Methods and apparatus for wetting pretreatment for through resist metal plating

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9613833-B2
Application number	US-201414182767-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2014
Priority date	Feb 20, 2013
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

Disclosed are pre-wetting apparatus designs and methods for cleaning solid contaminants from substrates prior to through resist deposition of metal. In some embodiments, a pre-wetting apparatus includes a process chamber having a substrate holder, and at least one nozzle located directly above the wafer substrate and configured to deliver pre-wetting liquid (e.g., degassed deionized water) onto the substrate at a grazing angle of between about 5 and 45 degrees. In some embodiments the nozzle is a fan nozzle configured to deliver the liquid to the center of the substrate, such that the liquid first impacts the substrate in the vicinity of the center and then flows over the center of the substrate. In some embodiments the substrate is rotated unidirectionally or bidirectionally during pre-wetting with multiple accelerations and decelerations, which facilitate removal of contaminants.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A pre-wetting apparatus for pre-wetting a wafer substrate, the apparatus comprising:
(a) a degasser configured to remove one or more dissolved gasses from a pre-wetting liquid to produce a degassed pre-wetting liquid; and
(b) a process chamber comprising:
an inlet coupled to the degasser and configured to admit the degassed pre-wetting liquid;
at least one nozzle coupled to the inlet and mounted to a moveable arm, wherein the moveable arm is configured to position the nozzle directly above the substrate when the arm is in an active position, and away from the substrate when the arm is in an inactive position, wherein the nozzle is configured to direct the pre-wetting liquid at a grazing angle of between about 5-45 degrees to the plane of the substrate, when the arm is in the active position;
a substrate holder configured to hold the wafer substrate in a face-up orientation, and
a vacuum inlet configured to allow formation of a vacuum in the process chamber.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the degasser is a membrane contactor degasser.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the nozzle is configured to direct the pre-wetting liquid to the central portion of the substrate, such that the liquid from the nozzle first impacts the substrate near the center, but not directly at the center, allowing the pre-wetting liquid to spill over the center of the substrate.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the nozzle is a high-velocity nozzle configured to direct the pre-wetting liquid at a speed of at least 8 meters per second at the point of impact with the wafer substrate.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the nozzle is a high-velocity nozzle configured to direct the pre-wetting liquid at a speed of at least 16 meters per second at the point of impact with the wafer substrate.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the nozzle is a fan nozzle.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the nozzle is a conical nozzle.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substrate holder is configured to rotate the wafer substrate bidirectionally during delivery of the pre-wetting liquid to the substrate.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substrate holder is configured to rotate the wafer substrate in a direction that is opposite to the direction of the horizontal component of the delivered pre-wetting liquid stream.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to rotate the wafer substrate clockwise and counterclockwise during pre-wetting of the wafer substrate, such that the rotation direction is changed between about 4-100 times during the pre-wetting, and wherein the apparatus is further configured to change the direction of the impacting pre-wetting liquid from the nozzle such that it is synchronized with bidirectional substrate rotation and such that a horizontal component of the impacting liquid is opposite to the direction of rotation of the substrate.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the moveable arm is configured to be in an inactive position prior to pre-wetting and is configured to move to the active position during the pre-wetting.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the moveable arm with one or more nozzles is configured to move above the wafer substrate in a plane that is parallel to the plane of the wafer substrate during the pre-wetting.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the moveable arm with one or more nozzles is configured to move above the wafer substrate in a plane that is perpendicular to the plane of the wafer substrate during the pre-wetting.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a controller having program instructions for:
forming a subatmospheric pressure within the process chamber;
moving the moveable arm having one or more nozzles from an inactive position to the active position; and
delivering the degassed pre-wetting liquid from the one or more nozzles onto the wafer substrate under subatmospheric pressure at a grazing angle of between about 5-45 degrees to the plane of the substrate, while rotating the substrate.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the program instructions further include the instructions for changing the direction of wafer substrate rotation during the wafer substrate pre-wetting between about 4-100 times.

Assignees

• Novellus Systems Inc

Inventors

• Chua Lee Peng
• Buckalew Bryan L
• Ponnuswamy Thomas Anand
• Blackman Brian
• Hosack Chad Michael
• Mayer Steven T

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

• H10P72/0414 Primary

  using mainly spraying means, e.g. nozzles · CPC title

• H10P70/15 Primary

  by wet cleaning only (H10P70/52 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01L21/67051 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L21/02052

  Electricity · mapped topic