JP2006286715A - Surface processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide surface processing equipment which can perform processing such as etching while keeping a high anisotropy without giving damages by charge up to a work piece. <P>SOLUTION: The surface processing equipment comprises a processing gas activation chamber 14, processing gas supply system 24 for supplying a processing gas to the processing gas activation chamber 14, processing gas activation mechanism 34 for activating the processing gas supplied into the processing gas activation chamber 14, processing chamber 20 wherein the work piece is placed, reactive gas supply system 31 for supplying a reactive gas to the processing chamber 20, evacuation mechanism 11 for evacuating the processing chamber 20, and perforated panel 15 placed between the processing gas activation chamber 14 and the processing chamber 20. The perforated panel 15 has many through-pores 15a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a surface treatment apparatus for treating the surface of an object to be treated, and more particularly to a surface treatment apparatus for irradiating a surface of an object to be treated with an active reactive species to perform a process such as etching.

Conventionally, it is desired to use a semiconductor material typified by InP (indium phosphide), GaAs (gallium arsenide), and Si (silicon), or a substrate containing an insulating material such as SiO ₂ , Si ₃ N ₄ , or Al ₂ O ₃ . In order to form a pattern shape, a processing method using active reactive species is used. In this processing method, ions and radicals (active reactive species) in the plasma are irradiated on the surface of the object to be processed, and the surface of the object to be processed is processed by a physical / chemical reaction between the active reactive species and the object to be processed. is there.

  As one of such processing methods, reactive ion etching (RIE) is known. In this reactive ion etching, a high frequency voltage is applied between two plate electrodes arranged in parallel, and a glow discharge is generated between the electrodes to generate plasma. This reactive ion etching is widely used as a dry etching method with a high processing speed because it can uniformly generate a high-density plasma with a large area. Further, a reactive ion beam etching (RIBE) is provided in which a processing chamber in which an object to be processed is disposed and a plasma chamber for generating active reactive species are provided, and the active reactive species are extracted from the plasma chamber and incident on the object to be processed in the processing chamber. ) Is also used.

  In these etching methods, ionic active reactive species in a charged state and neutral active reactive species not in a charged state are mixed in the plasma, and these active reactive species are involved in etching. The ionic active reactive species has directivity under the influence of the electric field generated by the electrode, and this brings about anisotropic etching that is important in microfabrication technology.

  However, when the object to be processed is irradiated with the ionic active reactive species, local charge bias (charge-up) occurs on the surface of the object to be processed due to the influence of the charge of the ionic active reactive species. When such charge-up occurs, the traveling direction of the ionic active reactive species is deviated from the linear trajectory, which makes fine processing difficult. In addition, when charge-up occurs, there is a problem in that charges flow through an element formed on the object to be processed, and this element may be destroyed.

  In order to solve such a charge-up problem, various etching methods using neutral active reactive species that are not in a charged state have been proposed. In Patent Document 1, a process gas containing a halogen molecule is heated to dissociate a halogen atom from the halogen molecule to generate a neutral active reactive species, and this is ejected from a nozzle to provide directivity to be processed. A technique for etching by irradiation is disclosed.

  According to the description in Patent Document 1, the etching rate with halogen atoms increases as the coverage of halogen atoms on the surface of the workpiece increases. The probability of halogen atom scattering on the surface of the object to be processed, that is, the probability that a halogen atom that has not reacted on the object to be processed leaves the surface of the object to be processed while maintaining its reactivity. The higher the halogen atom coverage on the surface, the higher. Therefore, in the case of forming a trench, if the halogen atom coverage is increased to improve the etching rate, the scattering probability of the halogen atoms increases, and the halogen atoms are covered on the trench sidewalls. When the coverage of the halogen atoms on the side walls becomes high, etching of the side walls starts, so that it becomes difficult to form a trench having a high aspect ratio. Therefore, in the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, by increasing the temperature of the object to be processed, the reaction probability of halogen atoms to the object to be processed is increased, and the coverage of halogen atoms on the surface of the object to be processed is decreased. I am letting. Thereby, scattering of halogen atoms is suppressed, and only the trench bottom can be etched without etching the trench side wall.

  Further, in Patent Document 1, instead of increasing the temperature of the object to be processed, a reaction gas that reacts with the neutral active reactive species (a gas for inactivating the neutral active reactive species) is used as the object to be processed. A technique for preventing isotropic etching by a neutral active reactive species such as a halogen atom by releasing is disclosed. According to this technique, only the bottom of the trench can be etched while suppressing the etching of the trench sidewall.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for realizing fine processing with a high aspect ratio by using a high-speed atomic beam source with good directivity. Specifically, inductively coupled plasma is generated in the discharge vessel, and ions generated in the plasma are accelerated by an electric field. Then, the ions are neutralized when the ions pass through the high-speed atomic beam source emission hole arranged in the downstream portion of the discharge vessel, thereby forming a neutral atomic beam and irradiating the object to be processed. In this technique, since neutral particles are used, no local electric field is generated on the surface of the object to be processed. Accordingly, the object to be processed can be processed without causing damage due to charge-up on the object to be processed. Further, even if a local electric field is generated on the surface of the object to be processed, the neutral particles can travel straight along the traveling direction of the atomic beam without being affected by the electric field.

JP 7-240396 A JP 2002-289583 A

  However, since the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 uses a method of imparting directivity to neutral active reactive species by ejecting a heated process gas from one nozzle, a large-area workpiece It is not suitable for etching. That is, in order to process an object to be processed with a single nozzle, the spread of the injected process gas must be used. For this reason, the directivity (direction) of the neutral active reactive species is impaired. Therefore, it is difficult to perform etching while maintaining high anisotropy.

  In addition, when forming a trench, in order to prevent isotropic etching, the reactive gas is sufficiently reacted with the neutral active reactive species to prevent the neutral active reactive species from reaching the trench sidewall. There is a need to. However, when an excessive amount of reaction gas is added, another problem arises that during the next etching, the neutral active reactive species react with the reaction gas before reaching the object to be processed, and the etching does not proceed. Will occur. In addition, when the fast atomic beam source disclosed in Patent Document 2 is used, there is a problem that the structure of the apparatus becomes complicated, for example, a power source for accelerating ions is required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and can perform a process such as etching while maintaining high anisotropy without damaging the object to be processed due to charge-up. An object is to provide an apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, one aspect of the present invention includes a process gas activation chamber, a process gas supply system that supplies process gas to the process gas activation chamber, and the process gas activation chamber. A process gas activation mechanism for activating the process gas, a processing chamber in which an object to be processed is disposed, a reaction gas supply system for supplying a reaction gas to the processing chamber, and evacuating the processing chamber And a perforated plate disposed between the process gas activation chamber and the processing chamber, wherein the perforated plate has a plurality of through holes.

  The number of through-holes (pores) formed in the perforated plate can be appropriately increased or decreased depending on the size of the object to be processed, and the size of the perforated plate can be appropriately changed according to the size of the object to be processed. it can. Therefore, the neutral active reactive species generated by activating the process gas can be irradiated to the entire surface of the object to be processed with good directivity.

  When the process gas is activated, ions (charged particles) may be generated. Even in such a case, when ions pass through the fine through holes formed in the perforated plate, the ions are electrically neutralized by charge exchange between the ions, the side walls of the through holes, and the residual gas particles. Can do. That is, by passing through the pores, the ionic active reactive species can be converted into neutral active reactive species and used for the treatment of the object to be processed.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a reaction gas activation chamber connected to the reaction gas supply system, and a reaction gas activation mechanism for activating the reaction gas in the reaction gas activation chamber supplied from the reaction gas supply system. And further comprising.
According to the present invention, since the process gas and the reaction gas react more accurately by activating the reaction gas, the reaction capacity of the process gas can be disabled with only a small amount of the reaction gas. Therefore, the amount of reaction gas introduced can be reduced, and the adverse effect of the remaining reaction gas on the next object to be processed can be reduced.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the process gas activation chamber also serves as the reaction gas activation chamber, and the process gas activation mechanism also serves as the reaction gas activation mechanism.
According to the present invention, it is possible to irradiate a reaction gas activated by the same activation mechanism to the same place where the process gas is irradiated. Therefore, inactivation of the process gas by the reaction gas can be progressed more accurately. Further, according to the present invention, the apparatus can be made compact.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the process gas activation mechanism and the reaction gas activation mechanism each include at least one of a heating mechanism and a plasma generation mechanism.
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the process gas is a halogen gas. Since halogen is highly reactive with a silicon substrate or the like, it is effective when used as an etching gas.
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the reaction gas is hydrogen gas. Since hydrogen gas reacts with halogen gas to form hydrogen halide, it is effective for inactivating halogen gas.

  According to the present invention, since the activated process gas (active reactive species) is irradiated to the object to be processed through the perforated plate having a plurality of through holes, it is high even for an object to be processed having a large area. A process such as etching can be realized while maintaining anisotropy. Further, since the ionic active reactive species are converted into neutral active reactive species by passing through the through holes of the perforated plate, damage to the object to be processed due to charge-up can be prevented. Furthermore, by activating the process gas and the reaction gas, the reaction between the reaction gas and the process gas can be progressed accurately, and processing with higher accuracy becomes possible.

Embodiments of a surface treatment apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a surface treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the surface treatment apparatus includes a vacuum vessel 12 made of quartz glass, ceramic, metal, or the like. Inside the vacuum vessel 12, a process gas activation chamber 14 in which process gas is activated and a treatment chamber 20 in which a workpiece 18 such as a semiconductor substrate, glass, organic matter, and ceramics is processed are formed. Has been. The process gas activation chamber 14 and the processing chamber 20 are isolated from the outside by a vacuum vessel 12.

  A perforated plate 15 having a plurality of pores (through holes) 15 a is disposed inside the vacuum vessel 12, and the process gas activation chamber 14 and the processing chamber 20 are partitioned by the perforated plate 15. Yes. A support base 10 is disposed in the processing chamber 20, and an object to be processed 18 is placed thereon. Thus, the process gas activation chamber 14, the processing chamber 20, the perforated plate 15, and the support base 10 are arranged in the vacuum vessel 12. The pores 15 a extend in parallel to each other and are uniformly arranged over the entire surface of the porous plate 15. The pores 15a are oriented perpendicularly to the surface of the workpiece 18 on the support table 10, that is, the longitudinal direction of the pores 15a is perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece 18 on the support table 10. It is formed to become.

  A process gas introduction port 22 is provided in the upper part of the vacuum vessel 12, and the process gas activation chamber 14 is connected to the process gas supply system 24 via the process gas introduction port 22. The process gas supply system 24 includes a process gas supply source 25 that supplies a process gas and a flow rate control unit 26 that controls the flow rate of the process gas. The process gas is activated from the process gas supply system 24 by the process gas activation. It is supplied to the chamber 14. Then, the process gas supplied to the process gas activation chamber 14 is introduced into the processing chamber 20 through the pores 15 a formed in the perforated plate 15.

  A reaction gas introduction port 30 is provided on the side of the vacuum vessel 12, and the processing chamber 20 is connected to the reaction gas activation chamber 36 via the reaction gas introduction port 30. The reactive gas activation chamber 36 is connected to a reactive gas supply system 31. The reaction gas supply system 31 includes a reaction gas supply source 32 that supplies a reaction gas and a flow rate control unit 33 that adjusts the flow rate of the reaction gas. The reaction gas is activated from the reaction gas supply system 31 by the reaction gas activation. It is supplied to the processing chamber 20 through the chamber 36. Further, a vacuum pump (evacuation mechanism) 11 is connected to the processing chamber 20 via an exhaust pipe 13.

The type of process gas varies depending on the type of treatment, but process gases such as SF ₆ , CHF ₃ , CF ₄ , Cl ₂ , Ar, O ₂ , N ₂ , and C ₄ F ₈ are used. Further, depending on the type of treatment, a plurality of process gases may be used simultaneously. In this case, a separate process gas supply system may be provided for each type of process gas so that a plurality of process gases can be supplied.

  The type of reaction gas varies depending on the type of treatment, but for example hydrogen gas is used. Further, depending on the type of treatment, a plurality of reaction gases may be used simultaneously. In this case, a separate reactive gas supply system may be provided for each type of reactive gas so that a plurality of reactive gases can be supplied.

The process gas supplied to the process gas activation chamber 14 is activated in the process gas activation chamber 14 by a process gas activation mechanism using heat, plasma, or the like. In the case of activation using heat, a heater 34 is disposed in the process gas activation chamber 14 as shown in FIG. For example, to activate the Cl ₂ gas, Cl ₂ molecule is brought into contact with the heater 34, or by receiving energy by infrared radiation from the heater 34, and dissociated to two Cl atoms, thereby Cl ₂ The gas is activated. In this way, by heating the process gas using a heating mechanism such as a heater, molecules in the process gas are dissociated into electrically neutral atoms, thereby obtaining a neutral active reactive species. A heater may be embedded in the perforated plate 15 or the perforated plate 15 itself may be used as a heater.

On the other hand, when the process gas is activated using plasma, the following plasma generation mechanism is used. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of a surface treatment apparatus having a plasma generation mechanism. As shown in FIG. 2, a coil 37 is disposed outside the vacuum vessel 12 so as to surround the process gas activation chamber 14. A matching box 38 and a high frequency power source 39 are connected to the coil 37, and a high frequency voltage of 13.56 MHz, for example, is applied to the coil 37. By passing a high frequency current through the coil 37, an induced magnetic field is generated in the process gas activation chamber 14, and the time change of the magnetic field induces an electric field, which accelerates electrons in the process gas and activates the process gas. Plasma P is generated in the chamber 14. Generation of the plasma P activates the process gas. That is, Cl ₂ molecules are dissociated to become Cl atoms or Cl ions. The coil 37, the matching box 38, and the high frequency power supply 39 constitute a plasma generation mechanism.

  As described above, when the process gas is activated using plasma, active reactive species, which are highly reactive particles, in which neutral active reactive species and ionic active reactive species are mixed, are obtained. In this case, the ionic active reactive species (charged particles) cause so-called charge-up, in which charges accumulate on the surface of the workpiece 18 as described above. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the ionic active reactive species are converted to neutral active reactive species by passing through a large number of pores 15a formed in the perforated plate 15. In general, when ions pass through orifice-shaped pores, charge exchange occurs due to contact with the pore walls or collision with residual gas in the pores, and most of the ions are neutralized. Are known. In this case, the porous plate 15 needs to be made of a conductive material, and needs to be electrically grounded.

  The supply of the activated process gas to the processing chamber 20 is not always performed, and it is necessary to perform when the reaction gas is not supplied to the processing chamber 20 as described later. In the present embodiment, the timing of supplying the process gas to the processing chamber 20 is controlled by the flow rate control unit 26 of the process gas supply system 24.

  1 and 2 show the reaction gas activation chamber 36, but the reaction capacity of the neutral active reactive species can be increased by reacting the neutral active reactive species with the reactive gas without activating the reactive gas. If it can be neutralized (the reaction capacity can be disabled), the reaction gas activation chamber is not necessary. However, when the reactivity between the reaction gas and the process gas is low, it is necessary to provide a reaction gas activation chamber to activate the reaction gas.

  Here, the reactive gas refers to a gas that neutralizes the reactive ability of the neutral active reactive species with the object to be processed by reacting with the neutral active reactive species. In general, when a neutral active reactive species is irradiated on a workpiece, it is known that a part of the irradiated neutral active reactive species is detached or reflected from the workpiece without reacting on the surface of the workpiece. . When the neutral active reactive species are detached from the object to be treated, the neutral active reactive species adhere to a portion where it is not desired to cause a reaction with the neutral active reactive species, causing a reaction. For example, when forming a trench, the neutral active reactive species incident perpendicularly to the surface of the object to be processed are irradiated to the bottom of the trench, and only that portion is etched. However, the neutral active reactive species that did not react at the bottom of the trench disengage from the bottom. Further, when the bottom is completely covered with the neutral active reactive species, it is reflected as it is without being adsorbed on the bottom. The directions of separation and reflection at this time are random, and neutral active reactive species adhere to the trench side walls that are not originally desired to be etched. As a result, the sidewall of the trench is etched, and a trench structure with a high aspect ratio cannot be formed with high accuracy. Therefore, it is necessary to neutralize the reaction capacity of the extra neutral active reactive species, and for this purpose, a reaction gas is used.

  The reaction gas is activated by the same method as the process gas activation described above. That is, the reaction gas is activated in the reaction gas activation chamber 36 using a reaction gas activation mechanism including a heating mechanism, a plasma generation mechanism, or a combination thereof. 1 and 2 show a heater 35 as a heating mechanism. Then, the reaction gas activated by the reaction gas activation mechanism is introduced into the processing chamber 20. The introduction of the reaction gas into the processing chamber 20 is not always performed, but needs to be performed when the process gas is not introduced as described later. In the present embodiment, the timing for supplying the reaction gas to the processing chamber 20 is controlled by the flow rate control unit 33 of the reaction gas supply system 31.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the process gas activation chamber 14 can also serve as the reaction gas activation chamber 36. Here, FIG. 3 corresponds to FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 corresponds to FIG. In this case, the reaction gas supply system 31 is connected to the process gas activation chamber 14 that also serves as the reaction gas activation chamber 36, and the process gas activation mechanism also serves as the reaction gas activation mechanism. The flow rate is controlled by the flow rate control units 26 and 33 so that the process gas and the reaction gas are alternately introduced into the process gas activation chamber 14 and activated. According to this configuration example, the activated reaction gas can be irradiated onto the surface of the workpiece 18 irradiated with the activated process gas. That is, since the reactive gas can be irradiated in the same place as the irradiated area of the process gas, the inactivation of the process gas by the reactive gas can be progressed more accurately.

  The process gas activated in the process gas activation chamber 14 is introduced into the processing chamber 20 through a large number of pores 15 a formed in the perforated plate 15. The sizes of the perforated plate 15 and the vacuum vessel 12 are appropriately determined according to the size of the workpiece 18. That is, when the size of the workpiece 18 is large, a large perforated plate 15 and a large vacuum vessel 12 are prepared. As described above, even when the size of the workpiece 18 is large, by increasing the sizes of the vacuum vessel 12 and the perforated plate 15, the processable region can be expanded.

  The effects obtained by the pores 15a formed in the perforated plate 15 are as follows. When the activated process gas, that is, the neutral active reactive species (neutral particles) pass through the pores 15a, the traveling direction of the neutral active reactive species is aligned. As described above, since the pores 15a are formed in the perforated plate 15 so that the longitudinal direction of the pores 15a is perpendicular to the surface of the object to be processed 18, the object to be processed on the support base 10 is formed. Neutral active reactive species can be irradiated perpendicular to the 18 surfaces. As a result, the workpiece 18 can be accurately processed in the vertical direction, and a trench having a high aspect ratio can be formed.

  As described above, when ionic active reactive species are included in the active reactive species, it is necessary to use the porous plate 15 made of a conductive material and electrically ground it. Thus, when the ionic active reactive species pass through the pores 15a, they are converted into neutral active reactive species by charge exchange between the residual gas in the pores 15a and the side walls of the pores 15a.

Further, the pores 15a of the perforated plate 15 make it possible to generate a pressure difference between the process gas activation chamber 14 and the processing chamber 20 by conductance with respect to the gas flow of the pores 15a. For example, when plasma is used to activate the process gas, the pressure of the process gas activation chamber 14 needs to be about 1 Pa. On the other hand, the processing chamber 20 is a vacuum that secures an average free path (distance until one particle collides with another particle) of 10 times longer than the distance between the perforated plate 15 and the workpiece 18. Degree (for example, 10 < ^-1 > Pa or less) is required. For example, when using O ₂ as a process gas, the mean free path at 10 ⁻¹ Pa is about 70 mm. Therefore, the distance between the perforated plate 15 and the workpiece 18 needs to be about 7 mm or less. This is because, in order for the activated neutral active reactive species to enter the workpiece 18 perpendicularly, the neutral active reactive species collide with other particles while moving from the perforated plate 15 to the workpiece 18. Because we must avoid it. Thus, the processing chamber 20 needs to have a degree of vacuum that can secure an average free path that is sufficiently longer than the distance between the perforated plate 15 and the workpiece 18.

  The processing chamber 20 is evacuated by the vacuum pump 11. Thereby, the inside of the processing chamber 20 can be maintained at a sufficient degree of vacuum, and collision between unnecessary particles and reactive species in the process gas can be avoided. In addition, it is preferable to install a load lock mechanism that allows the processing object 18 to be taken in and out in a state where the inside of the vacuum container 12 is kept in a vacuum.

  In order to uniformly irradiate the workpiece 18 with the neutral active reactive species, it is preferable to provide a rotation mechanism and rotate the support base 10 about its axis. Further, in addition to the rotation mechanism, a moving mechanism that moves the support 10 parallel to the surface of the workpiece 18 may be provided. Further, since it is known that the processing performance depends on the temperature of the workpiece 18, it is preferable to provide the support 10 with a temperature control mechanism such as a heater. Thereby, the reaction between the workpiece 18 and the process gas can be controlled.

Next, the operation of the surface treatment apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the workpiece 18 is placed on the support 10 in the processing chamber 20. Next, the vacuum pump 11 connected to the processing chamber 20 is operated, and the internal space of the vacuum vessel 12 is evacuated to 1 Pa or less. At this time, it is preferable to make the inside of the vacuum vessel 12 a high vacuum of 1 × 10 ⁻³ Pa or less. This is to prevent the residual gas from becoming an impurity and adversely affecting the processing of the workpiece 18. When the load lock mechanism is installed, the workpiece 18 is carried into the vacuum container 12 with the vacuum pump 11 being operated.

Next, the process gas is introduced from the process gas supply source 25 into the process gas activation chamber 14. At this time, the flow rate of the process gas is adjusted to a predetermined flow rate by the flow rate control unit 26. The type of process gas varies depending on the type of treatment, but when etching is performed, process gases such as SF ₆ , CHF ₃ , CF ₄ , Cl ₂ , Ar, O ₂ , N ₂ , C ₄ F _8, etc. are used. used.

  The process gas introduced into the process gas activation chamber 14 is activated by the heater 34. In place of the heater 34, a plasma generation mechanism or a process gas activation mechanism such as a combination of a heating mechanism and a plasma generation mechanism can be used. The activated process gas, that is, the active reactive species passes through the pores 15a of the perforated plate 15, and the traveling direction of the active reactive species is aligned at that time. Therefore, the active reactive species (neutral particles) are irradiated perpendicularly to the workpiece 18 in the processing chamber 20. In this way, treatment such as etching of the workpiece 18 is performed by irradiating the workpiece 18 with the activated process gas, that is, the neutral active reactive species.

  As described above, when the plasma generation mechanism is used, ions (charged particles) are generated. In this case, when the ions pass through the pores 15a, contact with the side walls of the pores 15a, Charge exchange is performed by collision with the residual gas in the pores 15a, and most of the ions are neutralized. Accordingly, since the object 18 in the processing chamber 20 is hardly irradiated with ions, the problem of charge-up of the object 18 does not basically occur.

  The reaction gas is introduced into the reaction gas activation chamber 36 from the reaction gas supply source 32. At this time, the flow rate of the reaction gas is adjusted to a predetermined flow rate by the flow rate control unit 33. Then, the reaction gas is activated by a heater (reaction gas activation mechanism) 35 in the reaction gas activation chamber 36 and introduced into the processing chamber 20. The type of reaction gas varies depending on the type of treatment, but a gas that reacts with an unreacted process gas (for example, hydrogen gas) is selected. The reaction gas introduced into the processing chamber 20 reacts with an unreacted process gas and becomes an inactive molecule for etching of the workpiece 18. The inert molecules are discharged by the vacuum pump 11.

  The introduction of the activated process gas and reaction gas into the processing chamber 20 is not always performed, but is performed intermittently. First, the neutral active reactive species obtained by activating the process gas is irradiated to the object 18 as described above, and processing such as etching is performed. Next, the irradiation of the neutral active reactive species to the object 18 is stopped by operating the flow rate control unit 26 and stopping the supply of the process gas. Next, the reactive gas is introduced from the reactive gas supply source 32 into the reactive gas activation chamber 36 where the reactive gas is activated as described above and subsequently introduced into the processing chamber 20. Unreacted neutral active reactive species are inactivated by reacting with the reaction gas, and are released from the object 18 as gas molecules. Then, the inactivated gas is exhausted by a vacuum exhaust mechanism. Subsequently, the supply of the reaction gas is stopped, and the neutral active reactive species are reintroduced into the processing chamber 20. By repeating these procedures, processing such as etching is performed.

  The supply time of each of the process gas and the reactive gas, the evacuation time when switching the gas, and the like are appropriately optimized depending on the type of the object to be processed 18 and the type of gas. The operation of the surface treatment apparatus having the configuration shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is the same as the operation of the surface treatment apparatus shown in FIG.

  Since the workpiece 18 is arranged on the support 10 so that the surface thereof is perpendicular to the incident direction of the neutral active reactive species, the surface of the workpiece 18 is processed in the vertical direction. Can do. The surface of the object to be processed 18 is covered with a protective film such as a resist in advance as necessary to cover a portion that does not require processing. Thereby, only a desired part can be processed.

  In order to treat the workpiece 18 uniformly over the entire surface, it is effective to rotate the workpiece 18 during the treatment. In addition to this, the workpiece 18 may be moved in parallel with the surface thereof. In addition, when the support 10 is provided with a heater, the reaction between the object to be processed 18 and the process gas can be controlled by changing the temperature of the object to be processed 18.

  The embodiments of the present invention have been described above with specific examples. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

It is a mimetic diagram showing the whole surface treatment equipment composition concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structural example of the surface treatment apparatus provided with the plasma generation mechanism. It is a schematic diagram which shows the other structural example of the surface treatment apparatus shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the other structural example of the surface treatment apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Support stand 11 Vacuum pump 12 Vacuum vessel 13 Exhaust pipe 14 Process gas activation chamber 15 Perforated plate 15a Fine hole (through hole)
18 Processed object 20 Processing chamber 22 Process gas introduction port 24 Process gas supply system 25 Process gas supply source 26 Flow rate control unit 30 Reaction gas introduction port 31 Reaction gas supply system 32 Reaction gas supply source 33 Flow rate control units 34 and 35 Heater 36 Reaction gas activation chamber 37 Coil 38 Matching box 39 High frequency power supply P Plasma

Claims (6)

A process gas activation chamber;
A process gas supply system for supplying process gas to the process gas activation chamber;
A process gas activation mechanism for activating the process gas supplied to the process gas activation chamber;
A processing chamber in which an object to be processed is disposed;
A reaction gas supply system for supplying a reaction gas to the processing chamber;
An evacuation mechanism for evacuating the processing chamber;
Comprising a perforated plate disposed between the process gas activation chamber and the processing chamber;
The surface treatment apparatus, wherein the perforated plate has a plurality of through holes. A reaction gas activation chamber connected to the reaction gas supply system;
The surface treatment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a reaction gas activation mechanism that activates a reaction gas in the reaction gas activation chamber supplied from the reaction gas supply system.   The surface treatment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the process gas activation chamber also serves as the reaction gas activation chamber, and the process gas activation mechanism also serves as the reaction gas activation mechanism.   The surface treatment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the process gas activation mechanism and the reaction gas activation mechanism each include at least one of a heating mechanism and a plasma generation mechanism.   The surface treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the process gas is a halogen gas.   The surface treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reaction gas is hydrogen gas.

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