Search

US-12624456-B2 - Film-forming method and film-forming apparatus

US12624456B2US 12624456 B2US12624456 B2US 12624456B2US-12624456-B2

Abstract

A film-forming method for forming a film on a substrate includes: (A) forming the film on the substrate by, in a process chamber, rotating the substrate, moving one of the substrate or a nozzle gas discharge mechanism relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism, and discharging a film-forming gas toward the substrate from the discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism; and (B) after (A), adjusting a film thickness of the film formed on the substrate by, in the process chamber, rotating the substrate, moving one of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism, and discharging an etching gas toward the substrate from the discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism.

Inventors

  • Hitoshi Kato

Assignees

  • TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20241011
Priority Date
20231024

Claims (10)

  1. 1 . A film-forming method for forming a film on a substrate, the film-forming method comprising: (A) forming the film on the substrate by, in a process chamber, rotating the substrate, moving one of the substrate or a nozzle gas discharge mechanism relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism such that a discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism passes over a center of the substrate, and discharging a film-forming gas toward the substrate from the discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism; and (B) after (A), adjusting a film thickness of the film formed on the substrate by, in the process chamber, rotating the substrate, moving one of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism such that the discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism passes over the center of the substrate, and discharging an etching gas toward the substrate from the discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism.
  2. 2 . The film-forming method according to claim 1 , wherein in (B), a discharge condition of the etching gas is set such that the discharge hole faces, for a longer time, a region in which the film thickness of the film formed in (A) is larger than that of a target shape.
  3. 3 . The film-forming method according to claim 2 , wherein in (B), a range in which one of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism is moved relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism is set to be shorter than a diameter of the substrate.
  4. 4 . The film-forming method according to claim 3 , wherein in (B), the range in which one of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism is moved relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism is gradually narrowed over time.
  5. 5 . The film-forming method according to claim 2 , wherein in (B), a range in which one of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism is moved relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism is set to a range in which the discharge hole passes over the center of the substrate yet does not reach an outer edge of the substrate.
  6. 6 . The film-forming method according to claim 2 , wherein in (B), a range in which one of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism is moved relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism is set to a range in which the discharge hole passes over an outer edge of the substrate yet does not reach the center of the substrate.
  7. 7 . The film-forming method according to claim 1 , wherein in (B), a speed at which one of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism is moved relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism is changed in accordance with a position of the substrate faced by the discharge hole.
  8. 8 . The film-forming method according to claim 1 , wherein the nozzle gas discharge mechanism includes a first nozzle gas discharge mechanism and a second nozzle gas discharge mechanism that are configured to discharge the film-forming gas to the substrate, and a third nozzle gas discharge mechanism configured to discharge the etching gas to the substrate, in (A), in a state in which the substrate is being rotated, the first nozzle gas discharge mechanism and the second nozzle gas discharge mechanism are caused to swing independently of each other, and in (B), in a state in which the substrate is being rotated, only the third nozzle gas discharge mechanism is caused to swing.
  9. 9 . The film-forming method according to claim 8 , wherein the first nozzle gas discharge mechanism includes a first nozzle extending in the process chamber, a first nozzle driver provided at a base end of the first nozzle and configured to swing the first nozzle, and a first head provided at a front end of the first nozzle and configured to discharge an adsorbing gas as the film-forming gas, the second nozzle gas discharge mechanism includes a second nozzle extending in the process chamber, a second nozzle driver provided at a base end of the second nozzle and configured to swing the second nozzle, and a second head provided at a front end of the second nozzle and configured to discharge, as the film-forming gas, a reactive gas that is reactive with the adsorbing gas, and the third nozzle gas discharge mechanism includes a third nozzle extending in the process chamber, a third nozzle driver provided at a base end of the third nozzle and configured to swing the third nozzle, and a third head provided at a front end of the third nozzle and configured to discharge the etching gas.
  10. 10 . A film-forming apparatus configured to form a film on a substrate, the film-forming apparatus comprising: a process chamber configured to house the substrate; a substrate support configured to support the substrate in the process chamber and rotate the substrate; a nozzle gas discharge mechanism configured to discharge a film-forming gas and an etching gas toward the substrate supported by the substrate support; and a controller including a memory and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to control movements of the substrate support and the nozzle gas discharge mechanism, and control (A) forming the film on the substrate by, in the process chamber, rotating the substrate, moving one of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism such that a discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism passes over a center of the substrate, and discharging a film-forming gas toward the substrate from the discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism; and (B) after (A), adjusting a film thickness of the film formed on the substrate by, in the process chamber, rotating the substrate, moving one of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism such that the discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism passes over the center of the substrate, and discharging the etching gas toward the substrate from the discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is based upon and claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-182610, filed on Oct. 24, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Invention The present disclosure relates to a film-forming method and a film-forming apparatus. 2. Description of the Related Art Known film-forming apparatuses are configured to rotate multiple wafers (substrates) held on a susceptor and supply multiple types of processing gases over the substrates, thereby forming desired films on the surfaces of the substrates. In recent years, in accordance with miniaturization and increasing performance of semiconductor devices, it is desirable to provide a film-forming method of forming a thin film having excellent in-plane uniformity in terms of film thickness. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-62703 discloses a film-forming apparatus in which gas supplies are disposed above, and correspondingly to, two horizontally aligned substrates in a process chamber. This film-forming apparatus is configured to rotate each of the gas supplies about a shaft between the two substrates and discharge gas to the individual substrates, thereby forming films. SUMMARY One aspect of the present disclosure provides a film-forming method for forming a film on a substrate. The film-forming method includes: (A) forming the film on the substrate by, in a process chamber, rotating the substrate, moving one of the substrate or a nozzle gas discharge mechanism relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism such that a discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism passes over a center of the substrate, and discharging a film-forming gas toward the substrate from the discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism; and (B) after (A), adjusting a film thickness of the film formed on the substrate by, in the process chamber, rotating the substrate, moving one of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism relative to another of the substrate or the nozzle gas discharge mechanism such that the discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism passes over the center of the substrate, and discharging an etching gas toward the substrate from the discharge hole of the nozzle gas discharge mechanism. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic plan diagram illustrating a film-forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram cut along a diagonal line of a process chamber in the film-forming apparatus of FIG. 1; FIG. 3A is a schematic cross-sectional diagram illustrating a front end of a first nozzle gas discharge mechanism; FIG. 3B is a schematic plan diagram illustrating a discharger of a first head; FIG. 4A is a schematic cross-sectional diagram illustrating a front end of a second nozzle gas discharge mechanism; FIG. 4B is a schematic plan diagram illustrating a discharger of a second head; FIG. 5A is a schematic cross-sectional diagram illustrating a front end of a third nozzle gas discharge mechanism; FIG. 5B is a schematic plan diagram illustrating a discharger of a third head; FIG. 6 is a schematic plan diagram describing a swing speed of the first nozzle gas discharge mechanism; FIG. 7A is a schematic plan diagram illustrating a first movement example of the third nozzle gas discharge mechanism in partial etching; FIG. 7B is a schematic plan diagram illustrating a second movement example of the third nozzle gas discharge mechanism in partial etching; FIG. 8A is a schematic side diagram illustrating an example of adjusting a film formed in a recessed shape to a flat shape in a film-forming method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 8B is a schematic side diagram illustrating an example of adjusting a film formed in a projecting shape to a flat shape in the film-forming method; FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the film-forming method according to the embodiment; FIGS. 10A to 10I are diagrams illustrating a target shape of a film formed on a substrate; and FIG. 11 is a plan diagram illustrating a film-forming apparatus according to a modified example of the embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure provides a technique capable of readily forming a film to have a desired film thickness with high accuracy. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same components may be denoted by the same reference symbols, and duplicate description thereof may be omitted. Configuration of Film-Forming Apparatus 1 As illustrated in FIG. 1, a film-forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is configured as a single-wafer type film-forming apparatus configured to process substrates W one by one. The film-for