Systems and methods for a tunable electromagnetic field apparatus to improve doping uniformity

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10734231-B2
Application number	US-201816234793-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2018
Priority date	May 2, 2016
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

A method includes receiving a semiconductor wafer into a chamber; generating a plasma within the chamber to accelerate particles toward the semiconductor wafer; generating a magnetic field above the semiconductor wafer by an electromagnetic structure contained within the chamber, wherein the electromagnetic structure comprises a plurality of electromagnetic elements; and adjusting the magnetic field, wherein the adjusting of the magnetic field includes moving positions of each of the plurality of electromagnetic elements independently.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a semiconductor wafer into a chamber;
generating a plasma within the chamber to accelerate particles toward the semiconductor wafer;
generating a magnetic field above the semiconductor wafer by an electromagnetic structure contained within the chamber, wherein the electromagnetic structure comprises a plurality of electromagnetic elements; and
adjusting the magnetic field, wherein the adjusting of the magnetic field includes moving positions of each of the plurality of electromagnetic elements independently.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the moving of the positions includes moving horizontally or vertically with respect to the semiconductor wafer.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the moving of the positions includes moving rotationally with respect to the semiconductor wafer.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring the magnetic field with a plurality of magnetic field sensors positioned within the chamber, thereby providing feedback to the adjusting of the magnetic field.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein at least one of the plurality of magnetic field sensors is positioned directly under the semiconductor wafer.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein each of the plurality of electromagnetic elements is individually associated with one of the plurality of magnetic field sensors.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusting of the magnetic field further includes controlling a current flowing through the electromagnetic structure.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the controlling of the current includes changing the current's amplitude, duty cycle, or frequency.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
reading a wafer-level map, thereby calculating a target adjustment of the magnetic field from the wafer-level map.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the wafer-level map is acquired from a previously processed wafer.

11. A semiconductor manufacturing method, comprising:
securing a wafer on a wafer support structure;
generating a plasma by a plasma generator positioned above the wafer support structure;
generating a magnetic field above the wafer by an electromagnetic structure, wherein the electromagnetic structure comprises at least two electromagnetic elements;
measuring the magnetic field by at least one magnetic field sensor; and
adjusting the magnetic field, wherein the adjusting of the magnetic field includes adjusting each current flowing through each of the at least two electromagnetic elements independently, and wherein the adjusting of the magnetic field includes receiving measurements of the magnetic field from the at least one magnetic field sensor.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the adjusting of each current includes changing each current's amplitude, duty cycle, or frequency.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the adjusting of the magnetic field further includes changing physical locations of the electromagnetic structure.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the changing of the physical locations includes moving each of the at least two electromagnetic elements independently.

15. The method of claim 11 ,
wherein the at least one magnetic field sensor is positioned under the wafer support structure.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the generating of the magnetic field includes flowing currents through the electromagnetic structure that is magnetized permanently.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the generating of the magnetic field includes flowing currents through the electromagnetic structure that is magnetized temporarily.

18. A semiconductor manufacturing method, comprising:
receiving a semiconductor wafer into a doping chamber;
generating a plasma within the doping chamber to accelerate dopants toward the semiconductor wafer;
generating a magnetic field above the semiconductor wafer by flowing a current through an electromagnetic structure positioned in the doping chamber; and
adjusting physical locations of the electromagnetic structure to tune the magnetic field, thereby correcting a flying path of the dopants.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the electromagnetic structure comprises at least two electromagnetic elements whose positions are movable independently of each other.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the adjusting of the physical locations of the electromagnetic structure includes moving horizontally, vertically, or rotationally of the electromagnetic structure.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lai Chien-An
• Wu Joseph
• Ku Wen-Yu

Classifications

• H10P32/1204 Primary

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• H01J37/32009

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