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US 5,242,539 AGranted
Plasma treatment method and apparatus
AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.
InventorsTakao Kumihashi, Kazunori Tsujimoto, Shinichi Tachi, Masafumi Kanetomo, Junichi Kobayashi, Tatehito Usui, Nobuyuki Mise
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A plasma treatment method and apparatus utilize various gas inlet and outlet structure arrangements to optimize treatment characteristics for a semiconductor wafer. A buffer zone is created between gas inlets and the discharge zone of the vacuum treatment chamber to enhance uniformity of gas flow. The evacuation arrangement enables reactant gas to be exhausted uniformly to reduce gas residence time below a threshold while maintaining optimum flow rates and etch uniformity at low effective exhaust speeds.
Claims76
A plasma treatment apparatus, comprising:
- a vacuum chamber having a plasma treatment zone, a gas inlet and a gas outlet;
- means for supporting a body to be treated in the vacuum chamber at a point other than the ECR point;
- means for introducing a gas into the vacuum chamber via the gas inlet;
- means for creating a gas plasma with the gas, and for providing the gas plasma in the plasma treatment zone;
- and
- exhaust means for evacuating the vacuum chamber through the gas outlet at an effective exhaust speed greater than 500 l/sec.
3 more elements
A plasma treatment method, comprising the steps of:
- providing a body to be treated in a vacuum chamber;
- introducing a gas into the vacuum chamber;
- producing a gas plasma with the introduced gas;
- treating the body with the gas plasma;
- and
- evacuating the vacuum chamber using n exhaust gas systems at an effective exhaust speed S greater than 800 l/sec, wherein the effective exhaust speed S is defined according to the formula:
- ##EQU3## where S.sub.i is the exhaust speed of the i.sup.th exhaust system, C is the exhaust conductance of the vacuum chamber, and n is a positive integer.
4 more elements
A plasma treatment apparatus, comprising:
- a vacuum chamber having an internal plasma treatment zone, a gas inlet and a gas outlet;
- means for introducing a gas into the vacuum chamber;
- means for producing a gas plasma with the gas, and for providing the gas plasma in the plasma treatment zone;
- and
- means, including n exhaust gas systems for evacuating the vacuum chamber at an effective exhaust speed S greater than 800 l/sec, wherein the effective exhaust speed S is defined according to the formula:
- ##EQU4## where S.sub.i is the exhaust speed of the i.sup.th exhaust system, C is the exhaust conductance of the vacuum chamber, and n is a positive integer.
3 more elements
A plasma treatment apparatus, comprising:
- a vacuum chamber having an internal plasma treatment zone, a gas inlet and a gas outlet;
- means for supporting a body to be treated within the vacuum chamber;
- means for introducing a gas into the vacuum chamber;
- means for producing a gas plasma with the introduced gas;
- and
- means for evacuating the vacuum chamber using n exhaust gas systems at an effective exhaust speed S greater than 500 l/sec, wherein the effective exhaust speed S is defined according to the formula:
- ##EQU5## where S.sub.i is the exhaust speed of the i.sup.th exhaust system, C is the exhaust conductance of the vacuum chamber, and n is a positive integer, so that the residence time of the gas in the vacuum chamber does not substantially exceed 300 msec;
- wherein said gas plasma etches the body to be treated at an etching speed greater than or equal to 50 nm/min.
5 more elements
A plasma treatment apparatus, comprising:
- a vacuum chamber having an internal plasma treatment zone, a gas inlet and a gas outlet;
- means for introducing a gas into the vacuum chamber so that a gas pressure less than or equal to 5 mTorr is provided within the vacuum chamber;
- means for producing a gas plasma with the introduced gas;
- and
- means for evacuating the vacuum chamber using n exhaust gas systems at an effective exhaust speed S greater than 800 l/sec, wherein the effective exhaust speed S is defined according to the formula:
- ##EQU6## where S.sub.i is the exhaust speed of the i.sup.th exhaust system, C is the exhaust conductance of the vacuum chamber, and n is a positive integer.
3 more elements
A plasma treatment method, comprising the steps of:
- providing a body to be treated in a vacuum chamber at a location other than an ECR point;
- introducing a gas into the vacuum chamber;
- producing a gas plasma with the introduced gas;
- treating the body with the gas plasma;
- and
- evacuating the vacuum chamber using n exhaust gas systems at an effective exhaust speed S greater than 500 l/sec, wherein the effective exhaust speed S is defined according to the formula:
- ##EQU7## where S.sub.i is the exhaust speed of the i.sup.th exhaust system, C is the exhaust conductance of the vacuum chamber, and n is a positive integer.
4 more elements
A plasma treatment method, comprising the steps of:
- providing a body to be treated in a vacuum chamber;
- introducing a gas into the vacuum chamber;
- producing a gas plasma with the introduced gas;
- etching the body with the gas plasma at an etching speed greater than or equal to 50 nm/min;
- and
- evacuating the vacuum chamber using n exhaust has systems at an effective exhaust speed S greater than 500 l/sec,
- wherein the effective exhaust speed S is defined according to the formula:
- ##EQU8## where S.sub.i is the exhaust speed of the i.sup.th exhaust system, C is the exhaust conductance of the vacuum chamber, so that the residence time of the gas in the vacuum chamber does not substantially exceed 300 msec.
5 more elements
A plasma treatment method, comprising the steps of:
- providing a body to be treated in a vacuum chamber;
- introducing a gas into the vacuum chamber so that the gas pressure in the vacuum chamber is less than or equal to 5 mTorr;
- producing a gas plasma with the introduced gas;
- treating the body to be treated with the gas plasma;
- and
- evacuating the vacuum chamber using n exhaust has systems at an effective exhaust speed S greater than 800 l/sec, wherein the effective exhaust speed S is defined according to the formula:
- ##EQU9## where S.sub.i is the exhaust speed of the i.sup.th exhaust system, C is the exhaust conductance of the vacuum chamber, and n is a positive integer.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.