Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10153131-B2
Application number	US-201715469910-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2017
Priority date	Mar 29, 2016
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber, a rotation table installed in the processing chamber and configured to load a substrate on an upper surface of the rotation table along a circumferential direction of the rotation table, and a plasma generator including an antenna located above an upper surface of the processing chamber and installed to be able to move in a radial direction of the rotation table, wherein the plasma generator is configured to locally apply plasma to the rotation table in the radial direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A plasma processing apparatus comprising:
a processing chamber;
a rotation table installed in the processing chamber and configured to load a substrate on an upper surface of the rotation table along a circumferential direction of the rotation table; and
a first plasma generator including a first antenna located above an upper surface of the processing chamber and installed to move in a radial direction of the rotation table, wherein the first plasma generator is configured to locally apply plasma to the rotation table in the radial direction,
wherein a slide mechanism configured to move the first antenna along the radial direction is installed on the upper surface of the processing chamber and slides the first antenna, the slide mechanism comprising:
a slider configured to support the first antenna; and
a guide part extending along the moving direction of the slide mechanism and configured to support the slider such that the slider slide along the moving direction; and
a drive part configured to drive the slider or the guide part and to slide the slider to a predetermined position.

2. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a length of the first antenna is less than or equal to a half of a radius of the rotation table in the radial direction.

3. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first antenna is configured to move along the radial direction.

4. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the guide part is a ball screw, and the drive part is a motor.

5. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first antenna is installed in a concave region formed on the upper surface of the processing chamber and is supported while being suspended from the slider.

6. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a matching device is integrally installed with the slider, and the first antenna is configured to slide together with the matching device.

7. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first antenna is surrounded by a Faraday shield and the Faraday shield is secured to the slider; and
wherein the first antenna is configured to slide together with the Faraday shield.

8. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the drive part is configured to vary a moving speed of the slider.

9. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising:
a control part configured to control the position of the slider driven by the drive part and the moving speed of the slider in the corresponding position.

10. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the control part controls the moving speed of the slider such that a first moving speed at which the slider is in a first position of the rotation table is less than or equal to a second moving speed at which the slider is in a second position on an inner circumferential side than the first position of the rotation table.

11. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the control part is configured to control an output of the first plasma generator.

12. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rotation table is further configured to load a plurality of the substrates on the upper surface of the rotation table along the circumferential direction, the apparatus further comprising:
a first process gas supply part installed above the rotation table within the processing chamber, the first process gas supply part being spaced apart from the first plasma generator in the circumferential direction of the rotation table to supply a first process gas to the rotation table;
a second process gas supply part disposed between the first process gas supply part and the first plasma generator in the circumferential direction of the rotation table to supply the rotation table with a second process gas which reacts with first process gas to generate a reaction product, and
wherein the first plasma generator is further configured to perform a modification process on the reaction product by applying the plasma to the reaction product.

13. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a second plasma generator installed on the upper surface of the processing chamber and above the second process gas supply part.

14. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the second plasma generator includes a second antenna secured to the upper surface of the processing chamber such that the second antenna covers substantially an entire radius of the rotation table in the radial direction.

15. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the second plasma generator includes a second antenna installed above the upper surface of the processing chamber such that the second antenna move in the radial direction and is configured to locally apply plasma to the rotation table in the radial direction.

16. A plasma processing method comprising:
rotating a rotation table installed in a processing chamber and having at least one substrate loaded on the rotation table along a circumferential direction of the rotation table; and
generating plasma while moving an antenna installed above an upper surface of the processing chamber in a radial direction of the rotation table, and locally applying the plasma to the substrate in the radial direction of the rotation table,
wherein the antenna is moved such that a first moving speed when the antenna is in a first position of the rotation table is less than or equal to a second moving speed when the antenna is in a second position on an inner circumferential side than the first position of the rotation table.

17. A plasma processing method comprising:
rotating a rotation table installed in a processing chamber and having at least one substrate loaded on the rotation table along a circumferential direction of the rotation table; and
generating plasma while moving an antenna installed above an upper surface of the processing chamber in a radial direction of the rotation table, and locally applying the plasma to the substrate in the radial direction of the rotation table,
wherein a difference in a moving speed in the circumferential direction based on a difference in a distance from a center of the rotation table in the radial direction is compensated, and
when a position of the antenna and the moving speed in the corresponding position are controlled such that a time period during which the plasma is applied is constant in all positions in the radial direction.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Kato Hitoshi

Classifications

• H01J37/3244

  Gas supply means · CPC title

• H01J2237/327

  Arrangements for generating the plasma · CPC title

• H01J37/32394

  Treating interior parts of workpieces · CPC title

• H01J37/3211 Primary

  Antennas, e.g. particular shapes of coils · CPC title

• H01J37/32366

  Localised processing · CPC title