JP4098711B2 - Plasma processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus and a sample processing method, and more particularly to a plasma processing apparatus and a sample processing method suitable for forming a fine pattern in a semiconductor manufacturing process. In particular, the present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring a state of a thin film on a surface of a sample such as plasma emission or a wafer in a processing chamber and a sample processing method.

  In semiconductor manufacturing processes, plasma processing apparatuses are widely used in microfabrication processes such as etching, film formation, and ashing. In the plasma processing apparatus, a process gas introduced into a vacuum processing chamber (reactor) is converted into plasma by a plasma generating means and reacted on the surface of a semiconductor wafer to perform processing such as processing of fine holes and grooves or film formation. At the same time, a predetermined treatment is performed by exhausting the volatile reaction product.

  In this plasma processing apparatus, the end point of the etching process is detected by detecting light emission from the plasma being processed, and the film thickness, etching and film formation are determined from the reflected light and interference signals on the thin film on the wafer surface of the plasma light emission. The accuracy of plasma processing is improved by measuring the speed (rate) in real time. For example, in Patent Document 1, in a parallel plate type plasma etching apparatus, two or more plasma light receiving sensors are provided on an electrode surface facing a wafer, so that the rate and film thickness can be determined from the plasma emission intensities at a plurality of points on the wafer. A method for obtaining information on uniformity and distribution and making the plasma density uniform is described.

  Patent Document 2 discloses an apparatus for detecting an end point by irradiating a wafer from above through a top plate electrode and measuring an etching amount from reflected laser light in a parallel plate type plasma etching apparatus. By forming a hole of about φ10 mm in the part of the quartz electrode cover through which the laser beam passes to prevent electrode contamination, the amount of etching can be accurately controlled without attenuation even if the electrode cover is dirty. A method of measuring and stably detecting the end point is described.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-136098

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-148118

  However, the above method has the following problems. First of all, it is desirable to monitor the state of the thin film on the wafer surface from the upper side facing the wafer or from an oblique upper side up to about 45 degrees. However, a plasma processing apparatus capable of measuring by this method has a method and structure. It will be limited. For example, in a microwave ECR system or inductively coupled plasma processing apparatus, a quartz transparent window or plate may be provided above the wafer in order to radiate microwaves or introduce an induced electric field into the processing chamber. In this case, the state of the wafer surface can be measured from above. However, in the so-called parallel plate type plasma processing apparatus of the capacitive coupling type, since the upper electrode facing the wafer is a conductive metal such as aluminum, the structure is not such that the wafer surface can be directly seen through. For this reason, in order to measure the wafer surface, a plasma light receiving sensor is provided on the electrode surface facing the wafer, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-228707. However, in reality, reaction products accumulate on the plasma light receiving sensor as the discharge is repeated, and it is difficult to perform stable measurement over a long period of time.

  An attempt to solve this problem is the method described in Patent Document 2, in which a hole of about φ10 mm is formed in a measurement portion through which a laser beam of a quartz electrode cover directly exposed to plasma passes. Even if a deposited film adheres to the surface of the quartz cover, the measurement is not affected. However, in practice, this method is also difficult to measure stably. In order to obtain a predetermined plasma density required for plasma processing, high-frequency power of several kW is applied to the upper electrode. Therefore, a hole with a diameter of about 10 mm as described in the above publication is provided as an electrode or electrode. If it is formed on the cover, local abnormal discharge is caused in the hole portion, or plasma enters the inside of the hole, so that the upper electrode and the electrode cover are damaged. Also, since a bias is applied to the upper electrode, the upper electrode is sputtered with ions in the plasma through the hole in the electrode cover, but the upper electrode is made of metal such as aluminum. There are also problems such as damage and the occurrence of foreign matter.

  Of course, it is possible in principle to measure the wafer surface not from above the wafer, but at a shallow angle from the side wall of the processing chamber. However, particularly in an oxide film etching apparatus, in order to suppress excessive dissociation of the process gas and improve process reproducibility, a flat plate made of silicon or the like is placed at a position facing the sample at a distance of about several tens of millimeters. In many cases, it has a structure of an opposed flat plate that is installed facing each other. In this case, the measurement angle with respect to the wafer must be practically about 10 degrees, and it is difficult to obtain sufficient measurement accuracy. For this reason, there has been a demand for a method capable of measuring the state of the wafer surface from above, which faces the wafer, even in the opposed flat plate type plasma processing apparatus.

  In addition, it was mentioned earlier that it is possible to measure the wafer surface from a quartz transparent window above the wafer using a microwave ECR system or an inductively coupled plasma processing apparatus. Since the reaction product adheres to the surface of the quartz window and the transmittance decreases, or the surface is etched, there is still a problem that stable measurement over a long period of time is difficult. There wasn't.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and generates abnormal discharge and foreign matter from the outside of the vacuum processing chamber with high accuracy in the state of the sample surface, plasma, or wall surface of the vacuum processing chamber. It is an object of the present invention to provide a plasma processing apparatus and a sample processing method that can be measured stably over a long period of time.

A feature of the present invention is that a vacuum vessel, a sample stage disposed below the inside of the vacuum container, a plate disposed above the wafer placed above and placed on the sample stage, and the plate and the wafer A disk-shaped space between which the plasma for processing the wafer is formed and a disk-like shape in the vacuum vessel that is disposed above the plate and supplies an electric field for forming the plasma An electric field supply means including a conductive member, a through hole disposed on the plate, and an inside of the electric field supply means inside the vacuum container on the back surface of the through hole can be removed from the outside of the vacuum container. a plasma processing apparatus including a light receiving means having a light transmission rest for transmitting light from the placed the vacuum container which has passed through the through hole, power is fed into the process on the plate Holding means for holding mounted to the optical transmission member to said vacuum chamber, diameter has a step than the diameter of the through-hole side is provided in the vacuum vessel inner portion of the optical transmission member is larger A large-diameter portion ; and means for sealing the optical transmission body between the inside and the outside of the vacuum vessel by being attached to the surface of the optical transmission body above the step and being attached by the holding means It is in the plasma processing apparatus.

Still another feature of the present invention resides in a plasma processing apparatus in which the light receiving means is detachably attached from the outside of the vacuum vessel.

Still another feature of the present invention resides in a plasma processing apparatus in which the member is disposed inside the vacuum vessel on the back side of the plate and attached to a flat plate member facing in parallel with the wafer.

Another feature of the present invention resides in a plasma processing apparatus in which the light receiving means is sealed and attached to the vacuum vessel.

As described above, according to the present invention, from the outside of the vacuum processing chamber, the sample surface, the state of plasma or the state of the wall surface of the vacuum processing chamber can be accurately determined for a long time without causing abnormal discharge or foreign matter. Can be measured stably.
For example, even in an opposed flat plate structure in which an antenna, an electrode, etc. are installed facing the wafer surface, the state of the plasma or the thin film on the surface of the sample from the position above or obliquely above the sample W, abnormal discharge or foreign matter Without generation, it can be measured stably and accurately over the long term even at the mass production level. As a result, it is possible to detect the end point of the etching process and in-situ monitoring of the etching / deposition rate and uniformity, providing a more advanced process control method and improving the reproducibility and stability of the process. Therefore, it is possible to provide a plasma processing apparatus that can contribute to an improvement in the operating rate and productivity of the apparatus.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a magnetic field UHF band electromagnetic wave radiation discharge type plasma etching apparatus, and is a schematic sectional view of the plasma etching apparatus.

In FIG. 1, a processing chamber 100 is a vacuum container that can achieve a vacuum degree of about 10 ⁻⁶ Torr, an antenna 110 that radiates electromagnetic waves as plasma generating means is provided above it, and a sample such as a wafer is provided below it. Lower electrodes 130 on which W is placed are provided. The antenna 110 and the lower electrode 130 are installed so as to face each other in parallel. Around the processing chamber 100, a magnetic field forming unit 101 including, for example, an electromagnetic coil and a yoke is installed, and a magnetic field having a predetermined distribution and strength is formed. Then, due to the interaction between the electromagnetic wave radiated from the antenna 110 and the magnetic field formed by the magnetic field forming means 101, the processing gas introduced into the processing chamber is turned into plasma to generate plasma P, and on the lower electrode 130. Sample W is processed.

  The processing chamber 100 is evacuated and pressure-adjusted by the evacuation system 104 and the pressure control means 105 connected to the vacuum chamber 103 so that the internal pressure becomes a predetermined value of, for example, about 0.5 Pa to 4 Pa. Can be controlled. The processing chamber 100 and the vacuum chamber 103 are at ground potential. The side wall 102 of the processing chamber 100 is adjusted to a temperature of, for example, about 50 ° C. by temperature control means (not shown).

  An antenna 110 that radiates electromagnetic waves includes a disk-shaped conductor 111, a dielectric 112, and a dielectric ring 113, and is held by a housing 114 as a part of a vacuum vessel. Further, a structure, that is, a plate 115 is provided on the surface of the disk-shaped conductor 111 on the side in contact with the plasma. A processing gas for performing processing such as etching and film formation of the sample is supplied from the gas supply means 116 at a predetermined flow rate and mixing ratio, and is uniformized inside the disc-shaped conductor 111 and provided on the plate 115. It is supplied to the processing chamber 100 through a large number of holes. The disk-shaped conductor 111 is temperature-controlled at 30 ° C., for example, by a temperature control means (not shown). The antenna 110 is connected to an antenna power supply system 120 including an antenna power supply 121, an antenna bias power supply 123, and matching circuit / filter systems 122, 124, and 125 via an introduction terminal 126. The antenna power supply 121 preferably supplies power of a UHF band frequency of 300 MHz to 900 MHz, and radiates UHF band electromagnetic waves from the antenna 110.

  The antenna bias power supply 123 controls the reaction on the surface of the plate 115 by applying a bias having a frequency of about 100 kHz or about several MHz to 10 MHz to the plate 115 via the disk-shaped conductor 111. In particular, in oxide film etching using a CF-based gas, the material of the plate 115 is made of high-purity silicon, carbon, or the like, so that the reaction of F radicals or CFx radicals on the surface of the plate 115 is controlled. It is possible to adjust the composition ratio. In this embodiment, the plate 115 is made of high purity silicon. Further, aluminum is used for the disk-shaped conductor 111 and the housing, and quartz is used for the dielectric 112 and the dielectric ring 113. The distance between the lower surface of the plate 115 and the wafer W (hereinafter referred to as a gap) is 30 mm to 150 mm, preferably 50 mm to 120 mm. In this embodiment, the antenna power source 121 has a frequency of 450 MHz, the antenna bias power source 122 has a frequency of 13.56 MHz, and the gap is set to 70 mm.

  A lower electrode 130 is provided below the processing chamber 100 so as to face the antenna 110. The lower electrode 130 mounts and holds a sample W such as a wafer on its upper surface, that is, the sample mounting surface, by the electrostatic chuck 131. On the outer periphery of the sample W, a sample stage ring 132 made of, for example, high-purity silicon is installed on the insulator 133. A bias power supply 134 for supplying a bias power preferably in the range of 400 kHz to 13.56 MHz is connected to the lower electrode 130 via a matching circuit / filter system 135 to control the bias applied to the sample W. . In the present embodiment, the bias power supply 134 has a frequency of 800 kHz.

  Next, the measurement ports 140A and 140B installed to measure the surface state of the sample W, which is a main part of the present embodiment, will be described. In this embodiment, the measurement ports 140A and 140B are attached to the antenna 110 facing the sample W. As will be described later, the state of the thin film on the surface of the sample W through a large number of through holes formed in the plate 115. Can be measured from vertically above. Then, the measurement port 140B is installed at a position where the outer periphery of the sample W is measured, and the measurement port 140A is installed at an intermediate position between the outer periphery and the center of the sample W, so that information on the in-plane distribution of the surface of the sample W is obtained. Yes. Of course, the mounting of the measurement port is not limited to the two locations of the outer peripheral portion and the intermediate portion as described here, but may be only one location or three or more locations, or another arrangement such as arranging on the circumference, for example. Needless to say, it may be arranged.

  The measurement ports 140A and 140B are provided with optical transmission means 151A and 151B such as optical fibers and lenses, for example, such as direct light from the plasma P or reflected light or interference light of the plasma P on the surface of the wafer W. Optical information reflecting the surface state of the wafer W is transmitted to and measured by a measuring instrument 152 composed of, for example, a camera, an interference thin film meter, or an image processing apparatus. The measuring instrument 152 is controlled by the measuring instrument control / calculation means 153 and is further connected to a higher-level system control means 154. The system control unit 154 monitors and controls the state of the apparatus system via the control interface 155.

  The plasma etching apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured as described above. A specific process in the case of etching a silicon oxide film, for example, using this plasma etching apparatus is as follows.

First, a wafer W that is an object to be processed is loaded into the processing chamber 100 from a sample loading mechanism (not shown), and then placed and sucked on the lower electrode 130, and the height of the lower electrode is adjusted as necessary. Is adjusted and set to a predetermined gap. Next, the inside of the processing chamber 100 is evacuated by the evacuation system 106, while gases necessary for etching the sample W, such as C ₄ F ₈ , Ar, and O _2, are supplied from the gas supply means 116 at a predetermined flow rate. A mixture ratio such as Ar 400 sccm, C ₄ F ₈ 15 sccm, or O ₂ 5 sccm is supplied from the plate 115 of the antenna 110 to the processing chamber 100. At the same time, the inside of the processing chamber 100 is adjusted to a predetermined processing pressure, for example, 2 Pa. On the other hand, the magnetic field forming means 101 forms a substantially horizontal magnetic field of approximately 160 gauss corresponding to the electron cyclotron resonance magnetic field intensity with respect to the frequency of the antenna power supply 121 of 450 MHz near the lower portion of the plate 115. Then, an electromagnetic wave in the UHF band is radiated from the antenna 110 by the antenna power source 121, and plasma P is generated in the processing chamber 100 by interaction with the magnetic field. With this plasma P, the processing gas is dissociated to generate ions and radicals, and the antenna high frequency power supply 123 and bias power supply 134 are controlled to perform processing such as etching on the wafer W.

  For example, the antenna power supply 121 is about 1000 W, the antenna high-frequency power supply 123 is about 300 W, and the bias power supply 141 is about 800 W. Then, along with the end of the etching process, the supply of electric power and processing gas is stopped to end the etching.

  Optical information reflecting the plasma emission and the wafer surface state during processing is transmitted by the optical transmission means 151A and 151B through the measurement ports 140A and 140B and measured by the measuring instrument 152, and the measuring instrument control / calculating means 153 Arithmetic processing is performed based on the measurement result, and is transmitted to the host system control means 154 to control the plasma processing apparatus system via the control interface 155.

  Next, the detailed structure of the measurement port 140 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion of the measurement port 140 attached to the antenna 110 in the embodiment of FIG. As already described in FIG. 1, the disk-shaped conductor 111 and the dielectric 112 that form the antenna 110 are held by the housing 114, and the plate 115 is installed on the disk-shaped conductor 111. A large number of gas outflow holes 115A are provided in the plate 115, and a processing gas is supplied into the processing chamber 100 through the gas outflow holes 111A provided at positions corresponding to the gas outflow holes 115A in the disk-shaped conductor 111. To do. The gas perforation hole 115A provided in the plate 115 is a through hole having a diameter of about 0.1 mm to 5 mm, preferably about 0.3 mm to 2 mm, and is provided in the disk-shaped conductor 111. Further, the gas transmission hole 111A has a size equal to or larger than that of the hole 115A, for example, a diameter of about 0.5 mm to 5 mm, and preferably about a diameter of 2 mm. The thickness of the plate 115 is about 3 mm to 20 mm, and is 6 mm in this embodiment.

In the plate 115, a large number of through holes 115B are formed densely in a portion corresponding to the measurement port 140. An optical transmission body 141 is installed so as to be substantially in contact with the back surface of the plate 115 (the surface opposite to the plasma P), and the housing 114 is vacuum-sealed by the holding means 142 and a vacuum sealing means 143 such as an O-ring. Attached. An optical transmission means 151 such as an optical fiber or a lens is provided on the end face of the optical transmission body 141 on the atmosphere side. Then, the direct light 145P from the plasma P, the reflected light from the surface of the sample W of the plasma P, and the interference light 145W pass through the through-hole 115B of the plate 115 as in the optical path 144 indicated by the broken line, and the optical transmission body 141 is transmitted. Is transmitted to the optical transmission means 151 and further transmitted to the measuring device 152 for measurement.
As will be described later, the aspect ratio of the through-hole 115B is preferably about 5 or more and 100 or less.

  In this embodiment, the optical transmission body 141 is a cylindrical rod made of quartz. The diameter of the optical transmission body 141 is preferably about 5 mm to 30 mm, and in this embodiment, the diameter is 10 mm. The through hole 115B has a diameter of, for example, about φ0.1 mm to φ5 mm, preferably about φ0.3 mm to φ2 mm, as in the gas outflow hole 115A. In this embodiment, the diameter is φ0. 5 mm. Further, it is desirable to provide a plurality of through holes 115B, preferably several tens or more in order to improve measurement sensitivity. In the present embodiment, as described below, about 40 holes are arranged.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the arrangement of the through holes 115B. In the present embodiment, the through-holes 115B are arranged with approximately 40 holes in a region corresponding to the end face of the optical transmission body 141 at a pitch of 1.5 mm so as to form regular triangles at regular intervals. Yes. Since the diameter of the through hole 115B is φ0.5 mm in this embodiment as described above, the aperture ratio (the ratio of the sum of the openings of the through holes 115B to the area of the end face of the optical transmission body 141) is about 10%. (= (0.5 ² (mm ² ) × 40 (pieces)) / (10 ² ) (mm ² )), and sufficient measurement sensitivity can be obtained. Of course, the arrangement of the through-holes is not limited to that shown in FIG. 3. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, they may be arranged so as to be orthogonal to each other, or various arrangements such as concentric arrangement are possible.

  In addition, since it is necessary to open a certain width between adjacent through holes (for example, 1 mm or more), the aperture ratio decreases as the diameter of the through hole decreases. For example, when holes with a diameter of 0.3 mm are formed in a region of φ10 mm with a pitch of 1.3 mm (width between opening portions is 1 mm), the aperture ratio is about 5%. Although it is possible to measure even with an aperture ratio of about 1%, in order to measure the etching rate in-situ, it is desirable that the aperture ratio is at least about 5%. The diameter is preferably about φ0.3 mm or more. On the other hand, as will be described later, it is desirable that the diameter of the through hole 115B is set to be sufficiently smaller than the mean free path of the molecule, and in order not to induce abnormal discharge, the diameter of the through hole is φ0.1 mm or more and φ5. The diameter is preferably about mm or less, more preferably about φ0.3 mm or more and about 2 mm or less.

  Further, if the diameter of the through-hole 115B is the same as that of the gas outflow hole 115A, there is an advantage that the processing steps of the plate 115 are not increased and the cost increase can be suppressed, but of course, the hole diameter is not necessarily the same, What is necessary is just to set to the optimal value from the sensitivity of measurement, stability, etc. Further, it is not necessary that all the through holes 115B have the same hole diameter, and for example, the hole diameter may be increased on the outer peripheral side.

Further, the optical transmission body 141 is not necessarily required to be “transparent”, that is, to have transparency with respect to the entire visible light region, and may have sufficient transmittance in the wavelength region to be measured. . For example, quartz and sapphire are suitable if the near-infrared region of 800 nm is measured from the ultraviolet region of 200 nm across the visible light region. On the other hand, if measurement is performed in the infrared region, silicon or an optical material such as ZnS that can obtain good transmission characteristics in the infrared region may be used. Furthermore, a thin film such as sapphire Al ₂ O ₃ may be formed on the end face of the optical transmission body 141 for the purpose of improving the resistance to ion sputtering or reducing the reflectance.

  The measurement port 140 has the above structure. By adopting such a configuration, the measurement port 140 does not cause abnormal discharge or foreign matter, or optical performance such as transmittance does not deteriorate, and stable measurement can be performed for a long time. It becomes possible. The reason will be described below.

  As mentioned above as a problem of the prior art, when a large hole of about φ10 mm is formed in the upper electrode, a local abnormal discharge is generated by the hollow cathode at the hole portion, or plasma penetrates into the hole. Damage it. In contrast, in this embodiment, the diameter of the through hole is set to be as small as about φ0.5 mm, so that no abnormal discharge occurs in the through hole portion, and plasma penetrates into the through hole. I don't have to. As a result of experiments, the present inventors have confirmed that measurement can be performed without causing the above-described abnormality by setting the diameter of the through-hole 115B to about φ5 mm or less, more preferably about φ2 mm or less. . Further, since the optical transmission body 141 is installed so as to be substantially in contact with the back surface of the through hole 115B, there is no space that causes abnormal discharge between the through hole 115B and the optical transmission body 141. There is no discharge.

  Further, in this embodiment, no reaction product adheres to the end face of the optical transmission body 141, and the transmittance does not decrease even if the discharge time is repeated, so that stable measurement can be performed over a long period.

First, this is because the diameter of the through-hole 115B is set to a value sufficiently smaller than the mean free path of the molecule. The operating pressure in the processing chamber is about 0.5 Pa to 4 Pa, and the mean free path λ of the molecules in this case is about 5 mm to 30 mm (Ar molecule, at 25 ° C.). On the other hand, since the diameter D _h of the through-hole 115B is about φ0.5 mm, the ratio to the mean free path λ of the molecule, that is, the value of D _h / λ is approximately D _h /λ=0.02. ~ 0.1. This way, since the diameter D _h of the through-hole 115B set sufficiently smaller than the mean free path of molecules lambda, the probability that gas molecules in the plasma P is entering the interior of the through-hole 115B is small.

Secondly, in the present embodiment, the through hole 115B has a diameter of φ0.5 mm, whereas the depth in the depth direction, which is the thickness of the plate, is set to 6 mm. Thus, since the aspect ratio (= depth / diameter) is 10 or more and the hole is sufficiently deep, the probability that radicals pass through the through-hole 115B and adhere to the end face of the optical transmission body 141 is sufficiently small.
The probability that radicals adhere to the end face of the optical transmission body 141 is proportional to the solid angle dΩ in which the through hole 115B (hole diameter: D, length: L) is expected in the end face. FIG. 5 shows the dependency of the solid angle dΩ on the aspect ratio (AR = L / D). From the figure, the solid angle dΩ is inversely proportional to the square of AR, and if the solid angle dΩ is an aspect ratio of 5 or more, the solid angle dΩ is 1/100 or less of the solid angle π in the plane, and the radical is the light transmitter 141. The probability of reaching the end face is sufficiently small. Therefore, in order to obtain a stain prevention effect on the end face of the optical transmission body 141, the aspect ratio of the through hole 115B may be set to about 5 or more and 100 or less.
In addition, since the plate 115 is heated by the plasma and has a surface temperature of 100 ° C. or higher, the reaction product has a low probability of attaching to the inside of the through hole 115B, and deposits adhere and grow on the inner surface of the through hole 115B. The effective transmission area of the holes is not reduced.

  Third, since a bias voltage of about several tens of volts to several hundreds of volts is applied to the plate 115, ions in the plasma are drawn in the depth direction of the through hole 115B. For this reason, ions having energy of about several tens of eV to several hundreds of eV can reach the end face of the optical transmission body 141 with a high probability. For this reason, even if the reaction product adheres to the end face of the optical transmission body 141, it is quickly removed by the ion sputtering effect. By configuring the optical transmission body 141 with, for example, quartz or sapphire having high plasma resistance, it is possible to sufficiently reduce a decrease in optical performance due to damage to the end face of the optical transmission body 141.

  As a comprehensive result of these effects, the light transmission body 141 does not have reaction products attached to the end face or the surface thereof, and the light transmission characteristics are kept constant even after repeated discharges. Stable measurement is possible for a long time.

  As a result of repeated experimental studies on the above three factors, the inventors have made the diameter of the through-hole as described in the present embodiment for the case where the oxide film on the surface of the sample W is etched. By setting the diameter to 0.5 mm and the thickness of the plate to 6 mm, it has been confirmed that stable measurement can be performed without causing abnormal discharge. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of signal waveforms obtained in this experiment. As the etching process proceeds, an interference signal is obtained by changing the interference state due to the reflected light from the oxide film surface and the base, and the etching rate can be measured in-situ from this period. Further, a plasma emission signal which is direct light from plasma is also obtained at the same time. Then, it can be seen that at the end point of the etching process, the interference signal and the plasma emission signal are changed at the same time, and the change in the surface state and the plasma composition at the end point of the etching process can be detected. These signals can be detected with sufficient accuracy for at least 10 hours of discharge, and the generation of foreign matter during this period is at the level of 20 or less (0.2 μm or more), and can be measured stably. confirmed.

  As can be seen from FIG. 2, the optical transmission body 141 is fixed and vacuum-sealed only by the holding means 142 and the vacuum sealing means 143. Therefore, when the processing chamber is opened to the atmosphere, it is easy to remove the holding means 142. It has a replaceable structure. For this reason, when deposits gradually adhere to the end face of the optical transmission body 141 or are sputtered by ions depending on the process conditions, the plasma processing apparatus is opened to the atmosphere and wet cleaning is performed. The optical transmission body 141 can be easily replaced, and the downtime during wet cleaning (full sweep) can be minimized.

  Next, another embodiment of the detection optical system that performs measurement through the through hole 115B will be described with reference to FIGS. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, an optical fiber is used for the optical transmission means 151, and all of the direct light 145P from the plasma P in the optical path 144 and the reflected light / interference light 145W on the surface of the sample W of the plasma P are all. Is incident on the optical fiber and measured. This is a configuration suitable for detecting a change in the radical composition in the plasma, particularly as the etching process proceeds. On the other hand, in order to detect a change in the surface state such as the thickness of the thin film of the sample W sensitively, it is desirable that the direct light from the plasma P becomes a noise component for the measurement and therefore not be detected by the measurement system. There is also. In this case, it is preferable to use an imaging optical system using a lens or the like as the optical system.

  FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of such an optical system. In this embodiment, the optical transmission means 151 uses a lens 151A as an imaging means, and optical information from the surface of the sample W is imaged on, for example, a detection element portion 152A of a measuring instrument 152 such as a camera or an image processing apparatus. Yes. By arranging a spatial filter 152B such as a squeeze or pinhole immediately before the detection element 152A, the direct light 145P from the plasma P can be blocked and only the optical information 145W from the surface of the sample W can be transmitted to the detection element 152A. The sensitivity of detection and measurement with respect to the surface state of the sample W can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, since the through-hole 115B is provided in the middle of the optical system, it may seem that the optical path is blocked and it is difficult to measure the surface of the sample W. However, by setting the aspect ratio (= depth / diameter) of the through hole 115B to an appropriate value in relation to the spread of light from the surface of the sample W, measurement is possible without the through hole 115B blocking the optical path. It becomes.

  This will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram in which only the part relating to the measurement and optical system is extracted from the embodiment of FIG. The symbols in the figure are as follows.

D _h : Diameter of the through hole 115B
L _h : depth of the through hole 115B (equal to the thickness of the plate 115)
L _g : distance between the sample W and the plate 115 (corresponding to the gap described in the embodiment of FIG. 1)
L _z : Distance from sample W to imaging means 151A (L _z −L _g corresponds to the thickness of the antenna portion described in the embodiment of FIG. 1)
D _z: imaging means effective diameter of 151A (lens in the present embodiment) (approximately equal to the diameter D _r of the optical transmitter 141)
And the actual value of each in this example, as already mentioned,
D _h = φ0.5 mm, L _h = 6 mm, L _g = 70 mm, D _r = D _z = φ10 mm,
It is said. Moreover, since the thickness of the antenna portion is L _z −L _g = 80 mm,
L _z = 150 mm
It has become.

Here, the divergence angle θ from the surface of the sample W is determined based on the ratio Lz / Dz between the distance Lz from the sample W of the imaging means 151A and the effective diameter Dz to θz = tan-1 ((Dz / 2) / Lz). In this embodiment, θh = 1.9 °. L _z / D _z corresponding to the divergence angle of the light from the surface of the sample W is about 15. On the other hand, the expected angle θ _h based on the aspect ratio L _h / D _h of the through-hole 115B is set to θ _h = tan-1 ( When defined by (Dh / 2) / Lh), θz = 2.3 °, which is slightly smaller than θh =. Thus, by setting the light divergence angle θh from the surface of the sample W to be slightly smaller than the expected angle θz of the through-hole 115B, the light from the surface of the sample W is not blocked by the through-hole 115B, and the imaging means 151A is reached and the detection element 152A is focused.

  FIG. 8 shows a state in which this is confirmed experimentally. A character image Img1 having a size of several mm square is recorded on the surface of the sample W. Then, when the surface of the sample W was observed during the plasma processing, the image Img1 was optically transmitted on the detection element 152A, and the image Img2 was displayed on the display screen 152C of the measuring instrument 152. Although this image Img2 has a slight influence of “cutting” by the through-hole 115B on its outer peripheral part (represented by a concentric broken line in FIG. 8), the information of the original image Img1 is sufficiently obtained. Possessed and had a quality sufficient to measure the state of the thin film on the surface of the sample W. Then, when the etching process was performed on the oxide film on the surface of the sample W by the plasma P, the oxide film similar to that shown in FIG. 6 corresponding to the change in the thickness of the oxide film as the etching process progressed. It was experimentally confirmed that an interference signal due to reflected light from the surface and the ground was obtained, and the etching rate could be measured in-situ.

In the above embodiments, a quartz rod-shaped body (rod) is used as the optical transmission body 141. However, this is only an example, and it goes without saying that other configurations are possible. Another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 shows a configuration in which a rod-shaped body (rod) is hollowed out as an optical transmission body 141 and an optical fiber is inserted therein as an optical transmission means 151. In FIG. 9, a gas introduction portion 111B is provided in a portion corresponding to the through hole 115B of the disk-shaped conductor 111. For this reason, even if the process condition is such that the reaction product easily adheres to the end face of the optical transmission body 141, the process gas is supplied also from the gas introduction part 111B, so that the deposition of the reaction product can be prevented. it can. In FIG. 9, since the optical path that passes through the optical transmission body 141 can be shortened, the loss of optical information can be reduced.
Next, an embodiment for detecting fluctuations in the amount of reaction product deposited around the susceptor and on the side wall of the processing chamber, which causes foreign matter, will be described with reference to FIG. Here, description of the same components as those in FIG. 1 is omitted. Reflectors 169A and 196B that reflect light are installed on the side wall of the insulator 133 that covers the susceptor or the side wall 102 of one processing chamber, and the measurement ports 160A and 161A having the through holes of the present invention at positions facing the reflector. , And the fluctuation of reflected light or interference light from the reflector is transmitted to the optical measuring device 152 via the optical transmission means 161A and 161B and measured. The measuring instrument 152 is controlled by the measuring instrument control / calculation means 162, and a warning is issued by the display means 164 when the reflected light or interference light to be measured fluctuates greatly.
According to the present embodiment, the amount of light from the reflector changes when the reaction product deposited around the susceptor and the side wall of the processing chamber causing the foreign matter is peeled off from the reflector. A warning that prevents frequent occurrence of foreign matter can be issued. By this warning, it is possible to determine an appropriate sweeping time and prevent an abnormality during operation of the apparatus.

Next, an embodiment for detecting the consumption of the plate 115 related to the apparatus diagnosis during the continuous etching process will be described with reference to FIGS.
The plate 115 is etched and consumed because high frequency power is applied by the antenna power supply 121 during the wafer etching process. FIG. 11 shows the processing time dependence of the cross section of the gas outflow hole 115A in the plate 115. As shown in the figure, when the etching processing time is increased, the thickness of the plate is reduced and the hole diameter on the processing chamber side is increased. When the etching process is further continued, the gas outflow hole 115A becomes a through hole having a thickness of about 4.5 mm and a hole diameter of about 1.3 mm. In such a gas outflow hole, the area of the hole is increased by about 10.6 times compared to the initial stage of the etching process, so that the etching gas supply state changes greatly or an abnormal discharge is induced in the gas outflow hole. Or foreign matter is generated, which causes serious damage to the continuous etching process.
In FIG. 12, the change of the solid angle dΩ predicted from the gas outflow hole shape in the continuous treatment experiment is shown by a solid line. In addition, fluctuations in the amount of light emission at that time are indicated by ● marks. From the figure, it can be seen that the solid angle dΩ does not change significantly within the processing time of 400 hours, but increases rapidly when the processing time is 500 hours or more, and the change in the light emission amount has the same tendency. From this, it can be seen that when the processing time is 500 hours or more, there is a high possibility of causing serious damage to the continuous etching process.
According to the present embodiment, by monitoring the light emission amount measured from the measurement port having the through hole of the present invention, it is possible to detect the consumption of the plate 115 and prevent an abnormality during operation of the apparatus. Become.

Each of the above embodiments was a case of a magnetic processing UHF band electromagnetic wave radiation discharge type plasma processing apparatus, but the radiated electromagnetic wave is not limited to the UHF band, for example, a 2.45 GHz microwave or Alternatively, the VHF band from several tens of MHz to about 300 MHz may be used. In addition, the magnetic field strength has been described for the case of 160 gauss, which is the electron cyclotron resonance magnetic field strength for 450 MHz, but it is not always necessary to use the resonant magnetic field, and a stronger magnetic field or a weak magnetic field of about several tens of gauss or more is not necessary. It may be used. Furthermore, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied not only to the electromagnetic wave radiation discharge method but also to a capacitively coupled parallel plate plasma processing apparatus, a magnetron type plasma processing apparatus, or an inductively coupled plasma processing apparatus.

  In particular, in a plasma processing apparatus of a type in which a high frequency is applied to the lower electrode and a ground plate is provided on the upper portion, the structure of the upper plate facing the wafer is relatively simple, so that it is easy to provide a measurement port similar to the present invention. Is possible. Also, in so-called parallel plate type plasma processing equipment that generates plasma by applying a high frequency to the upper electrode, a high power of several kW is applied to the upper electrode, so abnormal discharge occurs if holes or voids are made in the upper electrode. However, according to the structure of the present invention, abnormal discharge or the like does not occur in the measurement port portion. In particular, in a so-called narrow electrode type parallel plate plasma apparatus, since the gap between the upper and lower electrodes is small, it is very difficult to obtain information on the wafer surface and information on the plasma between the upper and lower electrodes from the side. large.

On the other hand, in the inductively coupled (ICP) type plasma processing apparatus, when transparent quartz is used for the top plate, it is possible to measure the state of the wafer surface to some extent. For example, when using an alumina dome or silicon plate, etc. The measurement port according to the present invention can be applied. Specifically, for example, a person skilled in the art can easily design a structure in which a large number of dense holes as shown in FIG. 3 are formed in an alumina plate and a quartz plate for vacuum sealing is provided on the back surface thereof. Will. In an ICP type plasma processing apparatus, it may be necessary to adjust the temperature of the top plate to a high temperature of, for example, 150 ° C. or higher in order to obtain process characteristics and reproducibility. However, the present invention can be applied even under such temperature conditions. Needless to say.

  In each of the above embodiments, the object to be processed is a semiconductor wafer and the etching process is performed on the semiconductor wafer. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can be applied to a case where the object to be processed is a liquid crystal substrate. Further, the process itself is not limited to etching, and can be applied to, for example, sputtering or CVD process.

It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the plasma etching apparatus which is one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the through-hole part which is the principal part of this invention. It is a figure which shows one Example of arrangement | positioning of the through-hole in this invention. It is a figure which shows the other Example of arrangement | positioning of the through-hole in this invention. It is a figure which shows the aspect-ratio dependence with respect to the solid angle of the through-hole in this invention. It is a figure which shows the schematic diagram of the signal waveform experimentally obtained in the present Example. It is a figure explaining the example using an imaging optical system as other examples of the present invention. It is a figure explaining the effect | action in the Example of FIG. It is a figure explaining the example which used the hollow structure for the optical transmission body as another Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the example which performed the apparatus diagnosis as another Example of this invention by providing a reflector in a susceptor or a process chamber side wall. It is sectional drawing of the gas outflow hole explaining the example which performed the apparatus diagnosis regarding the exhaustion detection of a gas supply plate as another Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the light emission change and solid angle change in the Example of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Processing chamber, 101 ... Magnetic field formation means, 102 ... Side wall, 103 ... Vacuum chamber, 110 ... Antenna, 130 ... Lower electrode, 115 ... Plate, 115B ... Through-hole, 141 ... Optical transmission body, 151 ... Optical transmission means 152 ... Measuring instrument, W ... Sample.

Claims (4)

A vacuum vessel, a sample stage disposed below the inside of the vacuum container, a plate disposed above the wafer placed above and placed on the sample stage, and disposed between the plate and the wafer. A space in which plasma for processing the wafer is formed; and a disk-shaped conductive member that is disposed in the vacuum vessel and above the plate to supply an electric field for forming the plasma. An electric field supply means, a through hole arranged on the plate, and an inside of the electric field supply means inside the vacuum vessel on the back of the through hole are detachably arranged from the outside of the vacuum container. A plasma processing apparatus comprising: a light receiving means having an optical transmission suspension that transmits light from the inside of the vacuum vessel that has passed through;
Electric power is supplied to the plate during the processing, the holding means for attaching and holding the optical transmission body with respect to the vacuum vessel, and the through hole side provided at a location inside the vacuum vessel of the optical transmission body A large-diameter portion having a step larger than the diameter and having a larger diameter, and the surface of the optical transmission body above the step is disposed between the inside and the outside of the vacuum vessel by being attached by the holding means. A plasma processing apparatus comprising: means for sealing the optical transmission body. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical transmission body is configured to be able to be taken out of the vacuum container by removing the holding means . 3. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the optical transmission body is attached to the disk-shaped conductive member of the electric field supply unit facing the wafer in parallel. 4. .   The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the light receiving means is sealed and attached to the vacuum vessel.

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