Backside rapid thermal processing of patterned wafers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9431278-B2
Application number	US-19343908-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 18, 2008
Priority date	Feb 27, 2004
Publication date	Aug 30, 2016
Grant date	Aug 30, 2016

Abstract

Apparatus and methods of thermally treating a wafer or other substrate, such as rapid thermal processing (RTP) apparatus and methods are disclosed. An array of radiant lamps directs radiation to the back side of a wafer to heat the wafer. In one or more embodiments, the front side of the wafer on which the patterned integrated circuits are being formed faces a radiant reflector. In one or more embodiments, the wafer is thermally monitored for temperature and reflectivity from the side of the reflector.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A rapid thermal processing apparatus for heating a substrate, the substrate having a center, a periphery, a back side and a front side with a plurality of integrated circuit die arranged on the front side, the apparatus comprising:
a substrate support to hold the substrate, wherein during processing of the substrate the support does not substantially shield the back side;
a rotatable support to rotate the substrate support;
a radiant heat apparatus consisting essentially of a plurality of lamps arranged in dynamically controlled zones extending from a central axis in an outward direction, the radiant heat lamps positioned below the substrate support and to direct energy to the substrate at the center of the substrate and to the periphery when the substrate is processed;
a reflector positioned above the substrate support to reflect heat toward the substrate support;
a plurality of pyrometers coupled through optical light pipes positioned above the substrate support to directly measure temperature of the integrated circuit die wherein the plurality of pyrometers are in communication with the lamps to permit dynamic control of radiant heating intensity during processing, the lamps configured to be quickly turned on and off to controllably heat the substrate to above 1000° C. within a minute or less; and
a controller that receives outputs from the pyrometers and controls voltages supplied to different lamp zones to thereby dynamically control radiant heating intensity and pattern during processing, wherein the zones of lamps are arranged in ring-like zones.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an outermost light pipe positioned to measure the temperature of the substrate support.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the optical light pipes extend through the reflector.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the support comprises an edge ring sized to support a substrate at the edges and the rotatable support comprises a cylinder coupled to a motor and the edge ring defines an annular shelf configured to support the edges of the substrate within an edge exclusion zone on the periphery of the substrate.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the edge exclusion zone has a width of no more than 3 mm.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said reflector extends generally horizontally over a substantial portion of said radiant heat apparatus.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the substrate support and the reflector are located so that during processing of a substrate, the substrate on the substrate support defines cavity between the substrate and the reflector that tends to redistribute heat from hotter parts of the substrate to cooler parts of the substrate, thereby evening the temperature distribution across the substrate.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising a gas port coupled to the apparatus in communication with a highly thermally conductive gas to flow gas to the cavity between the substrate and the reflector to dynamically cool the substrate during processing.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said reflector extends over an area greater than that of said substrate.

10. A thermal processing apparatus, for heating substrates, the substrate having a center, a periphery, a back side and a front side with a plurality of integrated circuit die arranged on the front side, the apparatus comprising:
a rotatable substrate support to hold the substrate and to rotate the substrate about the substrate center;
a radiant heat apparatus including a plurality of lamps arranged in dynamically controlled zones extending from a central axis in an outward direction to direct radiant energy upwardly toward the substrate support and to the substrate at the center and to the periphery of the substrate when the substrate is processed;
a reflector positioned above the support so that radiant energy is reflected toward the support; and
a gas port located in the apparatus coupled to a highly thermally conductive gas to deliver gas between the substrate support and the reflector and dynamically cool a wafer during processing.

11. The thermal processing apparatus of claim 10 further comprising a plurality of optical pyrometers coupled through light pipes positioned to measure the temperature of a substrate at a plurality of locations during processing of a substrate.

12. The thermal processing apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of lamps are arranged in dynamically controllable ring-like zones.

13. The thermal processing apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the substrate support comprises an edge ring defining an annular shelf configured to support the edges of the substrate within an edge exclusion zone.

14. The thermal processing apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the edge ring and the reflector are located so that during processing of a substrate, a cavity is defined between the substrate and the reflector that tends to redistribute heat from hotter parts of the substrate to cooler parts of the substrate, thereby evening the temperature distribution across the substrate.

15. The thermal processing apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising controller that receives outputs from the pyrometers and controls voltages supplied to different lamp zones to thereby dynamically control radiant heating intensity and pattern during processing.

Assignees

• Aderhold Wolfgang
• Ramamurthy Sundar
• Hunter Aaron
• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Aderhold Wolfgang
• Ramamurthy Sundar
• Hunter Aaron

Classifications

• H10P72/0436 Primary

  mainly by radiation · CPC title

• H10P95/90 Primary

  Thermal treatments, e.g. annealing or sintering · CPC title

• H01L21/67115 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• F27B17/0025

  specially adapted for treating semiconductor wafers · CPC title

• F27D21/0014

  Devices for monitoring temperature · CPC title