Method of manufacturing semiconductor device, substrate processing apparatus, and recording medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016284532-A1
Application number	US-201414778170-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 19, 2014
Priority date	Mar 22, 2013
Publication date	Sep 29, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A semiconductor device manufacturing method, including: mounting substrates on a mounting table within a processing chamber along a rotation direction of the table; starting to supply a first-element-containing gas to a first region in the chamber along the rotation direction, while rotating the table and exhausting the processing chamber; starting to supply a second-element-containing gas to a second region in the chamber; starting to generate, by a plasma generating unit in the second region, plasma of the second-element-containing gas in the second region to have a first activity; and forming a thin film containing first and second elements on the substrates by rotating the table to cause the substrates to sequentially pass through the first and second regions in turn so that a first-element-containing layer is formed in the first region and is modified in the second region by generating plasma having a second activity higher than the first activity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:
mounting a plurality of substrates on a substrate mounting table rotatably installed within a processing chamber to process the substrates, the substrates being mounted along a rotation direction of the substrate mounting table; starting to supply a first-element-containing gas to a first processing region defined within the processing chamber along the rotation direction of the substrate mounting table, while rotating the substrate mounting table and exhausting an interior of the processing chamber; starting to supply a second-element-containing gas to a second processing region defined within the processing chamber; performing a first processing to begin generating, by a plasma generating unit installed in the second processing region, plasma of the second-element-containing gas in the second processing region to have a first activity; and performing a second processing to form a thin film containing a first element and a second element on each of the substrates by rotating the substrate mounting table to cause the substrates to sequentially pass through the first processing region and the second processing region a predetermined number of times in turn so that a first-element-containing layer is formed in the first processing region, and the first-element-containing layer is modified in the second processing region by generating plasma having a second activity that is higher than the first activity.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein in the first processing, a pressure in the second processing region is set to be lower than a pressure in the second processing region in the second processing.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein in the first processing, a pressure in the second processing region is set at a pressure at which the second-element-containing gas is diffused within the second processing region.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein in the first processing, a pressure in the second processing region is set at a pressure at which the second-element-containing gas is diffused within the second processing region.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein in the first processing, a pressure in the second processing region is gradually increased after starting to generate the plasma.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising,
performing a third processing, wherein in the third processing, a pressure in the second processing region is set to be lower than a pressure in the second processing region in the second processing, during a time period from completion of the second processing to an extinguishment of the plasma of the second-element-containing gas.

7 . A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:
a processing chamber including a first processing region and a second processing region, wherein substrates are processed in the first processing region and the second processing region; a substrate mounting table rotatably installed within the processing chamber, the substrates being mounted on the substrate mounting table along a rotation direction of the substrate mounting table; a rotating mechanism configured to rotate the substrate mounting table to allow the substrates to sequentially pass through the first processing region and the second processing region in turn; a processing gas supply system configured to supply a first-element-containing gas into the first processing region and to supply a second-element-containing gas into the second processing region; an exhaust system configured to exhaust an interior of the processing chamber and to regulate an internal pressure of the processing chamber; a plasma generating unit installed within the second processing region and configured to generate plasma of the second-element-containing gas in the second processing region; and a control unit configured to control the rotating mechanism, the processing gas supply system, the exhaust system and the plasma generating unit to perform:
mounting the substrates on the substrate mounting table along the rotation direction of the substrate mounting table;
starting to supply the first-element-containing gas to the first processing region and supply the second-element-containing gas to the second processing region, while rotating the substrate mounting table and exhausting the interior of the processing chamber;
performing a first processing to begin generating plasma of the second-element-containing gas to have a first activity in the second processing region by the plasma generating unit; and
performing a second processing to form a thin film containing a first element and a second element on each of the substrates by rotating the substrate mounting table to cause the substrates to sequentially pass through the first processing region and the second processing region a predetermined number of times in turn so that a first-element-containing layer is formed on each of the substrates, and the first-element-containing layer is modified with the plasma of the second-element-containing gas by generating plasma to have a second activity lower than the first activity.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the control unit is configured to further control the processing gas supply system and the exhaust system so that in the first processing, a pressure in the second processing region is set to be lower than a pressure in the second processing region in the second processing.

9 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the control unit is configured to further control the processing gas supply system and the exhaust system so that a pressure in the second processing region is set at a pressure at which the second-element-containing gas is diffused within the second processing region.

10 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the control unit is configured to further control the processing gas supply system and the exhaust system so that in the first processing, a pressure in the second processing region is set at a pressure at which the second-element-containing gas is diffused within the second processing region.

11 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the control unit is configured to further control the processing gas supply system and the exhaust system so that in the first processing, a pressure in the second processing region is set at a pressure at which the second-element-containing gas is diffused within the second processing region.

12 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the control part is configured to further control the plasma generating unit, the processing gas supply system and the exhaust system to further perform a third processing, wherein in the third processing, a pressure in the second processing region is set to be lower than a pressure in the second processing region in the second processing, during a time period from completion of the second processing to an extinguishment of the plasma of the second-element-containing gas.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program that causes a computer to perform:
mounting substrates on a substrate mounting table rotatably installed within a processing chamber to process the substrates, the substrates being mounted along a rotation direction of the substrate mounting table; rotating the substrate mounting table; exhausting an interior of the processing chamber; supplying a first-element-containing gas to a first processing region defined within the processing chamber along the rotation direction of the substrate mounting table; supplying a second-element-containing gas to a second processing region defined within the processing chamber along the rotation

Assignees

• Hitachi Int Electric Inc

Inventors

• Ueda Tatsushi
• Tanabe Junichi
• Yamamoto Katsuhiko
• Taira Yuki
• Ohashi Naofumi
• Itatani Hideharu

Classifications

• H10P72/7624

  characterised by the mechanical construction of the susceptor, stage or support · CPC title

• H10P72/7621

  characterised by supporting two or more semiconductor substrates · CPC title

• H10P72/7618

  characterised by a movable susceptor, stage or support, others than those only rotating on their own vertical axis, e.g. susceptors on a rotating carrousel · CPC title

• H10P14/69215

  the material being a silicon oxide, e.g. SiO2 · CPC title

• H10P14/6687

  the compound comprising silicon and nitrogen · CPC title