阅读说明：本技术 基板处理装置 (Substrate processing apparatus ) 是由 李恒林 金旼永 朴志焄 于 2021-05-11 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明构思的实施方案提供一种基板处理装置。该基板处理装置包括：下电极,其具有上表面,基板定位在所述上表面上；等离子体生成设备,其设置在所述下电极的上部处,具有上电极,且具有由多个分隔壁分隔的独立放电空间；和控制器,其执行控制以分别将反应气体独立地供应至所述独立放电空间中。(Embodiments of the inventive concept provide a substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus includes: a lower electrode having an upper surface on which a substrate is positioned; a plasma generating apparatus disposed at an upper portion of the lower electrode, having an upper electrode, and having independent discharge spaces partitioned by a plurality of partition walls; and a controller performing control to independently supply the reaction gases into the independent discharge spaces, respectively.)

1. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:

a lower electrode having an upper surface on which a substrate is positioned;

a plasma generating apparatus disposed at an upper portion of the lower electrode, having an upper electrode, and having independent discharge spaces partitioned by a plurality of partition walls; and

a controller configured to perform control to independently supply the reaction gases into the independent discharge spaces, respectively.

2. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plasma generation device comprises:

a reactor main body having a hollow bar shape, the reactor main body having the discharge space provided therein; and

a spray hole linearly disposed on a bottom surface of the reactor body along a longitudinal direction of the reactor body and configured to spray plasma generated in the separate discharge space to the substrate positioned on the lower electrode.

3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the length of the injection hole is equal to or greater than a diameter of the substrate.

4. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the upper electrode is configured to pass through the independent discharge space, and an outer side of the upper electrode is surrounded by an insulator.

5. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the lower electrode is configured to be rotatable, and the partition wall is a non-conductor.

6. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the upper electrode has a circular cross-section and the insulator has an annular cross-section.

7. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 2, wherein a cross-sectional shape of the discharge space is a ring shape surrounding the upper electrode.

8. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the reactor body includes supply ports through which the reaction gases are respectively introduced into the discharge spaces,

wherein gas supply lines are connected to the supply ports, respectively, and

wherein the controller controls the flow rate and the mixing ratio of the reaction gases by controlling a valve on the gas supply line.

9. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:

a spin head having an upper surface on which a substrate is positioned and a lower electrode disposed inside the spin head;

a plasma generating device arranged on the rotating head; and

a plurality of gas supply units configured to supply a reaction gas to the plasma generating apparatus,

wherein the plasma generating apparatus comprises:

a reactor main body having a discharge space inside thereof;

an upper electrode disposed in the discharge space;

a partition wall disposed between the reactor main body and the upper electrode, configured to partition the discharge space, and

wherein the number of the gas supply units corresponds to the number of the plurality of discharge spaces.

10. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

a controller configured to control the gas supply unit, and

wherein the controller performs control to independently supply the reaction gases into the plurality of discharge spaces, respectively.

11. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the reactor body comprises:

an upper wall;

a lower wall disposed on an opposite side of the upper wall; and

first to fourth side walls connecting the upper and lower walls, an

Wherein an injection hole is formed on the lower wall, the injection hole being open in a direction facing the substrate positioned on the spin head.

12. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein each of the gas supply units comprises:

a supply port formed on the upper wall; and

a gas supply line connected to the supply port and

wherein an inner diameter of the injection hole is larger than an inner diameter of the supply port.

13. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the upper electrode comprises:

an electrode; and

an insulator disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the electrode and

wherein the partition wall is disposed between the insulator and the reactor body.

14. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the partition wall comprises a first partition wall and a second partition wall spaced apart from each other,

wherein the discharge space includes:

a first discharge space formed between the first partition wall and the reactor main body;

a second discharge space formed between the first partition wall and the second partition wall; and

a third discharge space formed between the second partition wall and the reactor body,

wherein the second discharge space faces a central region of the substrate positioned on the spin head, and

wherein the first and third discharge spaces face a peripheral area of the substrate positioned on the spin head.

15. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein each of the gas supply units comprises:

a first gas supply line configured to supply the reaction gas to the first discharge space;

a second gas supply line configured to supply the reaction gas to the second discharge space; and

a third gas supply line configured to supply the reaction gas to the third discharge space,

wherein the substrate processing apparatus further comprises a controller configured to control the gas supply unit such that the reaction gases are independently supplied to the first to third discharge spaces, respectively; and is

Wherein the controller controls such that a flow rate of the reaction gas supplied to the second discharge space and a flow rate of the reaction gas supplied to each of the first and third discharge spaces are different.

16. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the spin head is configured to be rotatable and the dividing wall is non-conductive.

17. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 13, wherein the electrode of the upper electrode has a circular cross-section and the insulator of the upper electrode has an annular cross-section.

18. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 17, wherein a cross-sectional shape of the discharge space is a ring shape surrounding the upper electrode.

19. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:

a lower electrode having an upper surface on which a substrate is positioned;

a plasma generating apparatus disposed at an upper portion of the lower electrode;

a gas supply unit configured to supply a reaction gas to the plasma generating apparatus; and

a controller configured to control the gas supply unit,

wherein the plasma generating apparatus comprises:

a reactor main body having a discharge space inside thereof;

first and second partition walls configured to partition the discharge space into independent first, second, and third discharge spaces; and

an upper electrode disposed in the discharge space and passing through the plurality of partition walls,

wherein the gas supply unit includes:

a first gas supply unit configured to supply the reaction gas to the first discharge space;

a second gas supply unit configured to supply the reaction gas to the second discharge space; and

a third gas supply unit configured to supply the reaction gas to the third discharge space, and

wherein the controller controls the first gas supply unit to the third gas supply unit such that the reaction gases are independently supplied to the first discharge space to the third discharge space.

20. The substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the second discharge space faces a central region of the substrate positioned on the lower electrode, and

wherein the first and third discharge spaces face a peripheral area of the substrate positioned on the lower electrode, and

wherein the controller controls such that a flow rate of the reaction gas supplied to the second discharge space and a flow rate of the reaction gas supplied to the first discharge space and the third discharge space are different.

Technical Field

Embodiments of the inventive concepts described herein relate to a substrate processing apparatus.

Background

The plasma used in industry can be classified into low temperature plasma and thermal plasma, and the low temperature plasma has been most widely used in a semiconductor manufacturing process, and the thermal plasma has been applied to cutting of metal.

Atmospheric pressure plasma refers to a technique of generating low temperature plasma while maintaining the pressure of gas at 100 Torr (Torr) to atmospheric pressure (760 Torr). Since the atmospheric pressure plasma system does not require expensive vacuum equipment, the atmospheric pressure plasma system is economical and has no pumping configuration, and the process of the atmospheric pressure plasma system can be performed in an inline form, so that a plasma system that can maximize productivity can be developed. Application areas where atmospheric plasma systems are employed may include high speed etching/coating techniques, semiconductor packaging, displays, modification and coating of material surfaces, creation of nanopowders, removal of harmful gases, and creation of oxidizing gases.

A linear type plasma generating apparatus 1 for generating atmospheric pressure plasma may have one gas supply line 2, and may employ a constant flow rate and a specific mixing ratio, and process plasma with an object 3 to be processed being fed in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the plasma generating apparatus 1 (see fig. 1).

Therefore, since the space equivalent to at least twice the area of the object to be processed is required to move the object to be processed 3, the necessary space is widened when the plasma processing apparatus is constructed, and since an unnecessary portion (outside of the circle of the apparatus from the length of the plasma generating apparatus) must be processed when the object to be processed (wafer) is not rectangular but circular, a portion of the lower feeding apparatus (lower feeding device) may be corroded.

[ Prior Art document ]

[ patent documents ]

Korean patent application laid-open No. 10-2015-0101738.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the inventive concept provide a substrate processing apparatus that can perform uniform plasma processing on a circular object to be processed.

Technical objects of the inventive concept are not limited to the above technical objects, and other technical objects not mentioned will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to one embodiment, a substrate processing apparatus includes: a lower electrode having an upper surface on which a substrate is positioned; a plasma generating device disposed at an upper portion of the lower electrode, having an upper electrode, and having an independent discharge space (independent discharge space) partitioned by a plurality of partition walls; and a controller performing control to independently supply reaction gases to the independent discharge spaces, respectively.

Further, the plasma generating apparatus may include: a reactor main body having a hollow bar shape, and a discharge space provided inside the reactor main body; and an injection hole linearly disposed on a bottom surface of the reactor body along a longitudinal direction of the reactor body, and injecting plasma generated in the separate discharge space to the substrate positioned on the lower electrode.

Further, the length of the injection hole may be equal to or greater than the diameter of the substrate.

Further, the upper electrode may be configured to pass through the independent discharge spaces, and an outer side of the upper electrode is surrounded by an insulator.

Further, the lower electrode may be configured to be rotatable, and the partition wall may be a non-conductor.

Further, the upper electrode may be circular in cross section, and the insulator may be annular in cross section.

Further, the cross-sectional shape of the discharge space may be a ring shape surrounding the upper electrode.

Further, the reactor body may include supply ports through which the reaction gases are respectively introduced into the discharge spaces, gas supply lines may be respectively connected to the supply ports, and the controller may control a flow rate and a mixing ratio of the reaction gases by controlling valves on the gas supply lines.

Drawings

The above and other objects and features will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views, and wherein:

fig. 1 is a view showing a general atmospheric pressure plasma processing apparatus;

fig. 2 is a view illustrating a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the inventive concept;

fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the substrate supporting unit and the plasma generating apparatus of fig. 2;

fig. 4 is a sectional view showing the plasma generating apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 4; and

fig. 6 is a sectional perspective view showing main components of the plasma generating apparatus.

Detailed Description

The above and other advantages and features of the inventive concepts, and the methods for accomplishing their inventive concepts will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings and the detailed description below. However, the inventive concept is not limited to the embodiments to be disclosed hereinafter, and is only limited by the scope of the claims. Although not defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein may have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. A general description of known configurations may be omitted so as not to obscure the nature of the inventive concept. In the drawings of the inventive concept, the same reference numerals are used to designate the same or similar configurations, if possible. In the drawings, some configurations may be enlarged or reduced for easy understanding of the inventive concept.

The terminology used herein is provided to describe particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the inventive concept. Unless otherwise indicated, terms in the singular may include the plural. The terms "comprises" and "comprising" are used to indicate the presence of the features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof described in the specification, and it is understood that one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof may be added.

Hereinafter, a substrate processing apparatus of the inventive concept will be described with reference to fig. 2 to 6.

Fig. 2 is a view illustrating a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the substrate supporting unit and the plasma generating apparatus of fig. 2.

Referring to fig. 2 and 3, the substrate processing apparatus 10 is an apparatus that can perform a series of plasma surface treatments on a substrate for a semiconductor device by using atmospheric pressure plasma.

For example, the substrate processing apparatus 10 according to the present inventive concept may perform a cleaning process of removing organic materials (impurities) remaining on the surface of the substrate W, an ashing process of stripping (rubbing) a photoresist pattern on the surface of the substrate for passivation, and the like.

According to the present embodiment, the substrate processing apparatus 10 may include the process chamber 100 in an atmospheric state. The process chamber 100 has a housing or wall, and a substrate support unit 200 on which a substrate W is positioned is located inside the process chamber 100.

The substrate support unit 200 may support the substrate W during a process, and may be rotated during the process by a driver 230, which will be described below. As an embodiment, the substrate supporting unit 200 may have a circular upper surface, and may be a spin chuck having a spin head 210 serving as a lower electrode. The substrate W may be fixed on the spin head 210 by an electrostatic force, or may be fixed by an adsorption force. As another method, the substrate W may be fixed by chuck pins (chucking pins) provided on the spin head 210.

A support shaft 220 supporting the swivel head 210 is connected to a lower portion of the swivel head 210, and the support shaft 220 is rotated by a driver 230 connected to a lower end of the support shaft. The driver 230 may be a motor or the like. With the rotation of the support shaft 220, the spin head 210 and the substrate W rotate. Meanwhile, the spin head 210 is grounded. That is, the spin head 210 serves as a lower electrode. The spin head 210 itself may be a lower electrode, or the lower electrode may be buried inside the spin head 210.

A plasma generating apparatus 300 is disposed in the process chamber 100. The plasma generating apparatus 300 is installed at an upper portion of the process chamber 100 to correspond to the spin head 210, and generates and sprays plasma gas required for processing a surface of the substrate.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing the plasma generating apparatus. Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along line a-a of fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a sectional perspective view showing main components of the plasma generating apparatus.

Referring to fig. 3 to 6, the plasma generating apparatus 300 may include a reactor body 310 having a length corresponding to a diameter of a substrate (the length is preferably greater than the diameter of the substrate).

The reactor body 310 may be disposed at an upper portion of the spin head 210 in parallel to the substrate W. For example, the reactor body 310 may have a bar shape extending long in a hexagonal shape. The reactor main body 310 has an empty space inside thereof, and the lower portion of the reactor main body 310 is open. The empty space inside the reactor body 310 may have an independent discharge space 312. The discharge space 312 may be partitioned by a plurality of partition walls 320. Although it is illustrated in the present embodiment that the reactor main body 310 has three independent discharge spaces 312 divided by two partition walls 320, the inventive concept is not limited thereto, and preferably, three or more partition walls 320 may be provided. The reactor body 310 may be grounded.

A supply port 314 for supplying a reaction gas to the discharge space 312 is installed at an upper end of the reactor body 310. As shown in fig. 2, gas supply lines 316 connected to gas supply sources are respectively connected to the supply ports 314.

The reactor body 310 has injection holes 330 formed on the bottom surface thereof. The injection holes 330 may be linearly formed on the bottom surface of the reactor body 310 along the longitudinal direction of the reactor body 310. The injection hole 330 is connected to the discharge space 312. The plasma generated in the individual discharge spaces 312 may be sprayed to the substrate positioned on the spin head 210 through the spray holes 330. Preferably, the length of the injection hole 330 is greater than the diameter of the substrate W.

Meanwhile, it is preferable that the reactor body 310 of the plasma generating apparatus 300 is arranged such that the longitudinal center of the reactor body 300 is aligned with the center of the substrate processing surface (the rotational center of the substrate) according to the process condition.

The plasma generating apparatus 300 has an upper electrode 340. The upper electrode 340 is configured to pass through the independent discharge space 312. The upper electrode 340 may include an electrode 342 and an insulator 344 surrounding the electrode 342. As shown in fig. 5 and 6, the electrode 342 may be circular in cross-section, and the insulator 344 for surrounding the electrode 342 may be annular in cross-section. However, the cross-section of the electrode 342 and the insulator 344 may have various shapes not limited thereto.

Although not shown, the electrode 342 may be provided with a passage through which a refrigerant that dissipates heat due to the generation of plasma is inhibited from passing.

For example, in order to minimize heat generated due to electric charge discharge, the electrode 342 may be formed of, for example, copper (Cu) or an alloy including copper, the resistance of which is low and the thermal conductivity of which is high. In addition, the insulator 344 may be formed of quartz (Si), alumina, a composite including alumina, or the like, which suppresses heat generated due to charge discharge and has durability against plasma, and may be preferably formed of aluminum nitride (AlN) having excellent thermal conductivity.

Although not shown, a high voltage may be applied to the electrode 342, and the lower electrode may be grounded to stably generate plasma.

Referring again to fig. 2, the substrate processing apparatus 10 may include a controller 400 for performing control to independently supply the reaction gases to the independent discharge spaces 312, respectively. The controller 400 can control the flow rate and the mixing ratio of the reaction gases by controlling the valves 318 on the gas supply lines 316, which are respectively connected to the supply ports 314. Although not shown, at least two supply lines (gas MFCs) may be respectively connected to the supply ports.

For example, the controller 400 may improve plasma processing uniformity of the entire substrate by controlling such that the flow rate of the reaction gas supplied to the discharge space corresponding to the central region of the substrate is less than the flow rate of the reaction gas supplied to the discharge space corresponding to the peripheral region of the substrate.

The substrate processing apparatus 10 having the above-described configuration can improve process uniformity when performing plasma processing with rotating a substrate by differently applying the flow rate and mixing ratio of gases introduced into the linear plasma generating device to the discharge space.

In particular, since the substrate processing apparatus 10 can concentrate the plasma processing region only in the substrate having the rotation structure of the lower electrode when processing the circular substrate, it is possible to prevent the device disposed under the substrate from being damaged by the plasma, and to reduce the size of the plasma processing device because an additional space for supplying the lower electrode is not required.

According to embodiments of the inventive concept, it is possible to improve process uniformity that may occur when plasma processing is performed while rotating a substrate by differently applying a flow rate and a mixing ratio of gases introduced into a linear plasma generating apparatus to a discharge space.

Effects of the inventive concept are not limited to the above-described effects, and those skilled in the art to which the inventive concept pertains can clearly understand the effects that are not mentioned from the description and the drawings.

The foregoing detailed description illustrates the inventive concept. Moreover, the foregoing describes exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts, and the inventive concepts may be utilized in various other combinations, permutations, and environments. That is, the inventive concept can be modified and corrected without departing from the scope of the inventive concept disclosed in the specification, the equivalent scope to the written disclosure, and/or the technical or knowledge scope of those skilled in the art. The written embodiments describe the best mode for achieving the technical spirit of the inventive concept and various changes may be made as necessary in the specific application field and purpose of the inventive concept. Therefore, the detailed description of the inventive concept is not intended to limit the inventive concept to the state of the disclosed embodiments. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the appended claims include other embodiments.