CLUSTER TOOL FOR ADVANCED FRONT-END PROCESSING

• US 20070134821A1
• Filed: 07/28/2006
• Published: 06/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Thakur, Randhir, Samoilov, Arkadii, Hansson, Per-Ove
• Application Number:
  US11/460,864
• Publication Number:
  US 20070134821A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/5
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 6/00 Cleaning by electrostatic means domestic cleaning implements functioning electrostatically A47L13/40; cleaning of grooved record carriers G11B3/58
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 7/0057 by ultraviolet radiation
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/00 Chemical coating by decomposition of gaseous compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating, i.e. chemical vapour deposition [CVD] processes reactive sputtering or vacuum evaporation C23C14/00
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45546 specially adapted for a substrate stack in the ALD reactor
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45593 Recirculation of reactive gases
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4584 the substrate being rotated
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/481 by radiant heating of the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/54 Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67017 Apparatus for fluid treatment H01L21/67126, H01L21/6715 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67109 mainly by convection
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67115 mainly by radiation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67167 surrounding a central transfer chamber
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/6719 characterized by the construction of the processing chambers, e.g. modular processing chambers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67207 comprising a chamber adapted to a particular process
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67745 characterized by movements or sequence of movements of transfer devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67757 vertical transfer of a batch of workpieces
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67781 Batch transfer of wafers

Abstract

Aspects of the invention generally provide an apparatus and method for processing substrates using a multi-chamber processing system that is adapted to process substrates and analyze the results of the processes performed on the substrate. In one aspect of the invention, one or more analysis steps and/or precleaning steps are utilized to reduce the effect of queue time on device yield. In one aspect of the invention, a system controller and the one or more analysis chambers are utilized to monitor and control a process chamber recipe and/or a process sequence to reduce substrate scrap due to defects in the formed device and device performance variability issues. Embodiments of the present invention also generally provide methods and a system for repeatably and reliably forming semiconductor devices used in a variety of applications.

Claims

1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:

one or more walls that form a transfer region that has a robot disposed therein;

a first support chamber disposed within the transfer region and adapted to measure a property of a surface of the substrate;

a substrate processing chamber in communication with the transfer region; and

a preclean chamber that is adapted to prepare a surface of a substrate before performing a processing step in the substrate processing chamber.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transfer region is maintained at a pressure between about 10⁻

6 Torr and about 700 Torr.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first support chamber is adapted to measure a property of a surface of a substrate using a XRD, XPS, reflectometer, or ellipsometer techniques.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate processing chamber is a decoupled plasma nitride (DPN) chamber, an rapid thermal processing (RTP) chamber, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chamber, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) chamber, or a physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a second support chamber that is adapted to remove contamination from a surface of a substrate, wherein the contamination is removed by delivering ultraviolet (UV) radiation to a surface of the substrate from a source disposed on the one or more walls.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the property of the surface of the substrate measured in the first support chamber is a property selected from a group consisting of stress, strain, thickness and composition of material contained within the region.

7. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:

one or more walls that form a transfer region that has a robot disposed therein;

one or more substrate processing chambers that are in communication with the transfer region;

a support chamber that is in transferable communication with the robot, wherein the support chamber is adapted to measure a property of a surface of the substrate; and

a processing chamber that is in communication with the transfer region, wherein the processing chamber comprises;

a substrate support positioned within a processing region of the processing chamber; and

a first radiation source that is adapted to deliver one or more UV wavelengths of light to a surface of a substrate that is positioned on the substrate support.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the transfer region is maintained at a pressure between about 10⁻

6 Torr and about 700 Torr.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the one or more substrate processing chambers is a decoupled plasma nitride (DPN) chamber, an rapid thermal processing (RTP) chamber, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chamber, or an atomic layer deposition (ALD) chamber.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the support chamber is adapted to measure a property of a surface of a substrate using a XRD, XPS, reflectometer, or ellipsometer techniques.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a second support chamber that is adapted to remove contamination from a surface of a substrate, wherein the contamination is removed by delivering ultraviolet (UV) radiation to a surface of the substrate from a second radiation source connected to at least one of the one or more walls.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first radiation source that is adapted to deliver one or more wavelengths of light in a range between about 120 nm and about 430 nm at a power density between about 1 and about 25 mWatts/cm².

13. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the process chamber further comprises a gas source that is adapted to deliver a cleaning gas to the processing region, wherein the cleaning gas contains hydrogen.

14. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

a pod that is adapted to contain two or more substrates;

a load lock in communication with the robot, wherein the load lock is adapted to be evacuated to a pressure below atmospheric pressure; and

a second robot that is adapted to transfer one of the two or more substrates positioned in the pod between the pod and the load lock.

15. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the property of the surface of the substrate measured in the support chamber is a property selected from a group consisting of stress, strain, thickness and composition of material contained within the region.

16. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:

one or more walls that form a transfer region that has a robot disposed therein;

a support chamber that is in transferable communication with the robot, wherein the support chamber is adapted to measure a property of a surface of the substrate;

a first processing chamber that is in communication with the transfer region, wherein the first processing chamber comprises;

a substrate support positioned within a processing region of the processing chamber; and

a first radiation source that is adapted to deliver one or more UV wavelengths of light to a surface of a substrate that is positioned on the substrate support; and

a second processing chamber that is in communication with the transfer region, wherein the second processing chamber comprises;

a substrate support positioned within a processing region of the processing chamber;

a second radiation source that is adapted to deliver one or more UV wavelengths of light to a surface of a substrate that is positioned on the substrate support; and

a gas source that is adapted to deliver a cleaning gas to the processing region, wherein the cleaning gas contains hydrogen.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the transfer region is maintained at a pressure between about 10⁻

6 Torr and about 700 Torr.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first processing chamber is a decoupled plasma nitride (DPN) chamber, an rapid thermal processing (RTP) chamber, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chamber, or an atomic layer deposition (ALD) chamber.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the support chamber is adapted to measure a property of a surface of a substrate using a XRD, XPS, reflectometer, or ellipsometer techniques.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a second support chamber that is adapted to remove contamination from a surface of a substrate, wherein the contamination is removed by delivering ultraviolet (UV) radiation to a surface of the substrate from a second radiation source connected to at least one of the one or more walls.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first and second radiation sources are adapted to deliver one or more wavelengths of light in a range between about 120 nm and about 430 nm at a power density between about 1 and about 25 mWatts/cm².

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the property of the surface of the substrate measured in the support chamber is a property selected from a group consisting of stress, strain, thickness and composition of material contained within the region.

23. A method of forming a semiconductor device in a cluster tool, comprising:

modifying a surface of a substrate in a substrate processing chamber;

measuring a property of a region of the substrate after modifying the surface of the substrate;

comparing the measured property with values stored in a system controller; and

modifying a process variable during the modifying a surface of a substrate process based on the comparison of the measured property and the values stored in the system controller.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein measuring a property of a region includes measuring a property selected from a group consisting of stress, strain, thickness and composition of material contained within the region.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising precleaning the surface of the substrate prior to modifying the surface of the substrate.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising removing contamination from the surface of the substrate before forming the device feature, wherein removing contamination comprises:

exposing a surface of the substrate to radiation having at least one wavelength within a range between about 120 nm and about 430 nm ;

providing a cleaning gas to that contains hydrogen to the surface of the substrate; and

heating the substrate to a temperature below about 750°

C.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein modifying a surface of a substrate comprises performing a process selected from a group consisting of a decoupled plasma nitride (DPN) process, an epitaxial-layer (EPI) deposition process, a rapid thermal processing (RTP) process, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, and a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein modifying a surface of a substrate further comprises exposing a surface of the substrate to radiation having at least one wavelength within a range between about 120 nm and about 430 nm during the modifying a surface processing step.

29. A method of forming a semiconductor device in a cluster tool, comprising:

modifying a surface of a substrate in a substrate processing chamber;

positioning a substrate in a transferring region of the cluster tool using a robot that is disposed within the transferring region;

measuring a property of the surface of the substrate that is positioned in the transferring region;

comparing the measured property with values stored in a system controller; and

adjusting a process variable in the modifying a surface of a substrate process based on the comparison of the measured property and the values stored in the system controller.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising precleaning the surface of the substrate prior to forming a device feature.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein measuring a property of a region includes measuring a property selected from a group consisting of stress, strain, thickness and composition of material contained within the region.

32. The method of claim 29, further comprising removing contamination from the surface of the substrate before forming the device feature by exposing a surface of the substrate to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from a radiation source.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein modifying a surface of a substrate comprises performing a process selected from a group consisting of a decoupled plasma nitride (DPN) process, an epitaxial-layer (EPI) deposition process, a rapid thermal processing (RTP) process, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, and a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process.

34. The method of claim 29, further comprising removing contamination from the surface of the substrate before forming the device feature, wherein removing contamination comprises:

exposing a surface of the substrate to radiation having at least one wavelength within a range between about 120 nm and about 430 nm ;

providing a cleaning gas to that contains hydrogen to the surface of the substrate; and

heating the substrate to a temperature below about 750°

C.

35. The method of claim 29, wherein modifying a surface of a substrate further comprises exposing a surface of the substrate to radiation having at least one wavelength within a range between about 120 nm and about 430 nm during the modifying a surface processing step.