Particle-measuring system and particle-measuring method

A method of measuring particles exhausted through an exhaust duct of a processing system which generates an atmosphere by exhausting a fluid in a processing space and which applies a process to an object to be processed in the atmosphere, comprising:

• a step of modeling a parameter concerning a mechanism which generates the particles and a parameter indicative of a characteristic of the particles to be generated;
• a step of simulating a numeric value indicative of a track of a particle included in the fluid flowing through an exhaust duct;
• a step of simulating numeric values of tracks of the fluid and the particles;
• a step of confirming an optimum particle position;
• a step of determining a sensor attachment position;
• a step of attaching the sensor;
• and
• a step of evaluating particles measurement, wherein a track that the particles generated in the space and exhausted flows through the exhaust duct is simulated, an area where the density of the particles becomes highest in the exhaust duct direction is selected, a laser beam irradiator is arranged at a position where a measurement laser beam passes through the area, and a scattered light detector is arranged in a direction orthogonal to the laser beam to measure the particles.

A particle measuring system which generates a duct atmosphere in which a fluid flows from a processing space and which is mounted in the duct, comprising:

• a sensor manifold which is attached to the duct connected to the processing space and which has a swiveling mechanism;
• a laser beam irradiator which is attached to the sensor manifold and has a drive mechanism which can move in a radial direction of the exhaust pipe;
• a beam stopper which is attached to the sensor manifold so as to be opposite to the laser beam irradiator and which has a drive mechanism movable so as to face the laser beam irradiator and which receives an emitted laser beam;
• a scattered light detector which is attached to the sensor manifold so as to be substantially orthogonal to an irradiation direction of the laser beam and which has a two-dimensionally movable drive mechanism and which detects light obtained by scattering the laser beam with particles;
• and
• a controller which performs movement control of the laser beam irradiator, the scattered light detector and the beam stopper.

A particle measuring method by a system having a laser beam irradiator, a scattered light detector and a beam stopper in order to measure the number of particles by emitting a laser beam to the particles flowing through a duct through which a fluid flows in a processing space, comprising:

• a step of selecting an area having a high density of the particles in accordance with information including the processing space and concerning the inside thereof, information concerning the duct and simulation based on the information concerning the duct;
• a step of performing positional adjustment in such a manner that the laser beam irradiator emits a laser beam to the area having the high density of the particles based on the simulation;
• a step of performing positional adjustment in such a manner that the beam stopper is opposite to the laser beam irradiator in order to receive the laser beam which has passed through the area having the high density;
• a step of performing positional adjustment of the scattered light detector so as to detect scattered light based on the laser beam which has passed through the area having the high density;
• a step of emitting the laser beam to the area having the high density of the particles by the laser beam irradiator;
• a step of detecting the scattered light of the laser beam which has passed through the area having the high density by the scattered light detector;
• and
• a step of calculating the number of the particles from the detected scattered light.

A method of measuring particles flowing through a duct by using a particle measuring system with a laser position adjusting unit in the duct through which a fluid in a processing space flows, comprising:

• a step of determining an optimum sensor attachment position by simulation, and inputting attachment position information to a position controller of the laser position adjusting unit;
• a step of inputting process conditions to the position controller of the laser position adjusting unit;
• a step of adjusting a laser beam irradiator, a scattered light detector, a beam stopper and a sensor manifold to optimum positions by the position controller;
• and
• a step of measuring the particles generated in the processing chamber by the sensor.

A processing system comprising:

• a processing chamber which can maintain a vacuum state;
• a mounting table which is provided in the processing chamber to mount an object to be processed thereon;
• a gas supply portion which supplies a gas including a process gas to the processing chamber;
• and
• an exhaust system which is connected to the processing chamber through an exhaust pipe and a vacuum valve to exhaust a gaseous matter including the gas from the processing chamber, thereby making it possible to maintain a desired pressure,
• the processing system further comprising:
• a particle measuring portion provided in the exhaust system in order to measure the number of the particles included in the gas to be exhausted;
• and
• a process end point determination portion which determines an end point of the process based on a measured value measured in the particle measuring portion when performing an etching process by flowing the process gas into the processing chamber to terminate the process.

A particle measuring system mounted in a duct through which a fluid in a processing space flows, comprising:

• a sensor manifold which is attached in the duct connected to the processing space and which has a swiveling mechanism;
• a laser beam irradiator which is attached to the sensor manifold and which has a drive mechanism movable in a radial direction of the exhaust pipe;
• a beam stopper which is attached to the sensor manifold so as to be opposite to the laser beam irradiator and which has a drive mechanism movable so as to face the laser beam irradiator and which receives an emitted laser beam;
• a scattered light detector which is attached to the sensor manifold so as to be substantially orthogonal to an irradiation direction of the laser beam and which has a two-dimensionally movable drive mechanism and which detects light obtained by scattering the laser beam by particles;
• and
• a controller which performs positional control of the laser beam irradiator, the scattered light detector and the beam stopper,
• wherein the drive mechanisms included in the laser beam irradiator, the beam stopper and the scattered light detector can move in such a manner that a measuring point reaches a measuring position where a maximum value of a detected detection signal can be obtained.

A method of cleaning the inside of a processing chamber in a processing system comprising:

• a processing chamber which can maintain a vacuum state;
• a mounting table which is provided in the processing chamber to mount an object to be processed thereon;
• a gas supply portion which supplies a gas including an etching gas to the processing chamber;
• an etching process portion which is mounted in the processing chamber to which the etching gas is supplied and which applies an etching process to the object to be processed;
• an exhaust system which is connected to the processing chamber through an exhaust duct and a vacuum valve to exhaust a gaseous matter including the gas from the inside of the processing chamber, thereby making it possible to maintain a desired pressure,
• the method comprising:
• a process of continuously measuring the number of the particles included in the gas which is exhausted from the inside of the processing chamber and which flows in the exhaust system when causing a cleaning gas to flow into the processing chamber from the gas supply portion;
• and
• a process of determining termination as an end point of a cleaning process based on a measured value of the number of the particles.