System and method for determining field non-uniformities of a wafer processing chamber using a wafer processing parameter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10763142-B2
Application number	US-201514860078-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2015
Priority date	Jun 22, 2015
Publication date	Sep 1, 2020
Grant date	Sep 1, 2020

Abstract

A system for controlling a condition of a wafer processing chamber is disclosed. According the principles of the present disclosure, the system includes memory and a first controller. The memory stores a plurality of profiles of respective ones of a plurality of first control elements. The plurality of first control elements are arranged throughout the chamber. The first controller determines non-uniformities in a substrate processing parameter associated with the plurality of first control elements. The substrate processing parameter is different than the condition of the chamber. The first controller adjusts at least one of the plurality of profiles based on the non-uniformities in the substrate processing parameter and a sensitivity of the substrate processing parameter to the condition.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for controlling a wafer processing chamber, the system comprising:
a plurality of sets of first thermal control elements arranged in respective zones of an electrostatic chuck (ESC) of the wafer processing chamber, wherein each of the sets of first thermal control elements is separately controllable to adjust a temperature of one of the respective zones;
a plurality of second thermal control elements distributed throughout each of the respective zones, wherein each of the second thermal control elements is separately controllable from the first thermal control elements and others of the second thermal control elements;
memory that stores a plurality of profiles of respective ones of the plurality of second thermal control elements;
a first controller that:
determines, for a first substrate, first respective etch rates of each of the plurality of second thermal control elements at predetermined setpoints of the plurality of sets of first thermal control elements;
determines, for a second substrate, second respective etch rates of each of the plurality of second thermal control elements at the predetermined setpoints of the plurality of sets of first thermal control elements;
determines, using the first and second respective etch rates as determined for the first substrate and the second substrate at the predetermined setpoints of the plurality of sets of first thermal control elements, (i) a first average etch rate of the first and second respective etch rates for the first substrate and the second substrate for a first one of the plurality of second thermal control elements, (ii) a second average etch rate of the first and second respective etch rates for the first substrate and the second substrate for a second one of the plurality of second thermal control elements, and (iii) a third average etch rate of the first average etch rate and the second average etch rate;
determines non-uniformities for each of the first and second average etch rates using the first, second, and third average etch rates;
adjusts at least one of the plurality of profiles based on the non-uniformities in the first and second average etch rates and a sensitivity of the first and second respective etch rates to a condition of the wafer processing chamber; and
during processing of a third substrate, controls the plurality of second thermal control elements in accordance with the at least one of the plurality of profiles as adjusted based on the determined non-uniformities in the first and second average etch rates.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second respective etch rates correspond to an etch rate of a film.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the film includes silicon nitride.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first controller adjusts the at least one of the plurality of profiles when the non-uniformities in the first and second average etch rates of corresponding ones of the plurality of second thermal control elements are outside of corresponding uncertainty ranges.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the first controller determines an uncertainty range of each of the non-uniformities in the first and second average etch rates using a variance of the non-uniformities in the first and second average etch rates.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first controller:
determines compensation values based on a quotient of the non-uniformities in the first and second average etch rates divided by the sensitivity of the first and second respective etch rates; and
adjusts the at least one of the plurality of profiles based on the compensation values.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the condition of the chamber is a temperature of the ESC.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first controller controls the plurality of second thermal control elements further based on a difference between respective ones of the plurality of profiles and actual values of the condition of the wafer processing chamber at the plurality of second thermal control elements.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein:
the first controller determines the actual values of the temperature at the plurality of second thermal control elements based on resistances of the plurality of second thermal control elements.

10. A method for controlling a condition of a wafer processing chamber, the method comprising:
arranging a plurality of sets of first thermal control elements in respective zones of an electrostatic chuck (ESC) of the wafer processing chamber, wherein each of the sets of first thermal control elements is separately controllable to adjust a temperature of one of the respective zones;
distributing a plurality of second thermal control elements throughout each of the respective zones, wherein each of the second thermal control elements is separately controllable from the first thermal control elements and others of the second thermal control elements;
storing in memory a plurality of profiles of respective ones of the plurality of second thermal control elements;
determining, for a first substrate, first respective etch rates of each of the plurality of second thermal control elements at predetermined setpoints of the plurality of sets of first thermal control elements;
determining, for a second substrate, second respective etch rates of each of the plurality of second thermal control elements at the predetermined setpoints of the plurality of sets of first thermal control elements;
determining, using the first and second respective etch rates as determined for the first substrate and the second substrate at the predetermined setpoints of the plurality of sets of first thermal control elements, (i) a first average etch rate of the first and second respective etch rates for the first substrate and the second substrate for a first one of the plurality of second thermal control elements, (ii) a second average etch rate of the first and second respective etch rates for the first substrate and the second substrate for a second one of the plurality of second thermal control elements, and (iii) a third average etch rate of the first average etch rate and the second average etch rate;
determining non-uniformities for each of the first and second average etch rates using the first, second, and third average etch rates; and
adjusting at least one of the plurality of profiles based on the non-uniformities in the first and second average etch rates and a sensitivity of the first and second respective etch rates to a condition of the wafer processing chamber; and
during processing of a third substrate, controlling the plurality of second thermal control elements in accordance with the at least one of the plurality of profiles as adjusted based on the determined non-uniformities in the first and second average etch rates.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first and second respective etch rates correspond to an etch rate of a film.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the film includes silicon nitride.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising adjusting the at least one of the plurality of profiles when the non-uniformities in the first and second average etch rates of corresponding ones of the plurality of second thermal control elements are outside of corresponding uncertainty ranges.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining an uncertainty range of each of the non-uniformities in the first and second average etch rates using a variance of the non-uniformities in the respective first and second average etch rates.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining compensat

Assignees

• Lam Res Corp

Inventors

• Musselman Marcus
• Valdivia Iii Juan
• Xiang Hua
• Bailey Iii Andrew D
• Yamaguchi Yoko
• Fu Qian
• Eppler Aaron

Classifications

• H10P72/0604 Primary

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

• G05B2219/32018

  Adapt process as function of results of quality measuring until maximum quality · CPC title

• G05B19/41875

  characterised by quality surveillance of production · CPC title

• G05B2219/45031

  Manufacturing semiconductor wafers · CPC title

• Y02P90/02

  Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] · CPC title