Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method
AssigneeTokyo Electron Limited
InventorsMitsuhiro Yuasa, Koji Homma
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A plasma processing apparatus and method preferably used when processing a wafer by means of plasma etching, able to prevent contamination of a wafer or a chamber. The plasma processing apparatus converts a process gas into plasma, sprays the process gas from a spray nozzle 24a to a wafer 2 installed on an XYZ table 28, and processes the wafer 2. As the process gas, use is made of a mixture of SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride) gas, Ar (Argon) gas, and O2 (oxygen) gas, and the volume ratio of the O2 (oxygen) gas to the SF6 gas is in a range from 11% to 25%.
Claims2
A method of dividing a wafer into a plurality of individual semiconductor devices, comprising the steps of:
- forming grooves cut into a front surface of said wafer, said grooves demarcating circuits of said semiconductor devices formed on said front surface of said wafer;
- polishing a back surface of said wafer while the front surface of said wafer is fixed to a support member;
- and
- plasma etching the back surface of said wafer by a process gas and thereby dividing said wafer into the semiconductor devices, said process gas including a mixture of SF6 gas (sulfur hexafluoride) gas, Ar (Argon) gas, and O2 (oxygen) gas, wherein the volume ratio of the O2 gas to the SF6 gas is in a range from 11% to 25%.
A method of dividing a wafer into a plurality of individual semiconductor devices, comprising the steps of:
- forming masks on the front surface of said wafer for masking each said semiconductor device formed on the front surface of the wafer;
- plasma etching the front surface of said wafer between the masks to a predetermined depth using a process gas including a mixture of SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride) gas, Ar (Argon) gas, and O2 (oxygen) gas, wherein the volume ratio of the O2 gas to the SF6 gas is in a range from 11% to 25%;
- polishing a back surface of said wafer while the front surface of said wafer is fixed to a support member;
- and
- etching the back surface of said wafer and thereby dividing said wafer into the semiconductor devices.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.