SUBSTRATE PROCESS APPARATUS, SUBSTRATE PROCESS METHOD, AND COMPUTER READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM

• US 20110100489A1
• Filed: 11/01/2010
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Original Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Inventors: Tamura, Tatsuya, Orito, Kohichi, Honma, Manabu
• Granted Patent: US 8,746,170 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 137/560
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45502 Flow conditions in reaction chamber
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45551 for relative movement of the substrate and the gas injectors or half-reaction reactor compartments
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45557 Pulsed pressure or control pressure
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45587 Mechanical means for changing the gas flow
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67253 Process monitoring, e.g. flow or thickness monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/68764 characterised by a movable susceptor, stage or support, others than those only rotating on their own vertical axis, e.g. susceptors on a rotating caroussel
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/68771 characterised by supporting more than one semiconductor substrate
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/8376 Combined

Abstract

A vacuum chamber is evacuated through a first evacuation passage provided with a first valve and a second evacuation passage provided with a second valve. An opening degree of the first valve is adjusted so that a pressure in the vacuum chamber becomes substantially equal to a process pressure P; an opening degree of a butterfly valve further provided in the second evacuation passage is adjusted to substantially equal to a set value determined by a table in order to set flow rates of gases to be evacuated through the first evacuation passage and the second evacuation passage to be substantially equal to corresponding set values determined by the recipe; and an opening degree of the second valve is adjusted so that a measurement value of a differential pressure gauge further provided in the second evacuation passage becomes substantially equal to a differential pressure written in the table.

Claims

1. A substrate process apparatus that performs a process with respect to a substrate under vacuum by supplying a process gas from a process gas supplying portion to the substrate placed on a susceptor in a vacuum chamber, the substrate process apparatus comprising:

first and second evacuation passages through which the vacuum chamber is evacuated;

a first pressure adjustment valve provided in the first evacuation passage;

a second pressure adjustment valve provided in the second evacuation passage;

a conductance adjustment portion provided in a primary side of the second pressure adjustment valve in the second evacuation passage in order to adjust conductance of the second evacuation passage;

a first pressure measurement instrument for measuring a pressure in the vacuum chamber;

a differential pressure measurement portion that measures a differential pressure between the primary side and the secondary side of the conductance adjustment portion;

a storage portion that stores data prescribing a relationship of the pressure in the vacuum chamber, an adjustment value of the conductance adjustment portion, a flow rate of gas to be evacuated through the second evacuation passage, and the differential pressure; and

a control portion that reads out the pressure in the vacuum chamber, the adjustment value of the conductance adjustment portion, and the differential pressure which correspond to a set value of the flow rate of gas to be evacuated through the second evacuation passage from the data stored in the storage portion, and outputs instruction signals to the first pressure adjustment portion in order to adjust the pressure in the vacuum pressure to be the pressure read out from the data, to the conductance adjustment portion in order to adjust conductance in the second evacuation passage to be the adjustment value read out from the data, and to the second pressure adjustment valve in order to adjust a differential pressure across the conductance adjustment portion to be the differential value read-out from the data.

2. The substrate process apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conductance adjustment portion is a butterfly valve, and the adjustment value of the conductance is an opening degree of the butterfly valve.

3. The substrate process apparatus of claim 1, wherein the process is a film deposition process performed by carrying out a cycle of alternately supplying at least two kinds of reaction gases that react with each other to the substrate to produce a layer of a reaction product, thereby forming a film on the substrate, the substrate process apparatus further comprising:

a first reaction gas supplying portion and a second reaction gas supplying portion that are arranged away from each other in a circumferential direction of the vacuum chamber, and supply a first reaction gas and a second reaction gas to the substrate on the susceptor, respectively;

a separation area that is arranged between a first process area where the first reaction gas is supplied and a second process area where the second reaction gas is supplied, and supplies separation gas from a separation gas supplying portion, thereby separating atmospheres of the first process area and the second process area, and

a rotation mechanism that rotates the susceptor and a combination of the first reaction gas supplying portion, the second reaction gas supplying portion, and the separation area in relation to each other, so that the substrate can be positioned in the first process area, the separation area, and the second process area in this order,

wherein the first evacuation passage is provided so that the first reaction gas and part of the separation gas are evacuated through the first evacuation passage, and the second evacuation passage is provided so that the second reaction gas and remaining part of the separation gas are evacuated through the second evacuation passage.

4. The substrate process apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data in the storage portion are obtained before the process is performed with respect to the substrate, by the steps of

(a) closing the first pressure adjustment valve and opening the second pressure adjustment valve,

(b) supplying a flow rate control gas to the vacuum chamber, adjusting the adjustment value of the conductance adjustment portion so that the pressure in the vacuum chamber becomes substantially equal to a predetermined pressure, and obtaining the adjustment value of the conductance adjustment portion and the differential pressure, and

(c) repeating the steps (a) and (b) for plural combinations of a flow rate of the flow rate adjustment gas and the pressure in the vacuum chamber.

5. A substrate process method comprising the steps of

placing a substrate on a susceptor in a vacuum chamber and supplying a process gas to the substrate;

evacuating the vacuum chamber through a first evacuation passage provided with a first pressure adjustment valve and a second evacuation passages provided with a second pressure adjustment valve;

reading out data from a storage portion;

adjusting the first pressure adjustment valve so that the pressure in the vacuum chamber becomes substantially equal to the pressure value stored in the data, and adjusting a conductance adjustment portion provided in a primary side of the second pressure adjustment portion in the second evacuation passage so that the adjustment value of the conductance adjustment portion becomes substantially equal to the adjustment value stored in the data; and

adjusting the second pressure adjustment valve so that a differential pressure between a primary side and a secondary side of the conductance adjustment portion becomes substantially equal to the differential pressure stored in the data,

wherein the step of reading out reads out the pressure in the vacuum pressure, the adjustment value of the conductance adjustment portion, and the differential pressure that correspond to a set valve of a flow rate of gas to be evacuated through the second evacuation passage.

6. The substrate process method of claim 5, wherein the process is a film deposition process performed by carrying out a cycle of alternately supplying at least two kinds of reaction gases that react with each other to the substrate to produce a layer of a reaction product, thereby forming a film on the substrate,

wherein a first reaction gas and a second reaction gas are supplied from a first reaction gas supplying portion and a second reaction gas supplying portion that are arranged away from each other in a circumferential direction of the vacuum chamber are supplied to the substrate on the susceptor, respectively in the step of supplying the process gas;

wherein the substrate process method further comprises steps of

supplying a separation gas from a separation area that is arranged between a first process area where the first reaction gas is supplied and a second process area where the second reaction gas is supplied in the circumferential direction, in order to separate atmospheres of the first process area and the second process area; and

rotating the susceptor and a combination of the first reaction gas supplying portion, the second reaction gas supplying portion, and the separation area in relation to each other, so that the substrate can be positioned in the first process area, the separation area, and the second process area in this order, and

wherein the first reaction gas and part of the separation gas are evacuated through a first evacuation passage, and the second reaction gas and remaining part of the separation gas are evacuated through the second evacuation passage in the step of evacuating.

7. A storage medium storing a computer program to be used in a substrate process apparatus that performs a process with respect to a substrate under vacuum by supplying a process gas from a process gas supplying portion to the substrate placed on a susceptor in a vacuum chamber, the program includes a group of steps causing the substrate process apparatus to perform the substrate process apparatus of claim 5.