Apparatus and techniques to treat substrates using directional plasma and reactive gas

• US 9,706,634 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2015
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Incorporated (Applied Materials Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Incorporated (Applied Materials Incorporated)
• Inventors: Sferlazzo, Piero, Liang, Shurong, Gilchrist, Glen F. R., Campbell, Christopher, Hertel, Richard, Kontos, Alexander, Singh, Vikram, Biloiu, Costel, Chen, Tsung-Liang
• Primary Examiner(s): Owens, Douglas W
• Assistant Examiner(s): COOPER, JONATHAN G
• Application Number:
  US14/970,738
• Publication Number:
  US 20170042010A1
• Time in Patent Office: 573 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/327 Arrangements for generating the plasma
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32009 Arrangements for generation of plasma specially adapted for examination or treatment of objects, e.g. plasma sources plasma generation in general H05H1/24
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32357 Generation remote from the workpiece, e.g. down-stream
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/3244 Gas supply means
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32834 Exhausting
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/3065 Plasma etching; Reactive-ion etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/308 using masks H01L21/3063, H01L21/3065 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/12 for structural parameters, e.g. thickness, line width, refractive index, temperature, warp, bond strength, defects, optical inspection, electrical measurement of structural dimensions, metallurgic measurement of diffusions electrical measurement of diffusions H01L22/14
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/20 Sequence of activities consisting of a plurality of measurements, corrections, marking or sorting steps

Abstract

An apparatus to treat a substrate. The apparatus may include a reactive gas source having a reactive gas outlet disposed in a process chamber, the reactive gas outlet to direct a first reactive gas to the substrate; a plasma chamber coupled to the process chamber and including an extraction plate having an extraction aperture extending along a first direction, disposed within the process chamber and movable along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction between a first position facing the reactive gas source and a second position facing the extraction aperture; and a gas flow restrictor disposed between the reactive gas outlet and the extraction aperture, the gas flow restrictor defining a differential pumping channel between at least the plasma chamber and substrate stage.

Claims

1. An apparatus to treat a substrate, comprising:

a reactive gas source having a reactive gas outlet disposed in a process chamber, the reactive gas outlet to direct a first reactive gas to the substrate;

a plasma chamber coupled to the process chamber and including an extraction plate having an extraction aperture extending along a first direction; and

a substrate stage configured to hold the substrate, disposed within the process chamber and movable along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction between a first position facing the reactive gas source and a second position facing the extraction aperture; and

a gas flow restrictor disposed between the reactive gas outlet and the extraction aperture, the gas flow restrictor defining a differential pumping channel between at least the plasma chamber and the substrate stage,

wherein the reactive gas sources is a first reactive gas source, the apparatus further comprising a second reactive gas source having a second outlet directing the first reactive gas to the substrate, the plasma chamber being disposed between the first reactive gas source and the second reactive gas source, wherein the substrate stage is movable in a sequence between the first position, second position and a third position facing the second reactive gas source.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a pumping port coupled to the plasma chamber and a plasma chamber pump connected to the pumping port.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a process chamber pump coupled to the process chamber to evacuate the process chamber, wherein a first pressure within the differential pumping channel is less than a second pressure within a region between the extraction aperture and substrate stage.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an inert gas source coupled to the plasma chamber to provide inert gas to the plasma chamber.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a beam blocker disposed within the plasma chamber and adjacent the extraction aperture, the beam blocker defining a first extraction aperture and second extraction aperture.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

a deflection electrode disposed adjacent the beam blocker, wherein the beam blocker is disposed between the plasma chamber and deflection electrode; and

a deflection voltage supply connected to the deflection electrode.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, the extraction aperture comprising a width, along the first direction, of 100 mm to 400 mm, and a length, along the second direction, of 2 mm to 30 mm.

8. A method of etching a substrate, comprising;

directing a reactive gas to the substrate when the substrate is disposed in a process chamber, wherein a first product layer comprising the reactive gas and material from the substrate is formed on an outer surface of the substrate;

extracting an ion beam from a plasma chamber through an extraction aperture, wherein the ion beam impacts an exposed portion of the substrate; and

scanning a substrate stage holding the substrate along a scan direction with respect to the extraction aperture,

wherein the first product layer is etched from the substrate in the exposed portion, and is not etched from the substrate in an unexposed portion of the substrate, the unexposed portion not being exposed to the ion beam,

wherein the directing the reactive gas to the substrate comprises sending the reactive gas into the plasma chamber through a reactive gas outlet, wherein the reactive gas flows through the extraction aperture to the substrate, the method further comprising;

sending an OPEN signal to the reactive gas outlet and a positive bias signal to bias the substrate positively with respect to the plasma chamber when the reactive gas outlet is open;

and sending a negative bias signal to bias the substrate stage negatively with respect to the plasma chamber when the reactive gas outlet is closed.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the ion beam forms a non-zero angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to a substrate plane.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the substrate comprises an array of substrate features, wherein a given substrate feature includes a sidewall and wherein the substrate includes a trench region between adjacent substrate features of the array of substrate features, wherein the first product layer is removed from the sidewall and is not removed from the trench region.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the ion beam comprises a long axis along a first direction perpendicular to the scan direction.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing a deflection electrode adjacent the extraction aperture; and

applying a deflection voltage to the deflection electrode, wherein an angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to a substrate plane is varied from a first angle of incidence to a second angle of incidence.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the directing the reactive gas, scanning the substrate stage, and directing the ion beam comprise a first etch cycle, the method further comprising performing at least one additional etch cycle, wherein in a given etch cycle a given thickness of the first product layer is removed from the substrate.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

disposing a gas flow restrictor between the reactive gas outlet and the extraction aperture, wherein the gas flow restrictor defines a differential pumping channel between at least the plasma chamber and substrate stage; and

evacuating the reactive gas from the reactive gas outlet through the differential pumping channel.