Apparatus and Methods for Beam Processing of Substrates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021109450-A1
Application number	US-202017033489-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 25, 2020
Priority date	Oct 11, 2019
Publication date	Apr 15, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A substrate processing system including a processing chamber, a substrate holder configured to hold and rotate a substrate about an axis perpendicular to a working surface of the substrate; an electron emitter adapted to emit a first electron beam directed at a first surface of a peripheral region of the substrate, the first electron beam having a first beam energy and a first beam current sufficient to vaporize material from the first surface of the peripheral region of the substrate; an airflow system configured to direct a flow of gas across the working surface of the substrate; and an exhaust system configured to collect the gas comprising the material vaporized from the peripheral region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A substrate processing system comprising:
a processing chamber; a substrate holder disposed in the processing chamber, the substrate holder configured to hold and rotate a substrate about an axis perpendicular to a working surface of the substrate; an electron emitter adapted to emit a first electron beam directed at a first surface of a peripheral region of the substrate, the first electron beam having a first beam energy and a first beam current sufficient to vaporize material from the first surface of the peripheral region of the substrate; an airflow system configured to direct a flow of gas across the working surface of the substrate; and an exhaust system configured to collect the gas comprising the material vaporized from the peripheral region.

2 . The substrate processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a nozzle adapted to dispense the material in a fluid form onto the working surface of the substrate held and rotated by the substrate holder to form a spin-coated film on the working surface of the substrate.

3 . The substrate processing system of claim 1 , wherein the first beam energy is between 2 KeV and 20 KeV, and the first beam current is between 1 mA and 30 mA.

4 . The substrate processing system of claim 1 , wherein the electron emitter is further adapted to emit a second electron beam directed at the first surface of the peripheral region of the substrate, the second electron beam having a second beam energy and a second beam current sufficient to vaporize the material from a second surface of the peripheral region of the substrate, the second surface opposite the first surface.

5 . The substrate processing system of claim 4 , wherein the second beam energy is between 50 KeV and 100 KeV, and the second beam current is between 1 mA and 30 mA.

6 . The substrate processing system of claim 1 , wherein the substrate holder is configured to rotate the substrate between 500 RPM and 3000 RPM.

7 . The substrate processing system of claim 1 , wherein the electron emitter emits the first electron beam for a duration corresponding to between 2 revolutions and 50 revolutions of the substrate.

8 . The substrate processing system of claim 1 , wherein the airflow system comprises a showerhead configured to direct the flow of gas substantially across an entirety of the working surface of the substrate toward the exhaust system.

9 . The substrate processing system of claim 1 , wherein the airflow system comprises a gas nozzle oriented toward the electron emitter, the gas nozzle configured to direct the flow of gas across a portion of the working surface of the substrate toward the electron emitter and the exhaust system.

10 . The substrate processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to adjust a parameter of the first electron beam in accordance with metrology data associated with the substrate.

11 . A method for processing a substrate, the method comprising:
receiving the substrate in a substrate holder of a processing chamber; rotating the substrate about an axis perpendicular to a working surface of the substrate; turning on an airflow system to direct a flow of gas across the working surface of the substrate; and exposing a peripheral region of the substrate to a first electron beam to vaporize material from the peripheral region of the substrate.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the flow of gas having a flow rate sufficient to prevent deposition of the vaporized material on the working surface of the substrate.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the first electron beam having a first beam energy between 2 KeV and 20 KeV, and a first beam current between 1 mA and 30 mA.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising exposing the peripheral region of the substrate to a second electron beam to vaporize the material from the peripheral region of the substrate, wherein the second electron beam has a second beam energy between 50 KeV and 100 KeV, and a second beam current between 1 mA and 30 mA.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the flow of gas is directed substantially across an entirety of the working surface of the substrate.

16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the substrate is rotated between 500 RPM and 3000 RPM.

17 . A method for processing a substrate, the method comprising:
receiving the substrate; flowing gas across a working surface of the substrate, the gas flowing at a specified flow rate; while rotating the substrate about an axis perpendicular to the working surface of the substrate, vaporizing a portion of a material in a peripheral region of the substrate by exposing the peripheral region to an electron beam from an electron emitter; and determining that a stop threshold is met, and based thereon, turning off the electron emitter.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the stop threshold is based on a number of rotations of the substrate.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the stop threshold is based on metrology data.

20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the specified flow rate is based on a flow rate sufficient to prevent deposition of vaporized material on the working surface of the substrate.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Vukovic Mirko

Classifications

• H10P72/0421 Primary

  for drying etching · CPC title

• H01J37/3053

  for evaporating or etching · CPC title

• H01J2237/3132

  Evaporating · CPC title

• G03F7/168 Primary

  Finishing the coated layer, e.g. drying, baking, soaking · CPC title

• H01J37/3174

  Particle-beam lithography, e.g. electron beam lithography · CPC title