Shielding plate capable of inhibiting deformation

Abstract

A shielding plate capable of inhibiting deformation is suitable for covering a carrying table in a cavity of a sputtering machine table, and the carrying table is used for carrying a substrate to be sputtered. The shielding plate capable of inhibiting deformation comprises a plate body. The plate body comprises a lower surface and an upper surface opposite to the lower surface along the axis. A plurality of annular grooves which concentrically surround the axis and are arranged at intervals in the radial direction are formed in the upper surface. The annular grooves which concentrically surround the axis and are arranged at intervals in the radial direction are formed in the upper surface of the plate body, so that the stress of a thin film on the shielding plate can be dispersed, and buckling deformation caused by the stress of the thin film is relieved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to an article used for shielding a carrier in a chamber of a sputtering machine, in particular to a shielding plate capable of suppressing deformation. Background Art

[0002] See Figure 1 A sputtering machine 6 in the existing semiconductor industry deposits metal layers using physical vapor deposition (PVD). The sputtering machine 6 includes a chamber 61, a magnet 62, a target 63 located below the magnet 62, a mask 64 surrounding the target 63, and a carrier 65 located below the target 63. The sputtering machine 6 uses plasma to bombard the target 63 with ions, knocking ions off the surface of the target 63 and depositing them on a substrate (not shown) on the carrier 65.

[0003] However, when the chamber 61 is idle, the ions distributed inside it may also adhere to the carrier 65. Therefore, when the chamber 61 is idle, a retaining member 66 in the chamber 61 will grab a flat-surface shield 7 from other areas in the chamber 61 and place it on the carrier 65 to prevent ions from adhering to the carrier 65.

[0004] When the shielding plate 7 is moved to the top of the platform 65 via the holding member 66 , a lifting device (not shown) will lift the shielding plate 7 upward. After the holding member 66 is removed, the lifting device will be lowered to cover the shielding plate 7 on the platform 65 .

[0005] However, when a film 8 deposited on the shielding plate 7 is too thick, the shielding plate 7 will produce a larger warpage due to the stress of the film 8, thereby increasing the overall thickness, causing the shielding plate 7 to collide with the lower edge of the mask 64 when moving on the retaining member 66. Therefore, it is necessary to perform maintenance on the machine in advance, remove the shielding plate 7 for cleaning or replace it with spare parts, but this will lead to an increase in the maintenance frequency, resulting in an increase in the manpower or material costs of maintenance, and a shortening of production time, thereby reducing production capacity. Utility Model Content

[0006] The purpose of the present utility model is to provide a shielding plate capable of suppressing deformation and capable of improving at least one of the above-mentioned disadvantages.

[0007] The utility model discloses a shielding plate capable of inhibiting deformation, which is suitable for covering a carrier in a chamber of a sputtering machine, wherein the carrier is used to carry a substrate to be sputtered. The shielding plate capable of inhibiting deformation comprises a plate body; the plate body comprises a lower surface, and an upper surface opposite to the lower surface along an axis, wherein a plurality of annular grooves are formed on the upper surface, which are concentrically arranged around the axis and radially spaced apart.

[0008] The shielding plate capable of suppressing deformation of the present invention has the number of annular grooves being less than or equal to 7.

[0009] The shielding plate capable of suppressing deformation of the present invention has five annular grooves.

[0010] The shielding plate capable of suppressing deformation of the present invention has an axis extending axially, and convex annular portions are formed on the lower surface on one side of the annular groove opposite to the axial direction, and the cross-section of the plate body along the axis is wavy.

[0011] The shielding plate capable of inhibiting deformation of the present invention has a disc-shaped plate body and further comprises a support seat which is annular and extends downward from the periphery of the plate body.

[0012] The beneficial effect of the present invention is that by forming the annular grooves concentrically surrounding the axis and radially spaced on the upper surface of the plate body, the stress of the film deposited on the shielding plate can be dispersed, and the warping deformation caused by the stress of the film can be alleviated. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional shield plate being moved to above a stage of a chamber via a holder;

[0014] Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the utility model of a shield capable of suppressing deformation;

[0015] Figure 3 is a perspective view of the embodiment;

[0016] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a stage in a chamber carrying a substrate;

[0017] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the carrier covered in the sputtering chamber according to the embodiment;

[0018] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of multiple embodiments of the utility model of the shielding plate capable of suppressing deformation and having different numbers of annular grooves. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0020] Before the present invention is described in detail, it should be noted that similar components are represented by the same reference numerals in the following description.

[0021] See Figure 2 ,and Figure 3 The embodiment of the shielding plate 10 capable of suppressing deformation of the present invention comprises a disc-shaped plate body 1 and a ring-shaped support base 2 extending downward from the periphery of the plate body 1 .

[0022] The plate body 1 includes a lower surface 11 connected to the support seat 2, and an upper surface 12 opposite to the lower surface 11 along an axis L. The axis L extends along an axial direction X. A plurality of annular grooves 13 are formed on the upper surface 12, which are concentrically arranged around the axis L and spaced apart along a radial direction perpendicular to the axis L. Specifically, a convex annular portion 14 is formed on each side of the lower surface 11 opposite to the annular groove 13 along the axial direction X. In other words, the cross-section of the plate body 1 along the axis L is generally wavy (see FIG. 1 ). Figure 2 ).

[0023] The number of the annular grooves 13 is less than or equal to 7. In this embodiment, the number of the annular grooves 13 is 5, and the diameter of the plate body 1 is 305 mm.

[0024] See Figure 4 ,and Figure 5 The shielding plate 10 is suitable for a sputtering machine 3. The sputtering machine 3 can be used to perform a semiconductor process of physical vapor deposition (PVD). The sputtering machine 3 includes a chamber 31, a magnet 32, a target 33 disposed below the magnet 32, a shield 34 surrounding the target 33 and the magnet 32, a carrier 35 disposed below the target 33, a holder (not shown) disposed in the chamber 31 and capable of being moved horizontally for placing the shielding plate 10, and a lifting device (not shown) located below the carrier 35 and used to lift the shielding plate 10.

[0025] The target 33 is electrically connected to an AC power source 4. The carrier 35 has a supporting surface 351 for supporting a substrate 5 to be sputtered. Specifically, the carrier 35 is an electrostatic chuck. The sputtering machine 3 is used to deposit titanium nitride (TiN) on the substrate 5. The lifting device includes a lifting member (not shown) that passes through the carrier 35 and is used to lift the substrate 5 or the shielding plate 10.

[0026] To keep the chamber 31 clean, energized argon (Ar) gas is periodically introduced into the chamber 31 for cleaning when it is idle. To prevent ions or sediments inside the chamber 31 from adhering to the supporting surface 351 of the carrier 35 when it is idle, the holder carries the shielding plate 10 from outside the mask 34 to above the carrier 35, and the lifting device lifts the shielding plate 10 upward. After the holder moves back to its original position, the lifting device descends to cover the shielding plate 10 on the carrier 35 (see Figure 5 ) to prevent the ions in the chamber 31 from adhering to the carrying surface 351 of the carrier 35.

[0027] Refer to Table 1 for Figure 1 The conventional shielding plate 7 shown is a control example, and the shielding plate 10 of this embodiment is used as an experimental example. The control example and the experimental example were placed on the stage 35 to measure the cumulative deposition thickness change over the lifespan of the target 33, as well as the change in the minimum gap between the holder and the mask 34 during movement.

[0028] Regarding the control example, when no film is attached to the shielding plate 7, the minimum gap between the shielding plate 7 and the mask 34 is 3.5 mm. When the service life of the target material 33 (expressed in kilowatt hours (kWh)) is 1000 kilowatt hours (kWh), the thickness of the shielding plate 7 increases by 4 mm due to its own warping and the film attached to it. The minimum gap between the shielding plate 7 and the mask 34 is -0.5 mm. At this time, the shielding plate 7 will hit the mask 34 when moving on the retaining member.

[0029] Regarding the experimental example, when the service life of the target material 33 is 1500 kWh, the total thickness of the shielding plate 10 increased by 3.65 mm due to its own warping and the film attached thereto, and the minimum gap between the shielding plate 10 and the mask 34 is -0.1 mm.

[0030] Therefore, as can be seen from Table 1, under the same service life of the target 33, the increased thickness of the shield 10 in the experimental example is less than the increased thickness of the shield 7 in the control example. In addition, the service life of the target 33 is extended from 1000 kilowatt-hours to 1500 kilowatt-hours.

[0031] Therefore, the shield plate 10 of the present invention accommodates the deposited film through the annular groove 13, dissipating the stress generated by the deposited film and mitigating warping and deformation caused by the film stress. By shielding the carrier 35 with the shield plate 10 of the present invention, the shield plate 10 only needs to be removed for cleaning, maintenance, or replacement after the target material 33 has a long service life, significantly reducing maintenance cycles.

[0032] Table 1

[0033]

[0034]

[0035] See Figure 6 In other variations of this embodiment, the number of the annular grooves is not limited. Figure 6 , different embodiments of the shielding plate 10 are shown, wherein the shielding plate 10 has a different number of annular grooves 13 , wherein the number of the annular grooves 13 can also be 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 7.

[0036] In summary, the utility model can suppress the deformation of the shielding plate 10. By forming a plurality of annular grooves 13 concentrically surrounding the axis L and radially spaced on the upper surface 12 of the plate body 1, the stress of the thin film deposited on the shielding plate 10 can be dispersed, and the warping deformation of the shielding plate 10 caused by the stress of the thin film can be reduced, so the purpose of the utility model can indeed be achieved.

[0037] The above description is merely an embodiment of the present invention and should not be used to limit the scope of implementation of the present invention. All simple equivalent changes and modifications made according to the claims and description of the present invention are still within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A deformation-suppressing shielding plate, adapted to cover a carrier within a chamber of a sputtering machine, the carrier being used to support a substrate to be sputtered, the deformation-suppressing shielding plate comprising a plate body; characterized in that: The plate body includes a lower surface and an upper surface opposite to the lower surface along the axis. A plurality of annular grooves are formed on the upper surface, concentrically surrounding the axis and spaced apart in the radial direction.

2. The deformation-suppressing shield according to claim 1, characterized in that: The number of the annular grooves is less than or equal to 7.

3. The deformation-suppressing shield according to claim 2, characterized in that: The number of the annular grooves is 5.

4. The deformation-suppressing shield according to claim 1, characterized in that: The axis extends in the axial direction, and convex annular portions are respectively formed on the lower surface at one side of the annular groove opposite to the axial direction. The cross section of the plate body along the axis is wavy.

5. The deformation-suppressing shield according to claim 1, characterized in that: The plate body is in the shape of a disk, and the shielding plate capable of inhibiting deformation further comprises a supporting seat which is annular and extends downward from the periphery of the plate body.

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