JP2000049207A - Plasma processing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To improve the processing accuracy of a substrate by eliminating disturbance of an electric field due to holes for lifting pins, and to simplify the configuration of electrodes. SOLUTION: In a plasma processing apparatus which supplies a reaction gas in a vacuum, generates plasma by applying high-frequency power, and processes the surface of the substrate, a plasma processing apparatus is provided around the electrode 1 on which the substrate 2 is mounted, rather than the substrate 2. A ring 3 having a small inner diameter is detachably provided, an engaging means 6 for the ring 3 and a transporting means 4 is provided to transport the substrate 2 together with the ring 3, and a hole for an elevating pin of the electrode 1 is eliminated. .

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to processing of a substrate surface by supplying a reactive gas in a vacuum and applying high-frequency power to generate plasma, such as dry etching or CVD used in the production of semiconductors and liquid crystals. The present invention relates to a plasma processing method and apparatus for performing processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional plasma processing apparatus, an elevating pin for transporting a substrate is provided on an electrode on which the substrate is mounted, and the substrate is lifted and lowered by the elevating pin to transfer the substrate to and from a transport means. Was composed.

FIG. 5 shows an electrode having lifting pins used in a conventional plasma processing apparatus. When transporting the substrate 21, a plurality of elevating pins 23
After receiving the substrate 21 to be processed from the transfer arm 24 of the transfer system, the lifting pins 23 are lowered to place the substrate 21 on the electrode 22.

[0004]

However, in the above-described conventional configuration, a plurality of holes 25 for the lifting pins 23 exist on the electrode 22. However, with the recent miniaturization of processing, the influence of the disturbance of the electric field due to the holes 25 of the electrodes 22 on the processing accuracy cannot be ignored.

FIG. 6 shows a distribution of an electrode surface shape and an etching rate in dry etching. As is clear from FIG. 6, a decrease in the etching rate is observed in the hole 25 of the electrode 22. Conventionally, in order to suppress the influence of the hole 25, measures have been taken to reduce the diameter of the hole 25 by making the elevating pin 23 thinner. Has a problem that there is a limit in terms of strength.

In the conventional electrode, the lifting pin 2
Since a mechanism for raising and lowering the electrode 3 must be provided on the back surface of the electrode 22, there is a problem that the structure of the electrode 22 is complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention provides a plasma processing method and a plasma processing method in which the processing accuracy of the substrate is not reduced due to the disturbance of the electric field due to the holes for the lifting pins, and the configuration of the electrodes can be simplified. It is intended to provide a device.

[0008]

According to the plasma processing method of the present invention, a reactive gas is supplied in a vacuum, high-frequency power is applied to an electrode on which a substrate is mounted, plasma is generated, and processing of the substrate surface is performed. In the plasma processing method to be performed, the substrate is placed and supported on a ring and transported, and the processing is performed with the substrate placed on the electrode and the ring arranged around the electrode. Since there is no need to provide holes for holes, the processing accuracy of the substrate does not decrease due to the disturbance of the electric field due to the holes, the configuration of the electrodes can be simplified, and the means for cooling and heating the substrate is simplified. Also, loss of high frequency power can be reduced.

Further, the plasma processing apparatus of the present invention is a plasma processing apparatus for supplying a reaction gas into a vacuum, generating plasma by applying high frequency power, and processing the substrate surface. A ring having a smaller inner diameter than the substrate is removably arranged around the substrate, and the ring is provided with an engagement portion with a transporting means so that the substrate is transported together with the ring. The function can be exerted, the processing accuracy of the substrate can be improved, the cooling / heating means for the substrate can be simplified, and the loss of high frequency power can be reduced.

Further, when the contact portion between the electrode and the ring is formed by a tapered surface of an upper constriction, the positioning of the substrate together with the ring with respect to the electrode can be easily performed.

Further, an engaging hole is provided on a side surface of the ring, and an engaging portion which can be engaged with the engaging hole is provided on the conveying means, or an irregularity is provided on the side surface of the ring so that the conveying means can be engaged with the irregularity. The provision of the engagement arm facilitates the transfer of the ring by the transport means.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the plasma processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1, the plasma processing apparatus according to the present embodiment applies a high-frequency power to an electrode 1 while supplying a reaction gas into a vacuum vessel (not shown) maintained in a predetermined vacuum state. A plasma processing apparatus for generating plasma and processing the surface of a substrate 2 placed on an electrode 1, wherein a ring 3 having an inner diameter smaller than that of the substrate 2 is detachably disposed around the electrode 1 on which the substrate 2 is placed. The transport means 4 transports the substrate 2 together with the ring 3 while the substrate 2 is supported by the ring 3. For this reason, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a protruding portion 3a is provided at an appropriate position on the side surface of the ring 3, and the engaging hole 5
An engagement piece 6 that can be fitted and engaged with the engagement hole 5 is attached to the tip of the transporting means 4. Conveying means 4
Is configured such that the ring 3 can be moved between a position directly above the electrode 1 and the outside of a vacuum vessel (not shown) and can be moved up and down at a position directly above the electrode 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, an upper outer peripheral surface of the electrode 1 is formed on a tapered surface 7 of an upper constriction, and a lower inner periphery of the ring 3 is formed with a tapered surface 8 fitted to the tapered surface 7. It is formed so that when the tapered surfaces 7 and 8 are fitted to each other, their upper ends coincide. The diameters of the upper ends of these tapered surfaces 7 and 8 are set slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the substrate 2 as described above, and the outer peripheral edge of the substrate 2 is placed on the outer periphery of the upper end of the tapered surface 8 from above and supported. A step portion 9 is formed. Reference numeral 10 denotes a power supply for applying high-frequency power to the electrode 1.

In the above configuration, the engagement piece 6 is inserted into the engagement hole 5.
The ring 3 is attached to the tip of the transfer means 4 by inserting and fitting, and the substrate 2 is placed and supported on the ring 3, and the transfer means 4 is operated to move the ring 3 into a vacuum container (not shown).
The substrate 2 is carried into the vacuum vessel from the outside, and positioned at a position immediately above the electrode 1 as shown in FIG. Next, the transport means 4 is lowered, and the substrate 2 is placed on the electrode 1 and the ring 3 is fitted around the electrode 1 as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the transporting means 4 is moved laterally, the engaging piece 6 is pulled out from the engaging hole 5, and the transporting means 4 is moved out of the vacuum vessel (not shown).

In this state, a reactive gas is supplied into a vacuum vessel (not shown), and a high frequency power is applied from a power source 10 to the electrode 1 on which the substrate 2 is mounted to generate plasma, and the surface of the substrate 2 Is performed.

When the predetermined processing is completed, as shown in FIG. 1B, the conveying means 4 is moved laterally from outside the vacuum vessel (not shown) to engage with the engaging hole 5 of the ring 3 on the electrode 1. After the mating pieces 6 are fitted and engaged, as shown in FIG. 1A, the transporting means 4 is raised to separate the substrate 2 from the electrode 1 together with the ring 3, and then the transporting means 4 is moved laterally to remove the ring 3 At the same time, the substrate 2 is carried out of a vacuum container (not shown). And
The operation of loading the next substrate 2 as described above is repeated to process the substrate 2 sequentially.

According to the present embodiment, the substrate 2 is
Since it is not necessary to provide a hole for an elevating pin in the electrode 1 as in the related art, the processing accuracy of the substrate 2 is reduced due to the disturbance of the electric field due to the hole provided in the electrode 1. Therefore, the processing accuracy of the substrate 2 can be improved.
In addition, the configuration of the electrode 1 can be simplified, the means for cooling and heating the substrate can be simplified, and the loss of high frequency power can be reduced.

When the ring 3 is arranged on the outer periphery of the electrode 1, the tapered surface 8 of the ring 3 is fitted to the tapered surface 7 of the upper constriction of the electrode 1. Can be easily positioned with respect to the electrode 1 when placing it on the electrode 1. In addition, an engagement hole 5 is formed in a side surface of the ring 3.
Is provided, and the transfer means 4 is provided with the engagement pieces 6 which can be engaged with the engagement holes, so that the transfer of the ring 3 can be easily performed by the lateral movement and the elevating operation of the transfer means 4.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the engagement piece 6 is fitted and engaged with the engagement hole 5 formed in the ring 3 has been described as a structure for detachably attaching the ring 3 to the transport means 4. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration, and may be, for example, an embodiment as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, an annular concave / convex (concave groove) 11 is formed on the outer periphery of the ring 3, and a bifurcated engaging arm 12 is provided at the tip of the conveying means 4 to engage with the concave / convex 11 on both sides of the ring 3. I have.

[0021]

According to the plasma processing method and apparatus of the present invention, as described above, a ring having an inner diameter smaller than the substrate is detachably disposed around the electrode on which the substrate is mounted, and the ring is provided with a transfer means. In order to carry the substrate together with the ring by providing an engagement part of the above, the substrate is placed on the electrode, and the processing is performed with the ring placed around the electrode, so that the electrode There is no need to provide holes, the processing accuracy of the substrate does not deteriorate due to disturbance of the electric field due to the holes provided in the electrodes, and the configuration of the electrodes can be simplified,
The means for cooling and heating the substrate is simplified, and the loss of high frequency power can be reduced.

Further, when the contact portion between the electrode and the ring is formed by a tapered surface with a constriction, positioning of the substrate together with the ring with respect to the electrode can be facilitated.

Further, an engaging hole is provided on a side surface of the ring, and an engaging portion capable of engaging with the engaging hole is provided on the conveying means, or an irregularity is provided on the side surface of the ring so that the conveying means can be engaged with the irregularity. The provision of the engagement arm facilitates the transfer of the ring by the transport means.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a substrate transfer operation in an electrode part which is a main part of one embodiment of a plasma processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the electrode unit of the embodiment in a state during a substrate transfer operation.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a state during a substrate transfer operation in the electrode unit of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an electrode part which is a main part of another embodiment of the plasma processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an electrode section of a conventional plasma processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an electrode surface hole and an etching rate distribution in the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electrode 2 Substrate 3 Ring 4 Conveying means 5 Engagement hole 6 Engagement piece 7 Tapered surface 8 Tapered surface 11 Unevenness 12 Engagement arm

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A reaction gas is supplied in a vacuum, a high-frequency power is applied to an electrode on which a substrate is mounted, and a plasma is generated.
In a plasma processing method for processing a substrate surface,
A plasma processing method comprising mounting and supporting a substrate on a ring, transporting the substrate, mounting the substrate on an electrode, and performing processing with the ring disposed around the electrode. 2. A plasma processing apparatus for supplying a reaction gas into a vacuum, generating plasma by applying high-frequency power, and processing a substrate surface. A plasma processing apparatus, wherein a small ring is detachably provided, and the ring is provided with an engagement portion with a transfer means to transfer a substrate together with the ring. 3. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a contact portion between the electrode and the ring is formed by a tapered surface with an upper constriction. 4. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an engagement hole is provided on a side surface of the ring, and an engagement portion engageable with the engagement hole is provided on the conveying means. 5. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein irregularities are provided on a side surface of the ring, and an engagement arm capable of engaging with the irregularities is provided on the transfer means.