Multi-zone temperature control for semiconductor wafer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10113233-B2
Application number	US-201514680105-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 7, 2015
Priority date	Feb 13, 2009
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for controlling critical dimension (CD) of a circuit is provided. An apparatus includes a controller for receiving CD measurements at respective locations in a circuit pattern in an etched film on a first substrate and a single wafer chamber for forming a second film of the film material on a second substrate. The single wafer chamber is responsive to a signal from the controller to locally adjust a thickness of the second film based on the measured CD's. A method provides for etching a circuit pattern of a film on a first substrate, measuring CD's of the circuit pattern, adjusting a single wafer chamber to form a second film on a second semiconductor substrate based on the measured CD. The second film thickness is locally adjusted based on the measured CD's.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising: a controller programmed to receive a plurality of measurements of a critical dimension (CD) at respective locations in a circuit pattern etched from a film comprising a film material on a first semiconductor substrate; and a single wafer chamber for forming a second film of the film material on a second semiconductor substrate, wherein a first film material is deposited on the first semiconductor substrate by the single wafer chamber, the single wafer chamber being responsive to a control signal from the controller to adjust a thickness of the second film at one or more of the respective locations based on the plurality of measurements of the CD, wherein the single wafer chamber has a platen that supports the second semiconductor substrate, and wherein the single wafer chamber includes a plurality of heating elements, wherein each of the plurality of heating elements is moveable with respect to the platen; and a plurality of driver units, wherein a single driver unit is coupled to one respective heating element to independently actuate said one respective heating element in a plane parallel to a wafer-engaging surface of the platen, wherein each single driver unit is configured to move one respective heating element in two orthogonal directions in the plane parallel to the wafer-engaging surface of the platen, and wherein each single driver unit is configured to provide independent adjustments to positions of one respective heating element.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the platen has a plurality of independently controllable temperature zones.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein each temperature zone of the platen includes at least one heating element of the plurality of heating elements.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to control the plurality of heating elements to increase heating element power in a respective temperature zone of the substrate to increase the thickness of the second film at one or more of the respective locations, if each of the plurality of measurements of the CD of the first film is less than a predetermined dimension, and decrease the heating element power in the respective temperature zone to decrease the thickness of the second film at one or more of the respective locations, if each of the plurality of measurements of the CD of the first film is greater than the predetermined dimension.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to adjust a position of each of the plurality of heating elements based on the plurality of measurements of the CD.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the single wafer chamber is configured to perform a process from the group consisting of chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition.

7. A system including the apparatus of claim 1 , comprising: a single wafer chamber for forming one or more films on a first semiconductor substrate, wherein the single wafer chamber includes a platen configured to support the semiconductor substrate, the platen having a plurality of independently controllable temperature zones; a plurality of heating elements, wherein at least one of the plurality of heating elements is associated with each of the plurality of independently controllable temperature zones, wherein each of the plurality of heating elements is moveable with respect to the platen and the other ones of the plurality of heating elements; and a controller for receiving a plurality of measurements of a critical dimension (CD) at respective locations in a circuit pattern etched from at least one of the one or more films formed on the first semiconductor substrate; and a single respective driver unit coupled to one respective heating element to independently actuate the one respective heating element in a plane parallel to a wafer-engaging surface of the platen, wherein each respective driver unit is configured to move one respective heating element in two orthogonal directions in the plane parallel to the wafer-engaging surface of the platen, and wherein each respective driver unit is configured to provide independent adjustments to positions of one respective heating element.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to adjust power supplied to the plurality of heating elements based on the measurements of the CD.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a positional adjustment of each of the heating elements is limited so that each of the heating elements do not bump into each other.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein a positional adjustment of each of the heating elements is limited to a distance of less than one half of a distance between the nearest surfaces of two adjacent heating elements when both heating elements are centered in a default position.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the default position is a center of the respective heating elements' range of motion.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein a positional adjustment of each of the heating elements is limited so that each of the heating elements do not bump into each other.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein a positional adjustment of each of the heating elements is limited to a distance of less than one half of a distance between the nearest surfaces of two adjacent heating elements when both heating elements are centered in a default position.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the default position is a center of the respective heating elements' range of motion.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Chang Chun-Lin
• Wu Hsin-Hsien
• Wei Zin-Chang
• Yang Chi-Ming
• Chern Chyi Shyuan
• Yeh Jun-Lin
• Lin Jih-Jse
• Wang Jo Fei
• Fan Ming-Yu
• Mou Jong-I

Classifications

• H10P74/203

  Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects · CPC title

• H10P72/0604

  Process monitoring, e.g. flow or thickness monitoring · CPC title

• H10P72/0602

  Temperature monitoring · CPC title

• H10P72/0432

  mainly by conduction · CPC title

• H10P72/0421

  for drying etching · CPC title