Method of detecting abnormal chamber conditions in etcher
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsLu-Fu Liao, Tsai-Yi Chen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for detecting abnormal conditions in an etching chamber for semiconductors. A plasma intensity control standard or calibration curve is first obtained for the optimal etching of semiconductors in a particular application, in which the plasma intensity profile for optimal etching characteristics is plotted against elapsed etching time in seconds. Subsequent semiconductors are etched according to the optimum plasma intensity generated from the control or calibration curve to facilitate optimum integrated circuit quality, wafer throughput and processing efficiency.
Claims12
A method of detecting abnormal conditions during a plasma etch process, said method comprising:
- obtaining a calibration curve indicative of optimum plasma intensity for said plasma etch process;
- conducting said plasma etch process;
- obtaining a plasma intensity curve for said plasma etch process;
- comparing said plasma intensity curve to said calibration curve;
- and
- terminating said plasma etch process upon deviation of said plasma intensity curve from said calibration curve.
A method of detecting abnormal conditions during a plasma etch process, said method comprising:
- obtaining a calibration curve indicative of optimum plasma intensity for said plasma etch process;
- conducting said plasma etch process;
- obtaining a plasma intensity curve for said plasma etch process;
- comparing said plasma intensity curve to said calibration curve;
- and
- terminating said plasma etch process when said plasma intensity curve drops below said calibration curve.
A method of detecting abnormal conditions during a plasma etch process, said method comprising:
- obtaining a calibration curve indicative of optimum plasma intensity for said plasma etch process;
- conducting said plasma etch process;
- obtaining a plasma intensity curve for said plasma etch process;
- comparing said plasma intensity curve to said calibration curve;
- and
- terminating said plasma etch process when said plasma intensity curve rises above said calibration curve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.