Solid surface treatment apparatus, solid surface treatment method and solid surface treatment program

Abstract

This disclosure provides a solid surface treatment apparatus, a solid surface treatment method, and a solid surface treatment program. The solid surface treatment apparatus utilizes a gas cluster ion beam to perform surface treatment, resulting in a uniform surface thickness of the solid. The apparatus includes a control unit. The control unit controls the following steps: Filtering the film thickness of the solid; Simulating the surface profile of the solid based on the filtering result and the trimmed profile of the gas cluster ion beam; Performing surface treatment on the solid based on the surface profile simulation result; Measuring the surface treatment result; Comparing the surface treatment result with a target value until the surface treatment result matches the target value. This enables high-precision and thorough surface treatment with fewer trimmed scans.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This disclosure relates to a solid surface treatment apparatus, solid surface treatment method and solid surface treatment program, particularly a solid surface treatment apparatus, solid surface treatment method and solid surface treatment program that irradiates the surface of solids such as optical thin films and semiconductor wafers with a gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) to perform surface processing on solids. [Previous Technology]

[0002] In recent years, component parameters such as film thickness and surface roughness, which determine the functionality of metal electrodes, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), photonic elements, etc., in RF filters, have been listed. Post-processing is required here, which is to smooth the surface of the solid at the nanometer level to achieve the desired film thickness, that is, surface treatment to make the thickness of the solid uniform.

[0003] Gas cluster ion beams differ from single ion beams in that they can make the surface more flat by means of the effect of lateral sputtering, in which atoms in the irradiated area are not only sputtered but also move laterally in parallel with the wafer surface. Therefore, they have attracted attention as a trimming source.

[0004] On the other hand, it is known that the diameter of a beam focused by a single lens (einzel lens) is about a few centimeters, but the ion current on the beam profile is not uniform. As a result, a profile with a peak at the center of the beam is formed. Therefore, the etch rate distribution of the beam profile will roughly reflect the current profile.

[0005] Furthermore, a conventional method for achieving a uniform and desired film thickness is to repeatedly perform trimming and measurement, that is, to continuously change the etched area and irradiate it with a light beam, and immediately measure the film thickness after the process is completed. If there are areas with higher thickness, further etching is performed to reduce the film thickness distribution so as to achieve the desired film thickness distribution. Furthermore, changing the scanning speed and acceleration can make the trimmed area flat overall, or repeated trimming and measurement can be performed to improve the film thickness distribution.

[0006] However, the existing techniques still have the following problems: adjusting the distribution based solely on measured results and repeatedly performing trimming and measurement consumes processing time and carries the risk of over-trimming. Furthermore, since the film thickness distribution is measured before trimming, it is difficult to experimentally determine the beam dwell time and scanning speed when the film thickness profile has sharp fluctuations, and it needs to be repeated to ensure that the trimming and measured film thickness distribution are consistent. Therefore, the process becomes complex and may increase the number of repetitions or result in a different film thickness distribution than expected. Moreover, beam parameters such as thrust, processing pressure, and accelerating voltage are closely related to the trimmed beam distribution. Therefore, each time the parameters are changed, the trimming scheme needs to be adjusted experimentally from the beginning, which involves time and manpower costs.

[0007] Therefore, in solids such as optical thin films, it is necessary to scan the beam and / or the solid in order to achieve a uniform and required film thickness in the target area, taking into account the ion current profile and / or trimming distribution of the beam. [Summary of the Invention]

[0008] Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the present disclosure provides a solid surface treatment apparatus, a solid surface treatment method and a solid surface treatment program, which applies interference removal treatment and / or smoothing treatment to the measured film thickness distribution before trimming. Therefore, the solid surface treatment apparatus, solid surface treatment method and solid surface treatment program of the present disclosure can optimize the scanning method of the ion beam on the solid by simulation before performing surface trimming, so that it can perform high-precision planarization and film thickness processing with less trimming scanning, and has the advantages of good efficiency and the ability to perform surface treatment that makes the thickness of the solid precise and consistent.

[0009] One embodiment of this disclosure provides a solid surface treatment apparatus, which uses a gas cluster ion beam to perform surface treatment to achieve a uniform surface thickness of a solid, and the solid surface treatment apparatus includes a control unit. The control unit is used to control the surface treatment, wherein the control unit controls the following steps: Step (a) Filtering a film thickness of the solid. Step (b) Simulating a surface profile of the solid based on the result of the filtering in the solid and a trimmed profile of the gas cluster ion beam obtained by a removal amount function. Step (c) Performing surface treatment on the solid based on the result of the surface profile simulation. Step (d) Measuring the result of the surface treatment. Step (e) Comparing the result of the surface treatment with a target value. Step (f) Repeating steps (a) to (e) until the result of the surface treatment matches the target value.

[0010] The solid surface treatment apparatus according to the foregoing embodiment includes the following steps in simulating the surface profile of the solid: A method selection process for designing a residence time algorithm is performed based on the result of filtering in the solid. A residence time algorithm is designed based on the method obtained from the profile trimming and method selection process of the gas cluster ion beam. A residence time map is established based on the residence time algorithm design. An ion beam irradiation scheme is established based on the residence time map.

[0011] According to the solid surface treatment apparatus of the foregoing embodiment, the method selection process includes automatically combining five elements, and the five elements include: freely selecting layer processing of 1 layer, 2 layers to N layers, freely selecting edge processing method of film thickness data for remapping processing, freely selecting fast Fourier transform deconvolution processing (AD), freely selecting iteration number of 1, 2 to N iterations for iteration processing, and correction processing for correcting the trimming distribution of the beam.

[0012] Another embodiment of this disclosure provides a solid surface treatment method, which utilizes a gas cluster ion beam to perform surface treatment based on the control of a control unit of a solid surface treatment apparatus to achieve a uniform surface thickness of a solid. The solid surface treatment method includes the following steps: Step (a) Filtering a film thickness of the solid using the control unit. Step (b) Simulating a surface profile of the solid using the control unit based on the result of the filtering in the solid and a trimmed profile of a gas cluster ion beam obtained from a removal amount function. Step (c) Performing surface treatment on the solid using the control unit based on the result of the surface profile simulation. Step (d) Measuring the surface treatment result using the control unit. Step (e) Comparing the surface treatment result with a target value using the control unit. Step (f) Repeating steps (a) to (e) using the control unit until the surface treatment result matches the target value.

[0013] Another embodiment of this disclosure provides a solid surface treatment program for causing the control unit to execute the solid surface treatment method as described above.

[0014] Accordingly, the solid surface treatment apparatus, solid surface treatment method and solid surface treatment program disclosed herein can perform high-precision and full planarization and film thickness processing with less trimming scans in the surface treatment of solids by gas cluster ion beams.

Implementation Method

[0016] The solid surface treatment apparatus, solid surface treatment method and solid surface treatment program disclosed herein will be explained with reference to the figures.

[0017] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a solid surface treatment apparatus 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The solid surface treatment apparatus 1 is used to perform surface treatment to make the thickness of a solid uniform, and the solid is an optical thin film used in optical components, a semiconductor wafer used in semiconductor components, etc. The following description, using Figure 1, illustrates the case of film thickness planarization required for the surface of the optical thin film being processed, and the surface treatment of the optical thin film includes three processing elements: (a) removing surface roughness, (b) achieving uniformity with the target thickness, and (c) patterning.

[0018] Furthermore, the contents of this disclosure can be applied not only to the surface treatment of optical thin films, but also to the planarization of the surface of semiconductor wafers used in semiconductor devices, and further to fine patterns of all shapes formed on solids. Also, the solid surface treatment apparatus 1 shown in Figure 1 can be of any construction if it is a solid surface treatment apparatus 1 that performs a processing program for a solid surface including the surface contour simulation processing 51 described later.

[0019] As shown in Figure 1, in the solid surface treatment apparatus 1, the raw material gas 3 is ejected through the nozzle 5 into the vacuum cluster generation chamber 7. In the cluster generation chamber 7, the gas molecules of the raw material gas 3 condense to form clusters. Here, the size of the clusters is determined based on the particle size distribution of the size and shape of the nozzle 5 and the gas pressure and temperature at the nozzle outlet 5a.

[0020] The clusters generated in the cluster generation chamber 7 are introduced into the gas cluster ion beam 11 through the separator 9 (skimmer), and are irradiated with thermionic electrons by the ionizer 13, so that the neutral clusters are ionized into the ionized gas cluster ion beam 15 (GCIB).

[0021] The gas cluster ion beam 15 is accelerated by the accelerating electrode 17 and focused by the magnetic field focuser 19 before entering the sputtering chamber 21. The gas cluster ion beam 15 entering the sputtering chamber 21 carries a positive charge. The positively charged gas cluster ion beam 15 is electrically neutralized by the neutralizer 23 and becomes a specific beam diameter through the aperture 25, irradiating the surface of the target 27 containing a solid. In Figure 1, the target 27 is a thin film used for optical installation on a solid.

[0022] A Faraday cup 28 is provided at a specific distance behind the target 27 to detect charged particles. The Faraday cup 28 is a metal cup that contains charged particles that are captured and detected in a vacuum.

[0023] Furthermore, the sputtering chamber 21 is filled with a rare gas such as Ar, so that the surface treatment of the target 27 can be achieved by using a chemically active gas (such as SF6).

[0024] A target 27, which is to be irradiated by the gas cluster ion beam 15, is fixedly mounted on the target support 29 disposed in the sputtering chamber 21 via a rotating disk. Furthermore, the target support 29 is mounted such that the gas cluster ion beam 15 irradiates the surface of the target 27, that is, the surface to be processed, at a specific irradiation angle.

[0025] The solid surface treatment apparatus 1 is equipped with an irradiation angle and irradiation azimuth setting mechanism (not shown in the figure) that can change the irradiation angle and irradiation azimuth of the gas cluster ion beam 15, and is also equipped with a scanning mechanism (not shown in the figure) that changes the position of the target 27 in the XY direction relative to the gas cluster ion beam 15.

[0026] Furthermore, the solid surface treatment apparatus 1 is equipped with a pattern structure measuring device 31, such as an atomic force microscopy (AFM), for measuring the pattern structure (microstructure) of the target 27 to obtain its shape data, and the shape data obtained by the measurement is input to the control unit 33.

[0027] The solid surface treatment apparatus 1 includes a control unit 33, including a personal computer, which performs the following controls: performing a thin film surface planarization process to achieve the desired film thickness (a process to make the thickness of the target 27 uniform); and, prior to solid surface treatment, using the measured trimming profile of the gas cluster ion beam 15 to simulate the surface profile within the thin film to obtain a scheme for the gas cluster ion beam 15, thereby optimizing the scanning pattern of the trajectory traced by the gas cluster ion beam 15. For this purpose, the control unit 33 stores a solid surface treatment program for performing the thin film surface planarization process to achieve the desired film thickness, and also stores a surface profile simulation program for simulating the surface profile of the solid.

[0028] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the control unit 33 of the solid surface treatment apparatus 1 in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 2, the control unit 33 is a personal computer (PC) with RAM 35 and ROM 37, a display monitor 39, a keyboard 41, and a mouse 43 connected to the CPU 45. The CPU 45 can perform the control described later by means of instructions input by the operator via the keyboard 41 and the mouse 43, according to the solid surface treatment program and the surface profile simulation program stored in the ROM 37. Furthermore, the solid surface treatment program may also include a surface profile simulation program.

[0029] Next, the surface treatment method of the thin film performed by the above-described solid surface treatment apparatus 1 will be described, and the method of planarizing the surface of target 27 to obtain the required film thickness will be described as a solid surface treatment method. However, the present disclosure can also be applied to the surface planarization of semiconductor wafers such as silicone substrates.

[0030] Please refer to Figures 3 to 5. Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating the solid surface treatment apparatus 1 of Figure 1 performing solid surface treatment. Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating the control unit 33 of the solid surface treatment apparatus 1 of Figure 1 performing solid surface treatment on the target 27. Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating the surface contour simulation of the solid surface treatment apparatus 1 of Figure 1 for achieving the target 27, including preprocessing 48 and surface contour simulation processing 51. The solid surface treatment apparatus 1 uses solid surface treatment to perform surface contour simulation processing 51 to obtain a thin film planarized to the required film thickness. The surface contour simulation processing 51 optimizes the scanning pattern of the surface of the target 27.

[0031] First, in step 101 of Figure 3, the target 27 is preprocessed by the control unit 33. That is, as shown in Figure 4, the film thickness (Wafer thk) of the target 27 is preprocessed using a specific filter, such as a Kalman filter, a median filter, or a convolutional filter. Furthermore, the film thickness of the target 27 is obtained from the surface profile of the sample measured beforehand.

[0032] Furthermore, the filtering performed as the target of the preprocessing 48 here is to remove interference. That is, the measurement data obtained based on defects in the thin film (nodules and pits, etc.) and measurement interference from the measuring instrument will mostly deviate from the actual surface profile. Therefore, in this disclosure, the above-described filtering method is used to remove interference of varying sizes present in the measurement data.

[0033] Specifically, the SN ratio of each of the above filters is calculated, the SN ratios of each filter are compared, and the filter with the largest SN ratio is selected. In this way, the correct film thickness distribution is obtained.

[0034] Furthermore, the filters used for filtering in the preprocessing unit 55 include Kalman filters, median filters, or convolution filters, but in addition to the filters mentioned above, any filter that can automatically remove interference and approximate the actual surface profile can be selected.

[0035] Next, in step 103 of Figure 3, the film thickness of target 27 is profiled by the control unit 33 using filtering preprocessing 48, and surface profile simulation processing 51 is performed to simulate the surface profile in the thin film plane (as shown in Figure 4). Furthermore, the profile of the gas cluster ion beam 15 is obtained by the removal amount function based on the previously measured profile of the gas cluster ion beam 15.

[0036] Here, as part of the surface profile simulation processing 51, as shown in Figure 5, based on the result of the preprocessing 48 of the film thickness of the target 27 as a sample using filtering and the trimmed profile of the gas cluster ion beam 15 obtained from the removal amount function, a residence time algorithm is designed. The gas cluster ion beam 15 is controlled by the scanning speed and acceleration, so that the scanning speed is 0 mm / s, so that the ion beam stays in one place and maintains the depth processing for a period of time, which is defined as the residence time.

[0037] Furthermore, the trimmed profile of the gas cluster ion beam 15, which is the target 27 of the above sample, is obtained by the removal amount function described later.

[0038] The surface profile simulation of target 27 is performed by control unit 33 based on the surface profile simulation program. Here, the preprocessing 48 and surface profile simulation processing 51 of target 27, which are samples implemented by the surface profile simulation program, shown in Figure 4, can be regarded as being completed by a black box 53 implemented by the surface profile simulation program. In other words, in Figure 5, the preprocessing 48 and surface profile simulation processing 51 of target 27, which are the samples mentioned above, are represented as a black box 53 implemented by the surface profile simulation program.

[0039] As shown in Figure 5, the black box 53 implemented by the surface profile simulation program consists of the following components: a pre-processing unit 55, which performs target pre-processing 48 by filtering the film thickness of the target 27 as a sample; a selection processing unit 57, which receives the result of the target pre-processing 48 performed by the pre-processing unit 55 and performs selection processing for the method used in the design of the dwell time algorithm (DTA); a dwell time algorithm design unit 59, which designs the dwell time algorithm based on the combination of five elements selected by the selection processing unit 57 and the trimmed profile of the gas cluster ion beam 15 obtained by the removal function; a dwell time map creation unit 61, which creates a dwell time map based on the dwell time algorithm designed by the dwell time algorithm design unit 59; and a gas cluster ion beam scheme creation unit 63, which creates a scheme for the gas cluster ion beam 15 based on the dwell time map completed by the dwell time map creation unit 61. The components of the black box 53 will be described below.

[0040] First, in the preprocessing unit 55, as described above, the film thickness of the target 27 as a sample is filtered by any one of a Kalman filter, a median filter, or a convolution filter. Here, the filter used in the above-mentioned filtering process can be any filter that can automatically remove interference from measured values ​​and approximate the actual surface profile, in addition to the filters mentioned above.

[0041] Please refer to Figures 6A to 6C. Figure 6A is an explanatory diagram of the preprocessing unit 55 in Figure 5 for performing preprocessing. Figure 6B is an explanatory diagram of the residence time mapping creation unit 61 in Figure 5 for performing residence time mapping creation processing. Figure 6C is a data explanatory diagram of the gas cluster ion beam scheme creation unit 63 in Figure 5 for performing gas cluster ion beam 15 scheme creation processing.

[0042] Specifically, the selection processing unit 57 is composed of a process that automatically combines five elements: layering module, re-mapping module, deconvolution solver AD, iteration module, and calibration module. It consists of at least one of these five elements. Here, the above five elements are automatically combined to form the best combination. That is, the dwell time algorithm goes through a series of processes including layering, re-mapping, deconvolution, iteration, and calibration, each with multiple options. Therefore, the number of such combinations is large, so the sum of squared residuals (rss) of all combinations is automatically calculated here to automatically find the optimal solution. In other words, the sum of squared residuals of each combination of layering, re-mapping, deconvolution, iteration, and calibration is calculated, and the smallest calculated result is automatically selected.

[0043] Furthermore, since the minimum RSS under a specific distribution does not necessarily represent the true distribution, users can also refer to the RSS to select combinations that reproduce the true distribution and incorporate them into the scheme. Furthermore, layered processing allows for the free selection of 1, 2 to N layers; remapping processing allows for the free selection of edge processing methods for film thickness data; deconvolution processing (AD) allows for the free selection of algorithms such as FFT; iterative processing allows for the free selection of the number of iterations from 1 to N; and correction processing corrects the distribution of the beam.

[0044] Figure 7 is a flowchart illustrating the selection process of surface profile simulation processing 51 in solid surface treatment of Figure 4. As shown in Figure 7, the film thickness of target 27 is optimized to obtain the residence time mapping.

[0045] The feature of this disclosure is that an algorithm implemented by such a large number of processes and complex combinations can be designed. Furthermore, in the residence time algorithm design unit 59, the residence time algorithm is designed based on the combination of five elements selected by the selection processing unit 57 and the trimming profile of the gas cluster ion beam 15 obtained from the removal amount function. Here, residence time refers to the time during which the beam remains in one place and is deeply processed in the gas cluster ion beam 15 controlled by the scanning speed and acceleration at a scanning speed of 0 mm / s; and the residence time algorithm refers to the algorithm used to calculate the residence time mapping based on the residence time.

[0046] The design principle of the residence time algorithm is explained below. First, the removal amount Z(x,y) is modeled as the convolution between the ion beam removal amount function (BRF) b(x,y) and the residence time mapping t(x,y).

[0047] Z(x, y)=b(x, y)* t(x, y) Formula (1)

[0048] Here, * indicates a convolution operation. Starting from this, the residence time mapping t(x,y) is calculated using the self-removal amount Z(x,y) and the ion beam removal function (BRF) b(x,y), but this calculation is a deconvolution process. Thus, by using these residence time algorithms to obtain the residence time mapping, a scheme for fabricating the gas cluster ion beam 15 is established. By following this scheme, the film thickness of the target 27 is made uniform, thereby achieving a higher precision surface treatment 52.

[0049] Furthermore, in the dwell time mapping creation unit 61, the dwell time mapping is calculated based on the dwell time algorithm designed by the dwell time algorithm design unit 59. That is, the dwell time mapping t(x,y) is calculated using the above equation (1).

[0050] Figure 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the calculation of the residence time mapping from the residence time of charged particles. Figure 8 shows the process of calculating the residence time mapping by performing a scan and presents the scan results. Thus, the residence time mapping is obtained using a residence time algorithm. This allows for optimization of the scan pattern. Furthermore, based on the residence time mapping, a scheme for fabricating the gas cluster ion beam 15 is described below. By following the scheme, the film thickness of the target 27 can be made uniform. This allows for high-precision surface treatment 52. Furthermore, by designing the residence time algorithm described above to obtain the residence time mapping and optimizing the scan pattern, the number of surface treatments 52 on the target 27 is significantly reduced.

[0051] As shown in Figure 6B, in the gas cluster ion beam scheme creation unit 63, a scheme for the gas cluster ion beam 15 is created based on the residence time mapping t(x,y) completed by the residence time mapping creation unit 61. That is, the residence time mapping t(x,y) serves as the scheme for the gas cluster ion beam 15. For example, as shown in Figure 6C, the velocity values ​​of the gas cluster ion beam 15 at each position along the X-axis and at each position along the Y-axis are calculated. Based on the scheme for the gas cluster ion beam 15, the surface treatment 52 of the target 27 shown in Figure 4 is performed.

[0052] Next, returning to Figure 3, in step 105, the control unit 33 performs surface treatment 52 on the target 27 by means of the gas cluster ion beam 15 based on the residence time mapping obtained by the surface profile simulation processing 51 (see Figure 4). That is, by etching the object surface of the target 27 here, the pattern structure is modified to planarize the object surface, and the target 27 is made to the required film thickness.

[0053] Furthermore, the surface treatment 52 of the target 27 performed by the gas cluster ion beam 15 will be described. In step 105, the etching amount is calculated based on the residence time mapping of the gas cluster ion beam 15 obtained from the surface profile simulation processing 51, so that the microstructure becomes the required design size. Then, the target 27 is set by an irradiation angle azimuth setting mechanism (not shown) to a specific irradiation angle θ and irradiation azimuth angle relative to the gas cluster ion beam 15. Furthermore, here, for the thin film surface of the target 27, that is, the surface to be processed, the gas cluster ion beam 15 is irradiated with a specific irradiation angle, and a target support 29 is installed. Moreover, the material and etching rate of the target 27, the gas type of the gas cluster ion beam 15, the acceleration energy, etc., are set together with the etching amount calculated above, and the dose is determined by referring to a database (not shown) based on each condition, and the gas cluster ion beam 15 irradiation treatment is performed based on the dose. In other words, the control unit 33 controls the generator (not shown), ionizer 13, accelerating electrode 17, magnetic field focuser 19, neutralizer 23, irradiation angle azimuth setting mechanism (not shown), and scanning mechanism (not shown) of the raw material gas 3 based on the above dosage, and performs gas cluster ion beam 15 irradiation treatment on the surface of the target 27, and performs surface treatment 52 of the target 27 by the gas cluster ion beam 15.

[0054] Furthermore, in step 107, the control unit 33 obtains the film thickness, pattern, and uniformity of the surface-treated target 27 (result evaluation 54 in Figure 4). That is, the control unit 33 measures the transmission spectrum of the target 27, calculates the film thickness by considering optical interference, changes the measurement location and measures / analyzes the spectrum, thereby obtaining the film thickness distribution.

[0055] Furthermore, in step 109, the control unit 33 compares the measured surface treatment results of the thin film, namely film thickness, pattern, and uniformity, with the target value 56 of the thin film to determine whether the measured surface treatment results of the thin film meet the target value 56 of the thin film (see Figure 4). Moreover, when the surface treatment results of the thin film measured in step 109 meet the target value 56 of the thin film, the overall surface treatment of the thin film is completed. In this way, the scanning pattern of the surface of the target 27 is optimized, the surface of the target 27 is remarkably flattened, and the required film thickness is obtained.

[0056] Furthermore, when the measured surface treatment result of the thin film is not the target value 56 of the thin film, the process returns to the surface profile simulation processing 51 in step 101. The control unit 33 repeats the above-described processes from steps 101 to 107 until the surface treatment result of the thin film matches the target value 56. Moreover, in this embodiment, as described above, a residence time algorithm implemented by surface profile simulation is designed to obtain a residence time mapping; therefore, the surface treatment result of the thin film immediately matches the target value 56. Thus, with very few surface treatments of the thin film, the surface treatment result of the thin film matches the target value 56.

[0057] As explained above, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, as described above, by using a gas cluster ion beam 15 based on a residence time mapping obtained by surface profile simulation including a residence time algorithm, a surface treatment 52 is performed to make the thickness of the target 27 implemented by the gas cluster ion beam 15 uniform. Therefore, a high-precision surface treatment 52 can be performed with fewer trimming scans.

[0058] The present embodiment has been described above, but the descriptions and drawings that constitute part of the above disclosure should not be construed as limiting. This includes various embodiments not described herein. In other words, the solid surface treatment apparatus 1 of this embodiment is one example; any solid surface treatment apparatus 1 that performs a thin film surface planarization program including a surface profile simulation program can have any configuration.

[0059] Furthermore, the filters used in the filtering process of the preprocessing unit 55 described above include Kalman filters, median filters, or convolution filters, etc. However, any filter other than those mentioned above can be used, as long as it removes interference from the measured value and approximates the actual surface profile. Also, in the above embodiment, the solid surface treatment apparatus 1 performs surface treatment of thin films, but as a solid, it can also be applied to semiconductor wafers used in semiconductor devices, and further, it can be applied to all shapes of fine patterns formed on solids.

[0060] Although the present disclosure has been disclosed above with reference to embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present disclosure. Anyone skilled in the art can make various modifications and alterations without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present disclosure shall be determined by the appended claims. [Simplified Explanation of the Diagram]

[0015] To make the above and other objects, features, advantages and embodiments of this disclosure more apparent and understandable, the accompanying drawings are described as follows: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a solid surface treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of this disclosure; Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the control unit of the solid surface treatment apparatus of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating the solid surface treatment apparatus of Figure 1 for performing solid surface treatment; Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating the control unit of the solid surface treatment apparatus of Figure 1 performing solid surface treatment on a target; Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating the surface contour simulation of the solid surface treatment apparatus of Figure 1 for achieving the target's pretreatment and the target's surface contour simulation processing; Figure 6A is an explanatory diagram illustrating the pretreatment unit of Figure 5 for performing pretreatment; Figure 6B is an explanatory diagram illustrating the residence time mapping creation unit of Figure 5 for performing residence time mapping creation processing; Figure 6C is a data explanation diagram illustrating the gas cluster ion beam scheme creation unit of Figure 5 for performing gas cluster ion beam scheme creation processing. Figure 7 illustrates the flowchart of the surface profile simulation process in Figure 4, and Figure 8 illustrates the mapping of residence time calculated from the residence time of charged particles.

Claims

1. A solid surface treatment apparatus for achieving a uniform surface thickness of a solid by performing a surface treatment using a gas cluster ion beam, the solid surface treatment apparatus comprising: a control unit for controlling the surface treatment, wherein the control unit controls the following steps: step (a) filtering a film thickness of the solid; step (b) simulating a surface profile of the solid based on the result of the filtering in the solid and a trimmed profile of the gas cluster ion beam obtained from a removal amount function; step (c) performing the surface treatment on the solid based on the result of the surface profile simulation; step (d) measuring the result of the surface treatment; step (e) comparing the result of the surface treatment with a target value; and step (f) repeating steps (a) to (e) until the result of the surface treatment matches the target value.

2. The solid surface treatment apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the surface profile simulation of the solid comprises the following steps: performing a method selection process for a residence time algorithm design based on the result of the filtering process in the solid; designing the residence time algorithm based on the trimmed profile of the gas cluster ion beam and the method selection process; establishing a residence time map based on the residence time algorithm design; and establishing an ion beam irradiation scheme based on the residence time map.

3. The solid surface treatment apparatus as described in claim 2, wherein the method selects a processing element that automatically combines five elements, and the five elements include: a layering process that freely selects 1, 2 to N layers, a remapping process that freely selects an edge processing method for film thickness data, a deconvolution process (AD) that freely selects a fast Fourier transform, an iterative process that freely selects 1, 2 to N iterations, and a correction process that corrects the trimming distribution of the beam.

4. A solid surface treatment method, wherein a solid surface is uniformly thickened by surface treatment using a gas cluster ion beam under the control of a control unit of a solid surface treatment apparatus, the solid surface treatment method comprising: step (a) filtering a film thickness of the solid using the control unit; step (b) simulating a surface profile of the solid using the control unit based on the result of the filtering in the solid and a trimmed profile of the gas cluster ion beam obtained by a removal amount function; step (c) performing surface treatment on the solid using the control unit based on the result of the surface profile simulation; step (d) measuring the result of the surface treatment using the control unit; step (e) comparing the result of the surface treatment with a target value using the control unit; and step (f) repeating steps (a) to (e) using the control unit until the result of the surface treatment is consistent with the target value.

5. A solid surface treatment program for causing the control unit to perform the solid surface treatment method as described in claim 4.

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