at a predetermined irradiation angle toward the surface of the target thin film 27 , ie, the surface to be processed.

[0046] The solid surface treatment device 1 is equipped with an irradiation angle setting mechanism (not shown), which can change the irradiation angle and irradiation angle of GCIB15, and is also equipped with a scanning mechanism (not shown), which changes the relative position of the film 27 with respect to the GCIB15 in the XY direction.

[0047] Furthermore, the solid surface treatment device 1 has a pattern structure measuring device 31 such as an atomic force microscope for measuring the pattern structure (microstructure) of the thin film 27 to obtain shape data thereof. The measured shape data is input to a control unit 33 described later.

[0048] The solid surface treatment device 1 has a control unit 33 composed of a personal computer or the like, and the control unit 33 performs a process of flattening the surface of the thin film to achieve a desired film thickness (a process of making the thickness of the thin film 27 uniform), and at the same time performs control, that is, before the solid surface treatment, in order to optimize the trajectory, i.e., the scanning pattern, drawn by the gas cluster beam (GCIB) 15, the surface profile within the thin film surface is simulated using the measured GCIB trimming profile, thereby obtaining the GCIB scheme to be described later.

[0049] To this end, the control unit 33 stores a solid surface treatment program and a surface profile simulation program, wherein the solid surface treatment program is used to perform processing to flatten the surface of the thin film to achieve a desired film thickness; the surface profile simulation program is used to simulate the surface profile of the solid.

[0050] Figure 2 yes Figure 1A block diagram showing the internal structure of the control unit 33 is shown.

[0051] like Figure 2 As shown, the control unit 33 is a personal computer (PC) composed of RAM 35 and ROM 37, a display screen 39, a keyboard 41, a mouse 43 and a CPU 45. The CPU 45 is configured to perform the control described later according to the solid surface treatment program and the surface profile simulation program stored in the ROM 37 based on the instructions input by the operator through the keyboard 41 and the mouse 43.

[0052] It should be noted that the solid surface treatment program may include a surface profile simulation program.

[0053] Next, a method for treating the surface of a thin film using the solid surface treating apparatus 1 will be described.

[0054] Here, as a solid surface treatment method, a method of flattening the surface of the thin film 27 to obtain a desired film thickness is described, but the present application can also be applied to flattening the surface of a semiconductor wafer such as a silicon substrate.

[0055] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 Flow chart of surface treatment performed by the solid surface treatment device 1 shown.

[0056] In this surface treatment, in order to obtain a thin film flattened to a desired film thickness, a surface profile simulation process is performed, that is, a scanning pattern on the surface of the thin film 27 is optimized.

[0057] First, in Figure 3 In step 101 , the thin film 27 is pre-processed by the control unit 33 .

[0058] That is, if Figure 4 As shown in FIG. 1 , as pre-processing, a predetermined filter is performed on the film thickness (wafer thickness) of the thin film 27 .

[0059] It should be noted that the film thickness (wafer thickness) of the thin film 27 is obtained from the surface profile of the sample measured in advance.

[0060] Figure 4 This is a functional block diagram of the surface treatment of the thin film 27 performed by the control unit 33 .

[0061] This filtering is performed by a filter such as a Kalman filter, a median filter, or a convolution filter.

[0062] The filtering performed here as preprocessing 48 is for noise removal.

[0063] That is, film defects (nodules and pits, etc.) and measurement noise from the measuring instrument often cause the obtained measurement data to deviate from the actual surface profile.

[0064] Therefore, in the present application, the above-mentioned filtering method is used to remove the large and small noises present in the measurement data.

[0065] Specifically, the SN ratios of the above-mentioned filters are calculated, the SN ratios of the filters are compared, and the filter having the largest SN ratio is selected.

[0066] Thus, a correct film thickness distribution is obtained.

[0067] It should be noted that the filter used for filtering in the above-mentioned preprocessing unit 55 may be a Kalman filter, a median filter or a convolution filter, etc. In addition to the above-mentioned filters, any filter may be used as long as it can remove noise from the measured value to make it close to the actual surface contour.

[0068] Next, in step 103, the control unit 33 performs a surface profile simulation process 51 (see FIG. 5 ) for simulating the surface profile within the thin film surface based on the film thickness of the thin film 27 and the trimmed profile of the GCIB after the filtering as the pre-processing 48. Figure 4 ).

[0069] It should be noted that the trimming profile of the GCIB is obtained by a removal amount function based on the profile of the GCIB measured in advance.

[0070] Among them, as the content of the surface profile simulation processing 51, such as Figure 5 As shown, the residence time algorithm is designed based on the result of filtering as the pre-processing 48 on the film thickness of the thin film 27 as the sample and the trimming profile of the GCIB obtained from the removal amount function.

[0071] It should be noted that GCIB is controlled by scanning speed and acceleration. Here, the scanning speed is set to 0 mm / s, and the time for the beam to stay at one place for deep digging is defined as the dwell time.

[0072] It should be noted that the trimming profile of the GCIB of the thin film 27 as the sample described above is obtained by a removal amount function described later.

[0073] The surface profile simulation of the thin film 27 is performed by the control unit 33 according to a surface profile simulation program.

[0074] Here, Figure 4 The pre-processing 48 and the surface profile simulation processing 51 of the thin film 27 as a sample implemented by the surface profile simulation program can be understood as a black box implemented by the aforementioned surface profile simulation program.

[0075] Figure 5 This is a functional block diagram of the pre-processing 48 of the thin film 27 as a sample and the surface profile simulation processing of the thin film 27 implemented by the aforementioned surface profile simulation program.

[0076] That is, in this Figure 5 In the embodiment, the pre-processing 48 and the surface profile simulation processing 51 of the thin film 27 as a sample are represented as the black box 53 implemented by the surface profile simulation program described above.

[0077] like Figure 5 As shown, the aforementioned black box 53 implemented by the surface profile simulation program is composed of the following: a preprocessing unit 55, which performs filtering as preprocessing 48 on the film thickness (wafer thickness) of the thin film 27 as a sample; a selection processing unit 57, which receives the result of the preprocessing 48 performed by the preprocessing unit 55, and performs selection processing, and the selection processing is used to design the aforementioned residence time algorithm (DTA); a residence time algorithm (DTA) design unit 59, which designs the residence time algorithm (DTA) based on the combination of the five elements selected by the selection processing unit 57 and the trimmed profile of the GCIB obtained by the removal function (Removal function); a residence time map preparation unit 61, which prepares a residence time map based on the residence time algorithm (DTA) designed by the residence time algorithm (DTA) design unit 59; and a GCIB plan preparation unit 63, which prepares a GCIB plan based on the residence time map from the residence time map preparation unit 61.

[0078] Next, each part of the black box 53 will be described.

[0079] First, in the pre-processing unit 55 , as described above, the film thickness (wafer thickness) of the thin film 27 as a sample is subjected to filtering processing using any filter such as a Kalman filter, a median filter, or a convolution filter.

[0080] The filter used in the filtering process may be any filter other than the above-mentioned filters as long as it can remove noise from the measured value and make it close to the actual surface profile.

[0081] Figure 61 and 2 are explanatory diagrams respectively showing an example of preprocessing by the preprocessing unit 55 , an example of stay time map creation processing by the stay time map creation unit 61 , and an example of GCIB plan creation processing by the GCIB plan creation unit 63 .

[0082] exist Figure 6 In FIG. 1 , (a) shows a case where data of the film thickness (wafer thickness) of the thin film 27 as a sample is preprocessed by a median filter (Median Filter).

[0083] Next, in the selection processing unit 57, the processing composed of the automatic combination of five elements including layering processing (Layering module), remapping processing (Re-mapping module), deconvolution processing AD (Deconvolution solver AD), iteration processing (Iteration module), and calibration processing (Calibration module) is composed of at least one of the five elements. The deconvolution processing AD here means that at least four deconvolution algorithms are included in the deconvolution processing of the selection processing unit 57.

[0084] Among them, in order to obtain the best combination, the above five elements are automatically combined.

[0085] That is, the algorithm used for simulation (DTA: Dwell Time Algorithm) goes through a series of processes consisting of layered processing, remapping, deconvolution processing, iterative processing, and calibration processing. Each process has multiple options, so the number of these combinations is huge.

[0086] Therefore, the residual sum of squares (rms) of all automatic combinations can be calculated here and the optimal solution can be automatically found.

[0087] That is, here, the residual sum of squares (rms) of each combination of the hierarchical processing, remapping, deconvolution processing, iterative processing, and calibration processing is calculated, and the smallest one among the calculation results is automatically selected.

[0088] Furthermore, in a specific distribution, the smallest rms does not necessarily represent the true distribution, so the user can also use the rms as a reference to select a combination that reproduces the true distribution and incorporate it into the solution.

[0089] Among them, layering module refers to the process of freely selecting 1 layer, 2 layers to N layers, remapping module refers to the process of freely selecting the edge processing method of film thickness data, deconvolution solver AD refers to the process of freely selecting algorithms such as FFT, iterative module refers to the process of freely selecting the number of iterations from 1, 2 to N times, and calibration module refers to the process of correcting the distribution of the correction beam.

[0090] Figure 7 It is a conceptual illustration Figure 4 A conceptual diagram of the selection process in the surface profile simulation process 51 is shown.

[0091] like Figure 7 As shown, the film thickness of the film 27 is optimized to obtain a residence time diagram.

[0092] The feature of the present application is that, as described above, an algorithm consisting of a large number of processes and complex combinations can be designed.

[0093] Next, the dwell time algorithm (DTA) design unit 59 designs a dwell time algorithm (DTA) based on the combination of the five elements selected by the selection processing unit 57 and the trimmed profile of the GCIB obtained by the removal amount function.

[0094] As described above, the dwell time is the time during which the beam stays at one place for deep digging when the scan speed is set to 0 mm / s in the GCIB controlled by the scan speed and acceleration. The dwell time algorithm (DTA) is an algorithm for calculating the dwell time map based on the dwell time.

[0095] The design principle of the residence time algorithm (DTA) is explained.

[0096] First, the removal amount Z(z, y) is modeled in the following equation (1) as a convolution between the ion beam removal amount function (BRF) b(z, y) and the residence time map t(z, y).

[0097]

[0098] Among them, * represents the convolution operation.

[0099] Thus, calculation is performed to obtain the residence time map t(z, y) from the removal amount Z(z, y) and the ion beam removal amount function (BRF) b(z, y), and this calculation is the deconvolution process.

[0100] Therefore, by obtaining a residence time map using such a residence time algorithm (DTA), creating a GCIB recipe, and making the film thickness of the thin film 27 uniform using the GCIB that conforms to the recipe, it is possible to achieve a more accurate surface treatment.

[0101] Next, the stay time map creation unit 61 calculates a stay time map based on the stay time algorithm (DTA) designed by the stay time algorithm (DTA) design unit 59 .

[0102] That is, the residence time map t(z, y) is calculated using the above-mentioned equation (1).

[0103] Figure 8 This is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing how a residence time map is calculated based on the residence time (Dwell time) of charged particles.

[0104] Figure 8 2 shows the case where scanning is performed in sequence according to (a) to (c) and the residence time diagram is calculated, and (d) shows the result after scanning.

[0105] In this way, the scanning pattern can be optimized by obtaining a dwell time map using a dwell time algorithm (DTA).

[0106] Next, based on the residence time diagram, a recipe of GCIB is prepared as described below, and the film thickness of the thin film 27 is made uniform by the GCIB that conforms to the recipe, thereby achieving a more accurate surface treatment.

[0107] Furthermore, by designing the above-mentioned dwell time algorithm (DTA), obtaining the dwell time map, and optimizing the scanning pattern, the number of surface treatments (trimming) of the thin film 27 described later can be greatly reduced.

[0108] exist Figure 6 , (b) shows an example of a residence time map calculated based on a residence time algorithm (DTA).

[0109] Next, the GCIB plan creation unit 63 creates a plan for the GCIB based on the stay time map t(z, y) from the stay time map creation unit 61 .

[0110] That is, according to the residence time diagram t(z,y), for example, Figure 6 As shown in (c) in FIG. 1 , the value of the GCIB speed at each position on the X axis and the value of the GCIB speed at each position on the Y axis are obtained and used as the GCIB plan. Based on the GCIB plan, Figure 4 The surface treatment (finishing) 52 of the film 27 is shown.

[0111] Next, return Figure 3 In step 105, the control unit 33 performs surface treatment (finishing) 52 of the film 27 using GCIB according to the GCIB scheme (see Figure 4 ), where the GCIB scheme is based on the residence time map obtained through the design process 51 of the residence time algorithm (DTA) mentioned above.

[0112] That is, the target surface of the thin film 27 is etched, and the pattern structure is trimmed (adjusted) to planarize the target surface while making the thin film 27 have a desired film thickness.

[0113] Next, the surface treatment (conditioning) of the thin film 27 by GCIB will be described.

[0114] In the above step 105 , the etching amount is calculated according to the GCIB scheme so that the microstructure reaches the desired design size, wherein the GCIB scheme is based on the dwell time map obtained by the design process 51 of the dwell time algorithm (DTA).

[0115] Then, the film 27 is set by an irradiation angle setting mechanism (not shown) so as to form a predetermined irradiation angle θ and an irradiation angle φ with respect to the GCIB.

[0116] It should be noted that the target support 29 is installed in such a manner that the GCIB 15 is irradiated at a predetermined irradiation angle toward the film surface of the target film 27, that is, the surface to be processed.

[0117] Next, various conditions are set, such as the etching amount calculated above, the material of the target thin film 27 and its etching rate, the gas species of the GCIB, the acceleration energy, etc. Based on the above conditions, the dose is determined with reference to a database (not shown), and based on the dose, gas cluster ion beam irradiation treatment is performed.

[0118] That is, based on the above-mentioned dosage, the control unit 33 controls the generation unit (not shown) of the raw gas 3, the ion generator 13, the accelerating electrode 17, the magnetic field concentrator 19, the neutralizer 23, the irradiation angle setting mechanism (not shown), the scanning mechanism (not shown), etc., so as to perform gas cluster ion beam irradiation treatment on the surface of the film 27, thereby performing surface treatment (trimming) on ​​the film 27 through GCIB.

[0119] Next, in step 107, the control unit 33 obtains the film thickness, pattern, uniformity and other results of the thin film 27 after the surface treatment ( Figure 4 54).

[0120] That is, the control unit 33 measures the transmission spectrum of the thin film 27, and analyzes it while taking light interference into consideration to obtain the film thickness. The spectrum is measured and analyzed after changing the measurement position to obtain the film thickness distribution.

[0121] Next, in step 109, the control unit 33 compares the measured surface treatment (finishing) result of the film, i.e., the film thickness, pattern, uniformity, etc., with the target value (Target) of the film to determine whether the measured surface treatment result of the film is the target value (Target) 56 of the film (see Figure 4 ).

[0122] If the result of the thin film surface treatment (trimming) measured in the above step 109 is the target value (Target) 56 of the thin film (Yes), the entire thin film surface treatment is terminated.

[0123] As a result, the scanning pattern on the surface of the thin film 27 is optimized, the surface of the thin film 27 is unexpectedly flattened, and a desired film thickness is obtained.

[0124] In addition, when the measured result of the surface treatment (trimming) of the film is not the target value (Target) of the film (No), return to the residence time algorithm (DTA) design processing 51 of the above-mentioned step 101, and repeat the processing of the above-mentioned steps 101 to 107 through the control unit 33 until the result of the surface treatment (trimming) of the film is consistent with the target value (Target).

[0125] It should be noted that in this embodiment, as described above, since the residence time algorithm (DTA) is designed by surface profile simulation and the residence time diagram is obtained, the surface treatment (finishing) result of the film is immediately consistent with the target value (Target) (for example, once).

[0126] Therefore, the surface treatment (conditioning) result of the thin film is made to match the target value (Target) by performing the surface treatment (conditioning) of the thin film very few times.

[0127] In summary, according to the embodiment of the invention of the present application, as described above, according to the GCIB scheme, surface treatment (trimming) 52 is performed by GCIB to make the thickness of the film 27 uniform, wherein the GCIB scheme is based on a residence time diagram obtained by surface profile simulation including design processing of a residence time algorithm (DTA), and therefore, surface treatment with good precision can be performed with fewer trimming scans.

[0128] The above describes the preferred embodiments of the present application, but it should not be understood that the description and drawings constituting a part of the present disclosure are limited thereto. Various embodiments not described in the text are also included.

[0129] That is, the solid surface treatment device of the present embodiment is an example, and any configuration may be adopted as long as it is a solid surface treatment device that executes a thin film surface flattening program including the above-mentioned surface profile simulation program.

[0130] In addition, as filters used in the filtering process of the above-mentioned pre-processing unit 55, there can be cited a Kalman filter, a median filter, or a convolution filter, etc., but in addition to the above-mentioned filters, any filter can be used as long as it can remove noise from the measured value and make it close to the actual surface contour.

[0131] In addition, in this embodiment, although the solid surface treatment device performs surface treatment of a thin film, it can also be applied to semiconductor wafers used in semiconductor devices as a solid, and can also be applied to fine patterns of any shape formed on a solid.

[0132] The above is only a specific implementation of the embodiment of the present application, but the protection scope of the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or replacements within the technical scope disclosed in the embodiment of the present application should be included in the protection scope of the embodiment of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the embodiment of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A solid surface treatment device, which performs surface treatment for making the thickness of a solid uniform by a gas cluster ion beam, and has a control unit for controlling the surface treatment of the solid, wherein the control unit controls the following steps: (a) performing a predetermined filtering process on the film thickness of the solid; (b) simulating the surface profile of the solid according to the result of the predetermined filtering process of the solid and the trimming profile of the gas cluster ion beam obtained by a removal amount function; (c) performing surface treatment (Trimming) of the solid based on the result of the surface profile simulation of the solid; (d) determining the result of the surface treatment (Trimming); (e) comparing the measured surface treatment result with a target value (Target); and (f) Repeating the treatments of (a) to (e) until the result of the surface treatment matches the target value.

2. The solid surface treatment device according to claim 1, wherein: The surface profile simulation of the solid is composed of the following processes: performing a method selection process for designing a residence time algorithm based on the results of the specified filtering of the solid; designing a dwell time algorithm based on the trimming profile of the gas cluster ion beam and the above selected method; Producing a residence time map (DTM) based on the design of the residence time algorithm; and An ion beam irradiation plan is prepared according to the prepared dwell time map (DTM).

3. The solid surface treatment device according to claim 2, wherein: The method selection processing is composed of a processing that is automatically combined with the following five elements: a layering processing (Layering module) that freely selects 1 layer, 2 layers to N layers, a remapping processing (Re-mapping module) that freely selects the edge processing method of the film thickness data, a deconvolution processing AD (Deconvolution solver AD) that freely selects algorithms such as FFT, an iterative processing (Iteration module) that freely selects 1, 2 to N iterations, and a calibration processing (Calibration module) for correcting the distribution of the correction beam.

4. A solid surface treatment method, in which a solid surface treatment device is used to perform surface treatment on the solid, wherein the solid surface treatment device performs surface treatment for making the thickness of the solid uniform by a gas cluster ion beam based on the control of a control unit, and comprises the following steps: (a) performing a predetermined filtering process on the film thickness of the solid by the control unit; (b) performing, by the control unit, a surface profile simulation of the solid based on a result of the predetermined filtering process of the solid and a trimmed profile of the gas cluster ion beam obtained by a removal amount function; (c) performing surface treatment (Trimming) of the solid based on the result of the surface profile simulation of the solid by the control unit; (d) measuring the result of the surface treatment (Trimming) by the control unit; (e) comparing the measured result of the surface treatment with a target value (Target) through the control unit; as well as (f) The control unit repeatedly performs the processes (a) to (e) until the result of the surface treatment matches the target value. 5 . A solid surface treatment program for causing the control unit to execute the solid surface treatment method according to claim 4 .

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