Hybrid 200 mm/300 mm semiconductor processing apparatuses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016358808-A1
Application number	US-201615169576-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 31, 2016
Priority date	Jun 2, 2015
Publication date	Dec 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

In one aspect, several apparatuses are described that allow a processing chamber designed for plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on 300 mm wafers to be performed on 200 mm wafers. More specifically, a modified pedestal, carrier plate, and showerhead are described that have been designed for 200 mm wafers and are compatible with 300 mm wafer processing chambers. It has further been observed that deposited films using the modified 200 mm apparatuses are comparable in quality with films deposited with the 300 mm devices they replace.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus for carrying semiconductor wafers, the apparatus comprising,
an annular ring that is between 1 mm and 10 mm thick and that has an outer diameter greater than 300 mm and an inner diameter less than 200 mm; and one or more recesses in a first side of the annular ring, wherein:
the annular ring has a second side that is configured to support a semiconductor wafer, and
the second side is opposite the first side.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the annular ring is less than 5 mm.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a circular recess in the second side of the annular ring, wherein:
the circular recess and the annular ring are coaxial, and the circular recess has a diameter greater than 200 mm.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the circular recess has a depth that is between 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm.

5 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the circular recess has a diameter greater than 200 mm and less than 210 mm.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is made of a ceramic material selected from the group consisting of: aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, and aluminum nitride.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more recesses have annular sector shapes.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the outer diameter is between 360 mm and 390 mm.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the annular ring in the one or more recesses is less than 50% of the thickness of the annular ring in locations adjacent to the one or more recesses.

10 . A showerhead apparatus for distributing gases over a surface of a wafer, the showerhead apparatus comprising,
an inlet, wherein the inlet is configured to connect to a gas source; a stem with an interior gas passage; and a showerhead plenum, wherein:
the interior gas passage fluidically connects the inlet with the showerhead plenum,
the showerhead plenum has an outer diameter between 189 mm and 265 mm, thereby configuring the showerhead plenum to process 200 mm semiconductor wafers, and
the stem has a cylindrical portion with an exterior diameter that is sized to interface with a mechanical interface of a semiconductor processing tool, wherein the mechanical interface of the semiconductor processing tool is also sized to interface with a different showerhead configured to process 300 mm semiconductor wafers.

11 . The showerhead apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the stem has an exterior diameter of between 30 mm and 38 mm.

12 . The showerhead apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the stem has a tapered portion interposed between the showerhead plenum and the cylindrical portion and the stem tapers from a nominal exterior diameter of between 30 mm and 38 mm in the cylindrical portion to a diameter of between 16 mm and 24 mm.

13 . The showerhead apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the interior gas passage diameter is between 5 mm and 10 mm.

14 . A semiconductor wafer processing tool comprising,
a chamber having one or more semiconductor processing stations, wherein:
at least one of the semiconductor processing stations has a pedestal and a showerhead, and
the pedestal has a raised wafer support surface with an outer diameter of less than 200 mm and greater than 150 mm; and
one or more load ports, wherein:
each load port is configured to allow 300 mm semiconductor wafers to be inserted into or withdrawn from the chamber,
the one or more load ports have a width greater than 300 mm, and
each load port is located in a wall of the chamber.

15 . The semiconductor wafer processing tool of claim 14 , wherein:
the pedestal has an outer diameter of at least 300 mm, and the showerhead has an outer diameter between 50% and 70% of the pedestal outer diameter.

16 . The semiconductor wafer processing tool of claim 14 , wherein:
the pedestal and the showerhead are swappable with a second pedestal and a second showerhead, the second pedestal has an outer diameter of at least 300 mm and a raised wafer support surface with an outer diameter of less than 300 mm and greater than 250 mm, the second showerhead has an outer diameter that is 80% or more of the pedestal outer diameter, and installing the second pedestal and the second showerhead in one or more of the semiconductor processing stations configures, at least in part, those semiconductor processing stations to process 300 mm diameter wafers.

17 . The semiconductor wafer processing tool of claim 14 , further comprising:
a rotational indexer shaft; and a rotational indexer, wherein:
the rotational indexer shaft is configured to rotate the rotational indexer within the chamber, thereby allowing semiconductor wafers to be transferred from station to station within the chamber.

18 . The semiconductor wafer processing tool of claim 17 , wherein the at least one of the semiconductor processing stations further includes:
an annular ring that is between 1 mm and 10 mm thick and that has an outer diameter greater than 300 mm and an inner diameter less than 200 mm, wherein each annular ring has one or more recesses in a first side of the annular ring.

19 . The semiconductor wafer processing tool of claim 14 , wherein each pedestal has an outer diameter of between 360 mm and 390 mm.

20 . The semiconductor wafer processing tool of claim 14 , wherein the showerhead has an outer diameter of between 189 mm and 265 mm.

Assignees

• Lam Res Corp

Inventors

• Madsen Eric Russell
• Ben-Yuhmin Narudha Tai
• Christensen Michael
• Karlsrud Chris Erick
• Wei Joseph Hung-chi
• Hoang Linh
• Dent Alasdair

Classifications

• 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

• H10P72/7611

  characterised by edge profile or support profile · CPC title

• H10P72/0462

  characterised by the construction of the processing chambers, e.g. modular processing chambers · CPC title

• H10P72/18

  characterised by being specially adapted for supporting a single substrate or by comprising a stack of such individual supports · CPC title

• H10P72/7621 Primary

  characterised by supporting two or more semiconductor substrates · CPC title