ETCHING APPARATUS AND ETCHING METHOD

• US 20140076849A1
• Filed: 09/10/2013
• Published: 03/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Original Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Inventors: MORIYA, Shuji
• Granted Patent: US 9,236,272 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 216/58
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/3065 Plasma etching; Reactive-ion etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31116 by dry-etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/465 Chemical or electrical treatment, e.g. electrolytic etching to form insulating layers H01L21/469
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67069 for drying etching

Abstract

An etching apparatus includes: a chamber configured to accommodate a substrate to be processed having an etching target film; a gas exhaust mechanism configured to exhaust an inside of the chamber; an etching gas supply mechanism configured to supply an etching gas into the chamber; and a gas cluster generation mechanism configured to generate a gas cluster in the chamber by spraying a cluster gas into the chamber, wherein a gas produced by a reaction when the etching target film is etched with the etching gas is discharged from the chamber by the gas cluster generated by the gas cluster generation mechanism.

Claims

1. An etching apparatus, comprising:

a chamber configured to accommodate a substrate to be processed having an etching target film;

a gas exhaust mechanism configured to exhaust an inside of the chamber;

an etching gas supply mechanism configured to supply an etching gas into the chamber; and

a gas cluster generation mechanism configured to generate a gas cluster in the chamber by spraying a cluster gas into the chamber,

wherein a gas produced by a reaction when the etching target film is etched with the etching gas is discharged from the chamber by the gas cluster generated by the gas cluster generation mechanism.

2. The etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the etching gas supply mechanism and the gas cluster generation mechanism include a common shower head through which the etching gas is injected into the chamber and the cluster gas is sprayed into the chamber.

3. The etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the etching target film is a SiN film, the etching gas is HF gas, and the gas produced by the reaction is NH₃ gas.

4. The etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate has a laminated film on its surface, a layer of the laminated film is the etching target film, and the gas produced by the reaction contributes to an etching of a different layer of the laminated film.

5. The etching apparatus of claim 4, wherein the etching target film is a SiN film, the different layer of the laminated film is a SiO₂ film, the etching gas is HF gas, and the gas produced by the reaction is NH₃ gas.

6. The etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the gas cluster generation mechanism uses an inert gas as the cluster gas.

7. An etching method, comprising:

accommodating a substrate to be processed having an etching target film into a chamber;

supplying an etching gas into the chamber to etch the etching target film; and

discharging, from the chamber, a gas produced by a reaction when the etching target film is etched, by using a gas cluster generated by a cluster gas sprayed into the chamber.

8. The etching method of claim 7, wherein the etching target film is a SiN film, the etching gas is HF gas, and the gas produced by the reaction is NH₃ gas.

9. The etching method of claim 7, wherein the substrate has a laminated film on its surface, a layer of the laminated film is the etching target film and the gas produced by the reaction contributes to an etching of a different layer of the laminated film.

10. The etching method of claim 9, wherein the etching target film is a SiN film, the different layer of the laminated film is a SiO₂ film, the etching gas is HF gas, and the gas produced by the reaction is NH₃ gas.

11. The etching method of claim 7, wherein an inert gas is used as the cluster gas.

12. The etching method of claim 11, wherein the cluster gas is Ar gas or CO₂ gas.

13. The etching method of claim 7, wherein said etching the etching target film and said discharging the gas produced by the reaction are alternately performed.

14. The etching method of claim 7, wherein said etching the etching target film and said discharging the gas produced by the reaction are simultaneously performed.

15. A storage medium storing a program for controlling an etching apparatus, wherein, when executed on a computer, the program controls the etching apparatus such that the etching method disclosed in claim 7 is performed.