Multi-puck wafer carrier and semiconductor processing apparatus having the same

Abstract

The application belongs to the technical field of semiconductors, and provides a multi-boss wafer bearing device and a semiconductor process equipment with the same. The multi-boss wafer bearing device comprises: a fixed disc, the inside of the fixed disc is provided with a temperature control wire, at least part of the temperature control wire is spirally wound in the inside of the fixed disc to form multiple turns of the temperature control wire; and multiple bosses, which are arranged at intervals on the upper surface, when the multi-boss wafer bearing device bears a wafer through the fixed disc, the wafer is suitable for being in contact with the bosses, wherein the positions where the multiple bosses are located form multiple turns of concentric circles along a first direction, and the average diameters of the multiple bosses of at least part of the turns increase along the first direction, and the first direction is a direction gradually approaching the edge of the upper surface from the center of the upper surface. The multi-boss wafer bearing device can improve the problem of uneven heating of the wafer, and the semiconductor process equipment with the multi-boss wafer bearing device can improve the film deposition effect or etching effect.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates primarily to the field of semiconductor technology, and in particular to a multi-protrusion wafer carrier device and semiconductor process equipment having the same. Background Technology

[0002] In semiconductor manufacturing equipment, wafers are often fixed in carriers for processing. These carriers can apply cooling or heating to the wafer during the process. For example, in heating mode, more uniform heating of the wafer during processing results in better thin film deposition or etching. It should be understood that more uniform heating of the wafer in deposition or epitaxy equipment leads to higher uniformity of the deposited or epitaxial film, and more uniform heating in etching equipment results in more uniform etching. However, existing carriers, once the wafer is fixed to their surface, cannot uniformly heat the wafer through the carrier's surface, thus affecting the thin film deposition or etching results. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The technical problem to be solved by this application is to provide a multi-protrusion wafer carrier device and a semiconductor process equipment having the same. This multi-protrusion wafer carrier device can improve the problem of uneven wafer heating, and the semiconductor process equipment having this multi-protrusion wafer carrier device can improve the thin film deposition effect or etching effect.

[0004] To address the aforementioned technical problems, a first aspect of this application proposes a multi-protrusion wafer carrier device, comprising: a fixed disk having an upper surface, wherein a temperature-controlled wire is disposed inside the fixed disk, at least a portion of the temperature-controlled wire being spirally wound inside the fixed disk to form multiple turns of the temperature-controlled wire, at least a portion of the temperature-controlled wire being adapted to change temperature so that the fixed disk is in a heating mode or a cooling mode; and a plurality of protrusions spaced apart on the upper surface, wherein when the multi-protrusion wafer carrier device carries a wafer through the fixed disk, the wafer is adapted to contact the protrusions, wherein the positions of the plurality of protrusions form multiple concentric circles along a first direction, and the average diameter of at least a portion of the plurality of protrusions increases along the first direction, the first direction being a direction that gradually approaches the edge of the upper surface from the center of the upper surface.

[0005] Optionally, one ring of the plurality of bosses has a first average diameter, and adjacent rings of the plurality of bosses adjacent to one ring have a second average diameter, wherein the difference between the second average diameter and the first average diameter is 10% to 20% of the first average diameter, and the adjacent rings are further away from the center of the upper surface than one ring.

[0006] Optionally, the maximum circumferential spacing between two adjacent bosses in any ring is less than the maximum circumferential spacing between two adjacent bosses in an adjacent ring, wherein the adjacent ring is further away from the center of the upper surface than any ring; and / or two adjacent rings of bosses have a ring spacing in the first direction, the ring spacing increasing along the first direction.

[0007] Optionally, the temperature control wire includes an inner ring temperature control wire and an outer ring temperature control wire. The inner ring temperature control wire and the outer ring temperature control wire are projected onto the upper surface to form an inner ring projection and an outer ring projection. The inner ring projection is closer to the center of the upper surface. The portion of the plurality of protrusions that overlaps with the inner ring projection has a first sum of top surface areas, and the portion of the plurality of protrusions that overlaps with the outer ring projection has a second sum of top surface areas. The second sum of top surface areas is 3 to 5 times the first sum of top surface areas.

[0008] Optionally, the upper surface includes a central region and an edge region, wherein the central region includes the center of the upper surface, the edge region is closer to the outer edge of the upper surface than the central region, the average diameter of the multiple rings of the bosses located in the central region is equal, and the average diameter of the multiple rings of the bosses located in the edge region increases along the first direction.

[0009] Optionally, the diameter of any of the plurality of protrusions located in the edge region is increased by 30% to 150% compared to the diameter of the plurality of protrusions in the center region.

[0010] Optionally, adjacent rings of the plurality of bosses have a ring spacing in the first direction, wherein the ring spacing of the rings of bosses located in the central region is equal, and the ring spacing between the rings of bosses located in the edge region increases along the first direction.

[0011] Optionally, at least a portion of the plurality of protrusions corresponds in the vertical direction to an abnormal point location or abnormal point region in the temperature control plane where the multi-turn temperature control wire is located, wherein the abnormal point location or the abnormal point region includes a location or region where the difference between the temperature limit value of the temperature control plane and the abnormal point region is greater than or equal to a preset temperature threshold.

[0012] Optionally, at least a portion of the plurality of bosses corresponds in the vertical direction to the area between adjacent heating wires.

[0013] Optionally, the multi-protrusion wafer carrier further includes: vents, the vents being formed on the upper surface; and air channels, the air channels being located inside the mounting disk and communicating with the vents.

[0014] Optionally, at least a portion of the plurality of protrusions is located above the air passage in the vertical direction.

[0015] Optionally, the vents include inner and outer ring vents, and the air passages include inner and outer vacuum passages. The inner vacuum passages communicate with the inner ring vents, and the outer vacuum passages communicate with the outer ring vents. The outer vacuum passages are projected onto the upper surface to form a passage projection. The one or two rings of protrusions closest to the passage projection are called passage adjacent protrusions. The multiple passage adjacent protrusions have the same preset diameter, which is larger than the diameter of all protrusions located inside the passage adjacent protrusions.

[0016] Optionally, the multi-turn temperature-controlled wire is projected onto the upper surface to form a multi-turn line projection; the multi-turn temperature-controlled wire includes a variable-temperature section, the variable-temperature section is adapted to change temperature, and the endpoints of the variable-temperature section are respectively a start point and an end point. The multi-turn line projection has a start point and an end point corresponding to the start point and the end point, respectively. In this case, any one of the start points or the end points is used as a marker point, and the extension line connecting the center of the upper surface and the marker point is used as a reference line. The other start points and / or end points outside the marker points are respectively set close to the reference line or located on the reference line.

[0017] Another aspect of this application proposes a semiconductor process apparatus including a multi-protrusion wafer carrier device according to any embodiment of this application, the multi-protrusion wafer carrier device being adapted to carry a wafer in the semiconductor process apparatus.

[0018] Optionally, the semiconductor process equipment includes a cavity with a tail channel. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier is adapted to carry the wafer in the internal space of the cavity. The tail channel is connected to the internal space. The tail channel forms a tail projection on the temperature control plane where the multiple turns of temperature control wires in the multi-protrusion wafer carrier are located. The reference line intersects with the tail projection or is tangent to the edge of the tail projection.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, this application has the following advantages: The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device proposed in this application has temperature control wires for temperature variation to make the fixing disk in heating mode or cooling mode. Multiple rings of protrusions with concentric circle design are provided on the surface of the fixing disk. Among them, the average diameter of the multiple protrusions corresponding to at least some rings tends to increase radially outward along the upper surface of the fixing disk. This can compensate for the defect of uneven wafer heating caused by the faster heat dissipation of the fixing disk closer to the edge. This improves the problem of uneven wafer heating and thus enhances the thin film deposition effect or etching effect. Attached Figure Description

[0020] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of this application; they are incorporated into and constitute a part of this application. The drawings illustrate embodiments of this application and, together with this specification, serve to explain the principles of this application. In the drawings: Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a multi-protrusion wafer carrier device according to an embodiment of this application; Figure 2 This application is as follows Figure 1 A cross-sectional schematic diagram of a multi-protrusion wafer carrier device according to the embodiment shown. Figure 3 This application is as follows Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a multi-protrusion wafer carrier device according to the embodiment shown in the figure, viewed from top view. Figure 4 This application is as follows Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing the shape of the temperature control wire projected onto the upper surface of the fixed disk in a multi-protrusion wafer carrier device according to the embodiment shown. Figure 5 It has such Figure 1 A cross-sectional schematic diagram of a semiconductor process apparatus for a multi-protrusion wafer carrier device according to the embodiment shown. Figure 6 Is it like this? Figure 5 The schematic diagram of the tailpipe channel in the embodiment shown. Detailed Implementation

[0021] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely some examples or embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, these drawings can be applied to other similar scenarios without creative effort. Unless obvious from the context or otherwise specified, the same reference numerals in the drawings represent the same structures or operations.

[0022] As indicated in this application and claims, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the words "a," "an," "an," and / or "the" are not specifically singular and may include plural forms. Generally speaking, the terms "comprising" and "including" only indicate the inclusion of explicitly identified steps and elements, which do not constitute an exclusive list, and the method or apparatus may also include other steps or elements.

[0023] Unless otherwise specifically stated, the relative arrangement, numerical expressions, and values ​​of the components and steps described in these embodiments do not limit the scope of this application. It should also be understood that, for ease of description, the dimensions of the various parts shown in the drawings are not drawn to actual scale. Techniques, methods, and devices known to those skilled in the art may not be discussed in detail, but where appropriate, such techniques, methods, and devices should be considered part of the specification. In all examples shown and discussed herein, any specific values ​​should be interpreted as merely exemplary and not as limitations. Therefore, other examples of exemplary embodiments may have different values. It should be noted that similar reference numerals and letters in the following drawings denote similar items; therefore, once an item is defined in one drawing, it need not be further discussed in subsequent drawings.

[0024] In the description of this application, it should be understood that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by directional terms such as "front, back, up, down, left, right", "horizontal, vertical, horizontal" and "top, bottom" is usually based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and is only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description. Unless otherwise stated, these directional terms do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation on the scope of protection of this application; the directional terms "inner" and "outer" refer to the inner and outer contours relative to the outline of each component itself.

[0025] For ease of description, spatial relative terms such as "above," "on top of," "on the upper surface of," "above," etc., are used herein to describe the spatial positional relationship of a device or feature as shown in the figures to other devices or features. It should be understood that spatial relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations in use or operation beyond the orientation of the device as described in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures were inverted, a device described as "above" or "on top of" other devices or structures would subsequently be positioned as "below" or "under" other devices or structures. Thus, the exemplary term "above" can include both "above" and "below." The device may also be positioned in other different ways (rotated 90 degrees or in other orientations), and the spatial relative descriptions used herein will be interpreted accordingly.

[0026] Furthermore, it should be noted that the use of terms such as "first" and "second" to define components is merely for the purpose of distinguishing the corresponding components. Unless otherwise stated, these terms have no special meaning and therefore should not be construed as limiting the scope of protection of this application. In addition, although the terminology used in this application is selected from commonly known and used terms, some terms mentioned in this application's specification may have been chosen by the applicant according to his or her judgment, and their detailed meanings are explained in the relevant sections of this description. Moreover, this application should be understood not only through the actual terms used, but also through the meaning implied by each term.

[0027] It should be understood that when a component is referred to as "on another component," "connected to another component," "coupled to another component," or "in contact with another component," it can be directly on, connected to, coupled to, or in contact with that other component, or there may be an intervening component. In contrast, when a component is referred to as "directly on another component," "directly connected to," "directly coupled to," or "directly in contact with" another component, there is no intervening component. Similarly, when a first component is referred to as "electrically contacting" or "electrically coupled to" a second component, there is an electrical path between the first and second components that allows current to flow. This electrical path may include capacitors, coupled inductors, and / or other components that allow current to flow, even if there is no direct contact between the conductive components.

[0028] This application refers to Figures 1-4 A multi-protrusion wafer carrier device 10 (hereinafter referred to as carrier device 10) is proposed. The carrier device 10 includes a fixing disk 11, which has an upper surface 110. Further combined with... Figure 2The fixed disk 11 is internally provided with temperature-controlled wires 20, at least a portion of which is spirally wound inside the fixed disk 11 to form multiple turns of temperature-controlled wires. At least a portion of the temperature-controlled wires 20 is adapted to change temperature, allowing the fixed disk 11 to be in a heating or cooling mode. Furthermore, the carrier device 10 also includes multiple bosses located on the upper surface 110. When the carrier device 10 carries the wafer via the fixed disk 11, the wafer is adapted to contact the bosses. Based on this, the multiple bosses are adapted to conduct heat to the wafer through direct contact in the aforementioned heating or cooling modes. Simultaneously, when the wafer is held on the fixed disk 11 by adsorption, the fixed disk 11 is also adapted to transfer heat to the wafer through thermal radiation and thermal convection. In this embodiment, the multiple bosses are located in multiple concentric circles along a first direction x, and the average diameter of at least a portion of the bosses increases along the first direction x, which is the direction from the center of the upper surface 110 towards the edge of the upper surface. During the operation of the carrier device 10, the edge of the upper surface 110 of the fixed disk 11 dissipates heat faster, which makes it easier for the upper surface 110 to heat the wafer unevenly. Therefore, in this embodiment, the carrier device 10 sets the diameter of the multiple protrusions near the edge of the upper surface 110 to be larger, which can compensate for the uneven heating of the wafer caused by the faster heat dissipation at the edge of the fixed disk, thereby improving the problem of uneven wafer heating and thus improving the thin film deposition effect or etching effect.

[0029] More specifically, in this embodiment, Figure 1 Multiple bosses are spaced apart on the upper surface 110, and the positions of the bosses form multiple concentric circles along the first direction x. Specifically, depending on the position of the multiple concentric circles... Figure 1The illustrated protrusions include a first protrusion 31 located at the center of the circle, a second protrusion 32 located at the position of the first concentric circle, a third protrusion 33 located at the position of the second concentric circle, and a fourth protrusion 34 located at the position of the third concentric circle. In this embodiment, based on the fact that the diameters of the protrusions on the same concentric circle are equal, the diameters of the protrusions located at different concentric circle positions are as follows: the diameter of the fourth protrusion 34 is greater than the diameter of the third protrusion 33, which is greater than the diameter of the second protrusion 32, which is greater than the diameter of the first protrusion 31. It should be noted that different embodiments of this application do not limit whether the diameters of the protrusions on the same concentric circle are consistent. In this embodiment, the diameters of the protrusions on the same concentric circle are equal (for example, the diameters of the multiple second protrusions 32 are equal, the diameters of the multiple third protrusions 33 are equal, and the diameters of the multiple fourth protrusions 34 are equal); however, in some other embodiments, the diameters of the protrusions on the same concentric circle can also be set to be different. It should also be noted that when it is said that the average diameter of multiple bosses in at least some rings increases along the first direction x, it means that the average diameter increases along the first direction x as a whole, but it does not exclude the possibility that the average diameter of multiple bosses in some adjacent rings may be equal.

[0030] In some embodiments, a plurality of protrusions in one ring have a first average diameter, and a plurality of protrusions in adjacent rings adjacent to the one ring have a second average diameter, wherein the difference between the second average diameter and the first average diameter is 10% to 20% of the first average diameter, and the adjacent rings are further away from the center of the upper surface than the aforementioned one ring. Experimental verification has shown that setting the difference between the second average diameter and the first average diameter to 10% to 20% of the first average diameter can effectively improve the problem of uneven wafer heating. Specifically, with... Figure 1 Taking the illustrated embodiment as an example, if one ring of protrusions is considered to be multiple third protrusions 33, then adjacent rings of protrusions are multiple fourth protrusions 34. The concentric circles containing the multiple fourth protrusions 34 are further away from the center of the upper surface 110 than the concentric circles containing the multiple third protrusions 33. The multiple fourth protrusions 34 have a second average diameter D2, and the multiple third protrusions 33 have a first average diameter D1, where D2-D1 = (10%~20%). D1.

[0031] Although experiments have verified that increasing the diameter of the protrusions near the edge of the upper surface 110 can improve wafer heating uniformity, further experiments have shown that sparser arrangement of the protrusions near the edge of the upper surface 110 can further improve the wafer heating unevenness. Specifically, in some embodiments, the maximum circumferential spacing between adjacent protrusions in any ring is less than the maximum circumferential spacing between adjacent protrusions in adjacent rings, wherein adjacent rings are farther from the center of the upper surface than any other ring. Figure 3 For example, taking the third protrusion 33 and the fourth protrusion 34 as examples, multiple protrusions in any circle are specifically multiple third protrusions 33, and multiple protrusions in adjacent circles are multiple fourth protrusions 34. The concentric circles containing multiple fourth protrusions 34 are farther from the center than the concentric circles containing multiple third protrusions 33. According to Figure 3 The circumferential distance L2 between two adjacent third protrusions 33 is less than the circumferential distance L1 between two adjacent fourth protrusions 34.

[0032] In this embodiment, preferably, the spacing between any two adjacent protrusions within each ring is equal, so that the protrusions are evenly distributed on the upper surface 110, thereby improving the uniformity of wafer heating on the upper surface 110. For example, assuming the circumferential spacing (i.e., the spacing between two adjacent protrusions within each ring) of the protrusions within each ring is equal, along the first direction x, the circumferential spacing of the protrusions in each concentric circle can increase from 3mm~6mm to 9mm~11mm. In this embodiment, only one first protrusion 31 is placed at the center position. For the case where only one protrusion is placed at the center position, the aforementioned range of values ​​for the change in circumferential spacing can be considered to be calculated from the second ring. For example, the circumferential spacing between two adjacent second protrusions 32 in the second concentric circle is 3mm~6mm, preferably 5mm; while the circumferential spacing (i.e., L1) between two adjacent fourth protrusions 34 in the outermost fourth concentric circle is 9mm~11mm, preferably 10mm.

[0033] As another implementation where the bosses are spaced more sparsely near the edge of the upper surface, adjacent rings of bosses have a ring spacing in the first direction, and the ring spacing increases along the first direction. Figure 3 For example, the ring spacing g between the fourth protrusion 34 located on the third concentric circle and the third protrusion 33 located on the second concentric circle is actually the spacing between the two concentric circles. When the protrusions are evenly distributed on each concentric circle, the center distance between two adjacent protrusions can be found along the first direction x, which can be used as the ring spacing between two adjacent protrusions.

[0034] The design of sparser protrusions near the edge of the upper surface is one possible explanation for enhancing wafer heating uniformity. Since the protrusions directly contact the wafer for heat conduction, while heat transfer occurs through thermal radiation and convection in areas without protrusions, simply increasing the protrusion area at the edge to improve heating uniformity could negatively impact the effect. Therefore, while increasing the diameter of the protrusions along the first direction, sparser protrusions near the edge of the mounting pad balance the heating effect of the increased protrusion diameter. It is understood that the above explanation does not limit the scope of this application. Alternatively, the protrusions near the edge of the mounting pad can be made more densely packed, and this can be combined with different embodiments of this application.

[0035] In some embodiments, to better plan and control the upper surface of the fixed disk, some embodiments of this application may further define a central region and an edge region on the upper surface, and further refine the regional design based on the design where the diameter of the bosses increases along the first direction, or the design where the bosses near the edge of the upper surface are more sparse. The central region includes the center of the upper surface, and the edge region is closer to the outer edge of the upper surface than the central region. The average diameter of the multiple rings of bosses in the central region is equal, while the average diameter of the multiple rings of bosses in the edge region increases along the first direction (it should be understood that the "increasing along the first direction" scheme includes the technical solution that "along the first direction, the average diameter of some adjacent rings is the same, and the average diameter of some rings increases, so that the overall trend is that the average diameter of the rings increases along the first direction." See the embodiments below for details). The average diameter of the rings here refers to the average diameter of multiple bosses belonging to the same ring. For example, the boundary line between the edge region and the central region can be set to a distance of 10% to 30% of the radius of the upper surface from the edge of the upper surface.

[0036] In some embodiments, the diameter of any one of the protrusions located in the edge region is increased by 30% to 150% compared to the diameter of the protrusions in the central region. As an example, in some embodiments of this application, the average diameter of the multiple rings of protrusions increases sequentially along a first direction; that is, for every two adjacent rings of protrusions, the ring of protrusions further from the center of the upper surface has a larger average diameter than the ring of protrusions closer to the center of the upper surface. As another example, taking a fixed disk with multiple rings of protrusions on its upper surface, the edge region has two outermost rings and two next-outer rings of protrusions, and the central region includes one ring (including the case of a protrusion located at the center of the upper surface) or multiple rings of protrusions, with these protrusions in the central region having equal diameters. The diameters of the two outermost rings of protrusions are set to be equal, and the diameters of the two next-outer rings are also set to be equal. In such an embodiment, the design can be carried out as follows: the diameter of the outermost two rings of bosses is increased by 90% to 150% compared to the diameter of the multiple bosses in the central region, and the diameter of the next two rings of bosses is increased by 30% to 90% compared to the diameter of the multiple bosses in the central region. Experimental verification shows that the partitioned boss design improves the control of wafer heating uniformity, especially for embodiments with a large surface area on the fixed pad, where this partitioning method facilitates boss design.

[0037] In some embodiments, adjacent rings of multiple bosses have a ring spacing in a first direction. When distinguishing between the edge region and the center region, the ring spacing of the multiple rings of bosses located in the center region can be designed to be equal, while the ring spacing between the multiple rings of bosses located in the edge region tends to increase along the first direction, thereby further improving the heating uniformity of the wafer.

[0038] The different design details for the bosses on the upper surface of the fixed disk have been described above. In some embodiments, to improve the uniform heating effect of the wafer, the relative positional relationship between the bosses and other components in the support device can also be considered in space. Firstly, in some embodiments, at least a portion of the plurality of bosses corresponds in the vertical direction to anomaly points or regions in the temperature control plane where the multiple turns of temperature control wires are located. The anomaly points or regions include locations or regions where the difference between the temperature limit value of the temperature control plane and the actual temperature is greater than or equal to a preset temperature threshold.

[0039] For example, when the temperature control wire is implemented as a heating wire, it means that the fixed plate is suitable for heating mode. In heating mode, the position or area with a lower temperature on the temperature control plane is an abnormal point position or abnormal point area. The temperature limit is the highest temperature value among the multiple turns of the temperature control wire. If the temperature of a certain position or area is lower than the temperature limit, and the difference between the temperature limit and the temperature limit is greater than or equal to a preset temperature threshold (e.g., 2℃~5℃, specifically 2℃, 3℃, 4℃, or 5℃), then the point is considered an abnormal point position or the area is considered an abnormal point area. As one possible approach, the temperature of the abnormal point area can be obtained by averaging multiple points in the area.

[0040] On the other hand, if the temperature control wire is implemented as a cooling wire, it means that the fixed plate is suitable for cooling mode. In cooling mode, the location or area with a higher temperature on the temperature control plane is an abnormal point location or abnormal point area. The temperature limit is the lowest temperature value among the multiple turns of the temperature control wire. If the temperature of a certain location or area is higher than the temperature limit, and the difference between the temperature limit and the temperature limit is greater than or equal to a preset temperature threshold (e.g., 2℃~5℃, specifically 2℃, 3℃, 4℃, or 5℃), then that point is considered an abnormal point location or area. Similarly, as one possible approach, the temperature of an abnormal point area can be obtained by averaging multiple points in that area.

[0041] It should be noted that the point or area with a lower or higher temperature on the temperature control plane will eventually reflect the temperature on the wafer surface. In actual operation, the position of the boss can be adjusted by detecting temperature anomalies on the wafer surface so that it corresponds to the abnormal point or abnormal area on the temperature control plane inside these fixed disks.

[0042] Secondly, spatially, at least a portion of the multiple protrusions can be positioned to correspond vertically to the areas between adjacent heating wires. Inside the mounting disk, in the spirally wound temperature control wires, there may be a significant temperature difference between the blank areas between adjacent turns of the temperature control wires and the temperature at the location of the wires. Therefore, by positioning at least a portion of the multiple protrusions in locations corresponding to these blank areas, when the wafer is fixed to the upper surface of the mounting disk, the wafer can directly contact these protrusions and be fixed to other areas of the upper surface by air pressure difference. Since the thermal conductivity of direct contact is better than that of indirect contact fixed by air pressure difference, the multi-protrusion wafer carrier device proposed in this application can compensate for the problem of poor thermal uniformity caused by insufficient temperature in the blank areas, thereby improving the thin film deposition or etching effect.

[0043] refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2Regarding the upper surface 110, except for the locations where multiple protrusions are provided, the remaining portion can be fixed to the wafer by gas pressure difference. Therefore, the wafer does not directly contact the upper surface 110 at locations other than the protrusions. For the temperature control wires 20, there are usually gaps between adjacent turns of temperature control wires. These gap areas differ in temperature from other locations where temperature control wires are provided because no temperature control wires are present. To compensate for this difference, this embodiment provides multiple protrusions above the gap areas between adjacent turns of temperature control wires. These protrusions can directly contact the wafer, resulting in better thermal conductivity compared to other non-direct contact methods. Therefore, it can compensate for the uneven thermal conductivity caused by the aforementioned temperature variation differences. Thus, by aligning at least a portion of the multiple protrusions vertically with the areas between adjacent turns of temperature control wires 20, the uniformity of thermal conductivity of the support device 10 to the wafer can be improved, thereby enhancing the thin film deposition or etching effect.

[0044] Thirdly, the placement of the boss can be adjusted in conjunction with the design position of the air passages inside the bearing device. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The supporting device 10 also includes an air hole 12 and an air passage 13, wherein the air hole 12 is formed on the upper surface 110, and the air passage 13 is located inside the fixed plate 11 and communicates with the air hole 12. In this embodiment, at least a portion of the plurality of bosses is located above the air passage 13 in the vertical direction. Furthermore, Figure 1 and Figure 2 The support column 15 of the carrier device 10 is shown. Exemplarily, structures such as ventilation pipes can be installed in the support column 15. The aforementioned air passage 13 is connected to the ventilation pipe. The ventilation paths of the ventilation pipe, air passage 13, and air vent 12 can be used to achieve vacuuming between a local area of ​​the wafer and the upper surface 110 (i.e., the area other than the location of the boss), thereby creating a pressure difference between the two opposing surfaces of the wafer and fixing the wafer to the upper surface 110. Specifically, according to... Figure 2Taking the temperature control wire 20 as a heating wire as an example, when the heat generated by the heating wire is transferred upwards, if it encounters the air passage 13, the thermal resistance in the area where the air passage 13 is located will be greater than the path that does not encounter the air passage 13 (because the thermal conductivity of air is lower than that of metal). Therefore, the boss can be further set above the air passage 13. It is understood that the area above the air passage 13 and the area between the two adjacent turns of temperature control wire are not necessarily completely independent. The position corresponding to the air passage 13 may coincide with some areas between two adjacent turns of temperature control wire in the vertical direction. In one design concept: when designing multiple bosses of the fixed plate 11, in addition to setting at least a portion of the multiple bosses in the positions corresponding to the areas between two adjacent turns of temperature control wire, the position corresponding to the air passage 13 can also be determined, and the positions not yet covered by the bosses can be determined. Thus, other bosses can be set in these positions to enhance the effect of heat conduction uniformity.

[0045] More preferably, refer to Figure 3 The vent 12 includes an inner ring vent 121 and an outer ring vent 122. The air passage 13 also includes an inner vacuum passage and an outer vacuum passage. The inner vacuum passage communicates with the inner ring vent 121, and the outer vacuum passage communicates with the outer ring vent 122. The outer vacuum passage is projected onto the upper surface 110 to form a passage projection. The one or two rings of protrusions closest to the passage projection are called passage-adjacent protrusions. These protrusions have the same preset diameter, which is larger than the diameter of all protrusions located inside the passage-adjacent protrusions. In some embodiments, the inner vacuum passage is mainly located in the central region, the outer vacuum passage is mainly located in the edge region, and the passage-adjacent protrusions are located in the edge region. Additionally, in some embodiments, when there are two rings of passage-adjacent protrusions, the two rings are distributed on both sides of the passage projection and are equidistant from it. (Refer to...) Figure 3 From a top-down perspective, both the inner and outer vacuum channels may include an arc-shaped portion and a connecting portion connecting the arc-shaped portions of the inner and outer vacuum channels. This connecting portion may extend along the radial direction of the fixed disk. During the operation of the carrier device 10, the air channels 13 need to be continuously evacuated to ensure that the carrier device 10 continuously holds the wafer. Especially when there are many air channels 13, the position and layout of the air channels 13 will affect the heating effect of the wafer. Experimental verification has shown that by distinguishing between the inner and outer vacuum channels and designing a larger diameter boss near the outer vacuum channel close to the upper surface edge, the wafer heating uniformity can be improved. Of course, it should be understood that the above explanation does not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this application. In some other embodiments, due to other reasons or the application of other principles, setting the boss near the channel to be larger may improve the wafer heating uniformity.

[0046] On the other hand, the upper surface 110 is also provided with a lifting through hole 14, and the supporting device 10 also includes a lifting mechanism (not shown). The lifting through hole 14 is adapted to allow the pin in the lifting mechanism to pass through, thereby achieving the supporting effect on the wafer, so as to facilitate the loading and unloading of the wafer.

[0047] It should be noted that the diameter of the boss mentioned above can also be understood as the diameter of the top surface of the boss (i.e., the plane that will contact the wafer). In some embodiments of this application, the boss is cylindrical, and the cross-section of these bosses includes circles; in addition, the boss can also be hemispherical. When the diameter of the boss is small, the contact area decreases, the local contact thermal resistance increases, and the thermal conductivity between the wafer and the mounting pad 11 decreases. Therefore, the cylindrical bosses mentioned above are more suitable for operating conditions with relatively high heat transfer requirements, while the hemispherical bosses mentioned above are more suitable for operating conditions with relatively low heat transfer requirements. In different embodiments of this application, the diameter range of the cylindrical or hemispherical shape is 1mm to 3mm, which can meet the thermal conductivity requirements of the wafer during the process without corresponding to too much wafer area, thus affecting the deposition or etching effect.

[0048] In a basic embodiment, multiple bosses are evenly distributed on the surface of the mounting disk (here, "evenly distributed" specifically means that for the same ring of bosses, the diameters of the multiple bosses are equal and the circumferential spacing between the multiple bosses is equal). This design allows the wafer carrier 10 to both support the wafer and maintain its flatness, and to more easily regulate the heat transfer distribution by changing the contact area and contact thermal resistance of each ring of bosses. As mentioned above, the diameter of the boss affects the contact area between the boss and the wafer, and the contact area is inversely proportional to the local contact thermal resistance. According to the basic formula for steady-state heat conduction, if the diameter and circumferential spacing of multiple bosses in the same ring are set to be the same, the diameter of the bosses in different rings can be directly controlled to adjust the temperature gradient in different areas of the mounting disk 11. As mentioned above, in Figure 1 In the embodiment shown, the diameter of the bosses in each ring increases along the first direction x. This is because the edge area of ​​the fixed disk 11 dissipates heat quickly and has a lower temperature during the process. By setting a boss with a larger area, the problem of low temperature caused by the fast heat dissipation at the edge can be offset.

[0049] Further reference Figure 4 , Figure 4The diagram shows the multi-turn projections formed by the inner and outer ring temperature control wires 21 and 22 of the temperature control wire 20 projected onto the upper surface 110. The inner ring temperature control wire 21 is closer to the center of the upper surface. The portion of the multiple protrusions overlapping the inner ring projection has a first top surface area S1, and the portion of the multiple protrusions overlapping the outer ring projection has a second top surface area S2. The second top surface area S2 is 3 to 5 times the first top surface area S1. As described above, the edge region of the fixed disk 11 dissipates heat quickly. By designing the relationship between the total area of ​​the protrusions corresponding to the outer ring temperature control wire 22 and the total area of ​​the protrusions corresponding to the inner ring temperature control wire 21, the overall uniform heat conduction of the fixed disk 11 can be better achieved.

[0050] The following is combined with Figure 4 Further details regarding the temperature control wire 20 are provided. In this embodiment, the multi-turn temperature control wire includes a variable-temperature section, which is suitable for varying temperatures. The endpoints of the variable-temperature section are the start point and the end point, respectively. The multi-turn wire projection has a start point and an end point corresponding to the start point and the end point, respectively. See details... Figure 4 For the multi-coil projection, the AB segment corresponding to the inner ring temperature-controlled wire 21 remains constant due to the wire manufacturing process, while the section from point B to point E is a variable-temperature segment. Therefore, the inner ring temperature-controlled wire 21 has a first variable-temperature starting point B and a first variable-temperature ending point E. On the other hand, the CD segment corresponding to the outer ring temperature-controlled wire 22 also remains constant, while the section from point D to point F is a variable-temperature segment. Therefore, the outer ring temperature-controlled wire 22 has a second variable-temperature starting point D and a second variable-temperature ending point F. Specifically, the aforementioned variable-temperature segment is suitable for temperature variation to achieve heating or cooling functions. In this embodiment, preferably, any one of the starting and ending points of the aforementioned variable-temperature segment in the projection graphic (in this embodiment, the second variable-temperature ending point F is selected) is used as a marker point. The extension line connecting the center of the upper surface 110 (point C) and the marker point F is used as the baseline y. The remaining starting and ending points other than the marker point F are respectively set close to the baseline (such as points B and E) or located on the baseline (such as point D). Figure 4 The starting and ending points of the multi-turn projections of the endpoints of the temperature-changing sections in the inner ring temperature control wire 21 and the outer ring temperature control wire 22 on the upper surface 110 are usually points with large temperature differences on the upper surface 110 of the fixed disk 11 (which can also be understood as the above-mentioned abnormal point positions). By bringing these points closer together, not only can uniform temperature adjustment be made possible, but it can also make uniform adjustment of process effects more convenient. This point will be further explained in the following description of semiconductor process equipment.

[0051] Another aspect of this application refers to Figure 5A semiconductor process apparatus 40 is proposed, comprising a multi-protrusion wafer carrier device according to any embodiment of this application, the multi-protrusion wafer carrier device being adapted to carry a wafer in the semiconductor process apparatus. Exemplarily, the multi-protrusion wafer carrier device may be as follows: Figures 1-4 The supporting device 10 shown.

[0052] Semiconductor process equipment 40 includes a cover plate 41, a bushing 42, a perforated plate 46 (which can also be understood as a showerhead), and a cavity 45. The cover plate 41 is fixed to the cavity 45 to at least partially define the internal space of the semiconductor process equipment 40. More specifically, the cover plate 41 is fixed to the upper side of the perforated plate 46, which is fixed to the upper part of the cavity 45. The reaction fluid (flow direction q) flowing from upstream to the channel of the cover plate 41 then flows through the perforated plate 46, which uniformly disperses the reaction fluid over the entire wafer. The bushing 42 is installed on the upper interior side of the cavity 45. The perforated plate 46, the bushing 42, and the carrier device 10 at least partially define a process space for performing processes (semiconductor processes such as etching or epitaxial processes). It should be understood that the cavity 45 is also provided with a wafer transfer port (not shown in the figure). The robotic arm transfers unprocessed wafers into the cavity 45 through the transfer port, or transfers processed wafers out of the cavity 45 through the transfer port. Furthermore, the cavity 45 has a tail drain channel 47. An annular groove 43 is provided inside the bushing 42, forming a circumferential flow channel with the inner wall of the cavity 45. The inner wall of the bushing 42 has one or more through holes 44, one side of the circumferential flow channel communicating with the through hole 44, and the other side communicating with the tail drain channel 47. More specifically, one end of the through hole 44 penetrates the inner wall of the bushing 42 to communicate with the internal space of the cavity; the other end of the through hole 44 penetrates the side wall of the aforementioned annular groove to communicate with the space inside the annular groove. The bushing 42 further has an annular connecting groove located below the aforementioned annular groove 43. The annular groove 43 is in fluid communication with the annular connecting groove. The annular connecting groove communicates with the tail drain channel 47 to allow fluid flow.

[0053] The semiconductor process equipment 40 employs the carrier device 10 proposed in this application. The carrier device 10 is used to carry the wafer and is placed within the reaction chamber. During the process, a transfer device such as a robotic arm places the wafer onto the upper surface 110 of the fixing plate 11 of the carrier device 10, and the carrier device 10 fixes it by vacuum adsorption. After the wafer is fixed, semiconductor processing operations (such as etching, epitaxial processes, etc.) are performed on it.

[0054] For further details, please refer to Figure 4 and Figure 6 As shown, where Figure 6On one hand, a schematic diagram of the fixed disk 11 from a top view is shown (which can also be understood as a reference plane formed by at least part of the coplanarity of the temperature control wires therein), and point C, the corresponding projection of the outer ring temperature control wires 22 onto the upper surface 110, is marked to indicate the center of the upper surface 110. On the other hand, the tail channel 47's tail projection 470 formed on the extension surface of the aforementioned reference plane is also shown. It is understood that the tail channel 47 in the semiconductor process equipment 40 can have a more complex channel structure, and Figure 6 The rectangle in the diagram is for illustrative purposes only; in reality, the boundary of the tailpipe projection 470 may have other regular or irregular shapes. Furthermore, in this embodiment, it is preferable to point the baseline y in the projection of the multi-turn temperature control wire corresponding to the multi-turn wire in the fixed disc of the supporting device 10 towards the area of ​​the tailpipe projection 470. However, this application does not impose restrictions on how the baseline is specifically pointed towards the tailpipe projection 470. Specifically, Figure 6 Three scenarios are shown where the baseline y is aligned with the tail-end projection 470. In each of these scenarios, the first baseline y1 and the third baseline y3 are tangent to the edge of the tail-end projection 470, respectively, while the second baseline y2 intersects the tail-end projection 470. It is understood that... Figure 6 The concept of a tailpipe projection 470 is introduced for description from a top-down perspective. In space, the baseline y actually points to the area where the tailpipe channel 47 is located, and preferably points to the center of the tailpipe channel 47.

[0055] Reference Figure 4 In this embodiment, all starting and ending points other than point F are located close to or within the same radius. Here, "radius" refers to the radius of the fixed disk. When the semiconductor process equipment 40 is depositing thin films or etching wafers, areas where temperature control issues may arise are concentrated within the same radius. Therefore, only the airflow parameters (such as flow rate) corresponding to this same radius area need to be adjusted to regulate the deposition or etching thickness of that area on the fixed disk.

[0056] The basic concepts have been described above. Obviously, for those skilled in the art, the above disclosure is merely illustrative and does not constitute a limitation of this application. Although not explicitly stated herein, those skilled in the art may make various modifications, improvements, and corrections to this application. Such modifications, improvements, and corrections are suggested in this application, and therefore remain within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of this application.

[0057] Furthermore, this application uses specific terms to describe embodiments of the application. For example, "an embodiment," "one embodiment," and / or "some embodiments" refer to a particular feature, structure, or characteristic related to at least one embodiment of the application. Therefore, it should be emphasized and noted that "an embodiment," "one embodiment," or "an alternative embodiment" mentioned twice or more in different locations in this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, certain features, structures, or characteristics in one or more embodiments of the application can be appropriately combined.

[0058] Similarly, it should be noted that, in order to simplify the description of the present application and thus aid in the understanding of one or more embodiments, the foregoing description of the embodiments of the present application sometimes combines multiple features into a single embodiment, drawing, or description thereof. However, this disclosure method does not imply that the subject matter of the present application requires more features than those mentioned in the claims. In fact, the embodiments contain fewer features than all the features of the single embodiments disclosed above.

[0059] In some embodiments, numbers describing the quantity of components and attributes are used. It should be understood that such numbers used in the description of embodiments are modified in some examples with the terms "approximately," "approximately," or "generally." Unless otherwise stated, "approximately," "approximately," or "generally" indicates that the numbers are allowed to vary by ±20%. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the numerical parameters used in the specification and claims are approximate values, which may be changed depending on the characteristics required by individual embodiments. In some embodiments, numerical parameters should take into account specified significant digits and employ a general method of digit reservation. Although the numerical ranges and parameters used to confirm their breadth of scope in some embodiments of this application are approximate values, in specific embodiments, such values ​​are set as precisely as feasible.

[0060] Although this application has been described with reference to specific embodiments, those skilled in the art should recognize that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate this application, and various equivalent changes or substitutions can be made without departing from the spirit of this application. Therefore, any changes or modifications to the above embodiments within the essential spirit of this application will fall within the scope of the claims of this application.

Claims

1. A multi-protrusion wafer carrier device, characterized in that, include: A fixed plate has an upper surface, and a temperature control wire is provided inside the fixed plate. At least a portion of the temperature control wire is spirally wound inside the fixed plate to form multiple turns of temperature control wire. At least a portion of the temperature control wire is adapted to change the temperature so that the fixed plate is in a heating mode or a cooling mode. Multiple bosses are spaced apart on the upper surface. When the multi-boob wafer carrier carries a wafer via the fixed disk, the wafer is adapted to contact the bosses. The plurality of protrusions are located in multiple concentric circles along a first direction, and the average diameter of at least some of the protrusions increases along the first direction, which is the direction that gradually moves from the center of the upper surface towards the edge of the upper surface.

2. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 1, characterized in that, One ring of the plurality of protrusions has a first average diameter, and adjacent rings of the plurality of protrusions adjacent to the one ring have a second average diameter, wherein the difference between the second average diameter and the first average diameter is 10% to 20% of the first average diameter, and the adjacent rings are further away from the center of the upper surface than the one ring.

3. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The maximum circumferential spacing between any two adjacent bosses in any ring is less than the maximum circumferential spacing between any two adjacent bosses in an adjacent ring, wherein the adjacent ring is farther from the center of the upper surface than any ring; and / or The plurality of protrusions in two adjacent rings have a ring spacing in the first direction, and the ring spacing tends to increase along the first direction.

4. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The temperature-controlling wire includes an inner ring of temperature-controlling wire and an outer ring of temperature-controlling wire. Projecting the inner and outer rings of temperature-controlling wire onto the upper surface forms an inner ring projection and an outer ring projection. The inner ring projection is generally closer to the center of the upper surface. The portion of the plurality of protrusions that coincides with the projection of the inner ring has a first sum of top surface area, and the portion of the plurality of protrusions that coincides with the projection of the outer ring has a second sum of top surface area, wherein the second sum of top surface area is 3 to 5 times the first sum of top surface area.

5. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The upper surface includes a central region and an edge region. The central region contains the center of the upper surface, and the edge region is closer to the outer edge of the upper surface than the central region. The average diameter of the multiple rings of the bosses located in the central region is equal, and the average diameter of the multiple rings of the bosses located in the edge region increases along the first direction.

6. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 5, characterized in that, The diameter of any of the plurality of protrusions located in the edge region is increased by 30% to 150% compared to the diameter of the plurality of protrusions in the center region.

7. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 6, characterized in that, The plurality of protrusions in two adjacent rings have a ring spacing in the first direction, wherein the ring spacing of the protrusions in the central region is equal, and the ring spacing between the protrusions in the edge region increases along the first direction.

8. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 1, characterized in that, At least a portion of the plurality of protrusions correspond in the vertical direction to the location or region of anomalies in the temperature control plane where the multi-turn temperature control wire is located, wherein the location or region of anomalies includes the location or region where the difference between the temperature limit value of the temperature control plane and the temperature limit value is greater than or equal to a preset temperature threshold value.

9. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 1, characterized in that, At least a portion of the plurality of bosses corresponds in the vertical direction to the area between adjacent heating wires.

10. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: Vents, wherein the vents are formed on the upper surface; as well as An air passage, located inside the fixed plate and communicating with the air hole.

11. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 10, characterized in that, At least a portion of the plurality of protrusions are located above the air passage in the vertical direction.

12. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 10, characterized in that, The vents include inner and outer ring vents, and the air channels include inner and outer vacuum channels. The inner vacuum channel communicates with the inner ring vents, and the outer vacuum channel communicates with the outer ring vents. The outer vacuum channel is projected onto the upper surface to form a channel projection. The one or two rings of protrusions closest to the channel projection are channel-adjacent protrusions. The channel-adjacent protrusions have the same preset diameter, which is larger than the diameter of all protrusions located inside the channel-adjacent protrusions.

13. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The multi-turn temperature control wire is projected onto the upper surface to form a multi-turn line projection; The multi-turn temperature-controlled wire includes a temperature-changing section, which is adapted to change the temperature. The endpoints of the temperature-changing section are a start point and an end point, respectively. The projection of the multi-turn wire has a start point and an end point corresponding to the start point and the end point, respectively. Take any of the starting points or ending points as a marker point, and take the extension line of the line connecting the center of the upper surface and the marker point as a baseline. All other starting points and / or ending points other than the marker points are respectively set close to the baseline or located on the baseline.

14. A semiconductor process apparatus, characterized in that, Includes the multi-protrusion wafer carrier device as described in any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the multi-protrusion wafer carrier device is adapted to carry a wafer in the semiconductor process equipment.

15. The semiconductor process equipment as described in claim 14, characterized in that, The multi-protrusion wafer carrier is the multi-protrusion wafer carrier as described in claim 13. The semiconductor process equipment includes a cavity, and a tail channel is formed on the cavity. The multi-protrusion wafer carrier is adapted to carry the wafer in the internal space of the cavity, and the tail channel communicates with the internal space. The tail channel forms a tail projection on the temperature control plane where the multiple turns of temperature control wires are located in the multi-protrusion wafer carrier device, wherein the reference line intersects with the tail projection or is tangent to the edge of the tail projection.

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