PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS

• US 20100216313A1
• Filed: 10/09/2008
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Iwai, Tetsuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,513,097 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/729
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32623 Mechanical discharge control means
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32642 Focus rings
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/3065 Plasma etching; Reactive-ion etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67069 for drying etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67092 Apparatus for mechanical treatment or grinding or cutting, see the relevant groups in subclasses B24B or B28D
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67132 Apparatus for placing on an insulating substrate, e.g. tape
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/6831 using electrostatic chucks
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/68735 characterised by edge profile or support profile
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/68785 characterised by the mechanical construction of the susceptor, stage or support
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/78 with subsequent division of the substrate into plural individual devices cutting to change the surface-physical characteristics or shape of semiconductor bodies H01L21/304

Abstract

Disclosed is a plasma processing device that provides an object to be treated with plasma treatment. A wafer as an object to be treated, which is attached on the upper surface of adhesive sheet held by a holder frame, is mounted on a stage. In a vacuum chamber that covers the stage therein, plasma is generated, by which the wafer mounted on the stage undergoes plasma treatment. The plasma processing device contains a cover member made of dielectric material. During the plasma treatment on the wafer, the holder frame is covered with a cover member placed at a predetermined position above the stage, at the same time, the wafer is exposed from an opening formed in the center of the cover member.

Claims

1. A plasma processing device for providing plasma treatment where an object to be treated, which is attached on an upper surface of an adhesive sheet held by a holder frame, is mounted on a stage, and plasma is generated in a vacuum chamber that covers the stage therein, by which the object on the stage undergoes the plasma treatment, the device comprising:

a dielectric cover member located at a predetermined position above the stage so that the holder frame is covered with the cover member and the object to be treated is exposed from an opening formed in the center of the cover member, while the object to be treated is undergoing the plasma treatment.

2. The plasma processing device of claim 1, wherein the cover member is disposed movable upward and downward above the stage by an elevating mechanism disposed in the vacuum chamber, and downward movement of the cover member brought by the elevating mechanism allows the cover member to make contact with the holder frame from an upper direction and to be located at the predetermined position.

3. The plasma processing device of claim 1, wherein the cover member located at the predetermined position covers at least above an exposed area of the adhesive sheet between an outer periphery of the object to be treated and an inner periphery of the holder frame.

4. The plasma processing device of claim 1, wherein when the cover member is mounted on the stage, an area on the stage surrounded by the opening of the cover member is covered with a film member made of dielectric material.

5. A method for performing plasma processing, wherein an adhesive sheet, a holder frame for supporting a periphery of the adhesive sheet, and a wafer with the holder frame having an object to be treated that is attached on an upper surface of the adhesive sheet are mounted on a stage that is located in a vacuum chamber and that has a lower electrode and a table disposed on a periphery side of the lower electrode, the method comprising the steps of:

positioning the holder frame to the table and positioning the object to be treated to the lower electrode by mounting the wafer with the holder frame on the stage with alignment of a center of the framed wafer and a center of the stage;

covering an upper surface of the holder frame thoroughly with a dielectric cover member and exposing the object to be treated from an opening by the dielectric cover member having the opening formed in a center thereof making contact with the upper surface of the holder frame;

vacuuming the vacuum chamber; and

supplying gas to the vacuum chamber, applying high-frequency voltage to the lower electrode, and generating plasma in the vacuum chamber for performing plasma processing of the object to be treated that is exposed from the opening.

6. The plasma processing method of claim 5, wherein the cover member covers at least above an area of the adhesive sheet that is exposed between an outer periphery of the object to be treated and an inner periphery of the holder frame.

7. The plasma processing method of claim 6, wherein the cover member covers an area of the adhesive sheet that is exposed between the outer periphery of the object to be treated and the inner periphery of the holder frame, keeping a distance from the adhesive sheet.