Sliding Vacuum Chamber for High-Temperature Photoresist Stripping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional plasma stripper chambers face challenges in achieving high strip rates while maintaining safety and cost-effectiveness, as they require extensive heating and complex cooling mechanisms to increase gas temperature, which is hindered by material constraints and inefficiencies in gas flow and recirculation.
Innovation Solution
A vacuum chamber design with a slidably mounted internal chamber body and external chamber body, featuring a gas distribution component with angled gas passages and a dome-shaped cavity to enhance gas flow uniformity, along with temperature-controlled components to maintain high internal chamber temperatures without exceeding external safety limits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the chamber temperature is increased to enhance the strip rate, then the photoresist removal efficiency is improved, but the chamber requires extensive heating mechanisms and complex cooling systems to meet safety requirements, increasing device complexity and manufacturing cost
Solution Approach 1:
The chamber is divided into two distinct parts: an internal chamber body that can be heated to high temperatures for enhanced strip rate, and an external chamber body that remains cool for safety. This segmentation allows each part to serve its specific temperature requirement independently, eliminating the need for complex cooling systems throughout the entire chamber.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating and cooling mechanisms are extracted from the chamber wall and relocated to the internal chamber body. The internal chamber body includes heating elements (resistive heaters or induction heating coils) integrated directly into its structure, allowing temperature control at the source without requiring external heating systems.
2Productivity
If conventional heating mechanisms are used to increase gas temperature for higher strip rate, then the photoresist removal speed is improved, but the manufacturing cost increases due to extensive heating and cooling requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The heating mechanisms are taken out from the chamber wall structure and integrated directly into the internal chamber body. This eliminates the need for complex wall-mounted heating systems and associated cooling requirements, thereby reducing manufacturing costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The internal chamber body is designed as a replaceable component that can be heated to high temperatures temporarily during processing. This allows the use of simpler, more cost-effective heating methods without requiring the entire chamber structure to be built with expensive temperature-resistant materials.
3Productivity
If the gas flow rate is increased to improve the strip rate, then the photoresist removal efficiency is improved, but the gas expansion reduces the gas temperature, counteracting the temperature increase
Solution Approach 1:
The internal chamber body is pre-heated to the desired temperature before gas flow is optimized. This preliminary heating ensures that even when high flow rates are used to improve strip rate, the gas maintains sufficient temperature because the chamber walls are already at the target temperature, compensating for the cooling effect of gas expansion.
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 design increases the strip rate of photoresist removal by up to 20% and reduces defective substrates by more than 50%, while maintaining safety and reducing manufacturing costs through efficient gas distribution and temperature control.
Implementation Method 1
a plasma source is provided to energize the process gas into plasma
Implementation Method 2
one or more heaters are provided to heat the internal chamber body
Implementation Method 3
a gas distribution component is provided with a very small surface area exposed to the process gas and includes a plurality of gas passages formed therein, wherein the gas flow fans out as it passes through the passages
Implementation Method 4
an exhaust unit is provided to remove the process gas from the chamber
Data Source
AI summary
A vacuum chamber for passivation and/or stripping a photoresist layer formed on a semiconductor substrate. The chamber includes an internal chamber body that forms a cavity to surround the substrate and has a plurality of gas passages extending therethrough to the cavity and one or more heaters to heat the internal chamber body. The internal chamber body is slidably mounted on an external chamber body that surrounds a side of the internal chamber with a gap therebetween. The device also includes: an exhaust unit operative to pump the gas from the cavity; a chamber top mounted on the internal chamber body to cover a top surface of the internal chamber body with a gap therebetween and having an opening in fluid communication with the gas passages; and a plasma source operative to energize the gas into a plasma state and coupled to the opening for fluid communication with the cavity.