GAS REACTION TRAJECTORY CONTROL THROUGH TUNABLE PLASMA DISSOCIATION FOR WAFER BY-PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION AND ETCH FEATURE PROFILE UNIFORMITY

• US 20180240677A1
• Filed: 04/20/2018
• Published: 08/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
• Original Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
• Inventors: Sriraman, Saravanapriyan, Titus, Monica, Paterson, Alex
• Granted Patent: US 10,460,951 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45561 Gas plumbing upstream of the reaction chamber
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45574 Nozzles for more than one gas
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/321 the radio frequency energy being inductively coupled to the plasma
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/3244 Gas supply means
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32449 Gas control, e.g. control of the gas flow
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32926 Software, data control or modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/3065 Plasma etching; Reactive-ion etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31 to form insulating layers thereon, e.g. for masking or by using photolithographic techniques encapsulating layers H01L21/56; After treatment of these layers; Selection of materials for these layers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67069 for drying etching

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for controlling gas flow in a semiconductor manufacturing chamber. The method includes flowing a reactant gas thorough an inner feed and a tuning gas through an outer feed surrounding the inner feed, such that the gases do not mix until both are introduced in the chamber. Further, the flow of the reactant gas is convective, and the flow of the tuning gas is directed at an angle from the direction of the reactant gas, providing a delivery of the tuning gas in closer proximity to the RF power before further mixing with the reactant gas. Radio frequency power is provided to the electrode to ignite a plasma using the reactant and tuning gases. The diffusive flow of the tuning gas enables the tuning gas to be dissociated by the RF power allowing for control of the local residence time variation and preferential spatial dissociation patterns with respect to the local residence time of the reactant gas. The introduction of the gases into the chamber without pre-mixing imparts control of etch uniformity across the surface of the substrate during etching.

Claims

1. A method for delivering gases to a plasma processing chamber having a substrate support for supporting a substrate, a dielectric window disposed over the substrate support, a center region of the dielectric window includes a gas feed injector that has an inner feed and an outer feed that surrounds the inner feed, and an electrode is disposed over the dielectric window, the method comprising:

convectively flowing a reactant gas into the plasma processing chamber via the inner feed of the gas feed injector;

diffusively flowing a tuning gas into the plasma processing chamber via the outer feed of the gas feed injector, the tuning gas having a different chemical composition than the reactant gas, the tuning gas is fed via the outer feed and into the plasma processing chamber at an angle that is away from the reactant gas that is fed via the inner feed and into the plasma processing chamber;

providing radio frequency (RF) power to the electrode, wherein a fraction of the tuning gas that is diffusively flown into the plasma processing chamber is exposed to the RF power and disassociated before mixing with the reactant gas that is convectively flown into the plasma processing chamber, wherein the RF power is configured to ignite a plasma using a mixture of the tuning gas, the fraction of tuning gas that is disassociated, and the reactant gas; and

adjusting a rate of flow of one or both of the convectively flown reactant gas and the diffusively flown tuning gas to control etch uniformity across a surface of the substrate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reactant gas and the tuning gas are supplied to the gas feed injector via independent gas lines, and said mixing occurs after flowing the reactant gas and the tuning gas into the plasma processing chamber.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein etch uniformity across the surface of the substrate is defined by an amount of removal of a material from over the surface of the substrate when the plasma is ignited.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the rate of flow of one or both of the convectively flown reactant gas and the diffusively flown tuning gas controls a spatial plasma dissociation profile of the plasma during etching.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein etch uniformity is additionally controlled in part by setting either one or both of the reactant gas and tuning gas to include a passivation component.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the tuning gas is further configured to control a dissociation pattern of the reactants gas, wherein the tuning gas is one of a passivation or a reactant moiety.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further including:

flowing a side gas through a side feed of the plasma processing chamber, the side gas being another tuning gas.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the reactant gas provides is a source of species for etching the substrate or one or more materials disposed on the substrate.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the source of species is provided from a gas selected from a group consisting of chlorine, or hydrogen bromide, or sulfur hexafluoride.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the tuning gas is selected from a group consisting of oxygen, or helium, or argon, or methane, or carbon dioxide.

11. A method for processing a substrate in a chamber, the method comprising:

flowing separately a reactant gas through an inner feed of a gas feed injector into the chamber, the inner feed being defined at a center of a dielectric window of the chamber;

flowing separately a tuning gas through an outer feed of the gas feed injector into the chamber, the outer feed surrounding the inner feed at the center of the dielectric window;

providing radio frequency (RF) power to an electrode disposed over the dielectric window to ignite a plasma over the substrate;

wherein the tuning gas is introduced at an angle that is away from the reactant gas, the reactant gas having a first flow rate that is higher than a second flow rate of the tuning gas, such that a fraction of the tuning gas is configured to dissociate by the RF power before being mixed with the reactant gas, such that a mixture of the reactant gas, the dissociated fraction of the tuning gas and the reactant gas produces a plasma over the substrate; and

adjusting a rate of flowing of the reactant gas and tuning gas into the chamber to control a spatial plasma dissociation profile of the plasma for controlling etch uniformity over a surface of the substrate.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the tuning gas is one of a passivation or a reactant moiety.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the reactant gas and the tuning gas are supplied to the gas feed injector via independent gas lines, and said mixing occurs after flowing the reactant gas and the tuning gas into the chamber.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein etch uniformity is additionally controlled in part by setting either one or both of the reactant gas and tuning gas to include a passivation component.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the tuning gas is further configured to control a dissociation pattern of the reactants gas, wherein the tuning gas is one of a passivation or a reactant moiety.

16. The method of claim 11, further including:

flowing a side gas through a side feed of the chamber, the side gas being another tuning gas.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the reactant gas provides is a source of species for etching the substrate or one or more materials disposed on the substrate.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the source of species is provided from a gas selected from a group consisting of chlorine, or hydrogen bromide, or sulfur hexafluoride.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the tuning gas is selected from a group consisting of oxygen, or helium, or argon, or methane, or carbon dioxide.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the reactant gas is flown under a convective flow and the tuning gas is flown under a diffusive flow.