Multi zone heating and cooling ESC for plasma process chamber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9681497-B2
Application number	US-201414762451-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2014
Priority date	Mar 12, 2013
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

An electrostatic chuck assembly including a dielectric layer with a top surface to support a workpiece. A cooling channel base disposed below the dielectric layer includes a plurality of fluid conduits disposed beneath the top surface. A chuck assembly further includes a plurality of resistive heater rods spatially distribute across the chuck assembly. In embodiments, 169 heater rods and three heat transfer fluid flow controls are independently controlled during execution of a plasma etch process.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A chuck assembly for supporting a workpiece during a manufacturing operation, the chuck assembly comprising:
a top surface of a dielectric layer to support the workpiece;
a plurality of resistive heater rods spatially distributed over an area of an RF powered cooling channel base disposed under the dielectric layer, wherein the plurality of resistive heater rods comprises at least 169 rods oriented with their longitudinal axis perpendicular to the top surface of the dielectric layer; and
a plurality of fluid conduits in the cooling channel base, each fluid conduit having a separate inlet and outlet and spanning separate azimuthal angles of the chuck assembly, wherein each of the plurality of fluid conduits is independently controlled by a separate heat transfer fluid flow control and temperature feedback control loop to provide corresponding separate independently controllable azimuthal temperature zones, wherein the plurality of fluid conduits further comprises three fluid conduits spanning a same azimuth angle of approximately 120°, and wherein the plurality of resistive heater rods comprise at least eight concentric rings of heater rods with a length of each fluid conduit adjacent to each heater rod ring.

2. The chuck assembly of claim 1 , wherein the heater rods are disposed below a thickness of the cooling channel base and wherein heater circuits associated with the heater rods include no RF filtering.

3. The chuck assembly of claim 1 , wherein each heater rod is coupled to an elastically deformable member and/or a fluidic thermal conductor to accommodate thermal expansion of the heater rods and/or cooling channel base.

4. The chuck assembly of claim 3 , wherein the deformable member is to maintain thermal contact between the heater rods and a surrounding bulk assembly over an operating temperature range.

5. The chuck assembly of claim 4 , wherein the deformable member is one or more of a clip, spring, silicone pad, or elastic metal sleeve.

6. The chuck assembly of claim 3 , wherein the fluidic thermal conductor is thermally conductive paste or gel, or is the heat transfer fluid.

7. The chuck assembly of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric layer is bonded to the cooling channel base with a metallic bonding media and wherein the dielectric layer and the bonding media combined have a thickness between 0.5 mm and 1 mm.

8. The chuck assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of fluid conduits has an inlet and outlet proximate to a center of the chuck assembly with both a first and second half length of each fluid conduit spanning a same radial distance of the chuck assembly.

9. A plasma processing apparatus, comprising:
a chamber to expose a workpiece to a plasma environment; and
a chuck assembly with a top surface of a dielectric layer to support the workpiece within the chamber, wherein the chuck assembly comprises:
a plurality of resistive heater rods spatially distributed over an area of an RF powered cooling channel base disposed beneath the dielectric layer;
a plurality of fluid conduits in the cooling channel base, each fluid conduit having a separate inlet and outlet and spanning separate azimuthal angles of the chuck assembly, wherein each of the plurality of fluid conduits is independently controlled by a separate heat transfer fluid flow control and temperature feedback control loop to provide corresponding separate independently controllable azimuthal temperature zones;
a first heat transfer fluid source coupled to a first of the fluid conduits through a first fluid flow control valve;
a second heat transfer fluid source coupled to a second of the fluid conduits through a second fluid flow control valve; and
a third heat transfer fluid source coupled to a third of the fluid conduits through a third fluid flow control valve.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising an RF source, the RF source powering the cooling channel base, a backing plate, and a base plate.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein three pairs of heat transfer lines, each pair coupled to one of the heat transfer fluid sources pass through a central axis of the base plate and the backing plate to couple to fittings on the cooling channel base.

12. A plasma processing apparatus, comprising:
a chamber to expose a workpiece to a plasma environment; and
a chuck assembly with a top surface of a dielectric layer to support the workpiece within the chamber, wherein the chuck assembly comprises:
a plurality of resistive heater rods spatially distributed over an area of an RF powered cooling channel base disposed beneath the dielectric layer;
a plurality of fluid conduits in the cooling channel base, each fluid conduit having a separate inlet and outlet and spanning separate azimuthal angles of the chuck assembly, wherein each of the plurality of fluid conduits is independently controlled by a separate heat transfer fluid flow control and temperature feedback control loop to provide corresponding separate independently controllable azimuthal temperature zones; and
a controller to control the flow rate or temperature of a heat transfer fluid through each of the plurality of fluid conduits independently while executing a plasma etch process on the workpiece.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Nangoy Roy
• Lubomirsky Dmitry

Classifications

• H10P72/722

  Details of electrostatic chucks · CPC title

• H10P72/0602

  Temperature monitoring · CPC title

• H10P72/0434 Primary

  mainly by convection · CPC title

• H10P72/0421

  for drying etching · CPC title

• H10P72/72

  using electrostatic chucks · CPC title