阅读说明：本技术 一种刻蚀设备及刻蚀方法 (Etching equipment and etching method ) 是由 朱本均 于 2019-03-07 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种刻蚀设备及刻蚀方法,该刻蚀设备包括等离子体发生器、匀流盘、遮挡板组件及晶圆移动组件,其中,遮挡板组件可开合地设置于等离子体发生器与所述匀流盘之间,当遮挡板组件开启时,形成一窗口以暴露出匀流盘的一部分,以容许等离子体通过窗口到达匀流盘；晶圆移动组件设置于所述流盘下方,用于承载待刻蚀晶圆并带动待刻蚀晶圆移动,使晶圆的待刻蚀区域按照预设路径经过匀流盘被窗口暴露的部分的下方区域,并被通过匀流盘的等离子体刻蚀。本发明可以提高刻蚀均匀性,也能够在一定程度上减少备件成本和设备维护工作量,并降低射频功耗。(The invention provides etching equipment and an etching method, wherein the etching equipment comprises a plasma generator, a uniform flow disc, a shielding plate assembly and a wafer moving assembly, wherein the shielding plate assembly is openably arranged between the plasma generator and the uniform flow disc, and when the shielding plate assembly is opened, a window is formed to expose a part of the uniform flow disc so as to allow plasma to reach the uniform flow disc through the window; the wafer moving assembly is arranged below the flow disc and used for bearing the wafer to be etched and driving the wafer to be etched to move, so that the region to be etched of the wafer passes through the lower region of the part, exposed by the window, of the flow homogenizing disc according to a preset path and is etched by the plasma passing through the flow homogenizing disc. The invention can improve the etching uniformity, reduce the spare part cost and the equipment maintenance workload to a certain extent, and reduce the radio frequency power consumption.)

1. An etching apparatus, comprising:

the plasma generator is used for generating plasma to etch the wafer to be etched;

the uniform flow disc is arranged below the plasma generator and comprises a body and a plurality of through holes which penetrate through the body and are used for allowing plasma to pass through;

the shielding plate assembly is openably and closably arranged between the plasma generator and the uniform flow disc, when the shielding plate assembly is closed, the uniform flow disc is completely shielded below the shielding plate assembly, and when the shielding plate assembly is opened, a window is formed to expose a part of the uniform flow disc so as to allow plasma to reach the uniform flow disc through the window;

and the wafer moving assembly is arranged below the uniform flow disc and is used for bearing the wafer to be etched and driving the wafer to be etched to move in the horizontal direction, so that the area to be etched of the wafer to be etched passes through the area below the part of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window.

2. Etching apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: the shutter assembly includes at least two shutter plates.

3. Etching apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that: the shielding plate assembly comprises a first shielding plate and a second shielding plate, the first shielding plate and the second shielding plate form a closed state through opposite translation, and the window is formed through opposite translation.

4. Etching apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that: the length of the limit edge of the window formed by the shielding plate is larger than the diameter of the wafer to be etched.

5. Etching apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that: the shielding plate is made of at least one of ceramic, quartz and aluminum.

6. Etching apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that: the outer surface of the shielding plate is plated with YO₃。

7. Etching apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: the area of the part of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window is smaller than the area of the wafer to be etched.

8. Etching apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: the area of the uniform flow disc is larger than that of the wafer to be etched.

9. Etching apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: the area of the uniform flow disc is smaller than that of the wafer to be etched and larger than that of the part of the wafer to be etched, which is exposed by the window.

10. Etching apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that: the shape of the uniform flow disc comprises a rectangle, the size of the long edge of the uniform flow disc is larger than the diameter of the wafer to be etched, and the size of the short edge of the uniform flow disc is larger than the width of the window and smaller than the diameter of the wafer to be etched.

11. Etching apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: the distance between the shielding plate component and the uniform flow disc is smaller than the distance between the shielding plate component and the plasma generator.

12. An etching method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

opening the shielding plate component to form a window exposing a part of the uniform flow disc, and enabling the plasma generated by the plasma generator to reach the uniform flow disc through the window, wherein the uniform flow disc comprises a body and a plurality of through holes which penetrate through the body and are used for allowing the plasma to pass through;

and a wafer moving assembly is adopted to bear the wafer and drive the wafer to move, so that the area to be etched of the wafer passes through the area below the part of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window and is etched by the plasma passing through the uniform flow disc.

13. The etching method according to claim 12, wherein: the initial position of the center of the wafer is located on one side of the window, and the wafer moving assembly drives the wafer to move from one side of the window, move in the same direction and move horizontally to pass through the area below the part of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window and reach the other side of the window.

14. The etching method according to claim 12, wherein: the initial position of the center of the wafer is located at the center of the window, the wafer moving assembly drives the wafer to start from the center of the window, firstly pass through the lower area of the part of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window along a first direction, then drive the wafer to return to the initial position, and then pass through the lower area of the part of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window along a second direction opposite to the first direction.

15. The etching method according to claim 12, wherein: the shielding plate assembly comprises a first shielding plate and a second shielding plate, the first shielding plate and the second shielding plate form a closed state through opposite translation, and the window is formed through opposite translation.

16. The etching method according to claim 12, wherein: the area of the part of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window is smaller than the area of the wafer to be etched.

17. The etching method according to claim 12, wherein: the area of the uniform flow disc is larger than that of the wafer to be etched.

18. The etching method according to claim 12, wherein: the area of the uniform flow disc is smaller than that of the wafer to be etched and larger than that of the part of the wafer to be etched, which is exposed by the window.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the field of semiconductor integrated circuits, and relates to etching equipment and an etching method.

Background

An electrostatic Chuck (E-Chuck) of a Dry etching (Dry Etch) device commonly used in the market at present is a fixed type, and a Plasma (Plasma) adopts a uniform flow coverage type. The existing design has the defects that the plasma covers the whole wafer area after passing through the flow equalizing disc, so that the uniformity is inconsistent, the uniformity of the process result is poor, and the influence of the non-uniformity on the product cannot be greatly improved by manufacturers in the industry.

The area of the full-coverage plasma flow homogenizing disc is slightly larger than the size of a wafer, and the uniformity of the physical size of the holes is difficult to control. When the plasma is injected into the uniform flow disc, the plasma is columnar, the sectional area is about 1% of the uniform flow disc, the density and the strength of the plasma in the gas inlet projection area and the plasma in the part far away from the projection area are greatly different, so that the shape difference of etched patterns on the wafer is large, and the yield is influenced.

Therefore, how to provide a new etching apparatus and etching method to improve the etching uniformity and reduce the spare part cost and the equipment maintenance (PM) workload becomes an important technical problem to be solved by those skilled in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above disadvantages of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide an etching apparatus and an etching method, which are used to solve the problems of low etching uniformity, high power consumption, high spare part cost and heavy maintenance workload of the conventional etching apparatus and etching method.

To achieve the above and other related objects, the present invention provides an etching apparatus, comprising:

the plasma generator is used for generating plasma to etch the wafer to be etched;

the uniform flow disc is arranged below the plasma generator and comprises a body and a plurality of through holes which penetrate through the body and are used for allowing plasma to pass through;

the shielding plate assembly is openably and closably arranged between the plasma generator and the uniform flow disc, when the shielding plate assembly is closed, the uniform flow disc is completely shielded below the shielding plate assembly, and when the shielding plate assembly is opened, a window is formed to expose a part of the uniform flow disc so as to allow plasma to reach the uniform flow disc through the window;

and the wafer moving assembly is arranged below the uniform flow disc and is used for bearing the wafer to be etched and driving the wafer to be etched to move in the horizontal direction, so that the region to be etched of the wafer to be etched passes through the corresponding region of the window.

Optionally, the shutter assembly comprises at least two shutters.

Optionally, the shielding plate assembly includes a first shielding plate and a second shielding plate, the first shielding plate and the second shielding plate form a closed state by being translated in opposite directions, and the window is formed by being translated in opposite directions.

Optionally, the length of the limiting edge of the window formed by the shielding plate is greater than the diameter of the wafer to be etched.

Optionally, the material of the shielding plate includes at least one of ceramic, quartz, and aluminum.

Optionally, the outer surface of the shielding plate is plated with YO₃。

Optionally, the area of the part of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window is smaller than the area of the wafer to be etched.

Optionally, the area of the uniform flow disc is larger than the area of the wafer to be etched.

Optionally, the area of the uniform flow disc is smaller than the area of the wafer to be etched and larger than the area of the part of the wafer to be etched, which is exposed by the window.

Optionally, the shape of the uniform flow disc comprises a rectangle, the size of the long side of the uniform flow disc is larger than the diameter of the wafer to be etched, and the size of the short side of the uniform flow disc is larger than the width of the window and smaller than the diameter of the wafer to be etched.

Optionally, a distance between the shutter assembly and the uniform flow disk is smaller than a distance between the shutter assembly and the plasma generator.

The invention also provides an etching method, which comprises the following steps:

opening the shielding plate component to form a window exposing a part of the uniform flow disc, and enabling the plasma generated by the plasma generator to reach the uniform flow disc through the window, wherein the uniform flow disc comprises a body and a plurality of through holes which penetrate through the body and are used for allowing the plasma to pass through;

and a wafer moving assembly is adopted to bear the wafer and drive the wafer to move, so that the area to be etched of the wafer passes through the area below the part of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window and is etched by the plasma passing through the uniform flow disc.

Optionally, the initial position of the center of the wafer is located on one side of the window, and the wafer moving assembly drives the wafer to start from one side of the window, to translate in the same direction, to pass through a region below the part of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window, and to reach the other side of the window.

Optionally, the initial position of the center of the wafer is located at the center of the window, and the wafer moving assembly drives the wafer to start from the center of the window, first pass through a region below the portion of the uniform flow plate exposed by the window in a first direction, then drive the wafer to return to the initial position, and then pass through a region below the portion of the uniform flow plate exposed by the window in a second direction opposite to the first direction.

Optionally, the shielding plate assembly includes a first shielding plate and a second shielding plate, the first shielding plate and the second shielding plate form a closed state by being translated in opposite directions, and the window is formed by being translated in opposite directions.

Optionally, the area of the part of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window is smaller than the area of the wafer to be etched.

Optionally, the area of the uniform flow disc is larger than the area of the wafer to be etched.

Optionally, the area of the uniform flow disc is smaller than the area of the wafer to be etched and larger than the area of the part of the wafer to be etched, which is exposed by the window.

As described above, the etching apparatus and the etching method of the present invention introduce the openable and closable shielding plate assembly between the plasma generator and the uniform flow disk, and set the wafer carrying assembly to be movable, wherein, during etching, the shielding plate assembly is opened to form a window exposing a part of the uniform flow disk, so that the plasma generated by the plasma generator reaches the uniform flow disk through the window, and the wafer moving assembly carries the wafer and drives the wafer to move, so that the region to be etched of the wafer passes through the corresponding region of the window according to the preset path, and is etched by the plasma passing through the uniform flow disk. As only one part of the uniform flow disc is exposed by the window, the number of the effectively utilized through holes is greatly reduced, the influence of the nonuniformity of the physical size of the through holes of the uniform flow disc is reduced, and the nonuniformity of the plasma after passing through the uniform flow disc is greatly reduced. The mechanical movement of the wafer moving component enables the wafer to finish etching at the position corresponding to the window, and the etching consistency of each area of the wafer to be etched can be further improved, so that the yield is improved. The capacity and the yield are comprehensively considered, the size of the effective area of the uniform flow disc exposed by the window can be adjusted according to actual requirements, and after the optimal window width is debugged, a customized uniform flow disc can be adopted to further save spare part cost and maintenance workload. In addition, since the effective utilization rate of plasma is increased, it is advantageous to reduce Radio Frequency (RF) power consumption. The etching equipment is suitable for various wafer etching equipment.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a top view of a structure of a uniform flow disk.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of the etching apparatus of the present invention when the shutter assembly is in an open state.

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the etching apparatus of the present invention in a closed state of the shutter assembly.

Figure 4 shows a top view of the shutter assembly in an open position relative to the flood pan.

FIGS. 5 to 6 are top views showing the structures of two types of flow equalizing disks used in the etching apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a process flow diagram of the etching method of the present invention.

Fig. 8-10 show three different motion modes of the wafer moving assembly driving the wafer to move.

Description of the element reference numerals

101 uniform flow disc

102 holes

103 air intake projection area

201 plasma generator

202 shutter assembly

202a first shielding plate

202b second shielding plate

203 window

204 even flow disc

204a body

204b through hole

205 wafer moving assembly

206 wafer to be etched

A. B, M, N, X, Y, Z position

Detailed Description

The embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to specific embodiments, and other advantages and effects of the present invention will be easily understood by those skilled in the art from the disclosure of the present specification. The invention is capable of other and different embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways, and its several details are capable of modification in various respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Please refer to fig. 1 to 10. It should be noted that the drawings provided in the present embodiment are only for illustrating the basic idea of the present invention, and the components related to the present invention are only shown in the drawings rather than drawn according to the number, shape and size of the components in actual implementation, and the type, quantity and proportion of the components in actual implementation may be changed freely, and the layout of the components may be more complicated.

Referring to fig. 1, a top view of a structure of a full-coverage plasma flood plate is shown, the area of the full-coverage plasma flood plate is slightly larger than the size of a wafer to ensure that the entire wafer is covered. As shown in fig. 1, the flow distribution plate 101 has a plurality of cavities 102, and the uniformity of the physical size of the cavities is difficult to control due to the large area and the large number of cavities. Since the plasma covers the whole area where the wafer is located after passing through the whole flow homogenizing disc, the uniformity of the physical size of the holes of the flow homogenizing disc also influences the uniformity of the plasma reaching the wafer. In addition, when the plasma is injected into the uniform flow plate, the plasma is columnar, the sectional area is about 1% of the area of the full-coverage uniform flow plate, the density and the intensity of the plasma in the air inlet projection area 103 and the part far away from the air inlet projection area are greatly different, and the difference of the shapes of etched patterns on the wafer is also large, so that the yield is influenced. In order to solve the above problems, the following embodiments provide a new solution.