Plasma density monitor, plasma processing apparatus, and plasma processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11410835-B2
Application number	US-202016883500-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2020
Priority date	May 27, 2019
Publication date	Aug 9, 2022
Grant date	Aug 9, 2022

Abstract

A plasma density monitor for monitoring a plasma density of surface wave plasma in a chamber accommodating a substrate and performs a plasma process on the substrate. The monitor includes: a monopole antenna installed to extend from a wall of the chamber toward an interior of the chamber and to be perpendicular to an inner wall surface of the chamber, and configured to receive a surface wave; a coaxial line configured to extract a detection value from a signal received by the monopole antenna; a length adjuster configured to adjust a length of the monopole antenna; and a controller configured to control the length adjuster so as to obtain a wavelength of the surface wave and the plasma density of the surface wave plasma from the wavelength of the surface wave.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A plasma density monitor for monitoring a plasma density of surface wave plasma in a plasma processing apparatus which forms the surface wave plasma in a chamber accommodating a substrate and performs a plasma process on the substrate, the monitor comprising:
a monopole antenna installed to extend from a wall of the chamber toward an interior of the chamber and to be perpendicular to an inner wall surface of the chamber, and configured to receive a surface wave formed in a vicinity of the wall of the chamber;
a coaxial line configured to extract a detection value from a signal received by the monopole antenna;
a length adjuster configured to adjust a length of the monopole antenna; and
a controller configured to control the length adjuster so as to obtain a wavelength of the surface wave from a relationship between the length of the monopole antenna and the detection value of the surface wave detected through the coaxial line, and to obtain the plasma density of the surface wave plasma from the wavelength of the surface wave based on a relationship between the plasma density and the wavelength of the surface wave.

2. The monitor of claim 1 , wherein the detection value extracted by the coaxial line is a current value of the surface wave.

3. The monitor of claim 2 , wherein the current value is detected through a voltage drop of a resistor.

4. The monitor of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to obtain the wavelength of the surface wave by setting the length of the monopole antenna when the current value of the surface wave becomes a maximum value to (2n−1)×λ SW /4 (where λ SW is the wavelength of the surface wave and n is a natural number of 1 or more).

5. The monitor of claim 4 , wherein the monopole antenna is extended from a ceiling plate constituting an upper wall of the chamber toward the interior of the chamber.

6. The monitor of claim 5 , wherein the monopole antenna is configured by a leading end portion of an antenna rod inserted from above the chamber toward the interior of the chamber and existing in the chamber.

7. The monitor of claim 6 , wherein the length adjuster is configured to adjust the length of the monopole antenna by moving the antenna rod up and down.

8. The monitor of claim 7 , wherein a portion of the antenna rod other than the monopole antenna is configured to form an inner conductor of the coaxial line.

9. The monitor of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to obtain the wavelength of the surface wave by setting the length of the monopole antenna when the current value of the surface wave becomes a maximum value to (2n−1)×λ SW /4 (where λ SW is the wavelength of the surface wave and n is a natural number of 1 or more).

10. The monitor of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to obtain the wavelength of the surface wave by setting the length of the monopole antenna when the current value of the surface wave becomes 0 to n×λ SW /2 (where λ SW is the wavelength of the surface wave and n is a natural number of 1 or more).

11. The monitor of claim 1 , wherein the monopole antenna is extended from a ceiling plate constituting an upper wall of the chamber toward the interior of the chamber.

12. The monitor of claim 1 , wherein a dielectric member is installed to surround the monopole antenna.

13. The monitor of claim 1 , wherein the monopole antenna is installed to protrude vertically from a bottom surface of a recess formed on an inner wall of the chamber.

14. The monitor of claim 13 , wherein a dielectric material is embedded in the recess.

15. A plasma processing apparatus for performing a process on a substrate by plasma,
a chamber configured to accommodate the substrate;
a microwave output section configured to output a microwave;
a microwave radiation mechanism connected to the microwave output section, installed on the chamber, and including: a slot antenna which is installed in a microwave transmission path configured to transmit the microwave outputted from the microwave output section and has a slot configured to radiate the microwave; and a microwave transmission window made of a dielectric material for transmitting the microwave radiated from the slot; and
the plasma density monitor of claim 1 , configured to monitor the plasma density of the surface wave plasma formed in the chamber by the microwave radiated from the microwave radiation mechanism.

16. A plasma processing method for forming surface wave plasma in a chamber accommodating a substrate and performing a plasma process on the substrate, the method comprising:
installing a monopole antenna, which is configured to receive a surface wave formed in a vicinity of a wall of the chamber, to extend from the wall of the chamber toward an interior of the chamber and to be perpendicular to an inner wall surface of the chamber, so as to be adjustable in a length of the monopole antenna;
performing the plasma process on the substrate by forming the surface wave plasma in the chamber;
obtaining a wavelength of the surface wave from a relationship between the length of the monopole antenna and a detection value of the surface wave detected through a coaxial line by adjusting the length of the monopole antenna during the plasma process; and
obtaining a plasma density of the surface wave plasma from the wavelength of the surface wave based on a relationship between the plasma density and the wavelength of the surface wave.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the detection value extracted by the coaxial line is a current value of the surface wave.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the current value is detected through a voltage drop of a resistor.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the wavelength of the surface wave is obtained by setting the length of the monopole antenna when the current value of the surface wave becomes a maximum value to (2n−1)×λ SW /4 (where λ SW is the wavelength of the surface wave and n is a natural number of 1 or more).

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the wavelength of the surface wave is obtained by setting the length of the monopole antenna when the current value of the surface wave becomes 0 to n×λ SW /2 (where λ SW is the wavelength of the surface wave and n is a natural number of 1 or more).

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Ikeda Taro
• Kamata Eiki
• Sato Mikio

Classifications

• H10P72/0604

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

• H01J37/32229 Primary

  Waveguides · CPC title

• H01J37/32201

  Generating means · CPC title

• H01J2237/24564

  Measurements of electric or magnetic variables, e.g. voltage, current, frequency · CPC title

• H01J37/32935 Primary

  Monitoring and controlling tubes by information coming from the object and/or discharge · CPC title