Low temperature absorption layer deposition and high speed optical annealing system

• US 20060260545A1
• Filed: 05/17/2005
• Published: 11/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Ramaswamy, Kartik, Mayur, Abhilash J., Hanawa, Hiroji, Collins, Kenneth S., Nguyen, Andrew, Al-Bayati, Amir, Parihar, Vijay, Jennings, Dean, Gallo, Biagio, Ma, Kai
• Application Number:
  US11/131,900
• Publication Number:
  US 20060260545A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 118/719
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/26 Deposition of carbon only
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/507 using external electrodes, e.g. in tunnel type reactors
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/56 After-treatment
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32082 Radio frequency generated discharge H01J37/32357, H01J37/32366, H01J37/32394 and H01J37/32403 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02115 the material being carbon, e.g. alpha-C, diamond or hydrogen doped carbon
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/3146 Carbon layers, e.g. diamond-like layers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67115 mainly by radiation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67207 comprising a chamber adapted to a particular process

Abstract

An integrated system for processing a semiconductor wafer includes a toroidal source plasma reactor for depositing a heat absorbing layer, the reactor including a wafer support, a reactor chamber, an external reentrant toroidal conduit coupled to said chamber on generally opposing sides thereof, an RF source power applicator for coupling power to a section of said external reentrant conduit and a process gas source containing a heat absorbing material precursor gas. The integrated system further includes an optical annealing chamber.

Claims

1. An integrated system for processing a semiconductor wafer, comprising:

a toroidal source plasma reactor for depositing a heat absorbing layer, comprising;

a wafer support,

a reactor chamber and an external reentrant toroidal conduit coupled to said chamber on generally opposing sides thereof,

an RF source power applicator for coupling power to a section of said external reentrant conduit,

a process gas source containing a heat absorbing material precursor gas; and

an optical annealing chamber.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said optical annealing chamber is a rapid thermal annealing chamber.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said optical annealing chamber is a flash annealing chamber.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said optical annealing chamber is a laser annealing chamber.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said laser annealing chamber is a dynamic surface annealing chamber.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said dynamic surface annealing chamber comprises:

an array of CW lasers;

a set of cylindrical lenslets at the outputs of respective lasers of said array for collimating light from said lasers along a fast scan axis; and

a homogenizing light pipe for homogenizing intensity distribution of the light from said array of lasers along a slow axis transverse to said fast axis with multiple reflections along said slow axis and little or no reflections along said fast axis;

optics for focusing light from said light pipe into a line beam parallel to said slow axis and a scanner for scanning said line beam along said fast axis.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a strip reactor for removing the heat absorbing layer from the workpiece.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising:

a dopant ion implantation reactor for forming junctions in the workpiece;

a photoresist strip chamber for removing ion implant-defining photoresist from the wafer prior to dynamic surface annealing.

9. The system of claim 8 further comprising:

a post-CVD ion implantation reactor for implanting enhancement species into the deposited heat absorbing layer.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising a pre-implant clean reactor for cleaning wafers prior to implantation of dopant ions.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said toroidal plasma source reactor further comprises a D.C. break in said external reentrant conduit.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising a second external reentrant conduit transverse to the first reentrant conduit and a D.C. break in the second conduit.

13. The system of claim 1 further comprising a wafer support and an RF bias power or voltage generator coupled to said wafer support.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the wafer support is comprised of an electrostatic chuck having a buried electrode, said system further comprising a heat sink for cooling said electrostatic chuck, and a D.C. voltage supply for applying a wafer clamping force to the workpiece in accordance with a desired thermal conductance between the workpiece and the electrostatic chuck or heat sink.

15. The system of claim 1 further comprising a vacuum transfer wafer handling system.