KR-102965111-B1 - Cleaning of SiN using CCP plasma or RPS cleaning

KR102965111B1KR 102965111 B1KR102965111 B1KR 102965111B1KR-102965111-B1

Abstract

A physical vapor deposition processing chamber is described. The processing chamber includes a target backing plate in the upper part of the processing chamber, a substrate support in the lower part of the processing chamber, a deposition ring positioned at the outer periphery of the substrate support, and a shield. The substrate support has a support surface spaced apart from the target backing plate by a certain distance to form a process cavity. The shield forms the outer boundary of the process cavity. Cleaning methods within the chamber are also described. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of closing the lower gas flow path of the processing chamber into the process cavity, flowing an inert gas from the lower gas flow path, flowing a reactant into the process cavity through an opening in the shield, and vacuuming the reaction gas out of the process cavity.

Inventors

라말링감, 조틸링감
사반다이아, 키란쿠마르 닐라산드라
카오, 융
라비츠키, 일리야
밀러, 키스 에이.
궁, 짜-징
탕, 시안민
라반, 셰인
슈미딩, 랜디 디.
포스터, 존 씨.

Assignees

어플라이드 머티어리얼스, 인코포레이티드

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20220628
Priority Date: 20210629

Claims (20)

As a processing chamber for cleaning, A target backing plate located in the top portion of the processing chamber; A substrate support located in the bottom portion of the processing chamber — said substrate support has a support surface spaced apart from the target backing plate by a certain distance to form a process cavity —; A deposition ring positioned at the outer periphery of the substrate support — the deposition ring has an outer portion having a contoured shape —; A shield forming the outer boundary of the above-mentioned process cavity — said shield has a shield upper portion located in the upper part of the processing chamber and a shield lower portion located in the lower part of the processing chamber, said shield upper portion is positioned around the periphery of the target backing plate and said shield lower portion is positioned around the periphery of the substrate support and said shield lower portion includes a contoured surface having a shape complementary to the outer part of the deposition ring —; A sealing bracket — the sealing bracket is positioned on the side opposite to the substrate support from the target backing plate so that the deposition ring is between the target backing plate and the sealing bracket —; and A bellows assembly having an upper bellows flange, a bellows, and a lower bellows flange — the upper bellows flange being located below the lower portion of the shield next to the outer contoured surface of the lower portion of the shield and attached to the lower portion of the shield — comprising, The upper portion of the processing chamber includes an upper gas flow path between the periphery of the target backing plate and the upper portion of the shield of the shield, and The lower portion of the processing chamber includes a lower gas flow path between the shield and the deposition ring, and The deposition ring and the sealing bracket are movable between a process position in which there is a gap between the sealing bracket and the deposition ring and a gap between the lower bellows flange of the bellows assembly and the sealing bracket, and a cleaning position in which the sealing bracket contacts the lower bellows flange of the bellows assembly. Processing chamber.
In Article 1, A turbo pump housing further comprising a fluid-communicated structure with the process cavity through a lower flow path when in a process position, and isolated from the process cavity through the lower flow path when in a cleaning position. Processing chamber.
In Article 1, A roughing pump further comprising fluid communication with the process cavity through an upper flow path, Processing chamber.
In Paragraph 3, The system further includes a roughing valve between the roughing pump and the process cavity, The roughing valve is configured to allow gas flow from the process cavity to the roughing pump through the upper flow path when the roughing valve is opened, and to prevent flow to the roughing pump when the roughing valve is closed. Processing chamber.
In Paragraph 4, The processing chamber is configured to allow the flow of gas into the process cavity through the upper flow path when the roughing valve is closed. Processing chamber.
In Article 5, When the deposition ring and the sealing bracket are in the cleaning position, the roughing valve is closed. Processing chamber.
In Paragraph 3, One or more of the shield, the target backing plate, the substrate support, the deposition ring, the sealing bracket, or the turbo pump housing are resistant to fluoride radicals and/or fluorine sputtering. Processing chamber.
As an in-chamber cleaning method, A step of closing the lower gas flow path of the processing chamber into the process cavity — when the processing chamber is in the process position, the process cavity is defined by a substrate support, a target backing plate, and a shield —; A step of flowing an inert gas into a chamber from an inert gas inlet — said chamber is defined by the substrate support, ground bracket, shield, adapter, and chamber body —; A step of flowing the reactant from the reactant inlet into the process cavity through the opening of the shield; and The step of evacuating the reactant from the process cavity through an upper gas flow path — said upper gas flow path is located within the upper part of the processing chamber, and said upper gas flow path passes over the shield — comprising Chamber cleaning method.
In Article 8, The step of closing the lower gas flow path is performed by moving the sealing bracket to contact the bellows assembly, wherein the sealing bracket is positioned on the opposite side of the substrate support from the target backing plate such that there is a deposition ring between the target backing plate and the sealing bracket, and the bellows assembly is connected to the shield. Chamber cleaning method.
In Article 8, The step of closing the lower gas flow path above is, The step of moving the substrate support into the chamber; and A step comprising sliding a shutter disk into the process cavity from under the shield to separate the chamber from the process cavity, Chamber cleaning method.
In Article 8, The above reactants comprise NF3 , fluoride radicals, hydrogen ( H2 ), oxygen ( O2 ), or a combination thereof, Chamber cleaning method.
In Article 8, One or more targets are maintained at a temperature in the range of 40 ℃ to 65 ℃, the substrate support is maintained at a temperature in the range of 200 ℃ to 250 ℃, or the shield is maintained at a temperature in the range of 200 ℃ to 250 ℃, one or more of which are, Chamber cleaning method.
In Article 11, The above substrate support includes a pedestal, and the fluoride radical is formed by applying a radio frequency (RF) bias to the pedestal. Chamber cleaning method.
In Article 11, 1 liter of NF3 is introduced into the above process cavity, Chamber cleaning method.
In Article 8, The above method is performed by one or more of the steps of flowing the reactant into the process cavity at a pressure in the range of 100 mTorr to 1 Torr or flowing the inert gas into the chamber at a pressure in the range of 2 Torr to 3 Torr. Chamber cleaning method.
In Article 8, The above reactant comprises fluoride radicals, wherein the fluoride radicals are generated from NF3 in a remote plasma source, Chamber cleaning method.
In Article 8, The method further includes the step of coating one or more of the substrate support, the shield, the deposition ring, the sealing bracket, the bellows assembly, or the target backing plate with a coating material. The above coating material is selected from the group consisting of YF, YOF, AlOF, ZrO₂F , ZrO₂ , AlOx , or Y₂O₃ , Chamber cleaning method.
In Article 8, The above method removes built-up material, wherein the built-up material comprises SiN or a derivative thereof. Chamber cleaning method.
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Description

Cleaning of SiN using CCP plasma or RPS cleaning [0001] The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of manufacturing electronic devices, particularly the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In particular, the embodiments of the present disclosure relate to physical vapor deposition apparatuses and in-chamber cleaning methods for physical vapor deposition apparatuses. [0002] During physical vapor deposition (PVD), materials containing particulates and contaminants accumulate on process kits (e.g., shields, edge rings). The materials formed on the process kits can contaminate wafers subsequently processed, potentially requiring the removal and/or replacement of process kit components. Consequently, there are difficulties in depositing thick hard mask films by PVD due to frequent preventative maintenance (PM) that affects wafer throughput and cost. Additionally, low specifications for small particle contamination are very difficult to meet using existing hardware. [0003] Whenever the PVD chamber is opened, potential contamination and throughput issues arise. The PVD chamber is opened when the target is depleted and when replacement is required. During each target lifecycle, the PVD chamber is often opened multiple times to replace process kit components. [0004] Other approaches to increase the time between preventive maintenance include using heated shields, texturing process kits, using different material coatings on metal parts to improve the coefficient of thermal expansion matching, and cracking high-stress films. However, even with these approaches, only wafers with fewer than 2K capacity can be run, and process kits still need to be replaced frequently. [0005] Many chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chambers use a remote plasma source (RPS) to clean and coat the chamber before running the deposition process. However, in PVD chambers, remote plasma source cleaning was not being performed because it is difficult to protect all metal parts inside the chamber. [0006] Therefore, there is a need in the industry for methods and devices that enable process kits to run through the entire target lifecycle. [0007] One or more embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a processing chamber. In some embodiments, the processing chamber comprises a target backing plate in the upper part of the processing chamber, a substrate support in the lower part of the processing chamber—the substrate support has a support surface spaced apart from the target backing plate by a certain distance to form a process cavity—a deposition ring positioned at the outer periphery of the substrate support—the deposition ring has an outer portion having a contoured shape—and a shield forming the outer boundary of the process cavity—the shield has a shield upper portion in the upper part of the processing chamber and a shield lower portion in the lower part of the processing chamber, the upper portion is positioned around the periphery of the target backing plate and the lower portion is positioned around the periphery of the substrate support and the lower portion includes a contoured surface having a shape complementary to the outer portion of the deposition ring. [0008] In some embodiments, the upper portion of the processing chamber includes an upper gas flow path between the periphery of the target backing plate and the upper portion of the shield. [0009] In some embodiments, the lower part of the processing chamber includes a lower gas flow path between the shield and the deposition ring. [0010] Another embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a cleaning method within a chamber. In some embodiments, the method comprises the steps of: closing a lower gas flow path of a processing chamber into a process cavity—when the processing chamber is in the process position, the process cavity is defined by a substrate support, a target backing plate, and a shield—; flowing an inert gas into the chamber from an inert gas inlet—the chamber is defined by a substrate support, a ground bracket, a shield, an adapter, and a chamber body—; flowing a reactant into the process cavity from a reactant inlet through an opening in the shield; and evacuating the reactant from the process cavity through an upper gas flow path—the upper gas flow path is located within the upper part of the processing chamber and passes over the shield. [0011] In a manner that the features listed above in the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more detailed description of the present disclosure, which has been briefly summarized above, may be made with reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the accompanying drawings are merely illustrative of typical embodiments of the present disclosure and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure, as the present disclosure may allow for other equally valid embodiments. Embodiments as describ