Plasma Processing Control Device Stabilizes Chamber Environment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The variation in the processing environment within plasma processing chambers due to changes in temperature and deposition over time affects the stability of plasma etching processes, leading to inconsistent results, as existing control technologies like APC and weighting coefficients fail to account for the specific conditions caused by differences in waiting time and past recipes.
Innovation Solution
A plasma processing apparatus with a control system that optimizes recovery conditions within the processing chamber based on waiting time and past plasma processing content, using feedback or feed-forward control to adjust recipes for stabilization processes like aging and cleaning, incorporating history coefficients to quantify the influence of past processes on current conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If stabilization processing recipes are used for each lot (aging, plasma cleaning), then the processing chamber environment is reset and stabilized, but variations in waiting time and past recipes cause temperature changes that lead to process result variations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic recipe adjustment by modifying stabilization processing conditions based on real-time monitoring of chamber temperature and deposition amount. The system continuously adapts the aging and cleaning recipes according to the actual chamber state, which varies with waiting time and previous processing history, thereby maintaining consistent process results despite environmental variations
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs feedback control by monitoring chamber temperature and deposition amount during and between processing lots. These monitored parameters are fed back to adjust the stabilization processing recipes for subsequent lots, creating a closed-loop control system that compensates for environmental drift and ensures reproducible process outcomes
2Manufacturing precision
If APC (Advanced Process Control) with feedback or feed-forward control is implemented, then process variations are reduced and stable results are achieved, but the control cannot account for temperature changes during waiting time and their effect on plasma reactions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing stabilization processing (aging and plasma cleaning) before actual wafer processing to pre-condition the chamber environment. The duration and intensity of this preliminary processing are dynamically adjusted based on predicted chamber state from waiting time and past recipe data, ensuring the chamber is properly prepared for subsequent processing regardless of environmental variations
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes processing parameters dynamically by adjusting stabilization recipe parameters (power, gas flow, duration) based on monitored chamber conditions and historical data. This parameter adaptation allows the system to compensate for temperature drift and deposition effects that occur during waiting time, extending APC capability to cover previously unaccounted variables
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach stabilizes the plasma processing environment, reducing variations and achieving consistent results by accounting for the specific effects of waiting time and past plasma processing conditions, thereby enhancing the reliability of subsequent wafer processing.
Implementation Method 1
a plasma processing apparatus that performs plasma etching using plasma
Data Source
AI summary
A plasma processing apparatus, to which process control such as APC is applied, includes: a processing chamber in which plasma processing is performed on a sample; and a plasma processing control device which performs control to optimize a condition for plasma processing which recovers the status inside a processing chamber, in which plasma processing is performed, based on a waiting time from the time when plasma processing for a second lot, which is a lot immediately before a first lot, is completed to the time when plasma processing for the first lot is started, and the content of plasma processing for the second lot.