EP0272142A2
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EP
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Magnetic field enhanced plasma etch reactor
Assignee: Applied Materials Inc
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Filing: 1987-12-18
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2007-12-18
Abstract
Abstract A magnetic field enhanced single wafer plasma etch reactor (60) is disclosed. The features of the reactor include an electrically-controlled stepped magnetic field for providing high rate uniform etching at high pressures; temperature controlled reactor surfaces including heated anode surfaces (walls and gas manifold) and a cooled wafer supporting pedestal/cathode (70,72); and a unitary wafer exchange mechanism (74) comprising wafer lift pins (79) which extend through the pedestal and a wafer clamp ring (78). The lift pins and clamp ring are moved vertically by a one-axis lift mechanism (140) to accept the wafer from a co-operating external robot blade (76), clamp the wafer to the pedestal and return the wafer to the blade. The electrode cooling combines water cooling for the body of the electrode (70) and a thermal conductivity-enhancing gas interface between the wafer and electrode for keeping the wafer surface cooled despite the high power densities applied to the electrode. A gas feed-through device (114, 175, 176) applies the cooling gas to the RF powered electrode (72) without breakdown of the gas. Protective coatings/layers (81,83) of materials such as quartz are provided for surfaces such as the clamp ring and gas manifold. The combination of these features provides a wide pressure regime, high etch rate, high throughput single wafer etcher wich provides uniformity, directionality and selectivity at high gas pressure, operates cleanly and incorporates in-situ self-cleaning capability.
Inventors
- 👤 David Cheng
- 👤 Dan Maydan
- 👤 Sasson Somekh
- 👤 Kenneth R. Stalder
- 👤 Dana L. Andrews
- 👤 Mei Chang
- 👤 John M. White
- 👤 Jerry Yuen Kui Wong
- 👤 Vladimir J. Zeitlin
- 👤 David Nin-Kou Wang
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 18:50
CPC Classifications
H; H10; H10P; H10P72/00; H10P72/04; H10P72/0402; H10P72/0418; H10P72/0421; H01; H01J; H01J37/00; H01J37/32; H01J37/32431; H01J37/32458; H01J37/32477; H01J37/32623; H01J37/32733; H01J37/32743; H01J37/32788; H01J37/32798; H01J37/32853; H01J37/32862
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
122 words
A vacuum processing reactor, comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for etching a wafer positioned within the chamber at a high rate and with etching uniformity substantially independent of pressure, comprising: a pedestal for supporting the wafer; a gas manifold for supplying reactant gases to the chamber; means for applying RF energy between the wafer support pedestal and the gas manifold for generating a wafer etching plasma; electric current-controlled magnetic field generating means for forming a D.C. magnetic field generally parallel to the wafer surface; and means for selectively applying current to the field generating means for independently controlling the intensity and orientation of the magnetic field to provide a uniform etch plasma over the surface of the wafer.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
122 words
A vacuum processing reactor, comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for etching a wafer positioned within the chamber at a high rate and with etching uniformity substantially independent of pressure, comprising: a pedestal for supporting the wafer; a gas manifold for supplying reactant gases to the chamber; means for applying RF energy between the wafer support pedestal and the gas manifold for generating a wafer etching plasma; electric current-controlled magnetic field generating means for forming a D.C. magnetic field generally parallel to the wafer surface; and means for selectively applying current to the field generating means for independently controlling the intensity and orientation of the magnetic field to provide a uniform etch plasma over the surface of the wafer.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
129 words
A vacuum processing reactor comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for uniformly etching a wafer positioned within the chamber at a high rate, the etching uniformity being substantially independent of pressure, said adaptation comprising: a pedestal for supporting the wafer; a gas manifold for supplying reactant gases to the chamber; means for applying RF energy between the wafer support electrode and the gas manifold for generating a wafer etching plasma; D.C. magnetic field generating means comprising at [east first and second pairs of electromagnets disposed around the periphery of the housing for forming a magnetic field parallel to the wafer surface; and means for applying selected currents to the magnets for stepping the D.C. magnetic field angularly around the wafer to provide a uniform etching plasma.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
129 words
A vacuum processing reactor comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for uniformly etching a wafer positioned within the chamber at a high rate, the etching uniformity being substantially independent of pressure, said adaptation comprising: a pedestal for supporting the wafer; a gas manifold for supplying reactant gases to the chamber; means for applying RF energy between the wafer support electrode and the gas manifold for generating a wafer etching plasma; D.C. magnetic field generating means comprising at [east first and second pairs of electromagnets disposed around the periphery of the housing for forming a magnetic field parallel to the wafer surface; and means for applying selected currents to the magnets for stepping the D.C. magnetic field angularly around the wafer to provide a uniform etching plasma.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
134 words
A vacuum processing reactor comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for processing of a wafer positioned within the chamber, the housing having an opening therein to allow insertion of a horizontally oriented wafer into the chamber, to a first selected position, and removal of the wafer from the chamber; said adaptation further comprising: a pedestal assembly having a horizontal upper face for supporting the wafer, said pedestal face being generally aligned with the first selected position; wafer exchange means comprising a group of generally vertical pins extending through vertical holes in the pedestal; and means for sequentially moving the wafer exchange means upwardly and downwardly to selected positions for removing the wafer from the first selected position, clamping the wafer to the pedestal and returning the wafer to the selected position.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
134 words
A vacuum processing reactor comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for processing of a wafer positioned within the chamber, the housing having an opening therein to allow insertion of a horizontally oriented wafer into the chamber, to a first selected position, and removal of the wafer from the chamber; said adaptation further comprising: a pedestal assembly having a horizontal upper face for supporting the wafer, said pedestal face being generally aligned with the first selected position; wafer exchange means comprising a group of generally vertical pins extending through vertical holes in the pedestal; and means for sequentially moving the wafer exchange means upwardly and downwardly to selected positions for removing the wafer from the first selected position, clamping the wafer to the pedestal and returning the wafer to the selected position.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
168 words
A vacuum processing reactor comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for processing of a wafer positioned within the chamber, the housing having an opening therein to allow insertion of a horizontally oriented wafer into the chamber, to a first selected position, and removal of the wafer from the chamber; said adaptation further comprising: a pedestal assembly having a horizontal upper face for supporting the wafer, said pedestal face being generally aligned with the first selected position; wafer exchange means comprising a clamping ring having the axis thereof oriented generally parallel to the pedestal and a group of generally vertically oriented pins arranged in a circular array of diameter less than the clamp ring diameter, said upper ends of the pins being spaced vertically below said clamping ring; and means for sequentially moving the wafer exchange means upwardly and downwardly to selected positions for removing the wafer from the first selected position, clamping the wafer to the pedestal and returning the wafer to the selected position.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
168 words
A vacuum processing reactor comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for processing of a wafer positioned within the chamber, the housing having an opening therein to allow insertion of a horizontally oriented wafer into the chamber, to a first selected position, and removal of the wafer from the chamber; said adaptation further comprising: a pedestal assembly having a horizontal upper face for supporting the wafer, said pedestal face being generally aligned with the first selected position; wafer exchange means comprising a clamping ring having the axis thereof oriented generally parallel to the pedestal and a group of generally vertically oriented pins arranged in a circular array of diameter less than the clamp ring diameter, said upper ends of the pins being spaced vertically below said clamping ring; and means for sequentially moving the wafer exchange means upwardly and downwardly to selected positions for removing the wafer from the first selected position, clamping the wafer to the pedestal and returning the wafer to the selected position.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
61 words
The reactor of Claim 1. 2 or 3, the wafer exchange means further comprising a clamping ring having the axis thereof generally parallel to the pedestal or electrode, the group of wafer support pins being arranged in an array of diameter less than the clamping ring diameter, and said clamp ring being spaced vertically above the group of wafer support pins.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
17 words
The reactor of Claim 3 or 4, further comprising means for applying RF energy to the pedestal.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
50 words
The reactor of any of Claim 1, 2 or 4 further comprising means for circulating cooling fluid within the pedestal and means for applying gas at a low pressure between the face of the pedestal and a wafer clamp thereto to enhance thermal conductivity between the wafer and the pedestal.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
31 words
The reactor of Claim 7, further comprising means disposed on the exterior of the reactor for heating the internal reactor surfaces to a predetermined temperature for preventing deposits on said surfaces.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
97 words
The vacuum processing reactor of Claim 7, further comprising a feed-through device for coupling the cooling gas at low pressure to the powered pedestal without ionization, comprising a housing having a gas inlet adapted for receiving the cooling gas and a spaced gas outlet connected to the pedestal, said housing further comprising a pair of internal, closely spaced apertured plates transversely spanning the path of the gas, one of the said plates on the outlet side of the gas flow being connected electrically in common with the pedestal, and the other plate being connected to system ground.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
28 words
The reactor of any of Claim 1. 2 or 4. further comprising an etch impervious coating of material such as quartz over the gas manifold and clamp ring.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
140 words
A vacuum processing reactor comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for the processing of a wafer positioned within the chamber, the housing having an opening therein for receiving a positioning of the wafer blade over the pedestal, removing the wafer from the blade position, and returning the wafer to the blade position; a gas manifold for supplying reactive gas to the chamber; means for applying RF energy to the pedestal to form an etching plasma from the reactive gas for etching the wafer; and magnetic field generating means comprising at least first and second pairs of electromagnets disposed about the housing for forming a D.C. magnetic field parallel to the wafer surface; and means for applying current to the electromagnets to step the D.C. field over the surface of the wafer to provide a uniform etch plasma.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
140 words
A vacuum processing reactor comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for the processing of a wafer positioned within the chamber, the housing having an opening therein for receiving a positioning of the wafer blade over the pedestal, removing the wafer from the blade position, and returning the wafer to the blade position; a gas manifold for supplying reactive gas to the chamber; means for applying RF energy to the pedestal to form an etching plasma from the reactive gas for etching the wafer; and magnetic field generating means comprising at least first and second pairs of electromagnets disposed about the housing for forming a D.C. magnetic field parallel to the wafer surface; and means for applying current to the electromagnets to step the D.C. field over the surface of the wafer to provide a uniform etch plasma.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
45 words
The vacuum processing reactor of Claim 11, further comprising means for circulating cooling fluid within the pedestal and means for applying gas at low pressure between the pedestal face and a wafer on the pedestal to enhance thermal conductivity between the wafer and the pedestal.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
97 words
The vacuum processing reactor of Claim 12, further comprising a feed-through device for coupling the cooling gas at low pressure to the powered pedestal without ionization, comprising a housing having a gas inlet adapted for receiving the cooling gas and a spaced gas outlet connected to the pedestal, said housing further comprising a pair of internal, closely spaced apertured plates transversely spanning the path of the gas, one of the said plates on the outlet side of the gas flow being connected electrically in common with the pedestal, and the other plate being connected to system ground.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
31 words
The reactor of Claim 13, further comprising means disposed on the exterior of the reactor for heating the internal reactor surfaces to a predetermined temperature for preventing deposits on said surfaces.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
25 words
The reactor of Claim 13 or 14, further comprising an etch impervious coating of material such as quartz over the gas manifold and clamp ring.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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