MULTIFUNCTIONAL HEATER/CHILLER PEDESTAL FOR WIDE RANGE WAFER TEMPERATURE CONTROL

• US 20110147363A1
• Filed: 12/18/2009
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Zhou, Jianhua, Yap, Lipyeow, Baluja, Sanjeev, Nowak, Thomas, Rocha-Alvarez, Juan Carlos, Du Bois, Dale R., Nguyen, Tuan Anh
• Granted Patent: US 8,274,017 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 219/385
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67109 mainly by convection
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/68792 characterised by the construction of the shaft

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention generally relate to a semiconductor processing chamber and, more specifically, a heated support pedestal for a semiconductor processing chamber. In one embodiment, a pedestal for a semiconductor processing chamber is provided. The pedestal comprises a substrate support comprising a conductive material and having a support surface for receiving a substrate, a resistive heater encapsulated within the substrate support, a hollow shaft coupled to the substrate support at a first end and a mating interface at an opposing end, the hollow shaft comprising a shaft body having a hollow core, and a cooling channel assembly encircling the hollow core and disposed within the shaft body for removing heat from the pedestal via an internal cooling path, wherein the substrate support has a heat control gap positioned between the heating element and the ring-shaped cooling channel.

Claims

1. A pedestal for a semiconductor processing chamber, comprising:

a substrate support comprising a conductive material and having a support surface for receiving a substrate;

a resistive heater encapsulated within the substrate support;

a hollow shaft coupled to the substrate support at a first end and to a mating interface at a second end, the hollow shaft comprising;

a shaft body having;

a hollow core; and

a cooling channel assembly encircling the hollow core and disposed within the shaft body for removing heat from the pedestal via an internal cooling path, wherein the substrate support has a heat control gap positioned between the heating element and the ring-shaped cooling channel.

2. The pedestal of claim 1, wherein the resistive heater comprises a heating element having a center dense pattern to provide a radiant heating profile that matches and compensates for substrate thermal loss.

3. The pedestal of claim 1, wherein the cooling channel assembly comprises:

a ring-shaped cooling channel;

a cooling channel inlet for delivering a heat transfer fluid to the ring-shaped cooling channel; and

a cooling channel outlet for removing the heat transfer fluid from the ring-shaped cooling channel.

4. The pedestal of claim 3, where the ring-shaped cooling channel assembly further comprises a fluid recirculator coupled with the cooling channel inlet and the cooling channel outlet for supplying the heat transfer fluid to the ring-shaped cooling channel.

5. The pedestal of claim 4, wherein the cooling channel inlet extends longitudinally through the shaft body.

6. The pedestal of claim 1, wherein the heat control gap is formed by:

an upper wall;

an opposing lower wall; and

a peripheral wall which surrounds the heat control gap, wherein the peripheral wall is circular, thus giving the heat control gap a circular shape.

7. The pedestal of claim 6, wherein the heat control gap has a diameter between about 7.6 cm and about 10.2 cm and a height of between about 1 cm and about 1.3 cm.

8. The pedestal of claim 6, wherein a top of the resistive heater is positioned between about 0.3 cm and about 2 cm from the support surface of the substrate support and the upper wall of the heat control gap is positioned between about 1.3 cm and about 3.8 cm from the support surface.

9. The pedestal of claim 3, wherein the mating interface comprises:

a dielectric plug comprising;

at least one exposed electrical connector being adapted to couple a power outlet disposed on the processing chamber and being electrically isolated from the hollow shaft, wherein the cooling channel inlet and the cooling channel outlet traverse the dielectric plug and are electrically isolated from the at least one exposed electrical connector.

10. The pedestal of claim 1, wherein a top of the cooling channel is positioned a distance from the resistive heater to yield a maximum planar deflection of the support surface of no greater than five thousandth of an inch.

11. The pedestal of claim 9, further comprising a pair of conductive leads coupling the mating interface with the encapsulated resistive heater, wherein the conductive leads are positioned within the hollow core.

17. The pedestal of claim 2, wherein the cooling channel inlet extends longitudinally through the shaft body.

12. A pedestal for a semiconductor processing chamber, comprising:

a substrate support comprising a conductive material and having a support surface for receiving a substrate;

a hollow shaft coupled with the substrate support comprising;

a shaft body having a hollow core; and

an active cooling system providing for active control of the temperature of a substrate positioned on the support surface comprising;

a heating element encapsulated within the substrate support; and

a cooling channel assembly encircling the hollow core and disposed within the shaft body for removing heat from the pedestal via an internal cooling path, wherein a heat control gap is positioned between the heating element and the ring-shaped cooling channel.

13. The pedestal of claim 12, wherein a top of the cooling channel is positioned a distance from the heating element to yield a maximum planar deflection of the support surface of no greater than five thousandth of an inch.

14. The pedestal of claim 13, wherein the resistive heater comprises a heating element having a center dense pattern to provide a radiant heating profile that matches and compensates for substrate thermal loss.

15. The pedestal of claim 12, wherein the cooling channel assembly comprises:

a ring-shaped cooling channel;

a cooling channel inlet for delivering a heat transfer fluid to the ring-shaped cooling channel; and

a cooling channel outlet for removing the heat transfer fluid from the ring-shaped cooling channel.

16. The pedestal of claim 15, where the ring-shaped cooling channel assembly further comprises a fluid recirculator coupled with the cooling channel inlet and the cooling channel outlet for supplying the heat transfer fluid to the ring-shaped cooling channel.

18. A plasma processing system, comprising:

a processing chamber body having;

sidewalls;

a bottom wall; and

an interior sidewall defining a pair of processing regions; and

a pedestal disposed in at least one of the pair of processing regions;

comprising;

a substrate support comprising a conductive material and having a support surface for receiving a substrate;

a hollow shaft coupled with the substrate support comprising;

a shaft body having a hollow core; and

an active cooling system providing for active control of the temperature of a substrate positioned on the support surface comprising;

a heating element encapsulated within the substrate support; and

a cooling channel assembly encircling the hollow core and disposed within the shaft body for removing heat from the pedestal via an internal cooling path, wherein a heat control gap is positioned between the heating element and the ring-shaped cooling channel; and

a radio frequency source is coupled with the processing chamber body.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the cooling channel assembly comprises:

a ring-shaped cooling channel;

a cooling channel inlet for delivering a heat transfer fluid to the ring-shaped cooling channel; and

a cooling channel outlet for removing the heat transfer fluid from the ring-shaped cooling channel.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the heat control gap is formed by:

an upper wall;

an opposing lower wall; and

a peripheral wall which surrounds the heat control gap, wherein the peripheral wall is circular, thus giving the heat control gap a circular shape.