PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD THEREOF

• US 20120058649A1
• Filed: 08/23/2011
• Published: 03/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: OKUMURA, Tomohiro, NAKAYAMA, Ichiro, KAWAURA, Hiroshi, YUKIMOTO, Tetsuya
• Granted Patent: US 8,624,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/798
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02667 Crystallisation or recrystallisation of non-monocrystalline semiconductor materials, e.g. regrowth
• CPC Class Codes: H05H 1/28 Cooling arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H05H 1/34 Details, e.g. electrodes, nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: H05H 1/3405 Arrangements for stabilising or constricting the arc, e.g. by an additional gas flow

Abstract

In a plasma torch unit, copper rods forming a coil as a whole are disposed inside copper rod inserting holes formed in a quartz block so that the quartz block is cooled by water flowing inside the copper rod inserting holes and cooling water pipes. A plasma ejection port is formed on the lowermost portion of the torch unit. While a gas is being supplied into a space inside an elongated chamber, high-frequency power is supplied to the copper rods to generate plasma in the space inside the elongated chamber so that the plasma is applied to a substrate.

Claims

1. A plasma processing apparatus comprising:

a case having a chamber that communicates with an opening having a slit shape, and is surrounded by a dielectric member;

a gas supply device for supplying a gas to the chamber through a gas introducing port;

a conductive unit that is disposed in a manner so as to bridge over the chamber in the case and generates a high-frequency electromagnetic field in the chamber;

a high-frequency power supply that supplies high-frequency power to the conductive unit; and

a substrate mounting base on which a substrate is mounted, and which is disposed so as to face the opening,

wherein a longitudinal direction of the chamber and a longitudinal direction of the opening are disposed in parallel with each other, and

the conductive unit is formed by electrically connecting a plurality of conductor members that are disposed in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the chamber, with the chamber being sandwiched therebetween.

2. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the conductor members is surrounded by a dielectric member, and one portion of the dielectric member surrounding the conductor members is disposed to be exposed to a space inside the chamber.

3. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a shifting device that allows the chamber and the substrate mounting base to shift relative to each other in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the opening.

4. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein one portion of an inner wall of the chamber is made of a conductor block, and a dielectric tube is fitted to a fitting concave portion for the dielectric tube, formed in the conductor block, and a gas introducing passage for introducing a gas into the chamber through a gap between the concave portion of the conductor block and the dielectric tube is formed in the case, and

a dielectric tube protective gas supply device for supplying a dielectric tube protective gas to the gas introducing passage is further installed.

5. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a shield gas supply member having a shield gas introducing port for supplying a shield gas, the shield gas supply member that is placed in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the opening, in a separate manner from the gas introducing port, and formed on a surface opposed to the opening; and

a shield gas supply device for supplying the shield gas from the shield gas introducing port.

6. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conductor member has a hollow tube shape, and a coolant is allowed to flow through an inner space defined by a tube formed by the conductor member so that the conductor member is cooled.

7. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the case is formed by surrounding a periphery of the dielectric member with a conductor.

8. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a dielectric block is placed in the case, with the conductor member being installed in an elongated hole of the dielectric block formed near the chamber, in parallel with the chamber so that the respective conductor members are surrounded by the dielectric member.

9. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein, on a cross-section taken along a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, that includes the chamber, a shortest distance from the conductor member to each of the a conductor other than the conductor member is set to be longer than a shortest distance from the conductor member to the chamber.

10. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the chamber surrounded by the dielectric member is prepared as a slit formed in the dielectric block, with the elongated hole being formed near the slit of the dielectric block.

11. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the high-frequency power supply supplies the high-frequency power to the plurality of conductor members that are made to face each other with the chamber interposed therebetween, so as to allow high-frequency currents with reversed phases to flow through the plurality of conductor members that are made to face each other with the chamber interposed therebetween.

12. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein, among the plurality of conductor members, the high-frequency power supply supplies the high-frequency power to the plurality of conductor members that are made to face each other with the chamber interposed therebetween, so as to allow high-frequency currents with the same phase to flow through the conductor members that are made to face each other with the chamber interposed therebetween.

13. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the elongated hole is designed to function as a coolant passage that allows a coolant to flow therethrough.

14. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein a space is formed between the case that is grounded and the dielectric block, and the space is filled with an abnormal discharge preventive gas.

15. A plasma processing method comprising:

supplying a gas through a gas introducing port into a chamber that is installed in a case, and surrounded by a dielectric member, ejecting the gas from a slit-shaped opening toward a substrate, the slit-shaped opening being formed in the chamber and having the longitudinal direction thereof in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the chamber, and supplying high-frequency power to a conductive unit that is electrically connected to a plurality of conductor members that are installed in the case, and disposed in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the chamber with the chamber interposed therebetween, in a manner so as to bridge over the chamber, to generate a high-frequency electromagnetic field in the chamber so that plasma is generated in the chamber supplied with the gas; and

processing a surface of the substrate, while shifting the chamber and the substrate in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the opening, relative to each other.

16. The plasma processing method according to claim 15, further comprising:

in a state where a dielectric block is placed in the case, with the conductor members being placed inside an elongated hole of the dielectric block that is formed near the chamber in parallel with the chamber, so that the respective conductor members are surrounded by the dielectric member, supplying the high-frequency power to the conductive unit to generate the high-frequency electromagnetic field in the chamber and to generate the plasma in the chamber supplied with the gas.